Star Trek Voyager: Starfleet Academy #3: Quarantine by Patricia Barnes-Svarney

Author:Patricia Barnes-Svarney [Barnes-Svarney, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-671-00733-5
Publisher: Minstrel Books
Published: 1997-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Kathryn felt herself move away from The Zan, then moved back again. “I’m sorry. I-I’ve never been exposed to a plague before.”

The Zan nodded. “This is new to my people, too. We have long been without the plague, but now, like a silent snake in the grass, it sneaks up behind us,” she said, twisting her long fingers to move like a snake. She looked wistfully around the room and sighed. “These are my people, Cadet Kathryn Janeway. I am their leader. And I feel as if I have let them down.”

“Leader?” said L’as’wa, puzzled. “Govenoral Nema is leader.”

“Yes, of his people,” she answered. “We are called the Chatoob, but our people are—”

“Divided into the Chats and the Obers … sss,” interrupted Blinar, remembering his lesson from the captain.

“Yes, the Obers represent almost half the population. We are the original culture of this planet,” she said, clasping her hands together.

“And who should rightfully rule the planet,” muttered Lane. Kathryn noticed that he had started sweeping the floor nearby, but was still listening.

The Zan gave Lane a swift look, then turned to Kathryn, suddenly looking tired and sad. “Lane is my second in command. And these Obers around us are the ones who have contracted the Cillian plague. I can only hope the Obers in the other domes have not yet contracted the disease. The plague started in this dome two moon-times ago, and we’ve heard nothing from them since then.”

Timothy scratched his head. “You really don’t look different than the Chats. How are the Obers different?”

Lane made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “The Obers speak slowly and with their hands, as the ancients once did; Chats speak as rapidly as the machines they use to speed up their lives. We are simple; they surround themselves with riches. And they sniff the air to show disgust—mostly of the Obers.”

“And something you can’t see on the outside,” added The Zan, holding up her right hand as if trying to hold something back. “For some reason, the Obers cannot resist the plague, but the Chats can.” She looked at Kathryn and tilted her head, her blue eyes widening. “I truly hope you are all immune. It would not be right for you to carry such a burden.”

“This is really all my fault, Zan,” said Kathryn, looking back at the other cadets. “I was following an elderly woman, and the others just came along with me.” She looked around the room. “And I still don’t see her here.”

Lane seemed to almost bark, the biting sound causing many of the Obers to turn in the direction of the cadets. “That was no Ober you saw, Cadet Kathryn Janeway.”

“He’s probably right,” The Zan said to Kathryn. “The woman was a Chat decoy to get you to enter a yellow room—and contaminate you with the plague.” She folded her arms across her chest and curled over. “Many of us,” she whispered, “including me, were fooled into following not only elderly women, but sick children into the plague room.

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