Gauntlet - Michael Jan Friedman [27]
“As I said,” the Binderian reminded him, “I felt my time would be spent more wisely in security.”
Under the circumstances, Joseph couldn’t help but agree.
“After I check the rifles,” Obal said, “I would like to take a look at the brig. In my experience, graviton polarity source field generators require frequent recalibration.”
Joseph nodded. “Sure. Knock your socks off.”
Obal smiled. “Thank you, sir.”
The security chief left him in the diagnostics room and continued to his office, where he sat down in front of his computer screen. But before long, he found himself thinking about the Binderian again.
Sixty-four phasers, he mused. And in his free time.
Maybe he had been too quick to judge Obal, he told himself. Maybe the little guy was going to work out after all.
Vigo smiled to himself as he moved his tiny wagon across the winding blue ribbon of a river. Then he looked across the octagonal sharash’di board and saw Valderrama smile too, albeit a bit more ruefully.
“Looks like you’ve got me,” she said.
Remembering his manners, the Pandrilite contained his enthusiasm. “I’ll grant you, it looks that way. But it’s not because you didn’t pursue an interesting and effective strategy.”
“It couldn’t have been that effective,” the sciences chief rejoined. “Otherwise, you would be the one conceding defeat.”
“What hurt you,” Vigo observed, “was your third-level defense. You should have chosen stone over sky.”
“I would have,” Valderrama told him, “if I’d had any large green stones left.”
“You had two of them, actually. They were buried in the riverbed and obscured by ice.”
To underscore his point, Vigo lifted the glassy overlay that represented ice and exposed the trough in the board that represented the river. It was filled halfway to the top with fine dark sand. Using a big, blue finger, he moved the sand around until he revealed a couple of smooth, blue-green stones.
“You see?” he said.
Valderrama looked surprised by his revelation. “But how did you know they were there?”
Vigo shrugged. “They had to be. When we left the first level, only three stones had turned up in the river. And on the second level, there weren’t any at all. So—”
“So there had to be a couple of them on this level.” Valderrama nodded in appreciation of his logic. “Well done, Mr. Vigo.”
He inclined his head. “Thank you.”
“And,” she added with a gleam in her eye, “get ready for a rematch.”
The remark caught Vigo off guard. “Really?”
“You don’t think I’m going to just roll over and accept defeat, do you?” And with her challenge hanging in the air, Valderrama began to set up the board for another game.
The Pandrilite grinned.
He hadn’t been happy about saying good-bye to Cariello, Valderrama’s predecessor as head of the sciences section. Cariello was known for her drive and enthusiasm, her desire to get the most out of herself and others.
Vigo hadn’t expected her replacement to be nearly as good. But fortune had smiled on the Stargazer, it seemed, because Valderrama was obviously made from the same mold.
“Well?” she said. “What are you waiting for?”
He chuckled. “Nothing, Lieutenant. Nothing at all.”
Savoring the prospect of another match, he helped her put the game pieces back in place.
Ben Zoma forked half a stuffed grape leaf into his mouth and savored its aromatic flavor while he considered the list of Starfleet advisories on his padd.
It was midafternoon, and the Stargazer’s lounge was nearly empty, just as Ben Zoma liked it. Not that he wasn’t the gregarious sort. On the contrary, he was probably the most gregarious person he knew.
But as the Stargazer’s first officer, he needed to digest everything that was happening on the ship—and in the case of a Starfleet advisory, everything that was happening off the ship as well. It was easier to do that in an empty lounge than in a full one.
“Commander?” someone said.
It took Ben Zoma a moment to realize that it was he who was being addressed that way. But then, he had only been a first officer for a week or so.
“Yes?” he said, looking up from his padd.
Wu was standing