The Runaway

ANSWERS

USS PALADIN – READY ROOM

Captain Hiram Roberts was in his ready room with Lyson, Li and Doctor Floyd. “So Doctor, is this man the Romulan or not?” he asked Floyd.
“As far as medical evidence can tell, he’s human,” said Floyd.
“But he could be collaborating,” said Lyson. “He was wearing the Romulan transponder, probably in an attempt to distract us. And he was in the middle of the forest at night, right where we were. What else was he doing there?” he said.
“Distract us indeed,” said the Captain. Commander Lyson looked a little embarrassed. Roberts looked at Li. “Counselor, you talked to him. What do you think?”
“Well,” said Judy, “I’m no empath, but I can tell he’s hiding something. He’s just to calm. You’d think a normal person placed in these circumstances would be frantic for answers, demanding to be released, that sort of thing. But Newman acts to nonchalantly. I don’t know. I just get a funny vibe about him.”
“Ok then. For now, he stays on board. We’ll put this issue on hold. Dave, I want you to take another team down to the surface, and see if you can locate our Romulan. Doctor, I want you to send someone with them to scan for Romulan bio-signs. Can you spare anyone?”
“Sure, I can spare Renfro,” said Floyd with s slight grin. “I’ll get down to sickbay, and get him and his gear ready.”
He left, and Roberts said, “Ok, then. Counselor, I want you to keep our guest busy. See if he gives any clues to his reasons for ‘just happening’ to be out in the forest at night. Number One, you can leave whenever you ready.”
Lyson was ready to go. Having been duped into beaming up a decoy was grating. He needed to get results.
“I won’t come back without him, Captain,” he said, and then left.
“One other thing, sir,” said Li. “Mr. Newman wanted to know if he could take a tour of the ship. What should I tell him?”
“The last thing we need to do is give a possible spy a Grand Tour of one of the Federation’s best starships. But I grant that keeping him cooped up in a room is not the best way to garner information. You can take him anyplace we might show a dignitary or other VIP, but be careful. I want a full security detail with you at all times. He’s not to be trusted,” he said.
“Don’t worry Captain. I’ve handled some pretty tough patients before. I’m sure I can handle Brian Newman.

USS PALADIN – BRIDGE

Captain Roberts stood in front of his chair, looking at the main viewscreen. “Mr. Sokolov, anything to report?” he asked his tactical officer. The young Russian man behind the captain’s chair answered, “Nothing conclusive, sir. But I have assurances from engineering that we can detect the Romulan vessel if we get close enough. The scout shuttles we have deployed report nothing yet, but I am guessing that it is on the other side of the planet. That is where I have concentrated my efforts Captain.”

“I don’t want guesses, Mr. Sokolov, I need results,” said Roberts. His Second Officer, a tall, thin Vulcan named Sulek, said, “I am still curious as to why they are here, Captain.”
“As am I,” said Roberts. “The time jump was an accident, but why come to Earth?”
“There are several possibilities,” said Sulek, arms clasped behind his back. “ Disruption of Earth history is the most plausible, but also illogical. They would do well to return to Romulus to give their technology over to their ancestors. Or perhaps they are here because they anticipate that we will do the same,” said Sulek. “As far as historical disruption, this is a volatile time in Human history Captain. Two of Earth’s most powerful nation-states are on the verge of nuclear annihilation.”
“Yes, that was my thought as well. That’s why I want that ship found. We’re not sure if the scout-class ship has nuclear weapons on board, but it could use them to stimulate a war,” said Roberts. The more he thought about it, the more he thought Mr. Newman might hold the answers. “Mr. Sulek, what do you think of our new guest? Do you think he might be involved?”
“No sir, I do not think he is.”
“Really?” The Captain sounded surprised.
“It is not logical to assume the Romulans would have time to recruit a sympathizer, particularly in this period of human history. But I do agree that this man was placed as a decoy, although unwittingly,” he said.
“I don’t like the idea of keeping innocent people against their will. But hopefully,” he said as he moved toward his chair, “we won’t have to much longer.”

