"Triskelion? Why does that name sound vaguely familiar?" Chakotay scratched his chin as he mulled the name over in his memory.
"It sounded rather familiar to me too... Maybe we should have done some research in the computer databanks before we all came down here," said Janeway, poking at a tray of exotic-looking fruit in one of the many stands selling goods in the huge bazaar. "Will you look at this? I wonder what THIS could taste like..."
Chakotay smiled. "I'm sure Neelix will have cooked it seven different ways before we even get back to Voyager, whatever it is..."
The day was almost painfully brilliant. They strolled together past stand after stand of merchandise, looking curiously at all the different alien races that walked past them. The air was thick with the sound of bartering and bargaining in many languages, shouting and laughter, conversation, games of chance...
"This really seems to be a stopping point for a lot of ships..."
A huge fierce-looking alien with a vividly scarred face pushed past Chakotay in the aisle after bumping roughly into his right side. The blow had pushed the handgrip of the phaser rifle the Voyager's First Officer was carrying slung over his shoulder deep into his own forearm. "Mmmmm," said Chakotay, deep in his throat, turning to look after the clumsy alien with mild annoyance. "Some of them should just keep going and not stop." He rubbed his arm and sighed.
"Never mind, he probably didn't even notice you."
"Good thing I'm a quiet, peace-loving sort of guy."
Janeway laughed at the wry look on his face and put her hand on his sore forearm. "Right! And good thing I'm here with you to keep you that way! At ease, Commander!"
They walked further along in the marketplace, enjoying the warm sun and the beautiful day, and one another's company.
"It sounds like the crew enjoyed their shore leave here, even though it was awfully short... Too bad we have to leave so soon, but we have to re-supply, and this planet just doesn't meet all our needs..."
Chakotay nodded. "Tuvok said that most of the crew were already back."
"Good. Well, we won't be long behind them."
"I wonder what that is?..."
Janeway turned to look in the direction of her First Officer's gaze.The bazaar occupied a narrow valley between two lines of steep hills, and continued as far as her eye could see. Set into the hillside itself, nearly opposite where they stood, was a large opening with a dark canopy over it. A sign to one side of the entrance in many different languages, including poorly-scrawled English at the bottom, proclaimed it to be: "Laby-rynth".
"A labyrinth? Like a maze, I wonder?" She rubbed her chin and looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes. "I was always good at those as a child - my friends got terribly lost, but I didn't. I was always the first one to find the way out."
"Ah, the perfect talent for a starship captain to have... Want to take a look?" Chakotay already knew the answer.
Janeway had already started towards the dark canopy. "Yes!"
As soon as they entered and paused for a moment to let their eyes adjust from the blinding sunshine to the gloom of the cavernous entrance, Janeway could smell the dank air coming from far underground. It smelled of dampness, and mold, and rock that had never seen natural light. Chakotay wrinkled his nose. "Ugh, what a stale smell. Like death."
"Maybe not death, maybe just a cave sort of smell... maybe the labyrinth is actually a series of caves! I went spelunking a few times back on Earth, I loved it, being deep inside the ground, so quiet and still..."
"No thanks, Kathryn... I like my air fresh, and moving, and I like being up in it whenever possible."
"Spoken like a true pilot, Chakotay", she smiled. "But let's take a little look around, shall we? Just a few minutes, I promise, then we'll beam up..."
He sighed. How could he say no to that twinkle, even though the place was giving him the creeps?... "All right, Madame Explorer. A few minutes. Just don't get us lost."
"SSSSSSSo you wisssshhh to visssit laby-rynth ssssss?"
The hissing voice made both of them jump involuntarily; neither had noticed the figure standing in the shadows close to them. Both Janeway and Chakotay stared as the being came out into the dim light cast by many flickering torches hung around the perimeter of the entrance cave, torches that burned an eerie green. Its body was of vaguely human proportion, but its narrow face was clearly reptilian, with heavily lidded yellow eyes and a protruding snout, from the upper jaw of which protruded two long fangs.
