Lost Era 06_ Catalyst of Sorrows - Margaret Wander Bonanno [56]
“All right, that may have been a little over the top,” he heard Heisenberg’s voice behind him. The old man-or his holo; who could tell anymore?- came toward him, the same smile on his face, the tiny control for the containers still half-concealed in the palm of his hand. “No more tricks, Mr. Sisko, I promise. This is the real me.”
He held out his hand and Sisko shook it.
“The real me has been running this from the forward cabin until now.”
“But Admiral Uhura-?”
“Never left Earth.”
As if on cue, she reappeared, beaming at them both.
Sisko didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath. He let it out now in a great sigh of exasperation. Then he began to laugh.
Heisenberg was fiddling with the holotransmitter. “I think that means we did good,” he told Uhura. He handed Sisko the tiny control unit. “She’s all yours, Lieutenant. Be good to her.”
With that he winked, gave Uhura a sloppy half-salute, and made his jaunty way along the gangway, ducking his head to get through.
There was a long moment of silence as Sisko studied the control in his hand and considered everything he’d just seen. Uhura was so quiet he all but forgot she was there, until he remembered she wasn’t. This comm thing was going to make him dizzy if he thought about it too hard.
Uhura watched him glance up at the deck plating above them, assessing conduits, listening to the old hulk breathe. Finally he found his voice.
“Does she have a name, Admiral? The ship, I mean?”
It was something Uhura hadn’t considered. “Not as far as I know, Lieutenant. Registry’s got her listed by number, but I don’t believe she ever had a name.”
“Well, she does now,” Sisko said with a grin. “I hereby dub her Albatross, because while she’s not exactly hanging around my neck, I know she’s going to come to haunt me. How long can I spend with her before departure?”
Pleased at his enthusiasm, Uhura smiled back. “The away team meets in my office at 0800 tomorrow. You’re set for departure at 0900. I expect you’ll have this bird in shape to fly by then.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
With a spring in his step, grinning like a kid with his first treehouse, Sisko headed for the engine room.
“Numbers,” Koval said. “Give me numbers.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” the voice on the other end protested. “They’re changing literally by the hour; where the seeds have been activated, entire populations are dropping in their tracks. Why are you asking me? The transmitter you gave me doesn’t have that much range; you’ve got access to more accurate numbers than I possibly could.”
“Not the numbers of dead, you fool!” Koval snapped. “The numbers of seedings necessary to achieve critical mass.”
“Oh, forgive me. This thing is getting on my nerves. I thought by now we’d… here… Green Sector, one hundred four, all activated, Blue Sector, forty-one released, eight activated so far. Inside the Zone-“
“Make that forty-two,” Koval said.
“Say again?”
“Forty-two on the Federation side. One little seed has escaped the main pod all by itself and drifted across the Zone without any help from us.”
There followed a long silence.
“Should I be pleased at that information?”
“Considering where it landed, you should be thrilled,” Koval said, then interrupted before the other could speak. “You won’t lose your nerve now, I trust? I have not cared for the tone in your voice of late.”
“I’ll be fine as soon as I can release my data. When can I release my data? If this thing spreads too far, even the medication won’t stop it, and knowing the Federation, they’ll spend months questioning my data until somebody important dies…”
“Are you squeamish?” Koval wondered half to himself. “Does the thought of all that death weigh on your conscience? Or is it just that you’re greedy for all the accolades that will come your way once you announce your cure? Remember, the disease has to have a name first. It has to kill enough people to be seen as a threat before you can offer a cure.”
“How much longer do