Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #5: Atlantis Station

by V. E. Mitchell

  “What’s happening?”

  “Earthquake!”

  “Where are the lights?”

  His classmates’ questions mixed together and overlapped. Geordi removed the helmet and fumbled for his VISOR. It wasn’t where he’d left it. He reached farther, trying to find it.

  It seemed like forever, but it was only a few seconds before his fingers closed around the familiar smoothness of the VISOR. It, had bounced to the back of the counter. With relief, Geordi slid it over his eyes.

  The room was still shaking. This was lasting a long time; even the biggest earthquakes didn’t usually last more than a minute. He wished he had started counting immediately when it began. Now it was too late. He had no idea how long it had been since the earthquake started.

  “Where are the lights?” Lissa asked.

  “Aren’t there any backup systems?” Todd demanded.

  They were all sweating, and everyone but T’Varien was breathing in quick, shallow gasps. What they were experiencing was known as fight or flight response. Geordi wished he wasn’t getting so much practical review for his Biology class.

  At that, the flight portion of the fight or flight response sounded like a good idea. No one here would have time for a group of cadets after that earthquake. The scientists would be far too busy doing their work. Geordi wasn’t as nervous as his classmates, but he was sure that was because he could still “see.” He would have felt much differently if he hadn’t found his VISOR.

  The lights came on slowly, flickering and dimming. Something is wrong, Geordi thought. The emergency lights should have gone on immediately. Instead, the secondary, battery-powered system had taken over two minutes to begin working.

  He looked for Cris to ask her what was happening. She wasn’t there. That shouldn’t surprise him, he supposed. They had been working with their remotes. There was no reason for her to be in the room all the time.

  Leilani tapped her communicator. “Computer, report status of station.” There was no response.

  Geordi tried his communicator with no better luck. He frowned, trying to remember what he knew about space-station design. He was sure that the construction engineers had used similar ideas to build this undersea dome. Most stations were made from separate modules. The computer and the power plant were in the central core. All the sections were linked by thick, flexible tubes that carried the electrical and computer cables. If the station’s hull started leaking, the tubes could be sealed. Pressure doors, like the ones Geordi had examined earlier, closed off the corridors.

  In theory, each section should be able to function independently in an emergency. They had battery power for lights and air circulation. Food and water weren’t a problem, because rescue teams could reach them in less than six hours.

  Geordi touched his rebreather again to reassure himself. Power and computer access had been cut off to their sector of the station, and he hoped that wasn’t where the leak was. However, it was a possibility they had to consider.

  A sharp jolt shook them. The floor heaved and tossed like a raft-on a choppy sea. The walls groaned, protesting the motion.

  The earthquake went on and on—thirty seconds, one minute, one minute and nineteen seconds. Even after it stopped, Geordi felt like he was still moving.

  “I want out of here!” Lissa’s voice cracked.

  “I believe we should make our way to the shuttle.” T’Varien sounded calm, but Geordi saw the telltale, jerky movements of her hands.

  Leilani tried her communicator again, but there was still no response. “I don’t like this,” she said, frowning.

  A siren wailed in the corridor. It held at full volume for over a minute.

  “Evacuation alert,” a man’s voice announced. “All personnel, proceed to the nearest docking port. This is not a drill.”

  “What do we do?” Lissa asked. “I don’t know where any of the docking ports are.”

  “I do.” Leilani’s voice was firm. She radiated confidence, although Geordi could see that she was nervous, too. “I think T’Varien is right. We should return to our shuttle.”

  Leilani walked to the door and tapped the control pad. It didn’t open. She waved her hand in front of the sensor. Nothing happened, even though the door should have opened. The safety systems were designed to get people out of damaged buildings.

  Geordi examined the door. It wasn’t a pressure door, which meant it wasn’t holding them here because the corridor was flooded. His VISOR should detect the sensor beams controlling the door, but he couldn’t see anything. The sensors weren’t working. “We’ve got to find the override panel,” he said.

  The clones began poking at the wall. “In most civilian stations—” Amray said.

  “—they hide the controls behind a plate—” Amril picked up the sentence.

  “—usually about eye level on the left side.”

  Todd snorted. “Whose eye level? How do we know how tall the person was who installed those controls?”

  “Oh! Of course!” That was the point, Geordi realized. Starfleet buildings were standardized. Knowing your way around one Starbase meant you knew your way around every Starbase. That made it easier for people to find things when they started a new assignment.

  With civilian buildings, visitors didn’t need to know where the access panels were. And Atlantis Station, in spite of the many Starfleet officers working there, was a civilian post.

  Amril and Amray hadn’t found the panel. Geordi crossed his fingers and guessed that it was high. His VISOR gave him an advantage, but it wasn’t helping much. Whoever had hidden the panel had done a thorough job.

  He had almost given up when he saw a faint line on the wall. Then he knew why finding the controls had been so hard. The cover was shielded to hide the heat produced by the circuits.

  Geordi was reaching for the panel when the floor began moving again. It shook harder and harder, throwing him off his feet. The emergency lights went out, plunging everything into blackness. The siren quit, its silence ominous and threatening.

