Trials 04 Shadow's Trial
Page 45
setting in determination. "Now all I have to do is get to the top of
the wall."
"Maybe if I keep my bad knee up, I can kneel on all fours, I mean
threes," Simms quipped lightly, "then Sven can stand on my back and
you can climb onto his shoulders. That ought to give you enough height
to reach the top." Lamont made a movement of protest, quickly halted
as he shook his head. "I'll be careful."
Megan sighed. "I suppose Janine and I can try to steady you and Sven."
The plan was implemented within moments. Tom made it to the top of the
wall, pulled himself up and rose to a standing position. "I'll be back
as soon as I can. Take care of each other."
'This isn't as easy as Malista made it look,' Tom thought as he began
carefully placing one foot in front of the other, holding his arms
straight out from his shoulders to assist him in balancing. He was
glad to be doing something. Anything was better than sitting and
waiting. No matter what Milton said.
"Do you feel that?" Janine asked, darting a look at the floor. Not
waiting for an answer, she shouted a warning. "Lieutenant, there's
going to be another----"
Another tremor hit.
As the world shook, Tom lost his balance. He toppled down, caught the
top of the wall with one hand and went crashing into the wall with one
side of his body as he scrambled frantically for a better hold.
Hanging there, struggling to gain some purchase for his feet in order
to brace himself, he caught a flash of the bright white light that
always seemed to precede the alien transport or probe. It was coming
from the room he'd just left. "Oh, great. Now what?" he complained,
rolling his eyes skyward. "Is this a test?" He received no immediate
audible answer from a Higher Power.
All he could do was hold on for dear life until the quaking stopped.
When the world had steadied itself once more, he made a great effort
and pulled himself back atop the wall. It was much harder this time
around. He was tired, hungry, thirsty, and sore. But he wasn't ready
to give up yet. The infamous Paris stubbornness was occasionally good
for something.
Once he had precariously regained his footing, he made his way back to
the cell. The room was empty. The rest of the away team had vanished
just as suddenly as they'd arrived.
"Well, that simplifies things, Tommy boy," he mused aloud. "Either the
aliens took them to another location for testing or they've been moved
to another, more secure cell because the aliens did catch Malista
running around."
He carefully shook himself and stretched, trying to loosen tightening
muscles which aggravated the stiffness in his back and neck.
"Whichever the scenario, I can't do anything for them. So that
leaves---looking for Malista. Which is what I wanted to do anyway. And
stop talking to yourself, Paris. If the aliens are listening, they'll
think you're certifiable. And if you don't get out of here soon, you
will be."
Turning back in the direction in which Malista had gone, Tom began to
retrace his steps. He was hardly aware that he had replaced talking to
himself with humming. If he had noticed, it might have amused him to
recognize that the tune he was humming was "The Impossible Dream".
*******************
A quick visit to Sickbay had restored the four crewmembers to good
health. The doctor had been impressed by Ensign Simms' account of
Paris' first aid treatment of the injured. It seems the lieutenant had
paid more attention to the doctor's lectures than he had believed.
While being treated and waiting for treatment, Neelix had managed to
fill one of the doctor's prescriptions by providing liquid and solid
refreshments to the four who were mildly dehydrated and, in Sven's
case, severely undernourished---for Sven.
Properly dressed in fresh uniforms, the four joined the senior staff
in the briefing room to give a complete report. Before the newcomers
had settled into place, B'Elanna Torres burst out, "What happened to
Tom?" Harry Kim darted out a hand and snagged her arm, pulling her
back into her chair as she started to her feet.
"Lieutenant." With one word, Janeway reasserted her authority and
regained the attention of everyone in the room. "We have not forgotten
that we still have two crewmembers missing. I'd like to hear an
account of your experiences. Would you like to begin, Mr. Simms?" She
chose the Security Officer because he was trained to prioritize and
would get right to the most important information.
Within thirty minutes the staff had been brought up to date on what
had occurred on the planet's surface, including Haldersen's theories
concerning the nature of the testing the away team had been subjected
to. The discussion of the confrontation with the aliens captured
everyone's interest.
"When they tried to separate Malista from the group, Tom
interfered---" Simms explained.
"Of course, he did," Torres muttered, shaking her head.
"And they killed him," Megan Delaney declared. Before the Chief
Engineer could react with more than a searing glance, the redhead
quickly continued, "But fortunately, Malista got him breathing again."
