The Best And The Brightest Part 13

"Professor B'ton," t.i.tus told her, unable to smile in return. "I don't deserve your praise. Give letters of recommendation to cadets Eto Mahs and Vestabo, not to me."

Her smile became more sympathetic. "Your partic.i.p.ation was an integral part of this success, Cadet. Anything else is a matter for your own conscience."

"I don't deserve it," he repeated, glancing down. He hated to disappoint the professor, but he couldn't lie anymore about what he had done. "Didn't Eto Mahs tell you how awful I was to him?"

"We have the data," Professor B'ton reminded him. "This course was designed to provoke strong feelings, so we could study the common ways humanoids communicate through nonverbal movements and gestures. You'd be surprised how clearly people speak without saying a word."

t.i.tus swallowed, imagining the professor, along with a bunch of young lab techs-including the one with the black hair and merry eyes-reading his movements like he was writing on a wall. He felt himself go red.

"Relax, Cadet," Professor B'ton told him, chuckling slightly at his embarra.s.sment. "You deserve the recommendation. Do a good job at the a.s.sembly, and I'm sure you'll get whatever field a.s.signment you want."

His eyes went wide. Could she read his mind?

"Never underestimate a communications expert." She winked at him, exactly like the young lab tech the day before. "Good-bye, Cadet t.i.tus. I believe you have an interesting life ahead of you."

Chapter Seven.

Third Year, 2370-71 "MOVE A LITTLE TO YOUR LEFT," Starsa called out.

Louis Zimmerman, Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming at the Jupiter Research Station, inched slightly to his left.

"Now to the right-" Starsa started to say.

"That's good enough," Jayme interrupted, realizing from Starsa's smirk that she was having a good time at the director's expense. She had to put a stop to it before Dr. Zimmerman's dissatisfied expression turned on them.

"Hold ... three, two, one," Jayme said. "That's it. You can move again."

"I appreciate that," Dr. Zimmerman said dryly, returning to his computer.

Starsa ran the hololoop to make sure they had gotten a good feed. "If you hadn't made yourself the template of the Emergency Medical Hologram, then we wouldn't have to keep bothering you."

"And who would you prefer the EMH to look like?" Zimmerman inquired, concentrating on his screen. "One of you?"

Starsa giggled and raised her hand. "Pick me, pick me!"

Zimmerman looked at them closely. "You aren't my regular holotechnicians. Where are they? Well, speak up! Are the cadets the only warm bodies we can muster around here?"

"The others got sick," Starsa said artlessly.

"They have a couple of emergencies down in the power station," Jayme corrected, giving Starsa a hard look.

"I see," he said, as if he doubted their sanity more than anything else.

Jayme kept smiling, trying to push Starsa out of the director's lab. They couldn't tell Dr. Zimmerman that the technicians had eagerly shoved the dozens of routine imaging checks that had to be run every few weeks onto the unsuspecting shoulders of the cadets on field a.s.signment from the Academy. It only took a few days to figure out why-Dr. Zimmerman wasn't the most pleasant man when he was interrupted, and that's what they had to do in order to run imaging checks.

But Starsa was perversely drawn to the imaging devices sitting on the counters of the room, supporting half-completed holographic models.

"What's this?" she asked, sticking her finger through an engineering schematic.

"That's the interior of a matter-fusion a.s.sembly." He glanced over and snapped, "Don't touch it!"

"We'll stay out of your way," Jayme a.s.sured him, grabbing Starsa to make her come along.

"See that you do," the director drawled, raising his eyes to the ceiling at the incompetence he had to put up with.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," the EMH announced as it materialized.

"Okay, say I've got a double hernia and a severed spine," Jayme suggested. "What would you do?"

The EMH turned, sweeping an arrogant look around the tiny holo-imaging workshop. There was a plasteel wall protecting the neural gel-packs, with only the emitters set up in the shop itself. "Where is the patient?" the EMH asked.

"This is a hypothetical situation," Jayme told him.

The EMH drew himself up, remarkably resembling Director Zimmerman. "I do not deal in hypothetical situations."

"Doctor, you are a hypothetical situation," she informed him. At his wounded expression, she added, "Come on, I'm dying of boredom here, running these imaging loops. You might as well test out some of your knowledge."

"Hypothetically speaking?" he asked, edging closer.

"Have a seat," she told him. "I'll finish inputting these feeds, while you tell me what to do with a double hernia and a severed spine."

The EMH hesitated, then glanced around. "I suppose there's no harm in answering a few questions." He settled back with his hands clasped, his tone taking on a lecturing quality. Jayme noted with approval the realistic way the overhead light seemed to shine on his slight balding spot.

"The situation you describe is an interesting one," the EMH began. "The herniated discs must be isolated to ensure they are not causing the spinal distress ..."

