STAR TREK: TOS #83 - Heart of the Sun

by Pamela Sargent

  She pressed her lips together. “Do you think this is easy for me, insisting on its destruction? Destruction is waste, and we Tyrtaeans hate waste.”

  Kirk stood up slowly. “I said that I would act when necessary.”

  “The time is now, Captain Kirk. Take no chance at all. Bring Commander Spock back and destroy it now while you still can.”

  [114] “Miss Coles has a point, Captain,” Spock said. “Only our scientific curiosity prevents action. But I still concur with you that curiosity must override caution for now.”

  “We may be destroying intelligent life,” Kirk said as he sat down again. “More to the point, if you insist on being practical, we may destroy something that could retaliate for our action. That could mean a much worse problem than a possible climatic change for the people of your world.”

  “I did say earlier,” Spock murmured, “that we might set in motion an unforeseen chain of events, but I am somewhat doubtful that one such event would be retaliation. The life aboard this mobile has taken what seem to be defensive measures, but has not moved aggressively against us. This may be an egoless artificial intelligence, standing outside ethical judgments.”

  “I appreciate your dispassionate observations, Commander Spock,” Myra Coles said. She turned to Kirk. “With something that alien, you may be taking more risks than you realize by waiting. Bring him back now and destroy the thing.”

  “Mr. Spock still has time to search more of the interior,” Kirk said as calmly as he could. “I prefer to stick with that plan for now.”

  “I am in agreement with you, Captain,” Spock said, “but in the meantime, you might try the impulse booster again.”

  Myra Coles’s gray eyes narrowed, and her [115] thoughts were clear: You Starfleet officers all stick together.

  “Mr. Scott,” Kirk said, “try the booster again.”

  “Aye, Captain. Scott to engineering—fire booster.”

  “Activating now,” said the voice of Lieutenant Lund.

  It might work this time, Kirk told himself. Maybe they just hadn’t been persistent enough, and this time there would be no resistance from the alien mobile; in which case, the problem would be solved in the simplest way: the asteroid would continue in a sun orbit and could be explored at leisure.

  Myra Coles was gazing at the viewscreen, and he saw his own look of hope in her eyes.

  “Course corrected,” Lund said from engineering. “Projection shows a free and clear sun orbit, cometary.”

  “Confirmed,” Massoud said from his station on the bridge.

  “Now let’s see if it sticks,” Sulu said softly.

  Kirk waited; everyone on the bridge was silent.

  “No luck,” Lund said over the communicator. “It’s corrected its course toward the sun again.”

  “Confirmed,” the computer said.

  “That thing wants the fire!” Scotty’s voice shouted. “I can feel it.”

  “Did you hear all of that, Spock?” Kirk asked.

  “Yes, Captain.”

  [116] “What do you suggest now?”

  “I propose to leave after six more hours. That should give me at least enough time to explore the remaining sectors in a cursory manner. I do not wish to fail without at least trying to collect as much data as possible. Is that satisfactory, Captain?”

  “Proceed, Mr. Spock,” Kirk said softly.

  Myra Coles shook her head. “Captain,” she said, “please consider that something could happen within the next six hours that could keep you from doing anything with the mobile. It may be able to defend itself. It’s my world we’re talking about, and your first officer’s safety.”

  “Miss Coles, my first officer is capable of assessing risks, and I trust his judgment.” In spite of his words, Kirk’s reason was telling him that Myra Coles was right, that destroying the object would be the safest course. Starfleet would no doubt commend him for putting the welfare of the Tyrtaeus II colony ahead of other considerations; Myra Coles would be able to send a message to the Federation Council saying that she and Kirk had been entirely in agreement. Maybe the Tyrtaeans would even feel some gratitude to Starfleet for protecting them from possible danger, and there would be less talk of a new colony and breaking away from the Federation. Apart from all of that, Spock would be safely back aboard ship.

