“You’re on the ceiling,” T’Pol said as if she was realizing that fact for the first time. “Why aren’t you on a monitor?”
[190] “There’s no technology where I am,” he said.
“I thought you said you were in the future,” she said, growing more confused.
“T’Pol do you remember when I asked you to keep an open mind?” he asked.
She searched her memory. The words were finally starting to make sense. “Yes.”
“There’s a lot more at stake here than bringing me back, or the mission,” he insisted. “I need you to listen to me very carefully. I need you to trust me.”
T’Pol pushed the last of the clouds from her mind as she sat up in bed, ready to hear the captain’s plan.
Chapter 19
Mayweather couldn’t help but think of telephone party lines of the early-twentieth century, or more accurately the intricate web of conference calls that had evolved decades later. Commander Tucker had managed yet another engineering marvel hooking up communication between the doorbells of each of the bridge officer’s quarters. The ensign no longer felt alone in his quarters, as he was currently in contact with T’Pol, Reed, Hoshi, and the aforementioned Trip.
The sub-commander had updated them on her impossible contact with Captain Archer hundreds of years in the future, and detailed the plan he had hatched with the help of the not-so-deceased Daniels. Now it was just a matter of getting themselves out of their locked rooms to enact the scheme.
“We could disengage the decoupling pins,” Mayweather suggested, speaking into the small panel beside his door.
[192] “It won’t work,” Trip’s voice came over the jury-rigged com. “We can only access the pins from outside our quarters.”
“So if we can’t pick the locks,” Mayweather replied. “What about the shafts that house the EPS conduits? They’re adjacent to the air ducts.”
“They were pretty much blocked off as the ship was completed,” Reed chimed in through the doorbell. “They’d be too tight a squeeze.”
“What’s your definition of too tight?” Trip’s voice asked.
“You or I couldn’t get through,” Reed said. “Maybe a child, or ...”
“... or Hoshi,” Trip suggested in unison with Reed.
“It’s possible,” Reed said. “But it would be difficult.”
“What do you say, Hoshi?” Trip asked the one silent member of the conversation. “You willing to give it a try?”
Hoshi stood in her quarters, a pale look of dread on her face. “Isn’t there some other way I could help? Something that needs translating? You know how claustrophobic I am.”
“There’s no one else who can get through those crawl-spaces,” Mayweather encouraged, hoping to bypass trying to soothe her fears. “Unless we can reach Crewman Neiman. She’s pretty small.”
“There’s no time,” T’Pol interrupted the unproductive discussion. “If this is going to work, we need to begin now. Ensign Sato?”
“How far would I have to go to get to the doctor’s quarters?” Hoshi asked, still concerned.
[193] “Forty meters,” T’Pol replied. “Maybe forty-five.”
“Then how far to Lieutenant Reed’s?” The ensign stalled while she worked up her courage.
“It’s not that far, Hoshi,” Trip said, trying to help calm her. “You can do it. We need you to do it.”
Hoshi looked up at the small vent that she would have to crawl through. She had been confronting her fears every day since stepping aboard Enterprise ten months ago. Most of them had been conquered as new situations arose. This was just one more to deal with and she knew there really was no other option.
“Fine,” she said. “But if I get stuck in there I expect you guys to tear the ship apart with your bare hands to get to me.”
“We promise,” Trip replied. She took a small comfort in hearing those words.
“Here I go,” she said with a sigh.
Hoshi grabbed her flashlight and slid a chair beneath the vent. Since she didn’t have anything slim enough to pry the grate open, she repeatedly banged the end of her flashlight against it until the metal buckled. She then grabbed the loose corner and pulled it away from the wall. The vent looked even smaller without the grate covering it. She dropped her flashlight inside before removing her uniform jacket and pulling herself up the wall.
The passageway was extremely narrow. It wasn’t exactly filthy, but it certainly wasn’t spit polish clean like the rest of the ship. A cooling breeze blew through the air duct, [194] keeping Hoshi’s cabin the same comfortable temperature as the entire ship. The beam from her flashlight was the only illumination in the small dark tunnel.
This is not going to be fun, she thought as she squeezed her way into the air duct.
Hoshi took several deep breaths as she tried to orient herself within the confined space. The metal pressed against her back and sides. The cool air was doing little to ease her rising claustrophobia. With a last calming breath she pulled her body forward on her elbows.
The air vent opened up a little as it deposited her into the shafts with the EPS conduits. But a real problem quickly arose. The smooth walls were gone, replaced by conduits of different lengths crisscrossing in every direction. Hoshi was able to move on her hands and knees, but she had to crawl over and around the conduit to continue forward. Her flashlight beam barely broke through the inky darkness.
We should install lighting in these things, she thought as she took several more deep breaths. It’s okay, Hoshi, only about twenty more meters to go.
Hoshi had to contort her body around a section of conduit. She was sweating freely as she wondered where the cool air had gone. Maybe it didn’t circulate through these shafts. Her body became more smudged with grease and dirt with the passing of each conduit. It was going to take an extremely long hot shower to make her feel clean again.
There was a noise coming from somewhere, a repetitive beat that was getting closer.