Jayme let it flow over her, smiling at the doctor's dry enthusiasm. She had to admit that Zimmerman was right. He made the perfect template for a medical doctor.

"What's going on?" Starsa asked, interrupting an engrossing discussion of neural surgery.

"I'm running the imaging checks," Jayme said defensively, glancing at the EMH.

"It's after 0100," Starsa pointed out. "I thought you were supposed to do the graviton adjustments-"

"It's that late?" Jayme jumped up. "End EMH program." The EMH had a reproachful expression as he disappeared. "I've got to run."

"You must have been daydreaming about Moll again," Starsa teased.

"That's not true. I just lost track of time." Jayme started out the door. "I better hurry or Ensign Dshed will report me."

Jayme walked along the narrow graviton conduits, tricorder in hand. Each section of the gravity emitter array had to be calibrated every day to compensate for the expanding and contracting ice mantle of Jupiter's moon. Calibrating the system basically consisted of flushing the blocked gravitons caused by the rapid temperature shifts. It was menial labor of the most routine kind. But then again, Jayme was finding that almost all her engineering tasks were mind-numbingly routine.

Except their imaging sessions with Zimmerman. The man always had some curve to throw them, some way to make her feel like he had seen right through her. Well into her third year now, she was becoming used to her professors' disappointment at her lack of engineering skill, but she got the feeling that even geniuses felt stupid around Zimmerman.

She bent down to attach the pressure gauge to the graviton valve. The sensors were two microns off, so she brought the gauge back into line. Jupiter Research Station was one of the oldest functioning stations in the solar system-even the original Mars station had been abandoned centuries ago. All the equipment on Jupiter's moon was like a creaky great-great-grandmother, not ready to retire but moving so slowly and stiffly that she might as well find a nice desk job somewhere warm.

Jayme wished Moll could see the station-she always liked anything that was old. Moll would also love the way Jupiter dominated the sky, as if you could almost fall off the station and down into the swirling clouds of the gas giant. Jayme had taped a message to Moll last week, with Jupiter visible through the window, but she was sure the impact wouldn't be the same. She had suggested that Moll take a hop to Jupiter Station, but she hadn't heard back. Not that she should be surprised. It was fairly typical of the ups and downs of their friendship.

n.o.body understood their relationship, and she had almost gotten used to people dismissing her love for Moll as a schoolgirl crush. n.o.body saw what happened between them when they were alone, up late at night talking about everything they wouldn't tell another soul. But every time they took another step closer, Moll pulled back again. Jayme wasn't sure why Moll wouldn't commit to a real relationship with her, but that was just one of the mysteries about the Trill. She was different, special. She had always been different, Jayme knew that from the way Moll described her childhood on Trill, all those tests and displays she was forced to go through, showing off her rare eidetic memory for academics and officials.

Jayme would put up with much more than jokes from Starsa and t.i.tus to win Moll's love. Meanwhile, Moll was back at the Academy, beginning her last year, while Jayme was stuck on a two-month field a.s.signment to Jupiter Station, nearly frustrated to death. Starsa could be great fun, but she was no Moll Enor. And a steady diet of mundane engineering jobs was beginning to make her want to scream.

Jayme glanced around. She was in a secured area beneath the station. Why not?

"Aaahhhgghhhhh!" she screamed out loud, hearing her voice echo through the long conduit chamber.

"h.e.l.lo?" a startled voice called out. "Somebody hurt down there?"

Jayme winced. She had forgotten about the access tubes. Her scream must have echoed up them like wells.

"Somebody screamed down here!" another voice echoed down.

"It's all right!" Jayme called out, turning first one way then the other as people began to yell down the tubes. "I'm okay! I just ... pinched my finger."

The calling stopped, but Jayme caught one comment-"Some cadet!"-before the conduit chamber fell quiet again. Jayme sighed, moving on with her duties. There were valves to be gauged and adjustments to be made.

"... and the metatarsal, not to be confused with the metasuma," the EMH was saying as Starsa came into the room, "should be anch.o.r.ed before beginning the procedure... ."

Starsa noticed that Jayme was startled when she came into the workshop. The EMH droned on about contusions and subhematoma somethings.

Starsa pointed her thumb at the EMH, "Why is he out? Don't you get enough of Zimmerman making the loops?"

Jayme didn't look at him. "He's okay. He's better than Zimmerman."

"Why, thank you," the EMH said.

Starsa narrowed her eyes at the EMH. "Do you think his smile is still a little too smug?"

Jayme considered the EMH, but he rapidly lost his satisfied look. "Smug?" he asked. "I beg your pardon, but I do not appear smug."

"Maybe a little," Jayme agreed.

