Wren 283 prowled Engineering in a manner evocative of a cheetah. The Universe had only been out of drydock for a little over twenty-four hours, and Wren had already established a reputation for perfection that kept hish engineering staff on their collective toes. Wren stopped by the antimatter regulators and studied the readouts carefully. "Osterreicher!" s/he called. "Osterreicher, get your butt down here and bring the rest of you along for the ride!"
Engineer's Mate Osterreicher seemed to materialize almost by magic at Wren's side.
"Yes, shir," said Osterreicher.
"I thought I gave you instructions that would improve the energy flow by 5%, and I asked for them to be implemented immediately."
"Yes, shir."
"Did you implement them?"
"Yes, shir."
"Then may I ask why I'm only seeing an improvement of 3%?"
"I don't know, shir."
"Then I suggest you find out." At that moment, Wren's comm badge beeped. S/he tapped it and said, "Chief Engineer Wren here."
"Chief, this is Verrill down in life station. Dr. Selar would like a word with you."
"Can't it wait?"
"It's been waiting for a while, shir. She was most emphatic." Verrill sounded just a touch nervous.
"In other words, we're definitely in the realm of not taking no for an answer, right?"
"That would be a fair assessment, shir."
Wren sighed. S/he'd been expecting this, really. S/he'd had hish head buried down in Engineering, overseeing every aspect of the refit. Wren would have preferred another two weeks to complete the refit to hish satisfaction, but Fleet had seemed bound and determined to get them out into space. It was Fleet's call to make, of course, but Wren couldn't say that s/he was happy about it.
And now the doctor, whom Wren had barely had a chance to take note of it in passing, wanted to see hir about some damned thing or other.
"On my way," said Wren, who then glanced up at Osterreicher and said, ""Be sure that's attended to by the time I get back."
"Yes, shir."
"By the way---first thing I'd do is make sure that the problem isn't in the readings rather than in the actual tech. If an object measures a meter long, and the meter stick is wrong, then that doesn't make the object a meter, now, does it."
"No, shir."
"Get on that, then," said Wren. "And don't disappoint me. I don't take well to it. Last person who disappointed me, I ripped their throat out with my teeth."
"You certainly like to joke, Chief," Osterreicher said.
"That's true, Osterreicher, I do," Wren agreed. S/he headed for the door and paused there only long enough to say, "Of course, that doesn't mean I was joking just now." And s/he flashed hish sharp canines and walked out.
Soleta and Jakar Thul stepped out onto the bridge to find that all attention was on navigator Ronald Greer.611Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpeIhzKwvq
He was leaning back in his chair, eyes half-closed. He didn't seem to be breathing. James was staring at him, as was Johansen. Rush was just emerging from his ready room and he looked to see where everyone else's attention was. He blinked in mild surprise. "Is he dead?" he inquired in a low voice.
"We're trying to determine that," said James.
Johansen looked extremely steamed, but then Rush waggled his finger to his senior officers, indicating that they should convene in his office. Within moments Vanessa James found herself alone on the bridge, staring in wonderment at the apparently insensate astronavigator.
Rush, for his part, was wondering if he was ever going to get the hell out of his ready room and onto the bridge. Just to be different, he leaned on the armrest of his couch as Johansen said impatiently, "This is crazy. We can't have a navigator who falls asleep at his station.....if that's what he's doing...."
"He's not asleep," Soleta told Rush with authority. "He's just thinking. He's very focused."
"Thinking!?" Johansen couldn't believe it. She looked to Rush as if she needed verification for what she was hearing. "Captain, it's absurd....!"
"I was warned Greer was somewhat odd," admitted Rush. "I thought he'd fit right in on that basis. But even I'm not sure now...."
"Right be Lieutenant Soleta," Thul said, backing her up. "Like this Greer was in long-gone Academy days. More extreme was he, actually. Nothing concerned about to be. Thinking be Greer, as lieutenant say."
"What's he thinking about?" demanded Johansen.
"Anything," said Soleta. "Everything. Greer devotes exactly as much of his brain power as is required for routine duties. If there's an emergency, he'll devote that much more. And he devotes the rest of his brain to other things. Most humans can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Greer is multifaceted. Where you perceive as aberrant behavior is nothing more than what I would term an---eccentricity."