  But, without saying it, Spock was telling him to wait; he seemed determined to explore the mobile [117] for as long as possible. Thoughts teased him: the mobile had been hiding in the cometary ring of this solar system; perhaps it was not the only such mobile; there might be others. He shook off his suspicions—no point in making matters worse by inventing more threats.

  Kirk stood up. Myra Coles was watching him intently. “I think we may have given this thing all we can,” he said.

  Wellesley Warren looked dubious. “So you are going to destroy it?” Kirk could hear the disapproval in his voice.

  “One step at a time,” Kirk said, “but it looks as though we may have to.” I’ll know when the time comes to destroy it, he told himself, because all his instincts insisted that it wasn’t time yet. There will be time, he told himself, to do what has to be done.

  Chapter Eight

  “CHRISTINE,” Leonard McCoy said to Nurse Chapel, “you take charge here. I’m going to the bridge.”

  Christine Chapel nodded. “I hate to say it,” she said, “but I agree with Myra Coles. I hope the captain can get Spock out of there.”

  McCoy left sickbay and hurried down the corridor toward the lift. With the recovering crew members ready to return to duty, and no medical emergencies requiring his attention, he wasn’t needed in sickbay for the moment. He had been listening to the exchanges over the intercom as he worked. Jim Kirk sounded as though he hadn’t gotten enough rest, and that Coles woman surely wasn’t making things any easier for him. Neither was Spock. McCoy couldn’t tell which of the two annoyed him more, Myra Coles for sniping at Jim [119] about problems he was already well aware of, or that blasted Vulcan for insisting on unnecessary further exploration of the mobile.

  McCoy sighed as he entered the lift. In all fairness to Spock, he thought, Jim was probably just as curious about the alien as Spock was. He admitted to himself that he was growing more intrigued by the thing. Even Myra Coles probably wanted to learn more about the mobile, but her duty to her people would outweigh any curiosity she felt.

  The captain was standing by the library and computer station, conferring with Ali Massoud and Cathe Tekakwitha, as McCoy came onto the bridge. Myra Coles and young Wellesley Warren stood near Uhura.

  The Tyrtaean woman glanced at McCoy. “Greetings,” she said, and he could hear the irritation and weariness in her voice.

  McCoy inclined his head to her. Warren smiled tentatively at him; Coles frowned.

  “The captain has already acknowledged that he’s probably going to have to destroy that thing.” Myra Coles waved a hand at the viewscreen image of the asteroid. “But he insists on postponing any action against it for as long as possible.”

  “I’ve been listening in, ma’am,” McCoy said, drawling the words slightly.

  Kirk left the science station and returned to his post, nodding at McCoy as he passed him.

  “Mr. Sulu,” Kirk said as he sat down, “set a [120] course to parallel the mobile’s path into the sun, and prepare a spread of photon torpedoes to strike in four quadrants and dead center, but upon my order only.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  “Mr. Spock?” Kirk said.

  “Yes, Captain,” the Vulcan’s voice replied. “We must be prepared for all eventualities.”

  Myra Coles asked, “So why haven’t you beamed your first officer out of there?”

  The low pitch and extremely measured tones of Kirk’s voice told McCoy that Jim was working hard to contain his annoyance. “Be assured that I will risk neither my first officer nor your world, if the danger is clear.”

  “Will you risk a developing world on your hunch?” Myra Coles as
ked. “Even the smallest danger is too much to risk. We can’t just wait and see what happens when our sun swallows this thing.”

  “Miss Coles,” Kirk said, still in the same measured voice, “I’m well aware of what it means to weigh possibilities. If I make a mistake, you and your people won’t be the only ones affected. My ship and my command are also at risk, as they are with all my most important decisions. I could lose both my command and the Enterprise if Starfleet finds my judgment here mistaken.”

  Maybe that will shut her up, McCoy thought. In spite of himself, he felt some sympathy for Coles; [121] reason was on her side, even if she wasn’t helping the situation much by hectoring the captain.

  “I see,” she said, “but—”

  “I’m well aware,” the captain continued, raising his voice slightly, “that the population of a planet can’t be risked in favor of an unknown. I have no more time to discuss this, Miss Coles. If you don’t shut up and keep out of my way, you will be escorted from the bridge and restricted to your quarters.”

