Bloodthirst (28 page)

“Maybe she's not really alive,” Chekov intoned solemnly. “Maybe she's just come back from the dead.”

“Don't be morbid,” Uhura scolded him. “Dr. McCoy said something about hibernation.”

“I'm happy for Christine,” Chekov said. “But the other—Stanger. McCoy said he attacked Lieutenant Tomson.” His lips curved in a wicked smile. “And
I
know what he was looking for.”

Sulu snickered. “In Lieutenant
Tomson?
You must be kidding.”

“Not
that
. “Chekov looked vaguely disgusted. “Don't you remember what I told you?” His voice took on an exaggeratedly dramatic tone. “The wampire comes back from the dead to drink the blood of the living.”

Uhura sounded insulted. “How can you tease about something like that, especially after we thought Chris had
died?
Why can't you just let us be happy?”

“Who's teasing?” Chekov said, but he turned back to his station and smiled. “At least,
I
have protection. At least,
I
don't have to worry while Stanger and Adams are free to attack innocent wictims.”

“The only wictim around here"“ Uhura's brown eyes narrowed—is going to be
you
if you don't”

“Don't listen to him,” Sulu soothed. “He's just teasing because he's embarrassed to admit how happy he is about Christine.”

But he found himself wondering if Pavel had an extra crucifix.…

In sickbay, McCoy clutched the lab report on Chris Chapel to him like a coveted trophy and beamed broadly at Kirk. Kirk forced a weak grin. He was happy for McCoy, for Chapel, for Stanger, for the fact that he had not after all lost two crewmembers. But he didn't feel much like smiling. Quince Waverleigh was still dead, and there was no chance of bringing him back to life.

But McCoy seemed too wrapped up in his own joy to notice the captain's reticence. “I should have run blood tests before declaring them dead!” he said raptly, without any sort of introductory remarks. “The serum magnesium levels in their blood would have tipped me off right away.”

“Doctor,” Spock said in his deep, quiet voice, “perhaps it would be less confusing if you began at the beginning.”

“Oh. Well, it seems our smart virus is really smart, all right. I'm running tests on both Stanger and Chris right now. Chris is still unconscious, though she seems to be coming out of it. Her brain tissue is saturated with a hypothalamic neurosecretion, remarkably similar to a chemical normally found in hibernating mammals. Think of it, Jim! The virus works to keep itself
and
its host alive by causing the human host to hibernate.”

Kirk frowned. “But if they were hibernating, why didn't they show any brain waves? I thought”

McCoy interrupted gleefully. “That's just it, Jim! In some hibernating animals, brain waves slow to virtually nil, with maybe one barely measurable burst of activity every twenty-four hours or so. Of course, a strong stimulus—a loud noise, say—would cause measurable cortical activity. But the problem with Stanger and Chris was, once brain function appeared to cease, I turned the monitors off. If I'd just left them on for several hours”

“I still don't understand,” Kirk said. “Why did the virus cause hibernation in the first place?”

“Okay. Um the virus is like a parasite. A symbiotic one. In other words, it keeps the host alive for as long as possible so that the virus can multiply in the host's body as much as possible. This also allows the host to infect more people with the virus.”

“Uh-huh.”

“One thing we'd already known about the virus is that it requires heme—that's the iron compound in hemoglobin—to reproduce. Now, every time we're active we use up our stores of hemoglobin in the blood.”

“That's fourth-grade biology,” Kirk said. “Go on.”

“Sorry. The results haven't come back yet, but here's my guess: when the host's heme levels are high, the virus shuts the body down via hibernation. More heme for it, you understand, if the host is motionless. The more it can reproduce within the host's body.”

“But Adams didn't go through a coma,” Kirk protested.

“We don't know that. Maybe he did, before he sent the distress signal, before his heme stores became depleted. Maybe he killed Yoshi and Lara because his heme levels dropped.”

“But you just said he was in a coma.”

“Hibernation, actually. Two very different states. Anyway, maybe what brings the host
out
of hibernation is the heme level dropping
too
low. The virus wants survival, so it wakens the host to go and search for more heme.”

