The Escape (8 page)

He clung to the seat edge, the thick old padding separating under the pressure of his fingers.

The hardest part was over. He was jumping three hundred thousand years to where a PlanetHopper ship was waiting. He'd get lost in the crowds and then figure out a way onto the PlanetHopper ship. The old ship lifted, then settled back down with a soft thump. He got out of his seat, picking bits of stuffing from his nails. If he got away from this ship, Control would never find him. He would be completely free. He stood beside the door ready to amble slowly down the ramp as if he belonged there. The door opened and the blast of cold, dry air hit him. He pulled his collar shut and moved forward.

The howl of a wind greeted him, blowing dust and sand into his eyes. He wiped his face, unease settling in his stomach. Normally, he heard the whir of ships, the dull murmur of conversation even before he stepped out the door.

Here only the wind greeted him.

They must have found a way to dampen sound. He walked down the ramp, and stopped halfway.

There were no people.

The transport buildings were nothing more than piles of rubble. 70 All the shuttles were parked in place.

And most of them were obviously too broken-down to ever be used. He was trapped in a future he didn't recognize. He glanced up, looking for the PlanetHoppers' ship, but he saw nothing above him except the gray overcast sky.

CAPTAIN JANEWAY CIRCLED AROUND THE BRIDGE ONCE, wishing she had more room to walk, to think. When she reached the captain's chair, she sat down and turned her own armchair console toward her.

"Mr. Tuvok," she said, "I want you to maintain a lock on that humanoid. I want to know each time he takes a breath. Mr. Paris, I want you to scan for any anomalies in the area.

Chakotay, see if you can find our away team underground, aboveground, or floating in the atmosphere. I want answers, people." She manipulated her console for answers on her own. The short flight of the ship disturbed her. She suspected that the ship was a mask for some other kind of transportation. Perhaps its small motion triggered a transporter or opened a hole underground. ell "Captain," Thkov said, "the humanoid has left the ship and is standing on the ramp. I do not know what its intentions are, nor do I know what kind of creature it is. It appears to be male: six feet, four inches tall, and not that significantly different from other humanoids. It does have eight digits on each hand. I would suspect that it has eight toes per foot as well." , "Keep me apprised, Mr. Tuvok," Janeway said. At the moment she didn't care if the man below had eight fingers or eighty-five.- She was just hoping he would lead her to her crew members.

"There are underground caverns, Captain," Chakotay said, "but they're in ruins. None of them provide a clear path to the surface. I've scanned them and found no life-forms. I suspect those underground caverns were once part of this society and collapsed over time." Janeway had already come to that conclusion on her own.

The ships on the surface were also empty. As far as her sensors showed, the single humanoid male who had arrived in the ship was the only living creature on Alcawell. "Captain," Paris said, a touch of excitement in his voice, "there art trace elements of chroniton particles around that ship." "Are you sure, Mr. Paris?" "Certain," he said. "They've slipped back in time." "How do you know that?" Janeway asked.

"It's their turn." Janeway ignored that last. She examined the small area near the ship with her console's sensors.

The 82 elements were there, but tiny. "Time travel? Mr.

Ilivok, is that logical? If this culture could travel in time, then why would everything be in ruins?" "Uncertain, Captain. We do not have enough data.," "Is it possible?" Janeway asked.

"Quite, Captain," Tuvok said. "Although we must rule out several possibilities, such as if the chroniton particles came from a source other than the ship itself." "Time travel would explain how that humanoid arrived in their ship so quickly," Paris said.

"Chakotay," Janeway said. "Any sign of our people?" "None," Chakotay said. "Not even trace signatures. They haven't been beamed anywhere and there are no other anomalies out there." "Mr. Thvok, is our friend moving?" "No, Captain. He has reached the base of the ramp and remained there." "Good." Janeway returned her console to its usual position. She stood, touched her hair to make sure all the strands were in place, and made a deep resigned sigh.

"Mr. Tuvok, get a transporter lock on our friend and beam him to security. Then join me there.

I want you to accompany us as well, Chakotay.

Mr. Paris, you have the bridge." She headed for the turbolift. That passenger would have answers. He would have to.

