Chapter 14 - Awakenings
Awareness came back to Malcolm like walking through a house, room by room. one location at a time. Without question, his head had decided to be the entry hall. The insistent throbbing was the first annoyance that tickled his reluctant brain into consciousness. The second annoyance came in the form of his inability to move his hands to see if his head was still connected to the rest of his body.
Malcolm realized that he was lying on his side, hands pinned behind his back. The restraints felt like metal. That is unfortunate, Malcolm groused to himself. Organic restraints like rope and cloth were easier to shed. When his eyes adjusted to the dim light he realized that he had a perfect view of what looked a lot like a subterranean wall. The last thing he could remember was boarding the shuttle. Now he was in a cave? His headache seemed to throb more, so he decided that maybe he just needed to concentrate on the little things. Seeing what was in the rest of the room was high on his list.
One small blessing was that his feet were free. He tried to find some purchase so that he could push himself to a sitting position against the wall.
"Oooof." The moment Reed heard that exhalation of air, he realized that he was not alone.
"Hoshi?"
"Jeez, Malcolm. Do you always wake up like that? You might have done some damage if your hands had been free."
Malcolm shimmied over to see Hoshi had already managed to sit up against one of the other walls. He could feel the heat of his embarrassment rise to the roots of his hair. "Did I hurt you?"
Hoshi smiled and shook her head. "I imagine under the circumstances, all good tactical officers should wake up like whirling dervishes. How's your head?" Malcolm looked at her quizzically. "Your forehead. It's bleeding."
"Hey Lieutenant, glad you could join our little party." Twisted again to see that Travis was off to his right. He looked like he'd been chewed slightly around the edges as well. Deciding that he needed a better than bug eye view of the cell they occupied, Malcolm planted both feet on the ground and shoved himself unceremoniously up against the wall. He got his first good look at the room and he noted the absence of the most senior officer of the group.
Noticing Malcolm's scowl, Hoshi guessed correctly. "We've asked about T'Pol, but the only guard to look in ignored us."
They had a perfect view of all those who choose to walk past the cell. The construction of the detention area was deceptively simple. To Malcolm it appeared as if an ice cream scoop ladled a hunk of rock to create the room. Then like a child placing a screen over of jar for bugs, a clear glass-like partition separated them from the activity out in the corridor. The corridor also resembled a crudely hollowed out space. All the beings scurrying by added to the image of a multi-species anthill. It was obvious in the sad condition of most passing that there were many drones and a relatively smaller number of soldiers. It did not take a martially trained mind to recognize all the telltale signs of a prison camp.
What surprised Malcolm was the fact that this seemed to be the equivalent of the United Nations of all prison camps.
Hoshi's thoughts had paralleled the armory officer's. "There seems to be quite a few different species of humanoids represented here."
"Not likely that this is a POW camp then," mused Malcolm out loud.
Travis's interest was piqued, "Why would you say that?"
"We've already seen a couple of dozen races down here. Most wars tend boil down to land acquisition disputes – or in this case I guess you could say space. These beings are from all over the galaxy. I'm thinking that with our luck, if there had been a conflict that widespread, we would have gotten tangled up in it somehow."
No offense to Travis, but Hoshi was grateful that Malcolm was up and working with them to figure out what trouble they had landed themselves in. Speculating with her fellow ensign had hit a dead end. Her hunger and increasing urgency for a bathroom could be put to the back of her mind now that they could bounce their questions off the more experienced officer.
Hoshi's mental wheels were now off and spinning. "Nor would it be likely that it would be underground."
"At least not likely that they would go to the effort that they have here," Travis added. It was Malcolm's turn to look confused.
"My family and I have hauled freight to plenty to mining operations. These caves look man-made to me. And given the size and number of people we've seen pass down here – I bet they are fairly extensive. But if it is a mining operation why would you bother to conceal a on a dead planet?"
All three were quiet for a while. It was Malcolm who came to a sudden and quite grim realization. "We're looking at this from the wrong direction. Who has the rights to anything mined?"
"The people that own the land or in some cases, the mineral rights." Confused, Travis added. "I don't see where you are going with this."
Maybe a year ago Hoshi would have been too naïve to fathom the evil that Malcolm was hinting at. Hoshi regretted the loss of that girl and her new ability to be able to imagine depravity on this level.
"I'm afraid that I'm following you, Malcolm. There's no one to dispute the mining rights if the is there's no one left on a planet to lay claim them." Hoshi turned her head to Malcolm and pinned him with an unwavering gaze. "Are you suggesting that whoever is behind kidnapping us killed all the people on this planet just to illegally mine here?"
Malcolm took a deep breath before offering the next bit of the theory he was formulating. "This might have happened on the Aviarian home world too, if they had not gotten assistance from us and the Vulcans in time to stop the spread of the disease."
"I remember one of the Aviarians mentioning on Enterprise that it had been fortunate the Vulcans were on their way with a trade delegation or they might not have been close enough to relay a message to Enterprise for assistance." Malcolm thought for a moment, "I could swear they said something about negotiating for Dilithium."
Travis whistled. "The stuff that makes the galaxy go round…or at least all the warp capable starships."
"My, my. The crew of the earth ship Enterprise is as astute as I've been lead to believe. Too bad your enlightenment was a bit too slow to prevent you from joining our little operation."
All three crew members were surprised be interrupted by someone from outside their cell.
A tall figure, his face in shadows because of the hooded cloak he wore stood just outside of their cell.
"You and the crew of Enterprise will be my guests for a… shall we say… very, very extended shore leave."
TBC…
For Tracy and Mamabucky who have been more than patient…
