Learning to Dance

Rogers, looking at Taz with a question in his eyes, jerked
his thumb at the far door of the bunker, the one that led to
the bridge of the ship. “They’ve got that door sealed off
from the inside, there’s no way to open it from out here.
Don’t think we can do anything but start working on that
pile of rubble.”
“Or hope the robots open the door for us,” said Up.
“I don’t think that’s something I’m going to hope for,”
said Rogers.
“Lieutenant-Commander!” called an ensign in a stage
whisper from across the bunker. “Look here!”
The ensign was crouching at a metal grate at the bottom
of the wall. “This vent leads directly into the bridge,” he
said when they got close. “And see? It comes out behind
the science station. They don’t have a sentry stationed there.
I reckon a Ranger could sneak through there and unseal the
door before they knew what was happening.”
Rogers knelt, peering through the grate. “They’d have to
be quick,” he said. “Up?”
Up shook his head. The vent was barely a foot and a half
wide. “I’d never fit.”
“I could,” said Taz.
They all looked at her. She held herself tall and looked at
the Lieutenant-Commander. “I can fit, and Lieutenant Up
can tell you I’m fast. I can do it. I can open the door.”
“No,” said Up.
She glared at him. “You said yourself that I’m the best
student you’ve ever had, no?”
“This ain’t no lesson, Taz, this is the real deal,” Did she
have a death wish? “You can’t go in there.”
“No, you can’t go in there,” she said. “Look around.
None of these hombres can.”
Rogers was eyeing her with interest. “Have you ever
handled a zapper before, young lady?”