Star Trek TNG - 096, 5 A Time to Love by Robert Greenberger

Author:Robert Greenberger [Robert Greenberger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780743462853
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 2014-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

Moq was somewhat overweight by human standards, but for a Bolian he was considered in excellent shape. He had served aboard the Enterprise-E ever since the ship was commissioned, and he’d performed his job well. There hadn’t been many calls for a botanist during the Dominion War, but he had used his time well, conducting research on several worlds ravaged by the Jem’Hadar. His results had proven useful during the rebuilding.

The botany lab was normally bright, but when Moq was on duty, he preferred to keep the lighting dim, letting the display screens appear that much brighter. More alive, he told Crusher when she had asked. The lab was filled with chambers for experiments, microscopes at long tables, and other equipment. Crusher herself rarely needed to visit the lab, but thought Moq would appreciate using his own equipment to help study the situation.

“Right on time, Doctor,” he said by way of greeting. They agreed to meet six hours after the study began, allowing Moq at least half an hour to look at the compiled results. She noticed that a long, slender green leaf was laid out under the microscope, and she made a note to herself to take a look at the culprit.

“What do you have, Moq?”

“This plant is tenacious, growing wild on all four continents and eighty-seven percent of the islands,” the Bolian explained. He activated a screen near Crusher and the planet appeared with a bright green overlay indicating the presence of the liscom plant. Both studied it in silence for several moments, the doctor thinking that under normal circumstances, they’d never think twice about a plant this ubiquitous. Of course, this situation was anything but normal.

“Tell me about the plant,” she said, breaking the silence.

“It’s wild, not used for food by the people, but seems to be liked well enough by several species of insect. From what I can tell, it’s generally ignored by the people.”

“But it does emit a gas that’s hurting the population,” Crusher said gravely. She tucked her hands deep in her lab coat and paused to think. There was no point in upsetting the ecosystem to remove the plant. And it was probably an impossible task to eradicate only one form of plant life.

She walked over to the microscope, her touch activating the viewer. Peering into it, she looked at an unremarkable plant, so much like the ones she had seen on countless other planets. And yet, it was a silent harbinger of death.

“Anything further to add?”

“Not really, Doctor,” Moq replied. “I ran it through the normal planet survey tests, and they matched the results from the original Bader survey ship. It’s just a plant.”

“Nothing ‘just’ about it, Moq. Nothing at all,” Crusher said sadly.

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