Kobayashi Maru - Michael A. Martin [23]
“Looks like you were injured, Stillwell said, leaning forward slightly as he squinted at Trip from across the light-years. Despite the extreme distance, the visual channel looked exceptionally crisp today, probably because of the adjustments Trip had just made to the official subspace array on the roof of Ehrehins lab, which lay only a few klicks away. On several occasions over the past month, Trip had succeeded in quietly piggybacking his own narrow-beam, amplitude-modulated subspace signals onto those of the labs multiband transceiver; this enabled him to send messages that blended in undetectably with both the never-ending torrent of incoming and outgoing lab data and the natural background static of subspaceso far, at least.
“Lets just say you oughtta see the other guy. Although in actuality he had faced two attackers, Trip didnt want to sound as though he were bragging. Fortunately, the toughs who had tried to jump him had only been aggressive teenagers; since they hadnt had the benefit of Starfleet training, theyd been fairly easy to persuade to move on in search of easier prey. On the other hand, even young Romulans had a pretty significant advantage over humans in terms of sheer physical strength.
Stillwell appeared to be scrutinizing Trips bruised face in minute detail. “Youd better tend to those scrapes and bruises carefully, Commander. We cant afford to let these people see you shedding red blood, now can we?
Im so very touched by your concern, Trip thought, though he knew his new superior in the spy bureau was making an excellent point. Nevertheless, Stillwell made Harris, the enigmatic spymaster who had originally recruited him into the bureau, seem almost cuddly in comparison.
Its his job to develop Earths version of the warp-seven drive before the Romulans manage to pull off the same trick, Trip reminded himself. Having spent four years laboring to keep Enterprise s frequently beleaguered warp-five engine running with its matter/antimatter needle always necessarily oscillating somewhere between off and kaboom , Trip had some natural sympathy for Stillwell. It wasnt hard to imagine what the crushing weight of so much high-stakes responsibility might do to any mans sense of humor.
“Ive still got a good supply of sulfatriptan salted away, Captain, Trip said, nodding. Thanks to the drugs property of harmlessly binding its sulfur compounds to the human hemoglobin molecule, no cursory glance at Trips blood, mucus membranes, or internal organs would give him away as a red-blooded Terraneven after the new red cells produced by his bone marrow had overwhelmed the initial green-blood treatment hed received on Adigeon Prime. Regardless, he knew he had to remain vigilant about not making anybody curious enough about him to subject him to deep-tissue scans or DNA tests of any sort, or else the jig would truly be up.
“I just took a booster dose, Trip continued. “By tomorrow my blood and innards will look as green as the Chicago River on Saint Pattys Day. I just hope I can avoid spilling any more of it any time soon, he added silently, with no small amount of gallows humor.
“Good, Stillwell said with a sober nod, apparently as unmoved as ever by Trips witticisms. “Now lets discuss your progress monitoring and regulating the activities of your target.
Trip suppressed a wince. Target . He hated that word. “Im still keeping very close tabs on Ehrehin, he said.
“I can see that, Commander. So close, in fact, that you and Doctor Ehrehin iRamnau trAvrak now seem to be on a first-name basis.
Trips frown appeared unbidden, and he felt it creasing the artificially constructed brow ridge that formed a subtle V shape across his forehead. He hoped that Stillwell found it an imposing sight.
“Thats hard to avoid when youre posing as a scientists assistant. And he wasnt posing as just any assistant; thanks to the skill of the plastic surgeons of Adigeon