Possession - J.M. Dillard [17]
The Vulcan paused as if considering how much to reveal. “Skel’s work on forcefields was a sideline of his original research; his primary field of investigation was the study of alien artifacts discovered by a Vulcan research team over eighty years ago. Those objects exposed members of that team, and subsequently, the population of this planet, to a deadly disease which caused insanity, chaos, and often death. We still do not understand how the disease was spread, what the agents of infection are, or how to control it once it is released. Once the disease was conquered, the objects were secured in a safe facility and have been the subjects of study for eight decades. Skel has been doing research on these agents and their containers for over fifty years. His predecessor studied them for thirty prior to his involvement. We maintained strict security at the research lab that held the devices—however, the origins and the danger of the artifacts have become obscured over the years. The information I have given you I learned myself only a few hours ago. The security around the artifacts became more and more localized, and eventually geared toward the general population. Obviously, securing anything from Vulcans is quite different from securing it against unscrupulous outside forces. Now, Skel—and the objects he studied—are gone.”
Well, that explains your involvement, Picard thought wryly. Nothing like securing the barn afterward. “You’re sure it was abduction?”
“He had an appointment with his healer and never arrived. He has never missed one before, never even been late. She immediately initiated a search. There was no trace of him to be found—except for the lingering residue of a phaser blast in his laboratory, which was picked up by our tricorders.”
“Do you think he was killed?”
The Vulcan shook his head slightly. “No, there was not enough residual energy to account for it, and his healer, with whom he was mentally linked, reports no sense of his death. That is why we believe he was taken. In his childhood, Skel was one of the original victims of this disease. His knowledge of these objects is invaluable. It would be logical for whoever wished to steal the artifacts to take the galaxy’s sole expert on them as well.”
“Do you have any suspicions or leads?”
“Only that they carried Federation phasers.”
That wasn’t much to go on. Phasers were no harder to obtain through illegal means than any other type of weapon.
“And,” the Vulcan continued, “only five ships left Vulcan during the time frame of Skel’s disappearance. A Federation starship, two Vulcan science vessels, a robot supply barge—and a small Ferengi runabout.”
Picard nodded, not liking the probable scenario. “Any scheduled flight plans from that runabout?”
“No, but we have been able to trace its ion trail until it left the system. I will send you the coordinates, of course. I will also send you all the information I have uncovered about Skel’s artifacts. However, most of the original information was taken along with the objects. After eighty years, the duplicate material has become archived and hard to retrieve.”
The captain frowned, but he wasn’t surprised. Even meticulous record keepers like the Vulcans could become buried in data after all that time. In the meantime, the crew would be able to grid a probable route for the Ferengi ship and start searching. He considered communicating with the Ferengi homeworld, but decided against it.
“As soon as we receive your information,” he told the Vulcan, “we’ll start looking. I’ll keep you informed.”
“As I will you, Captain, if we receive any new word, or ransom demand. Another thing,” the Vulcan said as Picard prepared to sign off. “The Federation has a top-secret file regarding those artifacts. I have requested that they transmit it to you for your perusal. We are hoping the information in it will help you should you find Skel’s abductors and his research subjects. However, the disease