"His eyes are half-closed! We can't have a man at helm who's not alert!"
"But he is alert, Commander," Soleta said confidently. "He's 100% alert. If you walked over to him and spoke his name, he'd snap to instantly."
"Responding to his name isn't what concerns me," Johansen replied.
"Nor I," admitted Rush. "We need someone at that post who can respond to developing situations on his own, not a man who's got to wait for someone to tell him what to do."
"May I suggest a simple test?" asked Soleta. When Rush gestured for her to continue, she said, "I can half James reroute guidance through the ops station. Then we'll have her make a change in course. Nothing major. A simple alteration."
"What'll that prove," Johansen asked.
"A great deal, if I am correct," Soleta replied.
"You're not saying that he'll detect, without instruments, a deviation in ship's heading."
"That's exactly what I'm saying, Commander."
"That's impossible," Johansen said flatly. "That's completely impossible."
"Captain," Thul spoke up. "Commander.....fully admit I that same initial reactions I had to Greer when years ago I met him as currently having you be. Recommend do you as suggests Lieutenant Soleta."
Rush shrugged. "Sounds like a plan."
"Captain....?!"
"Calm down, Johansen. If Soleta has something to prove she has the right to try and prove it."
Soleta exited the captain's ready room and went straight over to James. The others emerged and watched, fascinated despite themselves. Soleta bent in close to a puzzled James and whispered in her ear. There was no sign of understanding on James's face, but she wasn't about to dispute a straightforward instruction. Within moments she had rerouted the navigations systems, and then made a course adjustment that would take the Universe eighteen degrees off course.
The moment the ship began to move in the new direction, the reaction from Greer was instantaneous and stunning. He snapped forward, his attention totally focused---not on his instrumentation, but on the starfield in front of him on the screen. He then looked to his instruments, but clearly it was only to confirm that which he already knew. All business, he demanded. "Lieutenant, did you take us off course?"
Johansen was thunderstruck. "I don't believe it," she said. Greer looked over to her, clearly unsure what Johansen was talking about.
"She changed headings at my direction, Lieutenant Greer," Soleta informed him.
He switched his focus to Soleta, his eyebrows knit in puzzlement. "Why?"
"Why do you think?"
He considered the question a moment. "Because there was concern that I had zoned out and you decided to prove otherwise?"
"Correct."
"Ah. Okay."
"Without looking at your instruments. Lietuenant," Rush said, descending down the ramp to the command chair, "would you mind telling me how far off course we are?"
"I don't know, sir. Ballpark----nineteen degrees."
"Eighteen," Vanessa James acknowledged in wonderment.
"Fairly close ballpark, I'd say," Rush said. "Would you agree, Commander?"
Johansen sighed, "Damned close."
"Lieutenant Greer, bring us back on course."
"Aye, sir."
Johansen sank into her chair. Rush sat next to her. "You all right, Commander?"
"Fine," she sighed. "I'm fine. I swear, though, this is like no other ship I've ever served on."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Rush said.
"You are, of course, always free to exercise your discretion as commanding officer," Johansen replied, as she wondered what other oddities would surface about the crew during their voyage.
Wren 283 strode into sickbay with an impatient look on hish face. S/he turned to Dr. Verrill and said, "Well?"611Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7dc5twp9CP
"Well what, Lieutenant Commander?"
"Dr. Selar said she wanted to see me. Here I am. I have things to do, so if the doctor could please tell me what she wants, I might be able to get back to my duties."
Selar emerged from her office and said, "In here, Mr. Wren, if it is not too much trouble." She stood there as Wren appeared to be studying her. "Is there a problem, Mr. Wren?"
"No. No problem at all," Wren said as s/he entered Selar's office. "You know, I don't think we've actually had a chance to meet."
"You have not attended any of the initial department-head meetings," replied Selar. "That would have been the logical place."
"I had a lot to do to get things ready," Wren said, not sounding particularly apologetic. It seemed to Selar that s/he was looking over the Vulcan doctor in a startlingly appraising manner. "It always comes down to the chief having to pull everything together during the last minute. So---what can I do to help you, Doctor?"
"Your most recent medical examination is over two years old. By putting out to space without a more recent exam, we're technically already in violation of Fleet regulations."
