The Escape Read Free Page B

conclusion?" Janeway asked.
    "I have no conclusion," Tuvok said. "But it is possible that the owners of the ships and the inhabitants of the ruins may not be one and the same." Janeway nodded.
    She paused a moment, then made a decision. She again tapped her comm badge. "B'Elanna, I would like you to study one of the ships firsthand." "Aye, aye, Captain." B'Elanna sounded eager. Janeway smiled. She envied the Engineer her mobility. Janeway herself would have loved to be the first to visit Alcawell.
    She turned to Ensign Kim. "Find Neelix.
    I want the two of you to join her." Beside her Chakotay nodded at her choice of away team in agreement. Kim would keep Torres level.
    Neelix would go along for local information in case they found anything on the old ships he might recognize. Kim headed across the bridge for the door. He too clearly felt the same excitement. If this station was a's promising as it looked, they might discover some new technology to help them find a way home. Or clearly at least give them the raw materials to make repairs. "And Mr. Kim." He stopped and turned to face her. "Yes, CaptainThat' "Your job is to guard her back while she works and keep Neelix out of trouble.
    Understand?" He smiled slightly. "Understood, Captain." Janeway said to Tuvok, "You have five minutes to search that haystack down there for a working ship. I Is want you to be ready to send them to that ship when they gather in the transporter room." Then she turned back to stare at the viewscreen.
    Ships, parked in neat rows, extended beyond visible range. Thousands and thousands of ships. "They're never going to believe this when we get home," she said.
    THE TRANSPORTER DROPPED THEM ON A HARD, CONCRETE-LIKE surface near the south edge of the Station. Cold wind cut at B'Elanna's uniform and bits of sand nipped her face. The air smelled stale, and her mouth dried almost instantly from the total lack of humidity. The entire place had a feeling of age and death that chilled her far more than did the biting wind.
    She glanced quickly around, then just stopped and stared at the parked ships in complete amazement. One after another, side by side, the ships stretched into the distance like images in facing mirrors. At first glance they all seemed to be exactly the same, and she could tell from the dozens that towered around them that they were very, very old. Some had weathered the 21 years better than others in the constant wind and sand. To her left one had tipped slightly where its short, stemlike landing gear had given way. When fully upright, the ships were held about four meters above the ground on tripod legs. A fairly gentle-sloped ramp extended down from the center of each ship like a giant tongue. They'd have no problems getting inside the ships, because they were all standing open. She looked slowly around, studying the wrecks. One ship had a small hole in its side that looked as if something inside had exploded and ruptured the gray hull. But all in all the ships had lasted much, much better than the ruins of a building a hundred meters away. She couldn't tell for sure, but she thought she could see faint markings on the concrete surface scoured by the years of sand. The markings seemed to lead from the bottom of each ship's ramp toward the building.
    The view from Voyager had given her a sense of scale for the station itself, but not for the ships. Each ship was about two times larger than a Federation shuttlecraft. They were like slightly flattened round balls. Even on their short legs they towered over her. The landing legs alone were twice her width, yet under the weight of the ships they looked thin. She did a slow, full circle turn just taking in the ships that hung precariously above and around her and stretched off into the distance in all directions. Large alien machinery, toppling under the pressure of time and wind, in a very alien setting.
    Drifts of sand had formed around the bases of a few of the nearby ships and the ramps