Seven of Nine - Christie Golden [7]
We were both present simultaneously."
"Was there anything that triggered this?" pressed the Doctor. "A smell, a sound, an image-anything that might have made you conjure a felinoid creature?
It's a rather unusual choice of hallucination."
"The bird," said Seven, softly.
"The bird you were hunting?"
"No, the bird... the black bird. It was there, in the middle of the admissions room-perched on one of the scanning booths.
Staring right at me. The same one from-from before."
Harry felt his skin erupt in gooseflesh. Seven's fear crept into her voice, into her body language, though she struggled not to let it show.
"The raven?" Even the Doctor was concerned. He eyed his medical tricorder. "Well, well. Your adrenaline level just went up again."
Big surprise, thought Kim.
"I know this is difficult for you, but we must discuss it. Did the raven appear as part of the hallucination?"
"No. It was there, in the admissions chambers, as real as Captain Janeway or the guards." Her lids lowered over her eyes. "At least, it appeared real."
"Let me make sure I understand this," said the Doctor, pacing unhappily. "The raven appeared to be real, and then you experienced the hallucination in which the raven did not appear?"
"That is correct."
"There are days when deleting my program seems like a good idea," growled the Doctor. "Oh, to be a pleasure hologram like Mr. Paris's pirates. Nonetheless, luckily for you, I'm programmed with a greater sense of responsibility." He sobered, then sighed.
"Seven, I frankly see no reason why you should be having these hallucinations, and I find it quite vexing that you are. You appear fit to return to duty. And brooding in your alcove probably wouldn't do much good. But you must contact me if you have any more dreams about your lost kitten hood, or see any ominous black birds."
Seven tensed. Her breathing became quick, and her voice trembled.
"Then, Doctor, I must alert you now."
Kim gasped. The Doctor snapped to attention at once, his tricorder humming. "You're hallucinating?
Seeing a raven?"
"Neither." Her voice broke. "I am seeing two ravens."
THE MESSAGE INDICATOR LIGHT WAS FLASHING PALE green.
Delayed by time and distance, news of the quarry had eventually arrived, as Kraa T'Krr had known it would. His people had been employed in their present positions by many worlds, for many centuries, because however long the task might take, in the end they never failed.
Kraa's antennae waved in happy anticipation and he extended a thin, spine-covered leg to activate the message. Settling back on his rear appendages, a position he could comfortably hold for hours, he waited for the Observer's report. He closed his compound eyes to avoid distraction; his three simple eyes would best comprehend the flickering lights of the message.
"O most gracious commander, Killer of the Warms, Slayer of those who are not holy, Victor of the battle of. .." Kraa listened patiently, staring at the dancing lights that comprised the easiest and most precise form of communication between Tuktaks. This particular Observer was stationed in the Sella sector, on one of the Imperial waystations.
Their target must be getting desperate to actually venture onto Imperial territory. Finally the Observer finished the obligatory accolades that played such a vital part in Tuktak society and got to the heart of the matter.
"They have been spotted, on Waystation Number 38. We did nothing, as you requested, and they did not see us. They were thirty-two in number, sixteen males, ten females, and six of their disgusting young."
The messenger's silver-blue antennae waved in uncontrollable distress and even Kraa had to suppress revulsion. All Warms were nauseating to him, but particularly the larval stages of this species.
"They obtained passage on a vessel from the Alpha Quadrant, known as Voyager. The predominant race are Warms called