by S. D. Perry
"Then that will just have to be close enough," Captain Kirk replied. "Let's hope no one's standing next to it, or they're going to get one hell of a surprise."
"Mr. Scott, please readjust the ACB to eleven billion parts per millimeter," Spock said, "and lock coordinates."
"Aye," the engineer responded. "I've got her in my sights; just say the word."
Sulu tried not to blink. It seemed like he could actually feel the intense scrutiny of everyone on the bridge, everyone staring at the main screen, waiting for the captain's signal.
"Energize."
Sulu hadn't even realized that he was holding his breath until a gasp was forced out of him, as a dark, massive wall blocked out most of the stars, instantly, extending away from them for what seemed like forever before curving out of sight. This close the Enterprise was dwarfed by it, a flea on a dog's back, its sudden, looming appearance a frightening surprise.
Everyone on the bridge reacted, Uhura even letting out a soft oh, but the captain didn't blink.
"Scotty, I take it we have a cloaking device," he said calmly, nodding at the helm. "Go to fifty percent magnification." Chekov shakily reached for the controls as Mr. Scott responded, a grin in his voice. "Aye, sir. And a goodly piece of a shield-generator console, too."
A second later the screen blinked and they could see it in its entirety, an immense wheel-shaped station tilted about twenty degrees at its axis. It was a design Sulu had never seen before, the angle and the dark, metallic hull giving it a strangely menacing appearance.
Well, and the fact that it popped up like a monster from under a kid's bed certainly doesn't add to its appeal.
"Lieutenant, open a channel," the captain said. "See if either Dr. Bendes Kettaract or Dr. Jain Suni is available to speak to us about their experiment."
If Captain Kirk was pleased at all with the success of his plan, he wasn't showing it. He seemed almost unhappy, in fact, though Sulu couldn't imagine why.
Someone had turned off the alarms, at least, and while Kettaract attempted to calm everyone down, Jain tried desperately to think of a plan. According to Dickerson, the cloaking device was gone. She had no idea how the starship had figured it out, but there it was; they'd lost an invaluable piece of equipment and invited a possibly hostile investigation. Except it wouldn't matter one damned bit if they could just complete the synthesis.
All we have to do is keep them out for a little while, tell them... come on, think, you 're supposed to be good at this!
Tell them we have a quarantine. Something nasty and infectious. It would work. She couldn't imagine that any Starfleet captain would want to risk exposing his crew to a disease, and she wasn't needed in the lab; she could go talk to whoever, cough a few times and spout off something vague about a secret Intelligence project to explain the cloak. It wouldn't hold up for long, but it didn't have to. By the time they started asking the hard questions, the countdown would have already started.
Her communicator beeped. She flipped it open as she started walking toward Kettaract, to tell him to keep things moving while she handled it.
"Dr. Suni, this is Chris up inops Chris Bianchi, one of Dickerson's people. He sounded extremely tense. "There's someone hailing us from the U.S.S. Enterprise--"
Jain froze.
"--and they're asking for you by name, you or Dr. Kettaract. They actually said they wanted to talk to you about the experiment. What should I tell them?"
She didn't, couldn't answer. It was Jim out there.
How, I was so careful Had he followed her? Had it been she, not Kettaract, who'd dared Starfleet to step in by what she'd said, how she'd acted?
Didn't matter, didn't, she had to think of something, they couldn't give up now. If only there was some way she could make him understand As quickly as that, she had it. It wasn't foolproof, but if it worked ... oh, God, if it worked, not only would Kettaract's molecule become the miracle it was destined to be, there was actually a chance she might end up with Jim on her side. "Tell them to stand by," she said, and went to talk to Kettaract.
Dr. Kettaract was an older man with a shifty look about him. Chekov knew immediately, the second his smiling, disingenuous face came up on the main screen, that he was not a quality individual.
"Captain Kirk, isn't it? And I see Mr. Spock is with you ... I'm Bendes Kettaract."