One minute he was standing on the deserted station, the next he was in a room done mostly in grays.

A bunk was attached to the wall. Three walls surrounded him. The room looked out on a large open area. More smaller rooms surrounded it.

Kjanders appreciated the warmth. He hadn't dressed for the chill of the planet.

He sat on the bunk with a sigh. Somehow the PlanetHoppers had transported him. Or someone had. Even though they weren't using booths, the feeling was the same, just slower.

He only hoped he hadn't been caught by Control. The bunk was a bit short for his large frame. Sitting on the edge brought his knees almost to his chest level. The mattress was soft, though, and covered with a blanket made from a material he didn't recognize. The colors in the area were mostly, grays and silvers, dull colors that belonged only in institutions.

They were leaving him alone here. He would have to find where to go on his own. He got up and walked to the center of the room. As he passed the two walls, a hot forcefield slapped his body. The field appeared only when he touched it.

A prisoner.

Control had found him.

Then a door he hadn't even seen hissed open.

A slender woman wearing a red and black uniform and two short men, one with dark skin and pointed ears, the other with a drawing on his forehead, hurried in. They all had small chins and wore their hair close to their skulls in a manner most unattractive (not even a tenth of a meter in height!). The red of their uniforms was dull and not even the dominant color.

He let out a small sigh of relief. They weren't 94 Control. He hadn't had to find the PlanetHopper ship. It had found him.

The woman approached the forcefield. The two men flanked her. Kjanders walked as close to the field as he could get and found himself looking down at all of them.

"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. Who are you and what have you done with my crew?" Kjanders gaped at her, then rethought his position.

Somehow he had expected the PlanetHoppers to be as glad to see him as he was to see them. But he was wrong. Of course he was wrong. He would have to convince them to let him stay.

I'm Kjanders. I'm-an engineer on Alcawell, Period Eighteighty-nine. I didn't do anything with your crew." The first lie came easily. He hoped he wouldn't have to do that too often.

"Period?" the man with the pointed ears asked. "I suppose that's confusing, since this is still Period Eighteighty-nine." Kjanders shook his head.

"Although it doesn't-seem that way." "At the moment, I am more concerned about the three missing members of my crew," the woman said. "They were in the ship you arrived in moments before you.

He couldn't lie too much. He would never be able to keep everything straight. That's what got him in trouble in the first place. "A tall woman with a big forehead, a child-sized man with too much short hair, and a man who looks something like that one?" Kjanders; nodded toward the man with the drawing. 85 "Something like," the woman said. Her voice was curt and businesslike. "I saw them before I got trapped in the ship," Kjanders said. "They got off and I went to examine it. It was so old-was "Off?" the woman snapped. "Off where?" "Three hundred thousand years ago. Still Period Eighteighty-nine, though. That was the problem.

Control got them. I'm sorry." "Control?" the woman said. "What is Control?" "The Time Control," Kjanders said. "Your crew committed an eighthundred violation. Control has to act in those cases." "Three hundred thousand years?" the man with the drawing murmured. "Explain this violation," the woman said, ignoring the man. "They traveled. intrapcriod. Strictly forbidden. A felony, actually." "If they traveled within a Period," the man with the strange ears said, "and you saw them and, as you say, that was Period Eighteighty-nine, and this is Period Eighteighty-nine, then you committed the same violation." For PlanetHoppers, these people were sharp. Kjanders nodded. "But it was accidental.. I just wanted to examine the ship. I'd never seen one so old$91 "It was accidental for them too," the woman said.

"Surely your Control will know that." "Control doesn't believe in accidents," Kjanders said. This wasn't going as well as he wanted. He had to shift their attention, and getting out of this prison might help. "Would you happen to have any food or drink? It has been some Real Time since I ate." "Mr. Tuvok," the woman said, "weapons")" The pointed-eared man shook his head. "Nothing that registers, Captain." "All right," the woman said. She clasped her hands behind her back. "Mr.

