The Garden - Melissa Scott [13]
She cleared her throat, and all eyes turned to her, Paris pausing in midsentence, a slightly guilty look on his face. She decided to ignore it, and said, "As far as I can see, gentlemen, the Kirse planet seems to be our best option. Unless someone has a compelling argument against it-" She paused, but no one answered. "Very well. Mr. Paris, get the information from Mr. Neelix, and set a course for the Kirse planet. Mr. Tuvok, Mr. Chakotay, Mr. Kim-and you too, Mr. Neelix, when you're finished with Mr. Paris-we need to discuss what we can offer the Kirse in exchange for these supplies."
CHAPTER
2
EVEN AT WARP SEVEN, A FULL WARP FACTOR FASTER THAN
their standard cruising speed, it took almost ten days to find the Kirse planet. Tom Paris, who had extrapolated the course from Neelix's charts and memory, found himself glued to the sensors, unable to stop himself jumping every time the long-range scanners spotted a new star system. None of them were the Kirse world, of course-they were too far out, wouldn't come into range for some hours yet even at the most generous predictions-but even so he found himself extending his time on the bridge until the captain banished him, pointing out that his watch had ended almost an hour before. There was no arguing with that, but at the same time, he was too keyed up to return to his stateroom, especially alone. That left the officers' lounge, and he ordered the turbolift to take him there, hoping he would find some company there. Since the discovery of the shortages, the mess hall
had been less busy than usual. It was depressing, most people found, to sit at tables where they ate only the necessary minimum while Neelix's cooking tables were piled high with useless food, and it had suddenly ceased to be the center of everyone's social life. Paris hesitated in the doorway, seeing the rows of empty tables, but then, just as he was about to turn away, he saw a familiar pair of square gold shoulders sitting at a corner table. The woman opposite Kim lifted her head and smiled, beckoning him over. Paris gave a sigh of relief that he didn't let himself feel, and moved to join them.
"How's it going?" the woman asked. She was tall, good-looking in a full-bodied, fair-skinned way, and even though she'd turned him down more than once, Paris felt a twinge of jealousy as he seated himself next to Kim.
"About the same. Still no sign of the Kirse planet, but if our projections are right, we should be seeing the first signs of it in about four hours."
"Not bad," Kim said, and reached across to pour himself another cup of tea. He winced as the movement caught his sore elbow or wrist, and Paris looked away, not knowing what to do. There was nothing he could do, of course-they were all showing signs of scurvy now, the sore joints, the bruising; he himself had spat blood for almost fifteen minutes that very morning, just from cleaning his teeth-and even sympathy had become more annoying than useful. The signs weren't really bad enough to keep them from doing their jobs, but they were an alarming taste of things to come-unless they found the Kirse planet.
"Do you want a cup, Tom?" Kim went on, and Paris shook his head.
"Not at the moment, thanks. I'm supposed to be off-duty, and I should get some sleep sometime."
"That doesn't sound like you," the woman said, and gave a sly smile. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Very funny, Renehan," Paris said, and her smile widened slightly.
Kim said, "I wonder what the captain will do if the defenses are as good as Neelix says?"
Paris shrugged. "Presumably we can talk the Kirse into letting us through."