The fourth hour was worse than the first three.
Not because anything happened.
Nothing happened.
That was the problem.
Mercer stood outside the entrance to the communications section and watched Lieutenant Carver walk toward him for the third time that day.
Astrophysics.
Kane knew him.
Mercer knew that Kane knew him.
Carver knew that Mercer knew that Kane knew him.
None of that mattered.
“Identification.”
Carver stopped.
For a moment neither man moved.
Then Carver reached into his uniform.
“You checked me two hours ago.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Sergeant Major Kane checked me before that.”
“Yes, sir.”
Carver handed over his identification.
Mercer looked at it.
Lieutenant Benjamin Carver.
Astrophysics.
The same photograph.
The same authorization.
The same irritated man.
Mercer checked the access list.
Carver was on it.
“Reason for access?”
Carver looked at the communications door.
Then back at Mercer.
“I am delivering updated sensor analysis.”
Mercer looked at the data cartridge in Carver's hand.
“Authorization?”
Carver's jaw tightened.
“Lieutenant Uhura's section requested it.”
Mercer checked the terminal.
The request was there.
Everything was there.
Mercer handed the identification back.
“Thank you, sir.”
Carver took it.
He didn't move.
Mercer waited.
“You know who I am.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You've checked me three times.”
“Yes, sir.”
Carver looked down at the identification in his hand.
Then at Mercer.
“Do you think I'm a spy?”
The question landed differently than Mercer expected.
He had asked it himself, silently, about dozens of people.
He had never considered what it sounded like from the other side.
“No, sir.”
Carver's eyebrows rose.
“Then why are you stopping me?”
Mercer opened his mouth.
The answer should have been easy.
Orders.
Procedure.
Condition One.
Instead he heard Kane from hours earlier.
Because I knew him.
Mercer looked at Carver.
“I don't know.”
Carver stared at him.
Mercer realized how that sounded.
“I mean—”
“I know what you mean.”
Carver tucked the identification away.
The anger had gone out of his face.
That was somehow worse.
He held up the data cartridge.
“May I?”
Mercer stepped aside.
“Yes, sir.”
Carver walked through the door.
Mercer watched it close.
The corridor became empty again.
He looked at the terminal.
Four hours and fourteen minutes.
He stopped checking the time.
* * *
Rainer had developed a system.
She hated her system.
Everyone approaching the computer-core access point went into one of four categories.
People she knew.
People she didn't know.
People who looked nervous.
And people who looked too calm.
The problem was that the categories were useless.
People she knew could be the problem.
People she didn't know probably weren't.
People looked nervous because an armed security specialist was stopping them in a corridor.
And people who looked calm irritated her because nobody should be that fucking calm while an armed security specialist was stopping them in a corridor.
A woman in sciences blue approached.
Rainer recognized her.
Ensign Patel.
Computer sciences.
They had played cards once.
Patel had cheated.
Not well.
Rainer had liked her immediately.
“Identification.”
Patel stopped.
“Again?”
“Again.”
Patel produced it.
Rainer checked.
The photograph matched.
The clearance matched.
The assignment matched.
Rainer looked at Patel.
Patel looked back.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That isn't your nothing face.”
“I don't have a nothing face.”
“You absolutely have a nothing face.”
Rainer handed back the identification.
Patel took it but didn't move.
Rainer waited.
Patel leaned slightly closer.
“Are we actually looking for someone?”
Rainer's eyes went past her.
The corridor behind Patel was empty.
“Why?”
“Because we've been under security alert for hours.”
“So?”
“So people are talking.”
“People always talk.”
“Not like this.”
Rainer looked at her.
Patel lowered her voice.
“Someone said there's an infiltrator aboard.”
Rainer said nothing.
Patel watched her face.
That irritated Rainer too.
“Someone said they caught somebody near Engineering.”
“They didn't.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I'd know.”
Patel studied her.
“Would you?”
Rainer felt something small and unpleasant move beneath her ribs.
Patel saw it.
