was earsplitting, like something that might be torn from the throat of a dying bat.
And Alynna Nechayev melted.
He had never seen anything like it. It was as if her body had simply lost cohesion, transforming into a gelatinous mass of protoplasm, suffused with a blue glow. Her head descended between her shoulders, her arms melted into her body, and her legs dissolved beneath her body, causing it to sink very rapidly as if she had just stepped into a pool of quicksand. She made the most appalling noise when she collapsed in on herself, like a sucking noise through a huge straw, and then her body utterly dissolved into a mass of flesh and liquid bones that mixed together into a disgusting, multicolored agglomeration.
Soleta pitched backward and Calhoun caught her. Her face, typically with a light green tint, was completely yellow. Were she human, she would have been diagnosed with kidney failure. He shouted her name but her yellow-tinted eyes rolled up into her head and she was nonresponsive.
Passersby stopped in their tracks, unable to process fully what they had witnessed. Instantly he hit his badge and shouted, “Calhoun to Excalibur! Emergency beam up, two to sickbay, now! Now!”
In a burst of color and molecules, Calhoun and Soleta vanished, leaving a stunned Admiral Jellico with a spreading puddle where an esteemed admiral had previously been standing, and a hell of a lot of explaining to do.
U.S.S. Excalibur
i.
The Doctor sat in Ten-Forward, looking around at the laughing couples. They were discussing the close scrapes that the ship had had, and the madness of Morgan Primus, and how terrific it was that everything was finally up and running again. He watched that Tobias woman from the bridge, the one who had somehow known that the Dauntless was about to fire upon them—which, as it had subsequently turned out, was a correct assumption. She was seated across the table from another young woman who had red skin and a haunted expression. Tobias was clearly trying to offer witticisms that would distract the young woman from her dour mood, but nothing seemed to be working. He hoped that whatever was bothering the young woman, it would all be sorted out in time.
“Is this seat taken?”
He looked up. Seven was standing there, with her hand resting on the chair opposite him.
“It is now,” he said with what he imagined was a degree of suavity. At least it was close as he was able to summon.
She pulled out the chair, sat, and folded her hands on the table. “I just wanted to say that it was very brave, what you did. We didn’t know for sure it was going to work. And if Morgan’s capabilities had exceded expectations, she might indeed have been able to detect the presence of the nano-virus within your mobile emitter. She could have turned it against you, caused you to—”
“I know what she could have done,” he said. “I was there when we had the discussions. It had to be done and I did it. I… mourn her passing, as best I can. I acknowledge the part I played in it. And now I move on.”
“I know you know it. I wanted you to know… that I knew it. You know?”
“I do. Or at least I do now. At least I think I do.”
She watched him for a time, and then said, “And I wanted to thank you. And to tell you that what you said about me… about why you were doing it…”
He looked embarrassed. “Yes, I know, it was melodramatic claptrap, foolish words from—”
“I thought it was very sweet.”
“Yes, I did, too.”
She laughed softly and he was surprised at how gentle and unforced it was. Then she said with genuine interest, “So… if you don’t mind my asking… what are you doing here? I mean, you don’t drink. You don’t know anyone else. So why…?”
“Sometimes… I just like to sit and watch people, and try to determine, just by watching them, what their individual situations are. How they eat, what their hobbies are, why they joined Starfleet. I find it a stimulating exercise.”
“And are you correct in your surmises?”
“I don’t know. I never thought to ask. It’s the speculation that intrigues me. To wonder about what might be is always much more interesting than obsessing about what is.”
Then he looked down. Seven was resting her hand atop one of his. Slowly, tentatively, he curled his fingers around hers.