The clock read oh seven hundred. Kirk was headed swiftly down the halls of the Enterprise with Spock and Chekov in tow. The latter two hadn't spoken since the ordeal five hours earlier. Now they were headed back to the scene of the crime to finally question Amata.
Amata was in sick bay filling Doctor McCoy in on her autopsy notes of Ensign Saunders when Kirk and the others burst through the pneumatic door.
"Captain," Amata greeted him. Before she could greet the others Kirk had taken her shoulders and was steering her towards a bed to sit her down.
"It's about time we had a nice little chat, Doctor Gerald." Kirk sat her on a bed and stood opposite her, his arms crossed over his chest. Spock and Chekov stood at the end of the bed waiting.
"Captain, I don't understand. I've been more than co-operative with you… what is going on?" Amata said, genuinely bewildered.
"Spoke with the Senator last night. He said you knew more than you were telling us." Kirk said in his sarcastic tone. "Wanna enlighten me, Doctor?"
"I have no idea what he means… everything I haven't told you, I know my father has…"
"More specifically, the Senator said you knew what they were using the parts for." Kirk said putting a hand on the bed on either side of her body so their faces were close. "I highly suggest you start talking."
"I… I don't know… Captain honestly! The Senator… if he works with the Scavengers in a style that is even remotely similar to his political style, he will throw any information in to the pot, true or otherwise, that will stir things up. He's obviously lying!"
"Well it's not that obvious to me. You are a pathologist, and you know how to take out body parts and figure out what they're useful for. What are the missing body parts useful for, Doctor?"
"They are only useful for the purpose they were formed for in the first place! The medulla tells the heart to beat, the cerebellum tells you how to move, the prefrontal cortex controls memory, the spine keeps you one step above a jelly-fish, all the parts are highly specialized! I can see them building people, or repairing people illegally, but I have no other ideas!" Amata said becoming flustered from the unwanted attention.
"Fine here's one: You've just captured a human. What are you gonna do with his body parts?" Kirk asked.
"It depends which parts, Captain. I could remove 75% of the organs and still leave the human alive and functioning. Well, maybe I couldn't, but…"
"Why not?" Kirk asked.
"Well, Captain, I am a pathologist! I take apart the dead, not the living. I would be hesitant to do anything to a live body, human or otherwise. I might kill them because I have no idea what I'm doing with living tissue!" Amata argued back amiably.
"Fine, can you think of a reason why they'd want to build a person? Or anyone they'd want to fix?"
Amata thought for a moment. "There isn't a human I can think of that they'd want to fix, but if they were trying to build someone, they could be looking into a super-human structure. Taking the best from the best and mashing it all together, maybe?" She shook her head. "That can't be it at all! They took Roosevelt's cerebellum."
"So?"
"He was a carrier for Muscular Dystrophy! If they wanted to make a super-human they wouldn't give him that gene."
Kirk sighed and removed his hands from the bed. He began pacing. Suddenly his communicator went off. He answered with a simple: "Kirk."
"Captain, we found another body on the surface. It's Ensign Levi Exner." A voice came back.
"Bring him to the ship, we'll have Bones work him." Kirk sighed.
"Yes sir." The connection died.
"Captain, in all honesty Amata is far more qualified than I to perform an autopsy. It has been made very clear to me that she has no involvement in this case rather than connection to three victims." Bones argued for her.
"Fine. But I want you watching her every move." Kirk told him sternly. He then turned to Amata. "Don't screw this up." He said blatantly.
"I won't disappoint you sir." She replied.
Kirk signaled for Spock and Chekov to follow him.
They left sick bay and Kirk barked his orders. "I want the both of you to get down to Engineering and help Scotty find this damn bug in the system. I don't want any more of my crew disappearing."
"Yes, sir." They replied in unison.
***
The Ensign and Commander had both been assigned to the same sector of the ship by Scotty and were now performing a multitude of tests to find the bug that was scrambling the Enterpise. Both men worked in silence. Whether each was afraid to speak to the other after the previous night's occurrence or they simply had nothing to say was unclear yet.
Chekov was fully aware of the Commander's presence behind him. He didn't regard Spock, however. He was still angry. He understood full well that he had not laid a claim of any sort on the bright, young pathologist. The bright, young, Russian speaking, pathologist. He still had to ask her about that, how had she learned Russian so far from home? Or, better yet, why?
