“Give or take ten million years,” Stevens quipped.
Gold scowled. “That’s a little too much coincidence for me to believe in.”
“I agree,” Tev said. It occurred to Gold that he’d never heard the Tellarite use that particular expression before. “The likely culprit is Project Ishtar itself.”
“You mean the force-field network is setting off quakes?” asked Gold.
Tev shook his head impatiently. “Only indirectly, by causing a precipitous change in air pressure at the surface datum.”
Gold rose from his chair and approached the science station. “How bad is it? Are any of the ground stations in harm’s way?”
Gomez consulted her sensors once again, then faced Gold, who felt a mounting sense of alarm as he watched her face suddenly drain of all color. “One of the lower-elevation ground stations is right in the path of the lava flow—and it’s going to be engulfed in less than two hours.”
“Two hours,” Gold repeated, allowing himself to feel relieved as he turned the information over in his mind. “That should give us enough time to evacuate.”
Gomez continued to look worried. “Maybe. As long as things don’t get any worse.”
A worm of apprehension turned in the pit of Gold’s stomach. “What do you mean? How much worse could it get?”
“I’m reading the mother of all volcanic eruptions letting loose right now under Alpha Regio. It might set off a domino effect that ends up repaving most of the planet’s surface—in the span of three or four hours.”
“I’ll start coordinating the evacuation plan,” Corsi said.
Gold nodded to his security chief. Oy. Looks like we might have arrived just in time for the half-billion-year barbecue.
He reopened the audio feed to Ishtar Station. “Pas, I think we have a huge problem on our hands….”
* * *
TO BE CONTINUED…
About the Authors
MICHAEL A. MARTIN, whose short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, is coauthor of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Section 31: Rogue; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Mission: Gamma Book 3: Cathedral; and Roswell: Skeletons in the Closet (all cowritten with Andy Mangels). Martin was the regular cowriter (also with Andy) of Marvel Comics’ monthly Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comic-book series, and has generated heaps of copy for Atlas Editions’ Star Trek Universe subscription card series. He has written for Star Trek Monthly, Dreamwatch, Grolier Books, WildStorm, Platinum Studios, and Gareth Stevens, Inc., for whom he has penned several World Almanac: Library of the States nonfiction books. Ishtar Rising is the third prose Star Trek story to bear his name. Martin and Mangels currently have several more collaborative projects in the works, including two Star Trek novels involving the crew of the U.S.S. Excelsior(including The Sundered, the first volume in the forthcoming Star Trek The Lost Era series), a couple of short stories for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Prophecy and Change and Star Trek: Tales of the Dominion War anthologies, and a pair of Roswell novels (titled Pursuit and Turnabout; both are set after the conclusion of that late, lamented television series). When not hunkered over a keyboard in his nigh-windowless basement, Martin reads voraciously, plots the revolution, and plays with his two wee bairns, James and William. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Jennifer J. Dottery, their aforementioned children, and a mortgage of galactic proportions.
* * *
ANDY MANGELS is the coauthor (with Michael A. Martin) of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Section 31: Rogue; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Mission: Gamma Book 3: Cathedral; Roswell: Skeletons in the Closet; and several more future Star Trek and Roswell projects. Flying solo, he is also the author of Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide, as well as the best-selling book Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters, plus Beyond Mulder & Scully: The Mysterious Characters of The X-Files and From Scream to Dawson’s Creek: The Phenomenal Career of Kevin Williamson. Mangels has written for The Hollywood Reporter, The Advocate, Just Out, Cinescape, Gauntlet, Dreamwatch, Sci-Fi Universe, SFX, Anime Invasion, Outweek, Frontiers, Portland Mercury, Comics Buyer’s Guide, and scores of other entertainment and lifestyle magazines. He has also written licensed material based on properties of Lucasfilm, Paramount, New Line Cinema, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Microsoft, Abrams-Gentile, and Platinum Studios. His comic-book work has been published by DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, WildStorm, Image, Innovation, WaRP Graphics, Topps, and others, and he was the editor of the award-winning Gay Comics anthology for eight years. He will be editing a new comic anthology, GAY, INK., in 2003. In what little spare time he has, he likes to country dance and collect uniforms and Wonder Woman memorabilia. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his longtime partner, Don Hood. Visit his Web site at www.andymangels.com.
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