“By killing someone else and drinking their blood,” Kirk said distastefully.

“But drinking it would not have the same effect as getting a transfusion,” Spock pointed out.

“Well, you're right there, Spock. “McCoy was still cheerfully smiling, as if too happy to be aware of the gruesome turn the conversation had taken. “That's a strange little side effect, that craving for blood a type of pica, an abnormal craving, caused by the anemia. I suppose that if the host is too stupid to figure out that just drinking blood won't help him, then he'll go the way of the elephant. Sure, it would raise his iron stores some, and help in the production of hemoglobin, but not at all like a transfusion would.”

“And someone,” Kirk said heavily, not wanting to believe the obvious, “Adams, perhaps,
designed
this virus to do what it does?”

McCoy stopped smiling and nodded.

“Elegantly insidious,” Spock said. “The work of a darkly creative mind. The virus promotes its spread by driving the victim to search for heme. Thus more victims are infected. The craving ensures the necessary physical contact to spread the disease.”

McCoy nodded. “As in Adams' case, there is some dementia. The pica tends to cause bursts of irrationality. But personality seems to be a factor.”

He's hoping that because of Chapel
, Kirk told himself.

“Tomson said Stanger seemed to be fighting the urge to harm her,” the doctor continued. “Obviously, he's in need of another transfusion. We need to find him soon. Without a transfusion, the disease is ultimately fatal.”

“Then Adams could be dead by now,” Kirk said.

McCoy's expression soured. “Adams seems to be taking care of himself all right. Stanger got the disease because Adams was transfusing blood from him.”

“How could he get away with that?” Kirk was puzzled.

“Beats me.” McCoy shrugged. “I figured he must have overridden the cabin locks somehow. I asked Tomson to look into it. She said if that's how Adams did it, Stanger will be his first and last victim.”

“Now that Stanger is infected, Adams will no doubt seek healthier prey,” Spock added. “But I think it extremely unlikely that Adams overrode the lock. Very few people possess the ability
and
the security clearance”

“And I'm sure you're one of them,” the doctor interrupted. “But the fact exists that Stanger was infected.”

Kirk ran a hand over his forehead as he strained to remember. “Wait a minute. He could have done it. Waverleigh said something about his being a computer expert.”

“There you go. I just outlogicked Spock.” McCoy smiled sweetly. In spite of the seriousness of the conversation, it seemed hard for him to control his elation about Chapel. Kirk wanted to smile, but found it still too difficult.

Spock sighed and gazed briefly heavenward, as if he were going to roll his eyes but, on reflection, considered the gesture beneath his dignity. He did not reply to McCoy. “Will there be anything else, Captain?”

“As a matter of fact” Kirk stopped. His guilt over Quince's death made the matter too painful to go into, but he had to force himself.
If you want to get Mendez
…

Some of the happiness faded from McCoy's watery blue eyes, replaced by a look of somber curiosity. “Something's eating at you, isn't it, Jim?”

Spock waited. The Vulcan had probably known all along, and simply bided his time until Jim could bring himself to talk about it.

Jim took a deep breath. “You know that I contacted Admiral Waverleigh at Starfleet and asked him to check into the matter about Mendez.”

“My God.” McCoy leaned forward. “He came up with something, didn't he?”

“He sent me a message,” Jim said. He wished he had been able to forget it, but he had thought it through a thousand times in the past day, analyzing each word. He repeated it for them.

Spock said nothing, but McCoy's expression was skeptical. “I've heard you talk about Quince, Jim. You sure he isn't just pulling your leg?” He looked at Spock. “Quince Waverleigh has a bit of a reputation as a joker.”

Spock digested the information without comment; his eyes were watching Jim, as if he already knew what the captain was going to say next.

“Bones” Jim began helplessly, and broke off. He tried to just say the words, and ignore the image he knew would come with them:
Quince's skimmer breaking up as it impacted with San Francisco Bay
It came out harsh and bitter. “Quince Waverleigh is dead.”

Spock's expression did not change.

