“I see,” Sisko said, half listening, moving not quite as quickly as Heisenberg, examining the internal configuration of each container in growing amazement. Uhura, pleased that he was now with the mission in soul as well as body, let him woolgather.

One last module opened to reveal an apparatus even Sisko couldn’t quite identify. He was about to examine it when he suddenly realized who had created all of this.

“Dr. Heisenberg?” he said, not even attempting to keep the awe out of his voice. “TheDr. Heisenberg? The man who single-handedly kept refining Starfleet’s sensors to counter improvements in the Romulan cloaking device?”

“The same, I’m afraid,” the white-haired gent acknowledged, containing his admiration for his own work long enough to join his guests. “Although we have little knowledge of what improvements have been made in the cloaking device since the Tomed Incident. Love to get my hands on one. Damn clever, those Romulans.”

Sisko turned slowly, absorbing the whole gestalt.“This is incredible, sir! I’ve studied some of your designs, but I’ve never before seen one in action. But, I don’t know how to say this, sir…I thought you were dead.”

“Ah, well…” Heisenberg began, scratching one ear contemplatively. “There are reasons why we want the universe at large to believe that I am.” He and Uhura exchanged glances, and Sisko thought he understood. Heisenberg was an SI operative, designer of brilliant gadgetry for agents to use in the field, whose notoriety in a previous career made it necessary for him to be invisible.

“Of course, sir,” Sisko said, a trace of hero worship lingering in his voice. The urge to tell Jennifer about his encounter would have to remain just that, an urge. “These modules are incredible!”

“And the beauty of them,” Uhura explained with a kind of maternal glow at Heisenberg, “is the double reading. Go over them with the most sophisticated scanner, and they’ll show you what you think is inside them.”

“How—?” Sisko started to ask Heisenberg, then examined the thickness of one container’s sides and figured it out for himself. “False walls. You’ve installed bafflers in the intramural space.”

“Programmed to emit molecular readouts mimicking what ought to be inside each container,” Heisenberg acknowledged.

Sisko grinned. “Brilliant!”

“Heisenberg is, shall we say, an expert on enclosed spaces.” Uhura added with a twinkle.

It was obviously an in-joke that Sisko didn’t get. Did Heisenberg actually look embarrassed?

“I assume, Mr. Sisko, that you’ll want to see what makes her tick?” he said.

Sisko’s face lit up. “I would indeed, sir.”

The engine room was as grimy and rundown as he’d expected, but he found himself rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Jennifer was right; he spent too much time in the realm of theory. Here he would finally get a chance to practice some of the things he’d only dreamed about. He would take this hunk of junk apart and put her back together and have her purring like a kitten in no time.

Sisko stopped himself. Only if you can do it on the fly, fool! The fact is, you have no time. According to the briefing Admiral Uhura gave you on the way up here, you’ve got to get this beast up and running and out of here by tomorrow and fly her into the Neutral Zone, if you have to hold her together with spit and paperclips in order to do it.

As he poked and prodded her, grimacing at the cramped space he’d have to work in, hearing sounds he didn’t like, aware that one of the atmospheric converters was overheating even sitting in dock, and wondering where that drip was coming from, he saw that Heisenberg was watching him appreciatively.

“How fast will she go?” Sisko asked at last, wiping his hands on a rag he’d found wrapped carelessly around an atmospheric conduit, ducking his head and following Heisenberg forward to the conn. Admiral Uhura was no longer with them, and he assumed she’d stayed behind in the cargo bay, possibly receiving more incoming from the rest of her team.

“Guess,” Heisenberg said with his characteristic twinkle.

“I’m guessing warp 4 flat out,” Sisko said.

Heisenberg was scratching his ear again. “Not quite.”

“You mean she’s slower than that? With all due respect, sir, why don’t we just paint a target on her side and have done with it?”

“Actually,” Heisenberg said diffidently, “she can manage warp 7 or even a tad more if you speak to her nicely.”

That rocked Sisko back on his heels. “You can’t tell me this ship can go that fast.”

Heisenberg shrugged. “Don’t need to tell you; I can show you. Computer: Engine specs, code ‘Uncertainty.’ ” A schematic appeared on the heretofore blank forward screen. “Modifications here, here, and here.”

Sisko whistled appreciatively.

“I’m hoping no one but an engineer would notice them,” Heisenberg said. “There’s also a set of blind controls double-rigged on her impulse controls to conceal her special skills from prying eyes. But I guess, being a pragmatist, you’ll have to take her out and discover all that for yourself.”

“But she’s not built for it,” Sisko objected. “And with all those exterior components, she’ll rattle apart.”

“Will she?” Heisenberg seemed surprised at the thought. “She didn’t the last time I took her for a spin.”

“You’ve reinforced her bulkheads as well,” Sisko guessed. “How, without it showing up on scanners?” He thought about it. “Oh. The same way you’ve double-hulled the containers.”

“Bright lad!” Heisenberg said. “Truth is, with all the modifications, she weighs almost twice what she’s supposed to. But unless the Romulans—or even one of ours—can actually haul her into a spacedock and put her on a scale…”

“One of ours?” Sisko repeated, but Heisenberg was headed back to the cargo bay.

“The outer hull is also equipped with bafflers programmed to feed back the same readings as the manifests on each individual container. Scan the ship from the outside, and you’ll see rolls of Tholian silk in the most alluring colors, replacement parts for Romulan food replicators, a consignment of blue corn destined for the Draken colonies, assorted cams and stem bolts. One container actually holds medical supplies, but none worth stealing. More of the take-two-aspirin-and-call-mein-the-morning variety, but they may come in handy for trade.”

The lab modules continued their humming, blinking, bubbling conversation with each other. As Sisko had guessed, Uhura was waiting for them here, sitting primly on a stool behind a medical console that twinkled like a Christmas tree, looking like a schoolgirl on the first day of biology lab. Heisenberg, still in lecture mode, concluded his talk.

“Someone would actually have to board the ship and manually breach the containers—since you won’t let anyone take the control unit from you—to find the lab modules or the transmitter.”

“Which brings me to a question, Doctor,” Sisko said. “If we are stopped and boarded, by the Romulans or, as you say, someone from our side—because once we cross the Zone we’ll be in violation of treaties on both sides—but someone with enough clout comes aboard and demands to see the cargo bay, how quickly can these modules—”

He never finished his sentence. In the time it took Heisenberg to wink at Uhura, who, knowing the floor plan, wisely stepped out of the way, the containers began to reverse their initial opening dance, refolding and sealing themselves with such rapidity that Sisko almost didn’t know where to duck first. When the show was over and everything had been put back into place in an uncannily brief amount of time, he tried to recover his dignity.

“And what if someone’s inside one of the modules at the time?”

“We’re assuming they’ll hear the commotion you and Mr. Tuvok are creating in the control cabin trying to keep the invaders out, and manage to step away in time,” Heisenberg explained. “If not, I’ve programmed in just enough space for an average-sized person to conceal themselves—not comfortably, but safely—and enough breathable oxygen for about thirty minutes. If you can’t subdue your attackers in that amount of time, the assumption is they’re going to take over the ship and your cover will be blown and your crew captured regardless of what I’ve done to prevent it. The bottom line, Mr. Sisko, is that technology can only do so much. The rest is up to you. And now, just one more thing…” Heisenberg motioned toward the mystery apparatus in the final container. “A little joint venture on the part of the admiral and myself. This one amazes even me.”