Текст книги "Kobayashi Maru"

Автор книги: Andy Mangels

Соавторы: Michael Martin
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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 25 страниц)

Reed looked up from his console, and he was immediately transfixed by what he saw crossing the half‑sunlit world below. “Wait, he said, jabbing an index finger toward the forward transparent aluminum window. “Have a look at that first.

A bright orange line of fire was inscribing itself across the dark side of the planets terminator, extending at supersonic speeds a rapidly collapsing and steeply descending column of ionized atmosphere. The glowing, meteoric mass at the growing lines forefront hurtled toward the side of the planet that presently stood exposed to the pitiless blue‑white glare of this solar systems primary star.

Reed turned toward TPol, watching her in silence as she scrutinized the enigmatic trail of fire that bisected the planets skies. After a moment she checked a scanner readout on her console, and then swiftly rose from her seat to check a secondary monitor located on the port side of the cockpit compartment.

As though responding to some inner will of their own, Reeds eyes dropped toward the portion of TPols anatomy that was, for the moment, in closest proximity.

He thought, She reallydoes have quite a nice bum, doesnt she?

She turned toward him, abruptly scattering his already errant train of thought. His cheeks flushed with a heat born of something other than atmospheric friction.

“The object is on a precise heading for the coordinates that my intel sources have provided, she said, showing no sign of having noticed his discomfiture as she retook her seat.

Reed wondered again about TPols intel sources, upon which they had both staked so much. How much did they know about Trips current mission, or that of Trips adversaries on this planet? Had the VShar allowed them to come here to aid Trip because the Vulcan spy bureau shared Trips goals, or were they motivated by something else entirely? Were they counting on TPol to remove a troublesome game piece from their chessboard?

Or were they banking on the opposite outcome?

Instead of raising any of those doubtless sensitive points, or launching into an infinitely recursive volley of questions, Reed merely nodded and began entering a series of commands into his console. “Plotting an intercept course, Commander. Passive sensors only. There was no point, after all, in shouting their arrival from the proverbial rooftops, as it were, regardless of whether the new arrival proved to be friend, foe, or merely a large meteor or asteroid fragment that had chosen this particular time and place to cross the planets path.

Judging from both the instruments and the evidence of his own eyes, Reed concluded that whatever was creating the pyrotechnics in the planets atmosphere was making an extremely bumpy descent. He braced himself to follow it down as TPol engaged the impulse drive.

As the shuttlepod lurched into a motion that was almost but not quite in phase with that of his stomach, Reed couldnt help but recall a recent, similarly harrowing descent through the much‑thinner atmosphere of Mars. Moving surreptitiously, he reached beneath the copilots console even as the little ship began to bounce and shake in the planets steadily thickening blanket of air.

He sighed in relief when his fingers brushed against the motion‑sickness bag dispenser.

TWENTY‑SIX

Sunday, July 20, 2155 Qam‑Chee, the First City, QonoS

A RCHER PUSHEDthe blade through the air awkwardly, watching as his opponent jumped back.

He might have felt a bit better doing the move if his opponent hadnt been Corporal OMalley, one of the two unarmed MACO troopers who shared the “preparation room with him. The three of them had already had a perfunctory discussion about how little a Klingon “preparation room differed from a jail cell on Earth. But since Archer had actually become very closely acquainted with a Klingon jail cell not so very long ago, he felt he could discuss the special nuances of difference with real authority. For one thing, during his current stay the Klingons had given him the use of one of their curved, arm‑long swords; it was a wickedly sharp, two‑sided, four‑pointed blade known as a batleth.

Archer had seen Klingons carrying these weapons, both here on QonoS and three years ago at the deuterium‑mining colony on Yeq, where he and some of his crew helped a group of beleaguered miners repel a raid by Klingon marauders. However, seeing the half‑moon‑shaped weapon strapped to a mans back or mounted on a wall was a quite different experience from actually handling oneor depending upon the odd‑shaped blade in a life‑or‑death battle.

He regarded the batleththat rested in his hands for a long moment, staring down at its double blades. He couldnt quite wrap his mind around the purpose of the secondary pair of blades, the one whose edges lay closest to the weapons central handgrip. On top of that, the whole damned thing seemed a lot more cumbersome than a straight long sword, given that the batlethseemed to require a two‑handed grip, making it much more a close‑quarters weapon than a straight sword of comparable length.

