String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [21]
As soon as the Doctor finished taking his readings, the Monorhans were hustled away, followed by the captain and Harry, who were already discussing theories about the nature of the fabric of local space-time. Realizing that B’Elanna was not going to be in her quarters and seeing that the ship was still at yellow alert, Tom suggested he stay and help process the test results, an offer the Doctor accepted without any of his usual sarcasm.
As they settled down to work, the Doc hummed merrily, occasionally singing a line in German or Italian under his breath. As time passed, though, his countenance grew more and more grave until finally Tom had to ask, “What is it, Doc?”
The Doctor did not respond directly, but, staring at his medical tricorder intently, asked, “Could you pull up the scans of local space for me, Mr. Paris?”
Without replying, Tom turned to the computer, tapped into the sensor logs, and piped the data to the Doctor’s work station. “Coming up on your screen,” Tom said.
The Doctor thanked him, then immersed himself in the data. Finally, after several minutes of intense study, the Doctor looked at Tom and with a furrowed brow asked, “Did the captain say how long we’d be in this area?”
“I’m not sure,” Tom said. “I would imagine not for very long. I think her primary goal is to help these people, then continue on our way. Why?”
In reply, the Doctor pulled up a model of a molecule that Tom quickly identified as a strand of DNA. Several chains in the strand were blinking ominously, diagnostic data flashing in boxes beside them. Pointing, Voyager’s chief medical officer said, “Because our guests are not very healthy,” the Doctor said softly.
“You saw the bandages they all wore,” Tom said. “You must have known there was something wrong with them.”
Shaking his head, the Doctor replied, “That is nothing. Compromised immune systems. But this…” He indicated the display. “This is quite another story.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Tom asked.
The Doctor looked up at him then and said, very bluntly, “No, Mr. Paris. I do not think there is. And if we don’t leave soon, I won’t be able to do anything for us, either.”
After leaving the medical area, Janeway’s second, the one named Chakotay, asked Neelix to escort Ziv and his hara to living quarters. The commander was required to visit the engine room, he said, but would find the Monorhans again shortly. Though the opportunity to rest was enticing, Ziv also felt strongly that he should see as much of the vessel as he could and asked Chakotay if he could join him. The second hesitated only for a moment, then acquiesced graciously. The hara whistled and clicked unhappily about being separated from their harat, but Ziv chastised them and ordered them to be on their way.
The walk to the engine room was short, but Ziv tried to absorb every detail he saw and smelled. He was astonished by how wide and clean the corridors were compared with the narrow, poorly lit passages on his own vessel. He asked how many crewmen were aboard, and the second answered, “Only about one hundred and fifty, though we could easily accommodate more if we needed. How many are aboard your vessel?”
“The drive section?” Ziv asked. “Approximately twelve hundred.”
“That’s a lot of room for twelve hundred,” Chakotay said, walking swiftly down the hall. Ziv had to swing himself along on his knuckles in order to keep up. He was mildly uncomfortable moving this way in front of a stranger, but the Voyager did not seem to care. Even the crew members who walked past in the opposite direction paid Ziv only the scantest attention. Obviously, these were a jaded people. “Couldn’t you move some of the passengers from the…the containers?”
“No,” Ziv said. “The rear third of the ship, closest to the engine, is uninhabitable because of radiation. And besides, we don’t have any way to move passengers. There is only one shuttle, and the containers, as you call them, do not have airlocks.”
“Then how will you get the passengers off when you arrive at your destination?”
“Each container