images of robot booby traps and hurtling into the darkness
below filling his vision.
Just as he crossed the threshold into the hallway beyond,
there was a horrible screeching noise. Up turned just in time
to see a heavy iron gate come crashing down behind him.
“Taz!”
She hadn’t made it through in time. She was trapped.
The buzzing rang still louder in her ears as Taz and Up
stared at each other, trying to comprehend the row of iron
bars between them. The other ensigns turned around,
realizing that something had gone wrong.
Taz stood very still, clutching the pulsing warp core to
her chest, and watched with an odd sense of detachment as
Up tapped the gate, felt for a catch, tried to lift it with pure
strength. Nothing worked.
“Commander!”
The sound of zappers, and a flash of light. The robots
had found them. Ducking as a jet of light bounded off the
iron bars, Up reached through them to grab Taz’s shoulders.
“Taz, look at me.”
It took her a moment to focus on his face, full of
determination, and perhaps a trace of fear.
“Taz, look around. Do you see anything that looks like a
secondary escape route? A hatch? Another walkway?”
She looked up, and around, and down, her eyes scanning
the exposed wires and metal pipes for something that fit the
description. Then she paused, and squinted at a spot that
was just a little darker than the rest.
“Sí,” she said. “There’s a hatch.”
“That’s your way out,” Up said, still holding tight to her
shoulders. “Give me the core.”
She attempted to slip the glass tube through the bars as
more shouts and blasts came from the other ensigns. They