  The room tilted and lurched, tossing Geordi about. Gasps and groans, accompanied by dull thuds, came from his classmates. The station creaked, groaned, and shrieked. Beyond the door, plastic shattered and crashed on the floor. Water splashed against the wall.

  We’re doomed, Geordi thought. He waited for the water to pour under the door. Nothing happened, although the station continued to bounce.

  Geordi pressed himself against the floor. He didn’t want to get hurt now. He wasn’t sure how they would get out of this mess, but he did know one thing—their chances were much better if they all could walk.

  CHAPTER

  8

  Finally the station quit shaking. Geordi pushed himself slowly to his knees. The floor tilted, no longer level.

  We’re in big trouble, he thought. Sweat trickled off his forehead, but he was also shivering. He touched his rebreather, making sure he still had it. It looked like they would need their emergency equipment.

  His classmates called to one another, asking who was hurt. Geordi ignored them. He was listening to the station noises. Each creak and groan had a story to tell.

  He knew the station was very strong. It had to be, since it was in a dangerous and unstable environment. However, they had just been through three major earthquakes. How much more shaking could the station withstand?

  “I want out of here,” Lissa said.

  “Everybody, stay calm,” Leilani ordered. “The rescue teams will be here soon.”

  Geordi looked toward her. His VISOR showed him her body temperature, and that told him she was lying. He looked for the others. Everyone seemed all right, except Ven.

  He crawled to the Andorian. Ven was unconscious. Like the rest of them, he had been bumped around a lot. His antennae were mashed against his head.

  Not broken, Geordi decided after checking them carefully. However, for Andorians, injuries to their antennae were serious. When he woke up, Ven was going to feel like the entire stati
on had fallen on his head.

  “Will someone look after Ven?” he asked. Amril and Amray were closest. They followed his voice to Ven’s side.

  “I do not think it is logical for us to remain here,” T’Varien said. “Given the severity of the earthquakes we just experienced, I believe we should obey the evacuation order.”

  “Honorable T’Varien is correct.” Yoshi sounded completely calm. “Samurai who does not save himself is unworthy to live.”

  “But we’re trapped in here,” Todd said. “We can’t get the door open.”

  “I think I know where the switch is.” Geordi crawled to the door. “I found the panel just before that last earthquake hit.”

  “Then get us out of here!”

  Finding the panel was harder with the power. off. Without the telltale heat readings, Geordi had to rely on his sense of touch. Even after it was opened he didn’t know the circuit layouts, and he had to guess where the switch was. It took several tries to find it.

  “I’ve got it,” he said. “Are we ready to go?”

  “We don’t know what will happen out there.” Lissa’s voice shook. “This may be the only safe place on the station.”

  “She has a point,” Todd said. “If we haven’t been rescued, maybe this is the only intact sector.”

  “I don’t think so,” Geordi said. “But those earthquakes may have shaken the station loose from its moorings.”

  “Earthquakes of that magnitude often cause landslides.” T’Varien sounded like she was thinking out loud. Geordi felt a moment’s surprise that her ideas agreed with his. “The rocks beneath the stations could have given way,” she concluded.

  “Then we’ll fall to the bottom of the ocean and they’ll never rescue us!” Lissa began crying. “Why did I ever want to live on a planet? Space stations are so much safer!”

  Geordi struggled to keep from laughing. Billions of people still believed space was too dangerous a place for humanoids to live. Lissa’s reaction put their situation into perspective.

  “I think T’Varien is right,” Leilani said. “However, the mooring cables are anchored into bedrock. We need to get to the shuttle before the cables break.”

  “What about everyone else?” Geordi asked. “Should we look for other survivors?”

  “We have to go through the research areas to get to the shuttle.” Leilani answered. “We’ll look for others on our way out.”

  “What about the research that people have been doing?” T’Varien asked. “If the station is destroyed, all the records will be lost.”

  “Not everything.” Leilani paused. “But a lot of today’s reports will be lost. Most people store their backup records in the main computer on the island, but some don’t update their files as often as they should.”

  Lose all that data? Geordi shuddered. The point of Atlantis Station’s work was to learn how to predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The earthquakes they had just been through showed how important that work was. They also proved that the scientists didn’t have all the answers.

  “Could we collect the data chips while we’re searching the labs for people?” he asked. “We won’t have time to get everything, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “I’m not going to waste my time on a bunch of stupid data chips,” Todd yelled. “I’m getting out of here!”

  “You are going to collect those chips,” Leilani ordered. “We all are. It takes five seconds to empty the main storage drawer. If you’re far enough into the room to make sure there’s no one inside.”

  “You can’t make me waste my time on data chips! I won’t do it.”

  “I rank you, Cadet Devereau. I will use the number of isolinear data chips you retrieve to decide whether you have checked the labs thoroughly for survivors. Is that clear?”

  After a long pause, Todd answered, “Yes, sir!”

  The others mumbled their agreement. Geordi didn’t think anyone liked the idea. He, too, would prefer to run straight for their shuttle. However, they had a duty to rescue any injured people and as much of the station’s data as they could.

