The Puzzle {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

Piece 4 - Ricochets

They had separated, and everyone was knee-deep in something, except for Aranda, who was waist-deep in whatever it was. The lighting got brighter and it became obvious that they were all standing in a huge pile of weapons. The Xindi male bent down and was about to pick up one when Keleth yelled, "Don't!"

The Xindi straightened up, "What, what's the problem?"

"Look closely but do not touch. See the red light in front of you? On each weapon? That means it is fully charged and the safety mechanism is off. Or so I believe. I have studied many weapons systems although it's impossible to know them all," finished the Klingon.

Travis looked down. There were various models of phase pistol and rifle around him, of different eras but all basically familiar. And they all had a red light on, "So if one is picked up," he said, "some other one will slide and maybe hit a third one, and maybe set it off. Right?" He suddenly felt queasy.

"Yes, that is my thought." The Klingon very carefully picked up one weapon. Everyone held their breath while all of the other weapons in the room slid about a centimeter. It was enough to make your heart stop. "We should test one, see if it is truly armed, or if it is a trick."

"And then any recoil or ricochet, or anything falling, would again disturb the pile," said T'Bek, "You will need to test on something other than a weapon."

"I have an idea," said the Xindi, "Nistik, throw a card to Keleth."

"I don't take orders from you, old man," said Nistik. Everyone was staring at him and he finally conceded, "All right, but those cards don't grow on trees. I expect someone to compensate me for the business expense."

"What kind of card is that?" asked Aranda.

"Nothing you need to worry about," said Solana. She leaned over slightly, wanting to touch the child, but the pile threatened to slide again so the Andorian straightened back up.

Nistik tossed the card at Keleth, who caught it with the practiced grace of an athlete, "You could play baseball with a catch like that," said Travis.

"We do not play foolish games, we fight wars," said Keleth. "But I suppose that is your culture's way of appreciating skills." He shook his head.

"It is. Accept the compliment, okay?" said Travis.

"Very well," said Keleth, shrugging. "You are a strange race." He turned ever so slightly away from everyone else. The pile slid a little but otherwise remained stable as everyone flinched. "All right, I will test this weapon. Everyone will stand perfectly still and out of the way."

He threw the card in the air and vaporized it before it hit the pile.

"Nice shooting, Tex," said Travis, "I guess that proves at least the sample is loaded."

"Who is this Tex?" asked Yekaterina. "But I digress. The point is proven, it would seem."

"Can anyone figure out what we should be doing?" asked the Xindi male, "I don't imagine that standing amidst a pile of, of potential disasters is the point of this room."

"I don't see any doors," said T'Bek, "It would appear that we are, as of now, trapped here in this predicament. At least, for the time being. A solution should present itself. That has been the pattern thus far."

There was a low sniffling sound, "Solana, I don't want to stay this way." It was Aranda.

"I know, little one. We're thinking of something we can do. Don't be afraid." Solana tried again to reach Aranda, but it was futile. The distance was too great, and the pile too dangerous and precariously placed, "I, oh dear, I can't reach you."

Aranda looked down at the weapons in front of her. Travis recognized a few as being of Xindi design. They might all have been; he was not sure, "This one looks pretty. I like the color."

"Don't touch it!" yelled T'Bek, losing her usual composure, "I mean, it would be unwise. Aranda, you must stand very still. Everyone has to stand very still right now."

"I, I'll try."

"We can't stay this way forever. A little child, she gets impatient and it is like, it is ants in the pants," said Yekaterina.

"What about talking about what just happened? We lost the – I've forgotten his name – the Andorian boy. So the girl, boy pattern was wrong," said Travis, trying to think of something to talk about while they all stood and waited and wondered if some random weapon would overload.

"Yes, it was female, then male and then male again," said the Xindi, "So the pattern is broken."

"Or perhaps the pattern is more complex than originally thought," said T'Bek. "But the other pattern, the one where it is one person from each species that is, what did you call it?" she indicated Solana.

"Plucked."

"Yes, a good, descriptive term. Plucked. So a Klingon, a Vulcan and an Andorian have been plucked. And there are still two humans, two Orions and two Xindi. Hence that may be what the table's inscription was referencing."

"So, T'Bek," said the Xindi male, "if I understand what you're suggesting, we have to lose three more people before we're done?"

"That would appear to be a requirement," said T'Bek.

"But I repeat what I said in the last room," said Yekaterina, "Are we being given more pieces to this puzzle, or are the components being removed systematically?"

"I don't feel any closer to a solution than I did in the first room," said the Xindi male. "It just seems to get stranger. We all go under one assumption, that the next person to be, to be plucked is female, and a male is taken. And so it goes. It seems to me that the only consistencies are the plucking, the room changes and the dangers we keep getting ourselves into."

