Part 8 (1/2)
”Fine,” Quark said, and moved around the table. Why did he have so much furniture in here in the first place? What had he been thinking?
The strain on his arm muscles was almost too much. He felt sweat run down the side of his face, get caught on his lobe, and work its way into his ear. It was his own fault for thinking the day couldn't get any worse.
He glanced over his shoulder. Nog was still at the door, looking out into the Promenade. Apparently he didn't see anything, or he would have said so. Right?
”Nog,” Quark whispered. ”Is it clear?”
”What?”
”The Promenade. Is there anyone there?”
Nog took a step farther out, which did nothing to bolster Quark's confidence. Then he turned back to Quark. ”Yes.”
Quark nodded at Rom. ”This is the last leg,” Quark said.
”I hope so,” Rom said. ”Is it my imagination or is he beginning to smell worse?”
It wasn't Rom's imagination. The Carda.s.sian was beginning to smell like a Klingon meal made by a bad cook. Quark moved as fast as he could. He was still looking over his shoulder as he went through the doors. It wasn't that he didn't trust Nog. Or maybe it was.
The Promenade was mostly empty. The doors to the restaurants and stores were open, but there were no clients. The Volian sat in the window of his tailor's shop, working on an outfit, but he didn't appear to be looking up. Quark thought he saw something s.h.i.+mmer near the door to the bar, but when he focused on it, he saw nothing at all.
”Clear,” he whispered.
”What?” Rom asked. ”Is that blister making you deaf?” Quark snapped. ”I hope not.” Rom brought a hand to his ear, and the Carda.s.sian tipped sideways. The Carda.s.sian's foot bounced loudly on the floor. Quark nearly collapsed under his weight.
”Will you do your job?” Quark snapped. ”Pick up the foot. Pick it up.”
”Where are we going with him?”
”Just behind that post,” Quark said, nodding in the opposite direction from the Volian's store. They were getting close to the second floor balcony, but he didn't see anyone there either. And he would have to take the risk.
They also couldn't leave a polished streak running from the Carda.s.sian to the interior of the bar. ”Wait!” Quark said. ”Nog, grab the Carda.s.sian.” ”Me?” ”Do you see anyone else named Nog?”
Nog came over, rubbing his hands together. His small face was squinched in an expression of disgust. ”Where do you want me to hold him?”
”Where do you think?” Quark asked. ”He can't be touching the ground.”
Nog gave him the most pitiful expression Quark had ever seen. ”I can't.”
”You will or I'll make you clean the bar with your head skirt every day this week.” ”You can't do that!” Nog said. ”It isn't sanitary.” ”Then I'll make you sanitize it after you're done.”
”Don't underestimate him, son,” Rom said. ”Remember the drinks.” And he reached for his ear.
”No!” Quark said too late. The foot bounced again, but this time Nog had grabbed the Carda.s.sian's midsection.
”I want to go back to Ferenginar,” Nog said. ”Maybe I can live with Moogie.”
Rom struggled to reach the foot without dropping the other one. Quark thought his arms would break.
”Moogie wouldn't treat me like this.”
”Moogie would hide you in a closet,” Quark said. ”She has dreams of finding a better mate, and the last thing she needs is a grandson hanging around so that people know her age.”
Rom got the foot. He nodded. ”I promise I won't drop it again.”
”Good,” Quark said. ”Or Narat will think broken ankles are part of this disease.”
”You think I broke his ankle?” Rom said. ”I didn't mean to. I mean-”
”No, I don't think you broke his ankle,” Quark said. ”But I might break yours soon.”
They carried the Carda.s.sian into the Promenade. Their footsteps echoed on the floor. Quark had never heard the Promenade echo before.
It was only a few meters to the post Quark had seen, but it felt like they had to travel light-years. When they reached it, and Quark gave the okay, all three dropped him at the same time. It sounded as if something exploded on the Promenade.
”Come on!” Quark said and ran for the bar.
”But, brother, what about the medical staff?” Rom was keeping up with him. So was Nog.
”You call them,” Quark said. ”But you will not mention the bar, got that? Tell them-oh, never mind. I'll do it.”
