The Farther Shore - Christie Golden [77]
“It looks like we can trust one another,” Janeway said, and had just opened her mouth to tell Fletcher what they had discovered about the virus when he suddenly twitched violently.
“Fletcher?” asked Montgomery. “What’s going on?”
[230] Aidan opened his mouth to speak. Color bled from his face as his skin took on a strange gray pallor. He toppled from his chair out of sight, but not before Janeway saw an ominous black and silver implant sprout on his cheek.
At once, the connection was severed. She and Montgomery found themselves looking at the Federation insignia on the screen.
“She has activated the nanoprobes in the building,” Seven of Nine stated flatly. “As Peregrine warned was a possibility.”
“There are over two hundred people stationed there!” Montgomery exclaimed.
“All of whom, presumably, are now Borg drones under Covington’s command,” said Chakotay. “And everyone who goes in there is going to become Borg, too.”
“Not everybody,” the Doctor said triumphantly. “You won’t.”
They all turned to regard him. He basked in the spotlight for a moment, and then explained. “Thanks to the confluence of brilliant minds, we have achieved a vaccine of sorts. Let me show you.”
He stepped over to the computer screen. “You may recall, Admiral, that when we were engaged in conflict with Species 8472, we learned that their biology was so advanced they were able to destroy the Borg nanoprobes that infiltrated their bodies.”
“I had access to the Doctor’s work, of course,” Kaz said. “I was trying to see if we could create a modified nanoprobe that would attack and destroy the original Borg nanoprobes that controlled the virus.”
[231] “Tiny robots battling it out in your bloodstream,” said Paris approvingly. “Fun for the whole family.”
“Unfortunately, I was unable to do so,” Kaz continued, ignoring Paris.
“But Dr. Kaz’s research pointed us in the right direction,” Data said. The Doctor looked vaguely annoyed, Janeway thought. He was used to being the one who revealed all the information. Now he had Kaz, Data, Seven, and Icheb assisting him, all of whom had contributed to the solution.
“Modified probes are indeed the answer,” Data continued. “But we have insufficient time to pursue Dr. Kaz’s theory. We would have to replicate the same number of nanoprobes as were already in a human body.”
“We then decided to shift our focus from destroying the Borg nanoprobes to inferring with the signal that caused them to activate,” Seven said. “Observe.”
Janeway watched on the computer’s screen as a modified nanoprobe seemed to swim into the midst of a host of Borg nanoprobes. It unfolded and as it did so, the Borg nanoprobes closed in on themselves and seemed to shut down.
“It won’t repair what damage has been done,” Seven continued. “The victims will require surgery to remove the implants, but that is not difficult. What this will do is disconnect them from the hive mind and the queen’s orders.” She caught Janeway’s eye, and smiled slightly. “And we all know what that does.”
“Is this a permanent solution?” Tuvok inquired.
“Unfortunately, not at this stage,” the Doctor replied, quickly, before his colleagues could speak. “The Borg [232] probes are persistent little things, and they’ll eventually destroy our probes. You will, however, be protected for several hours.”
“This would not be effective against a true Borg queen,” Seven said. “It is only because the false queen’s signal is so weak that the modifications to the probes are able to block it.”
“How many of these nanoprobes can you create?” Montgomery asked.
“Not enough to protect a full security team trying to storm the building,” the Doctor said regretfully. “We began replicating them as soon as we thought they might be part of a solution, but we only have enough to protect five, perhaps six people.”
“Our goal must be to disconnect the queen from the hive,” Seven said. “That is the safest route. Since we are unsure of the details of how she has created her collective, we must assume that her death could possibly traumatize