Star Trek Starfleet Corps of Engineers - 61 - Progress (What's Past, Book 1) by Star Trek

Author:Star Trek
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781416520450
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2006-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter

10

Latik Kerjna, Drema IV

Bottom of Dilithium Mine Alpha

Day 2

Gold fiddled with the tricorder’s settings for the fiftieth time.

Thus far, all he’d been able to do was take a basic set of sensor readings on himself, Liankataka, and Kajana. He tried adjusting every setting he could think of, even briefly considering a multiphase pulse in an attempt to let those on the surface know they were still alive, but he didn’t want to risk inadvertently doing any more damage.

When he finally decided to stop and admit that the tricorder was going to serve them best as a light source—that was when he heard it.

“Hello?”

They weren’t alone.

At first Gold thought he was hallucinating, that he’d banged his head in the fall and the damage was just now surfacing, but when he got a look at Liankataka and Kajana in the faint light from the tricorder’s display, their reactions suggested that he wasn’t imagining things.

“Hello?” Gold called into the darkness. “Who else is down here?”

For a moment, the blanket of darkness that rested just outside the tiny glow from the tricorder display seemed to grow a little more oppressive. A rock fell somewhere in the distance.

Or was it right beside him? Not even the Doppler Effect seemed to be working properly. It was either that or his ears had blown out in the fall. In his mind, one was just as likely as the other.

A faint voice called out from the darkness. “Guardian?”

Liankataka tried to prop himself up with his arms. “Yes? Who’s there?”

There was a faint rustle that sounded almost like paper, and then, “Name’s Eijeth, sir.”

“Eijeth?” the Guardian replied, recognition in his voice. “Didn’t you get the evacuation signal?’

A pause, and then, “We did sir, but Kajkob here, he fell going up the shaft. Hurt his ankle something awful. It was slow going, so Jakara and I stopped to let him rest, but something exploded up top.”

“It was a bomb, Eijeth,” Liankataka said, putting on the most consoling—no, Gold realized, it was actually placating—tone possible. “The last gasp of the Exiles.”

“Exiles?” That seemed to panic the voice more than calm it. “Guardian, they’ve come back?”

“No, Eijeth,” Liankataka said, still trying to comfort the man with his voice. “No, they haven’t come back. They merely left a few things behind.”

“Scorched earth,” Gold absently said.

“What, Captain?”

Gold shook his head, not quite sure he wanted to believe how universal some concepts truly were. “It’s an old battle tactic that was also used on Earth centuries ago. Destroy anything useful to an invading enemy while you’re retreating from them: food, buildings, arable land. The idea was to keep the invading force from being able to set up shop comfortably. If they can’t even grow food, how can they enjoy the spoils of conquest?”

Something that sounded like a snort of derision came from the Guardian’s direction. “It’s the behavior of children, Captain. ‘If I can’t have it, they can’t either.’ Very juvenile. Not at all surprising. The Exiles were a very childlike people in many ways.”

“Aren’t we all, Guardian?” Gold asked.

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