Rainer knew she saw it.
Neither woman spoke.
Somewhere beyond the bulkhead, machinery changed pitch.
A crewman came around the far junction.
Patel glanced toward him.
Rainer's hand moved toward her phaser.
Not to draw.
Just closer.
The crewman saw it.
He slowed.
Patel looked down at Rainer's hand.
Rainer looked too.
Her fingers were resting against the grip.
She moved them away.
The crewman continued toward them.
Patel tucked her identification into her uniform.
“See you later.”
“Yeah.”
Patel passed through the computer-core door.
Rainer turned toward the approaching crewman.
He was already reaching for his identification.
* * *
Hale stopped recording irregularities at sixty-three.
Not because there weren't more.
Because the number had stopped meaning anything.
He stood at the Engineering junction while two lists occupied the terminal in front of him.
Authorized access.
Actual access.
The difference between them had fascinated him three hours ago.
Now it annoyed him.
Hale rubbed one eye.
The letters blurred.
He blinked until they became letters again.
A name appeared.
Morrison, Caleb.
Engineering.
Authorized.
Hale watched the corridor.
No Morrison.
He looked back at the terminal.
Access request registered forty-eight seconds earlier.
Hale frowned.
The junction was twenty feet long.
There were no doors between the lift and the checkpoint.
If Morrison had requested access at the terminal outside the lift, he should already be here.
Hale checked the timestamp.
Fifty-nine seconds.
He straightened.
His hand went to his communicator.
The turbolift doors opened.
A man in engineering red stepped out.
Hale looked at the terminal.
Morrison, Caleb.
He looked at the man.
The man approached.
“Identification.”
Morrison handed it over without complaint.
Hale checked it.
Correct.
“Why did it take you a minute to get here?”
Morrison blinked.
“What?”
“You requested Engineering access sixty-eight seconds ago.”
“Yeah.”
“The terminal is twenty feet away.”
Morrison looked back at the turbolift.
Then at Hale.
“I dropped my stylus.”
Hale stared at him.
Morrison stared back.
“You dropped your stylus.”
“Yeah.”
“Where?”
“In the lift.”
Hale looked toward the open turbolift.
A stylus lay on the floor near the rear wall.
Morrison pointed.
“There.”
Hale looked at the stylus.
Then Morrison.
Morrison looked tired.
Not suspicious.
Not nervous.
Tired.
Hale handed back his identification.
Morrison retrieved the stylus.
“Anything else?”
“No.”
Morrison entered Engineering.
The door closed.
Hale looked at the terminal.
Sixty-four.
He deleted the count.
* * *
Ox found Kane in the duty room.
Kane sat at the table with four access reports spread in front of him.
Mercer's coffee was still there.
Ox looked at it.
“You gonna drink that?”
“No.”
“Mercer's?”
“Yes.”
“He coming back for it?”
“No.”
Ox picked it up.
Kane looked at him.
Ox smelled the coffee.
He put it back.
“Never mind.”
Kane returned to the reports.
Ox sat across from him.
For a while the only sound was paper moving beneath Kane's hands.
Ox watched him read.
Kane turned a page.
Ox watched some more.
Kane stopped.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Kane continued reading.
Ox leaned back.
The chair creaked.
Kane turned another page.
“You think somebody's here?”
Kane didn't look up.
“Everybody's here.”
Ox thought about that.
“That's not what I meant.”
“I know.”
Another page.
Ox rubbed his hands together.
The duty room was warmer than the corridors. Not much. Just enough that after hours of standing under ventilation ducts, his fingers had started to notice.
“You think there's a spy?”
Kane looked up.
Ox waited.
Kane's face didn't change.
“Maybe.”
Ox nodded.
That seemed reasonable.
Kane went back to the report.
Ox looked toward the closed door.
“Everybody's getting jumpy.”
“I know.”
“Rainer yelled at a door.”
Kane stopped reading.
Ox continued.
“Door opened slow.”
Kane looked at him.
“What'd she say?”
Ox thought.
