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“Confirmed,” Selar said.

“I agree,” Crusher chimed in.

McCoy was still ruminating. “It’s still got the Thamnos cartel written all over it,” he said. “That old pirate knows damn well where his son is!” he blustered. “There oughta be some way we can turn the screws on him.”

“Probably not necessary,” Uhura said coolly. “We have ways of monitoring him. If he tries to get in touch with his son or sends anybody looking for him, we’ll track it. You rattled his cage; that’s sufficient.”

“I’d like to rattle more than that!” McCoy steamed. “What about the author of this article? Who or what is a Cinchona, and where’s it located?”

“A logical assumption would be, at the source of the hilopon,” Selar suggested.

Koval’s inner sanctum was virtually soundproof, not only because it was thick-walled and deep underground, but because those walls contained the most sophisticated baffling and jamming equipment known to Romulans. A good thing, too. At the moment, Koval’s voice was shrill enough to shatter glass.

“… because by publishing your findings this soon, you idiot, you’ve risked antagonizing an entire planet full of xenophobic Renagans who are apt to kill you for it, that’s why!” he was shouting.

“But I didn’t tell anyone where to find it!” Thamnos protested. “When the Journal publishes my article, they’ll have to come to me.”

“Hilopon has been touted as a folk cure in that region for generations. You might have at least had the imagination to call it by another name!” Koval’s voice dipped down into a lower, ominous register. “Oh, they’ll find you, all right, and in so doing they’ll save me the trouble of killing you. Aside from that, your research is full of holes because you’ve once again paid someone else to write it for you!”

“That’s not true!” Thamnos protested. “I put this report together myself.”

“Only because no one on Renaga can read!” Koval ground his teeth. If he’d owned a sense of irony, he’d have burst out laughing at this juncture, if only from futility. “How dare you publish without my permission? What were you thinking?”

“I didn’t expect so many people to die. You never told me so many people were going to die.”

“So one death or a hundred is acceptable, but not thousands or tens of thousands, is that it?”

Thamnos was silent. At least, Koval thought, his anger spent, his mind already ticking over with alternatives, the transmitter was audio only, so he was spared the sight of that nauseating pink face!

“You were supposed to await my instructions,” Koval said tightly. “We’re still trying to determine why hilopon only works on Renaga. By defying my orders and publishing now, you may well have destroyed any future with us.”

“My father won’t let you hurt me!” he heard Thamnos say, and if he could have reached through the transmitter and wrapped his fingers around the man’s throat, he would have done so. “What if you never find a way to make the hilopon work off Renaga?”

Then I persuade the Continuing Committee to send a warbird to Renaga to lay claim to the hilopon, and I personally kill you! Koval thought, shaking with anger. He listened to Thamnos mouth-breathing, the only sound from Renaga at the moment.

“What do I do now?” Thamnos asked at last when he realized Koval was not going to answer his question.

“You do nothing. Absolutely nothing, until I tell you otherwise. Can you manage that?”

Koval didn’t wait for an answer.

“Idiot!” he added once more for emphasis before terminating the transmission.

Albatross was en route to Renaga. McCoy had gone off-line to take a nap. The holos were no longer broadcasting to the ship, but Dr. Crusher had something on her mind, and she was talking to Uhura on discrete from her office across the quadrangle.

“Admiral? Mind if I ask you what the hell we’re doing?”

Crusher’s office faced east, but Uhura had a view to the west. The sun had just set behind the Golden Gate Bridge, and the clouds were entertaining themselves with shades of slate blue edged in fuchsia and salmon pink before