[195] Footsteps.
She paused, then carefully leaned forward to peek through a tiny opening in the conduit housing that allowed her to look down into the corridor below. The sound she had heard was indeed footsteps. Two armed Suliban walked directly beneath her as Hoshi held her breath and remained as still as her shaking body could. She listened until she heard footsteps fade away, and then waited a few moments more.
Once she was sure that it was clear, Hoshi continued along the tight ducts carrying on a silent conversation in her head to calm her nerves.
“Maybe a small child or Hoshi” can fit inside.
Great idea.
Wait, why not Porthos? He’s certainly smaller than me.
When I get out of this thing, I’m putting that damned dog through an intensive training program. And he can have all the cheese he wants!
She wiped the sweat from her brow as she fit her body through another tight passage. Her claustrophobia was beginning to overwhelm her, but she somehow managed to keep it in check. The entire crew is counting on you, she reminded herself as she made her way through the ducts, getting closer to Phlox’s quarters.
The good doctor was sitting at his desk, humming softly while working on the project that he had been given. He had pulled a pair of hyposprays from the emergency med-kit he kept in his quarters and was busy placing a couple tiny ampules into them. The work stopped when he heard [196] a bang from above that caused him to jump. He silently berated himself for being so tense and got up from his chair.
Phlox grabbed a small tool from his kit and pulled the chair he had been sitting on toward the center of the room and climbed up on it. He used the tool to pry off the grating of the small air vent built into his ceiling.
A hand reached through the open vent.
“Hoshi?” Phlox asked in a voice just slightly above a whisper.
“Good guess,” she replied, using her sarcasm to relieve some of the tension.
“How are you holding up?” the doctor asked with serious conc
ern for her well-being.
“Great,” Hoshi lied as she braced herself within her cramped quarters. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get this over with.”
Phlox handed her the hyposprays, giving her hand a little squeeze of encouragement. “Good luck.”
With great difficulty, she slid her arm beneath her body. Once she got it past the rib cage, she reached for her waist and pushed the hyposprays into the back pocket of her uniform pants. Her body was twisted in an unnatural shape.
I never knew I was such a contortionist. Maybe I can join a circus. She tried to make light of her serious situation to relieve some of the pressure. It wasn’t working.
It’s all up from here, she thought as she pulled herself [197] to a junction in the shafts. For once luck was on her side. The vertical tube that led up to B-deck was wide enough for her to maneuver through. Even better, the conduit was firmly attached to the walls in such a way that she could use it like rungs on a ladder and climb up to the higher deck. It only took a few minutes before she was back in the tight embrace of another one of the horizontal ducts. This one was in the ceiling above B-deck.
Hoshi crawled along the conduits, peering through gaps in the passageway to see into the corridors below. She stopped when she recognized an intersection and made a right turn, continuing with newfound resolve. I may not enjoy what I’m doing, she thought, but at least I think I know where I’m going.
She crawled along a few feet past the intersection and found what she had been looking for. Through another gap in the conduit, she could see the door to Reed’s quarters. Her final destination was only a meter away. However, that meter would require her to leave the tight confines of the conduits into the open and exposed corridor where any number of Suliban could stumble across her. From the frying pan into the fire.
Hoshi shined her flashlight on the conduits below her. I am never going to make it through that tight space, she thought. But she found strength in the combination of her overwhelming desire to get free of the claustrophobic space with the need to go on with the escape plan. Steeling her resolve, she took a deep breath and pulled her body forward.
[198] There was still a meter between her and the ceiling grate beneath the collection of conduit. Once she had passed the opening in the pipes, Hoshi slid her legs back down into the tight hole. They had managed to fit fairly well. Now it was just a matter of sliding past her hips and upper body. As she lowered her body, her worst nightmare suddenly came true. She was stuck.
Hard metal pressed against her hips as she tried to push past it. Her shallow breaths came quickly as her panic grew. She knew that if she didn’t calm herself, she would be in danger of hyperventilating.
Calm down, she ordered herself. You can do this. It’s only a matter of a meter.
Hoshi settled her breathing and expelled one last deep breath to constrict her rib cage. She gave one final push, sliding her torso past the tight confluence of metal. Both hands clutched onto the conduit above her as she continued to lower her body. The metal suddenly felt cooler against her skin as Hoshi realized that the material of her tank top was no longer between her and the conduit.
The shirt had been snagged in the same junction of conduits that had trapped her lower body. The cloth was riding up her back as she slid lower down through the opening. She tried to brace her legs against the walls, but the opening between the conduit and ceiling grate did not give her anything to press against. The shirt rose higher as she tried to twist her body to pull it free. Hoshi knew that she would have to release one of her hands [199] from its hold to remove the snag, but that could throw her off balance and send her crashing through the ceiling grate.
Not a very stealthy option, she thought.
The ensign paused for a second, trying to consider some logical way out of the situation, but there was only one she could think of. With a sigh of resignation, she continued to lower herself between the conduit as her shirt was torn away from her body.