With a reproving glance at Delaney for her typical lack of tact,
Lamont continued, "He was fine when we last saw them. They both were.
The aliens decided not to take Malista after all. We decided---" She
faltered to a halt as she remembered that she certainly didn't want to
be the one to deliver an unexpurgated report of the away team's
speculations concerning the reasons the aliens had decided against
separating Paris and Shadow. Torres' control over her emotions was
already tenuous, at best, and Janine didn't want to upset Harry Kim
further.
"We decided it was time to stop being so passive and do some recon,"
Simms supplied. "Malista thought she could walk along the top of the
wall and gather information. Uh, after some, uh, discussion, the
lieutenant agreed---"
As Simms continued, Torres and Kim exchanged glances. Something else
had happened and the Security Officer was dancing around the point,
either because it was a personal matter or to spare someone's
feelings. It didn't matter right at this moment. But the two of them
were going to know everything that went on down there. They'd just
wait and ask Tom and Malista. They wouldn't accept the idea of any
other possible outcome. Having wordlessly settled that issue to their
mutual satisfaction, Torres and Kim returned their attention to the
away team's report.
"---and the last we saw of Lt. Paris, he was walking along the top of
the wall. That's when the tremor hit and we were suddenly back on the
ship," Simms concluded.
"So you have no idea where the two of them are? You never succeeded in
communicating with the aliens to any extent?" Janeway mused.
Chakotay frowned thoughtfully. "I don't understand why they sent you
back at all. If they were going to send you back, why now? Maybe when
w
e took the ship into their atmosphere, they decided to get rid of us
by returning you."
"But why would they send back these four and keep Malista and Tom?"
Harry Kim complained. "If they finished their testing and came to some
conclusion as to our sentience or non-sentience, you'd think they'd
return ALL the specimens they took. Not just some of them."
"Maybe because they weren't in the same room with the others?" Neelix
suggested hopefully. "When they find them, the aliens may send Tom and
Malista back as well."
The captain turned thoughtful gray eyes upon the scientist. She had
the impression that he was holding back. "Is there something more, Mr.
Haldersen?"
The big blond scientist flinched visibly. "It would be purely
speculation, Captain."
She waved a hand at him, encouraging him to continue. "That's all
right. You seem to have done well so far. If this were your
experiment, why would you return some, but not all, of your test
subjects?"
He darted a quick glance around the room, his eyes barely skimming
each face before dropping them to fixate on the table directly in
front of him. "It would probably depend on if they concluded that we
are sentient. If the aliens concluded that we are sentient, they would
probably return ALL the specimens. At least, that's what ethical
Federation scientists would do. However, if they decided that we are
not, that we are, in fact, non-sentient animals of some type...." He
stopped to take a sip of water from the glass in his hand.
"If they concluded that Voyager's crew are non-sentient animals...."
Janeway prodded.
"Then they would probably free the specimens they no longer needed. If
there was no interest in long term study. Or if they were afraid of
disrupting our ecosystem by removing too many of its inhabitants,"
Haldersen explained.
"But why would they keep two?" Torres exploded.
"For mating purposes?" Megan Delaney squeaked spontaneously, then
almost melted from the heat of the glare the Chief Engineer sent
scorching her way. "Sorry." Megan clasped her hands in her lap and
mentally took a vow of silence. It was safer.
"Not likely," Chakotay stated. "If they were interested in mating or
breeding humans in captivity, they would have kept all six. Just for
the safety in numbers. You can't always guarantee a viable match so
you would want a larger herd---never mind. Just say that's not the
reason that comes to my mind."
"Nor mine," Janeway agreed grimly. "Would you like to say it, Mr.
Haldersen, or shall I?"
"What?" Neelix asked innocently. "Why would they keep Tom and
Malista?"
Haldersen clenched his big fists. Still without looking up, he went on
in an even, pedantic tone. "The final step in testing non-sentients is
often---a male and female pair would provide all the information
needed to understand the anatomical structure and the function of
the---" He hesitated once more. "Dissection. The final step in this
sort of experiment usually involves dissection."
The stillness in the room was broken only by the sound of breathing.
*****************
After almost falling four times, Tom Paris had decided to settle for
crawling along the top of the wall rather than walking. It was a
little slower going, but he felt more comfortable and less likely to
take a header. Malista was definitely better at this than he was.
