He took a breath before he trusted himself to speak. “Yes, Doctor? What is it?”

“We’ve had a breakthrough with the Tenjin carcinoform.”

“Selar’s on the planet, but you can relay the data directly to her computer,” Sisko suggested.

“I’ll do that anyway, but right now I wanted to share that with somebody in person.”

Behind her, Sisko could see the lab at Starfleet Medical, and members of her staff working round the clock on the R-fever that had been rushed to them from Starbase 23, as well as the Tenjin virus.

“It must be awfully late where you are,” he said.

“It is. That’s why I didn’t want to disturb the Admiral.”

“So you want to share it with me? I’m listening.”

“Before you signed on for this mission, I did a little dog-and-pony show for the admiral, McCoy, and Selar. Mostly for the admiral’s benefit, to help her understand what we were dealing with. Just at random, I compared our neoform to human HIV. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it; it’s an artifact from the twenty-first century—”

“I’ve heard of it,” Sisko said. “Are you telling me that’s what this thing is like?”

“At the time I did the presentation, it was just a lucky guess. But putting together the pieces your team has been gathering, it turned out to be an accurate guess. This germ doesn’t kill by itself; it does what HIV used to do and turns the body’s own defenses against it. That’s why it shows up as a killer flu on some worlds, as a cancer on others.”

Sisko thought about that for a moment. “I have a feeling that’s not good news.”

Crusher sighed. “No, it isn’t, not in terms of isolating and/or treating this thing, not yet. But I just wanted you to know that what Albatrossis doing out there is important.”

Sisko didn’t say anything to that.

“Want to talk about it?” Crusher asked against his silence.

“Talk about what?”

“Feeling outnumbered? Only round-ear on the mission and all that?”

How long had she been watching him? he wondered. How much of his muttering had she overheard?

“You know I am,” he said, wondering if she was reading his vital signs from there and registering his stress levels as well. “And I don’t appreciate Tuvok’s second-guessing me about beaming down to Quirinus. I might have reached the same decision he did, if he hadn’t overridden me. Maybe he doesn’t think I’m experienced enough to make command decisions…” Sisko stopped and thought about that. “And, dammit, he’s probably right. But I should have been allowed to arrive at that on my own. It seems to me Vulcans can’t resist telling us mere humans what’s best for us. I pride myself on being able to get along with anyone, but—”

“—but you’ve been bent out of shape since you were drafted for this mission, and Tuvok’s second-guessing you only makes things more difficult.”

“Is that an official prognosis, Doctor? Or are you just minding my business?”

“Neither. Just a prelude to asking you to put on your best face for a moment. There’s someone here who wants to talk to you. Admiral Uhura arranged it especially. It’s a little earlier on Okinawa,so it’s only a little past his bedtime…”

“Daddy?”

“Jake?”Sisko couldn’t believe his eyes. His son was standing there in his pajamas rubbing one eye, a favorite stuffed “critter” so raggedy Sisko couldn’t remember what it had once been trailing behind him. He found himself kneeling on the deck to be at eye level, wishing more than anything that he could put his arms around the boy. But while the holos were good, they weren’t that good.

Yet,Sisko thought. Someday, maybe. But for now…

“Jake-O? Son, how are you? How you feeling, little man?”

“Daaad—!” The kid managed to stretch the single syllable out to at least four. “I’m not little! I’m almost five and a half.”

“So you are. My mistake. It’s just you’re growing up so fast. What’s going on? How’s kindergarten? How’s Momma? Did Grandpa Joe call you since I’ve been gone?”

Shut up!he told himself. Let the boy speak. What’s the matter with you?Jake was rubbing both eyes now.

“Sleepy!” he announced. “Goin’ back to bed. Momma’s here, though.”

“Okay, Jake-O. I’ll talk to you soon. I love you!”

“Love you, too, Daddy…” And, dragging his critter behind him, he was gone.

“It’s my guess you miss him,” Jennifer said, and this time Sisko had no words at all; he just rose to his feet and gazed at her. Had she been this beautiful the last time he saw her?

It was at that point that Crusher made her exit.

“I’ll put you two on discrete,” she said. “Lieutenant, you can let me know when you want to terminate.”

“What?” he said vaguely, his eyes and mind only for Jennifer. “Affirmative, Doctor. And…thank you.”

“It rains a lot,” Zetha told Jarquin, as usual blurting out her words without giving anyone else a chance to speak, though this time, she suspected, it was welcome. “But, yes, it’s very warm in the summer. Warm enough to walk bare-armed in the sun. And when any two of the moons rise, it’s very bright, and everyone has two shadows.”

“Two shadows!” Jarquin whispered almost in awe. “And the butterflies—?”

“Exquisite,” Zetha told him, though she’d seen precious few of them in the dark streets of the capital. “Just as you imagine them. Sometimes if you’re very still, they’ll even light on your shoulders and in your hair, especially if you wash with flower soaps.”

Now that,she thought, is going too far. It was only one butterfly, and it landed on the wildflower Tahir found struggling through a crack in a cobblestone and braided into your hair. But how would this—bureaucrat—know that?Emboldened, she went further.

“There are certain times of the year, when they migrate, there are so many of them overhead that they block out the sun…” Zetha noticed that Tuvok was watching her, something like admiration in his eyes. “Citizen Jarquin, can you imagine looking up at what you think is a cloud and seeing instead a rainbow of colors, flashing in the sunlight, all fluttering at once, moving as one toward a common goal?”

Jarquin did not answer. His thoughts were very far away. Tuvok cleared his throat.

“That is sufficient, Niece,” he said. “Citizen Jarquin and I need to discuss our itinerary now.”

That brought Jarquin out of his rapture. “I’m afraid it won’t be entirely possible for you to visit every sector you’ve requested.”

“Why not?” Tuvok demanded with what he hoped was a credible Romulan imperiousness.

“I can issue you limited travel permits for certain areas, but others…” He seemed to weigh something before he spoke next. “Citizen Leval, Citizen Vesak, I trust these words will never leave this room…but there have been outbreaks of we don’t know what, except that it was deadly….”

Zetha, her mouth shut at last, dared a glance at Selar, who had suddenly become even more alert than usual.

“We’ve had to quarantine two of the cities you requested, and certain sectors of three more. No one gets in or out until we’re certain this thing is finished.”

Jarquin had pulled up a map on his desk screen. Selar leaned forward imperceptibly, committing it to memory. While Jarquin was occupied with pushing buttons, she and Tuvok exchanged glances. Selar’s was visibly excited; Tuvok’s urged caution.

“Damnable, inexplicable, something like that occurring in the winter,” Jarquin was muttering. “Every citizen receives immunizations at the start of every winter against anything contagious. Well, you can imagine, shut up indoors most of the time, we can’t be too careful. But usually no one gets sick in the cold weather. Sorry, I know this will cut into your profits, but I can’t let you…”

“We quite understand,” Tuvok said before Selar could object. “But we can have permits for the other sectors we requested?”

“Oh, of course, of course,” Jarquin blustered, rummaging on his desk for the proper forms. “Always happy to be of service to loyal Romulans…”