B'Elanna Torres paced the floor of the shuttlecraft. She didn't like this planet. It was a problem that would not go away. Problems gave her headaches, and she had a whopper right now.
"How long has it been?" she asked Tuvok.
"Three minutes, 55 seconds."
Only four minutes since Chakotay had las communicated with them. To B'Elanna it seemed much longer. "If we don't hear from them soon, we need to beam them out of there."
"In 10 minutes, 46 seconds, we will do that," replied Tuvok.
How could he sit there so calmly monitoring that anomaly when they could lose Tom and Chakotay down there? B'Elanna usually admired the patient tenacity in the Vulcan, but right now, she wanted action.
At the beginning of this venture, they posted themselves near the entrance of the cave. Communications were clearer there, but a sudden windstorm had kicked up sand and rocks that threatened to damage their delicate equipment. They were forced to move it back into the shuttlecraft.
In the confined space, B'Elanna felt powerless. She paced the floor like a caged lioness. Tom would have joked about how she was wearing out the flooring. Her combadge chirped and her spirits lifted, but quickly leveled out again.
It was Captain Janeway, "Have you heard any more from Paris and Chakotay?"
"We last communicated with them about—" began B'Elanna.
"Precisely 9 minutes, 3 seconds ago," finished Tuvok.
"Nine minutes ago," B'Elanna huffed.
"Are there any changes in the anomaly, B'Elanna?" asked Janeway.
B'Elanna looked at Tuvok and lifted a brow. Tuvok answered, "There has been a reduction in the frequency. It is continuing to slow at a rate of thirty-three percent."
"Seven is working on the calculations, keep sending her the updates. Janeway out."
Keep sending her updates? Janeway sounded so cool and calm. Didn't she have any feelings at all for Chakotay and Tom? B'Elanna had to unwind somehow. All of this waiting was getting to her. She decided to focus on the anomaly with Tuvok, anything to keep her mind off of what might be happening down there in the tomb, as Tom called it.
She hoped it wouldn't be his tomb.