Ishtar Rising Book 1 - Michael A. Martin [17]
“—perverse lifestyle.”
Gomez had to bite her tongue to suppress a snort. Luckily, Dr. Saadya spoke up quickly. “It is my understanding that 110 is one of the most capable Bynars that has ever worked with Starfleet. I have no doubt he will be an excellent coworker.”
The two Bynars turned away and stepped back to their workstation, tapping the touch-sensitive monitor. A bright multicolumn stream of data began pouring downward on the screen. They began their code-like chatter almost immediately.
Soloman looked up at Saadya, who guided him toward another station located several paces away. The scientist resumed pointing at a few panels, and Soloman appeared to understand his tasks very quickly.
Gomez cast an evil-eye glance at the backs of the other two Bynars’ crania. She didn’t think of herself as someone who often felt vindictive, but these two had been indescribably rude to her friend and colleague.
* * *
All thirteen stations had been linked, and the simulation was going well. No, perfectly, Pascal Saadya thought, allowing himself a wide smile behind the hands steepled in front of his mouth. He moved from bank to bank, as the many technicians monitored the programs that were regulating the endlessly shifting interactions between the simulated force fields and the faux Venusian atmosphere. Between the presence and advice of the Starfleet engineers, all the preparatory work that Team Ishtar had done, and Saadya’s own elated vigilance, the feeling of success in the room was almost palpable.
Suddenly the Tellarite bellowed, “Faugh!” Pandemonium followed.
“We have a cascading node failure commencing northward along meridian number thirty-eight!” said Shaowa Isyami, her usually reserved voice raised in alarm.
“The field is buckling at points 0456 and 0892,” chimed in Kent Laczmyr. “Now points 2487 and 4511. Now 4582.”
As Kent bleated numbers, those around him pressed on the screens, trying to correct the problems.
“Major power surge at Helel Ground Station. Shields are—Oh my God! We’ve lost her!”
As Saadya rushed toward the monitors, the acidic winds above the chamber—lifted tens of kilometers high by the coordinated force fields—howled and rushed down at them in seconds. “Reinforce the fields at all junctures,” he yelled. “Concentrate power at points 8242 and 2983!”
But it was too late. The ceilings and walls groaned, and bolts began to scream as they scraped out of their sockets. Even as the station began to collapse around them, Saadya called out, “Computer, freeze program.”
Instantly, the holographic chaos went both still and silent.
Saadya looked around the room toward the people at their stations, a grim look on his face. Some of the technicians were rattled by the holographic disaster around them, bringing things too close to home for those who had witnessed the final moments of Hesperus Station at close range.
“Any idea what went wrong?” he asked, running his hand up and through his hair. “Anyone?”
The Bynars stepped forward.
“We believe that—” said 1110.
“—the presence of a—” added 1011.
“—contaminant in our—”
“—thought processes—”
“—caused a miscalculation—”
“—which allowed us to—”
“—deploy an incorrect—”
“—vector. We have been—”
“—shamed.”
Saadya’s eyes widened. The Bynars are admitting they were wrong? Or are they?
He saw Gomez cast a nasty look toward the Bynars, and she stepped forward. “Doctor, I suggest we take this data back to the da Vinci to study it, and that your people do the same here. How soon can you have another simulation prepared?”
Time was running out, but Saadya knew that it would be many hours before this data was analyzed. “How about 0830 tomorrow? Would that be a good time?”
“I think so. I’ll discuss it with my engineers.”
Saadya saw Soloman step away from his console to rejoin his Starfleet companions. He didn’t even glance at his fellow Bynars, until one of them spouted a few short syllables of code at him.
Then Soloman squared his shoulders and stalked out of the holodeck, some of his coworkers trailing after him.
Saadya gave an apologetic