He shook his head grimly. Several of the life-sign indicators were already close to zero, and the boy had begun to bleed internally, massively, far worse than before: the sutures were not holding. And would not. The cell structure had already started to deteriorate.
“I knew it already, Chris. I only hoped ...”
He withdrew from the operating field and changed the anesthetic mode from general to local. Preston began to come to, but he would not feel any pain.
When McCoy looked up again, Jim Kirk stood next to Scott, gripping his shoulder.
McCoy shook his head.
Scott burst into the operating theater. Kirk followed.
“Dr. McCoy, can ye no’—” His voice broke.
“It’s coolant poisoning, Scotty,” McCoy said. “I’m sorry. It would be possible to keep him alive for another half hour, at most—I can’t do that to him.”
Scott started to protest, then stopped. He knew as well as any doctor, perhaps better, the effects of the poison. He went to Preston’s side and touched the boy’s forehead gently.
Preston slowly opened his eyes.
[143] “Peter,” Scott said, “lad, I dinna mean—” He stopped. Tears spilled down his cheeks.
Kirk leaned over the boy.
“Mr. Preston,” he said.
“Is ... the word given?” Peter stared upward, intent on a scene that existed in his sight alone.
“The word is given,” Kirk said. “Warp speed.”
“Aye ...” Peter whispered.
Saavik stopped at the door to sick bay. She was too late.
Mr. Scott came out of the operating room, flanked and half-supported by Admiral Kirk and Dr. McCoy. He was crying. Behind them, Peter’s body lay on the operating table.
Dr. Chapel drew a sheet over Peter’s face.
Saavik hurled the crumpled list to the floor, turned, and bolted down the corridor. She flung herself into the first room she came to and fumbled to lock the door behind her.
In the darkened, empty conference chamber, she tried to calm her breathing; she fought to control the impossible surge of grief and rage that took her.
It isn’t fair! she cried in her mind. It isn’t fair! He was only a child!
She clenched her hands around the top of a chair. As if she were still on Hellguard, she flung back her head and screamed.
For an instant, the madness owned her. She wrenched the chair from the deck, twisting and shearing the bolts, and flung it across the room. It crashed against the bulkhead, dented the metal, and rebounded halfway to her.
When Saavik knew anything again, she was crouched in a corner, huddled and trembling. She raised her head.
Darkness raised no barriers to her; she saw the damage she had done.
She was so weak she could control herself once more. [144] Slowly she rose; slowly, without looking back, she left the conference room.
Mr. Scott was unable to speak for some minutes. Finally he looked up at Jim Kirk.
“Why?”
Jim looked sadly at Cadet Preston’s body. “Khan wants to kill me for passing sentence on him fifteen years ago ... and he doesn’t care who stands between him and vengeance.”
“Scotty,” McCoy said, “I’m sorry.”
“He stayed at his post,” Scott said. “When my other trainees broke, he stayed.”
“If he hadn’t, we’d be space by now,” Kirk said.
“Bridge to Admiral Kirk,” Spock said over the intercom.
Kirk hurried to open the channel. “Kirk here.”
“The engine room reports auxiliary power restored. We can proceed on impulse engines.”
Kirk rubbed his temples, drawing himself away from Mr. Scott’s despair, back to the ship and the whole crew’s peril. “Best speed to Regulus I, Mr. Spock.” He sat on his heels beside Scott. “Scotty, I’m sorry, I’ve got to know—can you get the main engines back on-line?”
“I ... I dinna think so, sir. ...”
“Scotty—”
“... but ye’ll have my best. ...” He stood up, moving apathetically, speaking by rote. “I know ye tried, Doctor. ...” He left sick bay like a sleepwalker.
“Damn,” McCoy muttered.
“Are you all right?”
McCoy shrugged; weariness lay over him. “I’ve lost patients before, Jim; God help me, I’ve even lost kids before. Damn! Jim, Khan lured you here, that’s the only way any of this makes sense! He must have used your name to threaten Genesis—but how did he find out about it?”
[145] “I don’t know—and I’m a lot more worried about keeping him from laying his hands on it. You said it yourself: With a big enough bang, he could rearrange the universe.”
