THE BELLY OF THE BEAST by Dean Wesley Smith

Author:Dean Wesley Smith [Dean Wesley Smith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction/Fantasy
ISBN: 0-7434-1901-4
Publisher: Pocket Books.
Published: 2000-08-04T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

8

Gomez glanced around, her phaser drawn, as the transporter beam released them deep inside the Beast. Both Geordi and Lieutenant Vale had their phasers drawn as well. The room they had beamed into was large and well-lit, but not as plushly furnished as the upper decks. It looked to Gomez to be some sort of dining area. There were chairs and long tables, and some paintings attached to the walls.

“Clear,” Vale said.

Gomez and Geordi both put their phasers away.

“Looks like this ship had some economy-class passenger fares as well,” Geordi said.

“You didn’t expect all the rooms to look like those suites up in the rings, did you?” Gomez asked.

“Actually, I was hoping they would,” Geordi said.

“Always knew you were an unbridled optimist,” Gomez said, smiling at her old friend.

She glanced around and saw the entrance to what looked to be a sort of passenger lift. She had had some discussion with Corsi and Duffy about using the lifts, then decided to go ahead. She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea, but from what they could tell of the ship’s layout, the only other way up and down was to crawl through maintenance tubes. And she just didn’t want to do that for over forty decks.

“Da Vinci, can you hear me?” she asked, tapping her combadge.

“Loud and clear,” Captain Gold’s voice came back strong. “And we’re going to try to hold a computer lock on you for as long as we can.”

“Understood,” Gomez said. “We’ll stop and check in every ten decks.”

She turned and headed for the corridor leading to the lift they had planned to use. Geordi dropped in behind her, with the two Bynars following together, and Lieutenant Vale covering their flank.

At the lift, she touched a glowing red panel underneath a glowing green panel. Duffy’s team had figured out during the first insertion that on the lifts, the red meant down and the green up.

A moment later, the door slid open.

She didn’t want to step into that large, round lift, but she forced herself to.

Geordi followed easily, clearly not bothered, and the Bynars moved in and stood to one side without comment, but Vale looked as nervous about coming onboard as she felt.

“Stand in the opening for a moment,” Gomez said to Vale. “I want to make sure we know how to work this thing.”

Geordi moved over beside her, his tricorder out. She touched the upper part of the small computer panel on one side of the lift wall.

“Deck?” the computer voice asked.

“Sixty-five,” Gomez said.

Geordi nodded that it was working fine.

“Deck sixty-five,” the computer repeated. “Please stand clear of the door.”

Gomez motioned for Vale to move inside. As Vale did, the door slid closed.

Gomez glanced around. It didn’t seem as if the lift was working. Less than five seconds after the door had closed, it slid silently open again.

“Deck sixty-five,” the alien computer said.

Vale, looking confused, instantly drew her phaser and stepped back into the open doorway to make sure it stayed open, scanning the hallway in both directions.

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