U.S.S. Charon
Turbolift Car
“Aerial Diplomacy – Part Three”
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[…Continued From Part Two]
The young Vulcan looked up at the human and then further towards the turbocar’s ceiling. Stepping right underneath the hatch, she estimated that a brief jump would suffice to reach it, however opening it while dangling from the handholds might present a minor problem. Someone should possibly point out this obvious design flaw to the engineers of the Luna class, however at the moment they would have to improvise.
“If I give you a boost, you should be able to reach the hatch.” Obtaining visual approval of his plan from the Vulcan’s eyes and expression, Ian moved to help the lieutenant upwards onto his shoulders when the lift suddenly shook again. The two officers were tossed against the wall of the lift with Lamont pressed firmly against the lieutenant his face only a few centimeters away from hers. In that brief moment, Lamont took the rare opportunity to look into the Vulcan’s dark, intriguing eyes.
What in the name of… oh, this was getting ridiculous.
Never mind that a piece of shattered panel was exerting uncomfortable pressure on Sakarra’s shoulder blades, what with a tall human keeping her pinned against the lift’s wall, but he was looking at her in a rather… strange way. Truly quite intense, those green eyes, and his face was so close she could feel his cool human breath like a gentle breeze.
Well, this was hardly the time to ponder human idiosyncrasies. She suppressed the brief urge to simply pick him up and place him firmly out of the way, settling for a tilted head and a questioning look instead.
Dismissing an errant human thought or rather several, Lamont quickly stepped backwards. “My sincere apologies”, he said with a slight bow. “I regret that current forces seem to be consistent in creating these awkward moments.”
“Quite so, ambassador.” Sakarra stated dryly. “Although I must say, certain aspects of human literature, the meanings of which have thus far escaped me, are beginning to make at least some sense. Particularly the one’s involving something called ‘Murphy’s law.”
“Yes, well Murphy is an interesting topic, but one for another time. May I suggest we increase our haste? The stability of this lift seems to be increasingly questionable.”
“A most logical suggestion.” A few more ‘instabilities’ and the results would most likely be unfortunate, either way.
Lamont nodded and motioned for the Sakarra to step into his hands so he could lift her upwards to the emergency hatch above.
An interesting approach for sure but for the moment, Sakarra wasn’t inclined to argue. She briefly placed her fingertips against Lamont’s shoulders to retain her balance and then nodded for him to proceed.
Pushing upwards, the ambassador lifted the woman up so she could open the escape hatch. When it clattered open, Ian looked upwards. The lithe lieutenant, standing closely above him, forced another series of very human thoughts to enter his mind which he was having an increasingly difficult time dismissing as the situation progressed.
The air was surprisingly cold in the turboshaft, but the dim maintenance lighting was quite sufficient to tell Sakarra that they were but a short distance from the doors to deck seven. Small favors…
He watched as Tyrax pulled herself upwards through the exit and then offered him a hand back through the hatch. Gripping her hand, he was slightly surprised by its strength and firmness. Vulcans were physically superior to humans in several areas including strength. This fact he knew, but the sensation was interesting nonetheless.
His boots rubbed the walls of the lift as he struggled to obtain traction to hoist himself upwards. The lieutenant was quick to compensate and a moment later Lamont found himself on the top of the damaged lift car with a Vulcan officer that if he didn’t know better might be interpreted as exhibiting ever so subtle signs of mild annoyance.
The young woman nodded to the ambassador who for all intents and purposes gave her the same look a floppy eared Tracehound pup might give a favored biped. After it had done something unbecoming and realized it was not going to be chided for it.
Just as her hand closed around the maintenance ladder, the turbo car below them shuddered again and the shrieking of metal suggested that their movements had finally loosened something critical.
Splendid.
Without waiting for approval, Sakarra grabbed on to Lamont’s wrist and flung herself against the ladder, hoping at once that she could pull the human close enough to get a hold of the rungs as well and wondering all the same whether this might create yet another ‘awkward moment’.
But as the lift finally gave way and plunged towards a new career of scrap metal, the human lost his footing and fell backwards, nearly taking the little Vulcan along with him.
Splendid indeed. Ow.
Holding on for ‘dear life’, quite literally, she felt the ladder twist and tear just a meter below her feet (0.8 meters from the feel of it. So much for getting the human to find his own hold on the ladder) while the ambassador was dangling over quite a bit of empty air.
“Mr. Lamont?”
She looked down, not bothering to ask whether he was alright since that seemed rather ridiculous.
“It might be advisable for you to hold on with both hands if you can.”
Ian swung in the open air suspended only by the Vulcan’s iron grasp on his arm. The sensation was both terrifying, yet somewhat exhilarating at the same time. Oddly, with Sakarra’s grip on him, he was bereft of a sense of impending peril though the situation was far less then ideal.
“I believe I can manage that without issue lieutenant”, Lamont replied lifting his free hand securing it around her arm which was tightly secured to his own. The motions caused him to swing gently back and forth in the air as his actions, not immune to Newtonian physics, caused opposite and equal reactions.
His weight and her unfavorable position made it rather difficult to pull him up, never mind that her own hold on the smooth metal of the ladder was precarious at best. She might have to improvise after all.
Muscles in both her arms straining, the young Vulcan focused on the small panel that would open the doors to the deck. Just one step up. That should be possible, no?
If only he would hold still instead of dangling about like that…
“Hm.”
There was an idea..
Sakarra breathed once, deeply, and then pulled herself upwards, just enough to reach the little panel. The ladder shuddered and groaned, but held. For now.
“Lt. Sakarra, your strength and timing are both impressive and impeccable, however might I suggest a rapid exit strategy? While the view here is quite unusual and somewhat impressive I have no desire to join the lift at the bottom of the shaft.”
“Understandable, ambassador.” the young Vulcan stated levelly. “And since I share your sentiment concerning the aesthetically objectionable outcome of a fall, you may safely assume that I am proceeding as fast as I am able to under the circumstances.”
She clung to the ladder like a Le-Matya to it’s prey while her outstretched fingers danced over the panel. A hiss of air announced that for once, things were not going to go ’donut shaped’ to borrow a phrase from a friendly engineer she knew and one last pull of a handle made the doors slide open and light poured into the battered interior of the turboshaft.
That left another minor matter.
“Tell me ambassador, how long ago was your hand-to-hand combat training? Particularly, how well do you fall?”
Ian’s eyes snapped open. “Fall? If this is an attempt at human humor lieutenant I suggest some additional research on the subject may be needed on your part.”
“Bear with me, Mr Lamont.”
“I will do my best, but falling is not something I am particularly keen on at this moment lieutenant. As for my hand-to-hand training it probably isn’t as sharp as it could be, but I manage to keep such skills in a passable state of readiness.”
“Considering that I may not be able to pull both of us to a sufficient height to exit the turboshaft by conventional means - at least not quickly enough to be certain this damaged ladder will hold - I will have to rely on your ability to impact a hard surface without sustaining major injuries.”
Safe to assume the ambassador would prefer being thrown onto the deck which was beckoning just 0.4 meters above the young woman’s head rather than fall into the twisted remnants of the turbocar.
[To Be Continued…]
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Lieutenant Sakarra Tyrax
Ambassador Ian Lamont