“Mostly the usual.”
Kane returned to the report.
Ox smiled.
The smile disappeared after a moment.
“Hale checked me twice.”
“He should.”
“Mercer checked me too.”
“He should.”
Ox scratched his chin.
“You checked me when I came in.”
“Yes.”
Ox nodded.
He looked down at the table.
His own identification sat where Kane had returned it.
Ox picked it up.
Turned it over.
There wasn't much to see.
Name.
Service number.
Assignment.
Photograph.
The photograph had been taken when he'd joined Starfleet.
He looked younger.
He'd hated the uniform collar.
Still did.
Ox put the card down.
“What if they're good?”
Kane's eyes lifted.
Ox tapped the identification.
“What if whoever we're looking for has all this right?”
Kane leaned back slightly.
The chair didn't creak beneath him.
“Then we keep looking.”
“For what?”
Kane's eyes shifted toward the duty-room door.
Ox followed his gaze.
Nothing there.
Kane looked back at him.
“A mistake.”
Ox nodded.
That made sense too.
He stood.
“Where you want me?”
“Relieve Rainer.”
Ox stopped at the door.
“Think she needs it?”
“Yes.”
Ox opened the door.
Then looked back.
Kane was already reading again.
* * *
Rainer did not want to be relieved.
This was obvious to everyone except Rainer.
“I've got another hour.”
Ox stood beside her.
“Kane says you're done.”
“Kane can kiss my ass.”
Ox looked down the corridor.
“Probably won't.”
Rainer glared at him.
Ox held out his hand.
She stared at it.
“What?”
“Log.”
Rainer looked at the padd in her hand as though surprised to find it there.
She gave it to him.
Ox read the last entry.
“Patel?”
“She's clean.”
Ox looked at Rainer.
Rainer's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Don't fucking do that.”
“Do what?”
“That.”
Ox waited.
Rainer pointed at his face.
“That fucking face.”
“This is just my face.”
“Exactly.”
Ox looked at the padd again.
Rainer took one step toward him.
Then stopped.
Her shoulders lowered.
Barely.
“Sorry.”
Ox looked up.
Rainer immediately looked irritated.
“Don't make a thing out of it.”
“Wasn't gonna.”
“Good.”
Ox moved into position.
Rainer didn't leave.
He waited.
She looked down the corridor.
A lieutenant approached.
Rainer's eyes followed him.
Ox saw it.
“Go eat.”
“I'm not hungry.”
“Didn't ask.”
She looked at him.
Ox looked back.
Rainer muttered something and walked away.
The lieutenant reached the checkpoint.
Ox held out his hand.
“Identification.”
The lieutenant gave it to him.
Ox checked it.
The lieutenant looked after Rainer.
“She all right?”
Ox looked down the corridor.
Rainer had disappeared around the junction.
“Yep.”
He handed the identification back.
* * *
Mercer was hungry.
He hadn't noticed until he entered the duty room and smelled food.
Not good food.
Just food.
Someone had brought sandwiches.
They sat on a tray beside the terminal.
Rainer was eating one with the concentration of a person personally offended by bread.
Hale sat at the other end of the table staring into a cup.
Mercer stopped.
“Is that coffee?”
Hale looked at the cup.
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I poured it.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
Hale drank.
His expression suggested the question remained open.
Mercer took a sandwich.
Rainer looked at him.
“Identification.”
Mercer stopped with the sandwich halfway to his mouth.
Hale's eyes lifted from the cup.
Mercer stared at Rainer.
She kept chewing.
He slowly reached for his identification.
Rainer smiled.
“Fuck you.”
Mercer put it away.
“That's not funny anymore.”
“It was funny to me.”
“That seems to be your standard.”
“Pretty much.”
Mercer bit into the sandwich.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
The bread was dry.
The meat was something Mercer couldn't identify.
He didn't care.
Hale rubbed his eyes.
Rainer noticed.
“You look like shit.”
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
Mercer sat.
“Anything happen?”
Rainer swallowed.