The door opened behind them. "Is there a problem with the EMH?" Director Zimmerman asked.

Starsa thought Jayme looked guilty about something. "No problem," she answered for them both.

"Then why is the EMH activated?" Zimmerman asked, closing the distance between them. "Haven't you completed your imaging checks yet?"

"Yes!" Jayme answered. "That is, I'm just finishing."

Starsa could tell Jayme needed a hand for some reason. "We were just discussing his smile. Do you think it's too smug-looking?"

Jayme kicked her while Zimmerman gravely frowned at the EMH. The holographic doctor wasn't smiling. Actually, he had a rather disdainful expression, like he had smelled something bad.

Zimmerman turned back to them. "I think he looks nearly perfect."

"So do I," Starsa agreed. "Come on, Jayme, we have to get to Lieutenant Barclay's seminar on warp dynamics."

On their way to the warp-core simulator, Jayme didn't thank Starsa for helping her out. In fact, Jayme seemed preoccupied with something. Starsa didn't mind-her friend sometimes got moody. That's just the way she was.

Lieutenant Barclay was waiting for the twelve cadets to a.s.semble who were currently a.s.signed to Jupiter Research Station. For once, Starsa wasn't the last one there, and she had a few moments to tease Barclay by asking questions about the simulation that he set up for them. "Is it a warp breach?" she pressed. "I hope not, because last week's warp breach was a real loser, if you don't mind my saying so."

Barclay smiled uncertainly and stammered, "N-no. This week, it's a ... well, you'll have to wait until we start the simulation, Cadet."

"Come on," Starsa urged, "give us a hint. Please?"

Barclay kept hedging, but Starsa was surprised that Jayme didn't nudge her to stop, as she usually did. Starsa finally let up when Barclay began going through the duty roster for the simulation, and each cadet took charge of a station. Starsa was on her way to the warp-nacelle monitor when she noticed Jayme, paused next to Lieutenant Barclay, the last cadet to receive her a.s.signment.

"Lieutenant," Jayme said. "I wondered if I could ask you a personal question."

Barclay shifted his eyes, catching sight of Starsa. She pretended to be busy with the monitor, but she was all ears when he replied, "A personal question? I don't know if that's quite ... I'm not sure ..."

"I was just wondering why you chose to go into engineering."

Barclay really looked nervous, as if he wished he had been firm and told her to report to her duty station. But they all got away with murder with Barclay. Starsa liked him better than any of their other field professors.

"Why d-d-do," he started, swallowing to get the word out, "do you ask?"

"I'm just curious," Jayme said quickly. "You seem to enjoy it so much, I wondered when you first knew engineering was for you."

"I've always liked working with machines," Barclay admitted, smiling shyly. "I feel more comfortable with them, I guess."

Jayme was nodding seriously, as if he had given her something to think about. Starsa wasn't sure what that was, but one thing for sure, her old quadmate was certainly acting strange. Then Starsa forgot all about it as the fascinating simulation began. She had just been teasing Barclay when she said the warp core breach had been boring. He came up with the trickiest programs that were incredibly fun to figure out.

The next day, Starsa asked Jayme to stop by her quarters before dinner to see something special she'd been working on.

"There!" Starsa dramatically gestured to the device on her desk. "It's an anti-aging device."

"Starsa ..." Jayme groaned. "Why are you messing around with mechanical gerontominy? You know all the advances in the past two centuries have been biochemical, not electromagnetic. It's like going back to astrology to understand the stars."

"Humph!" Starsa snorted, turning to beam with pride on her gerontometer, giving it rea.s.suring pats. "At one time people thought the transporter was a looney idea."

"That's true, in a twisted sort of way." Jayme came closer. "Why are you building it?"

"Why not?" she replied. "I got the idea from something Zimmerman said a few weeks ago, so I just started."

"Yea," Jayme agreed wryly, "It's finishing a project you have trouble with."

With a pout that acknowledged the hit, Starsa raised her chin. "Where's the fun in engineering if you don't build things?"

Jayme didn't know what to say to that. She didn't want to admit that she'd been thinking the same thing for weeks-where's the fun in engineering? At night, the mess halls were filled with talk of the new warp designs being developed at Utopia Planitia, so that starships could exceed warp five again. But Jayme couldn't see the thrill in the need to eliminate subs.p.a.ce instabilities. The thought of twiddling away on a gerontometer or anything like it made her want to yawn.

In some strange way, Starsa reminded Jayme of her mother. Commander Miranda always had a project or three underway in her quarters. Her great-aunt Marley Miranda's home in France also looked like an engineering lab. Growing up, Jayme had a permanent image of her great-uncle gamely smiling from behind piles of coupling rings and conduit bundles, trying to watch the news on a padd in one vacant corner of the room.