I guess it could be worse,he thought, imagining having to fight off the ravening, batleth‑twirling Krell using the short Andorian Ushaan‑Torblades, another weapon he had never used but was forced to wield against Shran in a ritual duel.

A mans deep voice spoke from behind him. “I never thought Id say this to a Terangan,but its good to see you.

Archer turned to face the speaker, but it took him a moment to recognize the aged‑looking Klingon who had evidently just entered the room. The man was missing an eye and part of one foot, and had lost a significant amount of weight, but after some initial doubt, Archer recognized him as the Klingon legal advocate who had defended him when hed stood trial for allegedly dishonoring Duras, the former captain of the I.K.S. Bortas. For his efforts, the advocate had been exiled to Rura Penthe for a year alongside Archer, who had been fortunate enough to escape confinement, unlike his hapless Klingon defender.

“Kolos? Archer handed the batlethto Corporal Ryan and rushed over to the older Klingon. “I didnt expectI didnt think

“You didnt think Id survive an entire year on Rura Penthe, did you? Kolos said, interrupting.

Archer returned the other mans wry smile. “I dont think Iwould have survived that.

Kolos smiled back, his sharpened teeth now showing dull edges. “I told you then that I had a very good reason to survive, Captain. Even if I am but one voice, I am still one voice that can call for honor to be restored to our people through justice rather than violence.

Archer motioned to a nearby bench, where he perched beside Kolos as the frail‑looking Klingon sat. “Not to put a fine point on it, Kolos, but I sure could use that call for honor today.

Shaking his head, Kolos looked at Archer with his one good eye. “Chancellor MRek is under heavy political fire from those who seek to take his position; your timing couldhave been worse, but not by much. I think that he truly means you no ill will, nor does heor the Council intendto go to war against the Coalition. But he and his High Council allies see the message you delivered today as an affront. And that cannot go unchallenged.

“But why was it an affront to them? Archer asked. “If theyre telling the truth, there isnt any harm in proving to us that somebody else was responsible for the attack on Draylax.

Kolos smiled. “Do you have children, Captain?

“Not yet, Archer said.

“Well, I have fathered many. And one thing I can tell you that I suspect is true of all culturesKlingon, Terangan,Andorianis that when a child is embarrassed about something, he will fight all the harder to protect himself than if he is outright lying. Governments are not so different from children, Captain.

Archer shook his head. “What does MRek have to be embarrassed about? Is it that the Romulans have found a way to commandeer their ships?

Kolos did a double take. “Why would you think that?

“We found one survivor in the wreckage of one of the three battle cruisers destroyed at Draylax. She all but said that the Klingons were being controlled by the Romulans. But she didnt know how, and she didnt survive long enough to give us any more than that.

His expression grave, Kolos nodded. “I dont know that to be true, but if it were,that would be something that the military would not want exposed.

“So theyd rather go to war against the Coalition than admit they were vulnerable to the Romulans?

Kolos shrugged, opening his hands, palms pointed upward.

“Unbelievable, Archer said, sighing heavily. Now he felt even more defeated.

“If that is the case, then you must defeat Krell decisively, Kolos said. “And you must kill him.

Archer stared at the older alien, incredulously. Gesturing toward Corporal Ryan, he said, “I dont even know how to use that weapon properly.

“We have nearly three of your hours before the combat is to begin, Kolos said, standing up. “Let us use the time to find ways for you to use the blade that Krell wont anticipate.

He lowered his voice slightly, moving closer to Archer in order to speak at a volume intended only for the captains ears. “And let us hope that Krells strength isnt what it once was because of the changes the metagenic virus has wrought.

Archers breath was already growing ragged and labored, and it was still fairly early in the match. The gladiatorial chamber that he and Krell were in was un‑godly hot; even stripped to the waist, he was sweating profusely. Probably gonna lose ten pounds in a hell of a hurry,he thought. Unless I lose my head first, that is.

The two of them had been led into the arena ten minutes earlier, wearing only their pants and boots, and carrying only their batleths. The chamber was part of a vast, torch‑lit underground cavern that had apparently been excavated and enlarged for the sole purpose of conducting combat‑to‑the‑death rituals such as this one. Rising from the ground all around were irregularly shaped stalagmites precipitated out of some hardened mineral that Archer couldnt quite identify; even in the dusky light of the wall‑ensconced torches, he could see that many of them were stained a dark purplish‑black that was probably the residue of Klingon blood.