“Everyone's suspicious.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone.”
Hale looked at her.
“No one is suspicious.”
Rainer pointed her sandwich at him.
“That's exactly what a spy would say.”
Hale closed his eyes.
Mercer laughed.
It came out louder than he intended.
All three of them stopped.
Mercer looked toward the door.
Nothing.
He lowered his voice.
“Sorry.”
Rainer stared at him.
“What the hell are you apologizing for?”
Mercer didn't know.
That made him laugh again.
Rainer joined him.
Hale tried not to.
Mercer saw him trying.
That made it worse.
Within seconds all three were laughing.
Not hard.
Not long.
But enough.
The duty-room door opened.
They stopped.
Kane stood there.
Rainer still had the sandwich raised.
Hale was looking into his coffee.
Mercer was suddenly very interested in chewing.
Kane looked at each of them.
Nobody spoke.
He walked to the table.
Picked up a sandwich.
Sat.
Rainer looked at Mercer.
Mercer looked at Hale.
Hale looked at his cup.
Kane ate.
Nobody laughed again.
For almost a minute.
Then Ox entered.
He looked around.
“What'd I miss?”
Rainer made a noise.
Mercer choked on his sandwich.
Hale put his cup down before he spilled it.
Kane kept eating.
* * *
The fifth hour began with a report from Security Control.
Unauthorized access attempt.
Deck seven.
Computer systems.
The duty room changed before the message finished.
Rainer dropped the remains of her sandwich.
Hale was already standing.
Mercer felt the food in his stomach turn heavy.
Ox stopped in the doorway.
Kane rose.
“Location?”
The voice from the communicator answered.
“Access junction seven-three. Security team responding.”
Kane looked at Hale.
“Pull the log.”
Hale moved to the terminal.
His hands moved quickly.
Rainer clipped her phaser belt properly.
Mercer realized his own hand was resting on his weapon.
This time he didn't move it away.
Hale brought up the access record.
“One attempted entry. Invalid authorization.”
“Identity?”
Hale read.
His expression changed.
“Lieutenant Carver.”
Mercer looked at him.
The room became very quiet.
Rainer spoke first.
“Your astrophysics guy?”
Mercer didn't answer.
Kane did.
“Yes.”
Hale continued working.
“Security team has him detained.”
Mercer remembered Carver standing in the corridor.
Do you think I'm a spy?
No, sir.
Then why are you stopping me?
Mercer's mouth had gone dry.
Kane took his communicator.
“Kane to Security Control.”
“Security Control.”
“Hold Carver. We're coming.”
“Acknowledged.”
Kane closed the communicator.
Rainer was already at the door.
Ox moved beside her.
Hale picked up his tricorder.
Mercer didn't move.
Kane looked at him.
“Mercer.”
He stood.
“Yes, Sergeant Major.”
They left the duty room.
The corridor outside looked exactly the same.
That bothered Mercer more than it had the first time.
* * *
Lieutenant Carver was sitting on the deck.
His back rested against the bulkhead.
Two security officers stood over him.
One held Carver's identification.
The other held a phaser.
Carver looked up as Kane approached.
Then he saw Mercer.
Something passed across his face.
Not guilt.
Mercer wasn't sure what it was.
Kane stopped three feet away.
“Report.”
The security officer with the identification spoke.
“Lieutenant attempted access to computer systems through junction seven-three. Authorization rejected. He tried twice.”
“Reason for access?”
Carver answered.
“Sensor data.”
Kane looked at him.
“Why computer systems?”
“Because communications told me the transfer queue was saturated.”
The security officer shook his head.
“He wasn't authorized.”
“I know that.”
Carver's voice sharpened.
“I was told to deliver the data manually.”
“By who?”
“Lieutenant Uhura's section.”
“Name.”
Carver stopped.
Mercer saw it.
Everyone saw it.
Carver looked down.
“I don't remember.”
Rainer shifted.
The movement was tiny.
Mercer heard leather against her phaser holster.