Janeway recovered her voice first. "Are you the keeper of this place?"
"Yessssssssss. Keeeeper ssssss"
"May we look around? We won't be long."
"Yesssssssssssssss..."
They moved away from the alien, Chakotay looking back several times, clearly not comfortable with what he saw. "I wonder if that is the planet's native species. It certainly would make sense in a barren desert like this."
"SSSSSsssssssswait pleasssssse for thissssssss" said their host, turning toward a cabinet set into the rock wall. "Mussssssst have sssspresentsssss for lovely ladyssssssss..." From the folds of its long brown robes came two arms with five scaly fingers, inch-long claws at the end of each. It opened the cabinet, and from a number of small drawers inside chose a tiny vial hanging at the end of a golden chain. After carefully removing the stopper from the top of the vial and sniffing gently through slits on either side of its snout, the alien being approached them and stopped before Janeway, looking intently at her.
She took a quick deep breath, eyes meeting Chakotay's briefly, then met the gaze of the alien. After regarding her a few more moments, it again removed the stopper from the vial and passed it under her nose.
"Ssssssssssmell, you will likessssssss..."
Janeway looked at the being, then at the vial, wariness showing clearly on her face. "Well, no, thank you, but I don't really think ..." Then, suddenly, as the aroma wafted towards her, her eyes widened. "Oh my! That's incredible! That's heavenly! I don't think I've ever smelled a more lovely scent! Chakotay, you must take a whiff!" She took his arm and pulled him nearer to the being, who was still holding the vial and stopper in his outstretched claws.
"Uh, no, Kathryn, I don't think I really need to..." Then the aroma reached Chakotay's nose. "Oh. Ah, that IS nice. Yes. Reminds me of the scent my, uh, my mother wore when I was a child. Interesting." He inhaled again, bemused by the familiarity of the scent.
"That's funny - I was just thinking that it smelled just like the passion flowers on the vine my mother grew near her kitchen window. You could smell it all over the house at night, it was wonderful..." How clearly Janeway could see that house just then. Chakotay smiled at her recollection, then wondered if his mother's scent could have come from the same flower, so far away in another part of the galaxy.
"SSSSSSSSsssssspleasssseee take, for yousssssssssss." The being held the vial toward Janeway.
"Oh no, I couldn't. Thank you so very much, but we haven't any money. I couldn't, really."
"SSSSssssssno money, no pricesssss... gift for thissssss lovelyssssssss"... Before she could protest again, it moved toward her and grasped her wrist in its clawed fingers. Chakotay moved quickly to intercede, one hand on his phaser, but she stopped him with her other hand. The alien put the open vial to the inside of her wrist and let several drops of the pearly liquid fall on her pulse point. With one scaly fingertip it gently rubbed the scent into her wrist. She breathed the aroma deeply again, and the alien repeated the application on her other wrist. Then, using the vial's stopper, the alien touched the scent to both her temples. Chakotay watched as she closed her eyes and sighed, still uneasy at the entire proceeding but not really knowing why he should be.
And was the alien - smiling? A forked tongue appeared briefly at its snout, flicked and then disappeared again. It replaced the stopper on the vial, and gently passed the chain over her head and hung it around Janeway's neck. "SSSSSSlovelyssssss."
"Thank you, you're very kind. Now, may we look around for a short time?"
The alien gestured toward another chamber leading off the lobby where they stood, more torchlight flickering in some unseen niche, and bowed his head, then turned away and disappeared back into the shadows.
Chakotay turned back to Janeway. "That made me very uncomfortable. Who knows what that stuff might have been, Kathryn!?" Pulling the tricorder from his belt, he passed it over her, studying it intently, looking at her sternly.
She smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, Chakotay. Thank you for worrying. It's just a lovely perfume, and I really like it."
