Chapter 4 added on 11 Dec 2002
Disclaimers are in part 1.
Rating: R
Chapter 4: The Spiral
~x~x~x~
About 3 Days Later...
"Doctor did anything change about..."
"You are probably the seventh person walking in here asking that question. I won't make any progress if all of you keep bothering me like this," the Doctor grumbled, studying a set of vials in front of him.
"I'm just informing about B'Elanna and Seven's situation," Harry Kim said walking towards the section of Sickbay that held the two infected women. He noticed how they eyed him, and then locked eyes, exchanging looks. "They still seem to be connected somehow, as if they can sense each other's throughts."
The EMH looked up from his work, grabbing a medical tricorder as he walked towards Harry's position. "Their molecular structure has changed a little. It's almost as if they're mutating."
"Mutating?" Harry looked positively stunned when he heard the word coming from the Doctor's mouth. "Into what?"
"Well it's not as bad as the lizzard-case," the Doctor stated smirking a little about his own inside joke. "I think the virus is integrating into their cellstructure. Although I'm fairly certain should they completely mutate into whatever they are mutating in, I can get them back with ease."
"Doctor."
"Hello Miss Tai," the EMH greeted the A'Scine woman.
"We be hearing you misbehave again."
The Doctor bowed his head slightly and seemed to sulk at those words.
Harry stared at the Doctor with surprise and found the following silence a bit too uncomfortable to his taste. "I...ehh my shift is starting soon. I'll stop by later today to see if there's any change in B'Elanna's or Seven's situation."
"I'm sure they don't mind if you skipped today, and waited until tomorrow, or even next week," the Doctor replied one of his eyebrows raising in quasi-innocence.
"Be nice," Tai said, nudging the Doctor as she walked towards one of the stations that was monitoring Seven and B'Elanna.
Harry shot the EMH a bit of a dirty look before he walked out of Sickbay. But not before he bend his head towards Tai Bo'Jan a little and whispered something in her ear. "I see you've got a bit of a hold on him."
Tai smiled back and eyed the Doctor who seemed to be completely focused at the work at hand. "Oh he be rude sometimes, but his personality be good."
Smiling at Tai's comments Harry left Sickbay. But not before casting one last look at the two women covered in black substance across the room. They had been there for 4 days now, and the only change in their situation had been a slow detoriation of their brain-structure. Although the Doctor could get them back again, Harry knew the EMH's biggest fear was they lost some of their personality in the process, perhaps even some of their memory or skills. The Doctor was afraid B'Elanna or Seven would never be the same again. Harry hoped with all his heart, the EMH was wrong for once.
"Tai, I thought you were going to run some scans in Astrometrics?"
"Doctor not be getting rid of Tai so fast," the slender woman said her eyes swirling with the fun she was having at the expense of the EMH.
"Well..." The Doctor shut up knowing he couldn't win any argument with the A'Scine woman.
"We be having found something interesting on the residue found on Lt. Anderson's body," Tai said handing a Padd with the information over to the Doctor.
"I cannot believe I missed that."
"We be having missed that first as well," the A'Scine woman stated.
"But, how?"
"We be believing infected crewmember not taken over entirely by Windigo. That person be having same string as Tai in bloodstream, but infection laying dormant." She frowned as she put some of the pieces of the puzzle together. "Must have been in contact with Seven, her nanoprobes have formed Tai's tissue and remains of virus into..."
"You mean that there's still residue from the virus in your bloodstream?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes, it be integrating into cellstructure yes? Seven of Nine having some of my tissue to replace her removed implants."
The EMH had the urge to snap his fingers at that conclusion. He knew about the A'Scine's biotechnology, Tai having told him a lot about it. The only real way they were able to replace lost tissue and even regrow whole organs and limbs was by taking a group of cells, or a small piece of tissue from a donor. Tai had therefor used some of her own cells to manipulate Seven's into regrowing her hand and even clone her eye. Only the Doctor realised now that the drawback was that Seven had the same slumbering leftovers of the Windigo-virus in her blood as Tai had.
"But Seven didn't infect Lt. Torres," the Doctor said overgoing possibilities.