“There may still be time. You gave as good as you got.”
“I got beat. We’re only alive because I knew something about these ships that he didn’t.” Jim sighed. “And because one fourteen-year-old kid ...” He stopped.
“Shit,” he said, and left sick bay.
Chapter 7
The Enterprise limped to Regulus I, its crews working nonstop to repair the damage done by Khan. By the time they reached Spacelab, Jim Kirk was able to stop worrying about the immediate fate of his starship; but he became more and more concerned about what he would find at their destination. The space station maintained complete radio silence.
Mr. Sulu slid the Enterprise into orbit around Regulus I.
“Orbit stabilized, sir.”
“Thanks, Mr. Sulu. Commander Uhura, would you try again?”
“Aye, sir. Enterprise to Regulus I Spacelab, come in, Spacelab. Come in, please. ...” She received the same reply she had received to every one of the many transmissions she had made in the hours since Dr. Marcus’s original call: nothing. “Enterprise to Spacelab, come in, Spacelab. This is the U.S.S. Enterprise. Please respond. ...” She turned to Kirk. “There’s no response at all, sir.”
“Sensors, Captain?”
The sensors are inoperative, Admiral,” Spock said. “There is no way to tell what is inside the station.”
“And no way of knowing if Reliant is still nearby, either,” Kirk said.
“That is correct, Admiral.”
“Blind ... as a Tiberian bat,” Kirk said softly. “What about Regulus I?”
“Class D planetoid, quite unremarkable: no [147] appreciable tectonic activity. It is essentially a very large rock.”
“Reliant could be hiding behind that rock.”
“A distinct possibility, Admiral.”
Kirk opened a channel to the engine room. “Scotty, do we have enough power for the transporters?”
“Just barely, sir.” The engineer’s voice sounded tired and lifeless.
“Thanks, Scotty.”
Jim Kirk took his spectacles out of his belt pouch, looked at them, unfolded them, turned them over, then folded them again and put them away.
“I’m going down to Spacelab.”
“Jim,” Dr. McCoy said, “Khan could be down there!”
“He’s been there, Bones, and he hasn’t found what he wants. Can you spare someone? There may be people hurt.”
“I can spare me,” the doctor said.
“I beg your pardon, Admiral,” Saavik said, “but general order fifteen specifically prohibits the entry of a flag officer into a hazardous area without armed escort.”
“There is no such regulation,” Kirk said. That was easier than arguing with her.
She began to speak, stopped, then frowned, trying to decide how to respond to such a bald-faced representation of a lie as the truth.
On the other hand, Kirk thought, she had a point.
“But if you want to check out a phaser, Lieutenant Saavik, you’re welcome to join the party. Mr. Spock, the ship is yours.”
“Aye, sir.”
“You and Mr. Scott keep me up-to-date on the damage reports.” He got up and started for the turbo-lift.
“Jim—” Spock said.
Jim Kirk glanced at his old friend.
[148] “—be careful.”
Jim nodded, with a grin, and left.
Dr. McCoy materialized inside the station’s main laboratory with his phaser drawn, the safety off.
Some position for a doctor to be in, he thought—ready to shoot off somebody’s head. Jim materialized beside him, at an angle, and Saavik behind them both, so they formed a small protective circle.
“Hello!” Jim yelled. “Anybody here?”
The station replied with the echoes of abandonment and silence.
Saavik went to the main computer and turned it on. She spoke to it, but it did not answer her, a sure sign of a badly crashed system.
“Very little remains in any of the computers, Admiral,” she said after working with it for a few moments. “The on-line memories have been wiped almost clean.” She loaded the single remaining file, started it running, and watched it for several minutes.
McCoy pulled out his tricorder and scanned the immediate area. He thought he saw a blip—but, no, it faded before he could get a reading on it.
“Sir. ...” Saavik said.
“Yes, Lieutenant?” Kirk replied.
“This is extremely odd. Only a single program remains. It is very large. It is ... unique in my experience.”
She stood back so Kirk and McCoy could look at the screen display.
“I can make nothing of it.”
