Star Trek - Blish, James - 12

by 12(lit)

  "Dr. Starnes! It's me, Kirk!" Unprepared, Kirk groped for his own weapon. But with an agonized twist, the man dropped and lay still. Kirk started to-ward him; McCoy was there before him.

  "He's dead, Captain."

  "He didn't seem to know me," said Kirk wonderingly. "He tried to kill me." He picked up the pistol, and nearly tripped over a woman whose body was contorted beneath her bluish face. He stooped and pried a plastic capsule from her hand. He sniffed at it doubtfully.

  "Cyalodin!"

  McCoy examined the capsule, then the woman. "Self-inflicted," he said briefly. "What's been going on here?"

  Mr. Spock had been searching the body of the professor. Now he brought over the tricorder that had been over the shoulder of the dead man, and flipped the switch.

  ."... me... must destroy ourselves. The alien... upon us, the enemy from within... the enemy..." came in a painful, choking voice. Spock snapped it off. Kirk stared around at the scene of desolation.

  "All this-self-inflicted?"

  McCoy nodded. "A mass suicide."

  As Spock was removing the tapes from the profes-sor's tricorder, there was a giggle. The rising trill of children's laughter sounded from behind the shrubs.

  A girl and four boys poured over the rock and stopped at the sight of the Enterprise crew.

  "Hi. Who are you?" said the tallest boy, with com-plete self-possession.

  "Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise."

  "I'm Tommy Starnes. This is Mary, and Steve, Ray and Don."

  "Come on, play with us!" said Mary, dancing around Kirk's legs. Kirk and the others stared around them at the grisly battlefield and found themselves seized by their hands and pulled into a wild ring-around-the-rosy, pocketful of posy, and dragged in-to helpless crouching at "all fall down!" among the dead.

  They buried the members of the Starnes exploration party in the shadow of the rock. The inscription:

  STARNES EXPLORATION PARTY

  STAR DATE 5039.5

  IN MEMORIAM

  O'Connell

  Tsiku

  Linden

  Jaworski

  Starnes

  Wilkins

  still glowed warm where it had been burned into the rock with phasers. Kirk reverently placed the United Federation of Planets green-and-red flag, with its cir-cle of UFP symbols around a center of stars, upon the grave. The Enterprise men were respectful and silent; the burial detail had been profoundly shocked.

  The children, standing in a stiff row, tried to look solemn, and succeeded only in looking bored. Steve nudged Mary restlessly. Mary whispered something in Don's ear. They glanced at Kirk.

  Finally, Mary said in a not-quite whisper, "Let's go and play!" and the five disappeared in a flurry of shouting.

  "What's the matter with them? No sign of grief at all," said Kirk.

  "No, Jim, no indication of any kind," said McCoy gravely.

  "Or fear?"

  "They seem completely secure and unafraid. But it's possibly the effect of traumatic shock."

  "I can't believe it. For a child to suppress the fact that both parents are dead..."

  The dry voice of Spock remarked, "Humans do have an amazing capacity for choosing what they wish to believe-and excluding that which is painful."

  "Not children, Spock. Not to this extent. It's in-credible."

  "What those children saw is incredible, Jim." Mc-Coy was quietly insistent. "The way these deaths oc-curred, any reaction is possible, including lacunar amnesia. That's my diagnosis, until specific tests can be made."

  Kirk shook his head. "I'll have to be guided by that for the present, Doctor. But surely I can question them."

  "No. Certainly not until the fabric of traumatiza-tion has weakened, or you can find another explana-tion for their behavior. Forcing them to see this ex-perience now could cause permanent damage. Such amnesia is a protection against the intolerable."

  Kirk had to accept this. "But, Bones, whatever hap-pened here is locked up inside those children."

  The cheerful sounds of children at play had been present throughout. Now Tommy was tying a blind-fold around the eyes of Steve, the smallest boy, and the others dashed for cover behind the rocks as Tommy turned him round and round. As Steve be-gan to grope, Tommy tiptoed backward softly-and tripped. Steve jumped gleefully on top, crying, "Tom-my, Tommy! I caught you!" The others danced out of hiding, shouting all at once.

  Kirk detached Steve from Tommy's back and helped the tall boy to his feet.

  "Hurt yourself?"

  "Nah. I'm okay." The others were trying to reach Tommy's head with the blindfold.

  "It's Tommy's turn, it's Tommy's turn!"

  It was all Kirk could do to outshout them. "Chil-dren! It's time to leave here and go up to the ship."

  "Oh, no, not yet. We're just beginning to have some fun! Not now, please?" came a chorus of protest.

  Kirk searched their faces for some other reaction.

  "I'm sorry. It's getting late. You'll have to go with Dr. McCoy."

  But all they did was grumble, disappointed. "Only five more minutes, huh, please? It's still Tommy's turn and everything!... And I didn't have a turn yet..."

  McCoy took charge of them. They didn't look back toward the camp at all.

  Kirk and Spock stood for a moment by the graves. The flag fluttered peacefully.

