Sisko turned the corner. Within ten meters, he regretted it. The heat and humidity spiked, and the air grew heavy with odors of burnt polycarbons, scorched metals, and unwashed bodies—an early warning sign that drones were nearby. It was a characteristic of the Borg with which few people were familiar, outside of a handful of veterans of the 2381 invasion: they stank. Beneath all their cybernetic enhancements and synthetic garments, they remained organic beings—flesh, blood, and bone. A drone’s link to the Collective overrode most of its executive capacity, but its autonomic functions and
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