Part 16 (1/2)

Data gently touched Picard's arm. ”Captain,” he murmured, ”those men are not locals.”

Picard frowned and stared at the figures. He could see nothing about them that differentiated them from the others, but he knew that Data must have his reasons for what he had said. ”Explain.”

”They do not have the same appearance as the local people, Captain,” Data said softly. ”There is a distinct trace of the hygiene chamber about them. They are wearing synthetic materials carefully crafted to look like local garb while being much more comfortable. Also, their body language is subtly different. They are more arrogant and self-a.s.sured.”

”Two members of the gang?”

”I am certain of it, Captain.”

Glancing around, Picard saw that everyone's attention was on the guards at the head of the stairs. ”Then I think we had better have a talk with those two gentlemen,” he suggested. He drifted across the ante-room, trying hard to appear inconspicuous. Data and Kirsch followed him. Neither of the two men looked up from their conversation until Picard grabbed the arm of the robed man. Before the man could say anything, Picard held his sword against the small of his back.

”Quietly,” he suggested. The man clamped his mouth shut. The black-robed figure stared at Data, who had apparently materialized from nowhere to fasten an iron grip on his arm. ”It's a bit too crowded out here,” Picard murmured. ”Shall we find somewhere a little more private where we can talk?”

Kirsch caught on and opened one of the doors to the main hall behind them. Picard and Data led their prisoners through and then Kirsch closed the door behind them. The brief kidnapping had pa.s.sed completely unnoticed by the guards.

”Who are you?” demanded Randolph. He tried to sound merely angry, but fear made his voice tremble. He and Hagan had been planning their escape from this world, and now this had to happen. ”If it's for money-”

”That's not the reason,” Picard said coldly. ”I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise. And I believe that you're two of the men my officers and I have been seeking.”

Randolph paled. ”The Enterprise?” he croaked. ”You mean ... it's still there?”

”What are you talking about?” Picard didn't like the sound of that one bit. ”Why wouldn't it be still there?”

”Shut up, you fool,” Hagan hissed. ”Don't tell them anything!”

Picard glanced at Data. ”Try your communicator,” he ordered. For the moment he was willing to allow Kirsch to see anything. He could be dealt with later. ”I want to know what's happening to my s.h.i.+p.”

Data tapped his brooch. ”Away team to Enterprise. Come in, Geordi.”

There was a howl of static, and then Geordi's faint reply. ”Signal ... poor,” the voice crackled. ”Can this wait? We're under attack right now.”

Picard slammed Randolph against the nearest wall. ”Start talking,” he ordered. ”What's happening to my s.h.i.+p?”

Chapter Twenty.

”I'M GETTING a very strange feeling about this place.”

Riker paused and looked at Deanna. She had an odd expression on her face. It was partly puzzlement and partly something else. ”How strange?” he asked her.

”Very strange.” Deanna ran her fingers along the wall of the corridor. ”I feel as if ... as if there are mice skittering about in the back of my mind. It's making my brain itch, Will. I've never felt anything quite like it.” She blinked hard, bringing herself back into focus with the pa.s.sageway. ”It must be something to do with the Preservers. It's like nothing I've ever felt before.”

”Is there a tunnel or something here?” asked Ro practically. ”Some way out for us?”

Deanna concentrated. ”No. I don't get a feeling of a way out. More like ... a way in.”

”Just what we need,” Ro muttered. ”We're in it right up to our necks already. I was rather hoping for a back exit or something.”

”There's much more here than you imagine,” Deanna told her. ”I get a tremendous feeling of power. There's a huge amount of untapped potential here. Stored mental energy. Records. All kinds of things.” She grabbed Riker's hands, elated as a child at Christmas. ”I feel very strongly that there's something here that's not quite dead.”

”Us, I hope,” Ro said.

”Besides us. There's ... No, it's not one of the Preservers.” Deanna face was almost glowing. ”It's a sort of afterimage of them. A sensation that one or more of them left a part of their being here. It's like a shard of gla.s.s, or a splinter of wood. It's not everything they are, but it's a part of everything they are. Will, we're on the verge of finding them. I know it!”