He watched the readings on the tricorder for a few more seconds, but saw nothing more alarming than a slightly elevated body temperature, then replaced the instrument on his belt with a loud breath. He still radiated disapproval, and she laughed. "Let's go."
As they passed into the first chamber of the labyrinth, it was Janeway's tricorder that beeped and blinked. "Yes, I was right, there is a whole series of caves that wind around and branch off one another, going deeper, then it looks like there are several possible exits. Readings are a bit unclear past that, must be some interference somewhere..."
"Maybe we'll see some stalagmites and stalagtites, or mineral deposits of some kind. What fun!" And off she strode, with the still-uneasy Chakotay turning to look behind them, his eyes watchful. He hurried to catch up with his enthusiastic captain, who was pulling away from him, heading further into the labyrinth.
II
"Kathryn, haven't we gone far enough? There hasn't been much to see so far, and you did say just a short time..."
It had been nearly an hour, and Janeway had kept ahead of him, striding purposefully and checking her tricorder every few minutes, a glint in her eyes, lost in the challenge of mapping out her strategy to defeat the maze.
"Yes, yes, but I'm sure there'll be some stalagtites or something in one of these chambers... I'm getting awfully warm, though, aren't you?" She quickly shed her uniform jacket, then her tunic, laying them on the ground and pinning her com badge to her sleeveless undershirt. "I'll pick these up on the way back."
"But what if we don't come back the same way?"
"Oh, I don't care, what does it matter? It's only cloth! Who cares?!" Her voice had grown louder and more boistrous as they had gone deeper into the caves. Her face was looking a bit flushed, Chakotay thought to himself, and he could see tiny beads of sweat on her upper lip. Then with another look of total concentration at her tricorder, she pushed past him and continued down the tunnel. "Kathryn - ...!" he blurted out as she passed, but she paid him no heed. "Where are you going?" He looked at the discarded pieces of her uniform on the ground, thought about picking them up and carrying them himself, and then abandoned the idea immediately. He too was feeling the stuffiness around him more now, and didn't want any more baggage...
It took him more than fifteen minutes to track her down. How had she gotten so far ahead?! After passing a fork in the tunnel wall, he finally pulled out his tricorder to track her, and realized she had switched routes already. Breaking into a slow trot, Chakotay had come within a few steps of Janeway when she suddenly looked up from her tricorder, whirled around toward him, and looked at him with a very strange look in her eyes. Startled, wary... suspicious? And her eyes! The clear blue of Janeway's eyes had been replaced with red - smoky, glowing red! She backed away from him until her back nearly touched the rock wall behind her. Chakotay stood quietly, looking at her, wondering what in the world was happening to her.
"Kathryn? We need to go back. You wanted to beam up to leave the planet, remember? What is going on? Please come closer and let me look at your eyes..."
A look of half-recognition passed over her face, and she reached out to him tentatively... but then just as abruptly, her expression changed to one of fear and wariness. "Who are you?!!"
Chakotay's heartbeat began to quicken as the adrenaline began to pump. Something was dreadfully wrong here. "I'm Chakotay, YOU know... Your friend, your First Officer... Please come over here, Kathryn..."
As he slowly reached down to his belt to pull the tricorder out again, her hand also moved - to her phaser, and quicker than his. She leveled it at his head, and he noticed with relief that the setting was not on kill. He raised his hands slowly.
"Yes. That's who you SAY you are. But who are you REALLY? What do you want with me?" She crept a bit closer to him, and he drew in a breath as she stepped nearer to a torch on the wall and he could see clearly how the color of her eyes had altered. Brilliant red, and almost - reptilian...
"I assure you, Kathryn, I am who I say I am... I'll prove it, if you'll just put down the phaser and come nearer... He slapped his com badge. "Chakotay to Voyager! Emergency beamout!"
But nothing happened, and the only sound was the faint sound of laughter, coming from unseen sources. Chakotay looked up and around in alarm, wondering who the hell was laughing, and when he looked back at Janeway, she had taken another step closer, phaser still pointed at his skull.