Carver heard it too.
He looked at her.
“I don't remember the crewman's name.”
Kane held out his hand.
The security officer gave him Carver's identification.
Kane examined it.
Hale stepped to the access terminal.
His tricorder opened.
Ox remained behind Carver.
Mercer stood near the junction.
For the first time all day, everyone had a place without Kane telling them where to stand.
Carver looked from one red shirt to another.
His eyes stopped on Mercer.
“You said you didn't think I was a spy.”
Mercer felt every person in the corridor hear it.
He wished Carver had shouted.
The quiet made it worse.
Mercer looked at him.
“I don't.”
Rainer's eyes flicked toward Mercer.
Kane did not move.
Carver gave a tired laugh.
“That's comforting.”
Hale spoke from the terminal.
“Lieutenant.”
Carver looked over.
“What?”
“What time were you instructed to make the transfer?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
Hale checked the log.
“Communications request?”
“Yes.”
Hale's fingers moved.
Mercer watched Carver.
Carver watched Hale.
The security officer still had his phaser out.
Mercer became aware of his own.
Still holstered.
His hand wasn't touching it now.
He hadn't noticed moving it.
Hale stopped.
“There was a request.”
Rainer looked at him.
“Authorized?”
“From Communications.”
Carver closed his eyes.
“Thank you.”
Hale didn't finish.
“But not for Lieutenant Carver.”
Carver opened his eyes.
Mercer's stomach tightened.
Kane's voice remained flat.
“Who?”
Hale read the terminal.
“Lieutenant Carver's analysis was requested. Courier assignment was given to Ensign Morris.”
Carver stared at him.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Where's Morris?” Kane asked.
Hale checked.
“Communications.”
Carver pushed himself upright.
The security officer with the phaser stepped closer.
Carver stopped.
“I was told to bring it.”
“By who?” Kane asked.
“I told you. Someone from Communications.”
“Male or female?”
Carver hesitated.
“Male.”
“Human?”
“Yes.”
“Uniform?”
“Red.”
“Rank?”
“I don't know.”
“Age?”
“Twenty-five. Thirty. I don't know.”
“Hair?”
“Dark.”
“Height?”
Carver looked at Kane.
“I don't know.”
Kane waited.
Carver's breathing had changed.
Mercer could see it in his chest.
Shorter.
Faster.
Kane did nothing.
Carver swallowed.
“He knew about the analysis.”
Kane's eyes stayed on him.
“What about it?”
“The sensor anomalies.”
Mercer looked at Hale.
Hale didn't look back.
Carver continued.
“He knew I'd been working on them. He said Communications needed the raw data immediately.”
“Where?”
“Outside the astrophysics lab.”
“When?”
“Twelve minutes ago.”
Kane looked at Rainer.
“Communications.”
She was moving before he finished.
“Ox.”
Ox followed.
Kane looked at the two security officers.
“Carver stays here.”
Carver stared at him.
“I'm telling you the truth.”
Kane turned to Mercer.
“With me.”
Mercer followed.
Behind them Carver said something.
Mercer didn't hear it.
The corridor had suddenly become too loud.
Their boots.
The ventilation.
The distant hum of Enterprise.
A door opening somewhere ahead.
Crewmen talking.
Every sound that had meant nothing for five hours now seemed capable of meaning something.
Kane walked quickly.
Not running.
Mercer stayed beside him.
“Sergeant Major.”
Kane kept moving.
“What?”
“If Carver isn't lying—”
“I know.”
“Then somebody knew what he was working on.”
“Yes.”
“And knew where he'd be.”
“Yes.”
Mercer waited.
Kane turned the corner.
Mercer followed.
“That means—”
Kane stopped.
Mercer stopped too.
Kane looked at him.
Mercer heard his own words before he said them.
“Somebody's been watching us.”
Kane's face didn't change.
“No.”
Mercer frowned.
Kane looked past him toward the corridor they had just crossed.
“Somebody's been watching everybody.”
Then he moved again.
