"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 shimmer 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 starship 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 starship 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 ships. 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."

She had let the topic drop after that. She would find out all the pertinent information soon enough.

The door to the mess opened. She turned. One of the Carda.s.sian guards stood in the doorway.

"We're about to dock on Terok Nor. Gather your things."

As he spoke, the entire freighter rumbled ever so slightly. Ogawa glanced over at Pulaski. They were the two used to being on board ship, and they both recognized the sensation. The freighter wasn't about to dock. It had docked.

Governo put his pad in his duffel. Marvig closed her research. Ogawa's was already put away. The three of them stood. Pulaski grabbed her two bags and walked to the Carda.s.sian. "I guess it's time," she said.

He nodded.

He led them down a dark and dirty corridor, with dim lighting that made the gunmetal-gray walls seem black. Even the air here seemed thick and oily. Pulaski had to walk swiftly to keep up with him.

"Have you been to Terok Nor since the plague started?" she asked. "No one's calling it a plague," he said.

That was more than she got out of the pilot. "Have you?" she asked. "We were told we were quarantined on Terok Nor. We were surprised to be a.s.signed to pick you up." His voice was faint. He wasn't speaking softly, but the net effect, from his tone to his demeanor, was one of secrecy. For some reason he had decided to talk with her. "How long have you been trapped on Terok Nor?" "A week." He ducked into another dark corridor. It felt to Pulaski as if they were going in circles, but she knew they weren't. "That's not very long." "It is when most of your friends are dying."

Ah, so there it was. The reason he was speaking to her. "And you don't have the disease?"

"I probably do," he said. "I'm going to die like the rest of them."

"Surely you can't believe that," she said. "One must always have hope."

"Hope?" he said. "You'll forget the meaning of the word after you've spent a day on Terok Nor."

He opened one last door, and pointed. Through the airlock, she saw a series of huge, round doors, shaped like giant gears in an ancient machine. The Carda.s.sian pressed a b.u.t.ton and the doors rolled back, clanging as they did so, one at a time.

Her door opened first. She stepped through the airlock onto the docking platform, and then another door rolled back, and she was in Terok Nor.

The heat didn't surprise her, but a faint odor of rot did. s.p.a.ce-station filtration systems should take care of smells, unless the odor was so pervasive nothing could be done about it.

She resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder at her Carda.s.sian guide, but his warning rang in her ears like an old Earth curse: Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

She did look around her for her team. Governo was at her side, Ogawa and Marvig were behind her. They looked as serious as she felt.

Pulaski stepped out the final door into the corridor. The ceiling was higher here than on the freighter, and the place was clean. It was still decorated in Carda.s.sian gray, however. Didn't they understand the value of a well-placed painting? Or even a nicely designed computer terminal?

The corridor did seem to extend forever, however, despite the branches off it. Another feature of Carda.s.sian design, she a.s.sumed. At least poor lighting wasn't part of the design here. The lights were bright enough in this corridor to show that these walls were clean.

Behind her someone cleared his throat. She turned. Three Carda.s.sians blocked the corridor. She had been so intent on her destination that she hadn't looked both ways when she came out the door, and she had turned in the wrong direction.

Two of the Carda.s.sians stood a few steps behind the Carda.s.sian in the middle. He was taller than the others, his shoulders broader, and his face thinner. His eyes had an intelligence that made her wary. With his strange ridges, that sickly gray color to his skin, and those bright eyes, he looked like a particularly charming reptile, the kind that smiled before inflicting its poisonous bite.

In fact, he was smiling now. "Doctor Katherine Pulaski?" he asked. He had a warm, seductive voice that seemed, to her, completely at odds with his appearance. "Yes," she said.

"I'm Gul Dukat. I run Terok Nor. We're pleased you could come here on such short notice." As if she were coming for a dinner party or to give a speech.

"If you'll point the way, my a.s.sistants and I will get right to work."

"First," he said, "I thought we'd get you to your quarters and give you a short tour of our facility. Then we'll take you to the medical section."

She drew a sharp breath. No wonder the Bajorans hated the Carda.s.sians. How insensitive was this man? And then she realized what he was doing. He saw her as a representative of the Federation first, a doctor second. He didn't want her first impression of his station to be one of illness and death.

Governo stepped up beside her, and was about to speak. She put a hand on his arm, and shoved him backwards. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marvig take him and hold him back. That answered one question. Governo would be her impulsive a.s.sistant.

"Mr. Dukat," she said, purposely making a mistake on his t.i.tle. "I-"

"Gul Dukat," he said in those dulcet tones. "Gul is my t.i.tle."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know." She took a step closer to him. The three Carda.s.sians were so tall, it felt as if she were stepping toward a forest.

He watched her as if he had never seen a human before.

"I would love to see the station," she said, "but I was led to believe the medical situation here is urgent. Perhaps if we get this thing under control, you can give me a tour. Right now, though, my a.s.sistants and I would like to put our things in our quarters and report for our duties."

Dukat inclined his head toward her. "What you will see in our medical section isn't normal for Terok Nor."

She smiled at him. It would be another part of her job, she realized, to charm the snake. "It isn't normal anywhere." She glanced up at him, making her look purposefully vulnerable. "Perhaps Kellec didn't tell you about me. I'm a doctor. I have no interest in politics. I'm here as a favor to Kellec." "And your a.s.sistants?"

"Are here because they have leave and they volunteered."

His smile was just a bit jaded. "And that's why the Starship Enterprise brought you to the rendezvous, because you're a simple doctor, volunteering your time."

"No," she said. "Until a few days ago, I served on that ship. I am between a.s.signments. Captain Picard gave my position to his former chief medical officer, so he owed me a favor." Dukat clearly wasn't buying that, so she sighed. "And besides, having a starship escort me was the only way we could convince Starfleet to let us come. They worry about having valuable personnel so close to the Carda.s.sian border." "You're inside Carda.s.sian s.p.a.ce."

"I know," Pulaski said. "And with luck, we'll be able to make your people well. Please, let us work first." "As you wish," he said.

"In fact," she said, "it would probably be best to show my a.s.sistants to their quarters and lead me to the medical area. I'm sure Kellec and your doctor could use the relief."

"All right." Dukat turned to his guards. 'I'll take Dr. Pulaski to the medical section. You escort her a.s.sistants to their quarters, and when they're settled, bring them to the section as well."

"Forgive me, Doctor," Marvig said, "but perhaps one of us should come with you. We can both get right to work."

"Good suggestion, Crystal, but I'm used to field medicine. None of you are. Trust me, it's better for you to get your bearings and then come. It will prevent burnout later." Pulaski turned to Dukat. "Shall we go?"

He nodded and then, to her surprise, he took her hand and placed it on his arm. Such a courtly gesture, and one that would certainly rile Kellec if he saw it. Still, she let Dukat do it.

His uniform was softer than she expected from its design, and his skin was cooler. She wondered if the heat in the Carda.s.sian ship and now here, on Terok Nor, was because Carda.s.sians had cold blood, just like the Earthly creatures they resembled. She was surprised she didn't remember, and made a mental note to brush up on her own Carda.s.sian physiology when she had a free moment. Every detail was important, and things she had studied years ago that were now lost to the sands of time might be more crucial than she had initially thought.

Dukat led her through the maze of corridors. "What have they told you of Terok Nor?" he asked as they walked.

"Only that it's an ore-processing plant," she said.

"Ah, such an oversimplification," he said. "Terok Nor is more than a simple factory. We are a very large station, and many ships come through here on their way to Carda.s.sia Prime. Did you see the station as you came in?"