Unseen Peril - Chapter 10

Unseen Peril

by Vanishingp2000

For disclaimer see Chapter 1.

~~~~~

Chapter 10

They made good time at first; using a scanner Reed was able to ensure they didn’t run into any entities on the way to the control room. Both were well aware of the need for speed but nothing was to be gained by being captured again. One day, Reed supposed, he’d have to ask Trip more about that. One day well into the future perhaps.

Reaching the door to the control room Tucker looked over at Reed. “Anything?” he whispered.

“All clear.”

Trip keyed the door lock quickly and entered the dimly lit room. Like the rest of the ship the surfaces felt clammy and cool. The rise in temperature initiated by the entities had been reversed some time ago. No doubt as soon as they had all been able to leave their ‘hosts’, he supposed grimly.

Quickly he wiped a layer of condensation from the console in front of him and began to activate the sensor alterations. Soon, he thought, the catwalk will look like the only hospitable area of the ship.

Reed was keeping an eye on the scanner and he suddenly turned and gestured to Trip to get down. Something was coming along the corridor, even as he watched, the movement stopped and the door slid open. Malcolm stared, aghast, at the nebulous mass that ‘swam’ towards them. It halted in the middle of the room and appeared to turn, its colour changing subtly as they watched.

Heart stopping moments passed before the ‘thing’ fluctuated one final time and left the control room. It was some further moments before either officer started breathing again.

“Well,” whispered Trip, “at least it doesn’t look at though it has internal sensors.” He smiled weakly. “I’m done here, next stop engineering.”

“How about we go through the access tunnels? “Reed suggested. “If they’ve started wandering about the ship it might be quicker and we could stop by the storage bay on the way.”

“Good point,” Tucker conceded. “How long have we been out?”

“Twelve minutes.” Malcolm looked at his friend, saying nothing, Trip could do the maths as well as he could. It would take them about eight minutes to reach engineering if they stopped for the oxygen but without it they would be out of air only a couple of minutes after getting there. Not enough time to do what was needed. That was supposing the oxygen cylinders were still operational. He shook off his thoughts, they were getting him nowhere.

Tucker had the access panel off for the tunnel and they crawled into it, putting the panel back as best they could.

Several times they had to stop to wait for entities to pass beneath the junctions and they eventually reached the storage bay an agonising seven minutes later. Already they were starting to feel a shortage of breath.

Tucker eased the panel off the tunnel as quietly as possible, trying to remain calm as each breath became harder, adding to the pressure in his chest. He peered carefully out into the storage bay. There was nothing on the scanner but now wasn’t the time to take chances.

It was empty. Quickly they crossed the room, avoiding the bulky containers seeking the oxygen cylinders, praying that they remained intact.

Reaching the storage locker they fumbled with heavy fingers with the lock before grasping, at last, the heavy, life giving cylinders. They barely had breath enough left to sigh with relief at the hiss of escaping oxygen and spent the next precious moments breathing deeply before finally fixing masks and backpacks in place.

“Good job we don’t have far to go,” Trip said glibly, trying to relieve a little of the tension they both felt, “don’t think we’d fit too well in the access tunnels like this.”

Malcolm smiled around the mask. “From here we’d do best to signal the Captain from access port 3 so that he can begin his distraction and let us get into engineering.”

Trip nodded, his face distorted by the breathing apparatus. He needed access to auxiliary control in order to firstly disable the warp reactor and then alter the atmospheric conditions, both in the ship and the catwalk. All told it should take about five minutes of uninterrupted work. Always assuming he got five minutes before being interrupted.

“Ready?” he asked, gesturing for Reed to precede him to the door.

Malcolm consulted the scanner again and moved out from behind the storage containers carefully. For the moment the corridor was empty. They made their way swiftly towards access port 3 from where they could enter engineering at the upper level. Twice they had to stop and squeeze as close to the wall as their bulky equipment would allow as Malcolm’s scanner picked up life readings in their vicinity. These heart stopping moments proved to be the only problems they encountered however and, barely five minutes after leaving the storage bay, they reached their destination.

