She ran her fingers across the flat control board, punching up two holographic images. They were of the virus, its perfect form sinister to her, as if it had already imprinted itself in her subconscious as something evil.

Kellec stood beside her, stating at the images. "You see something here that I've missed."

"Yes," she said. She lowered her voice. "These are not the same virus."

"Katherine," Ton said. "I've been studying them for days. They're exactly the same."

"No," she said. "I double-checked your work and Narat's. You examined the viruses at first and thought they were the same. The computer reported that they were as well. From that point on, you've only been working with one form of the virus, pulled from the same culture."

He frowned at her, then peered at the images. He touched the control pad, making the images larger. "I don't see the difference."

"It's subtle," she said, "and this system, sophisticated as it is, isn't calibrated for such tiny differences. Apparently, Carda.s.sian medicine is a lot more straightforward than the types we practice in the Federation." He glanced at her, obviously not following. "These systems," she said, "are designed for Carda.s.sian physiology only. And why shouldn't they be? Even though several species come through Terok Nor, most everything here is geared toward Carda.s.sians. On starships, and throughout the Federation, we're dealing with a wide variety of species all the time. Small things infinitesimal things-can sometimes mean the difference between life and death."

"All right," he said. "What infinitesimal thing have I missed?"

She pointed to the image on the left. "This is Virus B, the virus that's killing the Bajorans." She punched in a label that ran across the bottom. Then she pointed to the image on the right. "This is Virus C, the one that's killing the Carda.s.sians."

Kellec peered at both screens. Then he made them larger. "I must be tired," he said. "I can't see the difference."

"You are tired," she said. "This is why I want us all to have a few hours of sleep a day. But that's beside the point. Look here."

She pointed to a single strand on Virus B's DNA.

"Now," she said, "compare it to the same strand on Virus C's DNA."

He closed his eyes and brought the heel of his hand to his forehead. "How could I have missed that?"

"You weren't looking for it," she said. "They look so much alike-'"

"Don't make excuses for me, Katherine. I should have caught it." "Why? You thought the viruses were the same." "But they manifested differently."

"Yes," she said, "and that's completely logical given the differences between Carda.s.sian and Bajoran physiology."

"But Carda.s.sians and Bajorans don't get the same diseases. We all know that."

It wasn't like Kellec to go into recriminations. He was exhausted. She had to get him focused on something else. "You brought me in here for a new perspective." "Yes," he said. "I did." "Well, I have more."

He frowned. "This is the part you were reluctant to tell me."

She nodded. "And frankly, I'm relieved Narat isn't here. Are you sure we can talk here without being overheard?" "No one out there is listening," Ton said. "And Dukat?"

Kellec shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think he would be. It's not the way he usually does things."

"Good," she said.

"Why?"

She took a deep breath. "Because Virus B, found in the Bajorans, is mutating into Virus C and killing Carda.s.sians."

Instantly Kellec's face went white; then he did the same thing she had been doing. He quickly checked around him to make sure no Carda.s.sians had heard. If this information got out, Pulaski didn't know what Dukat would do with the news. But from the reports she had heard, she doubted he would stop short at wiping out most of the Bajoran people to stop this.

"How can you be sure it's not the other way around?" Kellec asked.

She punched up a different image. "Watch," she said.

She had a time-lapsed image of the Bajoran cultures that Kellec and Narat had been using. Over a period of a few days, the Bajoran virus mutated. She highlighted the new viruses in red.

"What made you look for that?" he asked.

"I saw how closely they were related. I knew we weren't dealing with a coincidence. Kellec, you and Narat are right. This is an artificially created virus."

"You mean it's designed to go from Bajoran to Carda.s.sian?"

She nodded.

He gripped the back of the nearest chair. "If the Carda.s.sians find out about this-"

"They'll wipe out every Bajoran they can find," she said. "And it will kill the Carda.s.sian source of infection."

"You can't condone that!" he said.

"Of course not. But the Carda.s.sians strike me as the kind of people who can justify such a thing."

Kellec sank into his chair. "I don't know what we do now, Katherine. We need this information to find a cure. But I want to wipe it all off the system."

"I already have," she said. "These are my files, coded to me only."

"That's precisely the thing that will get you in trouble with Dukat."

"I know." She touched the screen and the images disappeared. "But since I destroyed the material, he can't accuse me of spying, now can he?"

"Katherine, we needed that."

She shook her head. "It's enough to know it. The comparisons are gone, that's all. We have the knowledge. Now we have to use it."

"Swear to me you won't tell Narat." "I wish we could," she said. "He has a keen mind." "It's also a Carda.s.sian mind."

"I know that too. And for that reason, I won't say a word."

Kellec squeezed her arm. "Thank you, Katherine."

"Don't thank me yet," she said. "We haven't found a cure."

"But we're one step closer than we were before you arrived. Narat and I never would have found that."

"You would have," she said.

"Just not in time." Kellec pushed his chair closer to the console. "At least now I have a bit of hope."

She prayed that that was enough to sustain him. Because the mutation of the virus worried her. She would have expected it to go the other way. She had actually been looking to see if the Carda.s.sian form mutated into the Bajoran form when she found that she had the process exactly reversed.