Kjanders, if we release you and take you to a communal area, I want your word that you will do nothing to us or our ship." "I wouldn't," he said, with honest shock. "I certainly don't want to go back down to the planet. It's empty." "That it is," the woman said. "I will leave you with Mr. Tuvok. He and security will take you to the officers' mess hall. Along the way I want you to figure out a way to explain the situation my crew is in, and ways that I can help them." "You can't help them," Kjanders said. "They're with Control." "Oh, I'll help them," the woman said. "The question is whether or not I do it with your cooperation." She turned to the man with the drawing.

"Chakotay, you're with me." Then she whirled and left, the man she called Chakotay following her. The Tuvok man remained. "You'd best cooperate with her," the Tuvok man said. "I gathered that," Kjanders said.

He took a deep breath. He had wanted adventure. And the adventure had definitely begun.

"Opinion, Commander?" Janeway asked as they stepped into the corridor. "He's not lying about the trouble the away team is in," Chakotay said.

"Three hundred thousand years. Captain, no starship has ever traveled back that far. We've been lucky to travel a few hundred years." Janeway did not want to think about the actual time distance. That was a problem she would worry about later. "I know, Chakotay. But those ships obviously have the capability to travel. I just want to know how." "If we show up and what he says about their laws is true, we'll be in the same kind of trouble that the away team is in." "I realize that," Janeway said. She walked to the turbolift and ordered it to the correct floor.

"I'll reserve judgment until I hear more about his people. What I want to know is your opinion of this man." Chakotay stopped beside her in the lift. He gave her one of his deep, soulful looks. She braced herself. His opinions were always accurate, and always worthwhile. "He's lying. Not about the important things, but about himself. I did not like his answer to Tuvok's question about the law violation." "I didn't either," Janeway said. "Is he dangerous?" Chakotay frowned. "Not that I can tell. I can't imagine someone traveling purposefully in time to an abandoned station without a weapon or some means of protection. That lends credence to his accident statement. But the fact that he, as an engineer, would get on a ship that took off unexpectedly doesn't ring true." "Exactly," Janeway said. The lift stopped and they got off. "Chakotay, I want you present while he eats. If you get a better sense of him, let me know. I don't want someone dangerous having free rein on my ship, but I also don't want to imprison someone unnecessarily." Chakotay nodded.

"I will join you in a few minutes," Janeway said. "I'm going to get Carey to study those ships from here. Now that we know, they can travel in time, I suspect figuring out how to use them will be easier.

Perhaps we'll have a solution of our own without help from this Kjanders person." "I hope so," Chakotay said. "Because I didn't like the sound of his "Control."" By the time Janeway arrived in the officers' mess Kjanders was already eating. He had a glass of synthale before him and one of Neelix's dishes obviously prepared by someone Neelix had taught.

Chakotay sat to one side of Kjanders, Tuvok to the other. A guard stood outside the door as well. If Kjanders wanted to try anything, he would have trouble accomplishing it. "Captain," Kjanders said, waving a forkful of red and green glop at her.

"Your friends Chakotay and Tavok were explaining the structure of this ship. On Alcawell we have not had a military structure in many Periods, but we have a bureaucracy. They assure me that this system is more efficient." "Tuvok." Janeway grinned at him as she sat down. "I thought Vulcans didn't lie." "Captain," Tuvok said, "I firmly believe that the Starfleet system is designed-was "I was kidding, Tuvok." Tuvok glared at her. Over the time he had spent in human company he had grown accustomed to dry humor-had even practiced some of it himself-but when situations became tense he reverted to taking every statement literally.

Janeway folded her hands on the table.

Kjanders's food smelled of Talaxian drige spice and broccoli. Her stomach growled. It had been a long time since she ate. It would probably be even longer until she got another chance. But she really didn't want to share any repast with a possible prisoner.

"No dinner, Captain?" Kjanders asked, eating the glop off his fork. She shook her head. "Please continue. I didn't mean to interrupt." "Well," Kjanders said, speaking around his food, "they were telling me about the ranking system here, and I was telling them about the bureaucracy, but I didn't mention how it came about. I was thinking that the best way to do what you asked, Captain, is to give you a brief history. Then, if I'm still not being clear, you could let me know and I could clarify as best I c$9.) "Fine," Janeway said. His history had better be short. She didn't want to spend precious time learning unimportant facts.