Stopping outside the door to check the scanner again Reed froze momentarily then keyed the door override and signalled Trip inside. Tucker followed without question but raised his eyebrows at his friend once they were both inside with the door shut behind them.

“Entities approaching from both directions,” Malcolm breathed, showing Tucker the scans. Both men took up station on either side of the door but watched in relief as the entities moved slowly away.

“There seem to be a lot more of them,” Reed remarked.

Trip rubbed a hand over tired eyes. “Damned if I know how many I beamed up,” he said, “but they seemed to coalesce together as more arrived.”

“Well the sooner they ‘coalesce’ into the catwalk the happier I’ll be,” Malcolm was already getting out his communicator, ready to signal the captain. Tucker moved across to the door to engineering. He was under no illusions as to how much time he would have, looking at the scanner there were eighteen entities in engineering at present although they were all occupied on the lower level.

Reed moved over to join him, pocketing the communicator. “Captain’s ready,” he reported succinctly.” He’ll make contact in one minute.”

They stood in silence, counting the time off mentally. There was no guarantee that the captain’s ruse would work which was why Reed was going to go in alone to begin with. He didn’t have Trip’s expertise and had volunteered to be the decoy. Tucker hadn’t been keen on the idea but had reluctantly agreed, as it was tactically the best move available to them.

Exactly one minute later Reed made a small exclamation in his throat and held up the scanner. The entities were crowding more closely together around the plasma manifolds. “It looks like the Captain’s got their attention,” he muttered and reached up gingerly to open the door as quietly as possible. He squeezed through leaving Trip holding the door open to prevent any further noise. Silently he crept towards the railing bordering the upper gantry and looked over. He swallowed at the surreal sight below him. Entities crowded together, changing colours subtly, it was almost as if they were talking to each other. Perhaps they were, there was certainly a calculated intelligence to these beings.

Reed turned and beckoned to Tucker. The engineer entered silently, taking his time to push the door to rather than shutting it completely. As Reed continued to keep an eye on the intruders Trip went to the console to begin work. Within minutes he had everything ready to safely disable the warp reactor and he gave Reed a silent signal before implementing it. From now on there was no way that the entities could be unaware that someone was interfering with their plans.

They could still hear Archer’s voice in the background but overlying the voice of the captain came the whine of warp engines under extreme stress. This wasn’t the first time Trip had had to simulate a problem with the warp engines and he found he had learned from his previous experience. This time, although the results should be just as impressive the damage would be limited to only a few systems.

He forced himself to concentrate on the atmospheric adjustments, trusting Reed to watch his back. It was a simple matter to raise the temperature and lower the humidity throughout the ship, most specifically the catwalk. Thanks to his previous adjustments the entities should be completely unaware that the catwalk too was inhospitable for them.

Below them the alarms sounding the failure of the warp reactor had caused a flurry of activity among the entities who had dispersed rapidly. Unfortunately they were also heading their way. Trip was vaguely aware of Reed firing his phase pistol and he renewed his efforts. The temperature was rising rapidly and sweat ran down his face, raising his rate of breathing.

Suddenly he heard Reed cry out and risked a look behind him. The security officer was enveloped by an entity, writhing in its embrace. Trip ignored his initial instincts to help his friend and focussed on the panel. His fingers flew over the console even as he felt the first tendrils claim him. It was like being gripped in ice, burning cold in its intensity. Stubbornly he continued, fighting to input the final commands. He felt the mask being ripped from his face and fought for breath. He could no longer see Malcolm but he could hear him. His world had become a cacophony of sound and feeling, pain and dread. Dread that he might not complete the job, that his efforts were too little too late. Pain from the cold and the feeling of suffocation as the entity tightened its grip, enveloping him in its malevolence.

He slipped away and all was still.

TBC

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