They frowned at the sizzling, sparking, colorful graphics.
“Another Genesis simulation?” McCoy said doubtfully.
“No. ...” Kirk said. “My God, Bones, it’s a game—if that’s all Khan found when he got here ...” He shook his head. “Phasers on stun. Move out. And be careful.”
[149] McCoy moved cautiously down the hall. The lights were very dim, the shadows heavy. Spacelab was enormous: besides the project scientists Spock regarded so highly, the satellite supported and housed several hundred technicians and support personnel. Most of them were on leave now, but there still should be eight or ten people here. So where—?
He caught his breath: a scratching noise, a faint beep from his tricorder. He turned slowly.
A white lab rat, free in the hallway, blinked at him from a dim corner, scrabbled around, and fled, its claws slipping on the tiles.
“I’m with you, friend,” McCoy muttered.
Feeling a little easier, he continued. He glanced into the rooms he passed, finding nothing but offices, a small lounge, sophisticated but familiar equipment for a number of fields of study.
If they had to search the entire station, room by room, it would take days. McCoy decided to return to the main lab to see if Jim or Saavik had found anyone.
He opened one last door. Beyond, it was dark.
The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He took a step inside. No strange sound, no strange sight—why did he feel so uneasy?
The smell: sharp, salty, metallic. He smelled blood.
He turned, and a cold hand gently slapped against his face.
“Lights!” he cried, jumping back. His foot slipped, and he fell.
The sensors responded to his voice. Lying on the floor, he looked up.
“My God in heaven ... !”
Staring at the hanging bodies, McCoy got slowly to his feet. He fumbled for his communicator.
“Jim. ...”
Five people—a Deltan and four human beings—hung upside down from a ceiling strut. Each one’s throat had been slashed. McCoy approached the [150] nearest body, that of a tall black man. His own blood obscured his face. The man next to him had been tortured.
As he waited for Kirk to answer, McCoy gradually got hold of himself. The casual ferocity of the killing gave him a deep, sick sensation.
Jim’s voice on the communicator made him start.
“Yeah, Bones?”
“I ... found them.”
“I’ll be right down.”
“No—! Jim, Dr. Marcus isn’t here. She isn’t here. But the rest ... they’re dead, Jim. Please stay where you are. I’ll get a medical team to beam down.” He was already trying to think if there were anyone on the ship he could count on besides Chris Chapel to help deal with this horror.
“Kirk out.”
McCoy cursed softly.
He took tricorder readings on all the bodies and recorded their position and surroundings. Three of the people had bled to death, one had died of shock, and the Deltas ... he could detect no cause for the Deltan’s death.
What chance is there, McCoy thought, that their murderer will ever come to trial? Not very damned much.
“Oh, my God. ...” Jim said from the doorway. He stared up, horrified.
“I told you not to come down here,” McCoy said angrily. “There was no need for you to see what happened.” He saw Saavik behind Kirk, her face Vulcan calm. “Or for her to either, dammit!”
Kirk glanced over his shoulder. “Lieutenant, I ordered—”
“I am your escort, Admiral,” she said coldly. “Your safety is my responsibility, not the reverse.”
“Stay outside, then,” McCoy said gently. “Child, it isn’t necessary for you to be exposed to this—”
“I am neither a child nor in need of protection.”
[151] “Lieutenant Saavik—” Kirk said sharply. “ Saavik cut him off. “Sir. In order to protect me from sights such as this you would have had to start when I was still a child. I will not leave you unguarded when a creature who takes such great pleasure in killing—and who would take his most extreme pleasure in your death—is free and in hiding somewhere near. Nor will I stand by idle!”
She paused a moment, looking somewhat abashed by her outburst. She continued in a tone more restrained, but with words no less definite.
“Admiral Kirk, if you in truth prefer an escort who behaves differently, you must order me back to the ship.”
Saavik waited, but Kirk said nothing.
She walked carefully across the blood-thick, sticky floor, hesitated a bare moment, and lifted Vance Madison. His body lay limp in her arms, and the rope around his ankles slackened.
“Please cut him down.”
Kirk complied.
