Buying Time
Page 7
Bright lights suddenly appeared all around the chamber, winking and blinking in no discernible pattern. Quickly, he presumed this was the temporal effect and closed the panel cover, just in case. Within seconds, five distinct shapes appeared and coalesced into familiar forms, although he was fairly certain he had never seen his crewmates naked before.
Pattie had seen the effect, but rather than watch, she had hurried over to a corner and grabbed up a handful of blankets and uniforms that had awaited their owners. As soon as the effect ended, she began handing out the clothing, receiving grateful grins from each of the women. Soloman was fairly certain he had also never seen Corsi smile.
Tev escorted the Ferengi toward him, and his expression indicated a mix of frustration and disgust.
“What’s the situation?” Gomez asked.
Soloman glanced at the ever-changing readouts, and worry covered his expression. He rapidly hit several buttons and actually slapped once at an interface. The hologram readouts changed once more and then froze in position. “Lant caused a power imbalance that we’ve been forestalling, hoping you would return in time. We have less than fifteen minutes before this entire construct implodes.”
Gomez was already back in her pants, struggling again with a boot, but knew enough to look worried. “Get us out of here, Soloman!”
“Soloman to da Vinci.”
“Gold here.”
“The away team has returned intact. Beam us over, please.”
* * *
Seconds later, the seven beings on the asteroid were snatched by a transporter beam. The chamber was suddenly silent, its holographic readouts continuing to chart the power imbalance. The heat grew more and more intense but there was no one to inconvenience. It did, though, cause the computer systems to begin malfunctioning, including losing control of the batteries. Unchecked, the batteries discharged their stored energy that hastened the overall collapse of the system. As a result, the entire asteroid imploded six minutes, twenty-five seconds earlier than Soloman estimated.
Later, the Bynar would note this was a final indignity heaped on him by the alien computer.
* * *
“And what’s to become of me?” Lant demanded.
Corsi looked actually amused at the pathetic Ferengi, as he slumped lower in the chair. The two were in the lone brig, a small, cramped space that had been added during the da Vinci’s refit. To Corsi’s amusement, it was the lack of anything to do with DaiMon Phug of the Debenture that led to Corsi’s petitioning to have a brig installed on the ship, and now its first guest was another Ferengi.
The asteroid ceased to exist only minutes earlier, but the da Vinci had already cleared the system, safely away from any aftereffects. She was feeling comfortable for the first time in what seemed to her to be days. She rarely noticed her uniform but today Corsi liked how it fit her, keeping her warm and protected.
“For starters, we’re doing a credit check to make certain your calculations were correct.”
“I’m insulted.”
“You should be,” she agreed. “If you want to launch a complaint, I’m sure we can find someone from the FCA to help you investigate the situation. Or we could contact the Ferengi ambassador.”
“I really don’t think either action is necessary,” he said hastily. Without the node or a stockpile of latinum, Lant reverted to the persona of a poor Ferengi, which was genuinely pitiful. As much as she wanted to care, she just didn’t.
“What did you have in mind?”
“Now that you mention it, Commander, I was thinking of starting a new line of business and could use a pretty face to help present it to investors.”
“Give it up, Lant.”
“No partnership?”
“There was never a chance. Captain Gold, though, was thinking of returning you to Ferengi authorities with copies of our log entries. No doubt there are penalties for what you tried.”
“They’ll ruin me!” He buried his sizable head in his hands and stayed that way.
“From what Lieutenant Wong has determined, you were pretty much that way before you stumbled onto the asteroid. How long did it take you to master the computer?”
He snorted in disgust. “It took me longer to translate than anything else. Any idiot could have traveled in time.”
Corsi smirked and figured justice would be served. She walked out, locking the conference room door behind her, feeling at last that something was completed.
* * *
Dantas entered the mess hall, her shift having just ended. At one table, Bart was once again sipping from a mug and munching on a plate of cookies. Carol Abramowitz was seated with him and they were having what looked to be an intense conversation. Still, she was surprised to see him wave her over. She was introduced to Abramowitz and invited to sit with them. Helping herself to a shortbread cookie, she sat next to Carol.
“I gather it was a pretty successful mission,” she said.
“It had its moments,” Carol admitted. “I was just telling Bart about it.”
“It should make for a good letter,” Dantas offered.