"We be knowing that. Seven and B'Elanna Torres be Beta, another infected being be Alpha. Alpha having killed Lt. Anderson."
The EMH had to look very incredulous at that information, and ask for a more reasonable explanation, but he managed to hold his tongue. "Tai?"
"Explanation, be patient." Tai said her eyes moving back and forward over the two infected women. Instead of trying to explain it completely, Tai put some data into the padd, hoping it would clarify what her thoughts were on the situation. She knew the translator still didn't form her words very well, no matter how many adaptations B'Elanna had tried.
"So you saying, somebody has gotten infected a year ago?" The Doctor asked looking at the data-padd Tai had given him.
Tai nodded. "Not by direct contact, else subject be infected immediately."
"The infected crewmember has probably gotten infected in a different way then. Perhaps by some direct blood contact to some of the Windigo virus residue. But that in itself doesn't active the virus, it needs a key in the form of the cells of an active virus-strain?"
"No, Tai still have virus in blood, but the remains be intergrated in cell-structure. When we be in contact with a non-cured virus-strain, we be taken over by Windigo again."
"Which means the Alpha character, whoever that may be, has been either in direct contact with you, or Seven. Because else the virus would have laid dormant forever," the Doctor said drumming his fingers on the padd slightly.
"But who is the Mystery infected person?" the Doctor wondered out loud. "Now that I know what too look for it, it shouldn't be that hard to find the infected person. I just have to scan every person on board, is all," the EMH sighed at the prospect.
Tai stared at the two infected beings across the room. Their eyes were trained on her, almost as if they were trying to cleave right through her soul. It made her shudder for a moment, and without being aware of it, her black protective layer moved to the surface again.
"Tai how come they seem to have that same protective layer of skin as the A'Scine people?"
The A'Scine female titled her head slightly to one side. "We not be entirely sure. Perhaps it be another mutation. In early years, before the 5th big war the A'Scine had, there be cure secretly developed during war. Some A'Scine be cured by it, doctors who be having found that cure, be prosecuted after war, and be given dishonorable dead." Pausing for a moment, Tai seemed to lapse into an almost hallucionating state, as she remembered what had transpired so long ago. "After war, some A'Scine still be trying to get others cured with same cure as developed during war. Time later, cure not be working much anymore, seem to have mutated, adapted to cure, and be invulnerable to it."
"Do you have any idea what was used to make that cure? Perhaps if I compare that cure to mine, I can find where it changed before, and perhaps adapt it into curing B'Elanna and Seven. Where would this ship be without me," the Doctor said smirking.
Tai shook her head slightly. Grabbing another padd she started to work on a replica of what the old cure had been like.
~x~x~x~
Captain Kathryn Janeway woke up with a shock. Her chest heaved under the strain of getting some air in her oxygen-deprived lungs.
Her eyes had dilated, and the pupils were shooting back and forward across the room. For a moment she thought she was still dreaming as she saw a black silhouette move throughout her room towards her bed. The moment the black hand reached out though, it disappeared, and her heart-rate went back to normal again.
The dreams, or rather nightmares, had steadily gotten more lively and horrifying over the course of a week. And everytime she considered going to the Doctor to see if there was anything wrong, she had always chickened out at the end. She assumed the dreams would perish over time, and she just took a few extra sleep-pills to get some nightrest.
I didn't help at all that her fingers were completely cramped to a ball, and she was unable to stretch them for about 30 minutes. When they finally opened, her face contorted in utter shock as she saw a torn-off human finger lying in her hand. Screaming she managed to throw it away, after which she fell back in the bed and fainted.
~x~x~x~
"There, that should do it," the Doctor said, injecting Seven with the new cure he had finalized with the help of Tai Bo'Jan.
For a moment nothing happened, but then the black protective layer slowly peeled back, and revealed the creamy white skin of Seven's natural form. The Doctor who had seen Seven of Nine in the nude before, didn't falter under the sight. He moved towards Torres, and prepared to inject her too. What he hadn't considered, was the reactions of said woman when she awoke behind a forcefield, butt-naked together with an just as naked former Drone.