Ro jerked her finger back down the pa.s.sageway. ”And they're on the verge of finding us. Can't you hurry this up?”

”Shut up, Ensign,” Riker snapped. ”Deanna-where is this ... this splinter? Can you reach out and touch it?”

”It's very close.” Deanna closed her eyes, concentrating. ”It's so near, and yet ...” She was moving with her eyes shut, yet with confidence. She walked down the corridor, toward the wall at the end.

Ro looked back over her shoulder. The noise from the guardroom had increased. There was the sound of wood shattering, then the sound of human voices. ”Uh-I think they're through,” she announced.

Deanna didn't seem at all bothered by this. Instead, she kept on walking, her eyes closed. As she came closer to the wall at the end of the corridor, she laughed. Ro lunged for her, but Riker held her back.

”She's going to get one h.e.l.l of a b.u.mp,” Ro warned.

”I don't think so.” Riker eased his grip. He was as tense as Ro, but for very different reasons. ”Watch.”

With no sign of slowing down, Deanna walked directly up to the wall-then into it. She simply walked through it as if it wasn't there. Ro's eyes went wide.

”Come on.” Riker grabbed her arm and jerked her after him. She winced, expecting to be slammed into stones, but there was nothing in her way.

Volker smiled grimly as the barricade crashed down. The room beyond was empty. ”They must be farther in,” he said. ”Let's go.”

The duke stomped after Volker and his men as they ran through the guardroom, then into the cells beyond. His men slammed open each unlocked door as they pa.s.sed, but there was no sign of the missing prisoners. Volker picked up the pace. Astonis.h.i.+ngly, the duke managed to keep up with him.

They came to the long corridor that abruptly ended in a wall. Ahead, they saw Riker and the other woman, Ro. Hands joined, they simply walked into the far wall as if it were not there. Volker skidded to a halt, staring at the sight in shock.

The duke grabbed his arm. ”It's a trick of some kind,” he snapped. ”A secret pa.s.sage. Have your men find the key.”

”We'll see about it.” Volker walked down the pa.s.sageway. There was neither sign nor sound of the missing prisoners now. He had seen them walk into the wall with his own eyes. No door, or anything. They simply walked into the wall itself. He stopped a foot away from the stones. Were they, somehow, nothing more than an illusion? A trick of some kind?

Raising his sword, Volker rapped on the stones with the pommel. He expected to meet nothing there but air and smoke. Instead, the sword rang as it struck solid stone.

It was impossible! He had seen them with his own eyes walk through this wall as if there was nothing here. He slammed himseff against the wall, but it refused to give way. Stone met his flesh, and he fell back, his skin tingling with pain.

”It's witchcraft,” he whispered. ”It can be nothing else. I saw them walk into this wall-but it is solid. Solid!” He slammed his hands against the stones in fury. ”They must be witches!”

The duke hastily made the sign of the cross. The guards fell back a few paces, muttering to themselves. Volker struck at the wall with his sword but produced only sparks from his blade.

”It isn't possible!” he cried. ”What is happening here?”

”You were right, Captain Volker,” the duke said, his voice quivering. ”It must be magic. There is no other explanation. Is there?” He turned terrified eyes onto his captain of the guard. Volker merely shook his head, struck dumb.

”It must be Preserver technology,” Ro said, awe-struck, as they walked straight through the wall. ”There's no other explanation, is there?” She had somehow sensed the stones as she had pa.s.sed through them. They had seemed to be less real, somehow, than the projections on one of the s.h.i.+p's holodecks. At the same time they were also more real. It was as if she had somehow become out of phase with the wall, occupying the same s.p.a.ce without overlapping the structure of the stones. What scared her the most was the feeling that her mind could almost grasp how it was done.

Behind the wall there was only brightness. She could just about make out Deanna, who had turned back and was holding out her hands. Ro gripped one tightly. Riker took Deanna's other hand.