They lowered the five bodies and found sheets in which to shroud them. Three were Project Genesis scientists, and two were service personnel.
“They even killed the galley chief,” Kirk said. His voice sounded stunned.
“The bodies are almost cold,” McCoy said. “But rigor hasn’t set in yet. Jim, they haven’t been dead for very long.”
Jim looked around the blood-spattered room.
“Carol. ...” he said.
The search party returned to the main lab.
Saavik heard a noise. She gazed around the lab, finding nothing. But the small sound came again. She drew out her tricorder and scanned with it.
It wailed plaintively. McCoy and Kirk heard it.
“Lieutenant—?” Kirk asked.
“I don’t know, sir.”
[152] She followed the signal to a large storage locker. As Kirk and McCoy joined her, she reached out and opened the door.
Two more bodies fell out and sprawled at their feet.
Kirk started violently. “My God!”
McCoy knelt down and inspected them with his medical sensor. One was a dark-haired youthful human, the other an older, bearded man, a captain. Both wore the insignia of the Reliant.
“They’re alive, Jim.”
Behind them, the Spacelab’s communications screen glowed on. “Enterprise to Admiral Kirk, come in, please,” Uhura said.
“Why, it’s Chekov,” Kirk said.
“Enterprise to Admiral Kirk,” Uhura said again. “Please respond.”
“This is Clark Terrell, Jim,” McCoy said. “I’ve served with him.” In fact he had known him, rather well, for years.
Chekov moaned.
McCoy frowned at the readings on his sensor. Apparently, Saavik thought, they looked as odd to him as they did to her, despite his enormously greater experience.
Kirk turned Chekov ov
er and supported his shoulders. “Pavel, do you hear me? Pavel, wake up.”
“Admiral Kirk!” Uhura said. “Please respond.”
“Saavik, tell her we’re all right, for gods’ sake.”
“Please acknowledge our signal, Admiral.” Uhura’s tone became more urgent.
“Some kind of brain disturbance,” McCoy said as Saavik hurried across the lab and opened a channel to the Enterprise. “It’s drug-induced, as far as I can tell.”
“Saavik here, Commander Uhura. We’re all right. Please stand by. Saavik out.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Uhura said with relief. “Enterprise standing by.”
[153] Saavik left the channel open and returned to McCoy and Kirk. Reliant’s Captain Terrell was beginning to regain consciousness, and Chekov was almost awake. He opened his eyes and stared blankly at Kirk.
“Pavel, can you hear me?” Kirk said. “What happened?”
“Admiral Kirk. ...” Chekov whispered. He took a deep breath that turned into a sob. “Oh, God, sir—” His voice failed him, and he cried.
Kirk held him. “It’s all right now, Pavel. You’re all right. Go on, don’t worry; you’re with friends now.”
Terrell moaned and tried to get up. McCoy hurried to him.
“It’s Len McCoy, Captain.” McCoy shook him gently by the shoulders. “Clark, do you remember me?”
Terrell’s expression was that of a man faced with such horror that he had lost himself in it. “McCoy. ...” he said slowly. “Len McCoy ... yes. Oh ... yes. ...”
Chekov pulled away from Kirk and struggled to sit up. “Admiral—it was Khan! We found him on Alpha Ceti V. ...”
“Easy, Pavel. Just tell me what happened.”
“Alpha Ceti VI was gone. My fault. ...”
McCoy and Kirk glanced at each other, both frowning slightly; Saavik, too, wondered how it could be the young commander’s fault that a whole world had disappeared. He was clearly still badly confused.
“Khan captured us. He—he can control people, Captain! His creatures—he—” Chekov began trembling. He clamped his hands over his ears. “My head—!”
McCoy came to his side and checked him over with the medical sensor. “It’s all right; you’re safe now.”
Chekov’s words came all in an incomprehensible rush. “He made us say things—lies—and made us do ... other things, but we beat him; he thought he controlled us, but he didn’t; the captain beat him—he was strong. ...” He was shaking so hard he could no [154] longer speak. He drew his knees to his chest and put his head down, hiding his face to cry.
STAR TREK: TOS #7 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Page 14