Free Cybersong by S. N. Lewitt Page B

were using superconductors.”
    The corridor took a sharp turn that had been obscured by the projections. When they rounded ,the corner, they found themselves in front of an interior door. There was no lock here.
    “Open sesame,” Paris muttered.
    The door opened.
    “Wait a minute, that isn’t supposed to happen,” the pilot protested.
    “Maybe the suit communicator triggered it,” the captain said.
    And they were surrounded by the angels again. The one with the indigo skin and the silver white hair, the Christmas pair and the pale blue one and the one that was shot with gold, they were all there, smiling, welcoming.
    And they were tall, but not at all of a size to have built this ship.
    In fact, they were all about the same size, Paris thought.
    Taller than he was, but not so much so that they were abnormal for a human. They were still a hair under two meters, Paris was certain of it.
    “Thank you for coming to our aid,” the indigo-skinned one said.
    “We have been waiting so very long, and no one comes. We are safe in here from the thing that waits. Here we can be at home.
    You must come here and stay, all of you.”
    “What thing that waits?” the captain asked. Though her voice sounded neutral, Tom Paris caught the note of disbelief in her tone. The captain was having none of them, he thought. And neither was he.
    “Captain, nothing is registering on the tricorder. Not on any life reading at all. I’ve adjusted it for other compositions, including metallic, and the only thing I’m getting is energy concentration and coherent light.”
    “Gentlemen, we’ve reached the holodeck,” the captain announced.
    “I thought it would have to be something like this. Created especially for us.”
    “That’s more sophisticated than that simple airlock would indicate,” Harry Kim said.
    “And they’re not big enough for this ship,” Paris added. “They aren’t to scale around here.”
    “It is beautiful here, and everything is provided. And it is safe.
    You can stay here and have everything, and that which waits will be satisfied. It will not harm you. It has no wish to harm if we do not interfere with its needs.” The indigo-skinned one made the little speech.
    “Well, we would like to see the rest of the ship,” Janeway said, and went back for the door again.
    Only there was no door. It had disappeared, along with all the walls and the strange projections. In its place was a small pond with goldfish flickering under the surface and violet lilies blooming on their pads. One of the angels, this one colored turquoise and red, sprinkled what appeared to be crumbs over the water. They were in the middle of a garden with a fountain on the far side and carved white benches around a small table. Pink creeper roses covered a large sycamore tree that dripped down over a picnic blanket where several of the angels were setting out food no one on Voyager had seen in months.
    A single crystal bowl held fresh pineapple and mandarin oranges and pears. An entire turkey on a silver platter took pride of place, but it was surrounded by bread and several decanters of wine and plates full of spinich pies and rice and Tuscan white beans in rosemary.
    “Come, take off those suits. It is pleasant here,” the indigo one said. “You can enjoy a repast, and then we can make arrangements.”
    “Mr. Paris,” Captain Janeway’s voice cut like ice through the soporific blandishments of the aliens. “Your phaser. Now.”
    He didn’t need to be told twice. He turned away from the images of the beings and opened fire at full power.
    Nothing happened. The phaser had been fully charged before he left Voyager. He had checked. He knew he wanted to be armed on this mission, and he wouldn’t leave a thing like that to chance.
    But it should be working.
    Maybe it was too cold, maybe the internal synapses of the phaser had frozen.
    That was ridiculous. Phasers didn’t freeze. Phasers that worked two hours ago still worked.
    So he shot