Most of the rooms near their former cell seemed to be labs of some
sort. Paris peered down from his lofty perch into the fifteenth room
that he'd checked out. And that's where he found her.
She was leaning against the wall he was standing atop and watching a
cluster of aliens who stood about twenty feet in front of her. There
were twelve aliens in the room, these much smaller, maybe half the
size of the others they'd seen. They were wrapped from head (?) to toe
(?) to tentacle (?) in the same enveloping brown robes which totally
concealed their physical form from view. These smaller aliens didn't
appear threatening. If anything, their body language gave Paris the
impression that they were a little intimidated by her as they studied
Malista curiously.
It seemed to be a question of who was watching whom. Malista was
staring back at them with equal intensity. No one was moving or making
a sound. As she heard Tom's approaching hum, she cast her gaze upward
and smiled with relief before snapping wary eyes back to the aliens.
"Malista? Are you okay?" Tom inquired as he slowly lowered himself to
a sitting position on the wall.
"I'm fine," she said a little too brightly. "I---uh---jumped down into
this room during the first quake and I've been here ever since. They
haven't done anything except watch me. And I didn't know what to do
either. I thought they would sound an alarm, arrest me or---or do
something!"
Paris jumped down, landing lightly on the balls of his feet, letting
his legs bend to absorb some of the shock of impact. It didn't help.
The jarring still sent a ribbon of pain winding up his spine and neck
and he couldn't stop a hiss of pain from escaping his clenched lips.
Shadow's hand shot out to steady him and drew him close to her side.
"Are you okay?"
Looping his arm around her shoulders, Tom turned stern blue eyes on
her. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Sis. You cost me some years
off my life that I can't afford to lose. Hey, look at that!"
She followed his stare. What had caught Tom's eye, however, was that
the aliens had paired off and, in perfect imitation of the humans, now
had their arms---or what passed for arms---around each other.
"Monkey see, monkey do?" Tom mused aloud.
"What?" Malista whispered. "What do monkeys have to do with anything?
These aliens don't resemble any primate I've ever seen!"
"Do you have to be so literal? That's Harry's influence. Got to be.
Never mind that now. Look at them. They're copying us."
"So?"
"So...." Tom hesitated. "Maybe we can communicate? What's that thing
over there?" With his free hand he gestured toward the only piece of
equipment in the room, a large square console against the wall to
their left. He was slightly amused to note that the aliens copied that
gesture as well.
"I don't know, but when I first got here there was a light display
emanating from it. It was throwing a pattern of multicolored spots on
the opposite wall. And there was a rattling noise. It just kind of
died down a few minutes ago," Shadow replied.
"Tom, what are we doing?" she hissed as he led her into a sidewise
sliding motion, taking a slow, step by step approach to moving them
closer to the equipment. The aliens mirrored their every move, always
carefully maintaining the same safe distance out of reach of the two
humans.
"We're going to find out what that is," Paris said, smiling with
practiced ease. He didn't know if the aliens understood human
expressions, but his charm and handsome features had helped him in t
oo
many situations to ignore their existence and possibly positive
influence.
"We don't have a tricorder. We don't know what it is. What are we
going to do?" Shadow insisted, slightly calmer now that her 'big
brother' was close at hand.
They stopped next to the equipment and studied it for a few moments.
"It has buttons," Paris stated. "Lots of buttons. And a dial."
"Well, that's certainly informative," she commented.
He waggled a red-gold eyebrow at her. "So let's push some buttons!"
"Tom!" She wasn't sure if he was serious. "You don't know what it will
do! That could be dangerous!"
"Hey, if it was dangerous, would they let us get near it?" he asked
reasonably, turning his charming smile on her. It was Smile Number
Five on B'Elanna's scale---wicked and inviting its target to join him
in mischief.
"I think there's a flaw in that logic somewhere," she protested
quietly. She sighed again. She had no more resistance to that smile
than B'Elanna Torres or Harry Kim. "But damned if I know where. Okay.
Which buttons?"
Paris shrugged. The aliens all shrugged. At least he thought they did.
Smaller motions were more difficult to detect under those voluminous
robes. He began pushing buttons at random. Malista did the same.
They stopped abruptly when the panel began to make clicking noises and
a stream of colored flashes of lights began to appear on the opposite
wall. The little aliens turned sideways so they could keep both the