Mercer followed.
* * *
They found the man in red outside the communications section.
Or they found a man in red.
He stood at the wall terminal with his back toward them.
Dark hair.
Average height.
Young.
Mercer's pulse jumped.
Kane didn't slow.
The man heard them approaching.
He turned.
Mercer recognized him.
Petty Officer Davis.
Egg guy.
Davis smiled.
“Sergeant Major.”
Kane stopped.
“Identification.”
Davis's smile disappeared.
Mercer remembered Ox checking him at the armory.
Could've.
Probably didn't.
Davis reached for his identification.
Kane's hand rested near his phaser.
Mercer saw it.
Davis saw it.
Slowly, Davis held out the card.
Kane took it.
Mercer looked at the terminal.
Davis had been checking a duty assignment.
Nothing unusual.
Probably.
Kane handed the identification to Mercer.
Mercer looked at it.
Petty Officer First Class Aaron Davis.
Security.
The photograph matched.
The clearance matched.
Everything matched.
Mercer looked at Davis.
Davis looked back.
“What's going on?”
Mercer handed the identification to Kane.
Kane returned it.
“Where were you fifteen minutes ago?”
“Armory two.”
“Before that?”
“Mess.”
“Who saw you?”
Davis frowned.
“About twenty people.”
Kane looked at Mercer.
“Check.”
Mercer took out his communicator.
Davis stared at Kane.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
Davis looked at Mercer.
Mercer made the call.
Armory two confirmed Davis had been there fourteen minutes earlier.
The mess log showed his purchase before that.
Kane nodded.
“Go.”
Davis didn't.
“What the hell is happening?”
Kane looked at him.
“Go back to your post.”
Davis went.
Mercer watched him disappear.
Another red uniform rounded the far corner.
Female.
Blonde.
Carrying a tool case.
Mercer's eyes went to her automatically.
Then to the junction behind her.
Then to the door beside him.
Then back to her.
She saw Kane and Mercer.
Her pace changed.
Just slightly.
Mercer felt his body tighten.
Kane spoke without looking at him.
“Don't.”
Mercer froze.
The woman approached.
Kane held out his hand.
“Identification.”
She stopped.
Her expression was annoyed.
Mercer let out a breath through his nose.
He hadn't realized he'd been holding it.
She handed Kane her identification.
Kane checked it.
“Thank you.”
She continued past.
Mercer watched her go.
Kane handed nothing to him.
He started toward Communications.
Mercer followed.
“What did I do?”
“Nothing.”
“You said don't.”
“Yes.”
“Don't what?”
Kane looked at him.
Mercer waited.
Kane kept walking.
Mercer looked back at the woman.
She had already disappeared.
He faced forward again.
He was beginning to hate that answer too.
* * *
They never found the man Carver described.
They found eleven men who might have been him.
Four were security.
Three engineering.
Two operations.
One medical.
One communications.
Every one of them had a reason to be where he was.
Every one had identification.
Every one had records.
Every one had somebody who could say where he'd been.
By the sixth hour, Carver was released.
His access failure was recorded as procedural.
The order he'd received could not be traced.
No one remembered giving it.
No one remembered seeing anyone speak to him.
Carver returned to astrophysics.
Mercer watched him go.
Neither man said anything.
* * *
The Watch regrouped in the duty room.
Nobody touched the sandwiches.
Hale stood at the terminal.
Rainer paced.
Ox sat in the chair Mercer had begun hating hours earlier.
Mercer leaned against the wall.
Kane read the report.
Again.
The room was quiet.
Rainer stopped pacing.
“So.”
Nobody answered.
She looked at Kane.
“We've got somebody.”
Kane kept reading.
“We've got an incident.”
“Oh, come on.”
Kane turned a page.
Rainer planted both hands on the table.
“Someone sent Carver into a restricted system.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“He could be lying.”
“He isn't.”
Kane looked up.
Rainer stopped.
Kane waited.
She straightened.
“I don't think he is.”
Kane returned to the report.
