Part 15 (1/2)

”It should work,” Kellec said.

”We should examine some of our older cultures as well,” Narat said, his irritation with Kellec obviously forgotten.

”Good idea,” Kellec said.

”It's not quite as hopeless,” Pulaski said. ”At least we have a point to work from.”

The office door opened. Governo peeked in. ”May I see you for a moment?” he asked Pulaski. She walked over to him.

'Tm doing what you said,” he said softly, ”but I'm a little worried about reinjecting these Carda.s.sians with the antidote. I mean, we don't know what this will do in high quant.i.ties in the body.” ”The boy has a good point,” Narat said.

”Yes, he does,” Pulaski said. She put a hand on Governo's shoulder. ”Just continue for now, Edgar. Whatever happens, it's better than dying for these poor people.”

He nodded and went back into the main room. Pulaski closed the door again and leaned on it. The exhaustion she had been trying to fight was coming back, worse than before. ”We're going to have to notify Bajor and Carda.s.sia Prime.”

”I suspect they already know,” Ton said. ”Let's not waste our time on that.”

”No,” she said. ”We have to. What if they've sent patients away, thinking they were cured, and they can't get back to a medical facility?”

”They would have done it twelve hours ago, Katherine,” Kellec said. ”We have to focus our efforts here.”

”Kellec is right,” Narat said. ”At this moment, everything we do should go toward finding the correct solution.”

Pulaski nodded. But something was flitting around at the edge of her consciousness. Something she vaguely remembered-”One of us should be doing as your a.s.sistant implied, Katherine.” Kellec was standing near his console. ”One of us should see if there are detrimental effects from too much antidote. We have to know where our limits are.”

She looked at him. She knew he was going to suggest that Narat do it.

”You two found the cure in the first place,” Narat said. ”I'm not the researcher that you both are. You continue your search for the virus's origins. I'll investigate the effect of the antidote.”

Pulaski let out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding. She made herself look away from Kellec, afraid that she would show her relief too clearly.

”All right.” She walked over to the console. ”Still, something more is bothering me. Something I feel I should know-”

”There were rumors,” Kellec said, ”that the Federation dealt with a similar plague, but I don't know the details.”

”Of course,” Pulaski said. ”That's why this is bothering me.”

”That was one of the reasons I asked permission to get you to come here. I figured you would know.”

”I do know,” she said. ”The Enterprise, the s.h.i.+p I was on, dealt with it. But I never read the files. I always meant to-in fact, I was supposed to go through all of Crusher's logs, but I simply didn't have time. I looked at the overview and went on with my day-to-day work.”

”That's not going to help us, Katherine,” Kellec said. ”You-”

”What is the meaning of this?” The office door crashed open and Dukat strode inside followed by three guards. One of them could barely stand. He was a light gray-green.

All three doctors glanced at each other. They had agreed moments ago to stall telling Dukat as long as possible.

”We told you, sir,” Narat said, ”that we can only treat a patient once the symptoms appear.”

”Do I look like an idiot to you?” Dukat asked. His voice was lower than it had been a moment ago, and seemed a lot more menacing. ”I have sent newly infected people back to the med lab for their shots. Those people are fine. But Linit here nearly died yesterday of this disease, and now he's got it again! You told me this was a cure.” ”I know,” Narat said. ”But-”

Pulaski put a hand on his arm to quiet him. Narat seemed panicked by Dukat's anger, and panic would not do in this circ.u.mstance.

”When we told you about the cure,” she said, ”we also told you that it wasn't complete.”

”You didn't tell me this would happen,” Dukat said.

”We didn't know. We hoped the cure would hold once it killed the virus. But our patients seem to be reinfecting themselves.” ”Themselves?”

”Yes,” she said. ”It's coming from within. That may sound bad to you and I must admit, none of us are too happy about this turn of events-but it is good news in a way. It gives us something to base our new research on. It gives us hope.”

”Hope! We had hope when we thought we'd gotten rid of this disease.”

”We can get rid of it,” Narat said. ”For a few hours anyway.” ”What good will that do?” Dukat asked.

”It'll prevent anyone from dying,” Kellec said.

Dukat's lips thinned. He turned away from Kellec. ”I'm very unhappy about this,” Dukat said. ”We all are,” Pulaski said.

”Yeah,” Kellec said. ”You would save us a lot of grief if you would just ask your people what the source of the virus was.”

”Kellec!” Pulaski said.

”No,” Dukat said. ”That's fine. He can accuse us all he wants. It covers his Bajoran tracks. You're reinfecting everyone, aren't you, Kellec? That way no one gets off this station alive, and the Carda.s.sians get the blame.”

”You know better-” Kellec started forward, but Pulaski grabbed him.

”Both of you, stop it,” she said. ”You're acting like children.”

She glanced at Narat for help but he hadn't moved. He was looking terrified.

”Fighting won't get us anywhere.” She kept her hands on Kellec, but stepped between him and Dukat. ”I've been with Kellec all day, and he hasn't done anything to reinfect your people. He hasn't had the opportunity. And you,” she said, turning to Kellec, ”can't you see how terrified he is? If he knew how this thing started, he wouldn't be this afraid.” ”I am not afraid,” Dukat said.

Kellec had the common sense to say nothing. Only grunt.

Dukat's eyes narrowed, but he also said nothing. Narat's gaze met Pulaski's. ”She's right, you know,” he said. ”This is a time when we have to put aside our differences.” ”It's getting very hard to do,” Dukat said. ”You gave us all hope yesterday and today it's gone. That's worse than having no hope in the first place.”

”But I already explained what this means,” Pulaski said. ”It means we have a chance.” ”I don't see it,” Dukat said.

”There's one option we haven't tried,” Kellec said. He eased himself away from Pulaski's hand. ”Katherine and I were discussing it when you so nicely knocked and asked if you could come in.”

”Kellec,” Pulaski said warningly.

”And what's that?” Dukat asked, obviously choosing to ignore Kellec's tone.

”Katherine says the Enterprise dealt with something similar over a year ago. Remember when I asked you if she could come aboard, I told you there were rumors about this?”

Dukat turned his flat gaze to Pulaski. ”So you have records of this?”