SEVENTY-TWO HOURS. Seventy-two hours to find whoever was behind the bombings.
Seventy-two hours with no sleep for any of the DS-Nine crew.
The rumor had swept through the entire station: seventy-two hours to live. All the other bombs had only been warnings. People were lining up in the travel offices, in the freight offices, hoping to find a place on an outgoing ship, never mind the destination. One by one, the heads of the remaining trade delegations had come to Sisko's office, apologizing, but they were sure he'd understand that with the present unsettled conditions, continuing the negotiations was not advisable at this time.
And Sisko would look at his only son, he would see the preoccupied, worried expression on O'Brien's face. The man's wife and daughter were here on DS-Nine: his entire family could be wiped out in an instant. Get them out of here, send them to safety. It was the first reaction. But, then, how could you ask others to stay under the same circumstances?
When he felt the jolt to the station, Sisko knew, even before the sirens and alarms started to sound and the news came over the comm, what had happened. Another bomb.
"Emergency! All available security and medical staff to level twenty-two, docking bay five!"
Bay five. Where the Qismilian ship was docked. "Damn them!" he said tightly, heading as quickly as he could to the nearest turbolift shaft. "Damn them!"
He cursed the unknown terrorist, the slowness of the lift, the Cardassians who'd built the thing in the first place. He should have transported out to the docking ring instead.
But as soon as he stepped out of the lift, he was stopped by a security officer, who said, "Sorry, Commander, but we've had to seal off this section. There's been a breach at the airlock. Major Kira's orders."
"Are there any pressure suits available?"
The officer shook her head. "Sorry, sir. Medical and operations have priority."
Which was, of course, the correct procedure. But it left the station's commander fuming here in impotent frustration while his officers and staff worked to seal the breach and bring out the injured. He had never felt so useless in his life.
Slapping his comm badge: "This is Sisko. Anyone in docking bay five—can you give me a report?"
A moment later he heard a weary voice, with that echoing tone that meant the speaker was wearing a pressure suit. "This is Kira. It's not good. The Qismilian ship was in the middle of undock procedures when the bomb went off. Their thrusters were already engaged. The pilot lost control momentarily …"
"And ran his ship right into the docking ring." Sisko didn't need to hear the rest. He had felt the station shake.
"Casualties?"
"Medical is treating them on board the ship, until the breach is sealed and we can bring them out."
"Are we going to be able to handle it, Major?"
"Yes, I think so. Chief O'Brien got his team working right away. I've ordered security to keep everyone else out except medical and the operations people."
"Good. If there's anything I can do to help, yell. Sisko out."
Addressing his communicator again, he said, "This is Commander Sisko. Until further notice, all docking facilities will be off-limits. No ships will be permitted to leave this station. Security, I want all docking facilities and airlocks checked for explosive devices. That's Priority One."
Only moments after he had given the order, his communicator sounded. "Commander Sisko, I think you'd better speak to the Andorian ambassador. He wants to know who says he can't go on board his ship."
Sisko closed his eyes for a second. It was starting already. "Put him through."
A grim-faced Sisko confronted his senior staff in the commander's office. He'd been forced to come into Ops through a back entrance in order to avoid the throngs of panicky stationers and others waiting to mob him at the lift tube, demanding to know when the evacuation would begin again.
"We were given a deadline," he said, looking from face to face. "Seventy-two hours before the station is destroyed. Now the question is: Was that last explosion it? Or just another warning?"
"I've finished the computer analysis," said Dax. "According to it, the force of this latest blast was no greater than any of the others previous. It's impossible that it could have done more than minor damage to the station. I doubt if the terrorist could have planned on the Qismilian ship hitting the docking ring. As it is, we only have three sections sealed off."
"So the deadline still holds?"
No one answered. They all knew that their remaining time was measured in hours.
Sisko turned to Kira. "Major?"
"Surveillance on Garak is negative. I still think he might be involved in some way, but he didn't plant that bomb—not during the time we were watching him. If you have no objections, Commander, I plan to bring him in for questioning."
"Anything it takes," said Sisko grimly. "Now, what about the Bajoran government? Have they come up with anything?"
"They've pulled in every known Kohn Ma operative on Bajor," Kira reported. "And they've interrogated Gelia again. She keeps insisting she knows nothing more."
"You think she's telling the truth?" Sisko asked.
Kira nodded. Her face looked worn. "Our interrogators learned their trade in a hard school. Gelia was a dupe. They used her, but they kept her in the dark.
"Right now, I'm concentrating on the dockworkers. Except for the one explosion at Garak's shop, all the attacks have targeted the docking facilities."
"Aimed at the trade delegates," Sisko said.
"It's the best guess we can make." Kira stood up. "I have at least a score of people waiting in the security office for questioning. If you don't need me here …"
Sisko started to say something, then simply nodded. Kira knew what it had been: "There's not much time left." But they all knew that. Everyone on the station knew it. Hour by hour, the time was running out.
On her way to the security office, Kira heard the sound of chanting. A procession came into sight: monks and a long tail of people following them. A part of her wanted to join them, another part wanted to scream at them, "Why are you wasting this time? You should be doing something!"
It was the eternal riddle of the Bajorans, united only by religion. And sometimes not even by that.
Maybe the terrorist was in the procession somewhere. Chanting with the rest of them. Seeking his balance in preparation for what he was about to do. It was a typical Bajoran notion: pray, meditate, then go forth to kill. Kira had done it herself.
