Lost Era 06_ Catalyst of Sorrows - Margaret Wander Bonanno [111]
“Assuming she’s still within ten kilometers of the clearing, and assuming she’s the only Romulan within ten kilometers of the clearing…” Sisko muttered, scanning. “Sliwoni have their own distinct signature, but given the interplanetary population, I’m also reading non-Romulan humanoids, what could be Rigelians and… hello.”
The scanner indicated one vulcanoid reading, in the very same thicket from which the archers had attacked, as if Zetha were crouched and watching the hovercraft circle the now empty clearing with something like futility, wondering what she should do next.
“I guess she’s completed whatever errand took her into town,” Sisko said half to himself.
Tuvok raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
“Lowering shields,” Sisko said, “and activating transporter.”
A rather breathless and disheveled Zetha waited for the decon beam before hopping off the pad, something hidden in her jacket.
“I tried to get back before they attacked, but they cut me off,” she reported, as if it had all been part of some plan. “Thank you for rescuing me.”
She reached inside her jacket and presented Sisko with a reasonably new adapter that, with slight modifications, would be exactly what he needed.
“Where did you get this?” he demanded, not sure if he was annoyed because she’d been able to find it or because he’d been so impatient with her questions about it in the first place.
“What difference does it make?” Zetha asked. “Does it fit? I know it works.”
“What do you mean, you know it works? You stole this, didn’t you?”
“I scrounged it. Stole it, if you prefer. Its previous owner has an entire warehouse of them, and if it works, it will help us, will it not?”
Sisko opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
“Would it comfort you if I told you I meant to barter for it, but when I heard all the uproar in town I didn’t have time?”
“Barter with what?” Sisko demanded. “You don’t have anything worth bartering for!”
He regretted it the minute he said it but, as usual, Zetha took no offense.
“Well, there you are,” she said with her characteristic shrug.
“Thank you,” he told Zetha tightly. “I’ll deal with this later. For now…” The hovercraft were dispersing, but who knew how long it would be before official sources tried to intervene? “… we’re getting the hell out of here.”
When at last they were well away from Sliwon and Sisko had repaired to the engine room, it was Tuvok’s turn. “How did you manage not only to slip into town undetected, but to steal the adapter and elude pursuit on your return?”
Zetha’s smile came more readily now. “Sisko thinks I’m a spy. So, in your heart, still, do you.”
“Yet you claim you are not.”
“I’m small, I’m fast. I’ve been told all my life that I’m invisible, that I do not exist. Who’s to say it isn’t true?”
Aft in the engine room running a diagnostic on the environmental controls, Sisko was shaking his head. “Well, I’ll be damned! I don’t believe for a minute that this was the only errand that took you to town, but at least the darn thing works….”
“It’s continuing to spread,” Crusher informed Selar. “Twenty-seven planets and five starbases affected. Outbreaks confirmed on seven freighters and two science vessels, and we’re following other reports. Still one hundred percent mortality in those affected. We can give palliative treatment to ease the symptoms in the final hours, but we’ve had no luck cracking the code on this thing. And we still haven’t a clue to how it’s spread.”
“Giving further credence to the Typhoid Mary theory,” was Selar’s opinion.
“So it seems,” Crusher said. “And yet, the Romulan on Quirinus tested clean. What’s the word on Sliwon?