Pointing to the screen, Xiong said, “Look at that. There’s no electrical resistivity at all. The entire organism looks as though it could be a classical superconductor at room temperature.”
Fisher eyed the lieutenant. “Am I supposed to understand any of that?”
“Sorry, Doctor,” Xiong replied. “Ancient forms of power generation and regulation. Believe it or not, I’ve learned more than I ever wanted to on the subject while researching my theory.” Indicating the screen with a nod, he added, “If this is right, it’s an incredible find. What if electrical impulses channeled through this stuff resulted in a form of…I don’t know…fortifying or hardening of the skeleton? That might account for its resistance to phaser fire.”
“Well, that’ll be an interesting addition to our report,” Fisher said. “Now, given what Commodore Reyes has told me about the work being done by your friends down in the belly of this place, there’s something else I want to check.” Turning back to the computer interface, he flipped a series of switches and entered a pass code to give him access to the classified repository of information collected by Xiong and his team of research specialists.
“What are you doing?” the lieutenant asked, watching Fisher work.
“Cross-referencing our findings with the Vault’s databanks.” As he entered a final set of commands and initiated the search, it took only moments to match the DNA sample of his autopsy subject to another entry in the database.
Tholian. The simple word made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
“I’ll be damned,” Xiong said, his voice little more than a hoarse whisper.
The connection might well have been imperceptible to the unschooled eye; it may even have escaped a trained xenogeneticist at a passing glance. However, there was no denying the computer’s representation of the unmistakable similarities between the DNA of the mysterious alien and the Tholian sample from the database.
“Some sort of ancestral link,” Fisher said, wondering aloud. “Maybe going back millennia. A mutation of some kind, followed by thousands of years of evolution.”
“Or something more deliberate,” Xiong countered. “Genetic engineering. Eugenics, or something similar.”
Fisher considered the idea. “As good as anything I’ve got.” The question facing them now was whether or not this link between the Tholians and this newly discovered race had any bearing on the present situation with the Assembly and their current antagonistic attitude. Were the Tholians even aware of the connection?
It’d explain one helluva lot,Fisher conceded.
The computer beeped once more, and the doctor looked up to see that his search query had yielded an additional result. “What have we here?” he asked as he reviewed the data now scrolling across the screen.
“I don’t believe it,” Xiong said, leaning in closer in order to get a better look at the display.
Frowning, Fisher regarded the lieutenant. “Don’t believe what?”
Xiong pointed to the viewer. “The computer has identified similarities between part of the DNA coding from this new sample and a string of data from the carier wave that gave the station so much trouble months ago.”
Fisher stroked his beard as he absorbed that. He of course had been aboard the station when the odd alien transmission had wreaked havoc with so many of Vanguard’s sensitive systems, and Reyes had explained the nature of the signal—as much as was known, anyway—while briefing him about various other aspects of the station’s clandestine mission here in the Taurus Reach. Despite the limited amount of information which had been gleaned from the signal in the months since it had stopped transmitting, one thing that seemed to be accepted was that the carrier wave was in fact a type of communications protocol from a race never before encountered.
According to the data on the screen before him, however, Fisher could see that at least the station’s computer thought it might also be something more.
“That signal wasn’t transmitting DNA information,” he said. “We would have caught that early on.”
Xiong shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. We only had the original meta-genome samples from Ravanar at the time the signal was being studied, which are different in several respects from those we obtained from Erilon.” He paused, examining the data on the screen once more before continuing. “On the other hand,” he said, pointing to one column of information, “that string from the Erilon sample has some commonalities with the Ravanar specimens.”
Already seeing where the lieutenant was heading, Fisher keyed a new query to the workstation. “Let’s see what happens when we broaden the search parameters a bit.” Both men said nothing as they waited for the computer to process the request, though the doctor felt his pulse beginning to quicken in anticipation. You know what it’s going to say.
Then the screen displayed the results.
“Both sets of samples share traits with the carrier wave?” Xiong said, his eyes wide with astonishment. “How did we miss that?”
“You didn’t,” Fisher said, tapping the screen. “The similarities are so remote that the computer needed a third set of data to help with triangulating anything. It’s not so much that the samples themselves are similar. The carrier wave is the key to both.” Sighing, he shook his head. “Of course, I have no idea why that is.”
“It’s still a huge step forward,” Xiong said, a broad grin brightening his features. “Don’t you understand? The carrier wave might be the very cipher we’ve been looking for: the biometric key that can help us understand how that thing we fought on Erilon was able to interface with the technology there.” Xiong’s smile seemed to widen. “You may just have found a very important piece to this puzzle, Doctor.”
And how about that,Fisher mused, unable to resist returning the smile. Still a few tricks in this old dog yet.“The question now,” he said, “is what do we do about it?”
Both men looked up to the sound of a bosun’s whistle—rather, the computer-generated version of one, anyway—filtering through the intercom system.
“ Desai to Dr. Fisher.”
Reaching to the workstation’s comm unit, the doctor opened the frequency. “Fisher here. What can I do for you, Captain?” His eyes widening in realization, he looked toward the chronometer mounted on the nearby bulkhead. “Did I miss our lunch? I just need twenty min—”
“ No, that’s not it,”Desai interrupted. “ Actually, I’m calling to cancel. I need some time…to myself. I’ve got some…stuff to process.”Fisher frowned as he listened to the tone of his friend’s voice. He imagined Desai sitting in the solitude of her office, slumped in her chair with her head in her hands.
He looked over to Xiong, and the lieutenant merely nodded as he stepped away from the workstation. “I can get started reviewing this new material,” he offered in a low voice. “I’ll be in my lab if you need me.” Excusing himself, he gathered his belongings before exiting the morgue. Fisher smiled as he watched the younger man go, part of him envious that Xiong would now get to spend an inordinate amount of time pursuing the puzzle they had only just begun to pursue together.
Lucky bastard.
“Rana,” he said as the doors slid shut, leaving him alone in the room, “something you want to talk about?” He considered terminating the conversation and going to her. If she indeed had something troubling she wanted to talk about, it would be better for her to do so face-to-face with someone she could trust.
“ No,”she said, her response coming almost too fast. A moment later, she added, “ Zeke, I talked to Diego.”
Zeke? Then thisis serious.
“I see,” he said, leaning back in his chair. Folding his arms across his chest, he reached up to stroke his beard. “Not to pry,” he said, “but are you all right?”