  “Are we ready?” Leilani asked. “Let’s go.”

  Taking a deep breath, Geordi pulled the override. He hoped their guesses weren’t too far off the mark. What dangers waited for them on the other side of the door?

  The door crept open in short, unsteady jerks. Obviously, no one had tested the manual system since the station was built. Geordi held his breath, hoping the gears weren’t too gummed up.

  The door stopped halfway open, and he couldn’t budge it further. He glanced at the others. For most of them, the narrow opening wasn’t a problem. However Ven—who had regained consciousness—was still dizzy and confused. He leaned on Amril and Amray for support and they could barely keep him moving.

  Geordi gave the door another shove, but nothing happened. If the other doors were in similar shape, they would have trouble rescuing either the scientists or their data. Either way, they couldn’t stay here.

  “Let’s go,” he said. He squeezed through the opening. While he waited for the others to join him, he tried his communicator. There was still no response. Either no one was in range or the station shielded his transmissions too well.

  He looked around. A weak, battery-powered emergency light flickered at the end of the hall. The floor was littered with broken plastic from one of the fish tanks on the wall. The water and algae had splashed all over the floor, making it wet and slippery. Some of the dying plants gave off a faint greenish glow. Between that and the emergency lights, the others could see what they were doing. No other people were in sight.

  Geordi picked up a piece of the plastic, fingering the sharp edge. His VISOR showed him the residual stress patterns in the material, but it didn’t tell him which type of plastic it was. One of the newer ones, he guessed. They were often designed for specific jobs, especially in places where long exposure to metal was undesirable. He couldn’t think of any reason to keep the plastic, but it had a sharp edge. On impulse, he put it in his belt pack.

  Amril and Amray helped Ven through the lab’s door. They were the last ones out. The Andorian was very disoriented.

  Leilani examined Ven. “I think he’ll be all right,” she said. “We don’t have much choice about moving him.”

  “Like none,” Todd said. “I’m not going to wait here with him for the medical rescue team.”

  “That is unworthy thought, Honorable Todd. One should protect fallen comrades so they may rise to continue fighting. True samurai have no fear of death.” Yoshi seemed perfectly assured of his position.

  Todd glared at him. “If it’s all right with you, I’d rather get out of here before this thing falls off the mountainside.”

  As if to underline his words, the floor lurched sideways. The station bounced a couple of times, settling against its mooring cables. The walls groaned.

  “Let’s not argue,” Leilani said. “Geordi, Todd, and Yoshi—check the labs on the left side of the hall. T’Varien, Lissa, and I will get the labs on the right side. Amril and Amray—get Ven to the shuttle. Move it!”

  Geordi took the first door on his side of the corridor. A glowing red patch marked the emergency door release. He slapped the red spot, threw the cover aside, and pulled the lever. The door slid open easily.

  He entered the room. The counters held an incredible framework of pipes, tanks, and equipment. Most of the tanks had fallen to the floor and shattered. A few were still in place, filled with bizarre-looking sea animals.

  Farther into the room, Geordi stepped on something soft. His foot slid out from under him, and he landed on his rear—hard.

  It took a minute to catch his breath. Just beyond his foot was a palm-size white clam similar to the ones he had seen with his robot. He started to stand, and then he saw the body.

  The scientist had been old. Almost old enough to retire, Geordi thought. He was very, very dead.

  Fighting for control of his stomach, Geordi forced himself to his fee
t. With his head turned away from the body, he reached for the data storage rack. He dumped the data chips into his belt pouch and ran from the room.

  Much to his relief, the next four labs he checked were empty. He circled through each room quickly, grabbed the data chips, and hurried out. The station hadn’t moved again, but little creaks and groans reminded him that the structure could shift at any time.

  The last lab held another body. Even though the woman was much closer to his own age, Geordi didn’t react as much to her death. After making sure she was dead, he collected the data chips and left.

  The others were standing beside the pressure door that led to the next section. As he approached, Geordi felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. What were they waiting for? He couldn’t think of any good reason.

  “The controls are jammed,” T’Varien said. “I do not know the overrides for this model.”

  Geordi went up to the door. One glance at the telltales confirmed his worst fears. “It’s not jammed. The controls are on security lockout.” He turned and faced his classmates. “The next section is flooded.”

  CHAPTER

  9

  “We’re trapped!” Lissa’s voice shook. “I don’t want to die here!”

  T’Varien stared at her with blank incomprehension. “Hysteria is not logical. Your rebreather will provide sufficient oxygen until the rescue teams arrive.”

  Despite her level tone, T’Varien was shaking. Geordi thought she was almost as upset as Lissa. At least with T’Varien, Geordi could understand her reaction. Being surrounded by this much water must be affecting her. He could imagine her explanation: “Having so much water in one place is not logical.”

  Well, logical or not, they had to get through the flooded section. Waiting for the rescue team sounded less appealing by the minute. “Leilani,” he asked, “is there any way around this section?”

  She shook her head. “Not without going clear around the station’s rim. Usually, we could go through the central core, but it’s sealed off. That’s why the computer is down and the main power is off.”