"Tell me who you really are! REVEAL YOURSELF!" She grimaced at him in anger, and he opened his mouth to speak again; but in his surprise at the turn of events he could not think of anything to say other than to protest.
"Kathryn! I'm Chakotay! Trust me! I need to get you out of here! Please listen!"
As her upper lip curled back in another snarl, he realized with a sick feeling in his stomach that she was going to fire at him, and he hadn't time to draw. (Damn! We've practiced together so many times - hand to hand combat, guerrilla tactics, both Federation and Maquis - she knows me so well, she knows exactly what my moves would be right now! And she knows that I know!)
Chakotay dropped quickly to avoid her first shot, but Janeway aimed downward and nearly winged him. He knew he had to roll to avoid the next shot, but which way? She'd know that he'd do just that - so he had a fifty-fifty chance of her missing him with the next one. He chose to roll to his left, and she did miss him, but the third quick phaser burst caught him full on the left bicep as he rolled again. Seeing blackness for a brief second and groaning in pain, Chakotay reached down and scraped up a handful of pebbles and small stones and flung them at Janeway, taking the few moments of her brief hesitation to scramble up and dive around the bend in the tunnel out of her sight. As he somersaulted again, another burst over his head dug a hole in the tunnel wall across from where he landed. He reached over his shoulder for his phaser rifle - but realized it was gone, and he cursed himself - it was lying where he had first fallen to avoid her fire.
Janeway crept cautiously foward and scooped up the phaser rifle, then sent another shot in the direction where she saw Chakotay disappear. "To hell with you, whoever you are!" she shouted. "REVEAL YOURSELF, or stay the hell AWAY from me!" Then she turned and ran down the tunnel, deeper into the labyrinth.
Chakotay sat for a minute, listening to her footsteps get fainter as she ran and inhaling the acrid smell of his own singed flesh. His head throbbed with pain, and something else, something that made him feel a little giddy, almost exhilarated... And hot. With an effort, he peeled his jacket and tunic off, attempting not to touch his wound but grimacing in pain nevertheless. Once down to his sleeveless undershirt, he retrieved his com badge, tore a long strip of cloth from his tunic and poured some water on it from the small bottle on his belt, then wrapped it around his wounded arm with the wet part on the phaser burn. As the water touched the open wound, he groaned again through gritted teeth. Then he laid his head back against the rock, grateful for the coolness of it. (Now what? Janeway was off like a shot, and who knows what was waiting down there. That laughter... Spirit Guides, this is going to take all your talents, please help me... I'm on one wing here, and she's got twice the weaponry... And she's a damn good shot.)
He pulled out his tricorder and heard its reassuring sound - (still working, still with me, thank heavens), and ran it over his own body, curious as to what he was feeling. He studied the readings. It wasn't really clear, and wouldn't be unless he had a medical tricorder, but it did look like his blood chemistry was slightly altered. He wondered if his eyes were red too. But how? Something in the air down here? They had not eaten or drank anything... (But wait, that damn perfume or whatever it was!) Chakotay cursed out loud, knowing his instincts had told him that something wasn't quite right. (Not vigilant enough, Chakotay, not vigilant enough...)
Tossing the uniform jacket and the remnants of his tunic aside, he ran his fingers over his belt to take a quick inventory - phaser, water bottle (precious - not much left), a hunting knife of his father's in a leather scabbard that had been passed down for many generations (which he kept as a remembrance but not as a weapon), and a long leather bolo that was weighted at both ends, bought in another bazaar on Rigel 10 on a trip with Seska so long ago. His fingers ran back over them again, caressing the leather scabbard... which was empty! Gods! Gone? Did I lose that too? Father, forgive me...hellfire and damnation!)
Clenching his teeth again, Chakotay pulled himself to his feet, and started down after Janeway, tricorder in hand.
Send feedback to chris@specwire.com