  "If it's not lacunar amnesia that's blanking out their minds, there may be something here that is doing it."

  "The attack on Professor Starnes's party must sure-ly have been unprovoked," said Spock musingly.

  "Attack? It seems to be mass suicide."

  "I stand corrected, Captain. 'Induced' would be a more precise term. Induced by an outside force."

  Alert, Kirk said, "Such as?"

  "The release of bacteria. Or a helpless mental de-pression. A state of suicidal anxiety. These could be chemically induced."

  "What would make the children immune?"

  "I do not know. But it is a possibility, Captain. A severe form of schizophrenia leading to a helpless de-pressive state could be chemically created."

  "With the children intentionally free."

  Spock nodded. "A valid hypothesis."

  "We shall have to investigate this place more thoroughly. We'll go aboard now."

  Animals and children start off on the right footing in a new environment when provided immediately with a little something to stave off the pangs of starva-tion. Nurse Christine Chapel mounted an expedition to the Commissary. When it comes to ice cream flavors, a computer can outdo a fairy godmother.

  "All right, children," said Christine, holding out a fistful of colored cards. "Each color means a different flavor. Take your pick and the computer will mix it; just call out your favorite."

  The five voices clamored in urgent delight. "Orange-vanilla-cherry-apricot-licorice-CHOC'LIT!" she handed two cards to each child. Four of them dashed to the insert slot and jammed their cards in. The smallest, Steve, was clearly stuck. His face conveyed agonies of indecision.

  "Would you like to be surprised, Stevie?" asked Nurse Chapel gently.

  Relieved, he nodded. She inserted two cards at ran-dom. The read-out panel twinkled and the computer hummed, and eagerly Steve opened the little window and withdrew a heaping dish.

  He looked up at her from somewhere around her knees with tear-filled eyes. He said sorrowfully, "But it's coconut and vanilla. It's all white!"

  She patted him. "There, there now, Stevie. There are unpleasant surprises as well as pleasant ones. That was your unpleasant surprise. Now what would you like for the pleasant one?"

  There is nothing like knowing what you don't want, after all, for clarifying a decision. Stevie said, loud and clear, "Chocolate wobble and pistachio."

  "Coming right up." The crisis was past.

  "And peach."

  Trying not to think about it, Christine submitted the required cards to the machine. "Oh, this is going to be a wonderful surprise."

  Not vastly surprised, Stev
e accepted the huge mound of colors with satisfaction and trotted off to join the others at the table. The clinking of spoons and chatter overwhelmed the voices of Kirk and McCoy, who stood watching in the doorway.

  "The tests show no, evidence of tension due to ly-ing," said McCoy glumly. "They behave as if nothing were wrong. Physically, they check out completely sound. And there's no sign of any biochemical sub-stance to account for their present state. I have no answers, Jim."

  "There has to be an answer." Kirk stared at the laughing group, absorbed in ice cream.

  "Why can't it wait till we get to Starbase Hospital, where they can be checked by a child specialist? I'm no pediatrician."

  "We're not leaving here till I know what went on- or what's going on."

  McCoy shrugged. "Well, I won't forbid you to ques-tion them. But it could harm them."

  "It could be far worse for them if I don't-and for us too."

  McCoy gave him an uncertain glance. "Be careful, Jim."

  Kirk nodded and eased his way over to the table, where there was much scraping of last bits from bottoms of bowls.

  "... and after this we can play games," Christine Chapel was saying cheerfully.

  "Mmmm, yeah... that was fun... some more..." surfaced from the general babble.

  "Well, well," said Kirk, smiling. "You seem to be having such a good time over here, I think I'll join you. Is that all right?"

  "Please do," said Mary formally.

  "I'll have a dish too-a little one. A very little one," he said to Christine.

  "Of course."

  "Very little," he said meaningfully. And then to the children, "This is better than Triacus, isn't it?" Five faces turned to him with the look of disappointed resignation that children give to hopeless adults. "That dirty old planet?" said Don scornfully.

  Ray's snub nose wrinkled so hard as to nearly disappear. "What's to like about that place?"

  Mary explained. "You weren't there very long, Cap-tain. You don't know."

  "I don't think your parents liked it much either."

  "Yes, they did," said Tommy quickly, echoed by, "Mine sure did. Mine too."

  Don summed it up. "Parents like stupid things." Christine Chapel saw an opportunity. "I don't know about that. Parents like children."

  "Ha," said Mary. "That's what you think."

  "I'm sure your parents loved you," said Kirk. "That's why they took you with them all the way to Triacus, so you wouldn't be so far away for so long a time. That would have made them unhappy; they would miss you. Wouldn't you miss them too?"

  The children looked at each other, and away. They squirmed. Tommy looked thoughtful for a split sec-ond and then said, grinning, "Bizzy! Bizzy, bizzy!"

