Star Trek by Robert T. Jeschonek Page A

wrong,” said Soloman.
    â€œMy invisible friend isn’t sure he can keep the invisible ghost in line, either,” said Fabian.
    â€œWe’ll just have to do our best,” said Gomez. “Vance, please tell Em-Lin that we accept her and her sister’s offer. We’d like them to start working on the transmitter immediately.”
    Vance turned in Em-Lin’s direction. “Yes, sir,” he said, feeling sorry for Em-Lin and at the same time worried that she might destroy him and his shipmates when she got her hands on the Dominion device.
    And at the same time as all of that, he felt something that he had never expected to feel for a Miradorn after that terrible day on Jomej VII.
    The concern of one friend for another.

Chapter
23
    â€œJ ust keep that thing away from me,” said Bart, taking a step back from the polished, milky-white sphere in Tev’s hands. “I can’t believe you built something based on a device that actually killed me once!”
    Tev scrolled a fingertip over the surface of the bowling-ball-sized sphere, adjusting the fluidic controls sandwiched between the layers of the device’s smooth skin. “You have nothing to worry about, Bartholomew,” he said, though he wasn’t entirely sure that was true. “The Luck Pulse generates a limited and precisely calibrated probability effect.”
    â€œWhich has never been tested in the field,” said Bart.
    Tev shrugged. “A technicality.”
    â€œAnd it’s never been tested in the lab, either,” said Bart.
    â€œBut the holosimulations have had impressive results,” said Tev. That much, at least, was true, though holosimulations were of course a completely different animal from real-world builds.
    â€œSo help me, Tev,” said Bart, pacing nervously back and forth. “If that thing kills me like the other one did, I will haunt you for all eternity.”
    Tev nodded and continued adjusting the sphere’s controls. He understood Bart’s reaction, given the source of the tech that had gone into the new device.
    Tev had based the Luck Pulse on elements of the Uncertainty Drive, a probability-warping propulsion system found onboard an ancient derelict starship called the Minstrel’s Whisper . The malfunctioning Uncertainty Drive had deluged the crew of the da Vinci with distorted luck, one aspect of which was the death of Bart Faulwell. Bart had been returned to life after Soloman convinced the drive to deactivate, but it was natural that he would be apprehensive about a device with similar properties.
    â€œSeriously, Tev,” said Bart. “Remember how unpredictable the Uncertainty Drive was.”
    â€œBecause its systems had degraded over millions of years,” said Tev. “And keep in mind, the drive was a lot more complicated than the Luck Pulse. The simpler the system, the less prone it is to breakdown.”
    â€œYeah, but remember the part about how it killed me?” Bart shook his head. “I mean, the drive did. The drive killed me.”
    Tev got along well with Bartholomew and took no pleasure in making him uncomfortable, but it was time to take action. “If this works, we could knock out the booby traps all at once.” Tev made a final adjustment to the sphere’s fluidic controls and cradled it in his hands. “Frankly, if I did not think it would work, I would not waste my valuable time trying it. Similarly, if I thought it was likely to do you harm, I would not have this device anywhere near you.”
    Bart did not seem to be convinced of the Luck Pulse’s harmlessness. Halfheartedly, he smiled and raised a shaky thumbs-up gesture. “All right then,” he said, backing away from Tev and the device. “Good luck with that.”
    Tev pressed the red activation whorl on the skin of the sphere. In ten seconds, the device was set to emit a pulse lasting thirty seconds, after which it would automatically