Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [122]
“Are you sure youll be able to fly this thing solo? Malcolm said, eyeing the gray-green hull of the alien vessel with unconcealed suspicion. Shuttlepod Two cast a long shadow behind him and TPol as the late-afternoon sun continued to sink ever lower in the sky behind it. The bloated orbs orange-refracted rays were painted brown and ocher by the durable but slowly diminishing column of smoke and fire that marked the ruins of Sopeks base.
“Theres only one way I can think of to find out, Trip said with a grin as he slapped the hull with an open palm. “Hell, Im not even sure I can get the hatch open without Terixs advance written permission. I just have to hope he left the computer a note.
“I take it he wasnt exactly the trusting sort, Reed said.
“Were talking about a Romulan centurion, Malcolm. Not an eagle scout. Trip placed his right hand on the recognition pad that was mounted to the immediate right of the forward hatch. The hand-plate was recessed so that it was flush with the rest of the hull when its tough duranium cover was in place.
To Trips relieved surprise, the hatch hissed obediently open two or three heartbeats later.
“Lets hope your friend Terix didnt leave any booby traps active in there, Malcolm said, his expression grave as he nodded toward the open hatch, through which a few of the scoutships faintly glowing instrument panels were visible.
A swarm of butterflies fluttered in Trips gut; he could think of only one way to put that notion to the test as well.
TPol took a couple of steps closer to Trip and the open hatchway before she stopped between the two men and folded her arms before her. “Perhaps the centurion anticipated that he might have no alternative other than to trust you under certain extraordinary circumstances.
That sounded reasonable to Trip. It was also far more encouraging than Malcolms paranoia, however justified it might be. “I guess he could have told the computer to let me drive if he was too injured to take charge himself. Even if he didnt trust me completely, he might have figured Id expect my chances of staying in Valdores good graces to suffer if I were to use this ship to run awayor if I came back to Romulus without my escort.
“Unfortunately, thats exactly whats happened, Malcolm said. “How do you intend to explain Terixs absence to Valdore?
Trip stared thoughtfully into the middle distance, gazing with unfocused eyes at the pillar of combustion debris that still rose above the site of his most recent brush with death. Sopek, who had probably escaped the explosion along with some of his people, had also probably left Terix to die in the conflagration. But if Sopek had decided to take Terix along, then both men were surely already very far from here by now; Terix would be a prisoner of a group of dangerous Romulan political dissidents who had managed to spirit him off-planet without leaving any detectable radiation trail to follow.
“I have no idea, Malcolm, he said at length. “Im afraid Im just going to have to keep making it all up as I go. And Im going to start by returning to Romulus to check in with Valdore. If I dont, hell think Terix was right in suspecting me of being a spy.
“Judging by what youve told me, I think Valdore will know youre a spy soon enough, Reed said. “That is, if Terix really did survive and somehow finds a way to get a report to him. And thats assuming that he and Valdore dont already know a lot more than you think they do.
TPol nodded. “I agree. Valdore nearly killed both you and Lieutenant Reed once before. It would be a serious mistake to underestimate him now.
Trip nodded as he considered TPols warning. But although hed never forget how close he and Malcolm had come to dying when they had struggled with Valdore over control of an experimental remote-controlled Romulan drone ship last year,