I waited what I assumed was long enough to get an answer before filling the silence. “But maybe you don’t want to tell me?”
“Because that’s how I do things? Dangle something out in front of you to tease you when I know you’re struggling?”
“What makes you think I’m struggling?”
“Damn, this thing’s dry.” Quinn paused to chew and swallow. “Fine. So you’re not struggling. But I haven’t seen ya coming around for a while, so I figured something was up. And I hadn’t seen anything big on the news about the station with your name on it, so . . .”
“Wait a minute. You look for my byline?”
“What of it?”
“No, it’s just . . . I’m flattered,” I said. “You look for my byline.”
“And I’m not seeing it.”
I paused for a moment and drew a breath. “Okay, yeah, I’m struggling.”
“And maybe I can help.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t go thanking me until something breaks loose,” Quinn said. “I know a guy who owes me a favor. I can’t guarantee that I can call in my marker for you, but I don’t mind asking. I’ve been calling in a few lately, anyway.”
That gave me pause. “Something going on?”
“Simmer down, newsboy. I said there were no scoops here. Give me a little time and I’ll let ya know.”
“I didn’t come around looking for handouts, but I’ll take this one,” I said. “Thanks. Sincerely.”
He waved his hand at me as if to brush aside my appreciation as he got the final bite of his breakfast down. “Been to the hospital?”
“Why?”
“I figured you were keeping an eye on T’Prynn.”
“Oh,” I said, my mind snapping to the last time I had seen the Vulcan intelligence officer who arguably was the person most responsible for the shattered state of my career at that point. She had witnessed, as had Quinn and I, the explosive destruction of the Starfleet cargo ship U.S.S. Malaccawhile it was docked at Vanguard. But in that moment, and either as a result of the sight or merely coincidentally, T’Prynn suffered a completely debilitating psychic collapse, one that I imagined could yet prove fatal to a being with her cultural mastery of emotional control. I had even captured the entire event on my recorder, but chose not to keep it. “Well, no, I haven’t been following her case. I’m a little surprised to know you thought I would be.”
“I get that she’s not your best friend and all, but I thought you would at least be curious.”
“Curious as you are.”
“Sure.”
“So why not stop by and check on her yourself?”
“I’ve got no business poking around up there,” Quinn said. “And it’s not hard to guess what her reaction would be to my doing anything that might connect her to me personally. No, I won’t be making a visit.”
“So, is this your fee for trying to connect me with a source? Asking me to pay a visit on your behalf?”
“I won’t ask you to go for me,” he said. “I want you to think about going for yourself. The two of you have some unfinished business, and I don’t think you would want it to end that way.”
“To be truthful, I hadn’t considered it. I also can’t deny that part of me might have wished this on her.”
“Not the part of you that deleted the vid you made,” he said. “I’m just saying that you might want to wander past the hospital. When you get there, you can decide whether to go in.”
“If it’s any consolation, you do have my curiosity piqued about one thing.”
“Okay.”
“How something got into your system to reactivate your compassion program,” I said. “Maybe there are more risks in being exposed to the Shedai than Starfleet is telling us.”
“Well, look at the time,” Quinn said. “Someone needs to be moving along.”
“Evidently, I do,” I said as I started back across the hangar. “You know how to find me. And for what it’s worth, Quinn, you look good.”
He squeezed his eyebrows together at the unexpected compliment, almost as if he did not believe me.
“Okay, maybe that’s generous. You look . . . better.”
I actually managed to get a smile out of the man. “Now that I’ll buy, but only because I’ve looked a lot worse.”
6
“Damn you, Quinn,” I said under my breath as I passed through the main doors of Vanguard’s medical center. I promised myself in that moment I would not divulge to him how I walked to the central facility directly following our conversation. I needed to maintain some sense of pride.
In my time on the station, I had made relatively few visits to the hospital, and when I did, I happened to be the one in need of care. The last time, I had come for a brief scan to follow up on the injuries I had suffered on Jinoteur, and as I walked into the main reception area, I hoped my visit had been recent enough that I might look a little less conspicuous as I breezed past the admissions desk. I was following one of the most useful pieces of advice from my days in journalism schooclass="underline" if you look like you belong somewhere and know what you’re doing, no one will ask you any questions. I gave a sideways glance to the desk, and to a woman seated there wearing a loose-fitting nurse’s uniform whose attention seemingly was on the desk-mounted viewer before her, and turned the back of my head to her just as I passed.
“Sir? Can I help you, please?”
I sighed, knowing it would be too unbelievable had I pretended not to hear her. “Oh, hello. Sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt. You looked busy.”
She looked up at me with her slender face framed by straight blond hair and what may have been the widest pair of hazel eyes I had ever seen. “You’re very kind, but I’m fine. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I’m wanting to check on a friend. She would have come in about a week ago with what I suspect was brain trauma.”
She returned to her desk monitor. “Can you tell me her name?”
“Yes, it’s T’Prynn, and as you might suspect, she’s a Vulcan woman.”
“Ah,” she said, looking back at me. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid she is not allowed visitors at this time.”
I leaned a bit onto the desktop. “I’m just trying to ease my concern, Ms. . . .”
She lowered her eyes and softened her posture a bit, almost as if she had been hoping I might ask. My hope for getting past the desk buoyed a bit, so I offered a smile as soon as she looked back up. “Braun. Jennifer Braun.”
As I offered my hand, I had considered keeping my name to myself, or even giving a false one, but when she took my grasp, I could not help but play straight with her. “I’m Tim. And I assure you that I would not stay if I could only look in on her. I was with her when she fell ill, you see, and I’ve heard nothing about her condition.”
Jennifer withdrew her hand. “And going back into the isolation wards will ease your concerns?”
“Is that where she is, Jennifer?”
“I’m not able to release any information about a patient, or even confirm that someone is a patient,” she said. “But the isolation wards are where you might have ended up, had you kept going.”
“I see. And I do understand. You’re sticking to policy and you should, given that we’ve only just met.”
Jennifer smiled. “But as we get to know each other, I’ll certainly relax my approach to hospital policy. Is that what you’re hoping, Tim?”
“Well, hospital and otherwise.”
She bent her smile down into a frown and snorted as she nodded her head knowingly. “Ohhh, but you’re good. So why are you trying so hard to look like you’re trying so hard?”
“Damn, I knew I should have gone with the sincere approach.”
“It might get you further next time.”
“Further than what?”
“Well, further than a discussion of hospital policies with me,” she said. “If I were to talk with someone on staff about a medical condition concerning a Vulcan, I would start with Doctor M’Benga.”
“Would Doctor M’Benga be able to let me see her?”
“That is up to him,” she said, allowing another smile. “But I can assure you that were your friend under his care, then once you spoke to him you would not need to see her. You would realize that she is in good hands.”