James Doohan Flight Engineer Volume 1 The Rising

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she was holding. It was one of the mechanical parts of the exhaust system. He
watched the tech turn it in her hands, and at first glance he couldn t see
anything wrong with it, either. Then the light caught it at just the right
angle and he saw it. A hairline fracture right across the disk.
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The tech saw it, too, and turned it over; it was invisible from that side, but
when she flexed it in her hands it snapped like a saltine being crumbled into
soup.
There was a profound silence for a moment, then the whole crowd of techs
shifted and murmured uncomfortably.
You have to get beyond your emotions, here, the woman in the exhaust cone
continued. You can t just let your feelings interfere with your duties. If
this Speed had gone out, someone would have died. And it would have been your
fault. Because you were so wrapped up in how
you felt about the commander s death, how afraid you were . . . The bitter
voice trailed off.
Maybe I m giving you too much credit, Elisa, she said acidly. I ve never
actually noticed that you were intelligent enough to have such sensitive
feelings.
Hey, Peter said mildly. That was going a little far, particularly under the
circumstances. Yes, the tech who d screwed up should have gotten reamed, but
not in public, especially not with such nasty, irrelevant remarks.
Who said that? The woman in the exhaust cone came forward and
Peter recognized Second Lieutenant Cynthia Robbins. She cast a contemptuous
glare over his sweaty jogging clothes. Whoever you are, you don t belong on
my deck in that outfit, mister. Get yourself gone, before I put you on
report.
Your deck?
Peter thought, blinking. Everything but operational deployment was his
command, here on the hangar deck of
Invincible
. On the other hand, he d be a bit ticked if someone broke in on him in a
similar situation. It wasn t surprising that she didn t know him, of
course there must be a lot of unfamiliar faces on a new ship with a crew of
thousands.
And wasn t she going to be surprised when he told her who he was and who this
deck really belonged to. . . .
Well, I guess it might be hers until I take command officially.
Still she was coming at it a bit strong.
Tomorrow s time enough, he warned himself. It would hardly be fair to
embarrass her in front of the techs.
But lady, you and I are going to talk, he promised himself. He gave her a
significant look, then turned and after a few steps began jogging again.
Saying that woman is somewhat lacking in people skills, Raeder reflected, is
as great an understatement as saying that eating nuclear waste might give you
indigestion.
CHAPTER FOUR
There were times when Raeder was grateful for the insubstantial armor of his
dress uniform. This was one of them. He glanced around the room filled with
other officers, equally resplendent in their official evening-
wear, and enjoyed the ineffable sense of passing muster. In civilian life he
disliked both formal occasions and formal wear, they d always felt phony to
him, and anachronistic. But he d never felt that way about his uniforms, work
or dress.
I suppose it s because they re elements of an ongoing tradition, he thought as
he studied the people around him.
And it binds us together, takes us beyond the personalities and the individual
preferences to enable us to work together for the greater purpose we all
serve.
Peter took a sip of his drink and grimaced.
I wonder why I always end up thinking garbage like this at parties.
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He supposed it was leftovers from the Academy; he d loved those pep talks when
he was eighteen.
Still do, for that matter, he thought, a little embarrassed.
Hey, those talks did me good.
They had. They d inspired him, given him direction and a sense of belonging.
So, at the sight of dress uniforms, the words of his instructors, neatly
stored in his subconscious, were brought out by the occasion.
I
guess I m just a sentimental fool, he mused fondly.
To the Academy, Raeder thought, raising his glass slightly and then taking a
sip.
The captain had allotted twenty minutes for cocktails and mingling,
but thus far no one had shown any particular desire to mingle with him.
Without the solace of his uniform he would have been wondering if the trouble
was something he was wearing.
I showered after my run, so I
know that s not the problem. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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