Four large, menacing bullfrogs stomped toward Lwaxana. Sharp claws slid from their webbed fingers. One of the Tadigeans glanced in Barclay"s direction. A bright orange fluid sprayed from the parotid glands behind his eyes. Barclay jumped backward and the spray fell short of its target. Only a few stray drops. .h.i.t the back of his hand. His skin went numb wherever the drops touched.
Some sort of natural neurotoxin?
"Watch out!" he shouted. "They spit poison from their eyes."
"Is that all?" Ro replied sarcastically. She reached instinctively for her phaser but came away empty-handed. "Oh, h.e.l.l." Forced to improvise, she kicked over the smoking brazier, spilling burning embers on the carpet. A cascade of sparks set the holographic tent ablaze. Brilliant yellow flames climbed the silk walls of the pavilion. The sudden flare of heat and light repelled the nocturnal swamp dwellers. Ro took advantage of their confusion to rip the metal gong from its moorings. She glanced back impatiently at Barclay and Lwaxana. "What are you waiting for? Run!"
She hurled the gong like a discus, straight at the crystal pendant on Ghebh"s chest. Barclay held his breath, waiting to see if she succeeded in shattering the crystal, which was evidently some sort of psychic amplifier. But instead the spinning missile slammed into the head of one of the other Tadigeans, who sprang between Ro and Ghebh at just the wrong moment. The beaned bullfrog tumbled backward into his companions, resulting in a tangle of webbed feet and hands. An irate Ghebh shouted at his fellow amphibians, "Pull yourself together, you incompetent tadpoles. They"re going to get away!"
Not a bad idea, Barclay thought. He tugged on Lwaxana"s arm. "Come with me, Madam Amba.s.sador! We have to get you to safety."
"But...what about Flev?" She dug in her heels, reluctant to leave the unconscious attache within the burning pavilion. "He"ll be burned alive!"
"No, he won"t," Barclay promised, lowering his voice. In theory, the holodeck"s safety protocols would protect Ubaan from the holographic inferno. "It"s just a simulation, remember?" He pulled harder on her arm, eager to get her away from the hostile Tadigeans, who were bound to regroup any minute now. "Please, we have to go!"
Lwaxana nodded, seeing sense at last. "Just one moment!" Before he could stop her, she reached into the fire and rescued the Sacred Chalice, which she clutched to her bountiful chest. As Barclay had predicted, her hands came away unburned. "All right, Lieutenant." She kicked off her high heels. "Now we can make a strategic retreat."
Abandoning the narrow spit of land, they splashed into the shallow water and ran from the blazing tent into the densely forested swamp. Ankle-deep mud sucked at their heels, slowing their progress. The cool water came as a shock after the sultry heat. He tried not to think about what sort of aquatic life-forms might be swimming beneath the surface of the brackish water. A slimy layer of pond sc.u.m clung to his uniform.
Ugh!
"Keep going!" Ro shouted from behind them. They could hear her splashing through the water after them. "Don"t slow down!"
The enraged croaks of the Tadigeans echoed across the swamp. Barclay could hear them leaping through the underbrush in hot pursuit. "You cannot escape us, Amba.s.sador!" Ghebh bellowed loudly. "Surrender and we will spare the Starfleet officers."
Spare? Barclay didn"t like the sound of that. These frogs were obviously playing for keeps. "Don"t w-worry about us, Madam Amba.s.sador," he said, swallowing hard. "Don"t even think about turning yourself over to those terrorists."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Barclay," Lwaxana said. Her dark eyes regarded him with new respect. "I appreciate your dedication to duty." She panted as she dragged her soaked gown through the waist-deep water while simultaneously trying to keep the Sacred Chalice dry. The effort was obviously exhausting her. "And, please, call me Lwaxana."
Younger and fitter than either Barclay or the amba.s.sador, Ro soon caught up with them. "Those slimy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds aren"t giving up," she said tersely. "They"re on our trail like a pack of Carda.s.sian riding hounds." She shook her head in disgust. "This is why I wanted to keep my phaser!"
"Your point is well taken, Ensign," Lwaxana conceded. "Not that you seemed to need a phaser back there at the meeting site. You certainly turned the tables on our foes-in quite a resourceful manner."
Ro shrugged. "You grow up in refugee camps, you learn to think fast."
"I want you to know that I"ve always had a great degree of sympathy for your people." Lwaxana swatted a mosquito away from her face. "Betazed has been in the forefront of the Federation"s efforts to negotiate an end to the Carda.s.sian occupation."
