Jasso was still fuming as he left McCoy and headed toward his office. He had wasted his time and effort trying to reason with the medic. The man was insufferable and seemed to have a single-minded fixation on the bird creatures. But he would not have pegged the doctor as a suicidal maniac until he overheard two of his staff talking about how McCoy had treated one of the ugly things right in the courtyard the evening before. In disbelief he had them repeat the tale to him.
Head down and intent on his anger, he almost plowed into Arnette in front of her office. He stopped abruptly, nearly losing his balance. Arnette backed up a step , he caught an irritated flash in her eyes before her face returned to her usual cool emotionless facade. She had reptilian eyes, he thought, not for the first time since she joined the group on Aminta. He was not sure who she was working for, but he was convinced she had been sent to spy and report on his activities and the overseeing of the project.
"Sorry," he mumbled in apology. "I was on my way to the office. I need to contact the Enterprise, and maybe Starfleet, too. We have a problem."
"Oh? What has happened?"
Jasso gave her a brief summary, watching her lips get thinner as he finished. She regarded him with her unreadable expression, then gestured toward her office.
"Could we speak in private before you make that call?"
Jasso hesitated, but followed her inside. She closed the door behind him and sat at her desk, offering him the other chair.
"Are you certain of your facts? What could have prompted him to interact with the creatures? It is difficult to believe he simply went strolling outside, happened to find a wounded bird, and decided to treat on the spur of the moment."
"Mallery and O'Casik saw it." Jasso pursed his lips in irritation. "McCoy has some sort of obsession with those things. He saw one when he first arrived, in fact the damn thing came right up to the window outside my office like it was greeting him. He's asking all sorts of questions about them. He's obviously an unbalanced fool. It's a wonder he didn't get killed."
"Yes." Arnette flicked an imaginary piece of dust from her desk surface, arranging her thoughts before pinning Jasso with her gelid eyes. "While I share your concern, perhaps it would be better not to contact Doctor McCoy's superiors in this matter."
"And why wouldn't you? This concerns the safety of our own people, here and perhaps at the other sites. Starfleet cannot come in and ride roughshod over this project."
Arnette's eyebrow rode upward. "Starfleet has power as the military arm of the Federation. They will probably get whatever they want. Right now they want their own researchers in the lab, even if they are so-called 'temporary'. The Enterprise is their flagship, the crew Starfleet's finest. McCoy may be difficult and perhaps unorthodox, but an unbalanced fool? I highly doubt that. It might not be wise to draw further attention to Aminta in light of the less than abundant production lately. It might lead to questions about the administration's ability to get results thus far or even the viability of the project at large."
Jasso felt cold. "What are you saying, Arnette? Speak plainly."
"Nothing that shouldn't already have occurred to you. The project is floundering, the useful output is almost nil at the moment. Academic publication is at a standstill. Morale is ebbing and researchers have grown weary of the impasse. That may be why Starfleet is here, to assess the situation for themselves. Where ever the problem may be, administration usually bears the brunt when the blame game is played." She paused, sitting straight in her chair. "The Enterprise is scheduled to leave in a few days. What difference is it in the end if McCoy wants to play with the birds while he is here? It does not seem like such a huge problem in the grand scheme of events. If I was in your position, I would not want extra scrutiny from Starfleet or the FSB. Do as you will."
Jasso got up looking rather pasty, his usual ruddiness faded to pale, and left without another word. She watched the door close behind him, knowing there would be no report.
Turning to her computer screen, she did a search and read the results for some time. Arnette cleared the screen and thought for a few minutes before making a call on her private, coded channel.
Excising a skin lesion and then a nasal polyp put McCoy and Chapel a little behind schedule. Uhura, T'Phol and Cassady were also working late in the linguistics lab. McCoy's group was first back to their quarters. He got coffee and went to his room to call in to the ship. During his routine check-in earlier, Kirk did not mention Jasso at all. McCoy wondered why he had failed to follow through on his threat. Jasso had certainly been adamant at the time, and he didn't seem the type to reconsider a position once taken.
He called to Sickbay first and talked to M'Benga, who sent the specimen's bio signature report to his medical tricorder. The science lab was still working with the defkato sample.
Then Kirk came on, and McCoy asked him outright if Jasso had contacted the ship.
"No. Why?" McCoy could hear the question in Kirk's voice.
"It seems he's not too happy about me treating the bird yesterday. I thought he might be in touch. In fact, he said he would."
Kirk's short silence sounded long suffering over the communicator. "He hasn't. Yet, anyway."
"I wonder why not."
"Don't sound disappointed. We have a few more days here. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to stir up something."
McCoy chuckled. "You're probably right."
"That was not permission, Bones."
"I know. There is a possibility that some of our team will be visiting a working site tomorrow. Arnette is supposed to let Uhura know."
"Stay away from the magnesite areas."
"Will do, Sir." He heard the others arrive and signed off, taking his coffee to the living area.
T'Phol was placing the Moog on the counter. McCoy rocked on the balls of his feet, waiting hopefully for her report. She met his eyes, and he could tell there was no progress to relay. He suppressed a sigh.
"I guess there wasn't a major breakthrough today?" He could not keep the question in his voice from bleeding through.
'It takes time to establish linguistic ontology and taxonomy. We have made progress of a sort; we know some of what it's not. Data-base comparison search went on throughout the day."
"I thought you can see their singing as a pattern. That doesn't help?"
"Perhaps, with a big enough subset. At the moment, it is more like reconstructing Shakespeare's entire work knowing only the word 'the'."