"I know who you are," the captain said sternly. "And I know what you're doing. This Omega molecule of yours is dangerous, Doctor, and I'm afraid I can't allow you to continue. I'm also going to have to take you and your team into custody, to face whatever charges Starfleet Intelligence sees fit to bring about."
You tell him, Captain, Chekov thought. This was probably the man responsible for murdering the crew of the Sphinx, and after using them to steal away Dr. McCoy's woman. He deserved no sympathy, not a bit.
Kettaract shook his head. "I don't understand-where did you get the idea that Omega is dangerous?"
Mr. Spock stepped forward. "Sir, your molecule cannot exist. It will destabilize immediately upon synthesis."
Dr. Kettaract's true colors showed for just a second, a flash of intense anger in his eyes before he was back to his insincere smile. Like the famous Russian story about the wolf in sheep's clothing.
"I disagree, Mr. Spock. From my original work, yes, I can see why you might think so--but I assure you, it has evolved through the years. And I can prove it to you, if you'll just give me a chance. I want to invite you and your captain to beam over and see all that we've accomplished, how close we are..."
He nodded at the captain. "... and I know that Dr. Suni would be more than happy to talk about what this will mean for the Federation. Believe me, Captain --everything we're doing is to further the Federation's interests."
"Does that include killing Jack Casden and his crew?" The captain asked heatedly. "Do lies and murder further the Federation's interests?"
The doctor hesitated before speaking. "That was a terrible accident," he said finally, so solemnly that Chekov almost believed him. "You have no idea how sorry I am about what happened to Captain Casden. And I'm willing to talk about going with you to the authorities, to accept my part--but not until you let me prove to you that what I'm working on here is not only possible, it's about to become reality."
Kettaract shifted his attention to Spock again. "We are literally just minutes from completion, Mr. Spock. If I can't prove to you that it's safe, I'll pack my things without a fight. But if I can ..." The doctor smiled brilliantly, his first genuine smile of the entire conversation. "If I can, I hope you'll all stand with us, to bear witness to the birth of a new era for the Federation, and for the universe as we know it."
Right. I'll be sure to put that on my calendar. He shot a quick look at Sulu, who shot the same look right back. It seemed the doctor had been wandering around on the steppes for too long without a hat. "Stand by," Kirk said, and Uhura automatically blanked the screen. "Mr. Spock?"
"I will admit to a certain curiosity, Captain. And we'd be able to keep him from continuing his work while we're there."
"I'd like to tag along, too, if you don't mind," Dr. McCoy said, and Chekov silently applauded when the captain agreed. It seemed that the doctor was going to see his lady friend, after all.
Hope he has better luck than I did with Joanna. Not only had she beaten him at chess, she'd announced her engagement over his fallen king. He'd had to congratulate her twice.
The captain nodded at Uhura, and Dr. Kettaract came back on screen.
"We accept your offer, Doctor."
Kettaract beamed. "You won't be sorry." The captain called Mr. Scott up to take command, and then he and the doctor and Mr. Spock left the bridge, off to see about the false and possibly crazy doctor and his unstable experiment.
Chapter Fifteen
"How much longer?" Suni asked, watching Wesker sniffle at the computer screen, adjusting the meson reads for about the twentieth time. He was a whiz at calibrating for top and bottom quark pairs, but he was easil
y the slowest member of the team.
"Look at the vertical axis," Wesker said. "The pion number is still off. Spectrum needs to be broader."
Suni gritted her teeth but didn't say a word, stepping back to give him room. Everything else was ready, the team had pushed and the lab was prepped; if anything went wrong because she'd rushed the ion concentration, she'd never forgive herself.
All of the scientists were waiting, some of them already gathering at the clear plexi observation room at the front of the lab where the synthesis would take place. The others were milling around, talking in low voices. The earlier festive air was gone, which was surely best; they could celebrate later, when the molecule was secure in its containment field and all was right with the world.
Her communicator signaled. She already knew who it was and what he was going to say, but hearing it out loud made her stomach go fluttery.
