Q & A - Keith R. A. DeCandido [59]
—out, “Come on, you stupid pile of bolts, climb!”
The client had told Harley de Lange that she needed him to make a pickup on Dorcas. What she hadn’t told Harley was that there had been a coup d’etat on Dorcas, and that the new subjugator was not favorably disposed to the Federation and had cast out all Federation diplomatic personnel and citizens.
At least the subjugator’s personal navy had only high-powered lasers, but Harley’s ship’s shields weren’t what you’d call state of the art. Sooner or later, the lasers were going to burn through, and then he’d be royally cooked. His ship wasn’t affiliated with the Federation, but as soon as the Dorca learned he was human, all bets were off.
He’d managed to get to his ship, having already transported the cargo on board, but he had to get out of orbit so he could go to warp. The Dorca hadn’t yet achieved faster-than-light travel, so as soon as Harley was clear of the planet, the navy would be eating his space dust.
Assuming, of course, he made it that far.
He checked the navigation computer and saw that he’d be clear of the atmosphere in two minutes.
This is gonna be a long two minutes.
If he had a Starfleet shuttle, he wouldn’t have this problem. Why did I think that? he wondered. Harley had never even thought about joining Starfleet.
Smiling contentedly as his ship started to clear the stratosphere, Harley de Lange thought, This is the way it was meant to be….
God, I missed this, Lieutenant Commander Miranda Kadohata thought as she stepped forward in a line with the rest of the away team. Not that she regretted the decision to have Colin and Sylvana, but being on maternity leave had been agonizing for her. She didn’t realize how much until she was back. Standing on an alien world, wondering what its secret was—this was why Miranda joined Starfleet.
Holding up her tricorder, she stepped forward with the others hoping to pass through the invisible threshold that separated this part of the cavern from what they found with the MRI and X-rays.
Suddenly, Kadohata felt her stomach heave with a blinding agony that reminded her of the worst elements of giving birth, and she tried to scream—
—in frustration as the student gave the wrong answer. I swear, there are times when I think the admissions standards have been dumbed down to the point where single-cell paramecia could get into this blasted university.
Professor Miranda Kadohata, Ph. D., knew that wasn’t fair, and that Bacco University had excellent admissions standards. But it insisted that all students take at least one general sciences class in their first two years, and it also required that every science professor employed by the university teach at least one of the required classes each semester.
In theory, Miranda approved of the notion. After all, every student should get a well-rounded education. In practice, she found herself teaching an astrophysics class to people who wanted to be anything but astrophysicists.
Case in point: Gar Tarklem, the young Trill in the front row, who was planning to get his degree in history. He’d just said in front of the entire class that comets have consistent orbits.
“Gar, comets aren’t overburdened with a huge mass, therefore their orbits can be changed by proximity to a body that does have mass, like an asteroid, a planet, or a sun.” Miranda prayed for the class to end.
Another student, a human woman named Ariana Rodriguez, raised her hand. “Or a starship, yes?”
Miranda nodded. “It would depend on the ship. Something large and slow might attract the comet, but modern craft are prepared to handle that.” She smiled. “The older colony ships would’ve had a bit more trouble.”
She continued about comets for the rest of the hour. Miraculously, no one else made any stupid comments.
Afterward, a few students came up to her with questions, all of which she answered in quick succession. “No, I won’t postpone the midterm. Yes, both chapters by Friday. I wouldn’t trust Viksash as a source, a lot of his theories were shot down after the exploration of the Xintil Nebula.