The Farther Shore - Christie Golden [48]
It was a mess, as was the rest of the bridge. Each station had been taken apart and even if it had been put back together again, as was the case with Ops, it had been a halfhearted job.
“Project Full Circle sure didn’t live up to its name,” he muttered.
“What?”
“I said, Project Full Circle is an appropriate name,” he lied.
“Oh. Yeah, I guess.”
Hurry up, Admiral, Harry thought. I won’t be able to stave off this guy forever.
Data moved purposefully to sickbay. The Doctor assured him that they could access everything they needed there, provided, of course, that Starfleet hadn’t transferred the data and then wiped Voyager’s records. Data thought this highly unlikely. As he entered sickbay, Data said, “Computer. Locate and identify nearest humanoid.”
“The nearest humanoid is Lieutenant Commander Susan Taylor. Present location—-deck seven,” replied the computer crisply.
Excellent. It was unlikely that they would be [142] disturbed. He removed his skull patch, connected himself to the computer, and uploaded the Doctor.
Replacing the patch, Data commanded, “Computer, activate EMH.”
The Doctor appeared, and his face took on a soft expression. “My old stomping ground,” he said fondly, as he looked around sickbay.
Data opened his mouth to inquire if the Doctor actually strode with deliberately heavy footfalls in his sickbay, then thought better of the question.
“Computer,” he said, “Modify the EMH to bring his physical appearance and vocal patterns in line with the most current version utilized on Starfleet vessels.”
The Doctor turned around. “I don’t want to look like—”
His image shimmered and reformed.
“—the latest version, I want to look like me!”
Data cocked his head. “It is a necessary precaution,” he said. “If someone were to enter and see your actual appearance, they would be suspicious.”
The Doctor sighed. He was now a bit taller, much slimmer, and an entirely difference race. He looked down at his dark-skinned hands and shrugged his shoulders.
“This is a later version than the EMH-2,” he said, then under his breath, “thank God.”
“We should get to work,” Data said gently.
“Of course. Let’s get started.
Janeway let out a deep sigh of gratitude as Seven and Icheb stepped into the regeneration chambers and closed their eyes. As they relaxed, their tight features softened. It was good to see them looking like [143] themselves again, and to know that in a few hours, they would both be feeling so much better.
It had taken them at least a half an hour to get the two alcoves operational again. She chafed at the delay, but it was unavoidable. Now the two former Borg were safely ensconced in the alcoves, Harry was up on the bridge making sure that no messages got in or out, and the Doctor and Data were doing research in sickbay.
“Commander,” she said to Tuvok, “I am entrusting Seven and Icheb to your care. They can’t be discovered or the whole jig is up.”
“I understand,” said Tuvok, although she noticed with amusement that his brow furrowed at the word “jig”.
“What now, Admiral?” said Paris. He and Chakotay looked at her expectantly.
“Why, gentlemen,” she said, a smile spreading across her face, “You and I are going hunting.”
Chapter 12
DR. JAREM KAZ materialized on Voyager, and smiled pleasantly at the guard who had transported him.
“Welcome aboard, Dr. Kaz.”
“Thank you.” Keep it brief, he thought. Maybe Gradak had had a knack for this sort of thing, but his heart was racing at the subterfuge. He was certain that at any minute he would be discovered. And yet, mixed in with the trepidation was something else. He suspected it was ... excitement.
He’d familiarized himself with the layout of Intrepid class starships so that he wouldn’t waste precious time or call attention to himself. When he strode into sickbay and saw Data and the Doctor, he felt a visible rush of relief. Then he did a double take.
“Doctor, you look different,” he said, and then, “Of [145] course. If you kept your usual appearance, they’d know something had happened.”
“Our feelings exactly,” said the Doctor,