"Glad to hear it," Ro said, only half listening. Right now, there were more urgent issues to deal with. She kept glancing back over her shoulder. Barclay and Lwaxana were slowing her down. "Get a move on."
Easier said than done, Barclay thought. Lwaxana was sounding increasingly out of breath, and, to be honest, he could use a break himself. His legs were already tired from slogging through the mud and clotted vegetation. A st.i.tch in his side throbbed with every step. Protruding roots threatened to trip him. Looking around for a safe place to rest, he spied a hummock of solid earth that was partially veiled by a thick curtain of hanging moss. "Over there," he suggested, leading the way. He pulled back the moss so that Ro and Lwaxana could pa.s.s beneath it, then let it fall back into place behind him. They found themselves amid a cl.u.s.ter of gnarled willows and cypresses. Fallen leaves and needles littered the forest floor. "We can rest here, at least for a mmoment."
"Thank goodness!" Lwaxana exclaimed. She settled down onto a fallen tree trunk and patted the fungus-covered wood beside her. He gladly joined her on the log.
Ro remained on her feet, standing guard. "What now, Lieutenant?" she asked him in a low voice.
As the highest-ranking officer present, Barclay found himself in charge. He gulped and tried to take stock of the situation. They were alone, outnumbered, and unarmed. The one thing they had going for them was that the Tadigeans seemed to be taking the swamp simulation at face value. They don"t realize we"re trapped in a finite s.p.a.ce, Barclay thought. Right now, the holographic environment was their best defense. The phony swamp offered infinitely more opportunities to run and hide than an empty holochamber would. As long as the program keeps running, we have a chance.
But what about the rest of the Cataria"s crew? Barclay tapped the combadge on his chest. "Lieutenant Barclay to the bridge. We have an emergency situation in the holodeck. Please respond." He waited expectantly, but no one answered his page. "Requesting immediate a.s.sistance. Please respond."
"It"s no use, Lieutenant," Lwaxana said, shaking her head. "The entire crew is Betazoid. They"ve doubtless been incapacitated by the same telepathic onslaught that felled poor Flev." She ma.s.saged her temples, as though some lingering soreness persisted. "You should have felt the psychic energy emanating from that infernal crystal. It was all I could do to keep from collapsing like Flev." She adjusted the cap atop her head. "Thank providence for this convenient helmet."
Ro scratched her head. "I don"t get it. Why weren"t Barclay and I affected?"
"Because you"re not telepaths," Lwaxana explained indulgently. "No offense, Ensign, but you and the lieutenant lack the sensitivity to succ.u.mb to such an insidious attack. One of the few advantages of being thought-blind, I suppose."
Barclay decided to accept the remark in the spirit in which it was intended. "Did you have any idea that the Tadigeans might resort to violence?"
"Not at all!" Lwaxana insisted vehemently. "I am utterly perplexed by this unfortunate turn of events. Nothing in my preliminary negotiations with the Tadigean government led me to expect anything other than a civilized diplomatic conference. I can"t imagine what"s come over them!"
"You"re discussing trade agreements, right?" Ro paced restlessly, too keyed up to sit down. "Maybe they figured they"d gain the upper hand by taking you hostage first. Use your safety as a bargaining chip to negotiate a better deal for themselves." She looked at Barclay. "Unfortunately, that strategy doesn"t extend to us."
Barclay"s reply caught in his throat as, to his surprise, Lwaxana stood up and began peeling off her clothes. "Amba.s.sador...?"
"Just shedding a few layers," she explained, as her sodden garments landed in a heap at her feet. Jangling bracelets and earrings soon joined the ruined finery. "These soaking rags were weighing me down dreadfully." She blithely stepped away from the discarded clothing, wearing only a lacy silk chemise that barely covered her buxom figure. The protective cap upon her head clashed somewhat with her intimate apparel. "And I told you before, call me Lwaxana."
"Yes, Amba.s.s...Lwaxana." Barclay"s face was nearly infrared. He chivalrously turned his back on the disrobed diplomat. That her unexpected striptease made perfect sense from a strictly pragmatic point of view didn"t make him any less uncomfortable. This was Counselor Troi"s mother, for heaven"s sake!
Lwaxana chuckled softly behind him. "No need to be embarra.s.sed, Lieutenant. Why, on Betazed, nudity is considered formal attire in some circ.u.mstances." She sighed nostalgically. "You should have seen me at my wedding. I a.s.sure you I was absolutely stunning."
