Emotions Series 02 Basic Emotions Read online

  "I'm right behind you, 'Lanna."

  A few hours had passed and the tired pair sat down and B'Elanna

  searched her pockets for bits of the tasteless 'doughnut' that

  she had placed there earlier. Tom examined what was left of the

  bottle of liquid they had been given that morning. Opening the

  bottle he took a small sip, made a grimace and handed it to his

  wife. "Damn this stuff is worse than it was this morning, but

  you had better have some. We still have hours to go before the

  sun sets."

  B'Elanna face made a similar expression of disgust as she

  swallowed the water and replaced the cap. "Let's sit for a

  little while and then we'll move again."

  "Okay, but just a little while. I don't want 'Junior' to find

  us," Tom remarked. He looked around at their surroundings and

  was satisfied that the only reflection present in the mirrored

  faces of the rock were their own.

  Qret tramped through one corridor after an other. He had thought

  that this hunt would be easy. That by this time their bones

  would have been boiling in preparation to become trophies

  decorating his wall. After all, he had reasoned, the Voyagers

  were much smaller than his kind. They should be easy to capture

  and kill. But he had been proven wrong, they possessed a lot

  more stamina than he had anticipated. He should have listened to

  his elders who had encountered them before, on the alien ship,

  Qret mused as he continued his hunt through the maze of mirrors.

  Tom and B'Elanna were back on their feet again, first turning

  down one corridor, then another.

  "Tom this one looks familiar," B'Elanna remarked as she looked up

  and around.

  "They *all* look familiar, B'Elanna," her husband grumbled.

  "They all look like mirrored corridors. It's like we are in a

  maze of mirrors."

  "So we might be walking around in circles?"

  "I'm afraid so . . . oh no!" he said quietly and pulled B'Elanna

  down close to the ground. "There he is."

  "But where is he?"

  "That's the problem with these blasted mirrors he could be a

  kilometer away or right behind us."

  "Or maybe I'm right in front of you, prey!!" Qret announced as he

  raised his weapon and fired. At the sound of his voice. Tom and

  B'Elanna ran down the nearest passageway, but not before B'Elanna

  felt a tingling sensation grip her right shoulder. She had been

  struck by a discharge from the weapon.

  "Tom, I've been hit," she said, starting to fall towards the

  ground.

  Spinning around he grabbed her limp body and put her over his

  shoulder. There was no time to examine her wound now. What

  currently mattered most was that they distance themselves from

  the young hunter.

  Tom ran down one passageway after another with the precious

  bundle draped over his shoulder. Losing count of how many

  corridors he had run down, suddenly the ground fell out from

  under him and he and B'Elanna slid down a ramp. They finally

  came to a stop in a shallow underground cavern beneath the maze

  of mirrors. Tom rolled over and reached for his wife.

  "B'Elanna, can you hear me?" he asked, pulling her towards

  him and into a shaft of light that emanated from a crack in the

  ceiling of the cave.

  B'Elanna gradually opened her dark eyes and looked up at Tom's

  face. However as a result of her wound from the hallucinatory

  weapon she didn't see her mate, she saw her fear. That fear was

  expressed as the face of Qret, the Hirogen hunter they left

  behind on the surface. "No, No, NO!!!" she yelled as she

  struggled beneath Tom's hands. "Let me go, you Hirogen pe'taQ!!"

  "B'Elanna, it's me, Tom, snap out of this."

  With a mighty shove she pushed herself away from her husband and

  scrambled away from him. B'Elanna looked crazed and

  disoriented. Her hair was tangled about her head and sweat

  dripped in a steady stream down her face.

  "B'Elanna, stop. You have to stay here!" her husband pleaded

  with her.

  "You--you stay away from me," she threatened as she pointed at

  the man before her.

  "Please, sit down B'Elanna you were struck by that weapon.

  You're not thinking clearly," he tried to explain, but it was too

  late. She turned around and began crawling away from him as fast

  as she could.

  Tom tried to follow, but being almost 30 centimeters taller than

  her, the going was slow. The only blessing was that, if it was

  slow for him, for the Hirogen it should be close to

  impossible.

  Chapter 9

  Time passed to a point where he had all but given up hope, his

  voice raw from calling her name, when he all but stumbled over

  her prone body on the cavern floor. Seeing her, he fell to his

  knees and turned her over, pulling her onto his lap. He brushed

  her hair away from her face and gently murmured her name.

  "B'Elanna, wake up it's me, Tom. Come on, love, let me see your

  beautiful eyes."

  The half-Klingon tentatively half-opened her eyes and saw her

  husband before her.

