Captain's log, Stardate 1457.54, Acting Captain Ada Haversine reporting

It is with profound sadness and enormous personal regret that I must report the death of Nurse Rogers. Her service throughout our mission, and particularly on the recent evacuation effort, was never anything short of outstanding. Recommend highest honors. Investigation is ongoing, cause of death pending Dr. Cromwell's postmortem.

Personal log, Stardate 1457.54, Acting Captain Ada Haversine reporting

She was beaten to death, as if by an enraged crowd. When I saw her face, bloodied and broken, it was all I could do not to vomit. I don't understand it. It makes no sense, though a corner of my mind races with horrific, impossible scenarios. I feel the creature's hand in this, but that must be due simply to Its ever growing presence in my mind.

Casey is, of course, under suspicion. The only candidate with means, motive, and opportunity. It makes perfect sense, and in that case it was my careless redistribution of authority that doomed Polly. And yet, I don't believe for an instant that Casey is capable of such an atrocity. An egomaniac, certainly, with below-average work ethic. But never have I observed any indication of visceral anger in him, repressed or externally expressed, that could lead him to bludgeon a woman to death with his bare hands. It defies imagination. At any rate, he barely had time to reach her before he called it in.

I blather now, because there is a darker thought on my mind, one that I can't bear to touch.

Polly wore a blue satin ribbon in her hair today. I noticed on the Bridge, because I thought it might have been the one that Marie gave to her. When Casey found her body, her hair had come out of its braid, and the ribbon was nowhere in sight. No one else seems to have noticed.

I found the ribbon five minutes ago. I don't know what to make of it, or how it came to be there. It's impossible that it means what my fevered, paranoid mind takes it to mean. But how am I to explain how that little blue ribbon could end up in the still, clenched hand of my comatose, pale-as-death sister? Polly was found between Charles's bed and Marie's. Their bodies-all the coma victims, in fact-were apparently undisturbed by the violent struggle. But when I returned to the scene, I chanced to look at Marie's left hand, and noticed that it was balled in a fist. It never was before. Since she lapsed into her coma, to my knowledge she has never so much as twitched-none of them have. I opened her hand, and there it was: that satin sliver of blue. I'm staring at it now; it's stained with what I can only assume is Polly's blood.

I have just learned that Commander Spock intends to beam down and manage the evacuation from here. The temptation to reveal all is increasingly strong, but given what I have seen of the Federation in the last year, it is impossible to trust a stranger, no matter how principled he might appear.

I must speak with Cromwell. I trust him about as far as I can throw the fat bastard, but he's my last possible ally.

Spock stood in the transporter room, clad head to toe in a vividly orange protective suit. The news of the murder in Inquisitive's sickbay had taken a muted but marked effect on him. It simultaneously complicated and clarified things. Before the death of Nurse Rogers, Spock had been unwilling to conclude that the goings-on aboard the science vessel were underhanded in nature. Now, however, it seemed impossible to deny that murky forces drove the events on the Inquisitive to ever darker developments.

He had decided to beam over unescorted; his desire to uncover the truth unencumbered by a large boarding party easily outweighed his concern for his own safety. As he took his place on the transporter pad, he contemplated the task ahead. It was imperative, he had decided, to ascertain the truth of this strange, unsettling situation. It was impossible to proceed wisely without full information. He had little doubt that this would be best accomplished through examination of Haversine herself. To this end, he would remain with her as the evacuation proceeded.

As he vanished from the Enterprise, Spock braced himself for the labyrinth ahead.