Chapter
Twenty-Two
Morn went over to the computer and activated it. "Computer, you can
locate and identify all personnel on this vessel, can you not?"
2 "Affirmative," the computer responded. "Each member of the crew gives
off different biological readings, which can be catalogued and
identified. Is someone unaccounted for?"
3 "No," assured Morn, "there is an unauthorized entity on board. Its
exact composition is unknown, but it is somewhere in the vessel, and it
is a danger to the crew. I want you to locate it, and, track it."
4 "Understood," answered the computer. "Locate unauthorized presence.
Identify and track. Beginning operation."
5 "How can it find it?" asked the Doctor.
6 "I imagine," explained Morn, "it will identify all those on board and
keep track of their whereabouts. After it's found everybody, anything left over is its target, Doctor. If we
synthesized large quantities of sugar and put them out around the ship,
do you think this thing would go after them?"
7 ''It's possible," answered the Doctor, "if it can't tell the
difference between the synthetic and the real stuff. If we dissolve it
in water it would be easy for it to feed on."
8 "Get to work!" ordered Morn. "Maybe if we feed it, it will keep it
happy and it will leave the crew alone!”
9 "But we've got plenty of sugar," questioned the Medic, "why not use
the real stuff?"
10 "Because in about forty-eight hours," answered Morn, "the synthetic
will begin to revert back to what it really was. That's the problem
with synthesizers. You can put in copper scrap, and get out steel. But
in forty-eight hours you've got copper again! That's why synthetic
material is only good for certain jobs."