  Myra Coles paled. The sudden look on her face was one of outrage, but she was silent.

  “Captain,” Spock’s voice said then, “I will be finished exploring this second sector soon, and if I do not find a control center or another way to divert the mobile from its course, we should let nothing stand in the way of the Tyrtaean colony’s safety.”

  Well, McCoy thought with some surprise, Spock and he were actually in complete accord.

  “Then we are all agreed, Captain?” Myra Coles said, sounding more subdued.

  “Mr. Scott,” Kirk said.

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “Beam Spock out as soon as he gives you the word. Mr. Spock—can we conclude with certainty that the collision of this unknown with the star will produce adverse effects on Tyrtaeus II?”

  “We cannot know that with absolute certainty,” Spock replied. “We do know that the mobile does [122] possess an advanced field-effect drive system, one that may affect stellar bodies. Perhaps it will not affect them in a way that would put a planetary environment at risk, but we cannot be certain of that. A star is massive enough to swallow and obliterate just about anything without being affected.”

  “Certainty isn’t the point,” Myra Coles muttered, so softly that McCoy could barely hear her. “This risk doesn’t have to be taken. It shouldn’t be taken.”

  “When you’re finished with that sector, Spock,” Kirk said, “I can give you four more hours.”

  “Six hours are what we agreed upon earlier,” the Vulcan’s voice murmured, “and almost two have passed.” McCoy saw the look in Coles’s gray eyes and knew what she was thinking—that even that time was too much.

  “Four hours,” Kirk said, “and out you come. Mister Scott, return to engineering and monitor developments from there. Mister Kyle, beam Commander Spock out when it’s time.”

  Kirk gazed at the viewscreen for a while, then looked up as McCoy approached his command station. The physician had a conspiratorial look on his face. McCoy glanced aft at Myra Coles, then said in a whisper, “I could probably dream up a reason for getting her off the bridge for a while. Another medical scan, maybe—after all, the stress of space travel—”

  [123] “Don’t bother, Bones.” Kirk preferred to have Myra there; she could snipe at him all she liked as long as she did not interfere with anything crucial. He did not want her to think that he was making decisions behind her back; he would not give her a chance to claim later that he had treated her unfairly, ignored her advice, or had not properly considered the interests of her people. She deserved some consideration for that. She had put her trust in the Federation, and had been its advocate on her world. He would have to do his best not to betray that larger trust.

  “Captain!” Tristram Lund shouted from engineering. “The asteroid’s thrown up its field again.”

  “Confirmed,” Ali Massoud said from his station aft. “Sensor display here shows the same thing.”

  “Let me see that, laddie,” Scott’s voice said over the communicator. Kirk waited, knowing what the chief engineer would tell him. “It’s true,” Scotty continued. “The field’s up, and we canna’ transport anything through it without grave risk. The field density readings are very clear about that. They exceed all safeties!”

  “Spock, did you hear that?” Kirk asked. “Come out physically, through the lock.”

  There was no reply.

  “Spock! Can you hear me?”

  “The channel is still open, Captain,” Uhura said.

  “Spock!”

  “Spock here.”

  “Can you hear me?” Kirk asked.

  [124] “Yes,” Spock responded. “My communicator link was cut off, but the field does not seem to affect my suit’s subspace channel.”

  “The field is still up, Mr. Spock,” Scott said. “You’ll have to get out of there on your own.”

  Kirk gripped the arms of his chair. “Spock, can you find your way back to the shuttle?”

  “Yes, Captain. I read its position clearly.”

  “Leave now. That’s an order.” He waited for Myra Coles to say something. Mercifully, she was silent.

  “Captain,” Massoud called out from his station. Almost simultaneously, Kirk heard Scott’s voice on the intercom.

  “Go ahead, Scotty,” Kirk said.

  “The worldlet’s acceleration is increasing,” the engineer said. “We’re losing even more time, Captain.”

