String Theory_ Fusion (Book 2) - Kirsten Beyer [102]
Seven smiled faintly at the compliment. “Explain the procedure, and I will comply,” she replied, joining him at the display station so that she could examine the readings as he spoke.
“The creature that initially infected Tuvok remains intact, and requires healthy neural tissue in order to sustain its transformation. I believe the only way to drive the creature from Tuvok’s body is to make what little tissue had not yet been compromised less ‘appetizing’ to it.”
Seven immediately understood the potential risks in what the Doctor was proposing.
“How do you intend to keep Lieutenant Tuvok stable while you are effectively poisoning the rest of his neural tissue?”
“The creature seems to have adapted itself to a specific chemical balance within Tuvok’s neural tissue. As it encroaches upon each new area, there is a significant decrease in neuropeptide levels. I believe that these neuropeptides might be harmful to it in large quantities, however, as they are appropriate to Tuvok’s normal brain functioning, the tissue we are targeting should not be adversely affected in the long term. I am simply trying to distract the creature long enough to prevent it from attacking us as we slowly poison it.”
“How do you intend to do that?” Seven asked.
“At the same time I am regulating Tuvok’s neuropeptide levels, you will be introducing minute doses of the neural toxin we developed to counter the creatures we discovered aboard the array. I will need you to monitor those levels. If we move too quickly, the creature will undoubtedly try and defend itself. By attacking it slowly on two fronts it is my hope that we will render it unable to effectively counter either course.”
“I understand. Are you ready to begin?” Seven asked.
The Doctor rechecked the simulations of the procedure one last time and nodded.
Moving to the biobed where Tuvok and the creature now rested, he raised the arch and studied the areas of unaffected neural tissue indicated on its display. He noted with an approving glance that Seven had already armed herself with a hypospray of the toxin to be injected into the creature and taken the position opposite him.
Their eyes met one last time and then, in concentrated silence, they began to work.
Initially, the procedure followed the exact course predicted by the simulations generated by the computer. Just as the Doctor had anticipated, the parasite avoided all neural tissue where the Doctor had increased the neuropeptide levels. Its rate of expansion slowed by twenty… fifty… and then almost eighty percent.
The toxin Seven was injecting directly into the creature seemed to have little effect. As the Doctor watched the organism’s cells absorb and integrate the poison she was introducing into its system, it occurred to him that in such small doses this particular formulation was unlikely to seriously damage the creature.
Once the creature’s expansion had been reduced to almost nothing, Seven slowly began to elevate her injection levels. For a moment, the Doctor was intensely pleased to see that the parasite did not seem to perceive the tissue he had treated as a viable source of continued growth. Only when Seven reached forty-five percent of maximum did the procedure come to an abrupt halt.
A whip-thin appendage burst from its place just below Tuvok’s shoulder and sent Seven reeling. The Doctor barely escaped the same fate, automatically reverting to a permeable form before the tentacle aimed at him sliced through the air.
As Seven recovered her balance and approached the biobed more cautiously, the Doctor watched with perplexed alarm as the creature’s growth rate began to expand more rapidly than it had at any point thus far.
Several decks away, in engineering, Ensign Vorik, the only other Vulcan member of Voyager’s crew, was busy calculating the actual