A sepulchral quiet descended on the gate room. The only sounds were Karissa's quiet sobbing and Tyran's ineffectual efforts to soothe her. No one moved. The shock of Captain Evans' death lay heavily on everyone's spirits. The dead Nausicaan Captain's grisly body lay in the center of the chamber in a pool of his own blood -- a gruesome reminder. Ignored for the moment by its liberators, the Iconian Gateway continued cycling from destination to destination just as it had dutifully done for the last 200,000 years, displaying views of exotic locales across the known universe in between its two massive door posts.
Finally, Admiral Pike forced himself to break the silence. "Mister Benton. Get with Kira and start figuring out how we're going to turn this gateway into a time machine." Benton acknowledged the order with a barely perceptible nod of his head, then moved off to comply.
Satisfied, Pike tapped his combadge and said, "Pike to *Ronin*," and waited for a reply. After a few seconds of staticky silence, he snapped his fingers. "Of course!" he chided himself. "The neutronium in the ziggurat above us is blocking the signal." He spotted O'Neal and waved him over. "Lieutenant, return to the surface and contact the *Ronin*. Have them send down another runabout with a full security detail. There's probably still pirates lurking in the forest outside that will need to be cleared out."
"Aye, sir," said O'Neal. He started to turn to go, but then turned back to Pike. "Admiral, what should I tell them about...." He looked towards Karissa and the Iconian gateway through which Evans had disappeared, unable to finish the sentence.
"I'll be up in a few minutes," said Pike, understanding. "I'll take care of it."
"Aye, sir," said O'Neal again, and left to return to the surface.
Pike saw that Doctor Hancock was tending to Karissa, and that Kira and Benton were deep in discussion, darting around the control console that operated the gateway. He singled out Tyran in the clutter and said, "Mister Tyran, you can handle things down here. I'll be on the surface." He drew closer, and in a more confidential tone added, "Make sure Karissa is all right."
"Of course, sir."
The trip back up to ground level from the bowels of the Iconian ziggurat was particularly gruesome. Dead Nausicaans, Mullurans, Jem'Hadar and various sundry other species of pirate choked the dimly-lit corridors and stairwells, their faces twisted in the agonies of their deaths. Pike had to step carefully to avoid tripping over them.
When he finally emerged back out into broad daylight, he had to squint. Shielding his eyes with his hand he took a quick visual scan of the immediate surroundings. There was a wide stretch of bare earth between the ziggurat's entrance and the eaves of the forest, stamped flat by years of booted feet coming and going. O'Neal was off to one side of the massive ziggurat scanning the sky with his eyes, probably waiting for the runabout from the *Ronin*. Just beyond the edge of the clearing, under the first boughs of the forest trees, was a large crowd of the tiny monkey-men.
Pike wanted to go and thank his diminutive allies, but first he had an unpleasant duty to perform. He tapped his combadge and said, "Landing party to *Ronin*."
[*Ronin* here, landing party. Go ahead.]
"We've achieved our mission objective. The Iconian gateway is secured. But we've lost the Captain." Pike wasn't one to beat around the bush.
There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence, then in a noticeably shakier voice: "Understood, Admiral. What do you want us to do?"
"Maintain status and keep an eye out for incoming pirate ships. We're continuing the mission down here." He couldn't really think of anything else to add, so he said, "Landing party out."
That task out of the way, Pike returned his attention to the monkey-men, who were still milling about the edge of the clearing. As he approached them, the monkey-man with the biggest spear ambled forward to meet him. Faced with this miniature chieftain, he was suddenly aware that he had no way of communicating with these people. Karissa was the one who had been making headway in that department.
The little Monkey Emperor didn't seem to be worried about that technicality though. He reached up his quasi-human hand toward Pike, inviting him to take it. With only a second's hesitation Pike did so. The monkey army had done so much to help his people, this was no time to start distrusting them. So, led by the hand by the Monkey Emperor, surrounded by throngs of the Monkey Emperor's armed warriors, Admiral Jeffrey H. Pike strode fearlessly into their forest.
The sparse forest canopy immediately around the ziggurat gave way quickly to dense, intertwined foliage. Soon, barely any direct sunlight at all penetrated all the way to the forest floor. The Monkey Emperor led Pike along a path only the monkeys could discern. After ten minutes of steady walking, the invisible path opened onto a wide, flat area in the forest. Pike just stood a second and gaped.
It was oval in shape, about fifty yards by twenty, completely ringed by trees growing so close together Pike doubted he could have squeezed between them, except where the path led into it. The floor was a verdant, grassy carpet which stretched from wall to wall, and the branches of the trees formed a ceiling far, far above. The very air shone emerald from the leaf-filtered sunlight.
At the far end of this cathedral-like space, resting on the forest floor and draped with millennia of moss and broad-leafed vines was a massive stone-carved head. It was lying on its side, broken off at the neck and cracked in half a dozen places. The head's body was nowhere to be seen, but it was the head that captured Pike's attention. It wasn't quite human -- it looked distinctly simian! Pike looked down at his hairy host and saw a definite resemblance. He couldn't help wondering if it was his distant ancestors that were responsible for this noble-visaged carving. Had the monkey-men enjoyed a higher level of technology in the distant past?
Pike didn't have too much time to wonder though. The Monkey Emperor led him to the left-hand side of the cathedral, to one of the trees that comprised its wall. On the tree's smooth bark, Pike could see inscribed rows of intricate carvings. He stepped closer to get a better look, and was once again astounded.
He saw rows of little figures, which he assumed represented the monkey people, and rows of taller figures, which he assumed represented humans. The rows of short people and tall people did battle with a few more rows that obviously represented the pirates. Finally, the short figures were depicted stomping on the heads of dead pirate figures.
The Monkey Emperor pointed at the pictograms with his hairy paw, then looked up at Pike and smiled a ferocious, toothy smile. Pike was incredulous. He had been wanting to find a way to thank the monkey people, but they'd beaten him to it. They were thanking him!
The Monkey Emperor pointed at the smaller figures representing his own people and said, "Oo-oo-ah," and looked at Pike expectantly. Pike blinked, not knowing what he was supposed to do. The Monkey Emperor pointed again, and again said, "Oo-oo-ah." Then he pointed to one of the taller pictograms and again looked to Pike expectantly.
Pike had a feeling he knew what the Monkey Emperor was after. He stepped up to the tree and pointed his own finger at the short figure, and said, "Oo-oo-ah," trying to mimic the Emperor's monkey accent. "Your people are called the 'Oo-oo-ah'." The Monkey Emperor smiled one of his toothy smiles, and pointed again at the taller pictogram.
Pike said, "Human." The Emperor looked a little distressed, so Pike repeated, this time more slowly, careful to pronounce the word precisely -- "Hu-man."
The Emperor flexed his lips, and formed the unfamiliar word slowly. "Oo-uh."
"Close enough," smiled Pike.