"But I can't help feeling that there is a purpose behind all of this." offered Travis, "Did we learn anything in the last room?"

"We learned that when they give you something to drink, you become big," said Keleth.

"Or," began T'Bek, who was starting to look like she was working something out, "we may have learned that, even though our perceptions of the drink were different, we were all affected the same way. That is what I took away from it."

"And what is the meaning of this room?" asked 42753, "Well, don't everyone look or anything. It's a perfectly reasonable question. Um, isn't it?" she asked Nistik.

"Talk talk talk, everybody here loves the sounds of their own voices. Wasting time, I say." Nistik complained. He grabbed a weapon and the entire pile slid about a half a meter. There was the sound of a single shot. Everyone ducked and lights ricocheted around the room for a few minutes.

When the ricocheting stopped, everyone cautiously straightened up. Solana had a neat hole in her blouse, at the left shoulder. The presence of a dark bluish liquid confirmed that there was also a neat hole in her shoulder, "God! How could you have done something so stupid?" she screamed.

"The Andorian is right," said Keleth, "That was extremely foolish. If you understood weaponry, you would understand how dangerous this all is!"

"Idiot, you could've gotten us all killed!" exclaimed the Xindi male.

Aranda began to cry, "No, n - no, don't fight!" Big drops fell from her eyes and the pile shifted again.

Everyone ducked again. Yekaterina was shaking, "They – whoever it is – the ones who brought us here – they saved it all up for this. I may be old and ready to die soon, but the rest of you are not, and not this way, I am sure."

"You're not making her feel any better." complained Solana. "Blast, I need a tourniquet, the way I'm bleeding. If anyone should be chewing out Nistik, it should be me."

"Don't fight, don't fight!" Aranda's cries were nearly drowned out by the sound of a tremor.

It felt a little like a planet quake. Travis had been through a few of them. He ducked again. "What the devil's going on here?" he asked, to no one in particular. "It's like they're playing with us."

"There is no logic here," said T'Bek, "It does not make sense that our group would survive this long and then be confronted with an impossible problem. There must be a solution, but I cannot see it."

There was another tremor and then things quieted down for maybe an hour. Everyone looked scared, even T'Bek, but they were staying still although it was becoming obvious that inaction was turning painful and difficult for everyone, even Keleth.

Tired of the stalemate, 42753 picked a weapon off the pile, which slid again, "It's so, so. I don't know."

"Easy?" asked the Xindi male.

"Yes, easy." she said, "But it is still wrong." She pointed the weapon at Nistik, "But it doesn't matter anymore. I am tired of it all. Tired of you. Tired of being a slave. And tired of this room."

"Don't, don't, don't fight!" Aranda gasped. They all looked at her. She was crying and shaking, "Not like, not like Mommy and Daddy! He made Mommy cry!"

"Are there fights at home?" asked Yekaterina. "Aranda, are you thinking about something that happens in your home, and it's too horrible to think about? And no one wants to talk about it?"

"Y - yes."

Keleth held out his huge hand and touched Aranda on the shoulder. The touch was surprisingly tender. She flinched very slightly but then relaxed a little, "I, you should not cry. I know that your species is more sensitive than ours, and that you are very young. It must be hard. But right now tears are not helpful. A warrior does not cry."

"I'm, I'm not a warrior," said Aranda, snuffling.

"I know. You are not a Klingon child." he said, "But you can be brave like one. You are correct. This problem will not be solved if there is no cooperation."

But 42753 was still holding her weapon, and now it was pointed down at the pile, "Guess the whole thing is committed. Can't put it back."

"But you don't have to use it," said Solana, wincing with pain, blood from her left shoulder oozing between the fingers of her right hand as she tried to cover the wound.

Nistik had been quiet until that time, "There's no sense reasoning. This stalemate has to end sometime. It may as well be now." He pointed his weapon at 42753. "Damaged goods, anyway. Would be merciful to just put it down."

42753 raised her weapon again. "You have no idea how close you are." She looked more confident than she had all along.

"Go ahead, shoot me. You're just an illusion."

"An illusion? How do you figure that?" asked Travis.

"Illusion. There's three species left and with two of them, we lose the girl. Since I know I'm real, this one's not," snickered Nistik. He made a show of bravado, but he still had the weapon pointed at 42753.

"That is surprisingly logical," said T'Bek.

"Maybe this one isn't real," said 42753, pointing to herself. "But the weapon might be." She shot Nistik in the arm and he crumpled into a heap on the pile. More shots rang out as more ricocheting started. Again, everyone ducked. But then the doors appeared around the room.

Coolly, 42753 stood up straight, amidst numerous wild shots, aimed her weapon and shot one of the panels.

Total, complete darkness came instantly, and it was impossible to see if anyone had disappeared or if they all had, but at least the pile of weapons was gone.