As always, the effort failed, and Xiong instead tried to preoccupy himself with studying his surroundings as he brought another spoonful of the vile concoction to his mouth. He sat on a small box, leaning against one stone wall of the chamber that had been his home since arriving on this planet. Across from him was the wall dominated by the Shedai control consoles, dormant except for those few occasions when he and Tasthene, working together, had been able to make some limited progress accessing the ancient apparatus. Tasthene stood before the console, regarding him as he ate.
“You act like one of my children when they dislike the nourishment I would prepare for them,” the Tholian said.
Xiong laughed. “You sound like my mother. She would never let me be excused until I’d finished.” Holding up the bowl, he added, “Of course, her cooking was better.” He shook his head. “I can’t imagine what she would have done with fifty-three of us,” he said, recalling Tasthene’s stories of his large family.
“Offspring can be very taxing,” Tasthene said, “but the rewards outweigh the challenges.” Listening to the Tholian’s words, Xiong knew that the memories of his lifemate and his children were what saved his friend, the strength he needed to get through the situation he now faced. He had a reason to live, motivation to find some way of escaping this ordeal and one day returning home.
And what do you have, besides your ever-unquenchable thirst for knowledge?
Forcing away the taunting question, Xiong dropped his oversized spoon into the bowl, metal clanging against metal and echoing in the chamber. The action did not go unnoticed; within seconds, Xiong heard heavy footsteps coming in his direction. Then a shadow fell across him as a Klingon guard moved into view from around one of the ubiquitous stacks of packing crates.
“You are finished?” the guard asked.
Xiong nodded, holding the bowl out for the Klingon to see. “My compliments to the chef.”
The sarcasm naturally was lost on the guard, who offered a disapproving scowl as he examined the bowl and its partially consumed contents. Then he directed a derisive sneer at Xiong. “I see that time has not strengthened your inferior Earther palate.” Taking the bowl, he added, “This is a standard prisoner’s ration, containing every essential nutrient needed to keep you alive.”
Having already had some variant of this conversation more times than he could remember, Xiong countered, “If that’s the case, then it’s no wonder you don’t keep that many prisoners. Most of them probably kill themselves once they find out what’s on the menu.”
It was as close to friendly banter as he and his guards had managed to force during his stay. The guard released a small, growling laugh before heading back to the small desk from which he and his companion kept watch over the lieutenant and Tasthene.
With nothing else to occupy time until the guards returned to take him to the oversized packing crate that served as a makeshift prison cell and his “bedroom,” Xiong picked up his tricorder. “I think I’ll take another look at that artifact,” he said as he made his way across the chamber to the enigmatic stone sarcophagus sitting alone in a corner of the room. Its lid had been removed, allowing Xiong an unobstructed view of the crystal it cradled.
What are you?
It was a question he had asked countless times since first laying eyes on the mysterious object, sitting atop the multihued, elaborately patterned cloth lining the casket’s interior. The crystal had resisted all sensor and scanning attempts, with Xiong unable to detect the presence of even the slightest energy signature emanating from the object. As far as his equipment was concerned, the crystal simply did not exist. One of the first things he had done after receiving it from Lorka was to test how it reacted when placed in proximity to the Shedai control equipment, and the results were disappointing. While he had been able to detect minute reactions to the archaic equipment, it had been even less than those received by Tasthene’s direct interfacing with the console, defying Xiong’s theory of a form of biometric association via the crystalline physiology of both the Shedai and the Tholians.
A momentary shiver down his spine broke Xiong from his reverie. Once again, and as had happened every time he came into proximity of the crystal, he felt an inexplicable, illogical sensation of dread wash over him. Rather than outright fear, he thought of it as an impression of foreboding. Whatever this object was, instinct told him that it was wrong.
No,he corrected himself. Not wrong. Evil.
He shook his head, disappointed with himself. As a scientist, Xiong knew he should be guided by knowledge and logic rather than emotion, but he could not deny the instinctive desire to flee this place, to get as far away as possible from the crystal and whatever it might represent. He forced the ridiculous notion back to the depths of his mind. It was an object, he reminded himself, nothing more.
Heavy footfalls behind him made him turn away from the sarcophagus, and he felt his body tense in anxiety and anticipation as Lorka entered the chamber, the now-familiar pair of Klingon bodyguards accompanying her. Her expression, as always, was one of determination, though Xiong noted an altogether new quality to the way the female Klingon carried herself. Gone was the obvious disdain with which she normally regarded him and Tasthene. Instead, the lieutenant sensed a sort of subdued excitement, as though she might be concerned with allowing her true feelings to become known, either to him or just to her subordinates.
“You will come with me,” she said, pointing at him. “Bring your scanning equipment.” With a nod, she indicated Tasthene. “The Tholian as well.”
Frowning, Xiong crossed the room to the small worktable he had been given to use, on which sat his tricorder and the Klingon equivalent of a portable computer terminal. “What’s going on?” he asked as he slung the tricorder over his left shoulder and allowed it to rest along his right hip.
Lorka ignored him at first, instead barking orders in native Klingonese to her guards, who moved quickly to replace the stone lid on the sarcophagus before lifting the large container between them. “We have discovered a new chamber,” she finally said to Xiong. “One that our scanners had not been able to detect. It contains technology similar to this.” She indicated the Shedai consoles with a dismissive wave before turning on her heel and marching out of the room. A third guard, the one who had overseen his meal, gestured for Xiong to follow her. Glancing over his shoulder, Xiong saw Tasthene shuffling across the dirt floor, guided at gunpoint by another Klingon sentry.
Even with the illumination provided by the strings of work lights suspended in the corridor, he almost lost sight of Lorka as she made her way around corners and forks in the tunnel. Xiong was unable to keep track of the twists and turns in the narrow subterranean passage as he all but ran to keep up with the Klingon woman, who covered ground in long, rapid strides. He only caught up to her because she stopped before what appeared to be a hole in the tunnel’s rock wall. Light from a portable lamp filtered into the passageway from inside whatever room lay beyond the wall, and Xiong stepped closer until he could look through the hole. When he did so, he was unable to suppress an audible gasp.
“What is this?”
Lorka stepped through the hole and into the room, and Xiong did not wait for an order or an invitation to join her. Once inside, he was able to get a better view of the new chamber’s contents. The room itself was unremarkable, carved, as were all of the others, from the bedrock, the walls too smooth to have been created by normal excavation equipment. Lining the far wall was a single console, similar in most respects to every other specimen of Shedai technology Xiong had encountered. As expected, the console itself was dark and lifeless, its smooth black surface free of blemishes or dust despite having likely been sealed away in this room for uncounted millennia. A wall of flat obsidian stood before him, over the console, also dormant, but none of that surprised Xiong. He had seen it all before.