I"ll take your word for it, Barclay thought. He reluctantly turned around to face Lwaxana, while trying to look everywhere but. Ro smirked at his discomfort. He was suddenly very glad that Lwaxana"s borrowed cap kept her from reading anyone"s mind. The very thought of Betazoid weddings provoked some very vivid pictures in his brain, which he would just as soon keep to himself. This is awkward enough.
"That"s better." Lwaxana started to slip out of the chemise, then reconsidered, perhaps as a concession to Terran modesty. She smiled at the two Starfleet officers. "Do feel free to get out of those wet clothes yourselves."
Not in a million years, Barclay thought. He didn"t even like changing clothes in front of other men. "I think it b-best that I remain in uniform."
"I"m good, too," Ro declared.
Barclay thanked the Bajoran Prophets for Ro"s restraint. He was almost relieved when the unmistakable sounds of pursuit penetrated their hiding place, interrupting the awkward moment. They heard the bellicose frogs getting closer.
"Just our luck," Ro grumbled. She wadded up Lwaxana"s discarded clothing and hid it in a knotty thicket of gra.s.s and shrubs. The golden jewelry sank to the bottom of a nearby puddle. "We"re playing on their turf."
Barclay knew what she meant. The wooded swamp was the Tadigeans" natural environment. An idea occurred to him: perhaps he could adjust the parameters of the program to give them more of an advantage? Maybe even switch to another scenario entirely?
"Computer, an archway, please." Barclay didn"t want to shut down the Tadigean simulation right away, for fear of ending up exposed in a vacant chamber, but a holographic archway would allow him to access the controls to the holodeck from the safety of the secluded arbor. He could then superimpose another environment onto the imaginary swamp. He knew just the program, too.
Unfortunately, no such arch appeared. "Computer?"
"Let me guess," Ro said dryly. "The voice commands are still down."
So it appears, Barclay thought. "I guess I"m going to have to find the manual controls again."
"Do you know where they are?" Ro asked. The constantly shifting scenery made it all but impossible to know where they really were in the holodeck. "I don"t have a clue where the exit is."
He consulted his tricorder. "I think I can locate them." He looked up from the visual display. Through the gauzy veil of moss, he glimpsed a chorus of hostile Tadigeans bounding toward them. His mouth dried up. He wrung his hands. "If only I had more time!"
"That"s good enough for me." Ro yanked aside a clump of needle gra.s.s, exposing the open end of the hollow tree trunk. "You hide here while I lure them away."
Before Barclay could object, she raced out of the hidden arbor into the murky sloughs beyond. She splashed loudly through the water, making as much of a ruckus as possible. "Come on, you goggled-eyed bug eaters!" she shouted. "Try and catch me."
The Tadigeans took the bait, or at least most of them did. "That"s the ugly female!" a nameless bullfrog croaked. His throat swelled enormously as he broadcast the news to the other searchers. He sprang through the overgrown shrubs and saplings, covering several meters in a single leap. A few more bounds like that and he would eat up Ro"s lead in no time. "After her!"
Barclay hoped Ro knew what she was doing. In the meantime, he had no choice but to try to take full advantage of her diversionary tactic. At first, it seemed like the entire hunting party was going to head off in pursuit of the fleeing ensign, but a lambent blue glow testified that Ghebh himself was still in the vicinity. "Keep searching for the others," the Tadigean amba.s.sador ordered. "Look everywhere!"
The glow from the crystal pendant intensified as Ghebh approached the arbor, flanked by two of his soldiers. Snakes and marsh rats fled from their noisy approach. Stealth was not on the frogs" agenda.
"The log," Barclay whispered urgently to Lwaxana, but the canny amba.s.sador was already way ahead of him. Getting down on her hands and knees, she scurried inside the hollow tree trunk. Barclay waited until she was fully hidden, then squeezed in after her. It was a tight fit, especially with Lwaxana already taking up much of the empty cavity, but he just managed to pull his feet in after him. You can do this, he told himself. It"s just like a Jefferies tube.
Inside the log, the rotting wood was slick and clammy to the touch. The damp air reeked of decay. Small insects and other invertebrates wriggled beneath him. Claustrophobia threatened, but he took a deep breath and the sense of panic receded (mostly). Darkness added to his anxiety; he could barely see a thing. The heat was suffocating.
On second thought, I think I prefer the crawl s.p.a.ces on the Enterprise.
Moments later, webbed feet slapped against the soggy ground outside. A sinister blue glow shone through minute cracks and knotholes in the log"s crumbling epidermis. Barclay could hear Ghebh and his soldiers only centimeters away.