About twenty feet up, ringed around the caverns outer walls, was a secondary level surrounded by waist‑high railings, behind which stood the assembled members of the Klingon High Council, various uniformed military luminaries, and a large cheering section comprised of growling, snarling Klingon civilians that might well have included his prospective undertaker and burial florist for all Archer knew.

Krell had barely said ten words since seeing Archer again in the combat chamber, and four of them had not been translatable. Archer knew he couldnt hope to reason with the soldier, but he also knew that even if he somehow managed to prevail, he couldnt find it in himself to kill him, either. I sure as hell cant afford to letyou know that, though,he thought as he regarded his opponent in much the same way he might a Cape buffalo getting ready to make a lethal charge.

Koloss accelerated training had been helpful enough to allow Archer to survive this long without injury, though mostly he had been defending himself rather than striking any blows of his own. As Kolos had explained and demonstrated various techniques for handling a batleth,Archer began to understand that some of the principles were not significantly different from certain types of terrestrial sword fighting, blended with a bit of quarterstaff or b фstick combat. Kolos had also provided some guidance in the use of the batleths secondary blades and their multiple serrations; they were used mostly to trap the points of an opponents weapon. Executed properly, such a trapping maneuver could not only effectively block an otherwise lethal blow, it might also disarm a foe with little more than a simple twist and a yank.

With a roar, Krell attacked again, pulling Archers focus into laser sharpness. The Klingons blade swung around in an arc, coming up from below, the tip whistling as it cleaved the air; Archer could tell the move was meant to chop his hands out from under the handgrip. Feeling a stalagmite at his back, he couldnt duck to the side, so he moved his own blade to counter, swiveling his batlethfrom an upward‑curving angle to a down‑turned position.

Krells blow and Archers parry brought the two blades together hard enough to strike sparks, and Archer felt the shock reverberate through his wrists as the Klingons momentum and greater weight rammed his blade upward. Pain lanced his arms, and as Krell attacked again, Archer scrabbled to retreat behind another stalagmite. He ducked, barely evading a horizontal slice that had come uncomfortably close to cleanly decapitating him; instead of Archer losing his head, one of the upturned rocky deposits lost its conical end, shattering into a gray‑brown powder as the baakonite blade tore through it with all the force of Krells offended sense of honor.

As Krells arms followed through with the blow, Archer charged from his defensive crouch, stabbing the pointed end of his weapon toward his foes midsection. Krell sidestepped in time to avoid being impaled right through the gut, but not quickly enough to prevent Archers blade from inflicting a superficial flesh wound that announced its presence with a small spray of lavender Klingon blood.

Even as Archer continued moving forward, his boot caught on something he couldnt see on the uneven floor, and he suddenly felt himself falling. In the quarter second or so it took his momentum to carry him to the caverns rocky floor, he willed his arms to move the batlethout from in front of him.

NotgonnastabmyselftodeathbeforeKrelldoes,he thought, his mind racing.

Even as he rolled to the side in an effort to get his feet back under him, he felt a sharp pain in his mid‑chest area, then felt the breath whoosh from his lungs as agony struck him in earnest. He realized in a horrified rush that Krells batlethhad pierced him at the ribs, and even now, before the red blood had dripped from its tip, Krell was standing above him, a look of rage commingled with triumph flushing his hard features.

Through his pain, Archer wanted to laugh, as in an instant he realized that he was about to die trying to prevent his world and its allies from going to war against the wrong enemy, all while the Romulans were setting Earth up for conquest. Given how little his sacrifice was evidently destined to mean, he hoped that hed at least leave a good‑looking corpse behind for posteritys sake.

Krell brought the batlethdown in a lethal arc straight toward Archers face, and the captain knew that his final wish would not be granted.

TWENTY‑SEVEN

Monday, July 21, 2155 Taugus III

T RIP WAS SURPRISEDat how easy entering the dissident complex had turned out to be once he and Terix had located a small, concealed emergency entrance, an aperture that must have been intended to allow easy ingress during times of bad weather outside.

And he was further surprised by just how few of the suspected Ejhoi Ormiindissidents he and Terix had actually found within the indeterminate‑sized complex once theyd managed to get inside it. The two middle‑aged Romulan men theyd encountered in what looked to be an informal wardroom were thoroughly nonplussed at the sudden arrival of the two armed strangers who had just appeared in their midst, as did the somewhat younger‑looking Romulan woman who had been sharing a meal with them.