Once through the mass of metals, she found her footing and peered out through the grate. The corridor below her was empty, but she could not be sure how long it would stay that way. Shirtless, she kicked her way through the grating and dropped into the hall below.
Hoshi hugged her arms against her body as she checked to confirm that no one had heard her. She was still alone. Good thing, she thought, because I’d never be able to explain to the Suliban what I’m doing out of my quarters topless. She stepped over to the door panel and worked the controls, typing in a complex series of commands to override the door lock. As Hoshi hit the final command, she covered her chest with her hands just in time to see the door to Reed’s quarters open.
Reed had been pacing, and she’d caught him mid-stride. She could see by the look on his face that he was quite shocked by her appearance. Dirty, sweaty, and half-naked, Hoshi was sure she must be quite a sight.
“Whatever you’re about to say,” she said, stepping into the room, “I don’t want to hear it. Just get me a shirt.”
[200] The lieutenant hesitated, not knowing whether to offer comfort or laugh. Once he regained his composure, he turned to his closet as Hoshi confirmed that no one was coming behind her.
“Here, try this,” he said, handing her a T-shirt. “It might be a bit big.”
“I’m not really picky,” she replied, waiting for him to turn away.
Reed paused for a moment, then realized his faux pas and averted his eyes. “Sorry,” he said, stepping into the bathroom to wet a washcloth for her. “How was it making your way through the ducts?”
“Tight,” she said as she pulled the shirt over her head. “How do you and Trip get any work done in there if something needs repairs?”
“Most of the tactical systems are fairly accessible,” he replied. “I don’t know how the commander gets done half the things that he needs to though.”
“You can look now,” she said once the shirt was on. “It would be a lot more convenient if there were some kind of access way built into the wall, you know.”
Reed handed her the washcloth. “That’s what Commander Jefferies back at the Starfleet Design Center kept insisting while the ship was being built. He’ll be pleased to hear that someone agrees with him.”
“It will be the first call I make when we get back in contact with home,” Hoshi said as she wiped the grime from her face. “Let’s get moving.”
The pair stepped back into the corridor. They wanted to [201] free half the crew, but knew that it was impossible to do that with all the Suliban stalking through the ship. Instead they focused on the plan and made their way to the other bridge officers on B-deck. They didn’t even want to risk a ride in the turbolift to get Mayweather until they had some more support on their side.
Chapter 20
Enterprise was as quiet as a tomb, which was just how the Suliban liked it. The pair of soldiers who had returned T’Pol to her quarters were walking their endless patrol of B-deck. The job was blissfully simple with the entire Enterprise crew locked safely in their quarters and the soldiers had settled into a relaxed stride as they moved through the corridors.
The routine patrol suddenly changed, however, when they rounded a corner and were surprised to find the Vulcan slumped on the floor far from her quarters. She was leaning against a bulkhead, apparently still dazed from the drugs Silik had given her to help with his questioning.
The soldiers glanced at each other as they silently placed blame for having been so careless as to forget to lock her door after they had left. Obviously one of them had to have made the careless oversight for the female to have been able to get out on her own. The soldiers drew their weapons and cautiously approached in case they had [203] actually locked the door and something else was afoot. One of the guards moved to a nearby intersection to confirm they were alone. He nodded to his partner indicating that neither Enterprise personnel nor Suliban officers were approaching.
“What are you doing?” the Suliban asked T’Pol.
Her h
ead lolled to the side while her face squinted up into the light. She didn’t even seem to notice they were standing above her. A soft moan escaped her lips.
“Stand up, Vulcan!” he commanded.
But she continued to ignore him, mumbling something incoherent to herself about the Vulcan Science Directorate.
“Up!” he insisted, wondering how she had managed to wander so far in this state and not be seen by one of the other patrols.
When she still refused to move, the soldier planted a swift kick into her side. There was no reaction.
He directed the other Suliban to pick her up. The soldier stepped away from the intersection and roughly grabbed her under the arms, hauling her to her feet. She began thrashing wildly, but she wasn’t trying to pull away from him. It was as if she had lost control of her own body. The Suliban was having trouble keeping hold of her.
His partner placed his weapon against her temple. “Stand up!” he insisted as he tried to keep the disrupter trained on her moving body.
T’Pol ignored the weapon as she continued to convulse.
The two Suliban looked at each other as if wondering what to do next. But before they could figure it out, Reed [204] and Trip dropped down from a pair of open panels in the ceiling. The Suliban were caught off guard and injected with sedatives from the hyposprays Phlox had loaded. The guards were unconscious before they could even use their weapons, their bodies slumped to the deck.
T’Pol suddenly regained her composure and stood up by her own volition. She grabbed the hyposprays from the Enterprise officers and the weapons from the Suliban soldiers. She then opened the door to Trip’s quarters so he and Reed could drag the unconscious bodies into the safe hiding place.
Hoshi was waiting for them in the engineers quarters still wearing Reed’s shirt. The officers deposited the Suliban inside, shoving them out of the way against the bulkhead.
“You certainly took your time,” T’Pol noted as she handed Trip a weapon. “He had this pressed against my forehead.”
STAR TREK: Enterprise - Shockwave Page 15
