Creative Couplings Book 1 Page 6

  “Much as I hate to admit it, we’d better bring Tev in on this. Let’s head upstairs.”

  Together they walked back to the ship and up to the bridge, Fabian limping a little. They found Tev pacing in front of the captain’s chair, while one of the students—the girl, Zoe—and the hologram crew looked on.

  “Where are they?” Tev was saying as Fabian and Alex entered. “This is typical of Stevens.”

  “Computer,” Fabian said, “remove cloaking for Captain Tev only, please.” He waited, but got no response. “Computer, make me visible to Captain Tev, please.” Still nothing. “Computer, acknowledge.”

  “Acknowledged,” came the reply.

  “Computer, deactivate cloaking on myself and Professor Sparks.”

  “Access denied.”

  “What?” That was Alex. “Computer, I am Professor Alex Sparks, deactivate my cloaking immediately.”

  “Access denied.”

  Alex looked at Fabian, who stared back at him. Then both of them looked at Tev, who was pacing mere feet from them but completely unaware of their presence.

  “This time the joke’s on us,” Alex whispered, and Fabian couldn’t help but agree. Obviously whoever had been pulling these pranks had decided to pull one on them. They were locked in ghost mode, and until they figured out how to get around that, they couldn’t talk to anyone. They were stuck in here, while whoever had trapped them continued to play games that could get them all killed.

  TO BE CONTINUED IN

  CREATIVE COUPLINGS BOOK 2

  About the Authors

  GLENN HAUMAN returns to S.C.E. after a long hiatus—his story ideas of having the da Vinci battle Leonardo da Vinci over the name; stranding the S.C.E. crew on a desert island with no raw materials for communication devices but coconuts; and having Gomez waking up from a dream and finding Duffy alive in the shower were all deemed unsuitable. He has been called a “young Turk of publishing” by the New York Observer and a “Silicon Alley Veteran” by Crain’s New York Business. He has been a featured speaker on the future of publishing at numerous industry trade shows. His latest Star Trek work was in the New Frontier anthology No Limits; and he has been an editorial consultant on many Star Trek CD-ROMs. He is also, among other things, the webmaster for PeterDavid.net. As for what he’s doing with his company LotAuctions.com, his biography, like this story, will be continued in Part 2.

  AARON ROSENBERG writes role-playing games (including the Origins Award–winning Gamemastering Secrets), S.C.E. eBooks (including the Psi Phi Awards Hall of Fame inductee Collective Hindsight), short stories (“Inescapable Justice” in Imaginings: An Anthology of Long Short Fiction), educational books, and anything else people want to pay him for. When not writing, he runs his game publishing company Clockworks (www.clockworksgames.com), reads comics, watches movies, or spends time with his wife, their daughter, and their cat. Every so often he sleeps, just for variety.

  Coming Next Month:

  Star Trek™: S.C.E. #48

  Creative Couplings

  Book 2

  by Glenn Hauman

  & Aaron Rosenberg

  The practical jokes aboard the holodeck re-creation of the prototype vessel Hyperion have taken a turn for the deadly—the failsafes have been overridden, and Stevens, Tev, and a shipload of cadets, one of whom is probably responsible for their predicament, are trapped inside. Commander Gomez must help her crewmates solve the riddle, find the culprit, and free them all before more damage is done—and people are killed!

  COMING IN JANUARY 2005 FROM POCKET BOOKS!