Free The Folded World by Jeff Mariotte

loomed larger and larger with every passing minute.
    When it seemed that they had almost reached the twisting, shifting, color-phasing interior of the anomaly, Scotty’s voice sounded over the speakers. “ It’s time to cut your power, ” he said. “ We’re ready to give you a push! ”
    Bunker, the crewman at the shuttle’s helm, turned back toward Kirk. “Sir?”
    â€œCut the engines,” Kirk ordered.
    â€œAye, sir.” He did. The steady drone of the shuttle’s engines vanished. Now Kirk felt doubly vulnerable, in a tiny craft under no power at all.
    â€œEngines are off, Mister Scott,” Bunker declared. He had a rugged face, and silver threads shootingthrough his short, dark hair made him look older than he was. But he had the hands of a surgeon, and he knew how to fly a shuttle.
    â€œ Here comes a shove, ” Scotty announced. “ Ye might feel a wee jolt. ”
    â€œHang on,” Kirk warned. He was glad he had. When the tractor beam reached them, the sensation was less a “wee jolt” and more like they’d been rear-ended by a craft twice their size.
    â€œEverybody okay?” he asked when the shuttle had leveled off again.
    A chorus of responses in the affirmative reached his ears.
    â€œMister Scott,” Kirk called.
    â€œ Aye, Captain? ”
    â€œWhen you push the second shuttle, you might want to try a lighter touch, Scotty. Or at the very least, make your warning a little stronger.”
    â€œ Sorry, Captain. I didnae mean t’ shake everybody up. ”
    â€œUnderstood. Everything seems fine now. Kirk out.”
    And everything was fine. The tractor beam pushed the shuttle gently through the vacuum of space. Through the forward ports, he could see the kaleidoscope of colors loom larger, signifying that the dimensional fold was growing closer and closer.
    â€œSteady, people,” Kirk said. “We’re about to go inside, and we haven’t the slightest idea what we’ll find there.”
    â€œWhat do you think it’ll be like, Mister Spock?” someone behind him asked. Kirk thought it was Vandella, but he wasn’t certain.
    â€œI am uncertain,” Spock replied, “but—”
    Before he could finish his thought, the shuttle passed through the boundary of the fold.

Ten
    â€œCaptain!” Bunker called. “We’ve lost all our instruments!”
    The comm system speakers crackled with static. Kirk could barely make out Scotty’s voice. “ Captain  . . . lost you on  . . . status  . . .”
    â€œWe’re fine, Scotty!” Kirk called. He had no idea if his signal would reach the Enterprise, but the ship’s communication systems were more sophisticated than the shuttle’s, so there was a chance. “We’re inside the anomaly, but we’re fine!”
    â€œCaptain,” Bunker said again. He sounded beyond anxious. “I’ve got no control.”
    â€œWe didn’t expect to, Mister Bunker. Steady as she goes.”
    â€œI hope everybody’s strapped in,” Bunker said. “Because we’re—”
    He couldn’t get the rest of his sentence out, but his meaning was obvious. The shuttle was rolling to starboard, fast. Outside, violet lightning carved a jagged streak across Kirk’s field of view, burning into his retinas. The light inside the shuttle was a strange shade of pink, flickering toward red near Kirk’s fellowpassengers, as if they were throwing off energy that altered the light’s properties.
    He gripped the console, as if that, rather than the straps, would hold him in. Halfway through the roll, the shuttle’s artificial gravity cut out. In a way it was a blessing, since it eliminated some of the nausea-making effects of the ship’s motion. It had its own drawbacks, though, as everything loose in the shuttle’s interior that had started to fall during the