Articles of the Federation - Keith R. A. DeCandido [20]
“I love you, you know that?”
“I heard a rumor, yeah.” She shook her head. “I love you too. Go find some adjectives.”
After she cut the connection, Fred opened a new one to his research assistant, an eager young Dorset named Rol Yarvik Rol. “Rol, get me everything you can find about Councillor Artrin na Yel.”
“Sure thing, Boss.”
Z4 Blue was writing up his recommendation for C29 Green when his door buzzed. “Come in,” he said without looking up from his work.
The door to Z4’s office slid open to reveal Ne’al G’ullho from the travel office. “Uh, hi,” it said. “You wanted to see me?”
Z4 looked up at it. The Damiani was young, with teal skin, all-white eyes, and horns protruding upward from each temple. “Not especially, but it’s really the best way to talk to you.”
“You guys are still angry about Tamok, aren’t you? Look- “
Expressing his irritation, Z4 said, “I don’t care about Tamok.”
“It was Ambassador T’Kala, she- “
“We know whose fault it was, Ne’al, that’s not what this is about.”
Ne’al threw up its hands. “Come on, Mr. Blue, you guys have- “
“Us guys haven’t been doing anything. It’s all been Xeldara Trask-the rest of us know it was Ambassador T’Kala’s fault.”
Putting its hands back down, Ne’al said, “Oh. So what is this about?” It took a seat in Z4’s guest chair.
“The president’s itinerary tomorrow has her leaving for San Francisco for the dedication of the new museum at 2000.”
Ne’al nodded. “True.”
“That event starts at 2100.”
“Also true.”
Z4’s antennae curled in annoyance. “Any particular reason for that one-hour gap?”
Shrugging, Ne’al said, “Because that’s how long it takes to get to San Francisco from Paris by shuttle.”
“It takes five seconds by transporter, and she’s got one right next to her office.”
Ne’al nodded again. “I know, but the president’s transporter’ll be down at that time. Regular maintenance cycle.”
Z4’s antennae were now about to curl into his head. “You do know that there’s this big transporter bay down on the second floor, right? That hasn’t been removed by Breen saboteurs or anything, has it?”
Now Ne’al started to shift uncomfortably in its seat. Z4 had sat in regular humanoid chairs before, and he could understand the urge. I don’t know how softs function in those things….
“The thing is- ” Ne’al started, then hesitated.
Z4 simply stared at it.
Letting out a breath, Ne’al then said, “See, that one will also be down. For, uh, for the same reason.”
“Regular maintenance cycle?” Z4 asked incredulously.
Ne’al nodded a third time.
Right at the moment, Z4 was grateful that his fourteenth-floor office didn’t have a window, because he felt a great urge to jump out of it. “Ne’al, do you know why we have two transporter bays?”
“My guess is so we can avoid this kind of problem.”
Dryly, Z4 said, “That would be an accurate guess.”
“And in theory, that works fine,” Ne’al said, folding its hands together, “but there’s only one problem.”
“That being?”
“We didn’t avoid this kind of problem.”
The urge switched to wanting to throw the Damiani out the window. “Ne’al- “
“See, the two bays are on separate maintenance cycles, maintained by two different staffs,” Ne’al said quickly. “All the technical support on fifteen and in the basements is completely separate from the first through fourteenth floors-they need extra security.”
Much as Z4 hated to admit it, that made sense. And there were no transporters in the basement because the ground around the Palais was transporter proof-it was impossible to beam in or out of the area benath the Palais for necessary security reasons. “That’s fine, but I still don’t see- “
“Ninety percent of the time, the maintenance schedules of the two staffs don’t overlap. Ninety-five, even.”
“So what happened?” Z4 asked in a low voice.
Ne’al shrugged. “We fell into the wrong five percent.”
“Right. So you want me to go to President Bacco and explain to her that she has to waste an hour of her life on a shuttle because we fell into the wrong five percent.”
“It’ll have the definite ring of truth to it,” Ne’al said with a smile.
Z4 glared at Ne