Except for the procession, the Promenade seemed all but deserted. People had no time now for the pursuit of ordinary business or pleasure. They were too busy trying to find a way to survive. As the monks passed, across the wide space, in the doorway of his shop, Kira saw the unmistakable Cardassian figure: Garak, watching the worshipers. Their eyes met briefly in a glance of mutual suspicion.
Kira turned hers away first. If Garak was any kind of an effective spy, he'd know they had him under surveillance. But she knew what Sisko thought. That she couldn't be objective when it came to Cardassians. There was no evidence to link Garak to any of this.
And maybe Sisko was right. It was just so hard to imagine how Garak could be working with Gelia, how there could be a link between the Cardassians and the Kohn Ma. It didn't matter. She meant to bring him in anyway. They couldn't afford to overlook even the most remote possibility of a lead.
The sound of chanting was dying away now, and the worshipers started to disperse. Kira saw a robed figure coming toward her. Leiris. He touched her lightly on the ear.
"Nerys, I saw you watching the procession. You looked troubled. Come with me. Let us meditate together."
She pulled her arm back with a certain reluctance. "I can't, now. There's no time. You should know that."
He smiled with that enigmatic look that all monks seemed to acquire—a suggestion of secret knowledge. "If the Prophets wish there to be time, there will be enough time."
At the moment, Kira found the smile slightly irritating, even smug. "If the Prophets wanted to help me, they could find whoever's planning to blow up the station."
Still smiling, he sketched a sign of blessing and started back to the temple, but Kira called out, "Wait!" He paused for her to catch up. "Leiris, I know what you told me, before. But if anyone has come to you, if you know anything—"
He shook his head sadly. "You know I couldn't say. No more than I could reveal your inner thoughts to others, Nerys."
"Hundreds of lives could be lost. Innocent lives, Bajorans. If I only knew!"
"I'm sorry for your pain. But, for your peace of mind, I can tell you this much. As it happens, no one has come to me to confess any kind of involvement in this matter."
She took his hand, pressed it to her temple. "Thank you, Leiris."
So, she thought as she left the vicinity of the temple, either the terrorist had no qualms of conscience or hadn't brought himself to confess them. Or— She glanced over in the direction of Garak's shop, but the Cardassian tailor was no longer there.
In the security office, the witnesses were waiting to be interviewed, none of them happy to be there. Kira took their statements one by one, questioning them about anything they might have seen or heard near the pylons and bays where the explosions had gone off. It was a tedious process. She had to assure them over and over that there was no evidence against them.
"I wasn't ever even involved in the resistance!" one freight handler kept insisting. "No more than anyone else was! You don't have any cause to come asking me these question, putting me under suspicion!"
"It isn't a matter of suspicion," Kira repeated wearily. "We're just checking to determine how explosives might have been brought onto the station. Knowingly or otherwise. Now, please, Bojja. Is this your cargo manifest? Is there anything you didn't declare? Any package, no matter how innocent-looking? Please try to remember."
As the unhappy Bajoran read through the list of goods, Kira's comm badge interrupted. "O'Brien to security! I found it! I found the bomb!"
Kira jumped to her feet. The freight handler looked up as she started to rush out of the office. "Does this mean I can go?"
"Yes! No! Wait. Finish answering those questions first. Then you can leave."
There was a long moment of awed silence as the station's officers stood in front of the monitor of the power-plant control room. The image of an antimatter-containment pod was on the screen, and planted on it an inconspicuous, drab metal object, smaller than O'Brien's hand. Even at this remote distance, no one wanted to make an unnecessary sound or movement.
Finally Sisko spoke. "You're sure this is a bomb?"
O'Brien was emphatic. "Absolutely. The computer confirms it. All indications are that this is the same kind of device he's been using all along. These components would all disintegrate in an explosion, leave no evidence behind." He laughed hollowly. "If that pod blows, it wouldn't leave any of us behind, either. But at least now we've got it, even if we don't have the bastard who planted it."
Sisko took a large breath, as if he were going to explode with it. "What I want to know is: How in the hell did they get it in there? Don't we have any effective security in this place? What are we dealing with? Are these people invisible? Do they have some kind of personal cloaking device?"
At his words, the Bajoran duty technician shrank back against the wall, the better to remain unnoticed. But the commander's attention fixed on Odo. "I want some answers! We've got terrorists running around loose, and with these reactors the way they are—it's a wonder we haven't all been blown up yet!"
"Prophets!" Kira swore suddenly, and slapped her comm badge. "Security, this is Major Kira! Anyone, is a freighter named Bojja, Bojja Riyn, still in the security office? He was in for questioning today."
A voice replied, "He left a few minutes ago, Major."
"Get him back! Now! It's urgent. Bring him back and put him in detention. In solitary."
"Major, what's the charge?"
"It doesn't matter. Smuggling, anything. But do it now, and don't let him talk to anyone! Do you understand, Amran?"
"Yes, Major. Detention. Solitary."
Sisko and the rest were looking at her, clearly in the belief that excessive stress had unhinged her reason. Kira explained, "Bojja overheard when O'Brien called me. Look, whoever planted this device here doesn't know we've found it. They still believe it's going to go off in another thirty-two hours!"
"You're right!" Sisko said at once. "We've got to keep this quiet if we still want to get our hands on whoever's behind all this! Constable, you can set up remote surveillance here?"
"I'll take care of it personally," Odo assured him.
Sisko looked back at the bomb. "Chief, what about that thing? Just how dangerous is it, planted in there?"
O'Brien shook his head gravely. "This reactor system is unstable to begin with. That thing in there—if it goes off, there isn't any station left." He stared at the device in the monitor for another long moment. "There's just one more problem. I don't know if I can manage to disarm the thing."