TEN FORWARD

Li and Newman entered the double doors. Brian Newman’s attitude changed on his way to the lounge. This place made the little game in the forest seem like a sound tactical search. On his way here, he saw several people, dressed the same as everybody else, but with elaborate masks and make-up to make them look ‘alien.’ It was almost silly. Brian was perplexed. His analysis of the situation kept changing moment to moment. One minute he would decide that this was an elaborate trap to get him to reveal some secret information, and then the next it seemed like a bizarre psychological experiment. Other times he wasn’t sure if this was a top secret military program. Whatever it was really didn’t matter. He would play along, offer no information, and keep the charade going. All that mattered was finding a way out. They saw several areas of the ship, none of which was remotely interesting to Newman, although he did feign interest. But he never went outside. Now they were in a bar of sorts called ‘Ten Forward.’ There was a mixture of the crew on board, all in those strange uniforms. Mostly human looking, there were a few of the alien costumes for effect. Nice.
“So can I buy you a drink?” he said with a big smile to Judy. They walked over to the bar and sat down. “Why don’t I get you one, since you’re the guest. What would you like, Brian?” she asked.
“Scotch. Uh, do you still have that in the future?” he said. *Maybe I could get her drunk* he thought jokingly. No, the way to Judy Li was sympathy. He knew that from their first conversation. He would play to her sensitive emotions. She would feel sorry for him and his sad, sad story. Then he could use her. She would champion his cause, telling the others in authority that he was to be pitied, not persecuted. They would listen to her, and lower their guard. She ordered some ale with a strange name he never heard of. “Why don’t we sit at a table,” she said. They moved over to one of the forward windows, but all Newman could see was the starry background of night. He turned his attention to Li. “So, what’s your story?” he asked. For a while they talked about each other, where they were from, family, the usual. Brian lied effortlessly. He told Judy about his childhood, the foster parents, some of which was true. But he was careful to only reveal things to her that would give her a specific, intentional picture of Brian Newman. The picture that he wanted to give her. He knew she was studying him. Psychiatrists couldn’t help but analyze people. So Newman gave her, in a sense, a false identity. When they started to get to sensitive areas of personal history, Brian changed the subject. He hoped his acting wasn’t too obvious. “So tell me, what’s a Romulan? And what are they doing here?” he asked. “Well,” Judy said, “That’s kind of a long story. There are lots of different species in the galaxy, and some are more hostile than others. The Romulans are about as hostile as they come, but things have been better recently. As to why they’re here, we’re still trying to figure that one out. A small scout ship crossed the border into our space, apparently to pick up one of their spies that had been found out. The Paladin was tasked to intercept and detain the Romulan ship before they could get away, but we ran into trouble.”
“Oh yeah?” asked Brian. “And what was that?”
“They went close to a small singularity, I think you call them ‘black holes,’ apparently trying to blind our sensors,” she said.
“I always thought those things would crush anything that got too close,” said Brian. “Well as long as you don’t go into the event horizon, you’ll be fine. The gravitational effects…” She noticed Brian put up his hand.
“Slow down. I was never good at science,” he said smiling. *Christ! What a story! Asuppsupposed to believe this?* he thought.
“Sorry,” she smiled back. “Anyway, space-time was sufficiently warped enough, that when we both tried to use our engines, it ripped a hole in time. Basically, that’s it. And here we are,” she finished. Newman stared at her for long moments. “So?” she asked.
“So what?” he replied, smiling.
“Well, I thought you would have some…reaction?” she replied.
Newman shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what I think.” He took a small sip of the Scotch, and then set it down on the table.
“Brian,” she said. “I’m very sorry about all of this. I know how strange this must seem.”
Newman raised his eyebrows. “Really? You’ve been abducted by futuristic humans and held against your will too? Small world,” he said. She laughed lightly, looking a little embarrassed. “C’mon Judy,” he said as he stood up. “What do you do for fun around here?” Judy stood up also. “Well, I was going to wait, but I think you might want to see the holodeck.”


BELGIUM
9 HOURS LATER

The search for the Romulan was getting harder by the minute. Every hour that went by, the trail got colder. The team had decided to use shuttlecrafts to help in the search. This was risky, because of possible detection. But detection was one thing, identification was another. They needed the shuttlecraft because of its more pful ful sensor package, vice the hand held tricorders. The shuttle would glide silently among the forest treetops scanning the area, and would then direct the team on the ground. Commander Lyson tried to calm down and think. Where would the Romulan go? Did he know anything about 20th century Earth? He had decided on their way down to the surface that the spy would most likely go to an urban area, and that’s where they weeadieading. There was some sort of hospital just a few kilometers away from the spot where they lost him. According to the shuttlecraft, there was an unusual amount of activity around the hospital. It was if they were also searching for someone. “Bring me up there,” Lyson said to the shuttlecraft. A few seconds later, he was beamed aboard, a half-kilometer forward of his previous position. “See there, Commander? They seem to be fanning out in this direction,” said the young pilot. They looked at the computer display that mapped out the sensor position of the troops. “That might work to our advantage. It could drive our pointy-eared friend right to us. Concentrate scans just before the searchers,” said Lyson. They were looking for someone. He didn’t need a Starfleet Academy education to figure out that it was probably Newman they were looking for. He was probably nothing more than an escaped mental patient. Well, they could beam him down right in front of those troops then. He called up his report as well as his opinions on Newman to Captain Roberts.
[That sounds probable Number One. One mystery solved. But have you had any luck with the Romulan?]
Roberts asked. “Not yet, sir. The sun will be up in an hour or so. That means the shuttle will have to return to the Paladin. But we’ll continue on foot. I have a hunch our friend might be getting desperate. He’ll have to act soon. My guess is he’ll hole up someplace until nightfall. We have the advantage of being able to blend in during the day,” said Lyson. “We’ll move in and aggressively scan the area.”
[Very good Number One. Continue at your discretion. Paladin out.]
“Ok, Schmidt,” he said to the pilot. “Drop me off, and get back to the Paladin. Stand by in the shuttle bay in case we need you.”

The sun was just starting to peek over the treetops. General Morris stood staring at it, amazed at how beautiful it was, and even more amazed that he couldn’t remember the last time he saw a sunrise. General Morris was the picture of a man destroying himself. How could he have thought for a minute that Newman would just stay put? Five years ago, he would have bet his life savings that something like this would happen. Hell, there was no way that he would have let Washington place Newman here in the first place! He was technically in charge of the search efforts, but effectively, he left it to his subordinates. Doctor Hoffman, the hospital’s advisor to the search team noticed how Morris looked. “You really should get some sleep General,” he .
.
“Can’t. Every time I close my eyes, I see Brian Newman standing over me. Sometimes he has a machete, others a pistol. But he’s always there, haunting me,” Morris replied. Just then, there was a commotion from behind them. They could see a military truck turning around and speeding away from them, towards the hospital. On the ground, a soldier lay unmoving on the field. Morris and Hoffman, as well as a dozen other soldiers ran over to where the unconscious man lay. General Morris waved for two jeeps to follow the truck, and they immediately sped off, weapons ready. Morris started to run his staff car, his driver already starting the engine. “Right past us! The bastard slipped right past us,” he shouted to Hoffman. Morris jumped in the passenger side of his car, and he was away. Hoffman looked down at the soldier. The young man was dead. But he also noticed some green smudges around the man’s neck.