“By the authority of the battle fleet of the Romulan Star Empire, you are all under arrest, Terix said. He brandished his disruptor pistol, keeping it leveled more or less at all three dissidents, all of whom appeared to be academics rather than soldiers. Raising their hands in barely contained shock and fear, none of these people looked eager to rise from the small round lunch table around which they sat, or to do anything else that might provoke their captors.

“This cant be everybody, Terix said curtly, leaning toward Trip.

Trip couldnt help but agree. Holstering his own weapon, he pulled out the bulky Romulan military scanning device hed kept strapped to the belt on his simple, black paramilitary outfit, which was a close match for Terixs mission garb.

After consulting the palm‑sized display screen for a few moments, Trip said, “Theres still no sign of life in this building other than these people and the two of us. Maybe the interference we picked up in the planets ionosphere is affecting this thing. He shook the scanner as though something broken might have rattled inside it.

“All the way down here on the surface? Terix shook his head. “That would seem to be a rather convenient technical failure.

Already weary of the centurions thinly veiled accusations, Trip found it difficult to make his reply sound entirely civil. “Im not just making this stuff up, you know.

“Of course youre not, Terix said in an ironic tone.

Trip counted slowly to five, trying to calm himself as he turned his attention back to his scanners readout display. “We have to accept the possibility that Chuihv managed to get off the planet before we even got here. Maybe that flash of hull metal I detected on our way in was our man making his escape.

Terix nodded. “Perhaps. But it is equally likely that he has somehow hidden himself here. And that he is using his compatriots as a diversion.

Another mans voice spoke up from directly behind Trip at that moment, making him start reflexively. It was a voice he recognized instantly.

“My associates are no diversion. I prefer to think of them more as bait for a trap.

Trip turned toward the man who had just spoken, and found that Terix was already facing him. The centurion was crouching as though he had been about to launch a “spray‑and‑pray pattern of fire from his disruptor pistol, but had thought better of it at the last instantand for very solid reasons.

“Chuihv, the centurion said through clenched teeth as he raised the barrel of his weapon so that it pointed harmlessly toward the upper curve of the domed ceiling.

Captain Sopek,Trip thought, mentally correcting Terix. Well, at least we wont have to waste any more precious time searching for you, will we?

“ Jolantru,Centurion Terix, the dissident leader said as he strode calmly forward from underneath the very same open doorway arch through which Trip and Terix had entered the room. The man was obviously emboldened by the half‑dozen or so armed, paramilitary‑garbed young Romulans who had already deployed themselves very swiftly and efficiently around the ten‑meter‑wide wardroom. Ugly gray pistols were raised and ready, and Trip recalled having seen nearly identical weapons on two earlier occasions. The first was his brief captivity in the Ejhoi Ormiincompound on Rator II; the second encounter had occurred in the lab where just such a weapon had been used to assassinate Doctor Ehrehin.

The weapons Trip faced now were no doubt every bit as dangerous as those he remembered, and looked as hostile as the expressions on the pale faces of the men and women who wielded them. Trip harbored little doubt that a single word from Chuihv/Sopek, or one false move by either himself or Terix, would suffice to envelop the room immediately in a lethal cats cradle of crisscrossing disruptor beams.

Despite the death wish that Terix had seemed to exhibit behind the pilots console, the centurion proved himself eminently more sensible here by allowing the weapon in his hand to clatter to the floor tiles. He had even taken a moment to click a small switch on the disruptors handle, engaging what Trip assumed was a safety catch, a moment before releasing the weapon and kicking it toward their captors.

A single harsh monosyllable from one of the armed dissidents, punctuated by an aggressive gesture with the disruptor pistol in his hand, persuaded Trip to follow Terixs lead; though he found no safety catch on his own weapon after he slowly unholstered ithe frankly doubted that Terix had allowed him to take a charged and functional weapon in the first placehe obediently dropped the heavy pistol to the floor, then gently tossed his scanning device after it.

Two of Chuihvs other troopers knelt briefly to retrieve the discarded gear, which they stowed on the Romulan equivalent of Sam Browne belts.

Chuihv came to a stop directly between Trip and Terix. Turning toward Trip, he said, “And Jolantruto you as well, Mister Cunaehr. Or should I address you more properly as Commander Charles Tucker, late of the United Earth Starship Enterprise?

