Lost Era 06_ Catalyst of Sorrows - Margaret Wander Bonanno [6]
“If you’d-” McCoy started to say, but Uhura rode right over him. She was slow to anger, but once there, she was dangerous.
“I’ve got two of the best MDs in the fleet doing the lab work, agents in place on the other side attempting to confirm the reports of outbreaks there, and I’m gathering a team to go in and investigate this on the ground. But nobody has the decades of experience you have, and Dr. Crusher asked for you specifically…”
Thysis’s antennaed head appeared in the doorway again; she heard the tone in the admiral’s voice, and vanished again without a sound. If Uhura had so much as noticed her, she gave no sign.
“I’m not asking you to go hopping galaxies, just to consult,” she told McCoy, building to a crescendo. “And if you’re going to balk, I’ll get someone else. Someone probably not as good as you, but a lot more cooperative. I do not have the time or the patience to coddle your ego or put up with your carefully nurtured idiosyncrasies. Now, are you in or are you out?”
There was a long moment of silence while McCoy waited for her to cool off.
“Are you finished?” he asked carefully. It wasn’t everyone who could bite his head off from across the quadrant.
“Yes, I am.”
“Tell me about the tissue samples,” he said doggedly. “What kind of tissue samples, and from where?”
“I’d rather not discuss that unless I’m sure you’re in.” She knew that would get a rise out of him.
“Are you saying you don’t trust me?” he demanded.
“You know, you’re probably right,” she said, suddenly changing course, pretending she hadn’t heard him, shuffling datachips on her desk, watching him out of the corner of her eye. “Someone younger, more up-to-date on current pandemic management techniques, would probably be a better choice.”
She saw his ears perk up at the word “younger.”
“Someone who?” McCoy demanded. “These youngsters today can’t be bothered doing hands-on lab work. They think you just push a button and the computer does everything for you. This thing I’m looking at here isn’t going to yield to that kind of slapdash technique. There are times when a good, old-fashioned empirical approach-“
“Leonard, I’m sorry, I’ve got a press conference,” Uhura cut him off. “It would have been great to have you on board to help us stop this thing a little sooner, maybe save a few extra lives, but I’ll tell Beverly you’re not available for consult. She did say you were one of her role models in med school, and she was hoping you’d help fill in the gaps in her knowledge. She’ll be disappointed, but never mind. Sorry to have bothered you. Uhura out.”
“Beverly?” McCoy ruminated, not noticing that Uhura hadn’t closed the frequency yet. “I wonder-? No, couldn’t be the same one. You might recall I gave a series of guest lectures at the Academy a few years back. So well attended Command asked me to do it again the following year. Told them no, too. Nobody listens.”
Yes, I do remember, Uhura thought. It’s part of my job to forget nothing.
“There was this sweet young thing who cornered me after the first lecture, asked me questions for about an hour. Got shipped out and couldn’t attend the rest of the series, though. Pity. Stunning-looking woman. Tall drink of water, legs up to here, flaming red hair… wanted to do more than just teach her anatomy, I can tell you. Young enough to be my granddaughter, but there’s something about redheads…”
While he was woolgathering, Uhura had sent him Crusher’s holo on a quick squirt.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” McCoy said as the