Uhura joined them. "Maybe not even that," she said. "But we have eliminated some things. Its root is not related to any currently spoken Federation musical language. There are only a handful of those, and all but one are based on single notes. The Crayodites of the Gliesedian system have language using a harmonic scale, but their social structure and physiology are highly unusual. They exist in quad units, and each unit is responsible for relaying the individual message via its corresponding emotional conduit. One Crayodite is actually four beings operating as one whole while speaking four different dialects. Very interesting, but it still doesn't have any parallel in this case."
"What if you had more samples of our bird's singing? Would that help?"
"It certainly couldn't hurt," Uhura said. "The bigger the sample base, the more chances we would have of making the first connection."
"No!" Chapel walked up behind them. McCoy turned, startled by her sudden vehemence. "You can't be serious." She looked at Uhura and T'Phol. "I cannot believe you two are encouraging this- this obsessive interest." She wheeled around to face McCoy. "And you? You're not telling us everything. You made it out alive, perhaps barely, once. What happens if it gets mad again? Suppose it doesn't back down next time? We'll return to the Enterprise minus one chief surgeon, that's what. All so useless and avoidable." She glanced at the others and lowered her voice a bit, her anger subsiding. "I'll bet you didn't tell them about your little visit from Jasso, either."
McCoy's voice was calm and quiet as he replied. "No. There's nothing to tell. Jasso did not make a report after all. And it doesn't matter if he does. I've faced far worse than him."
"Perhaps you have. I guess it doesn't matter that he's right. You have a mission and you won't be dissuaded. I never thought you had a death wish, Doctor. Until now. Excuse me." Chapel went to her room, closing the door firmly.
Giotto and Cassady stood silently ill-at-ease across the room. T'Phol said nothing. Uhura reached out and touched McCoy's arm. "You should go after her, Len. She's really upset."
McCoy rubbed his hand across his jaw. "I'll talk to her in a few minutes." He showered, changing into casual clothes, then got a hot tea before knocking on her door. He thought she wasn't going to answer, but after a minute the door opened half way and she stood staring at him. He extended his hand with the tea. She moved aside.
"I guess you want to come in."
"Yes, if I may."
She took the tea and sat on her bunk, watching him warily. He sat in the desk chair with some caution of his own.
Chapel took a sip of her tea, her eyes still on him. He waited.
"I am not going to apologize," she said after a few sips.
"I don't expect you to apologize for worrying about me. For caring."
"Why are you doing this, Leonard? I was worried because I knew you were struggling with a bout of depression. Then T'Phol came aboard...I thought you were turning around. Now you seem bent on destruction. I cannot stop wondering if your depression is much worse than I thought initially."
McCoy leaned forward, within reach but staying outside of her personal space, a zone that was always wide and at the moment, even broader than usual. "No," he said. "This is not a self-destructive tendency brought on by depression." He paused, meeting her eyes evenly. "You know I have bad patches. You have your ear to the ground always. So you also know I get help when I need it, right?"
Chapel nodded. "I know you have before. But I've never seen you like this. So suddenly fixated, so anxious. Something is going on here, with you. You and that bird. I sound like a holovid on repeat, but I'm afraid."
"I know." Her eyes were shiny. He knew Chapel hated seeming vulnerable. He looked away for a moment, giving her time to regroup. "Why does Piasa strike such fear with you?"
"I'm not simply scared of him because he's huge and obviously could be lethal if he attacked. That fear is easily controlled by staying away." Her eyes flashed. "Which you obviously don't intend to do. It's your obsession with them that frightens me. You're usually vigilant in every part of your life. But here you are acting totally out of character, a sudden new relationship, a sudden compulsion to interact with dangerous creatures, and you're hiding something big, something important. I'm afraid this secret could put us all in danger. Have you thought about that? But it's you I really fear for. Somehow you feel linked to whatever is happening, obligated to these creatures we do not even begin to understand. You don't know they're sentient. Even if they are, what if they're not benevolent. They could have an agenda of their own, of which you're unaware. They could use you, maybe against your own people."
"We are not in danger from Piasa or the birds, you can take my word on that. There may be other dangers here, but I don't know what or how."
Chapel closed her eyes. "I knew you wouldn't listen."
"Do you want to go back to the Enterprise?" McCoy asked gently.
Her eyes flew open. "Of course not. Do you want to send me back?"
"No," he answered. "I need you here, not just as my top nurse, but as a counterpoint to my 'obsession'. I thought I'd offer you an out if you wanted one."
"It's not an out I want."
"I know. I can't promise to stay away from the birds. I will try to be discreet and avoid confrontations with the administration here." He paused, making sure he had eye contact before continuing. "You mentioned my new relationship, which has nothing to do with the birds. Do you have a problem with that, too?"
"What?" Chapel looked genuinely confused. "No, why would I? T'Phol is a lovely girl, very fond of you, and God knows you deserve a little happiness. Noting that a certain behavior is out of character is not the same thing as disapproval, Leonard. I do disapprove of your relationship with the birds, but your personal life is your business, and you've always kept it close. If it matters, I think it's sweet that you are having a romance. You seem good for each other. You sang for her."
McCoy relaxed. While he didn't need anyone's approval, he would be lying to himself to say he didn't care what his friends thought. Certainly he did not need a further wedge between him and his chief nurse. "Thank you," he said. "It does matter."
Chapel's face softened almost into a smile. "I am not against you, please believe me. I'll help any way I can. But I cannot and will not be your yes man. You have the others for that." She sighed heavily. "Maybe I'm not cut out for landing party duty. I don't go on missions often. I guess there's a reason for that."
"Right now there's no one I'd rather have. Keep that honesty, I need it. Just don't forget that I am following my own conscious, too."
"You always do." She patted his hand, and it seemed they were repaired at least for a time.