Bart smiled and shook his head. “I don’t tell him everything. Besides, I wasn’t needed once. The translations proved pretty simple, I gather.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Soloman swears the computer kept changing things on him. And, well, it was embarrassing enough without having everyone on the asteroid.”
“How so?” Dantas asked.
Carol shivered briefly with memory and then looked at the young ensign. “It’s one thing to read about a culture, entirely another thing to be in the midst of it. Some of their mores are personally offensive to me.”
“If I recall, they’re pretty harsh to their women,” Dantas said.
“True. It’s better today under Grand Nagus Rom, but back then…well, I’d rather not be parading around nude for a race of leering capitalists.”
Dantas’s brown eyes grew wide and she felt herself blushing. “You had to be nude?”
“The entire mission,” Carol said in distaste.
“Wow, it’s a good thing you have the body for it,” the ensign said. “Well, that is, I think so, not having seen you naked and all.”
“We’ll just keep it that way,” Abramowitz said coolly. She and Bart exchanged glances that obviously conveyed a lot between the friends. How Dantas envied that kind of connection.
“I hear you think I’m hot,” Bart said, changing the subject. “Thanks.” Dantas looked at him, stunned silent. “Of course, I also hear you put me and Sabrina Simon in the same category. Clearly, that’s not possible. I’m far more enchanting.”
She continued to stare at him.
“I’m flattered, Dantas—”
“My friends call me Dani,” she said. God, how’d she get herself into this conversation?
“Okay, Dani,” Bart continued. “There’s nothing requiring you to find a partner on the da Vinci. We’re a small ship and such combinations don’t happen that often. Just make friends and let things happen.”
“Thanks, Bart,” she said, her mind racing. A moment later, she was determined to get even with her gossipy roommate. Somehow, somewhere, she would.
* * *
“I can’t believe it,” Tev said as he entered the bridge.
“It’s true,” Captain Gold said. “We’re being ordered to Starbase 410 so you can be debriefed by Temporal Investigations. They haven’t had anything this juicy since….”
“…at least next week,” Gomez added as she joined them in the command center. “I guess our tricorder records and log entries won’t be good enough?”
“Not with that bunch,” the captain admitted. “You both did superb work. From what we can determine, the extent of the tampering is negligible beyond some hiccups in the Ferengi economy. Lant is pretty much back to where he should be on the economic scale. He’s maybe a few bars to the better, but nothing that should be of concern.”
“I wish I had time to look at the chamber in depth
,” Sonya said. “Pattie tells me it was an odd construction. I’d much rather have been poking around that than wandering the streets of Ferenginar with nothing to hide.”
“As hides go—” Tev began, but cut his comment off at the sharp look from Gomez.
About the Author
ROBERT GREENBERGER is a senior editor at DC Comics in their collected-editions department. Additionally, he has extensive writing credits ranging from nonfiction books for young adults to a smattering of original fiction to lots of Star Trek. The latter includes the novels The Romulan Stratagem and Doors Into Chaos, the short story “Hour of Fire” in Enterprise Logs, and much more. His short stories “Lefler’s Logs” and “A Song Well Sung” will appear, respectively, in the 2003 Star Trek: New Frontier anthology No Limits and the 2004 anthology Tales of the Dominion War. Also in 2004, he will pen two Star Trek: The Next Generation novels, A Time to Love and A Time to Hate. His previous Star Trek: S.C.E. eBook, Past Life, is available both for download and in print form in the omnibus No Surrender. Foolish mortal, he is a lifelong Mets fan. He makes his home in Connecticut with his wife, Deb, and children, Kate and Robbie.
Coming Next Month:
Star Trek™: S.C.E. #33
Collective Hindsight
Book 1
by Aaron Rosenberg
The da Vinci comes across a strange runaway vessel that is giving off tremendous amounts of dangerous energy. However, the ship is not as strange as they think, as they’ve encountered it once before…
During the Dominion War, the U.S.S. da Vinci encountered this same vessel, and had to destroy it before it presented a danger to an entire star system—not to mention to the war effort. However, doing so proved a challenge for the ship’s first officer and second officer at the time: Commander Salek and Lt. Commander Duffy. Now, over a year later, their successors, Commander Gomez and Lt. Commander Tev, must find a way to destroy a ship that is apparently unstoppable…
COMING IN OCTOBER FROM POCKET BOOKS!