The Valiant - Michael Jan Friedman [68]
Picard tapped his combadge, automatically ending his log entry, and entered the Stargazers main transporter room.
Vandermeer was the operator on duty. Nodding to the woman, the second officer crossed the floor to the transporter platform and took his place there. Then he turned back to Vandermeer and said, Energize.
The next thing he knew, he was standing in a grassy valley full of rocky gray outcroppings, dwarfed by one of the Magnians shield generators. Rising at least a hundred and fifty meters into the air, the device looked like a childs ice cream coneminus the ice cream.
The nuclear reactor that powered the device was located several hundred meters underground, where the Starfleet officer couldnt see it. Fortunately, there wasnt a problem with the reactor; the problem was with the mechanism that converted the reactors energy into a stream of polarized gravitons and projected them out into space.
A group of four was laboring at the squat, squared-off base of the generator, where an access panel had been removed. Three of the four were Magnians; the fourth was Simenon, who was showing the colonists how to alter their equipment to produce vidrion particles.
Teams were working on the citys five other shield generators as well. They hoped to have all six locations producing vidrions as well as gravitons by the time the Nuyyad returned.
As on the Stargazer , the retrofit process looked to be a tedious one. However, if it bought the colonists another few minutes in the upcoming confrontation, it would be well worth it.
Picards hair lifted in the rising wind, a harbinger of the blue-gray storm clouds piling up behind the pastel skyline of Magnia. The birds that had circled the splendid towers in twos and threes earlier in the day were gone, having fled to more secure positions.
They knew a storm was coming, the second officer reflected. They just didnt know how fierce a storm it would be. But then, he had a storm of his own to worry about.
He approached Simenon without the engineer seeming to notice him. How are we doing? he asked, his voice echoing.
Simenon turned and stared at him blankly for a moment. Then he held up a scaly hand as if asking for Picards forbearance, closed his eyes, and concentrated on something.
Never having seen him act that way before, Picard became concerned. Just as he was about to hike up the hill and try to rouse him, the Gnalish opened his eyes again.
The second officer studied him. Are you all right? he asked.
Simenon snorted. Im fine. I was just trying to show our friends here how to link a couple of EPS circuits.
Picard looked at him. You were showing them ?
The engineer scowled. Telepathically, of course.
Ah, said the second officer, as understanding dawned.
It made perfect sense, now that he thought about it. In a telepathic society, teamwork would bypass the spoken word. He was a little surprised that an alien mind fit in so well with the others, but he was hardly an expert on the subject.
Come down here and bring me up to speed, said Picard.
Simenon seemed reluctant to abandon his work, but he made his way down the hillside nonetheless. When he reached the second officer, he said, You dont really want to know how the work is going do you?
I do, Picard told him. But as you seem to have guessed, I also want to know about your coworkers. No doubt, youve gotten some insights into them by virtue of their telepathic contact.
The engineer looked back over his shoulder at the Magnians. Ive gotten some insights, all right. Ive learned that theyre a private bunch, as Eliopoulos told us. They dont like to expose any more of themselves than they have to. But Ive seen enough of them to say theyre also among the most courageous people Ive ever met.
Picard looked at him. Courageous ?
Simenon nodded his lizardlike head. I know. Just a few hours ago, I was saying you were crazy to get involved with them, and now Im