Star Trek by Glenn Hauman Read Free Book Online Page A

Emily. And she said, “What could it hurt?”
    Okay. We’re out of all other options to save the people down there. Lense can’t or won’t deliver another option. The death toll is rising. Lense knows the consequences to herself of her actions, and she’s determined to go ahead and do it anyway.
    What could it hurt?
    All right, we’ve established that we’ll go ahead and do it. Now how can I help Dr. Lense? Play manager here, David. She’s determined to go through with her plan. My question is, how can I help her? How can I make it easier for her? Heck, how can I help us both avoid prison time?

CHAPTER
6
    D r. Lense was running among three different terminals, checking the progress of the sims. She had set up simulations of the modified DNA sequences, and was now testing them against DNA records of various human genotypes to determine if they would actually work in the field.
    The first set of results had not been encouraging, and had forced Lense to lose a half hour, time she was acutely aware of. She knew that the deaths would plot out over time like a bell curve, and knew that with every minute wasted she was beginning to ascend the curve. She imagined a grisly pile of corpses, piling up higher and higher in the shape of a bell curve ….
    â€œGold to sickbay.”
    The interruption snapped her out of her reverie. “Whatever it is, make it quick. I’m busy.”
    â€œDoctor, I need a quick medical opinion. Would you concur that not being able to survive in the ecosystem one was born in would be considered a severe birth defect in the individual?”
    Lense blinked, then answered slowly. “Yes. Yes, it would.”
    â€œThen I must concede that you are acting to correct a severe and widespread birth defect in the population of Sherman’s Planet. I will so note in the official log and all reports I make to Starfleet on this matter.”
    Lense almost fumbled the petri dish in her hand.
    â€œCongratulations, Doctor. You have my blessing for a go-ahead. I’m on board with you—we’ll deal with the legal ramifications later.”
    â€œIf it helps, I’ve set up the forty-seventh chromosome with their own marker tags. We’ll probably be able to flush them out of people’s systems later, after we’ve determined that the plague is out of the atmosphere.”
    â€œProbably, she says.”
    â€œMedicine isn’t an exact science, Captain.”
    â€œYou’re not doing a very good job of reassuring me, Doctor. How soon can your crazy plan be implemented?”
    â€œGive me another ten minutes. The initial sequences didn’t work out; I’m running simulations on the latest batch now. You can start checking in on the rest of the crew up here, and see if they’re going to be ready to go when I am.”
    â€œWill do. Gold out.”
    Lense exhaled. She didn’t realize how much of her breath she had been holding. “Sickbay to Stevens.”
    â€œGo ahead, Doc.”
    â€œHow soon are you going to be ready?”
    â€œCargo transporters are done. I’m finishing final tweaks on the mains. Diego’s been consulting over the coms and whimpering a lot, but we’re actually ahead of schedule here.”
    â€œGood. Get ready, I’m going to have specs for you in a bit.” She turned to Emmett. “How are you doing on the airborne antivirus?”
    â€œI believe we have it completed and ready for testing.”
    â€œNow we’re cooking. Upload them to Stevens. Fabian!”
    â€œYes, ma’am?”
    â€œYou’ve got a file coming to you from Emmett. Feed that into the cargo transporters and go!”
    â€œReading the file—got it. And it’s loaded into the transporter buffers. And now, with a wave of my little magic wa—”
    â€œJust run it! I’ve got too many other things to do!”
    â€œYou take all the fun out of things. Energizing!”
    *