Enigma - Michael Jan Friedman [76]
But beyond that, the two Ulelos looked exactly the same.
Picard approached the man, ignoring his companions for the moment. “Mister Ulelo?” he ventured.
The fellow nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Picard smiled. “Welcome aboard.”
Ulelo smiled back, though he looked a bit out of practice. “Thank you, sir. It’s good to be aboard.”
Chapter Twenty-one
AS BENDER ENTERED SICKBAY, she couldn’t mistake the hulking figure bent over a workstation, his long, strong fingers tapping away at a built-in keypad.
“Doctor Greyhorse?” she said.
The doctor looked up from his work. “Ah, Lieutenant Bender. I take it you’ve come to see Ulelo.”
“Can I speak with him?”
Greyhorse shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
“Thanks,” said Bender. Then she drew a deep breath and went inside.
It was Ulelo, all right. The one with whom she had attended the Academy, and whose company she had loved so much. The one she had believed she rediscovered there on the Stargazer.
His eyes opened wide as he took in the sight of her. “Emily?” he said. And a smile spread across his face.
She couldn’t help smiling back at him. “It’s me, all right.”
“I didn’t know you were on this ship.”
“I got here a few months ago.” She glanced at his bioreadouts, which looked normal enough. “How are you feeling?”
“Not bad,” he said, “considering.” His smile faded and his eyes turned hard, as if he were looking at something the science officer couldn’t see. “It was tough, not knowing if I’d ever see anyone I knew again, or if I’d have to live the rest of my life that way—among the D’prayl, in a single room, with guards watching me all the time.” Then he brightened again. “But that’s all over, isn’t it? I’m home now.”
She nodded. “You’re home.” And she put her arms around him, letting him know that his ordeal was over.
But it was funny. As happy as she was to see Ulelo—the real Ulelo, who had been so miraculously restored to them—it wasn’t the same as seeing the Ulelo she had gotten to know over the last several weeks.
He had been an alien, an impostor. He had pursued an agenda that he had kept hidden from her and everyone else. But even when she considered all that, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had lost a friend.
Kastiigan pushed his food around his plate. He didn’t feel much like eating.
He didn’t feel much like company either, which was why he had chosen a seat by himself in the corner of the mess hall. However, a half-dozen crewmen suddenly descended on the table next to him, effectively dashing Kastiigan’s hope of solitude.
“So,” said Urajel, more than loud enough for the science officer to overhear, “I guess we’re pretty sharp.”
Kochman looked at her from across the table. “What are you talking about?”
Urajel grunted. “An impostor sits among us day in and day out for weeks, and we don’t suspect a thing. Observant, aren’t we?”
The others’ expressions turned a little sheepish. But then, Kastiigan noted silently, they had all spent a great deal of time with Ulelo. He had been part of their circle of friends.
“How were we supposed to know he was someone else?” Pfeffer complained. “He didn’t have a sign on his back.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said Urajel, “he seemed more human to me than the rest of you.”
They all laughed at that.
“If anybody else here is a hostile alien,” said Kochman, “this would be a good time to come clean. I don’t think I could take that happening a second time.”
They laughed again.
“Truthfully,” said Iulus, “it’s a little scary. To think that, all this time, the guy we thought was Ulelo…”
They all knew how that ended.
“But now we’ve got the real Ulelo,” Garner noted.
“Yes,” said Pfeffer. She looked around the table, a question in her eyes. “I wonder what he’s like.”
No one ventured a guess.
Kastiigan sighed. It had never been more clear to him that his priorities were different from those of his comrades.
He was glad that they had recovered Ulelo, and that none of