The questions he had yet to ask her were half of what kept him drawn to her now, after what he'd seen last night. The questions, and the hope that maybe he still had a chance, past her obvious infatuation with Spock and his similarities to her old lover. But that was all he had! Chekov thought. Similarities. Nothing more.
Spock lowered his instruments fully contented that the bug was not in his sector.
"Ensign, I believe," Spock started slowly, "that an apology is in order."
"Vat for?" Chekov asked as he continued his work.
"For last night." Chekov was silent. "She was in a dream-like state. She did not understand her actions…"
"You cannot blame zis on her!" Chekov turned sharply to face his superior.
"I understand, Mr. Chekov. I did nothing to improve the matter. I can see," he added, "that you have a particular infatuation with her. An infatuation I cannot deny you. An infatuation I have rudely intruded on. I would like to offer my sincerest apologies."
Chekov thought for a moment than answered. "To be honest, C'mmander, it does not vork zis vay. I cannot just forgiwe you! Ze fact remains zat vat has been done cannot be undone. An apology, zough velcome, vill not change anysing."
Spock looked at the floor. "I understand, Mr. Chekov."
During the pause in the conversation Kirk came barreling through the room and motioned for both his officers to follow him.
"Captain, has there been a development in the case?" Spock asked following his swiftly moving Captain.
"To say the least. Amata contacted me, said she found something big." Kirk said and all three moved just a little bit faster.
***
The pneumatic doors to sick bay opened and the three officers came in.
A screen opened on the far side of the room and Amata appeared, she wore a bloody apron and a plastic face shield that was also coated in a semi-dried spatter of blood.
"Captain! I found something."
"So you said, what is it, Doctor?" Kirk said leading the two other officers behind the screen.
"Well, the cause of death for this young officer was loss of liver, both kidneys, and diaphragm. But that is not the interesting thing." Amata said removing her face shield and placing it on a tray.
"An officer missing half his innards isn't interesting?" Bones poked his head in the screen to watch.
"I am not insinuating that his cause of death is not intriguing, but I have found something much more interesting! Come and look: after finding this," she showed them a dish containing what seemed to be a human kidney and half a liver, "I looked back to the bodies of Lieutenant Roosevelt and Ensign Saunders and I found this," she showed an evidence jar containing a tiny shard of metal, "embedded in Ensign Saunders' pelvic bone."
"Alright. What are they?"
"Well the metal shard makes more sense than the fake intestines.."
"Fake intestines?" the Captain repeated.
"Yes. They are plastic, probably inserted to make us think that all they took was the diaphragm. But they are solid plastic. They feel just like the real thing and look like it when you open it up," she demonstrated with the kidney, "but they're completely fake! I ran a test on the make-up of the plastic and found several chemical compounds that are only found in Altherian plastic. Altherian plastic is widely known to have minuscule air pockets in the material, so I am in the middle of analyzing the atmospheric gases in the air pockets, and soon we'll know the planet of origin of the plastic."
"Altheria, perhaps?" Kirk asked, as though it were obvious.
"Not necessarily. This plastic is widely known as the most malleable plastic in the quadrant. Good for making life like copies of things such as…"
"Human organs." Spock finished.
"Precisely. Now, while we wait for that, I figured out where the Scavengers are operating, or at least who supplies their tools." She turned to a computer enlargement of the metal fragment. "This," she gestured to the screen, "is no ordinary metal fragment. It is the tip of a scalpel. I ran a test on the make-up of the tip, it contains several alkali compounds that are used in only one brand of medical supplies. Guess what the only place on the planet is that uses this brand?"
There was no answer.
"Dalarthia General Hospital."
"Then that's where we're going." Kirk said. "Thanks, Amata, that's good work."
There was a beep and Amata said: "But that's not all! I might have another answer for you, just now…" She walked to another computer terminal and pulled up a screen. "The atmospheric gas test is back… it was generated on Calthran IV, the same mining planet where Lieutenant Roosevelt went missing."
"Thought that planet was unnamed." Kirk said.
"Well, unnamed to the Federation. We've been using it for…" she trailed off.
"Yes?" the Captain prompted, his arms folded across his chest.
"That's what they're using it for. Oh, God, I did know…" she looked with stunned eyes into each pair of the officers'. "I know what they're using the bodies for."
