Violations by Susan Wright Page B

eyes narrowed at the blinking lights of turbolifts transporting people to the interior of the station. Everyone knew the only realistic thing a pilot could do in spacedock was go on shore leave.
    He swore to himself that he’d get into the Hub somehow… it was only a matter of time.

Chapter 5
    Tuvok deduced from the Captain’s relaxed gait on the way to Voyager’s primary docking port that Janeway had achieved a measure of calm, despite the series of unfortunate events.
    Complying with her silent request, he refrained from postulating about their circumstances, intending to file a complete security report later.
    He confirmed that the hard gangway had automatically extended from the docking pylon, allowing shirtsleeve access to the service deck. As Tuvok opened the port, he instituted a security lock requiring an authorized access code before entrance or exit would be permitted.
    The small service deck was empty, yet Tuvok noted the existence of umbilical monitors, indicating the Hub was capable of full external support. Voyager would benefit from such a service, and he intended to include that fact in his security report.
    Entering the docking lift, they were carried rapidly down the pylon.
    After 16.4 seconds, the lift slowed and abruptly made a 180-degree roll. The gravity maintained a steady downward pressure, yet the captain emitted a sound that Tuvok associated with the tendency of human digestive systems to react adversely to unanticipated motions.
    Tuvok prepared to administer whatever aid was necessary, when the lift came to a halt with a brief flash of white light.
    A computerized voice announced, “Scan complete. You have been granted access to Lobby Five-eight.”
    “Scan!” Janeway exclaimed, apparently controlling her autonomic reflexes. “They’ve scanned us?”
    The door slid open.
    “It would appear so.” Tuvok didn’t appreciate the personal invasion any more than Janeway did, but he continued to shunt the negative associations to a portion of his brain that would not interfere with his performance. He had already been grossly derelict in his duty in allowing the Tutopans to render the crew unconscious, and he fully expected the captain to log a reprimand in his permanent service record.
    Upon leaving the lift depot, they emerged into a vast chamber.
    The three slanting walls met in a point at the center, approximately fifty meters in height.
    “A pyramid,” Janeway said, craning her head.
    “Technically, this would be considered a tetrahedron,” Tuvok informed her. “If this room is a reliable indication, the interior framework of the asteroid is constructed on the geodesic principle.”
    Janeway nodded. “Good choice for what’s basically a round structure.
    Our docking spire must be connected to the base of this pyra… tetrahedron,” she corrected herself. “How disorienting.”
    Her comment was made lightly, so Tuvok determined it was unnecessary to respond. Surveying Lobby 58, he noted two other lift depots that were of much larger dimensions. The activity of orange-clad support personnel, moving bulky antigrav pallets, indicated those lifts were used to off-load cargo.
    The lower portions of the slanting walls were pierced by numerous windows and doors, apparently leading to businesses that supplied whatever one might need when visiting a space station. Higher up, the walls were dotted with floating advertising buoys and communications boards with rows of brightly lit and moving symbols. Humanoids and aliens wandered among the businesses, and lounged on the two terraces of what appeared to be an entertainment center suspended in one corner—the miniature tetrahedron was upside down, its downward point mirroring the echoing space above.
    “Rather tame,” Janeway commented. “Almost sanitized, I’d say.”
    Tuvok attempted to scan the area with his tricorder. “I am reading heavy subspace interference, due to differential gravity bases. My tricorder is unable to penetrate