“Dear God.” McCoy blanched. “Jim when did this happen?”

“Yesterday. His skimmer went into the bay.” It was out. Jim took a deep breath to steady himself. The rest would be easy “Gentlemen, Quince was my friend. I would appreciate some unbiased interpretation of these events.”

“I don't know if I'm unbiased,” McCoy said. “I knew Waverleigh, though not all that well. Better to say I knew
of
him, I suppose. But it seems very obvious to me that there's a direct connection between the message and his death. I hate to say it, but Adams must have been telling the truth.”

“Spock?” Jim asked softly. He valued McCoy's opinion, but it was the Vulcan's he was really waiting to hear. “That's why I brought you along.”

Spock nodded somberly. “I'm afraid I must agree with Dr. McCoy.”

“You think Mendez had him killed?” Kirk asked.

“Likely. And if not Mendez, then someone else put at risk by the investigation.” Spock paused. “But Captain, it is likely that Mendez is by now aware that you were in touch with Admiral Waverleigh. And certainly he knows that you will attempt to avenge the admiral's death.”

Elegantly put
, Kirk thought.
That's exactly what I intend to do—avenge Quince's death.

“I don't like where this is heading,” McCoy muttered.

Spock continued, ignoring him. “It is only a matter of time before Mendez decides to silence you. Or better, if he could arrange it, to discredit you.”

“I've been thinking about that,” Kirk said slowly. “My main concern is protecting the
Enterprise.” Bad enough that I've killed Quince

“I would be surprised,” Spock said, “if Mendez has not already acted. The sooner you are silenced, the better.”

“Mendez would like to have me out of the picture, of course,” Kirk said. “But not necessarily at the cost of his own skin. Let's not forget that it's more than a little difficult to blow a starship out of existence without explaining why. I doubt Mendez has the power to commandeer another starship to attack the
Enterprise
.”

“But he would have far less difficulty focusing his attack on you personally, Captain,” Spock said, with a quiet certainty that made Jim shudder. “Just as he did with Admiral Waverleigh. It might be best at this point to force his hand, in light of the fact that he may be aware of your contact with Waverleigh.”

“How?” McCoy interjected. “What do we do, call him up and say, ‘Look, we know you're guilty'? What sort of proof do we have against him?”

“None, at the moment,” Kirk said. “Just Adams' word against his. And we haven't even got our hands on Adams yet.”

“Mendez need not know that,” Spock said calmly. “It might be possible to convince him otherwise. Perhaps we have nothing incriminating against him now, but it might be possible to encourage him to act in such a way that we get it.”

McCoy frowned at him. “You mean, call up Mendez and say that we have evidence against him?”

“That we have access to such evidence. For example, that evidence existed on Tanis. As it very well might in the form of Sepek's body.”

“Say who?” McCoy looked puzzled.

“The Vulcan researcher I mentioned to you before, Doctor, who died of the original R-virus.”

“Then what?” Kirk asked. “Lure Mendez there and try to get a confession?”

“Let the admiral's own actions incriminate him. If he believes that there is incriminating evidence on Tanis base, he will find some way to get there quickly. And if he cannot locate any evidence by himself, he will be forced to take some sort of desperate action to find it.”

McCoy looked unconvinced. “But how do we know Mendez hasn't already removed Sepek's body?”

“We don't,” Spock told him. “That is why we make no mention of the type of evidence we have.”

“And hope he doesn't decide to come after Jim.”

“It's a risk I'm willing to take,” Kirk said, “if it will help to incriminate Mendez.”

Spock stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps less risk would be incurred if you were to tell the admiral the evidence implicated someone
else
in Starfleet.”

Kirk nodded. “Tell him I think, for example, that Quince's boss Tsebili is to blame and that there's evidence on Tanis that should clear everything up.”

“Precisely.”

“And then what?” McCoy persisted.

Kirk turned to look at him. “And then, Doctor, we hope like hell we get to Tanis first.”

AT THE VIEWSCREEN in his quarters, Kirk composed his features into an expression of respect. It took every ounce of his latent acting talent to keep his hatred from showing.