"They're on their way," Dickerson said.
Of course they were. She hadn't doubted for a moment that Jim would accept Kettaract's invitation, not after what she'd told Kettaract to say about her wanting to talk. She'd been betting that whatever Jim thought of her now, whatever he knew exactly, he wouldn't be satisfied until he heard it from her. And it seemed she'd been right.
She turned, walked slowly toward the synthesis setup, seeing it as if for the first time--the well- spaced equipment, the scintillators waiting to be lit, acceleration rings waiting to be injected. It was going to be beautiful in its precision. Once Kettaract hit the switch, the computer would take over, faultlessly measuring the ion ratios before sending the beams through the rings. When the painstakingly perfect beams had accelerated to just the right speed, they'd be released to slam together, meeting inside the magnetic field in the center of the room that would contain the final result. A specialized energy spectrum monitor would kick on the instant the ion beams met, venting the tremendous excess of energy from the chain reaction into subspace, where it could expand harmlessly.
For the first time since hearing that a starship was outside, Suni felt like they were going to pull it off, that everything was going to work out. By inviting Jim and Mr. Spock to see how things were for themselves, to let them question Dr. Kettaract's work and get solid answers, they'd have no choice but to support it. And once the Federation actually possessed the knowledge and power of Omega, there be no concern over exactly how it had come about.
And how could they object, anyway? The cloaking device hadn't just magically fallen into Star fleet's hands. Jim Kirk wasn't above a bit of treachery, not when it was for the greater good.
She heard Bendes's voice out in the corridor. A second later, he walked into the lab with Jim, his first officer, and another dark-haired human in a Starfleet science uniform.
"... are so few of us, most of the station is closed off," Kettaract was saying. "I think you'll find that everyone here is thoroughly committed to the experiment"
He kept talking, but Jain couldn't hear him. She'd found Jim's gaze and was locked there, searching for some trace of feeling in his watchful eyes. His expression was perfectly neutral, as though he'd never seen her before.
"Ah, Dr. Suni," Kettaract announced, walking the group closer. "I believe you said you've already met Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. This is Dr. McCoy, the captain's chief medical officer."
The doctor nodded at her, though he, too, seemed preoccupied, his attention moving to the observation booth--where he saw someone he knew, from the look of recognition that crossed his face. "Captain, that friend I was telling you about... would you excuse me a moment?" McCoy asked.
"Go ahead, Bones," Jim said, still watching Jain.
Kettaract was too excited to notice. "Dr. Suni, perhaps you could tell the captain something about what we're doing here, while I show Mr. Spock the equations we're working from ... ?"
Before waiting for a response, he was already leading Mr. Spock away, describing the equipment, the Vulcan following with his hands clasped behind his back. She and Jim were alone.
"What we're doing is the right thing," she said, not sure what else to say. It was the truth, and the first thing she thought of. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before."
"And are you sorry about what happened to Jack Casden?" he asked, studying her, his tone as unreadable as his expression.
So he knew that much. "It was an accident," she said softly, looking away, wishing as she had so many times in the last few days that she'd sent Dickerson instead of Max. Dickerson wouldn't have messed things up. "A mistake."
When she looked at him again, she saw no understanding, no sympathy or even mercy--but there was a hurt deep in his eyes that was painful to look at, and she realized that some part of him had been hoping it wasn't true.
"So this is what you meant, about compromising your beliefs to sustain them," he said, anger ringing his voice. "Killing, so that you and Kettaract could keep working on this, this perfect molecule. Was it worth it? Do you really think that the Federation is just going to wipe out all its enemies when you turn it over to them, that they're going to have the same agenda you do?"
From her guilt and pain, the seeds of frustration took root. She kept her voice low, but the words came sharp and fast. "And you think they won't? Do you really believe that Starfleet will continue to exist by optimism and good intentions alone? Remember what you said, about how hard it is to keep the faith when it seems like everyone else is giving up-maybe they're giving up because they finally opened their eyes and realized that a warm smile just isn't going to cut it anymore."