They got inside and Quark slipped behind the bar. Before he contacted anyone, he was going to wash his hands. They felt sticky with sweat, and something else. Germs, probably. Virus. Possible infection.
He grimaced. He had a hunch things were going to continue to get worse. Much, much worse. And he doubted they would ever get better again.
Chapter Eleven
THE CARDa.s.sIAN CREW piloting the freighter didn't mix with its pa.s.sengers. Pulaski, Governo, Marvig, and Ogawa were confined to a small area that had once served as the crew's mess. The tables were bolted to the floor. The walls were a gunmetal gray, undecorated, and the room smelled of stale food Pulaski couldn't identify. There were no portholes, so she couldn't see the stars, but the freighter ran relatively smoothly, so she also couldn't feel the hum of the engines. It felt as if she were in a room on Carda.s.sia Prime instead of in a freighter heading toward Terok Nor.
Her team was already working. Governo was bent over his research padd, reading about infectious diseases. Marrvig was studying Carda.s.sian physiology,. Ogawa was supposed to be looking in the files to see if there was any previous history of cross-contamination between these two species, but she wasn't. She was staring at the walls, much as Pulaski was doing.
Alyssa Ogawa was slender, with dark hair and dark eyes, as human as the rest of them. Pulaski hadn't planned on putting together a completely human team, but Starfleet Medical thought it for the best. The less the Carda.s.sians had to object to-and they would probably object to every species that arrived on Terok Nor-the better.
Pulaski was glad to have Ogawa for several reasons. The first and most important was that they had worked well together on the Enterprise. The second was that Ogawa was familiar with Bajoran physiology. The third was that she was the best nurse Pulaski had served with in her entire time in Starfleet.
Ogawa was also fairly level emotionally, and Pulaski would need that. Kellec wasn't, and even though Pulaski usually was, one of the things that had caused their marriage to dissolve was that Kellec could pull her into his moods. Ogawa would help Pulaski keep her own sense of self. She wasn't sure about the other two; since she had never worked with them before, she didn't know if they would be calm or highly volatile. Nothing in their personnel histories suggested any problems along those lines, so the best Pulaski could do was hope.
The group had managed the trip well so far. Captain Picard had strained the Enterprise's engines getting her to the border of Carda.s.sian s.p.a.ce within sixteen hours of Pulaski's appointment. He would continue to patrol the area, waiting for her signal, for the next two weeks. If she didn't come out by then, another stars.h.i.+p would take its place. The area would be patrolled indefinitely-or so Pulaski had been told. She doubted that Starfleet would continue to expend such resources for four officers, albeit good and valuable ones, much longer than a month. She had mentioned that to Captain Picard and he had looked away from her ever so briefly, as he had done when he told her that Beverly Crusher was returning to the Enterprise.
I am afraid I have been told the plan for the next two weeks. The other stars.h.i.+p will wait at least as long, but you know as well as I do, Doctor, that things change within our universe in an instant. Should something happen and the Enterprise must leave ahead of schedule, I shall get a message to you, and we shall make certain you have a way off Terok Nor.
She had thanked him, of course, but they both knew that she was taking a great personal risk. Starfleet could only support that risk so far, and then she was on her own.
She sighed and stood up. She had forgotten how warm Carda.s.sians liked their s.h.i.+ps. She had forgotten a lot about them. How big they were, on average, and how disconcerting it was to see that gray skin-a color she a.s.sociated with illness. Governo mentioned how reptilian he thought they were; she had forgotten that he had never seen a Carda.s.sian before. That was why she gave him the a.s.signment to study their physiology.
The room they placed the group in was getting smaller by the minute. Pulaski hated waiting. The Carda.s.sian pilot had told her the trip would only take a few hours. She took that to mean three. It had been four, and she felt that was too long. She did know the freighter was operating at its highest speed, trying to get her to Terok Nor.
The Carda.s.sians on board, the pilot and the handful of others, whom she could only think of as guards, had obviously been instructed not to talk to the group. The pilot had looked uncomfortable just telling Pulaski their arrival time. When she had asked for information on the plague, he had stared at her. When she pushed, he had said, ”I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm a pilot, not a doctor.”