The first thing B'Elanna did was jump backwards as she noticed Seven of Nine sitting in the buff directly in front of her. She briefly wondered what the hell was going on. Then memories of what had transpired flew back to her. Her eyes darted back and forward as she remembered waking up one night in Sickbay, remembering the dark figure hovering above her. B'Elanna had seen those eyes, casting a greenish glow as they took her in, almost seeming to approve her for something. Those eyes, she knew them, and yet she couldn't figure out who they belonged too.
"Doctor, let me the fuck out of here, and give me some damn clothes," she shouted, pulling her knees to herself, and crossing her hands over them.
"I see one person is back to her normal self," the Doctor stated. "Too bad, I enjoyed it much more when you were a gibberishing cavewoman, cuddling with a certain somebody all the time."
"I what!!" B'Elanna half-shouted. "Let me out of here you damn PtaQ or I swear I will rearrange your matrix, and I don't give a shit about what the Captain has to say about that.
"Not even a proper thank you for restoring you back to your normal rude state, how pleasantly surprising. I'm sorry but I will have to keep you here for at least a day for observations," the Doctor said his face showing how amused he was at the current situation.
"You can't do that," B'Elanna protested. Her eyes shot back to Seven, who seemed not at all ashamed about her current state of undress. "At least give me some damn clothes, and Seven too, and will somebody tell me what the hell happened?"
"We were infected with the Windigo virus. A pathogen that has the infected being reduced to it's most primitive self," Seven stated, repressing the urge to clasp her hands behind her back.
The Doctor looked surprised at that statement. "How did you know?"
"I was aware of what transpired, but not in control. Perhaps it has to do with my Borg nature. The virus never completely took over my body."
"Borg superiority," B'Elanna sneered.
"Interesting," the Doctor merely said ignoring B'Elanna's comment. He did briefly wonder if he had made a wrong decision as to letting both Lt. Torres and Seven of Nine stay for another day. Besides for the Captain, they were the two most difficult patients onboard.
A slightly sizzling sound made the Doctor turn around, and he was midly surprised to say the least to find Chakotay standing in front of him, holding a ailing Captain Janeway in his arms.
~x~x~x~
B'Elanna sat on a biobed staring across the room to a small portion of Sickbay that was surrounded with a forcefield. Where she had been captured for 5 days, Kathryn Janeway was now strapped to a specially modified biobed. She only now realised that it had been the Captain's eyes she had seen when she had awoken that one night.
Not far away from her, Seven of Nine was also sitting on a biobed. She was being scanned by Tai Bo'Jan, as to be sure she was fully recovered from the Windigo Virus. Everytime B'Elanna locked eyes with Seven, she had this weird memories flowing back to her. Of her straddling the Borg's chest, and doing stuff she rather not think about.
"How come the Captain got infected in the first place?" B'Elanna wondered out loud. Knowing that the Doctor was near, and would surely pick it up.
"My speculation is that Seven somehow infected the Captain. However I'm not entirely sure how the Captain was able to catch the dormant part of the virus. The only thing I can think of, is that she must have been in Sickbay at some time when Tai was held captured. But since she didn't get the virus by a bite, she must have somehow ingested the virus, or have gotten bloodcontact with it."
"How does Seven fit in that picture," Torres wondered. She knew Seven could, and probably would hear it with her advanced hearing, but somehow found she didn't care about it.
"Uhm, well she must have had physical contact with the Captain in some way. I believe if you're really dying to know, you should ask Seven herself."
"Yeah right," B'Elanna said. "Are you done? I really need to go to Engineering."
"Yes. Your body appears to have disposed of every remain of the Windigo. I was able to produce a medicine that made sure no trace of the Windigo would be left in your body. Which seemed to be the problem in the first place. If I had known Tai and Seven still had some dormant key-elements of the virus left in their bodies, I would have removed them much sooner. And perhaps all this wouldn't have happened." Taking a pause, he checked the tricorder once more for irregularities. Satisfied there was none, he proclaimed Torres fit for duty.
"Oh, and Lt. Torres. I'm sure you wouldn't like to know about the fact that Seven visited you almost every night when you were staying here in Sickbay."
