Star Trek by Dave Galanter

Author:Dave Galanter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2019-12-16T16:00:00+00:00

15

“You’re different,” Culber told Stamets. He kept himself from reaching for him, because in truth he’d only known this Stamets for a matter of hours. Still, his ability to separate the man in front of him from his own universe’s version was proving difficult. Removed from his husband for so long—he just wasn’t sure how much time had passed—there was a great temptation to convince himself this Stamets was the one he loved.

“I’m just distracted.” Stamets gestured around the lab with the scanner he was running over Culber’s torso. “There’s a lot going on. On a good day, there are usually a hundred thousand and seven things bouncing around my head. Right now, I think it’s a million and seven.”

Culber found himself bathed in a radiated pleasure he’d not felt for so long. “That’s a lot of thoughts.”

Stamets glanced up, and their eyes met. “Many of them about you.”

“You’re a charmer.”

Scanner still in hand, Stamets made a so-so hand motion. “Pretty sure the only context in which I could be called that involves my coaxing a snake from a basket with a flute.”

An honest laugh bubbled from Culber’s throat.

“Wait,” Stamets asked. “Did you mean I’m different than earlier, or different than your—the other me?”

“Both.” His cheeks began to ache from maintaining such a cheerful grin. It was a pleasant contrast from the burns the JahSepp usually inflicted.

“This is interesting.” Stamets studied the tricorder readings, then moved to the nearby console, pulling up the data.

“I assume you’ll share.” Culber stepped closer and studied the display. “Interesting? More like weird.”

“Human genetically, but the body chemistry …” Stamets highlighted a section of the scan, pulling it forward and magnifying it. “Altered somehow.”

“I see it. The genetics are right—”

“But the amino acid and enzyme ratios are off.” Stamets tapped at the screen, then turned to Culber. “This may be why you don’t remember eating. I think, like a mushroom, you were processing sustenance from the environment around you.”

“The yeel bark?”

“Maybe. Maybe.” He brought up his analysis of the tree’s composition. It did have most of the nutrients a human would need, given the altered chemistry of Culber’s biology. “What changed you? How did you get here?” Stamets asked.

“You,” he replied. “You found me.” Their eyes met again, this time more deeply, and even though the doctor’s answer was metaphorical, there was a fundamental truth within it that he felt down to his atoms.

“Your eyes are very brown,” Stamets said. “Almost black.”

“Yeah.” Culber’s voice felt thick, barely above a rasp. Would a kiss be wrong? He just wanted to feel Paul, to connect with him. And yet Culber couldn’t help but think it was a betrayal.

Was it?

It was always about the eyes for his Stamets too. And it didn’t matter if it was the right universe or not—these were Paul’s eyes he was gazing into.

Looking away, Stamets saw Lieutenant Nilsson working on something at the alternate console. Instinctively, he and Culber backed away from each other, unwilling to share publicly what each must have sensed the other was feeling.

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