He froze in place, afraid to move a muscle. His heart was beating so loudly he couldn"t believe that the nearby Tadigeans couldn"t hear it as well. Lwaxana"s m.u.f.fled breathing echoed thunderously in his ears. Water trickled beneath his collar and down his spine. His mouth felt as dry as Ceti Alpha V. Cramped limbs began to ache in protest. Perspiration dripped into his eyes, stinging them. Unable to rub his eyes, he tried to blink the sweat away.
"This is taking too long," Ghebh grumbled. "We should have been long gone by now. At this rate, the real delegation will be here before we"ve fled with Amba.s.sador Troi." He croaked in disgust. "Traitorous sc.u.m. I"ll send that pompous female back to Betazed in pieces before I"ll let those greedy cloacae in the Trade Commission open our sacred borders to outsiders."
Suddenly, everything made sense, sort of. These aren"t the actual delegates, Barclay realized. They"re imposters out to sabotage the talks.
No wonder they showed up two days early!
"We"ll find them, Povz," another frog promised the Tadigean posing as Ghebh. "You can rely on us."
"Well, be quick about it," Povz snapped. "Even with the Eye of Dread, I can"t shut down all these Betazoids" minds forever. My brain is killing me!"
To Barclay"s horror, the bogus amba.s.sador sat down on the log. The soggy timber sagged beneath Povz"s weight and Barclay found himself literally supporting his enemy. He couldn"t imagine how this situation could possibly get any worse.
Then a bug crawled onto his face.
A holographic wood louse, at least a centimeter long, skittered down his forehead toward his right eye, which he shut just in time. Seven pairs of scratchy little feet danced across his eyelid as he tried heroically not to squirm or brush it away. Don"t move, he thought. Don"t even flinch. Finally, after what felt like forever, the louse crawled off his eye and down the side of his nose. It"s not real, he reminded himself. It"s only a miniature force-field construct.
But that didn"t stop the bug from tickling his nose. An overwhelming urge to sneeze came over him as the louse slowly ambled below his nostrils. He sniffed quietly, holding back the sneeze, until the disgusting insect scuttled onto his lips. A sudden solution to his predicament came to mind, but he wasn"t sure he could go through with it.
It"s not real...
He opened his mouth and gobbled up the bug. He didn"t dare crunch down on its brittle sh.e.l.l, for fear of being heard, so he had to swallow it whole. His gorge rose as he felt the wriggling insect slide down his throat. He clamped his jaws shut to keep from vomiting.
Just pretend you"re Worf, he thought. The louse was so disgusting that it just had to be some sort of Klingon delicacy. Or maybe a Ferengi one.
"At least it feels like home," Povz muttered, shifting his weight atop Barclay"s back. Was the treacherous amphibian planning to sit here all night? "Once we have the amba.s.sador, we must force the Betazoids to tell us how they managed to create such a magnificent environment aboard a starship. By the Toadstone, I swear this swamp seems larger than the amba.s.sador"s yacht can possibly contain!"
"Perhaps some sort of tesseract technology?" another Tadigean speculated. "Extending the ship"s interior into subs.p.a.ce?"
"It"s all witchcraft to me," Povz groused, shifting his weight. Barclay"s back strained beneath the burden. His cramped arms and legs felt numb. Barclay suppressed a sigh of relief as Povz lurched to his feet at last. "Sp.a.w.n it all!" he swore. "Do I have to capture those mammals myself? Let"s see what"s keeping those lekking idiots."
Webbed footsteps receded into the distance, taking the ominous sapphire glow with them. Barclay found himself back in the dark. He cautiously rearranged his limbs inside the log.
"Did you hear them?" Lwaxana muttered, deeper inside the rotted-out hollow. " "Pompous female," indeed! Some people have no sense of occasion or proper decorum." Indignation echoed in her voice. "I should have known that wasn"t the real amba.s.sador!"
"Sssh!" Barclay hushed her. He counted slowly to one hundred, then counted again. He strained his ears but could not hear any frogs hopping close by. "All r-right," he whispered to Lwaxana. "Stay where you are while I make sure it"s safe."
He backed out of the log, then cautiously stood up and looked around. He shook his arms to restore the circulation to his fingers. His legs throbbed as the blood rushed back into them. His eyes anxiously scanned the moonlit swamp.
"It looks clear," he reported. "Let"s g-go."
Lwaxana crawled out of the log. "About time," she said. "I haven"t endured such tight accommodations since that First Federation reception." Crushed insect carca.s.ses and bits of bark clung to her hair, skin, and slime-caked shift. She cradled the Sacred Chalice against her bosom. "I"ll never complain about the size of the staterooms on the Enterprise again!"