  It exploded into laughter as they all joined in. "Bizzy-bizzy-bizzy-bizzy..." They jumped up and chased around the room, bumping each other and shouting, "Bizzy, bizzy, bizzy!" Don called, "Guess what we are?"

  "A swarm of bees!" said Christine.

  They shook their heads and screamed with laughter. Mary's voice rose above them all, crying, "Watch out! I'll sting you!"

  "A swarm of adults," said Kirk softly. The laughter missed a beat, and rose shrilly. Kirk caught Mary as she careened into him with a face of near-fury. "Now wait a minute..."

  Tommy said hastily, "Can we have some more ice cream, please?"

  "I don't think so," said Kirk, slowly releasing the little girl. "It would spoil your dinner."

  "See what I told ya? They all say it." The children gathered behind Tommy, who stood there, a young captain ready to defend his crew, Kirk thought. The boy was a leader. But why this... sense of opposi-tion?

  "All right, children," he said. "You've had a full day. I think you could use some rest. Nurse Chapel will see you to your quarters."

  "A very good idea, Captain," said Christine with some relief. There had been tension building up in the room. She herded them toward the door through the "Awwws" and "Do we have tos."

  Kirk called to Tommy. "Just a moment. I'd like to ask you something." McCoy had quietly joined the Captain at the table. Tommy reluctantly sat down on the other side.

  "Tommy, will you tell me what you saw?"

  "Saw where?"

  "By the rocks. On Triacus."

  Tommy shrugged. "You were there," he said in-differently.

  "Did you see your father today?"

  "I saw'm."

  "Did he seem upset?"

  "Yeah, he was very upset."

  "What about?"

  "I didn't ask him." How could he get through this almost sullen resistance and reach the boy?

  "What was going on that would have upset him?"

  Tommy looked at Kirk distantly. "How should I know? He was always upset. Just like you, Captain Kirk."

  "I'm not upset with you or your friends, Tommy. We invited you aboard the Enterprise. Why would I do that if I didn't like you?"

  "You had your reasons," said the boy in a voice too old for him.

  Kirk tried another tack. "Are you unhappy about leaving Triacus?"

  "That place? That's for adults."

  "Aren't you sorry about... about leaving your parents?"

  "My parents?" said Tommy, amazed. "They love it down there. Always bizzy. They're happy." He wriggled to his feet. "Can I please go now? I'm tired too, you know."

  Kirk sighed. "Yes, certainly. I'll take you."

  "I know the way."

  They let him go. "Round one to the young con-tender," said McCoy.

  "Almost a knockout," agreed Kirk. "It's as if the parents were strangers to them. But - " he flipped the switch on the communicator. "Kirk to Security. Post a guard on the children. They're to be kept under con-stant watch."

  But neither officers, guards nor crew heard the soft sound of chanting from Tommy's room:

  Hail, hail, fire and snow,

  Call the angel, we will go,

  Far away, far to see,

  Friendly angel, come to me.

  Perhaps they were saying their prayers.

  Kirk passed a restless night. The memory of little Mary dancing on her mother's grave kept returning to haunt him. If he had not seen the tragedy, he would never have suspected any trouble at all from the Chil-dren's attitude. It was all very well to talk of lacunar amnesia, but there was an undercurrent of horror that he could not shake.

  And the doctor had found no signs of Spock's "chemically induced" derangement.

  The viewscreen on the bridge showed the expected image of Triacus, just distant enoughjior the details of the landscape to be blurred.

  "Mr. Sulu?"

  "Maintaining standard orbit, Captain," said Sulu, pleased to give an "all's well" report to the tired face of his commander.

  "Lieutenant Uhura, is there any report from the planet security team?"

  "Everything is quiet, sir." Everything quiet, every-thing in order. Why this sense of unease?

  Mr. Spock appeared at his elbow. "Captain, I have extracted the salient portion of Professor Starnes's tapes."

  "Good." Kirk moved to Spock's console.

  "Among the technical facts he gathered, Professor Starnes also offers some rather... unscientific hypotheses." Spock's voice expressed distrust.

  "Let's see them, Mr. Spock."

  "... Log date, 5025.3. Ever since our arrival on Triacus, I've had a growing feeling of uneasiness. The distinguished man on the screen glanced around him. "At first, I attributed it to the usual case of nerves commonly associated with any new project. However, I found that the rest of my associates were also bothered by these anxieties."

  Kirk and Spock exchanged a puzzled glance. On the screen, Dr. Starnes licked his lips and hurried on.

  "The only ones not affected are the children, bless them, who are finding the whole thing an exciting adventure." For a moment, the trouble left his face and he smiled. "Ah, to be young again!"

  "Are there more of these unscientific hypotheses, Mr. Spock?"

  Spock nodded briefly.

  "... 5032.4 The fee
ling of anxiety we've all been experiencing is growing worse. It seems to be most intense close to the camp, in fact. There is a cave in the rocks in which we have been sheltering part of the time; I have ordered Professor Wilkins to begin excavating. There are signs that the area was once in-habited, and perhaps there is an explanation to be found."