Serpents Among the Ruins

On the second display Fe

Enterprise’s crew had been given few details about Universe,other than the fact of its installation of so-called hyperwarp engines. Fe

“Captain, we are being hailed by the Ad Astra,”Fe

“Put Saren-Sah through,” Captain Harriman said.

“It’s not Captain Saren-Sah, sir,” Kanchumurthi said. “It’s Admiral Harriman.”

Fe

“Then put the admiral through,” he said. “On screen.”

“Yes, sir,” Kanchumurthi said, and worked his console.

Fe

“Captain Harriman,”the admiral rumbled, his voice rough and loud, giving the impression that yelling came naturally to him. “What’s the status of your ship and crew?”From the admiral’s lips, the standard question sounded somehow like an accusation.

“Enterpriseis in position, Admiral,” the captain reported. “All the probes have been deployed along Universe’s flight path, and my crew have completed all of their pre-test duties.” While Canaveraland Ad Astrawould monitor Universe’s field trials from either end of the Bo

“Reconfirm the operation of the probes,”the admiral ordered, u

“Ensign Fe

“Checking, sir,” she responded. As she scrutinized her readouts, she sent the four fingers on each of her hands racing across her controls, testing the strength of the communication signals traveling to and from the probes. The semitransparent, chitinous membrane that encased her fingers—as well as the rest of her body—tapped rapidly on the console. As quickly as she could, she verified the active status of each of the probes, as well as the stability of Enterprise’s comlinks with them. When she had completed the task, she turned back toward the captain. “Reconfirmed, sir,” she said. “The probes are fully operational and the contacts with them are strong and steady.”

“Thank you, Ensign,” the captain said, nodding in her direction before looking back at the main viewscreen. “Admiral?”

“All right,”the elder Harriman said. “Let’s open the continuous comlink between all four ships.Canaveral, this is Admiral Harriman aboard the—”

To Fe

“Not since just after we left KR-3,” Fe

“Thanks, Borona,” Sulu said with a smile.

Fe

The first officer stopped abruptly, and when Fe

“I’m all right,” Fe

—except that wasn’t true. Fe