  "Tom?"

  "Yes, love, it's me. "

  "What happened?" she asked as she looked around. "Where are we?"

  "We're in a cavern beneath the surface. You were shot, don't you

  remember?" he asked as he tenderly brushed some dirt away from

  her puzzled face.

  "No, no I don't, but my shoulder hurts," she explained.

  Tom rolled her body away from him to look at the shoulder, but

  the dim light made it nearly impossible.

  "We've got to get out of here so I can look at it. Can you

  move?"

  B'Elanna flexed her legs and her arms. "I think I'll be all

  right."

  "Okay, I can see plenty of light in the distance. I think we can

  get out over there," he explained as he offered her his hand and

  they moved on.

  Nearing the light they could see that it was indeed another entry

  point to the surface above. From their position below, they

  could look up and see the familiar mirrored surfaces of the maze,

  and from behind them they could hear the menacing sound of the

  hunter approaching. Quickly, they emerged from the cavern below

  and were happy to notice that the sun had nearly set.

  "Just another hour or so, B'Elanna, then it will be dark," Tom

  explained as he held her hand and they sped along one of the

  mirrored passageways.

  "You know, Tom, I'm really sick of seeing these mirrors all over

  the place.

  I wish there was some way we could shatter them, then maybe we

  could at least hide until the sun set."

  "Yeah, if the Doc was down here he could sing an operatic aria

  and shatter them all with his perfect pitch," Tom said thinking

  back at the times the Doctor attempted to serenade the pair with

  songs from Carmen and Aida.

  B'Elanna came to a full stop which almost caused Tom, who had

  been holding her hand, to trip and fall. "I've got it!" she

  exclaimed.

  "You've got what?"

  "I think I know of a way to shatter these mirrors, a
t least quite

  a few of them. Do you still have your commbadge?"

  "Yeah," he answered as he searched his pockets. "It's--a--right

  here." Tom dropped the device into B'Elanna eager hands. She

  immediately got to work. She pulled one of the two commbadges

  apart and extracted a small silver component and placed that into

  the other commbadge.

  "If I combine the audionic tonal enunciator with the harmonic

  frequency . . . then . . . there that's it. One mirror

  destroyer," she announced proudly.

  "But will it work on these 'mirrors'?" Tom asked.

  "I don't see why not . . . ah there," B'Elanna said as she

  pointed the commbadge at the wall at the end of one of the

  corridors. "Here it goes.

  Watch out. Cover your ears."

  With a press of the commbadge a high pitched squeal was created.

  At first nothing happened, then one by one, the faces of the

  stones darkened, cracked, and finally the mirrored veneer surface

  flaked off until all that remained where dark blocks of stone.

  * * * * * * *

  The last hour of the day seemed to last forever.

  "Tom, I've got to sit. I can't walk any farther," B'Elanna said

  as she came to a halt.

  "Come on, B'Elanna we've got to keep moving," Tom pleaded. "It

  won't be long now, look there is only a sliver of the sun still

  showing. We've made it through today's hunt."

  "Think again prey!" Qret yelled from down the darkened corridor.

  "It's over for today, Qret. The sun has set!" Tom yelled at his

  adversary.

  "It's not over for me," he replied and lowered his weapon just as

  the last trace of the sun fell behind the horizon. At that very

  moment all three were engulfed in the transporter beam and

  brought back to the ship.

  Chapter 10

  Leaving Qret behind in the transporter room, Tom and B'Elanna

  were escorted back to their cell and provided with food and

  water.

  "B'Elanna, let's take off your top so I can look at that

  shoulder." Tom asked.

  She unfastened the now dirty, soiled garment and painfully pulled

  in down from her injured shoulder. Tom tenderly touched the area

  which elicited a sharp intake of air from his wife. Obviously,

  it was very sore.

  "I wish we had a medkit here, then I could help you," he said

  sadly.

  "Maybe I can help you," a voice said from over by the doorway.

  "My name is Brizat, I'm the ship's doctor. Let me see if I can

  heal that injury."

  "Why do you want to help us?" Tom asked suspiciously.

  "I'm a doctor, it is my duty to not only heal the injured of this

  ship, but in this case to ensure that the hunt tomorrow will be

  as challenging as today's was. For that to be the case, you both

  must be as healthy as possible," Brizat explained as he healed

  B'Elanna's shoulder with a Hirogen version of a dermal

  regenerator. The shoulder healed though Tom could tell that the

  Doctor's device was primitive compared the regenerators that they

  used on Voyager.

  "Um, Doctor, do you know where the shuttle is?"

