“Then what, may I ask, leads you to believe that she successfully bonded with the embryo?” Janeway asked. “As the condition was brought on by external synthetic factors, isn’t it also possible that it subsided on its own as her body’s natural balance reasserted itself?”
“Anything is possible, Admiral, but in addition to Ensign Gwyn confirming this fact, there is circumstantial evidence provided by Ensign Icheb that supports the embryonic bonding,” Cambridge noted.
“What the hell does Icheb have to do with any of this?” Janeway demanded.
At this, Sal deferred to Cambridge. “Long story incredibly short,” Cambridge said, “Icheb has a particular genetic mutation that made it biologically impossible for Gwyn to bond with him. His presence was comforting to her. She asked and he agreed to remain with her during the worst of the finiis’ral.”
Janeway shook her head. Farkas’s decision to discipline Sal seemed increasingly well founded. The admiral was only receiving word of this debacle in the broadest possible strokes and she didn’t have enough fingers left to count the number of ways in which Sal had transgressed against multiple crew members, starting with the fact that she had performed these procedures without the knowledge and oversight of her superior officer. “Very well. Go on,” Janeway said.
“Icheb reported that Gwyn’s condition had remained unchanged until she entered the room containing the gestational incubator but once she returned, she seemed different—more herself, ” Cambridge finished.
“Isn’t that still quite a leap?” Janeway asked.
“It is, unless you’ve been asking yourself as long as I have how an entire population of female empathic metamorphs were able to throw off the chains keeping them shackled to a strictly enforced societal structure that had been in place for thousands of years in a matter of a few generations,” Sal said. Off Janeway’s furrowed brow, she continued, “By the time the Federation encountered the Kriosians, the number of true metamorphs on their world was quite small. But only a few centuries prior, most Kriosians were full empathic metamorphs. Normal genetic variation doesn’t do that. Something cataclysmic happened without decimating their population, which also shouldn’t have happened. My belief is that the women of Krios realized that they could bond with embryos, still largely unformed in utero, thus relieving them of the need to lose their identity to a mate. I also imagine that this choice would have actually created stronger intergenerational bonds among Kriosians, thereby stabilizing their society even in the midst of what must have been a huge upheaval.”
Much as Janeway hesitated to accept this at face value, without a shred of scientific evidence to back it up, she also had to admit it was a compelling theory.
“Damn,” she finally said softly.
“Indeed,” Cambridge agreed.
“Very well,” Janeway continued, “I will need a full physical and psychological evaluation of Ensign Gwyn before I can thoroughly evaluate whether or not to act upon her beliefs.”
“I can handle the psychological part, but the physical might be a bit more challenging,” Cambridge said.
“Why?”
“Because the ensign has requested Doctor Sal and only Doctor Sal tend to her medical issues.”
“She is uncomfortable with Doctor Sharak?” Janeway asked.
“In the first blush of her condition, she believed she was meant to bond with him,” Cambridge explained. “She is embarrassed, although I am certain Doctor Sharak did and would continue to behave in an entirely professional manner toward her at all times.”
The situation was far too delicate to ignore Gwyn’s preferences in the matter. But that was going to mean an even more uncomfortable conversation with Captain Farkas than their last had been.
“I will speak to Captain Farkas. For the moment, I am lifting her restrictions on your duties, Doctor Sal, in Ensign Gwyn’s case only, but allow me to make myself absolutely clear. Should there be the faintest whiff of ethical impropriety in your treatment of the ensign, you will be reported and charged accordingly.”
“I would like to say, in my defense—” Sal began.
“All due respect, Doctor, don’t push me right now,” Janeway cut her off. “Counselor, I want you to be present for all of Gwyn’s medical evaluations.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Dismissed.”
DEMETER
“You wished to see me, Captain?” Commander Fife asked upon entering Demeter’s main lab.
Liam O’Donnell, a man who probably had fewer years ahead of him than he did behind him, lifted his head from the display and turned toward his XO. His eyes were lit with an intensity Fife had rarely seen but knew well. Every now and again, his captain decided to bend the universe ever so slightly in a new and personally satisfying direction. Sometimes this was done through the creation of a new life-form. More often, as Fife could personally attest, it was by challenging those around him to think differently—usually bigger.
For a moment, the weight that had been bearing down upon Fife since he had witnessed the destruction of the Galen lifted. In the brief silence before O’Donnell answered, Fife believed he was about to be told that their recent tragic loss had been a mistake, a sensor glitch, perhaps a mass hallucination. Nothing less, he assumed, could so radically lift the spirits of anyone currently serving the fleet.
“Take a look at this, Atlee,” O’Donnell said, beckoning him toward his station.
Fife stepped forward and peered at the display. It was a sensor scan of the planet DK-1116, similar in many ways to the hundreds he had reviewed in the past week. It took a moment for Fife to register the specific readings that might have been responsible for his captain’s enthusiasm, and another to contain his disappointment.
“Do you see it?” O’Donnell asked.
Fife did. Almost a kilometer beneath the surface a large, visibly reinforced structure of several thousand square meters was clearly visible. “It appears that there is an intact underground facility present, much like the one in which Lieutenant Vincent and his team nearly died while studying it a few days ago,” he replied.
“Which we should be able to access with our transporters,” O’Donnell continued.
“Why would you want to?” Fife asked.
O’Donnell’s face fell.
“Our people have
