Progenitor - Michael Jan Friedman [11]
“That’s certainly a possibility,” Paris conceded. “And if the thruster timing was all I’d worked on, it would be out of sync.”
Gerda scowled. “You worked on other flight functions as well?”
“Sure,” he said.
He tapped out a command and Gerda saw a graphic come up on her monitor. It showed her a bright yellow cross section of the Stargazer’s shield configuration.
Paris leaned over and pointed to the graphic. “By making complementary changes in thruster timing and shield geometry, I’ve picked up a tenth of a second of response time.”
The navigator made some quick calculations, which—to her great surprise—precisely supported the ensign’s contention. She looked at him with new respect.
“Of course,” the ensign said, “it’ll only make a difference if we find ourselves in a battle. And who knows when that will happen.”
In her short time on the Stargazer, Gerda had already taken part in her share. “Soon enough,” she assured him. She eyed his controls. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“Back at the Academy,” said Paris.
“A professor taught it to you,” Gerda concluded.
“Professor Rehling,” he told her. “But he didn’t teach it to me. We came up with it together. In fact, the professor insisted that my name appear above his when the monograph comes out.”
“The monograph...?” Gerda echoed.
The ensign nodded. “They say it’ll be required reading for all Starfleet helm officers.”
“Impressive,” the navigator muttered.
And Gerda Asmund wasn’t easily impressed.
Vigo, the Stargazer’s Pandrilite weapons officer, had a bit of a problem on his hands.
His friend Charlie Kochman had introduced him to a clever diversion called sharash’di, having purchased it for Vigo from an Yridian merchant at a bazaar on Beta Nopterix. However, Kochman no longer seemed to wish to play the game.
In fact, he told Vigo he wished he had never bought it for him in the first place.
Of course, the weapons officer had challenged his friend to a sharash’di match a couple of times a day for the last several weeks. In retrospect, it was to this that he attributed Kochman’s growing disaffection with the game.
Vigo, on the other hand, never seemed to grow tired of it. Every time he played sharash’di it was as if he were playing for the first time, discovering new complexities and new delights.
So when Kochman’s interest in the game began to flag, Vigo found other opponents—among them the ill-fated Lt. Valderrama and Ulelo, the new man in communications. But the weapons officer was finding that none of these others wished to play him again, either. Valderrama, the only one who had seemed at all eager for a rematch, had changed her mind when Captain Picard stripped her of her responsibilities.
Hence, Vigo’s problem.
But a few hours earlier, while he was still at his post, the Stargazer had picked up a couple of new crewmen—a new science officer and a new ensign. To Vigo’s colleagues, the newcomers might have represented a great many things—expertise, reliability, new viewpoints to spice up mess hall banter.
To the Pandrilite, they represented only one thing: prospective sharash’di partners.
Which was why he had made it his business to get to this place as soon as his shift was over. The other newcomer was on the bridge according to the ship’s computer. But this one was in his quarters.
Pressing the metallic pad set into the bulkhead, Vigo stepped back and waited. Nol Kastiigan, he repeated to himself. Science officer first class. Formerly of the Antares.
A moment later, the duranium doors to Kastiigan’s quarters whispered open, revealing the science officer’s anteroom. But the science officer himself was not in evidence.
“I will be right there,” someone called in an oddly musical voice from the next room.
Kastiigan, Vigo thought.
“Don’t hurry on my account,” he advised the newcomer. Then he came in and looked around—and to his surprise, found himself wondering about what he was looking at.
The Pandrilite wasn’t sure what he had expected to see here, but he was pretty certain this wasn’t it.
“Thank your for your patience,