Vectors by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch Read Free Book Online Page A

had not received word that the Cardassians on the surface had been affected. They had been here. That, plus the promise of using the Cardassian medical files, was enough to keep him here, for the moment. He had a better chance of finding the solution on Terok Nor.
    With a shaking hand, he reached for the message button. It was a notification transmission. Once he responded, the person on the other end would be alerted, and they could have a conversation. He sat down and waited.
    To his surprise, Katherine's face appeared on the small viewscreen. Her brown hair was tangled about her face, and her blue eyes were filled with compassion.
    She looked very, very good.
    And very far away. "Ton," she said. "Katherine." "I was worried about you."
    He smiled tiredly. "You always worry about me."
    She nodded. "I'm hearing very bad things about your part of the quadrant."
    "We're at war, Katherine," he said. "No," she said. "I'm hearing more than that." He frowned. She was asking about the plague. Had word reached the Federation then? He didn't dare ask her directly.
    "Why are you calling me now, Katherine?"
    "I'm surprised to find you still on Terok Nor. I would have thought they needed you on Bajor."
    "They've been requesting my services on Bajor," he said. "But I'm too busy here. I haven't slept in two days, Katherine. I'm sorry, but I don't have time for small talk. Otherwise I'd ask about you and the Enterprise and all your various adventures. But I'm needed desperately elsewhere. Gul Dukat has demanded that I work in the Cardassian sickbay as well. It seems that my expertise is now considered to extend to Cardassians."
    "It sounds serious," she said.
    "It is." Then he paused and looked at her. They had always been attracted, and incompatible. He missed that soft, calm manner of hers. She had never been as intense as he was, but she was as driven, perhaps more so. She simply believed in conserving her energy for important things. "Are you all right?" she asked softly.
    "Tired," he said, "and distracted. There's too much I don't know, Katherine, and I have no time to learn it."
    "Well," she said in that slow way of hers. "I wanted to tell you that I am no longer on the Enterprise. If you need to reach me, I'll be on Deep Space Five for a short time. I'll let you know when I go elsewhere. I haven't gotten my new duty assignment yet."
    So that was her ostensible reason for this contact. Brilliant, Katherine. "Thank you," he said. "I always appreciate knowing what's happening with you."
    She smiled. He loved that smile still, and missed it more than he wanted to admit. "Please," she said. "Take care of yourself."
    And then she signed off. He sat in front of his system for a moment and forced himself to breathe. The Cardassians would find nothing amiss with that message, and yet he heard an entirely different conversation than the one they had in words. That was the benefit of having once been married; he and Katherine had a language all their own.
    What she had really done was ask him about the plague. She had heard it was on Bajor, and was surprised he wasn't there treating it. He told her that it was bad, and that it wasn't just affecting Bajorans. The Cardassians had it too, which was why he was on Terok Nor. He also told her, as best he could in that limited conversation, that he had no solutions. Katherine was an excellent physician. She would know what that meant.
    He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. That might be the last time he talked with her. Ever. If he got this thing.
    But he couldn't think that way.
    He didn't dare.
    He stood. What he wouldn't give to have her here, now. She was the best researcher he knew, and she was up on all the current information. Her position at Starfleet gave her access to medical information from almost everywhere. He knew that the Federation had dealt with this sort of cross-species contamination, but he didn't remember where, and he didn't have the resources to find out. Katherine