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LSTX-2000:
Lost in Space
and Time

Chapter One:
A Temporal Displacement

Chapter Two:
An Exitor and
an EM Egg

Chapter Three: Under Cloak and
at the Edge

Chapter Four: Shanghaied by Martian Slavers

Chapter Five:
The Ntzeon Effect

Chapter Five:
The Ntzeon Effect

Chapter Six:
Lost Survivors
in Space

Chapter Seven:
Stealth About Midnight

Chapter Eight:
Back Through Time

Chapter Nine:
Zeta 4

Chapter Ten:
The Ntzeon Plant

Chapter Eleven:
The Voyage Across Time
LSTX-2000: Lost in Space and Time

Chapter 7: Stealth about Midnight

   Picard led them along the edge of the mountains where the mines were. They encountered one sentry out side a mine shaft and rendered him unconscious, took his weapon, a fancy bronze ray-gun, and continued on towards the structure under the cloak of night. Apparently, due to the loss of soldiers during the earthquake which triggered the rebellion, they were low on support and had to spread the guards thin. This made stealth somewhat easier, at least at the perimeter.

  They reached the side wall of the structure, in the deep shade, away from the structure’s lights. Picard peaked about the corner, toward the columned walkway which led to the only known entrance.

  “I count 2 guards by the entrance,” Picard said. “Perhaps we should look for a back door.”
  He led them along the wall, for 80 meters, and they got a better idea of the size of the structure. It was not simply ancient; it was huge and built like a stone fortress. When they reached the corner, a dim light shone, as they peaked about it. There were no guards visible, but there was some kind of doorway, at the top of a dozen stone steps. The steps began just about 20 meters from the corner, followed the wall up to a landing around 4 meters above the base, where there appeared to be a large door way under a dim square of light.

  “There’s bound to be some kind of guard inside,” Picard said, “Even if the door is unlocked.”
  “I will check to see if there is another door,” Warf said, “on the other side of these steps.” Before anyone could object, he ran along the side of the wall, in the dim light, swiftly, and disappeared from his crew-mates eyes, around the other side of the steps. It was darker in the shade of the step-case of stone, therefore, safer than it seemed from the corner. Picard and Ryker waited for 2 minutes, and as they began to lose patience, Warf reappeared, joined them around the corner, end reported.

  “There are no other doors,” he admitted, “however; there is some kind of large window, very high up, in the wall.”
 “How high?” Picard said,
 “About 10 meters, at least, probably more,” Ryker stepped away from the wall, and back the way they came, looking up the side of the wall.

  He saw something, stared for a moment, and Picard joined him, then Warf.
  “A large square, much darker than the wall itself,” he said, pointing. “Some kind of window?”
  “Possibly,” Picard agreed.

  “Another,” Warf said, as he joined them. “This one is not as high as the other. It is also much darker. I noticed some measure of light, from a candle per haps, in the other.”
  “This one would appear to be the more favorable,” Picard admitted, “but we need rope and a grappling hook.”

  “Now that I have this ray-gun,” Warf admitted, ‘I do not need this prodding-stick. 1 could bend it into some kind of hook.”
  He hefted it in one hand and grabbed it with the other. “But what about rope?”

  “I saw some back by the mines,” Ryker admitted. “Warf, you cover me, and I’ll sneak back and get it before the next shift decides to make changes.”
  Picard watched them go, and decided to follow them back half way along the wall. He stopped when he saw their silhouettes against the light about the front columns, and watched Ryker sneak away as Warf stayed at the corner covering him.

  5 minutes later, Ryker and Warf rejoined Picard with the rope, and a ‘grappling hook’, which was apparently not an uncommon tool about the mines. Warf dropped the prodding stick as Ryker tossed the hook up to the window, with the rope attached. It was a good 10 meter climb, with Picard in the lead. Ryker awaited Picard’s signal from the window, and he climbed after. Warf awaited their signal, and then followed.

  They found themselves it some kind of large storage chamber, with four aisles of boxes and crates, and shelves of things all along the walls. There were 2 heavy, metal-reinforced, wooden doors, such as the kind in castles, and both were locked. They regrouped in one corner of the chamber, by the window.

  “We appear to have chosen well,” Warf said. “There are many things in here we can use. There even app ears to be some sort of cold-storage locker, with food and water.”
  “Excellent,” Picard admitted. “My guess is that at least one of those doors can be opened from the inside. I see about that while you 2 get supplies.”

  The supply room provided them with all kinds of things useful for their survival. They found leather belts and armored vests, boots, gloves, canteens, and a tricorder-unit, which had been taken apart and examined at a bench under a lens. Apparently, this was a case of federation technology in alien hands. Picard reassembled the tricorder and made it function properly.

  “This planet we are on,” Ryker said, as they regrouped, “is very strange. It appears to bear some significant parallel to ancient Rome, with exceptions such as the ray-gun and some of the tools used in the mines.”
  “Yes, I agree,” Picard admitted. “I don’t recall seeing any part of it before waking up in the back of a penal-wagon and being deposited at this slave-camp. According to the 2 others in the wagon with me, this is either the planet Damox 3 or Nylox 4. I don’t recognize either of them from what’s left of my memory.”

  “I was told by another it was Hovex 5,” Ryker admitted. “I don’t think anyone but the guards know where we really are.”
  Warf stepped up in the dim light with the out-fittings of a warrior, and handed a leather bag to Picard.

  “We have everything we need to survive in the desert for several days now,” he said to them. “All that is left is the transportation.”
  “Right,” Picard said, looking toward the doors. “Well, up until now, we’ve been able to stay together. Let’s try and keep it that way. But if we do get separated, we should regroup back around the mountain side where we were before the sun set.”

  The others agreed and Picard pointed the tricorder to the doors. A minute later, he moved a bronze lever to the left, the bolt retracted, and the door opened. Carefully, Warf moved the heavy door and peaked in to the hallway. It was dimly lit by oil lamps, grey stone and empty; just another hallway inside a huge, ancient structure on an alien planet,

  “All clear,” he said, and led them out.
  “Which way?” he whispered to the others.
  “Left,” Picard said, and they quietly moved in that direction.

  After ten meters they reached another door to another room. Picard triggered the lock and they checked it. It was storage room, for chemicals. They found what appeared to be plastic explosives, added some to their bags, and returned to the hall.
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