Thirteen
Julian gasped as his feet were finally freed, the sudden rush of blood to his toes provoking yet another wave of pain. He winced as he felt the pins and needles quickly settle in, gently flexing his feet to assist with the blood flow. "I hope…he's a fair fighter…"
Garak rose from the floor and placed a supportive arm around Julian's shoulders. "I believe the appropriate human response would be to ask if you would like a hand, but I fear that may be counterintuitive at this time."
The younger man chose to ignore the wisecrack from Garak as he focused his energy into forcing himself to move. After an agonising length of time being bound to the chair, he found it ironic that the thought of standing up was giving him negative emotions. It means I have to feel more pain and I'm sick of it.
It took Julian at least three minutes to muster up the courage to even attempt to rise. The effort of standing after three days, however, was enough to knock the wind out of him; he gasped as he felt his quad muscles scream and strain in protest, nearly collapsing onto the tailor once he bore weight on both legs. Garak grasped his shoulders tightly as he struggled for breath, the protests of his limbs making themselves loud and clear.
"I don't think you are in the best shape to be escaping, doctor," Garak commented, tucking one of Julian's arms around his own shoulders.
As if that wasn't already obvious. "…Well, what…choice do I have?" Julian was horrified to find his snap came out as more of a squeak, but chose not to address it. His mind turned to more pressing matters. "..How did you…get in?"
"Allow me to lead the way, doctor," Garak smiled, sliding his other arm around Julian's waist to steady him.
Both men began the long, arduous journey out of the caves. For Julian, if there was a word to describe longer than eternity, it would've been a perfect fit; his knees felt indescribably stiff as he tried to walk, and each step sent ripples of stinging pain flying up his legs.
Garak retained incredible patience, for he did not try to rush the doctor in any regard. He simply remained at his side, guiding the injured man through the dim lighting. Whenever the younger man stumbled, the tailor had a supportive arm at the ready. There were no comments about the fragility of the human species, no discussion about Martin's interrogation techniques; the two men simply limped silently towards freedom.
They'd made it to the mouth of the caves when Julian began to notice how abruptly the scenery ahead changed. The graphics that served as the surrounding walls and floor were seemingly projected as normal until one observed the archways that served as the exit, which were flickering in and out of existence, the world beyond seemingly nothing but a black void. He squinted in the vain attempt of visualising what lay ahead.
"Is there anything out there?" Julian rasped, unhooking his arm from Gary's shoulder as he slowly sank to the ground.
"Indeed there is, even though the appearance is deceiving," Garak commented. "It looks as though one is about to step into an empty space, it is merely an illusion. The designer of this program obviously intended for this to be the final confrontation place, and therefore created this to ensure we would be deterred into not progressing any further."
"But how do you know there is something out there?"
"Because that's the way I snuck in, my dear doctor," Garak grinned. "Beyond that archway is a singular cell and a large, open space where all of the programmed henchmen were sitting."
"Did this mystical designer also program the glitching graphics?" Julian lifted a shaky arm to point at the section in question. "Pretty sure even I could do a better job at programming."
"I am choosing to believe the disruption in the visuals is the result of Chief O'Brien, though I cannot confirm this for certain."
Garak began swivelling his head around, seemingly intent on finding something. "I believe I saw them using a communications panel around here somewhere."
Having no breath left to argue with, Julian allowed himself to be led across the room, silently marvelling at the detailed textures that lined the walls of the cave that intertwined various shades of grey and charcoal to create a convincing depth effect. I hate to admit it, but Martin is a very good holographic designer.
"Aha! Here we are," Garak gestured to a shiny panel that slid out of the cave wall, revealing a hidden communications system. "Now, I do have the technical ability to open the comm systems," Garak's fingers danced across the screen as he programmed it, "but I believe they will respond best to your voice authorisations."
Well of course they will, I'm the bloody CMO. Julian sighed tiredly, ignoring the pain in his throat as he swallowed, praying that his voice wouldn't give out on him. "Computer, transmit emergency communication to security, authorisation Bashir one alpha."
A tense silence fell as the computer processed their request. "Authorisation code accepted. Please wait."
"Oh, thank God," Julian sagged in relief. He felt a fresh spurt of blood drip from his lips, though he quickly decided the effort that he'd need to go through to wipe it away was more than he could handle.
"No time for celebrations yet, doctor," Garak quipped. "We need to make sure this transmission goes through-"
"Odo to holosuite three, can you hear me?"
The familiar gruff voice of the security chief sent chills down Julian's spine. Finally! Help is here! "Odo? Are you there?"
"Doctor Bashir!" Odo sounded almost surprised to hear the young man's voice. "This is…are you alright? We hadn't expected to hear from you!"
"I'm…alive," Julian struggled not only to find the words, but to find the energy to express them. "Garak is here, he…he saved me…"
"Good God, Julian, what the hell happened?" O'Brien's voice appeared on the commline, pitching with concern. "You sound awful!"
"You try being bound and gagged for three days and see how well your voice sounds afterwards." Julian growled irritably. He kept unconsciously massaging his throat, futilely trying to avoid the areas Martin had sliced into. He cringed as he felt fresh blood drip onto his palm and into the incisions in his palmar creases. I just want to get out of this godforsaken mess.
"Three days?" Odo reappeared on the comm line. "I believe that unless you've suffered a head injury, doctor, you'll find it's been less than twelve hours since you walked into the holosuite."
"Of course!" Garak snapped his fingers, turning excitedly towards Julian. "We must be in some kind of time dilation field. That would explain how for us, the program seems to be running at a normal speed, but for everyone outside of that field, it would seem we were moving much faster."
Julian blinked, his brain too exhausted to even begin to try and process what scientific babble Garak had just stated to him. "Can you get…can you get us out, Odo?"
"Believe me, doctor, we've been trying furiously," Odo grumbled. "The mastermind responsible has completely re-coded the security protocols for this particular holodeck. Even Rom has been unable to override them-"
"And while you're makin' him do that, I'm running the bar on my own!" Quark's irritated voice appeared on the line. "I-I expect Starfleet to provide adequate compensation for this-"
"Unless you'd like me to arrest you on one of the dozens of charges I can unequivocally prosecute you on, Quark, I suggest you get back to your customers," Odo spoke tensely, "and allow us to resolve this situation."
"A resolution that starts with you disconnecting the comm link. Now."
Oh God.
Julian's stomach dropped.
"Who is that?" Odo asked.
"The mastermind you've all been looking for," Martin smirked. "Now I suggest you gentlemen switch off the communications link and turn around before things start getting messy."
