Star Trek by Glenn Hauman Read Free Book Online Page B

* *
    â€œStevens to bridge. Captain, you should be seeing the first transports now on the big board, if you want. I’m headed to the main transporter room now.”
    â€œLet’s take a look. Wong, put it up on screen. Zoom in.”
    â€œAye, sir.” A picture of the planet’s surface directly below the ship appeared on the bridge’s main viewscreen, about a hundred square kilometers’ worth. In the atmosphere of the planet, a transporter twinkle started appearing on the planet in a grid pattern—barely seen from high above, it was a thousand points of light blinking in and out, flickering all over the place.
    â€œOkay,” said Gold, “it’s a start.”
    * * *
    â€œOkay,” said Lense, “it’s a start. Now comes the hard part. Fabian, how’s it going?”
    â€œNot too bad. Just waiting to hear from—”
    â€œDuffy to Stevens,”
said the new voice over the com channel.
    â€œStevens here. How’s it going down there, Duff?”
    â€œThe pattern enhancers are in place around the worst cases down here, Fabe.”
    â€œCases? Plural?”
    â€œYeah, Docto—oh, damn. We can’t do it that way? The genetic patterns will get mixed up?”
    â€œNo, it should work when we’re doing it
en masse,
we should be able to do six at a time. But for my initial tests, I need one.”
    â€œThen we can calibrate off that,”
Fabian added.
    â€œOkay, hang on.”
There was a pause, then a beep.
“I just placed my communicator on a patient here. Can you get a lock on her?”
    â€œScanning—got it.”
    â€œMake sure you’ve got all the medical equipment with her.”
    â€œTha-a-a-ank you, Duff, I knew that. We’re ready to energize. Doctor?”
    Lense stood in sickbay, not moving for five seconds. Had she forgotten anything? She was sure she’d covered everything, and she had to test it somewhere. “Wait, Fabian. I want to be there and see the patient,” she said as she walked toward the door.
    â€œYou won’t be able to interact with her. She’ll be behind a force field, to prevent contamination.”
    She had already reached the turbolift. “I know. But I want to see her for myself. Deck five.”
    â€œAll right. We’re holding here.”
    â€œThank you. Be there in a few seconds. Lense out.”
    Lense sprinted from the turbolift down the corridor to the main transporter room. Stevens was at the console when she came in, and a shimmering force field wall had been erected in front of the transporter platform.
    â€œReady to go?” Stevens asked.
    She took out a tricorder. “Ready. Let’s do it.”
    Fabian nodded. “All right, here we go. Energizing.”
    He moved his hands across the console, and the familiar hum started. On the platform, a woman appeared on a sickbed. Lense looked at the woman, and she was already beginning to fade—Fabian had programmed the transporter to immediately cycle back and forth. The patient was elderly, Lense estimated her age at around one hundred twenty from what she could see, but the years had not diminished her stare. She caught Lense’s eye just before she completely winked out.
    â€œShe’s back here,”
Duffy said over the com.
    â€œConfirmed,” Stevens said.
    â€œAre they in her?” Lense asked.
    â€œYup, no problems. The extra chromosome has been systematically added to every cell in her body. Are we going to wait and see how she took it?”
    â€œNo time. I wish there was, but—”
    â€œRight, I understand.”
    Stevens nodded. “I think we can start going for multiple transports, then. Duff, how you set up down there?”
    â€œReady to roll, Fabe. We’re tagging the worst cases and transmitting their frequencies to you.”
    â€œGreat. Executing transporter cycling program Stevens-9 now.” Fabian’s hands flashed over the console,