Oblivion - Michael Jan Friedman [82]
But his first duty wasn’t to Emily Bender, was it? His first duty was to the ones who had sent him here. Without them, without the mission they had entrusted to him, he would never have boarded the Stargazer in the first place.
Ulelo couldn’t forget that, or allow anything to distract him from it—not even his friend and the life she had helped him make here. He had to do what he had set out to do. He had to complete his assignment at all costs.
And he would—regardless of what Emily Bender or anyone else might think of him.
With that thought firmly in mind, he scanned the Stargazer’s bridge. After all, he had to make certain that no one was looking at him.
Commander Wu, who was sitting in the captain’s chair, was going over a supply requisition for the security section while Pierzynski waited patiently at her side. Vigo was bent over his weapons-control panel, running yet another in a series of routine diagnostics. And though it would seem there wasn’t much for the helm and navigation officers to do at the moment, the Asmund twins appeared busy as well.
None of them were paying any attention. That made it a good time for him to do what he had to do.
And yet, he hesitated.
Follow your orders, he told himself firmly.
And still he hesitated.
Do you want to fail in your mission? the com officer asked himself. Do you want to fall short of the task that’s been assigned to you?
No, he conceded. He didn’t want to fail. He most desperately wanted to carry out the mission assigned to him.
Ulelo thought he had put Emily Bender aside, along with the confusion she sparked in him. However, she had made a deeper impression on him than he had realized.
It was a test of Ulelo’s resolve, a test of his devotion to his duty. He couldn’t allow himself to come up short. He had to prove to his comrades that they were right to have given him this mission.
Looking around again, he made sure that he wasn’t being observed. Everyone was still going about his or her business, at least for the moment.
Turning his attention to his communications console, Ulelo tapped in a command that would access a seemingly innocent file in his personal database. Then, before he could hesitate again, he tapped in another command and transmitted the entire contents of the file to a distant set of coordinates.
Finally, he used a command code that he had pried from the ship’s computer months ago to erase any record of the transmission. That way, he would be free to repeat the procedure after he had put together enough information.
When Ulelo was done, he took stock of the bridge again. No one seemed to have any idea of what he had been up to. Once again, he had been successful in his deception.
But then, he was nothing if not careful. It was, no doubt, one of the reasons he had been given such an important mission.
He just wished he remembered more about the life he led before he was assigned to the Stargazer. After all, it could only have helped him to remain faithful to his purpose.
And he wished as well that he could carry out his task without having to conceal it from Emily Bender.
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