As Chakotay leaned against the cot, unresponsive, Janeway grew more alarmed. She patted his shoulder but he didn't move.
"Are you all right?" she whispered at Chakotay's bent head. "Chakotay, what's wrong?"
He took a long, shuddering breath and exhaled hard. "It's taking me, Kathryn. The clamp. Watching those men attack the other one – all I could think was how much more I could get if I killed a few of the weaker ones. I'm losing my mind. I'm afraid –" He shot a quick glance at her pale face. "I'm afraid that before long, I'll be a threat to everyone, including you. If that happens, you have to promise me that you'll disable me. My knees, maybe. If you took out my knees, I wouldn't be able to go after anyone, but I might still be able to defend myself, and the doc could fix it, after we're rescued."
Janeway's head was still throbbing with the force of the blow she had taken, but the mortal seriousness of Chakotay's request somehow calmed and concentrated her mind.
"I hope it never comes to that," she said. "But if it does, yes, I promise. I'll try to stop you from doing things you'd regret, and I'll try to do it in a way that the doctor can heal. Will you do the same for me?"
His face twisted with dark humor at this request. "That won't happen. But yes, I promise."
Janeway opened the parcel of bread. "Come on, let's eat some of this and try to get some rest. Do the lights ever go off?"
Chakotay grunted. "Oh yeah. You'll see."
Cycling lights were the only way to maintain any sense of day and night inside the prison, and they were set to a thirty hour Akritirian day. As they scouted escape routes over the next few days, Janeway and Chakotay tried to sleep in shifts in the dark period, but found it lasted longer than they could stay asleep. As the dark hours stretched, they sat cross-legged together on the cot, whispering about what Voyager might be doing and how long they might expect to be imprisoned.
The light period was equally over-long, like the longest day of summer on Earth and then some. They concluded quickly that the chute was the only way in or out. Chakotay scavenged anything that looked remotely mechanical and Janeway began to piece together a device that might short-circuit the chute's force field. As she forced her mind to focus on the close, technical work in poor light, the itch of the clamp grew almost unbearable. From time to time she would throw down the device on the cot and keel over, crying out softly from the pain and frustration of trying to defend the working parts of her mind against the clamp's insistent chaos.
"You have to meditate," Chakotay would insist at these moments, earning him a flailing blow from Janeway.
"How can I meditate when I can't sit still?" she would hiss. She wanted to scream loud and long, but what safety they had depended on keeping quiet and hidden, so she forced down the urge.
"Strawberries and cream," Chakotay told her more than once. "Eggs Benedict with fresh asparagus. Whole pots of coffee." She had to smile at his attempt to use dreams of food as a calming influence if meditation wouldn't work. The thought of food helped. It was a dream of escape and recovery that held hope together.
They could not stay hidden all the time. Janeway had to test her device repeatedly and the other prisoners were always watching as she crept behind the mechanism that operated the force field. While she worked, Chakotay's job was to stand guard over both her and their shelter, which was around a corner, out of sight of the chute. He had just evicted a pair of squatters when Janeway's cry brought him rushing back to her. A small Akritirian had snuck up behind her and now held an improvised blade to her throat.
"Back off!" the man barked at the gathering crowd. "She's mine now!"
Chakotay circled behind the other prisoners observing the little drama to take the man by surprise. It was easy enough to overpower him with Janeway fighting off her attacker at the same time, but Chakotay was unprepared for the rage that seized him when he pulled the blade out of the man's hand. As if watching another person entirely, he saw himself raise the blade high and plunge it into the man's chest as Janeway stared at them both in shock. With a weak cry, the man fell dead from Chakotay's grasp. The crowd backed away as Janeway grabbed Chakotay's arm and hurried him back to their shelter.
Another squatter had installed himself on the cot by the time they returned, but the sight of Chakotay, bloody blade still clutched in one hand, convinced him that his timing was wrong. He bolted. Another, taller man stood watching at the entrance to the shelter, making no aggressive moves, but not backing off.
"What do you want?" Janeway demanded as she pushed through the wall of fabric. "Leave us alone!"
The man had only his head and shoulder inside the shelter, ready for a quick exit if Chakotay came at him. "My name is Zio," he said to Janeway as Chakotay leaned back on the cot, panting and heaving as if he might throw up. "I couldn't help but notice the vulnerability of your situation. It's only a matter of time before someone kills your friend here to get to you, especially if you keep going out in the open like that. I could help you. I have a better shelter, close to the chute."
Janeway carefully peeled the blade out of Chakotay's hand and held it as she considered Zio's words and his impassive face. Chakotay stared straight ahead, lost in the chaos of the clamp.
"That would help," she conceded. "We're working on a way to disarm the force field so that we can escape to the surface. If you help us with food and hiding, we'll take you with us."
Zio studied both Janeway and Chakotay before nodding. "I'll accept that arrangement, for now. But your device had better work. I'll kill you both if you're lying."