The Rings of Tautee Read Free

said I didna want to be disturbed."
    Scotty's voice sounded oddly dampened, as if it should echo but didn't.
    For a moment, McCoy was too stunned to reply. In front of him were two of the biggest, ugliest machines he had ever seen. And between them was a large monitor, on which blue sky stretched for what seemed like miles over carefully trimmed green grass.
    "What in Hanna's world . . . ?" McCoy said, 13 Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch stopping just inside the door as it hissed closed.
    The two machines seemed to take up a large percentage of the cargo bay. Mister Scott was on his hands and knees, his head halfway inside one of the machines, making some sort of adjustments. McCoy could hear him talking to the machine.
    After a moment the chief engineer pulled his head out, put his hands on his hips, and glared at McCoy.
    "Well, Doctor, now that you've seen it, do you like it?"
    McCoy didn't really know what to make of it.
    He had no idea what it was. Or what it was for.
    "I take that as a yes," Scotty said.
    All McCoy could do was nod and stare into the big screen at the blue sky and green grass. He really needed a vacation. He knew that now. And from the looks of it, so did Scotty.
    Scotty stood and brushed off his pants, then moved over beside McCoy. He stopped, hands on hips, smiling at the scene on the monitor as if it was a newborn babe.
    "What is it?" McCoy finally managed to say.
    "Why, it's a golf course," Scott said. His voice sounded almost sad that McCoy hadn't recognized what he was working on. "What else would it be?"
    "A golf course?" McCoy asked. "What's the point?"
    "Escape, lad," Scotty said. "Here, try this on."
    He handed McCoy the large helmet with the wires hooked to the large machines.
    "I don't think[*thorn]" "Do it," Scotty said. "It won't hurt you."
    THE RINGS OF TAUTEE Doubting his own sanity, McCoy stared at the rubber padded helmet for a moment, then slipped it over his head. The glasses came down over his face and suddenly, instead of staring at the green grass and blue sky through a monitor, he almost felt as if he were there. And for a moment he thought he could hear the wind blowing over the open fields.
    Almost reluctantly, he pulled off the helmet and handed it to Scotty. "What is it?"
    "Holographic projectors working in tandem," Scotty said, beaming, and pointing at the two machines. "I think I have them finally tuned. Now, if they'd just stay that way."
    McCoy snorted in disgust. "Holograms. The future, they call it."
    "That they are, lad. Maybe someday you won't need the helmet."
    "Humph," McCoy said in response. "They keep saying holograms will be doing everything we do. As if they could replace me with one."
    Scotty laughed and patted the doctor on the shoulder. "Doctor, no one could replace the likes of you."
    The illusion of grass on the large monitor started to shimmer slightly and Scotty quickly ducked to the machine on the right, muttering to himself as he went.
    After a moment, the picture stopped shimmering. Scotty slid out of the machine, grinning, a long dark streak running from his right eye to his chin. "Now, what's so important it couldn't wait until I finished the eighteenth green?"
    Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch "Eighteen? You did eighteen scenes like that?"
    McCoy pointed at the monitor.
    "Aye," Scotty said. "Including the fairways and teeing areas. A golf course needs eighteen holes, ya know."
    McCoy shook his head, then glanced down at the tricorder in his hand. Suddenly his lack of engineering skills seemed painfully obvious. Scotty could create something out of nothing. McCoy needed help modifying his tricorder.
    "Mister Scott, since we're not going to Star Base Eleven, I[*thorn]" He didn't get the rest of his sentence out of his mouth. Suddenly the light in the room dimmed and then came back up. The grass and blue sky both suddenly looked as if they were a lake surface being blown by a stiff wind; then the picture went out.
    McCoy could