Chapter 4: The business of Professor Nguyen.

Sisko extended his hand. "Welcome back to Deep Space Nine, Commissioner Nguyen."

Dennis Nguyen shook Sisko's hand. "Thank you, Commander Sisko, nice to see you again." With a gesture, Sisko invited Nguyen to be seated, and both men sat at the same time. "Officially, as of the day after tomorrow, I won't be a commissioner anymore. I'll just be an academy professor."

"Then welcome back to Deep Space Nine, Professor Nguyen."

"Commander, I believe I should make it clear right away that I will not be talking about anything pertaining to the USS Observer. That is not why I am here."

"Nice to know. I will advise my people that the Observer is not a proper subject for discussion. As for your current business here, am I to take it that I do not have to activate any security measures in my office to preserve confidentiality, nor do I have to worry about protecting any classified information?"

"My business here is not classified."

"And what is your business here?"

Nguyen produced a personal access display device and handed it to Sisko, who leaned forward to take it. Nguyen pointed at the PADD. "This is why I am here."

Sisko looked at the PADD. Displayed was an official memo that bore the subject line, "Bajor Wormhole Multi-Variable Baseline Establishment." Sisko read the subject line three times, but it told him nothing. The body of the memo itself likewise was uninformative, since Sisko had almost no idea what the memo was talking about. Sisko was able to gather that there was something called "Vuldt's Equation," and that Professor Nguyen wished to test the properties of the wormhole, to see how those measurements jibed with this Vuldt's Equation, whatever it was. Beyond that, most of the memo was incomprehensible.

The final paragraph of the memo, however, was perhaps the most puzzling of all. Sisko was "requested to extend all courtesies" to Nguyen in his experiments, though the memo recognized that the needs of Deep Space Nine would take priority over Nguyen's experiments. Sisko was further "authorized to prevent or terminate any experiments that may do any harm to Deep Space Nine, or the wormhole, or any life forms in or near the wormhole."

The wording was odd: Sisko was being "requested," not ordered, to let Nguyen do his tests. Sisko was "authorized to," but not required to, stop Nguyen from doing any tests that might have adverse effects.

Sisko frowned. What in the hell does that mean? He handed the PADD back to Nguyen.

"You want to perform some experiments, then?" Sisko began.

"Yes."

"On the wormhole?"

"Yes."

"The equipment offloaded from Prevost: it is intended for these experiments?"

"Yes; and you're probably wondering why I insisted that it not be moved to storage with cargo transporters. I want to assure you that it is not because of any danger. Rather, my equipment has been very carefully calibrated. A cargo transporter may disturb the calibration, without meaning to."

"I see. I'll remove the hold so that you may have access to your equipment."

"Thanks."

"May I ask about the purpose of your experiments?"

"It's explained in the authorization." Nguyen offered the PADD back to Sisko.

Sisko declined to take the PADD. "Just tell me in your own words. What are these experiments intended to accomplish?"

Nguyen took a moment. "I want to try to develop a better model of the wormhole. In particular, I want to see how well Vuldt's Equation predicts the observed behavior of the wormhole."

Sisko took a deep breath. "I'm not familiar with Vuldt's Equation. Explain it to me."

Nguyen laughed, but his laugh was more out of embarrassment than amusement. "Explain it to you? Are you kidding?"

"No, I'm not." Nguyen saw no trace of a smile on Sisko's face.

Nguyen laughed nervously. "Well, all right. Vuldt's Equation is an equation that describes principles of advanced physics and cosmological modelling. Understanding the equation itself requires a very extensive education in mathematics and physics, but basically, the equation describes, well, pretty much everything that exists."

Sisko stroked his chin. "As you know, Professor, there have been a great many scans and readings taken of the wormhole already."

"Yes, I know."

"Am I to understand that all of that data is insufficient for your purposes?"

Nguyen spoke carefully. "The scans and measurements have been very helpful, as far as they go. But they have not thoroughly tested the wormhole properties that Vuldt's Equation predicts."

Sisko took another deep breath. Before Sisko could say anything further, Nguyen interjected: "Starfleet has fully reviewed this research project and has approved it." Nguyen placed the PADD on the desk in front of Sisko, who made no effort to take it. "If you'll check the this authorization, you'll see it was signed by Admiral Seth and Admiral Ross."

"Yes, I saw that."

"Perhaps you'd like to discuss my project with them?"

"I may do that." Sisko took a moment, then pointed to the PADD. "Professor, this document expressly gives me authority to regulate, even prevent, any of your experiments in the event that I judge them as potentially harmful to any life forms, or the wormhole, or this station. I would therefore like to review your proposed experiments and discuss them with people who are more familiar with theoretical physics than am I, before any experiments are conducted."

"Of course, Commander." Nguyen smiled. "It will take my assistants and me about a week to get our instruments ready and draw up a schedule. Will that be enough time for you to review my proposal?"

"It ought to be."