Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I in any way profiting from, Star Trek Deep Space Nine.
Chapter 11
The nairait gave up its secrets slowly and reluctantly. It had been days since Dr. Bashir first set up an airtight chamber in which he thawed a few of the nairait fragments so he could observe them interacting. And interact they did. From what he could tell, the fragments of nairait could operate on their own, or join together to form a larger individual unit, whichever suited their purpose at the time.
Bashir wasn't surprised that the work Dr. Grek did while on the station had little of practical value. And, of course, the destruction of her laboratory obliterated any useful records that might have been there. A few inquiries led Bashir to believe that a sample of nairait had been sent to Dr. Grek shortly before that explosion. Commander Vaughn had learned (presumably through his contacts in Starfleet Intelligence) that Grek contacted a Pahkwa-thanh physicist, Doctor Aselai, at the Alpha Proxima II Science Institute shortly after obtaining the sample. Unfortunately, she disappeared a month later.
Arduous study of Dr. Aselai's theories had finally given Bashir a lead. The physicist was trying to create a substance made of an undifferentiated quantum string matrix which could form into any kind or combination of energy and matter. Since it could turn energy into matter, and vice versa, the addition of sufficient energy into the system could allow it to increase in mass, and it could decrease in mass simply by converting its matter into energy waves, which (Bashir calculated, to his disappointment) could be practically undetectable. Bashir figured that the only reason Grek would have contacted Dr. Aselai was if she believed she found a lifeform fitting that description.
He tested his theory by zapping the nairait with electricity. It worked: the nairait grew. He extrapolated from this that cold stopped them not by taking away their energy, but because they shut down their (for lack of a better word) physiological processes when faced with situations that could potentially drain them, otherwise they would completely cease to exist in the inhospitable environment of space. This in turn led him to hypothesize that nairait was capable of sentient thought exclusively while in possession of a host, and could only react to stimuli in its natural form.
But that brought back the question of what the nairait's motives were. Why would they try to cover up their own existence? Why would they kill their hosts? Did they eventually sap enough of their hosts' energy to kill them? Or was it possible for them to live commensally with the host organism? And if that was the case, why didn't it?
Bashir sat down in a chair, finished the last couple of sips of cold raktajino spiced with a hint of Preenosian pepper, which Nshevalth guaranteed would keep him alert for at least twelve hours. "Computer, time?" The weakness of his voice told him just how worn out he was from so many late nights researching and studying the nairait.
"The time is o-three-hundred hours, forty-two minutes, and fourteen seconds."
Bashir sighed heavily. He had the familiar, troubling sense that there was something he was missing, something he would see if only he knew what to look for. "Perhaps something I just don't want to see," he said out loud.
Suddenly, he leaped up. His mug crashed to the floor and shattered, but he ignored it as he rushed to his computer terminal. "Computer, bring up file number four-five-zero-nine-seven tau."
The summoned file popped up. As Bashir read it, his expression became increasingly somber. "Computer," he said quietly, "run a diametric subatomic scan on substance Nairait One, resolution point five femtometers."
"Scan complete," the computer responded.
"Display the results of the scan with reference to superstring structure." The computer dutifully complied. "Now, superimpose this structural field on a biological system, with a one-to-one ratio of quantum agreement." The image appeared. "Computer, calculate the ratio of undifferentiated superstring matrix quanta to differentiated quanta of the biological system that would provide enough energy to keep the system stable without releasing any excess energy into the surrounding environment."
The computer took several seconds to do the math. "Ratio is one point six two five to one."
"Adjust superstring matrix proportion to one hundred sixty-two point five percent."
The computer showed him exactly what he expected to see.
"Compare results to file four-five-zero-nine-seven tau." He already knew what he would find, but he hoped that he was wrong.
When the results appeared on the screen, Bashir took a slow, rasping breath, lowered himself to a sitting position on the floor, and ran his hands down his face. "Ohdeargod," he breathed. This discovery answered so many questions, and raised so many more.
After recovering from his revelation, Bashir encrypted the scan's results with the most complicated algorithm he could come up with; no one would see those results until he knew exactly what they meant.