Ah, shit,Trip thought. I really,really hate when this happens.He found himself reflecting, absurdly, that the only moderately enjoyable aspect of this situation was the thoroughly stunned expression on Terixs vulpine face, which had flushed almost to the color of split‑pea soup. After all, the centurion had suspected him of being a spy from Vulcan,not from Earth.

“Commander Tucker, Chuihv said, evidently quite enamored with the sound of his own voice. “Risen from the ranks of the hallowed dead. And now, tragically, fated to return there all too soon. The dissident leaders smirk looked distinctly unpleasant on a face that appeared so outwardly Vulcan otherwise.

Trip felt shock at the sudden revelation of his real identity before Terix, but not all that much surprise. After all, a man like Chuihv had to have a talent for connecting the dots, or else he would have fallen into the hands of someone like Terix long ago, on one side of the Romulan border or the other. Besides, if Trip knew about the Romulan dissident leaders other life as a Vulcan, why shouldnt Chuihv be able to find whatever skeletons lurked in his closet?

“Chuihv of Saith, Trip said, feeling a great deal calmer than hed expected to feel on the occasions when he had tried to imagine something like his present circumstances. “Or maybe I ought to call you Sopek of Vulcan instead.

Chuihv/Sopek raised an eyebrow, a gesture that instantly transformed his appearance from that of a treacherous, scheming Romulan outlaw to that of the logical, dignified Vulcan starship captain who had commanded the Vulcan vessel NiVarsome four years earlier. Trip wondered which of the two identities was genuine, if either one was.

“Well done, Commander, the dissident said. After a brief pause, he added, “I never got the opportunity to thank you for covering my escape when Valdores forces raided our facility on Rator II.

“Well, I might be willing to call it even, Trip said, his jaw clenching involuntarily as he remembered the bloody chaos that had accompanied his efforts to protect Ehrehin and evade both the Ejhoi Ormiinand Admiral Valdores forces. “But only if youll agree to let mereward youproperly for what you did to Tinh Hoc Phuong.

Chuihv made a brief but infuriating show of pretending not to remember the man he had callously transformed into a pile of smoldering ash on Rator II. At length, he said, “Ah, the man who called himself Terha of Talvath. Your fellow Terran spy who claimed to be a part of the Ejhoi Ormiins Devoras cell.

Trip noticed the goggle‑eyed stares of the three academics; Sopeks revelation had left them all looking as stupefied by this as third‑graders poring over a textbook on eleven‑dimensional tensor calculus.

Though he knew it was worse than useless, Trip couldnt keep the timbre of accusation and righteous anger out of his voice. “You had him captured,Sopek. He was in no position to hurt you. But you murdered him in cold blood.

Chuihv scowled, shaking his head in an exaggerated display of mock disappointment. “Mister Tucker, I know that engineering has long been your primary area of expertise. Nevertheless, I thought youd been in the espionage business long enough to understand the occasional need for thoroughgoing security purges in anyclandestine organization. Im certain your friend would have agreed that such things are an unavoidable hazard of our trade.

Although Chuihvs lips continued to move, Trip suddenly found that all he could hear was an intense whistling sound. An instant later, the dissident leader interrupted his own monologue, grimacing in apparent agony as he placed his fists over his sharply pointed ears. The armed troopers looked to be suffering every bit as badly; at least one of them dropped his weapon onto the floor.

Moving almost faster than Trips eyes could follow, Terix leaped on the nearest of the distracted guards, taking her down in a bone‑crushing tackle that sent her weapon flying.

Trip wasted no time diving toward the floor. “Get down! he yelled toward the owl‑eyed academics, none of whom had yet taken the simple expedient of ducking beneath their table for cover.

Chuihv/Sopek had already collapsed to his knees, as had fully half his armed people. Of the remaining three, one was unconscious thanks to Terixs quick action. Trip landed a hard right cross on anothers jaw before the disoriented man could get his weapon pointed in the right direction.

Terix blew a large, charred hole right through the chest of the last of them even as Trip grabbed up one of the fallen guards weapons.

“Stay right where you are! Terix shouted, holding one of the troopers pistols before him in a double‑handed combat grip.

It took Trip a startled moment to understand that the centurion was addressing him,rather than Chuihv or any of his people. A heartbeat or two later, Trip realized that he and Terix were the only people in the room who were still conscious.