  "It's on this ship. Why?"

  "Well our regenerators apparently work better on human-type skin.

  If I could get one then I could heal the wound."

  Brizat pocketed his own regenerator and stood up abruptly.

  "Don't mistake my coming down here to heal her wound as meaning

  that I'd help you escape. This is all the healing that you'll get

  and you should be thankful that Lodar is letting me do this much.

  Now I suggest that you eat and sleep, tomorrow there is another

  hunt that will be even more taxing that today's was." At that

  last comment, he stormed out of the cell.

  "How could tomorrow's hunt be more arduous than today?" B'Elanna

  asked her husband.

  "I don't know, but he is right about one thing. For us to even

  hope of completing tomorrow's hunt we need nourishment and rest,"

  Tom could see that she wasn't thinking about the hunt right now.

  "It's okay B'Elanna I think about them too," he said as he pulled

  her into his embrace.

  "I miss them so much, Tom," she sobbed. "What if we don't

  survive the next hunt, what if they grow up never knowing us.

  Never knowing how much we loved them, how much we loved

  each other. I don't think I can bear the thought of that."

  "Ssssh, ssssh. We'll get back, I know we will."

  "How? How can you know?"

  "Our love is strong, B'Elanna. Not only our love for each other

  but for our sons. I can't believe that fate brought us together

  just to separate us now. I can't explain, it but I feel that we

  will see Kyle and Lucas again."

  "I hope you're right."

  Chapter 11

  Tom Paris woke to the feeling of someone stroking his hair. He

  opened his eyes, and groaned when he saw the door to the cell.

  The stroking stopped at his groan, and B'Elanna's voice came to

  his ears.

  "Are you all right, Tom?"

  Tom sighed, "I was dreaming about being on Voyager. We were with

  our boys and were happy. It was so very real."

  The stroking began again. He then felt her lips press against

  his temple.

  "That dream will be a reality, Tom," she reassured. "We just

  have to find a way to escape."

  The pilot nodded. Placing his right hand on her left knee that

  he was using as a pillow, he squeezed it and said, "I'm just glad

  you are here with me. I don't know what I'd do."

  B'Elanna ran her hand through his hair as she spoke, "You would

  work even harder to get back, Tom."

  "I'd kill them to get back to you and the twins," Tom said,

  deadly serious.

  "I know you would," B'Elanna said quietly. She knew he would kill

  to be with her. She could see him using any weapon he could get

  his hands on to kill his captors. She kissed him again, and she

  felt his right hand entangle itself in her dark hair.

  The door banging open broke the solemn moment. The couple sat up,

  startled. They stared as Lodar and another Hirogen entered their

  cell.

  "This is Wotrel," Lodar stated, motioning to the taller Hirogen,

  "He will be hunting you today. First though you will eat and

  drink. You will also be given clothing to help you survive the

  climate."

  B'Elanna glared at Lodar, "What kind of climate?"

  Lodar just stared back at her, his eyes narrowed, "You will find

  out later. Here is your food."

  Lodar tossed them some bars of food and two containers of green

  liquid. The two Hirogen turned and left the cell.

  "These two are worthy prey, Lodar," Wotrel said as they made

  their way down the corridor, "They have survived the first hunt

  with no problem."

  Lodar snarled, "Only because Qret is an incompetent young fool.

  He was too eager for the kill. He needs to learn patience."

  Wotrel smiled, "That he does. I will make sure this hunt will be

  a good one."

  Lodar stared at the younger hunter, "Make sure you do not get

  carried away, Wotrel."

  "I will not, Leader," Wotrel said, but inside he
was smiling. He

  was going to make sure these prey gave him a good hunt.

  Tom took a bite of one of the bars. He swallowed, made a face,

  and groaned. "Ration bars taste better than this," he said,

  trying not to vomit.

  B'Elanna took a drink of the liquid and nearly spat it out.

  "Gods, this is awful," she gagged, "It tastes worse than

  yesterday's water!"

  "We have to eat, B'Elanna," Paris soothed, "If we don't we will

  be unable to survive whatever hunt they have planned."

  B'Elanna nodded and ate her food bar.

  Several minutes later, the door opened again to reveal Lodar. He

  was carrying a bulky jacket in each hand. He tossed them to

  the couple as he said, "You have until sunset to complete the

  hunt. When you are transported to the surface you will have five

  of your minutes before Wotrel is transported to you."

  The couple picked up the jackets and knew where they were going.

  *Oh wonderful,* Tom thought as he remembered the last time they

  were in a cold climate together.

  "You have until sunset," Lodar reminded them. He then turned and