  Kirk’s fingers tightened on his armrests. Next to him, McCoy cursed softly. He could almost hear what Myra Coles was thinking, what she would say at any moment now. You’ll let it go into the sun, Captain, rather than kill one of your officers. You’ll put Spock’s life, above that of my world. What will you do if he can’t get out in time? Will you destroy the mobile then? You should have listened to me, you should have brought him out. ...

  It was all taking on an air of inevitability, he thought. One by one, the doors to reasonable choices were closing.

  [125] Who was it, he found himself wondering, that had said, “Life must be lived forward, but understood backwards.” He had a better way to put it: “Fate is what you see looking back. Looking ahead, you don’t see as much.”

  Well, he told himself, he was looking ahead, and he still had some moves left to make.

  Uhura turned in her seat and looked up at Myra Coles. The Tyrtaean woman was standing stiffly, hands clasped, watching the viewscreen with empty gray eyes that seemed to be expecting the worst. Uhura saw that she had finally realized how grave the situation was, that there was nothing she could say now that would change anything for the better. Myra had at last understood the dilemma Captain Kirk and his first officer faced, that was now theirs alone to solve—if they could.

  Myra moved closer to her aide. “Exile,” Uhura heard the woman say in an undertone to Wellesley. “That’s what this may mean. I’m one of our leaders—people will be much harder on me, much quicker to pass sentence. I know I shouldn’t care about that now, but I do.”

  Exile, Uhura thought. She recalled her last day in Callinus, when Wellesley and two of the more friendly Tyrtaeans had invited her and Cathe Tekakwitha to dine with them. The food was plain, as always, but the other people in the tavern had been friendly—by Tyrtaean standards. Wellesley’s [126] two comrades had requested a song from her, and then the talk had turned to the civil order that predominated in Tyrtaean life.

  “I must compliment you on that,” Tekakwitha had said. “This has to be one of the safest places in the galaxy. As far as I can tell, you have almost no crime at all, even without any prisons or police.”

  “What would be the point?” Wellesley responded. “No Tyrtaean would want to show anyone that he wants something so much he’d steal it. There’s little to steal anyway. Rape, murder, assault—they all grow out of impulses we work hard to control. Most of us also live in small towns and settlements, where we can observe what’s going on. We all make sure that our dwellings and work places are secur
e, and we all know how to defend ourselves.”

  “Fact is,” one of his friends added, “we can be our own police. No one’s going to depend on somebody else to get him out of trouble. And the penalty for serious offenses is something no sane person would risk.”

  Uhura was curious. “And what is that?” she asked.

  “Exile to the northern continent,” Wellesley said, averting his eyes. “No one survives it.” He had clearly not wanted to say much more, and Uhura, after checking some records later, had wondered why there was no mention of the punishment in the Tyrtaean chronicles.

  [127] The Tyrtaean leader glanced at Wellesley, took a step toward the lift, then stopped and stood very still. It seemed that she was not going to leave the bridge after all. Uhura turned back to her console. Myra would remain there, she knew, a witness to events, ready to give her version of what had passed afterward.

  “What if Spock can’t get out in time?” Myra murmured. Uhura turned toward her again. “What then? Will James actually destroy the mobile with him on board?”

  “You heard what he said,” Uhura replied. “The captain will do whatever he has to do.”

  Myra Coles took a breath. “When this is over, James will not be able to say what suits him. I made my protests. They will be on record. There will be two of us to tell the truth.” The woman sounded as though she was already preparing her own defense.

  “Spock,” the captain’s voice said inside his helmet, “the asteroid’s acceleration is still steadily increasing.”

  “Understood, Captain.” Spock, moving through an irregular black corridor, still could not accept that the alien mobile was without an accessible control area. His reason kept insisting that finding such a facility would present the simplest solution to the mobile’s sunward plunge. Otherwise, he would have to conclude that the vessel was out of control, with no intelligence in command except [128] decaying systems; or that the mobile’s life-forms were intent on self-destruction, that they in fact wished to collide with the sun.