stupid?
“Cadet Uhura,” someone said, and Uhura jumped.
“Who’s there?” Uhura asked.
The blurry shadow of another person appeared on the other side of the frosted wall. It was someone in the next stall, leaning close to the wall that separated them so Uhura could see her silhouette.
“We have received your acceptance to our invitation. Welcome, Cadet Uhura, to the Graviton Society.” It was hard to hear whoever it was over the hum of the sonic shower, but Uhura gathered that was kind of the point.
“You could have waited until I was a little more decent.”
“The Graviton Society has a mission for you,” the shadow in the next stall said. “We wish for you to steal one of the Varkolak’s sensing devices.”
“ What? Steal one of their scanners? You’ve got to be kidding!”
“You have unique access to the Varkolak through your linguistics work. It should be possible.”
“But it’s wrong! They’re our guests. I mean, I know they’re our enemies, too, but—”
“You joined the Graviton Society to protect the Federation, Cadet Uhura. Are you backing out on that decision?”
“I—No,” she grumbled. This was definitely not what she’d had in mind when she’d agreed to go undercover in the Graviton Society, but now she was committed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“The Graviton Society expects success,” the woman told her. “Shields up.”
Uhura assumed that was some sort of society sign off. The shadow disappeared from the wall, and the door to the next shower stall banged shut.
“Shields up,” Uhura said to the empty stall, still feeling exposed. She was going to have to talk to Spock about this, which meant she was going to have to see him again sooner than she wanted to. Uhura sighed and cranked up the sonic pitch as high as it would go.
The red-orange tops of the Golden Gate Bridge stuck up out of a sea of fog that morning as McCoy found himself standing at the tip of the Marin Headlands for the secondtime in two days. He was there with other top medical cadets at the invitation of Starfleet Medical, as part of the official opening ceremonies for the Interspecies Medical Summit. The dais where the Federation president was due to speak was arranged so the crowd would have the best possible view of the bridge and the bay beyond, but, of course, today the weather hadn’t cooperated. With a scowl, McCoy wondered if they might even get rained on.
We can travel faster than the speed of light, and break a person down to bits and transport him through space, but we still can’t control the weather , McCoy groused to himself, but truth be told, he was a little glad of that. There ought to be some things that always remained outside their control, just to remind them they weren’t the masters of the universe. Being omnipotent would just make most people more insufferable.
The part of the overlook usually open to the public had been roped off for the ceremony, and classes had been suspended for the morning, so the Academy could show up en masse for the president’s speech. At a guess, McCoy would say most of them were here, though some he knew would take the opportunity to get caught up on their homework. Or their sleep. There were dignitaries here too—doctors and politicians from nearly every Federation member world, and plenty more besides. The Varkolak were there as well, and McCoy wondered howmany of the cadets had come out just for the chance to see their mysterious visitors. Jim Kirk stepped up onto the dais with the white-collared Varkolak, Dr. Lartal, and McCoy nodded hello from across the stage. If Kirk played his cards right with this one, he could win himself some major points with the Academy brass—and better, the Starfleet brass.
“Oh good. I see we’re letting the krogs into the vorsch pit now,” said a sarcastic voice from behind McCoy. He turned. It was Daagen, the medical cadet McCoy had seen here the night before, waving a VARKOLAK, GO HOME sign. McCoy
“Cadet Uhura,” someone said, and Uhura jumped.
“Who’s there?” Uhura asked.
The blurry shadow of another person appeared on the other side of the frosted wall. It was someone in the next stall, leaning close to the wall that separated them so Uhura could see her silhouette.
“We have received your acceptance to our invitation. Welcome, Cadet Uhura, to the Graviton Society.” It was hard to hear whoever it was over the hum of the sonic shower, but Uhura gathered that was kind of the point.
“You could have waited until I was a little more decent.”
“The Graviton Society has a mission for you,” the shadow in the next stall said. “We wish for you to steal one of the Varkolak’s sensing devices.”
“ What? Steal one of their scanners? You’ve got to be kidding!”
“You have unique access to the Varkolak through your linguistics work. It should be possible.”
“But it’s wrong! They’re our guests. I mean, I know they’re our enemies, too, but—”
“You joined the Graviton Society to protect the Federation, Cadet Uhura. Are you backing out on that decision?”
“I—No,” she grumbled. This was definitely not what she’d had in mind when she’d agreed to go undercover in the Graviton Society, but now she was committed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“The Graviton Society expects success,” the woman told her. “Shields up.”
Uhura assumed that was some sort of society sign off. The shadow disappeared from the wall, and the door to the next shower stall banged shut.
“Shields up,” Uhura said to the empty stall, still feeling exposed. She was going to have to talk to Spock about this, which meant she was going to have to see him again sooner than she wanted to. Uhura sighed and cranked up the sonic pitch as high as it would go.
The red-orange tops of the Golden Gate Bridge stuck up out of a sea of fog that morning as McCoy found himself standing at the tip of the Marin Headlands for the secondtime in two days. He was there with other top medical cadets at the invitation of Starfleet Medical, as part of the official opening ceremonies for the Interspecies Medical Summit. The dais where the Federation president was due to speak was arranged so the crowd would have the best possible view of the bridge and the bay beyond, but, of course, today the weather hadn’t cooperated. With a scowl, McCoy wondered if they might even get rained on.
We can travel faster than the speed of light, and break a person down to bits and transport him through space, but we still can’t control the weather , McCoy groused to himself, but truth be told, he was a little glad of that. There ought to be some things that always remained outside their control, just to remind them they weren’t the masters of the universe. Being omnipotent would just make most people more insufferable.
The part of the overlook usually open to the public had been roped off for the ceremony, and classes had been suspended for the morning, so the Academy could show up en masse for the president’s speech. At a guess, McCoy would say most of them were here, though some he knew would take the opportunity to get caught up on their homework. Or their sleep. There were dignitaries here too—doctors and politicians from nearly every Federation member world, and plenty more besides. The Varkolak were there as well, and McCoy wondered howmany of the cadets had come out just for the chance to see their mysterious visitors. Jim Kirk stepped up onto the dais with the white-collared Varkolak, Dr. Lartal, and McCoy nodded hello from across the stage. If Kirk played his cards right with this one, he could win himself some major points with the Academy brass—and better, the Starfleet brass.
“Oh good. I see we’re letting the krogs into the vorsch pit now,” said a sarcastic voice from behind McCoy. He turned. It was Daagen, the medical cadet McCoy had seen here the night before, waving a VARKOLAK, GO HOME sign. McCoy
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