Three - Michael Jan Friedman [38]
“Actually,” Joseph interjected, “that’s not too far from the situation in our universe. Mr. Simenon here is only the sixth member of his species to join Starfleet.”
“Fifth,” Simenon said, correcting him. “But who’s counting?”
[111] Gerda Idun smiled. “In any case,” she told the engineer, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Simenon took a moment to absorb the effect of a smiling Asmund. It was amazing how different she looked from Gerda or Idun when she did that.
The captain addressed their guest. “Mr. Simenon is trying to gather as much data as he can before he attempts to formulate a theory regarding your appearance here.”
Gerda Idun nodded. “I appreciate that. Obviously, I’ll do anything I can to be of help.”
She seemed to Simenon to possess the Asmunds’ strength and sense of purpose, tempered with some of the softer human characteristics. A pleasing package, he decided—and he wasn’t an easy person to please.
“All right,” he said, getting down to business, “tell me everything you remember before you arrived here. Sights, smells, sounds ... don’t leave anything out.”
Gerda Idun did as he asked. She seemed to have a good memory for details. But then, so did her counterparts.
After a few minutes, the woman appeared to run out of things to mention. She regarded Simenon hopefully. “Is that enough for you to go on?”
Of course, he had something else to go on as well—the influence of the anomaly. But the captain had asked him not to mention that to Gerda Idun.
Apparently, he still didn’t trust her completely—a necessary stance, no doubt, for someone in Picard’s position. But Simenon had a feeling their guest’s being there was every bit the accident she claimed.
“It’ll have to be,” he told her. Then he turned to Picard. “If there’s nothing else, I have work to do.”
[112] “You’re dismissed,” the captain said.
Simenon nodded his head in Gerda Idun’s direction and then in Joseph’s. Then he got up and left the briefing room, determined to send the woman home.
Vigo sat with his back against a wall, imprisoned with a collection of metal containers in what looked like one of the installation’s storage rooms, and considered his mentor in a tawdry new light.
Obviously, Ejanix had turned traitor. For reasons Vigo desperately wished he understood, his friend had helped Kovajo and his Pandrilites seize a Starfleet installation.
Now Vigo knew why the intruders’ approach hadn’t been detected until it was too late. Ejanix had been working for them on the inside, tampering with sensors and door locks and maybe even using the installation’s computer to jam the weapons of its security force.
He knew also why Ejanix’s mood had seemed so dark. He had known what was coming and had to remain silent about it. The easiest course for him, under the circumstances, was simply to keep to himself as much as possible.
Vigo and anyone else who saw Ejanix thought he was being surly, a result of the pressure under which he’d been forced to work. But all the while, he was pursuing a separate agenda.
Vigo glanced in the direction of the open doorway, where the intruders had set up a transparent, electromagnetic barrier like the one Starfleet used in its brigs.
Like any weapons officer, he had an intimate knowledge of the way a Federation ship was constructed. Had [113] his captors simply closed the door, he might have gained access to an EPS relay in the wall and disabled part of the installation.
But the transparent barrier prevented that. With the intruders watching him at any given time, he couldn’t even consider pursuing a sabotage effort.
The weapons officer bowed his head. How foolish he had been. He should have known that something was wrong when he saw his friend acting so out of character.
But he had accepted the situation at face value, and now the entire installation was paying for his oversight.
Vigo was still berating himself when he heard his guards say something out in the corridor. A moment later, the electromagnetic barrier dropped and one of the other weapons officers went skidding