Barclay made a doomed attempt to brush the moldy detritus from his own uniform but quickly abandoned the effort. If we get out of this alive, he thought, I"m going to need history"s longest sonic shower. He could still taste the wood louse on his tongue. Plus a couple gallons of quantum-level mouthwash.
But first he had to find that control panel. Unhitching his tricorder from his waist, he double-checked the readings on the display panel. According to the sensors, the controls were only twenty meters away, although how that translated to distances within the holographic swamp was anybody"s guess. "This way," he instructed Lwaxana.
They waded against a sluggish current. Mud invaded Barclay"s boots, squishing between his toes. Occasionally something swam past him beneath the surface of the water, brushing against his leg. Barclay shuddered every time. Did they have leeches on Tadigea? Or some variety of alien piranhas?
He was afraid to ask.
A m.u.f.fled roar reached his ears, like water cascading over a cliff. "What"s that noise?" he asked Lwaxana. They seemed be heading toward it.
"The Forever Falls," she said. "It has great symbolic meaning to the Tadigeans, embodying abundance and generosity. Ubaan suggested that we include it in the simulation." She brushed a damp strand of hair away from her eyes. "It seemed like a bright idea at the time."
"That was very c-clever of him," Barclay said. He just hoped that the falls weren"t between them and the control panel. Simulated or not, he had no desire to go over Niagara in a barrel-or whatever the Tadigean equivalent was.
The roar of the falls grew steadily louder as they trekked through the marsh. As before, the muddy quagmire made for rough going. Barclay wondered how much longer the pampered amba.s.sador would be able to maintain their pace. To her credit, though, Lwaxana did not complain. If anything, her spirits seemed more indefatigable than his own. "So how long have you known my daughter, Lieutenant? Perhaps you can explain to me what exactly she sees in Commander Riker?"
They made a sharp turn, putting the falls on their right. Maybe we won"t have to cross them after all, he thought hopefully. He caught a glimpse of the falls through a stand of leafy cypresses and paused to take a closer look.
The Forever Falls tumbled over the edge of a crescent-shaped cliff that looked to be approximately thirty meters across. Water from the swamp, fed by some source farther upstream, spilled down the sides of the cliff to a rocky pool at least eighty meters below. Churning mist and foam obscured the bottom of the falls. Barclay experienced a touch of vertigo just looking over the precipice.
That"s a long way down.
He was backing away from the falls when a booming voice rang out over the din of the falling water. "Amba.s.sador Troi! Starfleet!" Povz shouted, his words electronically amplified by his personal comm unit. "We have your companion. Show yourself if you value her life."
Povz and his accomplices were standing at the opposite end of the crescent, only a few meters from the edge of the falls. To his dismay, Barclay saw Ro being held captive by two of the duplicitous amphibians. She squirmed and twisted in their grasp but could not seem to break free. Povz looked out over the falls, his crystal pendant still glowing brightly against his slimy chest. Had he chosen the top of the falls for its high visibility, Barclay wondered, or did the would-be kidnapper just have a flair for the dramatic?
"Do you hear me, mammals? Surrender at once!"
Barclay hesitated, uncertain what to do next. He felt torn between his loyalty to Ro and his duty to protect the amba.s.sador. He shared a distraught look with Lwaxana. "Don"t worry about me," she urged. "They won"t hurt me. I"m too valuable to them as a hostage."
She started to step out from behind the cover of the trees.
"Don"t do it!" Ro shouted. "Not over my dead body!"
Going into action, she jabbed her heel into one of her captor"s ankles, then b.u.t.ted her head into the other frog"s jaw. As they reacted in pain, she tore herself free from their webbed fingers and, without hesitation, ran for the edge of the cliff. Milky orange poison sprayed at her heels.
"Remember Ubaan, Barclay!" She threw herself over the brink. "Don"t let me dowwwwwwn...!"
Her final cry stretched out endlessly as she plummeted toward the rocks below. Her plunging body disappeared into the turbulent white water and mist. Lwaxana gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth. Her face was ashen beneath her smeared makeup. "That poor, brave girl!"
"She"ll be okay," Barclay reminded her hurriedly. "The holodeck"s safety protocols will protect her from any serious injury. Like with Ubaan." The Tadigeans obviously a.s.sumed that the unconscious attache had burned to death in the fire, or else they would have used him as a hostage by now. "Trust me, it looked worse than it was."