Star Trek: The Captain's Table Book 5: Once Burned by Peter David

Author:Peter David
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek
Published: 2002-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

THE TUBE

IT'S AMAZING HOW SLOWLY yOU can move when you

want to go very, very quickly.

Keeping an eye on the time that it took to maneu-

ver in the weightlessness, even as I was being an-

chored by the magnetized boots, I felt as if it was

taking an achingly long time to get from point A to

point B. With my air supply ticking down as I went, it

wasn't as if I had a good deal of time to waste.

I was closer to the aft torpedo tube than I was the

forward, so that was obviously where I wanted to be.

The air was already becoming stale in my helmet, my

breathing more and more labored as I exerted myself.

I knew that the torpedo tube would be wide enough

for me to climb through, although it would be a fairly

tight fit, particularly with the LPEG suit. On the other

hand, I could remove the LPEG suit as soon as I was

inside the tube. There was air in the tube, after all...

naturally, because the far end of the tube opened up

directly into the Torpedo Bay Control. It's not as if

everyone at the TBC was in danger of being sucked

out into space or losing all their air every time we

launched one of the damned things.

The fact that the tube opened into the TBC was one

of my major problems. There were always two people

on station there, particularly during time of red alert.

The tube itself was thirty feet long, with the first

twenty-five or so sufficiently obscured by shadows and

such that they'd never see me coming. But the last five

feet were going to be the trickiest, because they'd see

me emerging from the tube and have enough time to

alert security as to my whereabouts.

First thing was first, though. Before I could worry

myself about what I would do upon emerging from

the torpedo, I had to get to the tube first.

Five minutes' worth of fresh air left, and the tubes

still seemed miles away. Four, and I was becoming

more light-headed. It was requiring greater and great-

er eff ort to maintain my focus. Three minutes, and

my magnetized feet felt as if iron weights had been

attached to them. I heard a buzzing in my helmet, a

distant voice, and it sounded like Kat Mueller, but I

couldn't be sure. I couldn't be sure of anything except

that I felt like lying down and taking a nap. Certainly

the rest of the distance could wait for a few minutes.

Just a few minutes more so that I could shut my eyes

and take it easy...

"Mac.t" came her urgent voice again, snapping me

momentarily out of my fog. I was tired, my lungs felt

so damned heavy. Kat's words were racing over me in

a torrent, something about a ship, but I wasn't paying

attention. I shut off the communications beacon to

my helmet because her voice had become so irritating

to me. Everything bothered me at that moment. I just

wanted the entire galaxy to go away and let me get

some sleep.

I could smell the burning.

It wasn't possible, of course. There was no way that

I could possibly smell the conflagration that had

consumed the world of Anzibar IV.

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