Copyright Marketa J. Zvelebil
Lieutenant Offer paced the cell like a wild Sadachbian amarrain in a small cage. Dr. McCoy followed his movements for a little while, before suggesting to the young lieutenant that he sat down.
"Doctor, we have got to get out of here!" exclaimed Offer restlessly.
"And how do you propose to do that exactly?" asked McCoy still observing the pacing Offer. "The walls are made of the same strong single-crystal structure the main building is. We are deep underground and if you get an inclination to walk through that field I'll have to pump you full of cordrazine just to get your heart beating again. So sit down!"
Reluctantly Offer obeyed and slumped down onto the cold crystal seat.
"That's better. I was getting mighty dizzy there. Now, let's think," McCoy drawled in his best southern accent. "We can't count on the Captain coming to our rescue, not with the ship disabled as it is. I want to get back to my patient, so as you rightly pointed out, lieutenant, we have to get out. The question is how do we trick that guard outside to, switch that deadly field off?" As Dr. McCoy was talking he rummaged in his medical emergency kit that had not been removed by their captors. Lieutenant Offer was now the one who regarded McCoy.
"Hmm...Aha! Here we may have the key to the door, so to speak, and the solution to the guard," he quietly exclaimed, while laying three hypos on the bench next to him, after changing the settings on each one of them. "Of course, I'll have to be pretty good at juggling with these and not get them confused," he went on, half to himself.
Offer gazed at the hypos with a mixture of hope and distrust. He got the unpleasant feeling that he was about to play a role in this escape that he would not enjoy very much. He hated hypos, even though they were supposed to be painless. Well, they were not.
"Come here, lieutenant," McCoy said.
"Why?" asked Offer suspiciously.
McCoy now looked up from studying his arrangement of hypos and noticed the lieutenant's reticence.
"Because I am going to give you something that will make it look as if you have gone utterly mad." He saw the panic on the other man's face. "Now, don't you worry, son. You won't be aware of anything and as soon as the guard is anaesthetised, I'll give you the antidote." McCoy did not mention the somewhat unpleasant side effects of this drug when given in excess: the very same side effects that would make lieutenant Offer indeed look like a dangerous raving lunatic. Uncomfortable, but relatively harmless, and rapidly reversible with the antidote he had already prepared.
He looked at the lieutenant, who had stubbornly stayed where he was. McCoy put his best "country doctor" face on, crooked his finger and with a beckoning motion gestured Offer to come and sit next to him. "Do I have to chase you round the cell? That might look a bit suspicious to the guard. Believe me it is the only chance we have of getting out," he coaxed him. "Unless you've got a better idea...hmm...?"
Offer gave a deep sigh and muttered something about the suffering inflicted upon the lower ranks by the senior officers, but moved to sit next to McCoy.
"Now just relax, this won't hurt a bit." said McCoy with practised ease and quickly pushed one of the three hypos against Offer's shoulder. There was a long hiss, while the lieutenant grimaced.
"Now what?" Offer asked massaging his shoulder.
"Just relax and wait a bit." McCoy cleaned the hypo and stuck it back into his kit. Then he looked at Offer, whose pupils were beginning to dilate, his breathing was becoming rapid and there was frothing at the mouth. McCoy felt sorry for what he had to inflict upon the young lieutenant, but he got ready for the next phase of his plan. Suddenly Offer got up and started shouting like mad for water. His howls intensified in volume. McCoy's heart constricted, knowing the discomfort the lieutenant was feeling. But it was having the desired effect. The startled K'S'vait guard looked into the cell.
"He needs water! Quickly! He is suffering from Hyperaquapsycosis and will die if he does not get water!" McCoy shouted at the guard, the Latin name of a fabricated disease rolling easily of his tongue. For a while the guard was indecisive, but another ear-splitting yell from Offer, who was now rolling on the floor, at last impressed the guard.
"Stand away!" he ordered McCoy. He took a jug of what looked like water from a nearby table. McCoy moved into position, hypo hidden but ready. The guard hesitated, but the groaning intermingled with shouts and cries were starting to worry the K'S'vait guard considerably, who was under strict orders to keep the valuable hostages alive and well. Normally, there would have been at least another guard on duty with him, but the unrest on the streets meant that he was alone. Lieutenant Offer let out another ear-splitting scream and the guard was at the controls, shutting off the energy field. The moment he stepped through, McCoy jumped at the guard and stuck the hissing instrument against the taller man's neck with all his might. A look of utter surprise crossed the face of the guard before he swayed and fell heavily to the ground. 'That was quick, have I given him too much?' thought McCoy as he rushed to Offer with his third hypo. He took hold of the panicked lieutenant and injected him with the antidote. Offer relaxed immediately and fell into McCoy's waiting arms. His breathing calmed down. McCoy wiped the face of the lieutenant clean with an antiseptic wipe and waited. A few moments later Offer opened his eyes and looked with surprise at the face bending over him.
