Lost Era 06_ Catalyst of Sorrows - Margaret Wander Bonanno [76]
“And just where did you get that information?” Uhura demanded.
“Not gonna tell you!” McCoy said. “You protect your sources, I protect mine.”
“All the same,” Crusher was still skeptical. “If he’s such a bumbler, how could he possibly-“
“He may be a bumbler, but someone else out there might not be,” Uhura suggested. “Someone from the Romulan side.”
“With access to Gnawing cultures,” Selar suggested. “And enough medical knowledge-“
“Or access to a pool of medical and bio-warfare experts,” Uhura interjected. “Leonard, where are you going?”
“Time to make a few house calls…” He drifted out of range of the holotransceivers and for the moment Uhura let him go.
“I’ll need access to live R-fever,” Crusher said.
“I’m on it,” Uhura said, calling up access codes for Starbase 23, and seeing what ships were in the vicinity that could be diverted to act as couriers.
In the living quarters of the Albatross, the others watched and listened to the medical briefing. Sisko was clearing the dishes away. Tuvok was simultaneously scanning the buzz of communications above Tenjin, monitoring the holo communicator to make certain there was no leakage, and tending to his prize orchid. Zetha slipped away to prep the lab for Selar, one ear on the transmission.
“Speaking of mutations,” Crusher was saying. “The majority of them turned out to be red herrings. They replicated for a while, then died off. Of course, we wasted days isolating and monitoring them, which may have been part of the design. But if we can verify that they were caused by R-fever, we’ll know which ones to pay attention to in the future.”
Just then Selar’s console beeped, indicating that the analysis on the data she’d brought back from Tenjin was complete. She forwarded it to the others. “However, Dr. Crusher, I suggest you add at least one more active culture to your list. This one is a carcinoform.”
Uhura sighed. “In English, please.”
“The pathogen collected on Tenjin is a virus that mutates into a form of cancer,” Selar explained. “It tracks with the Gnawing/R-fever neoform in all other respects. Patients presented to their physicians with cough, shortness of breath, fever, respiratory compromise, unilateral or bilateral infiltrates in the lungs, and symmetrical alveolar spread. Mortality rate was one hundred percent.”
“Sounds like our bug, all right,” Crusher said morosely.
“With one notable differentiation,” Selar said. “Autopsies revealed that every major organ was riddled with cancerous tumors…”
“There goes my appetite!” Sisko said quietly.
“… despite the fact that the disease vector indicated a contagion which was passed from one person to another in close proximity.”
“How many dead?” Uhura asked, ready to add this new death toll to the others.
“Sixty-four,” Selar said.
“A cancer that’s contagious?” Uhura frowned. “How is that possible?”
“Ordinarily, it is not,” Selar explained. “But we are dealing with an artificial neoform which, hypothetically, could be. Both viral infection and cancer are inflammatory processes.”
Before Uhura could ask her usual question, Selar went on.
“Most disease processes, from cancer to the common cold, are the result of normal cells going awry,” she explained. “Either a ‘germ’ such as a cold virus or a cancer-causing agent invades the body from the outside, or healthy cells can mutate for a number of reasons-exposure to radiation, environmental pollutants. The body contains cells known as natural killer cells, which recognize these altered cells as invaders and attempt to destroy them.
“The resulting ‘battle’ is what causes inflammation. The patient exhibits fever, in the case of a virus, or other symptoms with the onset of cancer. If the NK cells win, these symptoms abate and the patient lives. If