B'Elanna opened her mouth for a second, but then closed it again, speechless for once. Shrugging she spinned on her heels and walked out of Sickbay. She had to get busy working again, it would at least take her mind of what had happened. She didn't notice Seven was right behind her, at least not until they were both in the Turbolift.
"I would've thought, you would stay with the Captain?" B'Elanna said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"I have 'been' with her for quite a while, but decided I could make myself more useful if I completed some tasks."
"Astrometrics," Seven ordered, after which she clasped her hands behind her back and waited until the Turbolift reached it's destination.
"Computer, halt Turbolift."
"Lt. Torres?" Seven queried.
"You know it's basically 'your' fault I was in Sickbay. The Doctor told me infected the Captain somehow."
"I..."
"Well Seven, come on, admit whatever you've done to screw up things, this time," B'Elanna said with a very satifying smirk plastered on her face. She folded her hands across her chest and eyed Seven who was in obvious discomfort.
"Computer resume..."
"Belay that command," B'Elanna stepped closer to Seven. "I want to know, what you have done to the Captain alright. And I swear..."
"She...she kissed me," Seven said, stumbling over her own words.
"I knew it, so you kissed each other, and that way you transmitted that virus to her."
"NO," Seven said pushing B'Elanna back into the Turbolift wall. "The Captain innitiated the kiss, I did not respond and walked out."
"I should have known that too. Off course you didn't respond, because you don't feel now do you?" B'Elanna sneered. She didn't know why, but she felt such a need to piss the former drone off. Something had tugged at her deep inside when she had heard the Captain kissed Seven. She was jealous, and felt somewhat hurt, although she'd be damned to admit it. "A borg drone doesn't even know what love is."
"I do," Seven replied, her face hovering above B'Elanna's. "Computer resume turbolift."
As the Turbolift approached the deck on which Astrometrics was situated, Seven moved back to her earlier position. She appeared as if nothing had happened the last few minutes, and it annoyed the hell out of B'Elanna.
"So you're claiming you love the Captain?" B'Elanna asked snickering.
Seven stepped out of the Turbolift and walked towards Astrometrics. But just before the Turbolift-doors closed, she snapped her head backwards and fixed her eyes on the Chief Engineer's face. "I love somebody else."
"Who?" B'Elanna asked, her face flushed under the continous scrutiny of Seven's gaze.
"You, Lieutenant," Seven stated. And at that moment the Turbolift doors closed and Seven continued walking towards her domain.
~x~x~x~
Kathryn awoke to the sensation of something nibbling at her ears. A tongue poked out from between the teeth and started to swirl around her earlobe, eliticing a soft moan from deep within her. Try as she might, she couldn't completely open her eyes, her eyelids somehow to heavy to lift.
The erotic assault continued however. A finger danced across her stomach, which made her come to the realisation her torso was naked. It traced a path from her bellybutton to the valley between her breasts, after which it moved towards one breast and started to trace the nipple, until it hardened under the touch. Another moan welled up from her throat, and Kathryn blinked her eyelids again, trying to focus her vision.
"Seven?" she asked almost breathless.
There was no response, at least no vocal one. But a tongue was now tracing the same path the finger had earlier. It moved from one nipple to the other, driving Janeway slowly insane with lust. She felt how the bed slightly dented as a figure came to rest on it.
"Seven is that you?" she asked again.
Her eyes fluttered slightly, and for a moment she thought she could see somebody hovering above her. Before she could ask who was there, a mouth descended on hers. The kiss was passionate and hungry at the same time. But it also made Kathryn realise that it was not Seven who was kissing her.
With a shock she opened her eyes and stared right into two green ones. The face laughed at her, and then the creature ripped it's claws through her chest, mangling the flesh into a bloody heap.
In Sickbay the Doctor was alarmed to see Captain Janeway thrashing around on her biobed again. Even though he had given her a modified antidote immediately, because her viruspattern had been different, she was still in coma a week later.
The Doctor was reluctant to admit it, but he didn't have a clue as how to bring the Captain back to the land of living. Sighing slightly, he prepared another shot to make Kathryn's body stop spasming, after which he went back to his office.
The End