Jim stared at her. "So this is your answer. Lying, stealing, murdering."
"Certainly Starfleet isn't capable of anything like that, oh, no," Jain said angrily, struggling to keep her voice down. "Tell me, what's General Order 24? Isn't that the one where you get to destroy an inhabited planet? Starfleet is in denial, Jim, you preach peace and the pursuit of knowledge until anyone comes along who won't follow the rules, and then you break out the phasers and roll right over them."
She stopped to take a deep breath, to regain control. "Don't you see, this is the answer. And I'm not the only one who thinks so."
Jim was shaking his head, his gaze hard and unforgiving, but when he spoke he just sounded tired. "All those people, Jain. Casden, his crew--even the man who was investigating. Are you and your friends going to kill everyone who gets too close to finding you out?" She hadn't heard about Darres, and the news was an unpleasant surprise. It was no wonder Jim wouldn't listen, he had told her that the captain was an old friend.
"I'm sorry about Gage," she said, meaning it. "I didn't know. I swear to you, there's not going to be any more killing, not after today."
Jim looked at her for a long moment, and what she saw in his face was much worse than anger. It was pity.
Without another word, he turned and walked away.
She was standing with a small group near an observation room at the front of the laboratory, older, streaks of gray in her red hair, but otherwise just as he remembered.
McCoy stopped a few meters away, standing uncertainly for a moment as he watched Karen Patterson talking with a short woman, her eyes just as pretty as he remembered. They were actually standing right next to the synthesis space, it seemed, a wide, open area flanked on all sides with heavy equipment. And he realized suddenly that as badly as he'd wanted to find her, to talk to her, now he was afraid.
Because if she tells me there's no cure and no chance of one ... McCoy scowled at himself, wondering when, exactly, he'd gone spineless. He straightened his shoulders and went to meet her.
His fear that she wouldn't remember him had been needless. When she saw him approaching, her face lit up. "Lenny? Lenny McCoy?"
Cringing inwardly--no one had called him Lenny in about a million years, primarily because he despised it--he smiled at her. "Hello, Karen."
She quickly excused herself from her group and took his arm, beaming up at him. "Well, this is a nice surprise. How are you, Lenny? How on earth did you end up
out here? Did Bendes talk you into staying for the big event?"
Small talk seemed inappropriate, somehow. He wasn't sure which question to start with, so he decided to ask one of his own. "Karen ... how did you get mixed up in all this?"
She shook her head, smiling. "I've been wondering that myself. Long story short, a friend of mine, she's a chemist--that woman over there, in the tan blouse? She called me up about six months ago and asked if I was still thinking about pursuing my interest in gamma radiation pathology--which I've been considering for a while now--and she told me about Omega. She sent me the proofs, and I just couldn't resist."
McCoy nodded, but didn't return her smile. "Have you--did you know about the Sphinx?"
"What about it?" Her smile slipped. "Nothing has happened to Jack, has it?"
So she didn't know. He shook his head, deciding that there'd be time for that later. "No, I just heard it was the transport out here ... Karen, aren't you worried about the danger involved in this whole Omega business?"
"No, not really," she said. "I'll admit, I was a little nervous, but only because of just how powerful the molecule will be. Now that the moment is upon us, I'm actually pretty excited. Everyone is, I've been making the rounds and I'd say the doubt meter is on zero."
She laughed as though she'd told a joke, and McCoy chuckled politely. Same old Karen. He started to tell her that the big moment was probably going to be postponed indefinitely, that the Enterprise had come to stop it--but realized suddenly that he just couldn't wait a moment longer, not one. His vaguely prepared story about having a patient with the disease flew right out the window. He had to know, he had to know if there was a chance.
There was no one close by. He faced her, taking a deep breath. "I wanted to find you because I know you spent some time studying xenopolycythemia. I read your paper on it, and you said that there were some promising advances being made ... I've been diagnosed with it, Karen. Please, tell me honestly-how far away is the cure?"
