Continuing to play his role, Fisher said, “Wish I was. Somebody brought it aboard. Probably a freight hauler picked it up from one of the colony planets.”
“What is this Arcturian blood disease?” the sentry asked, his tone one of skepticism. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s okay,” Fisher said, and Reyes said nothing more as the doctor turned back to the table and the equipment he had laid out atop its surface. “Not many people know about it.” Reaching for his medical kit, he picked up a hypospray and checked its setting. “It has a lot in common with Rigelian fever, and seems to favor humanoids of various species, including humans, Vulcans, and Orions. Tellarites seem immune, but then Tellarites are pretty much immune to almost everything.”
Watching Fisher ready the hypospray for use, Reyes silently commended Fisher on the ease with which he was playing this little game of misinformation. The strength of a good lie was in not overselling it, and the doctor’s delivery of all the technical-sounding medical mumbo jumbo was just as smooth and polished as when providing an actual, truthful diagnosis. Indeed, Reyes was starting to wonder if the Orion might run from the room in a panic, perhaps to summon a superior or even Ganz himself in order to weigh in on what the guard might well believe was a dangerous viral outbreak aboard the Omari-Ekon.
“I didn’t think there was a cure,” Reyes said, fueling the fires of deception, though still worried about not overdoing it.
Shaking his head, Fisher stepped closer to his friend, his right hand wielding the hypospray. “There wasn’t, at least not until six months or so ago. Starfleet Medical was able to synthesize a ryetalyn derivative that works well enough.”
“What is ryetalyn?” the Orion asked.
Fisher did not answer before pressing the hypospray to the left side of Reyes’s neck as though readying to inject the vaccine into his patient’s carotid artery. At the last instant, with his body blocking the guard’s view, Fisher changed the alignment of the hypo so that it now rested just below Reyes’s jaw before triggering the device’s injector mechanism. The tiny office was filled with the hypo’s pneumatic hiss as Fisher completed administering the vaccination, and Reyes could not help scowling in momentary irritation at the injection, which was more painful than he was used to feeling. The odd sensation continued for several seconds, and he had to force himself not to reach up to rub his jaw as Fisher turned back to the table.
“Ryetalyn is the only known antidote for Rigelian fever,” the doctor said as he returned the hypospray to his medical kit. “Given the similarities between the two strains of contagion, somebody at Starfleet Medical figured it made sense that their respective antidotes would also be related.” When he turned once more to face his escort, Fisher noted that the Orion’s expression was one of complete befuddlement. “Get all that, sport, or are you still worried about body parts falling off?”
That, coupled with the guard’s worried look, almost made Reyes laugh. Though he had not been privy to specifics, he had heard assorted scuttlebutt about Admiral Nogura ordering some kind of medical inspections for all Starfleet and civilian vessels moored at the station. According to the gossip mill running rampant through the Omari-Ekon’s bar and gaming deck, teams of Starbase 47 medical personnel were crawling in and through the six docked ships, looking for who only knew what. Reyes had suspected a ruse from the outset, and he was sure Ganz, if not Neera herself, would also doubt the sincerity of any such action on Nogura’s part. For the scheme to succeed, it meant Fisher and his people pushing a hard sell with inspections, examinations, and even vaccinations of supposedly “infected” people aboard any of the targeted vessels.
“Had to quarantine anyone yet?” Reyes asked.
Fisher nodded. “Two from one of those low-warp freighters. I’ve got them down in the hospital in an isolation ward. So far they’re not showing anything serious, but the regs state we observe them for forty-eight hours.” Casting a look in the guard’s direction, he added, “Nothing’s fallen off yet, but I suppose we’ll see.”
“ Mister Reyes,” a voice, low and soft, echoed in Reyes’s mind, and he grunted in surprise at the unexpected intrusion. “ This is Lieutenant T’Prynn.”
Studying him warily, Fisher asked, “You all right?”
In his head, Reyes heard T’Prynn’s voice say, “ If you can hear me, tell Doctor Fisher that you have a cramp in your lower leg.”
Reyes reached down to rub his left calf. “Sorry. I guess I’ve been sitting here too long. Got a cramp.” He cleared his throat as he adjusted his position in the chair, using the opportunity to glance at the guard, who showed no apparent signs of suspecting that anything untoward was taking place.
“You need to watch those,” Fisher replied. “Probably not getting enough potassium in your diet. I’ll have the quartermaster send over a crate of bananas.”
“ Doctor Fisher has implanted a subcutaneous, subaural transceiver along your jaw,” T’Prynn said. “ It operates on an encrypted, low-power frequency well below the range of scanning equipment employed by Ganz’s people. We will now be able to communicate without detection.”
Reyes had already guessed that much, as well as figuring that Fisher must also be outfitted with a similar device. Since receiving the initial communication from his former intelligence officer and agreeing to assist her if and when she was able to call upon him, Reyes had been waiting for some sign or signal that she was ready to proceed. Were he able to do so without attracting undue attention from Fisher’s escort, he would have smiled in unabashed admiration at T’Prynn’s seemingly never-ending resourcefulness.
“ I will ask you a series of questions,” T’Prynn continued. “ At the same time, Doctor Fisher will also be asking you medical-related questions. The answers you provide to me should also be appropriate for his queries. If you understand, please tell Doctor Fisher that you’ve been having trouble sleeping.”
“Since you’re pumping me full of this and that,” Reyes said, “I don’t suppose you’ve got anything that might help me sleep?”
Fisher nodded. “I can probably help you with that. What’s the matter? All that craziness in the casino keeping you up nights?”
At the same time, T’Prynn said, “ We require someone to access theOmari-Ekon ’s navigational logs and extract information. I cannot elaborate as to the nature of the data, but I can tell you the matter is of extreme importance. Are you willing to make such an attempt?”
It took Reyes a moment to sort both questions in his head, during which he covered the lag with a small chuckle for the benefit of Fisher as well as the guard. Whatever T’Prynn was planning, he was certain she would not ask him to place himself at such extreme risk unless she believed it to be important. If he were caught while attempting to retrieve information of the sort T’Prynn was seeking, Reyes harbored no doubts that it would mean a death sentence at the hands of Ganz’s people.
Finally, he answered, “You could say that.”
“ Excellent,” T’Prynn replied.
“I think I’ve got something here with me that will work,” Fisher said, as he appeared to inspect the contents of his medical kit. “According to your files, you have no allergies. Is that still true?”
On the heels of the doctor’s question, T’Prynn asked, “ Do you think you will be able to access a computer terminal? I should be able to guide you through the process of locating and extracting any relevant data.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Reyes replied, nodding.
Extracting another vial of dark blue liquid from his medical kit, Fisher attached it to the receptor on the end of his hypospray before turning back to Reyes. “This is a vitamin supplement that should help regulate your melatonin levels. Might take a day or two to kick in fully, but you should notice a difference starting tonight.” He placed the hypo against Reyes’s left arm and once more triggered its injector.