“What the hell happened? Trip asked. It had all started with that peculiar, transient whistling sound.

“Put the weapon down, Terix said. His weapons muzzle was pointed straight at Trips head in a gesture of unambiguous menace. Across a distance of maybe four meters, there was no way the centurion was going to miss if he were to open fire.

“Settle down, Terix, Trip said as he made a careful show of allowing a weapon to fall from his hand for the second time today.

When Terix spoke again, his voice seemed to be unnaturally loud. “That man has my weapon. Pausing, he gestured toward one of the unconscious troopers who lay on the floor nearby. “Lift it out of his belt. Slowly. Then drop it on the floor and kick it over here.

Trip nodded silently, and did as the centurion instructed. From what hed observed of the weapon, he knew hed never get the safety setting disengaged before Terix burned him up like a Roman candle. Or a Romulan candle,he thought absurdly.

A few moments later, Terix had recovered his weapon. While covering Trip with the troopers pistol in his left hand, he manipulated a switch on the handle of his own weapon with his right. He then holstered the weapon in his left hand, apparently content to keep it as a backup for the one he kept pointed at Trips head.

With his free hand, Terix removed two small objects from inside his ears, first the right, then the left.

Understanding began to dawn on Trip. That was no safety catch on his weapon,he thought, appreciating the engineering ingenuity involved as much as the tactical genius. It was some sort of ultrasonic attack. Something that works on a frequency so high that only dogs and Romulans can hear it. Unless theyre wearing protective earplugs.

Or theyre not really Romulans in the first place.

“We are notleaving together, Terix said as he took a single menacing step in Trips direction. “Commander Tucker.

I didnt fall down the way everybody else did,he thought. So he doesnt have to justsuspect I might not be the real deal anymore. Now he knows for sure.

His hands raised and his palms out, Trip tried to put on the same lets‑both‑be‑reasonable‑and‑talk‑this‑over‑before‑either‑of‑us‑does‑anything‑rashgrin that had forestalled more than a few bar fights during his undergraduate years.

“I should have listened to my mother when I was in school back in Romii, he said aloud. “She always warned me about playing those Frenchotte recordings with the volume up so high.

Terix appeared unmoved by Trips improvised excuses. “Once I obtain whatever warp‑drive data Chuihv has stored in this place, he said, “you will die with everyone else here when I vaporize this complex.

“Is killing me youridea, Terix? Or Valdores?

“I have made the admiral aware of my suspicions.

“But Im willing to bet he doesnt share them. At least he might not until after he hears your next report.“Otherwise he wouldnt have sent us out here together on this wild mogaihunt without another couple of men to watch your back.

Terixs scowl deepened, but Trip could see that doubt was warring with resolve behind the centurions dark, hooded eyes.

“You are not loyal to the Empire, he said. His weapon remained unwaveringly trained on Trips head. “And even the Ejhoi Ormiinaccuse you of being a Terran spy.

“And you believethat? Chuihv is a pathological liar, Terix. Its how he makes his living. He gestured toward the spot where the dissident leader lay unconscious. “For Erebuss sake, man, hes so crooked he has to screw his pants on every morning.

The weapon seemed to waver ever so slightly in Terixs hand, though Trip couldnt be sure that wasnt merely wishful thinking on his part.

“But you are not even Romulan,the centurion said. “You couldntbe. He punctuated his point by holding up the protective earplugs he still clutched in his free hand.

Think fast, Charles.“Why? Because my hearing is defective?

“I find it curious that you have never seen fit to mention this rather convenient defect before, Terix said.

From somewhere far beyond the confines of the building, Trip could hear the sound of distant thunder. He found it mildly ironic that the keen‑eared centurion had shown no sign as yet of having noticed it.

Just as he found it hard not to fantasize that the sound represented the faint and fading hope of a last‑minute cavalry rescue. More goddamn wishful thinking,he thought, trying but not quite succeeding in dismissing the distracting notion.

“My bad hearing isnt something Im particularly proud of, Trip said, hoping it wasnt as painfully obvious to Terix as it was to him that he was merely grasping at straws in order to stay alive. “After all, its kept me out of the military my whole life. And its kept me from having a career like the one youvehad. Can you imagine how that feels? When all else fails,he thought, theres always flattery. Not to mention spadefuls of good, old‑fashioned Florida bullshit.