Hale turned from the terminal.
“The instruction had to come from someone with knowledge of his work.”
“Or Carver told someone about his work,” Kane said.
Hale considered that.
“He says he didn't.”
“People say things.”
Hale looked back at the terminal.
Ox spoke from the chair.
“Maybe whoever did it wanted us to catch him.”
Everyone looked at him.
Ox looked around.
“What?”
Rainer frowned.
“Why?”
Ox shrugged.
“Been looking for somebody all day.”
He leaned back.
Chair creaked.
“Now we got somebody to look at.”
Nobody spoke.
Ox's eyes moved between them.
“Could be useful.”
Hale turned slowly toward the access report.
Rainer stopped pacing.
Mercer looked at Kane.
Kane was looking at Ox.
Ox shifted.
“What?”
Kane folded the report.
“Nothing.”
Ox frowned.
Rainer looked at Mercer.
Mercer looked at Hale.
Hale looked at the terminal.
Nobody seemed to know what to do with that.
The overhead speaker clicked.
Every person in the room looked up.
Nothing came through.
Just static.
A second later it clicked off.
Rainer stared at the ceiling.
“Fuck this ship.”
Ox smiled.
Hale sat down.
Mercer didn't.
Kane stood.
“Back to posts.”
Rainer stared at him.
“You're kidding.”
“No.”
“We've been doing this for six hours.”
“Yes.”
“We finally get something and we're going back to standing in corridors?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kane looked at her.
“Because if somebody wanted us looking at Carver, I'm not giving them the rest of the ship.”
Rainer's mouth closed.
Kane picked up his communicator.
“Hale, Engineering. Ox, armory. Rainer, computer core.”
He looked at Mercer.
“You're with me.”
Mercer pushed away from the wall.
Nobody complained this time.
They moved.
* * *
The seventh hour began.
Mercer stood beside Kane at junction twelve.
The same junction where they had stopped Carver that morning.
Or afternoon.
Mercer wasn't sure anymore.
The ship's clocks said one thing.
His body said another.
A crewman approached.
Mercer knew him.
He couldn't remember the name.
The crewman reached for his identification before being asked.
Mercer checked it.
Authorized.
He handed it back.
The crewman continued.
Another appeared.
Then another.
The Enterprise kept moving around them.
People working.
People eating.
People carrying tools.
People going somewhere they were supposed to go.
Or somewhere they weren't.
Mercer watched them.
After a while he noticed Kane wasn't watching the people.
Not exactly.
He watched the corridor.
The doors.
The junction.
The reflections in the wall panels.
The turbolift indicator.
Mercer looked at the same things.
Nothing.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Mercer shifted his feet.
Kane didn't.
“Sergeant Major.”
“What?”
“You think Ox is right?”
Kane looked toward the far junction.
“About?”
“Carver.”
A door opened.
Two technicians emerged.
Kane watched them.
“Maybe.”
Mercer almost laughed.
He didn't.
The technicians passed.
Mercer checked both.
Clean.
He watched them leave.
Then looked at Kane.
“What happens if we don't find anybody?”
Kane was quiet for long enough that Mercer thought he wouldn't answer.
Then:
“We keep watch.”
Mercer looked down the corridor.
Nothing moved.
Somewhere deep inside the Enterprise, something heavy struck the ship.
Not an explosion.
Not quite.
The deck shifted beneath Mercer's boots.
The bulkhead gave a short metallic groan.
Then everything was still.
Mercer's hand went to his phaser.
Kane's communicator was already open.
“Security Control.”
A burst of static.
Then:
“Stand by.”
Mercer looked at Kane.
Kane looked down the corridor.
The lights remained steady.
The ventilation continued.
A crewman stepped out of a side passage, looked around, and kept walking.
Enterprise went on.
Mercer slowly took his hand off the phaser.
Kane closed the communicator.
“Anything?”
Mercer looked down one corridor.
Then the other.
He listened.
Nothing.
“No.”
Kane nodded.
They kept watch.