Star Trek: Terok Nor 03: Dawn of the Eagles by S.D. Perry Read Free Book Online Page B

for the door, intending to go to his cramped quarters at the far end of the building.
    Mora was the only scientist who lived in the building in addition to working in it, for he was the only Bajoran left at the Bajoran Institute of Science. The name, of course, was a holdover from the days before the Cardassians had taken over this world, and the Bajoran scientists who had once worked here had gradually disappeared, one by one, until only Mora Pol was left. His job was to conduct research, but his primary task was to keep the Cardassians convinced that he was still one of their allies, one of the few Bajorans who remained allegiant to the occupying forces that had invaded their world. The Cardassians who ran the institute had decided, some years ago, that it might be easier to assure Mora’s continued loyalty if he did not leave the institute, and so it was here that he made his bed. He had, at first, been allowed visitors on a very limited basis, always with a Cardassian ear strategically placed so he could not reveal anything sensitive to his family when they came. But Mora knew that it was humiliating for them to be associated with a collaborator, and so he had long ago asked them to stop coming. He thought they would return if he were to request it, but he could not bring himself to do so.
    His self-disgust had blossomed over the years, was finally coming to full flower. He’d never set out to hurt anyone, had cooperated with the Cardassians because he worked for the government, and even now, the few corrupt Bajoran figureheads that still remained—Kubus Oak and Kan Nion came to mind—continued to insist that they comply with Cardassian policy. Mora had been so afraid for so long, he’d fallen into the habit of willing, even eager compliance. He’d saved his own life, but he was starting to believe the price had been too high, after all.
    “Doctor Mora?”
    He started a little as his name was spoken suddenly from somewhere in the darkness of his lab, and he put the lights back on, exasperated. “What is it, Odo?”
    The shape-shifter was in his tank, the vessel where he regenerated each night and where Mora often implored him to remain so he would stay out of the way of the other research that was conducted here. Mora’s lab partner, a woman named Kalisi Reyar, did not much care for Odo’s active presence in the lab while she was reviewing her notes. Odo had become more of a side project for Mora in recent years, since his research with Doctor Reyar had begun to take precedence over everything else he was doing. The tests and drills he ran with the mysterious life-form had slowed to a near halt.
    Odo’s “head” was glimmering in its partially solid state, the rest of his mass a stretching, shining, amorphic liquid. The effect was unsettling, though Mora had seen Odo in this semi-humanoid state many times.
    “Doctor Mora, now that your project with Doctor Reyar is concluded, will you and I resume our work?”
    “Odo, please. If you’re going to speak to me, I’d prefer it if you would become completely humanoid. When you do that…it unnerves me.”
    The liquid spilled out of the tank and Odo’s shape defined, the nearly transparent quality of his “face” instantly hardening into the appearance of an oddly smooth-featured Bajoran, his tall, stiff body seemingly clad in a plain jumpsuit—a concession to Bajoran and Cardassian notions of propriety. Odo had difficulty perfecting the form of a convincing person, though there were times when he was feeling especially confident that his bone structure looked more realistic than usual; when he was nervous, the shape of his jaw and the curves of his ears appeared particularly unfinished. Mora had discussed it with him many times, which seemed to give the shape-shifter even more difficulty in maintaining his appearance. The scientist did not mean to aggravate him about it, but it frustrated him somewhat that Odo’s progress in that area had stalled so