Creative Couplings (Book 1) by Glenn Hauman; Aaron Rosenberg

Author:Glenn Hauman; Aaron Rosenberg
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction:Star Trek
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2004-01-30T08:00:00+00:00

“Captain,” Ian called over the comlink, distracting Alex from the conversation with Tev and Fabian, “we’ve got a problem with the galley.”

“What sort of problem, Cadet?” Tev said, and Alex had to admit that he looked every bit the starship captain—completely at ease in his command chair, and more than a little bit arrogant about it. The arrogance was replaced by confusion a second later, however, when Ian replied.

“It—it’s missing, sir.”

“What?”

“Yeah, we lost the cafeteria,” Tomas chimed in. “Guess we should have brought our own lunches, huh?”

Tev was already glancing at T’nok, who shook her head. As always, Alex admired her calm—she was Vulcan through and through, with all of their usual logic and composure, tempered by personal ambition and a desire for knowledge that matched anything the other students could muster. She had apparently been listening to the calls, and had already guessed Tev’s question.

“I’m not showing anything wrong with the galley, Captain,” she said. “The ship’s structure is unaltered. I did, however, detect a brief pulse of energy in that vicinity, just seconds before the first call.”

As Tev gave T’nok instructions on rescanning the area, Fabian turned to Alex. “Come on, let’s take a look at this wandering café.”

Alex shook his head but followed Fabian off the bridge anyway. What was it with most engineers that they needed to handle every situation by joking about it? He’d never understood that attitude, even back in school. Which could have been the reason why he’d wound up as an instructor rather than serving on a starship himself—perhaps you were supposed to make jokes when things looked bad. He just didn’t have that knack, though, and he generally didn’t find such jokes amusing.

Still, Fabian wasn’t a bad fellow, Alex mused as they took the lift down. He certainly knew his job, and he was doing a very good job of creating obstacles for the students. He’d have made a fine instructor, Alex thought. And, with his casual attitude and his constant quips, the students would probably like him a good deal more than they do me. At least they’d feel more comfortable with him.

The lift doors opened, and the two of them stepped out into the hall, almost running into Ian, Tomas, and Ben. Several more of the students were milling about in the hallway, and Alex was glad that the computer made them swerve around him automatically—otherwise he and Fabian would have had a tough time squeezing past. As it was, they navigated a path down to the point where the corridor turned right toward the galley or ran straight toward storage, and headed right—only to find themselves at the storeroom instead.

“That’s strange,” Fabian muttered, and turned back toward the galley. Alex mimicked him, and an instant later they both found themselves facing the storeroom again.

While Fabian studied the storeroom door in case it was somehow masking the galley entrance, Alex turned to his left, to glance down the corridor again. The students were still there, and were also acting strange.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.