Part 19 (1/2)
Gritting her teeth, Julia got off a shot. Through sheer luck, she hit the foremost of the lizard-beings, hurling him backward-and slowing down the ones in back of him. It was only then that her mystery man seemed to have a real chance.
Following up with another quick blast, Jean-Luc put his head down and turned on the afterburners. The ground sizzled and erupted in front of him and behind him, but he somehow managed to remain unscathed. And then, with a last-ditch effort, he dove for the doctor.
Not expecting to have to support his full weight, Julia fell backward-and thereby eluded the explosion of green destruction that slammed into the wall just behind her. As she regained her bearings, she realized that Jean-Luc had saved her life.
Hustling her back into the building, he thrust the door closed behind him and barked, ”Everyone get down!”
It was a voice used to being obeyed. Not surprisingly, everyone got down. Nor were they sorry they did, as a barrage of green energy stabbed through the facility, dissolving gla.s.s and metal alike-a barrage that would have killed several of the colonists if they had remained on their feet.
Taking hold of her face urgently but gently, Jean-Luc looked at her. ”Are you all right?” he rasped, still out of breath from his sprint across the plaza.
The doctor nodded. ”I'm fine,” she said, managing a grim smile. ”Now.”
He smiled back for a moment, then turned to Travers. The commodore's craggy features had softened a bit.
”I thought I had you figured out, Hill. The way I saw it, you sabotaged our long-range sensors to keep us from finding out about these lizard people. Then you took off into the desert to await their arrival.”
”Then I show up here,” said Dixon, ”and play hob with your theory. My apologies.”
Travers frowned. ”So? Are you going to tell me the truth about yourself or not?”
The visitor from the future looked wistful. ”Not,” he answered. ”But I will say this: I'm no traitor. I never had anything but good intentions toward you or your colony.”
The commodore sighed. ”I had a feeling you were going to avoid the issue.” He turned to Julia. ”How about you? Care to shed some light on our mystery guest?”
The doctor considered it for a moment. After all, it was possible that they would all die in this place. But what if they didn't? What if someone here survived to screw up the timestream?
She shook her head. ”No. You won't get anything out of me, either. In fact-”
Before she could finish her comment, another barrage cut through the air above them, sending a rain of debris down on their heads. Coughing, Julia dusted herself off and leaned close to her friend, as Travers inched nearer to the place where the window used to be. It gave the two of them a moment of relative privacy.
”Jean-Luc,” she whispered. ”Will you tell me something?”
His eyes found hers. ”If I can,” he responded.
The doctor licked her lips. ”You went to the trouble of saving the colony from a devastating accident-even risked your life in the process. And now, you've come back to make a stand here with us-again, at great risk.”
Her friend seemed to see where she was headed with this. ”Why would I have done any of that if the colony was destined to be wiped out? If at least some of your people were not meant to survive?”
He gazed at her with infinite kindness, with infinite sorrow and regret. And his hazel eyes told her all she needed to know.
Julia swallowed. So they really were doomed. They were all going to die; history had already decided that. But then ...
”Why did you come back?” she asked. ”If it wasn't going to accomplish anything ... what was the point?”
Jean-Luc shrugged. ”Perhaps it was because of something someone once told me-that there's no such thing as a meaningless sacrifice. That any positive act, no matter how hopeless or insignificant, is ultimately worthwhile.”
The doctor looked at him. ”Me? I said that?”
He nodded. ”It appears I have memorized it. I suppose it struck a chord.” There was a pause, as he turned away from her. ”Julia, I have done things in the last few days that I am not proud of. I have lied to people who trusted me. I have spent all my time planning ways to abandon you and your fellow colonists to your fate.
”And for what? So I could live. Oh, there are good reasons for me to do so-reasons that I cannot go into now. But what I planned to do can be done by others almost as well. I see now that I am not as essential to the future as I wished to believe. And without that justification, what was left?”
Julia did her best to understand. ”Is it so bad to want to survive?” she wondered.
Jean-Luc shook his head. ”No, of course not. However, there are worse things than dying.” He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. ”There is shame, for instance. And there is the loss of someone dear to you, when you haven't even put up a fight to try to keep her-as futile as that fight may be.”
The doctor could feel tears welling up in her eyes, and she willed them back. She wasn't going to cry, she resolved. She had been strong all her life. She wasn't going to falter right at the end.
”They're coming,” said Travers. He looked back at Julia and her friend. ”This might be a good time to lend a hand, Mr. Hill.”
”That's not my name,” Jean-Luc confessed to the commodore.
Travers shrugged. ”It's the name I'll always remember you by,” he said, keeping a straight face under his iron-gray brows.
Under different circ.u.mstances, Julia might have laughed at the gallows humor. As it was, she merely grasped her phaser more tightly and crawled forward next to her strange companion.
It seemed like a long time before they reached the neighboring node, guided through the darkness by their handheld light sources. In the meantime, the power surges hadn't gotten any worse. The lights went on dimly for two or three seconds at a time, or flickered brightly for an eyeblink and then died, but there was no sign of those flashes that ran the length of the walls like a herd of wild horses.
All in all, it seemed to Barclay, they had been lucky. He wondered how much longer their luck would hold out.
”There,” said Commander La Forge, pointing. ”That looks like the way to a control center.”
Following his superior's gesture, Barclay saw the mouth of an access tunnel, just like the one that led to the control room they'd left behind. He nodded. ”Let's give it a try, sir.”
The chief engineer hunched over first and led the way. As Barclay followed, he couldn't help but hurry through the little entranceway, reminded again of what had happened to Varley. He felt a lot better once he was actually inside the tunnel-despite the shadows that danced insanely all about them, projected on the walls by their light sources.
Even before Barclay reached the far end, where Commander La Forge was waiting for him, he could see that the equipment up ahead was pretty identical to that which they had been working on. It was a good sign-a good sign indeed.
”Come on,” said the commander, helping Barclay to his feet as he emerged. He kept his light trained on the opposite wall. ”Unless I miss my guess, that console over there is the one we're after.”
Barclay turned to look in the same direction. ”Aye, sir,” he decided, approaching the control bank in question with a critical eye. ”That should be it, all right.”
He touched one of the pads, expecting the thing to remain dormant-as lifeless as its counterpart back in the other control room, the first time he had checked it out. To his surprise, it came to life right away, its monitor displaying a quick scroll of alien characters.
Then it died.
Then it started up again.
”Something's loose,” judged La Forge. ”But the connection is there.”
”Seems that way,” agreed the thin man, starting to s.h.i.+mmy the cover off the console. If there was one thing he had learned in this place, it was that such casings came off rather easily. Nor was this one an exception.
The insides of the console looked familiar, too. And Barclay could see where the loose connection was. It would be a little tricky to secure it without exposing himself to an open circuit, but far from impossible.
”What a stroke of luck,” observed the chief engineer, obviously a.s.sessing the situation the same way Barclay had. He looked up. ”I've got to admit, I was a little pessimistic about this, but-”
Suddenly, the lights in the room went on, so brilliantly that the thin man was almost blinded by them. And then, just as he started to get used to the idea, they began to flicker erratically-complemented by a new deep-throated quality in the accompanying hum.
”d.a.m.n,” said La Forge. ”I should have known it was too good to be true.”