Spirit Walk_ Enemy of My Enemy (Book 2) - Christie Golden [41]
“Into our own hands,” Jarem echoed.
“If you’re wrong, there’s no harm done. If you’re right, then you have a chance to stop something.”
“Stop what?”
But now it was Gradak’s turn to walk along the beach and toss stones into the purple waters. As Jarem turned around, ready to head into his waking stage, Gradak said, “You’re a doctor. Do what a doctor does.”
Jarem awoke feeling oddly at peace for the first time since this strange mission had begun.
You’re a doctor. Do what a doctor does.
It was so simple, so obvious. He had been neglecting his duties—at least, one duty in particular. Even though he had been ordered to so neglect this duty, it had been bothering him. He glanced at the chronometer and realized that it was only 0237, but he felt as refreshed as if he’d gotten a full night’s sleep.
Do what a doctor does.
Kaz entered sickbay at 0254. The third-shift doctor on duty seemed surprised to see him. “I thought you were asleep,” Karen Ashton said, concerned.
“I was,” he said bluntly. “I’m not now. You’re relieved, Karen. I’ll let you know if I need your assistance.”
“If you’re sure….”
He smiled. “I’m fine,” he said, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, he believed the words. “Really. Go on.”
“All right, then. Thank you, Doctor. Good night.”
He watched her go, then went to the replicator and ordered coffee. As he sipped the steaming beverage, he thought of the time he’d met with Kathryn Janeway, the two of them conspiring to help save the world as they knew it, meeting in a little Santa Barbara coffee shop. That seemed like ages ago now, though it had only been a few months.
He knew what he needed to do. He rose, went to a cadaver drawer, and pressed. Slowly the drawer slid out, and Kaz gazed sadly down at the face of Andrew Ellis. The body would continue to be kept in stasis until such time as a proper burial at sea could take place. The lighting was dim in sickbay at this hour, and by its soft illumination, Ellis’s face looked younger than Kaz had remembered. He didn’t look asleep; the dead never looked asleep. Kaz, in all his incarnations, had seen his share of the dead, and he knew that that conceit was a pretty fiction meant to comfort the survivors. Ellis looked dead, stasis or no.
Chakotay had told him not to perform an autopsy because there were too many other things going on. Well, right now there was absolutely nothing going on, and Kaz wasn’t about to try to go back to sleep. The autopsy would need to be performed eventually. He might as well do it now. It was his duty, and he was going to perform it.
Besides, it was likely that he’d be able to find further DNA samples from the creature who killed Ellis, and that would assist in any attempts to return the colonists to their normal state.
“Full lights,” he called, and winced a little as the computer complied. Another touch of a control panel gently maneuvered the stasis-enclosed body to the biobed. Kaz prepared himself, sanitizing his hands and selecting his tools. Normally, he’d perform an in-depth scan and create a holographic replica on which to conduct the entire autopsy. But this time he was looking for more than cause of death. He was looking for something that might have been left behind, and he’d begin by examining the actual body.
“Computer, prepare to record audio and visual input.”
“Recording begun.”
He gave the time and the stardate, then his name, the estimated time of death, and finally, “Autopsy for Commander Andrew K. Ellis. Computer, perform standard analysis and alert doctor to any discrepancies in previously entered information.”
“Stasis time incorrect,” said the computer.
Kaz blinked. “What? Repeat.”
“Stasis time incorrect,” the computer repeated obligingly. “Estimated time the subject has been in stasis is not nine point four hours, but six years, seven months, two days, four hours, nineteen minutes,