Read Online The Folded World by Jeff Mariotte - Free Book Online

you knew I did?”
    But she didn’t ask it, because the doors opened and another group stepped into the hangar deck, including Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, and Doctor McCoy. “Oh, joyous,” Vandella said, sarcasm fairly dripping off the words.
    â€œWhat?” she started to ask. But then Paul O’Meara stepped out from behind Spock and McCoy. From his angle, Vandella had been able to see him first.
    â€œOh,” she said.
    O’Meara strode up to them and stopped before Miranda, a smile pasted to his face that looked every bit artificial. “Miranda,” he said. “Stanley. What a surprise.”
    â€œWell, given what the captain said about the circumstances, I felt I could hardly decline. Apparently we all felt that way.”
    â€œLooks like,” O’Meara said.
    â€œIf this is going to be a problem—” Tikolo began.
    â€œNo problem,” O’Meara said. “The captain needs backup. That’s what we do.”
    â€œThat’s exactly right,” Vandella added. “I know there’s some . . . rivalry, here . . . but we are professionals, after all. Whatever our feelings for you, they needn’t interfere with our duty.”
    â€œThey’d better not,” Tikolo said. She wanted to trust him, to trust them both. But trust was hard to come by lately. She suspected it had to do with her trauma. Before that, she had been able to love and trust Eric Rockwell completely, and after, those feelings seemed like distant memories, like dreams that dissipated upon waking, no more easily grasped than a fistful of water.
    â€œAll right,” she said, relenting. She didn’t like it—part of her reason for volunteering for the mission had been to be away from these two, to get a change of scenery, see some different faces. But they were right. They were professionals. Landing parties were a crucial part of the job.
    Before she had a chance to say anything more, the captain addressed the group and everybody fell silent. “Thank you for being here. I told you before you signed on that this would be a dangerous mission. I need to stress that. There’s a possibility that none of us will make it back here. Of course, I believe we will.
    â€œThe Enterprise has been in tough places before. Some have given their lives for this ship, and we allknew what the risks were when we enlisted. That said, I’m looking at this as a rescue mission. We’ll be counting on you to keep yourselves and each other safe, and to do the same for anyone we find on the McRaven . We don’t know what we’re going to encounter when we get into what Mister Spock calls the ‘dimensional fold,’ but on the way over, he’ll explain what he has been able to deduce about it. And, as I told you up front, we’re not entirely sure how we’re going to be able to get back to the Enterprise . We have an idea—we just won’t know if it will work until we try it. You can still back out now if you want. I’ll understand completely if you do.”
    For a brief instant, the idea of taking the out the captain had offered flitted through Tikolo’s mind. Sending Vandella and O’Meara into the dimensional fold, whatever that was, would have the same effect as her going in without them. She would be away from them for a while, free of their constant pressure, able to think things through more clearly.
    But she couldn’t make a decision like that on such a purely personal basis. This was duty, and she owed Captain Kirk her loyalty and her service. She stayed put.
    So did the eleven other volunteers. She had expected no less.
    â€œI guess that’s settled, then,” Kirk said after a moment. “Helmets on. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”
    The away team secured their helmets, split into two groups, and boarded the shuttles. Tikolo joined the group getting into the second, forcing