"Can't have that," said Wren agreeably. "Do you wish to conduct it right now? Because I'm free now."
"Dr. Verrill will attend to the actual examination."
Wren made no effort to hide hish disappointment. "I would rather you do it. have the top woman attend to it, and all that."
She glanced at s/him with eyebrow cocked in mild curiosity. "Do you have an unusual condition which would require my immediate attention?"
"Ah......no...."
"Then I assure you, Dr. Verrill will prove more than sufficient through your needs." She turned and became immediately engrossed in her computer screen, familiarizing herself with other medical priorities. It took her a few moments to realize that Wren was still there, and looking at her with a very strange lopsided grin. "Is there something else, Lieutenant Commander?"
Wren dropped into a chair opposite Selar, giving her the impression that s/he wasn't about to leave anytime soon. "Well, I admit that if nothing else I'm disappointed in you, Doctor."
"How so?"
"There aren't very many Zypoths in Fleet, and none at command level aside from me. The Vulcans I know have always had a great inquisitiveness about the galaxy they live in and the people therein. I would be surprised if you, a woman of science, didn't share that famed Vulcan drive to satisfy curiosity."
She gave a brief acknowledging nod. "A small amount, I admit. Zypoths, as a race, tend to keep to themselves. The tendency toward segregation from the rest of the Space Federation is well known---right down to your tendency to refer to yourselves with a unique set of pronouns to accommodate your dual-sex status. 'Hir' rather than 'him' or 'her'-----'hish' for the possessive forms of 'his' or 'hers'----'s/he,'" and she punched a bit harder than usual on the separately accented h, rather than 'she' or 'he.'"
"We developed those actually to simplify direct communication with USF representatives, and also to maintain our uniqueness as a race. Actually, we were originally going to combine 'she,' 'he,' and 'it' in order to cover all possibilities, but the term we developed----'sheeit'---caused Terrans to laugh whenever we'd use it, so we surmised that it had some other, inappropriate meeting and discarded it."
"That was probably smart." She paused a moment. "Is there a significant distinction between the Zypoth and the Be'ev?"
"The Be'ev?!" Wren made an annoyed sound. "Those asexual, passionless creatures? No, no. They're neuters, denying all orientation. We celebrate the duality that makes us unique. They're neither. We're both. Fully functioning male and female capabilities." S/he leaned forward and grinned, displaying hish sharpened canines. S/he seemed to be someone who smiled a great deal and enjoyed it while doing so, as s/he repeated, "Fully functioning."
"I comprehend the adverb," Selar said evenly. "However, I am quite sure my curiosity about the medical uniqueness of Zypoths will be more than satisfied by my scrutiny of Dr. Verrill's no-doubt detailed examination. For my part, I have a good deal that remains to which I must attend, and a routine exam that could be handled by any first-year resident does not fall into that category. Good day, Lieutenant Commander."
Wren's smile widened as s/he got up from the chair. Hish voice was light and musical as s/he said, "There's one thing you should know about me, Doctor."
"Only one thing? Very well." Selar looked up with poorly veiled disinterest.
"I can sense when I'm going to get on well with someone," Wren informed her. "There's something about the two of us....some chemistry....that I can't quite discern yet. But it's there all the same."
Folding her fingers, Selar said, "I am unclear as to your implication, Lieutenant Commander."
"Would you like me to clarify it?"
She considered for a moment and then said, "No. Actually, upon reflection, I prefer the vagueness. Good day, Lieutenant Commander."
"But...."
"I said----good day."
S/he stabbed a finger at Selar and said, "You're a challenge. I like a challenge."
"If that is what you desire, I understand surviving in a vacuum can be most challenging. If you wish, I can arrange to have you try that right now, and we can combine your examination with an autopsy."
Wren laughed at that delighted musical laugh and coquettishly ran hish fingers through hish close-cut brunette hair. "Why, Dr. Selar----was that a threat?"
"Not at all. Merely that famed Vulcan drive to satisfy curiosity."
And with one final, lilting laugh and a toss of hish head, Wren sashayed out of Selar's office, leaving the Vulcan doctor shaking her head and wondering two things:
What could she have possibly said or done that would have led Wren 283 to think that there was a fragment of interest on Selar's part in her?
And why was it that, as Wren walked, Selar found herself watching the sway of hish hips?
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