She wasn't sure what that meant yet, besides the obvious results that Kellec envisioned, should the Carda.s.sians discover how the virus traveled. But she didn't like what she was thinking, and she didn't know how to clear the suspicions from her brain.

Were an oppressed people wrong in doing anything they could to get rid of their oppressors?

She turned back toward the patients in the outer rooms, and got her answer.

Yes, they were. Some prices were too high, no matter what the cause.

Chapter Fifteen

QUARK RUBBED HIS LEFT EAR with the back of his left hand. It felt as if something were tickling the edge of his lobe, and not in a pleasant way. He leaned across the bar and surveyed his business. His empty business.

He hadn't had a customer in hours. At this rate, he would be broke within the month, faster if Nog and Rom continued to spend all his latinum. No wonder Prindora left Rom. He could go through money faster than anyone Quark had ever seen.

Quark peered into the Promenade. There was no one there either. The Volian's shop was still open, but he hadn't had a customer since Rom needed his new hat. Several of the restaurants had closed, and most of the stores were closed as well. No one even wandered the Promenade, as if just moving around the station made a person vulnerable to disease.

Quark rubbed his ear again. All of this worry was making him break out. And of course, it would happen on the most sensitive spot on his body.

He heard a clang above him and he glanced up. Nog came out of the first holosuite, a bucket in his left hand. He set the bucket down, scratched his ear, and then picked up the bucket. Quark felt cold.

He turned and leaned toward the mirror behind the bar. It wasn't a pimple that he was scratching. He hadn't broken out since he was a young Ferengi just hitting p.u.b.erty. He leaned closer. The reddened area on his left ear looked more like... a blister.

"Nog!" he shouted.

"Coming, uncle," Nog said. He clanged all the way down the stairs. Quark had had to look all over his quarters to find a bucket, but when he had found one, he gave it to Nog with the instruction that the boy scrub the entire bar, including the holosuites. It was just a way to keep him out of the way for a while, so that Quark could think. Quark had hoped he would come up with ways to save the business, but that hope had been in vain.

Nog reached the bottom of the stairs. He set the bucket down, and absently scratched his ear again.

Quark's eyes narrowed. "Come here, Nog."

Nog looked up. He came toward the bar, and smiled at Quark. When he reached the edge of the bar, Quark grabbed him and pulled him close. Nog's smile faded.

"Turn your head," Quark said.

Nog did.

"Not that way. The other way."

Nog looked in the other direction. Sure enough, there was a reddish spot on Nog's right ear. A reddish spot that was swollen and had a pus-filled tip. A blister.

"You little grubworm!" Quark said. "I should have known better than to use my earbrush after you touched it."

"What?" Nog asked. "What did I do?"

"Your filthy hands had germs on them from your father's ear infection, and you touched my brush and you spread those germs to me. And now I'm in agony. Look!" He turned his ear toward Nog and leaned toward Nog's face. Nog grimaced and strained backwards, but didn't get very far because Quark was holding him.

"I'm sorry, uncle. I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't mean to. Your father didn't mean to. You're an entire family of Ferengi who have no idea how to take responsibility for anything. Well, ! do." Quark shoved Nog backwards. "Get your father."

"What for?"

"Just get him."

"Don't fire him, uncle. You're all we have."

"Yes," Quark said. "I am reminded of that sad fact daily. Now get him."

Nog backed out of the bar, b.u.mping into a chair, then turned and ran for their quarters. Quark leaned across the polished surface and stared at all the empty tables. No customers. No latinum. And an ear infection spread by his careless brother. And that hunch of Quark's was still playing.

Things were going to get worse.

Nog came out of the quarters, dragging Rom by the hand. Rom was trying to shove his hat over his head. Quark came out from behind the bar, plucked off the hat and threw it over his shoulder. "But brother," Rom said. "The customers!"

"Are you seeing customers?" Quark asked. "Because if you are, then there's more wrong with you than that ear infection."

Rom glanced around, his movements jerkier than usual, like they always were when he was nervous. "If there are no customers, then why did you have Nog come to get me?"

"Because," Quark said, "you've managed to infect all three of us through your carelessness."

"I thought you said it was my carelessness," Nog said.

"It was both of you!" Quark snapped. "Now come with me."

He took them both by the hands and dragged them out of the bar. "Where are we going?" Rom asked.

"To the medical lab," Quark said. "We're going to get this solved."

"But they have dying patients," Rom said. "Why would they help us?" "Because we have latinum," Quark said. "Dr. Narat doesn't take latinum," Rom said. "And you know this how?" Quark asked.

"When we first arrived, I wasn't sleeping. I went to him for-"

"For what?" Quark stopped in the middle of the Promenade. It was empty.

"For-for a sleeping draught."

"A sleeping draught. And you offered Dr. Narat latinum."

"Of course," Rom said. "That's how business is done."

He seemed so proud of himself. "And he didn't charge you anything?"

"No," Rom said. "He gave me something to help me sleep and then he laughed when I offered him latinum, and said that Carda.s.sians don't take payments from Ferengi." "Well, that's a blatant lie," Quark said.