"How do you feel?"
"Uh...OK...I think... bit disorientated. What happened?"
McCoy pointed to the guard on the floor and the open entrance. "It worked," he said and continued: "If you are up to it we better leave."
Offer got up shakily. "Let's go." and walked to the exit on wobbly feet. 'What had McCoy given him?' he wondered as he tugged at his sweat-drenched uniform.
They made their way carefully to the lift. There were no other guards visible. Only row upon row of cells, all empty. The lift was still at their floor, the open doors inviting them in.
"Where do we ask it to go?" inquired Offer .
"Let's try and hit the top button," McCoy suggested.
"Right."
Lieutenant Offer lightly touched the top most finger-pad. The lift door closed with a fast snap and the lift itself proceeded to shoot upwards at such a speed that McCoy though he would be pushed though the floor of the lift.
At last it stopped, and the doors flew open. Gingerly the two men stepped out. "I do believe I am a few centimetres shorter after that ride," murmured McCoy.
They found themselves in a little translucent dome that sat on top of the main building. The view from this place was stunning. For the first time they could see the full beauty of the domed citadel spread before them. All the transparent domed structures were connected with colourful glass-like domed walk-ways located some way from the ground. It gave an impression of a city of glass floating in space, reflecting the sunshine in a splendid display of coloured rays.
"It is beautiful!" gasped Offer.
"It is. But look at the streets, that is not very beautiful," said McCoy grimly and pointed below, where the violence that had began earlier was still spreading. Suddenly lieutenant Offer gasped. McCoy turned round and followed Offer's gaze. There, in a small fully transparent dome, sat a large K'S'vait. McCoy cautiously approached the dome. In the dome, within a barely perceptible stasis-field, was a fully clothed preserved body. The dome was adorned with a glittering plaque with text engraved on it in a number of languages. One was Basic.
"Here sits the Master, watching our every move," McCoy read aloud. "Charming," he then commented dryly.
"There is no way out of here," said Offer, who had been examining the room. "Only the lift."
"Well, let's try one floor down."
When McCoy and Offer returned to the lift, however, they found the door firmly shut and the lift gone. "Damn!" exclaimed the doctor, angry with himself for allowing this to happen. Quite unexpectedly the lift returned and the door opened to deposit a Romulan looking humanoid accompanied by four very Klingon-like men. "Welcome, Dr. McCoy and Lieutenant Offer," the Romulan said pleasantly and extended his hand in a formal greeting. "Allow me to introduce myself - I am called Rakholt, and for the time being I am in command of this area," he smiled a thin tight smile. "Please do be my guests."
"Guests or hostages?" asked McCoy directly.
"We are freedom fighters, doctor, we do not take hostages," Rakholt said trying to sound shocked at the very idea and quickly continued: "You are a medical man, I would very much appreciate if you would accompany my men to one of the factories that are inhabited by the 'Unfortunate-ones' and gave them some relief from their suffering."
"Unfortunate-ones?" McCoy, who had not seen the transmission, inquired.
"The ones who are malformed at birth and are used as cheap labour in the crystal mines and factories. They are in dire need of medical help and protection," explained Rakholt when he realized that both McCoy and Offer were among the few who had missed seeing his vid-recording.
A silence descended upon the small gathering. McCoy found it always hard to refuse a request for medical help. He had suspected that the genetically diseased K'S'vaits, which K'L'trok unwillingly mentioned, would not be well cared for. But he did not trust the Romulan. He saw that lieutenant Offer would have liked to decline Rakholt's request. "Can we have our communicators back, if we go?" he asked at last.
"Communicators? But of course." Rakholt turned to one of his men and said something very quickly in K'S'vathese. "Kiron will get them for you. If you would be so kind as to accompany Ktah, Klas, and Kratin now." He indicated each of the remaining men with his hand.
McCoy and Offer exchanged glances. They really didn't have much choice. The Klingon-like K'S'vaits were well armed and there was no other way out of the little dome.
"We would be delighted," remarked McCoy sarcastically.
----
On the Bridge of the Enterprise Kirk waited impatiently for the screen to clear for communications with the being that called himself Rakholt. The Captain had been informed by Uhura of the meaning of Rakholt in the Rihansu language. He had strong suspicions that this was the man behind the tape that his navigator had sent planet-wide. He had ordered security to bring LaPierre to the Bridge and hoped that she would arrive before transmission began. He wanted to observe her closely when this Rakholt came in view. The lift doors hissed open and LaPiere, flanked by two security guards, was brought to the Bridge at the same time the screen cleared and a handsome Romulan face appeared. Jim couldn't have hoped for better timing and an even better reaction from LaPierre.
"Rakholt!" she gasped before she could stop herself.
The Romulan seemed not to have heard.