Enigma by Michael P. Kube-McDowell

becomes evident only over a period of time. So we won’t know right away whether you are fit to continue on this ship,” she said pointedly. “You have as much to prove here as anyone, Thackery, if not more—and not just in your flight adaptation. So I would suggest you spend less time letting the vets mislead you and more time working to improve your skills.”
    She turned her back and entered the cabin, leaving him alone in the corridor. The moment Neale’s door closed, Thackery smacked his thigh sharply with a fist. Idiot! How could you—
    “Second warning. Fifteen minutes to craze,” the shipnet intoned. “Prepare to terminate local telemetry handshaking. Receiving final inmail. Last call for personal outmail.”
    Unable to readily shed the foolish feeling or forget the sound of Rogen’s laughter, Thackery made his way back to his quarters. Mercifully, McShane was with the second watch in the library. Mercifully for him, considering his contribution to Thackery’s blunder.
    Thackery flung himself lengthwise on his bunk and blew a weighty sigh between his lips. Well, let’s add up the day. You had to come aboard without being able to reach Andra, found out your new commander thinks most of her crew isn’t worth a straw, and then you proceeded to prove her right. A great start, Thack. A great start .
    Unpinning the Intersystem insignia from his collar, Thackery held it up at eye-level and stared into it, the first time he had had a chance to examine one closely. True to its reputation, the black crystal’s invisible internal facets created a marvelous illusion of a dimensionless void. Though barely three centimetres across the long axis, it was almost possible to believe that it contained a universe as infinite as the one in which it existed.
    My compliments to the crystallurgists .
    Thackery recalled having heard on Unity that a vet from the Hugin was arrested for trying to sell his black ellipse to a Filipino businessman. Though nothing had appeared in any official media to confirm any part of the story, the asking price was said to be €75,000.
    How many are there, six hundred scattered through 65,000 cubic light-years?—And I have one of them. How could he sell it? Why would he even consider it?
    Meaningless in itself, Neale had said. You’re wrong, Commander , Thackery thought as he returned the insignia to his collar. It means enough to make up for what we gave up to get it, what we put up with because we wear it, what it will cost us to keep it. And on days like today, it means everything .
    “Thack?”
    He reached across and tabbed the shipnet. “Here.”
    It was Baldwin. “Just passing the word. You got mail.”
    “What?”
    “In the last dispatch before we crazed. It was a big batch. We were receiving almost right up to the last minute.”
    “Oh. When can I access it?”
    “It’s already queued up under your file number.”
    “Oh. Thanks.”
    Thackery retrieved his slate from one of the drawers beneath his bunk and switched it on, wondering what he had left unfinished or who he had failed to settle with. To his surprise, there was not one but three messages in the queue.
    Touching an icon, he brought the first of them to the slate’s display. He recognized the header immediately: It was the formal letterhead of the Government Service Academy at Georgetown.
    The face of Director Stowell appeared. He smiled briefly. “Good morning, Merritt. Or at least it’s morning where I am. I don’t suppose that term applies where you’re heading.
    “One of the things I’ve learned in twenty-two years as an educator is that the talented students will find their own way, no matter how bone-headedly determined the institution is to hinder them.
    “I believe I told you once that I couldn’t see you as a follower. I didn’t realize then that you had it in your head to be a pioneer. I never had the desire to be where you are today, but the task you have chosen is an important one, and I wish only