“It’s all right,” he told her. “It’s Kaleo I wanted to speak with.” Kirk dismissed the nurse with a nod and crossed to the occupied recovery room. The door was open, and inside the little cabin lit with a dim night-cycle glow, he saw the tall Syhaari female sitting awkwardly in a human-scale chair. Her attention was wholly on Duchad, lying on a biobed beneath a monitor that quietly chimed the tones of his heart.
Still, she must have sensed his approach. “Kirk,” began Kaleo, without looking up. “How is your ship?”
She spoke quietly, and he found himself doing the same. “Still here. Just barely, though.”
“You saw it, then?” Kaleo didn’t look up. “This predator that Duchad spoke of?”
“Damn near tore us apart,” he admitted, and with as much detachment as he could muster, Kirk gave her the high points of their encounter with the leviathan.
Kaleo kept silent through the explanation, and when he was done, she hung her head. “I was always afraid that something like this might happen,” she said. “Some of us, we Syhaari, are given to moments of morbid introspection.” The captain gave a bitter chug of dry amusement. “It is more a thing for melancholy poets and the like, but I occasionally succumb. I think the worst, that there is some cosmic equilibrium upset out here. We met you, Kirk. Strangers, but good people. And I know there are those in the galaxy who would do us harm. In my darker moments, I kept waiting for the balance to be righted. For the good to be counterbalanced with the bad.” She sighed. “And so it has.”
“You’re not to blame for this,” Kirk told her, but a part of him was wondering, Is she?
Kaleo looked him in the eyes for the first time since he had entered the room, and even over the gulf of species between them, he could see true sorrow there. “Will you grant me access to your subspace communications, Captain? I must report what you have told me to the members of the Learned Assembly.”
“I’ll see to it. Lieutenant M’Ress can assist you. My first officer has already prepared a data packet containing all the information we were able to glean about the object.”
She gave a broad-shouldered shrug. “I regret you and your people were exposed to this danger, Captain Kirk.”
“I offered to help, remember?” he replied. “Things might have gone very differently if your star-rangers had come out here instead.” That seemed to strike a chord with her, and Kaleo’s gaze went back to her comatose comrade.
Against his better judgment, Kirk made a decision to try and use the opportunity to gain some insight into his opposite number. Part of him disliked the idea of pressing Kaleo in a moment when she was clearly troubled, but a colder aspect warned him that there were already too many unknowns circling around them.
“You said you trained with Duchad. Was he another commander, like you and Tormid?”
“Yes, but of a lower grade.” Kaleo absently touched the woven thread in her hair, along which were strung the tiny charm-like beads denoting her rank and status. Kirk saw a distinctive sapphire orb there that Tormid had also displayed. “He was disappointed that the Learned Assembly did not choose him to captain one of the ships sent beyond the Great Veil.”
Kirk saw an opening and took it. “You think he would have made a better choice than Tormid?”
“Tormid’s command was given to him as much for political capital as it was for his experience. He is an accomplished pilot and scientist, that is not in doubt. But I cannot help but wonder if someone like Duchad would have brought back more of The Searcher Unbound’s crew alive.” She paused, her wide face creasing in a frown. “Dismiss my words. I speak out of turn.”
He took the other seat across from the biobed. “You’re free to say what you want to me, Kaleo. We both know what it’s like to face death out here.” He motioned at the walls, but his gesture took in the void of space beyond. “To have other lives balancing on each order we give.”
“It is a great weight, yes?” she agreed. “Sometimes, it lifts off your neck long enough for you to raise your head and be the first to see something incredible . . . but it soon settles once more.”
“Would you give it up?”
“Never.” Kaleo showed her teeth in a brief grin. “Would you?”
“Not in a million years.”
“I wonder if Tormid would say the same.” Kaleo came forward as Duchad gasped and turned slightly on the bed. She used a damp cloth to moisten his dry lips, and the injured man settled back into silence. “He was swift to surrender his ship for a vessel more suited to his temperament . . . the Assembly. I always expected him to end up there, but perhaps not quite as quickly as it occurred. Tormid and I . . .” She halted, framing her words. “I suppose you could say we were rivals, of a sort. In the early years of the explorer missions to the outer planets, our ships vied for the Assembly’s favor. I used that rivalry to challenge Zond and my crew to travel farther and learn more . . . but for the joy of it, Kirk. You understand? For our species, not because we wished to be storied.”
“Glory is fleeting,” he agreed. “But knowledge . . . that lasts forever.”
“And now Tormid is rich with both. His discoveries have made him the most widely known face on all the Syhaari worlds, and the works of those who allowed him to venture into space have been all but eclipsed, forgotten. My people can be very entranced by the glimmer of the new, Captain. We are sometimes too swift to overlook the long road taken to find it.”
There was a question Kirk had been considering for some time, and he put it to her. “Why did your people wait so long to leave your homeworld? In almost every sentient species the Federation has encountered, there were always some reaching for the stars long before they even had the means.”
Kaleo spread her long-fingered hands. “What stars, Kirk? You’ve seen our skies, the shroud that the Veil put between us and the rest of the universe. Stand anywhere on Syhaar Prime’s nightside, and you will observe a blanket of shadows that does not beckon. It is not stirring to the soul to look up, do you see? I can only imagine what it must have been like for you, on your Earth, to stare at the heavens and see into the infinite.”
“You didn’t think there was more out there?” He struggled to grasp the mindset that Kaleo hinted at, and for a moment Kirk remembered lying on his back in an Iowa cornfield in the depths of night. Just a boy, but his heart already captured by the thought of worlds and stars beyond his own. He felt a pang of sorrow for the Syhaari for never having known that.
“The Veil kept us safe, but it also hid much from us. Our nonoptical telescopes saw only faint traces beyond it, things that hinted at great danger. Our civilization had grown up believing we were the only sentients in existence. Some thought that what lay outside the Veil were the ashes of a dead universe and that we alone had been preserved by a higher power. Others thought it was a punishment for our sins, that we were locked away for the misdeeds of our progenitors. I knew the only way to know for sure was to go and take a look.”
“I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you,” Kirk admitted. “Being there on the bridge of your ship. Passing through the Veil and seeing the universe for the very first time.”
“It was my honor,” she told him, her voice thick with emotion. “And I want to make sure the meaning of that moment is never lost. It goes beyond politics and temporal issues. You understand.” Kaleo pointed at him. “You have seen things of such scope, Kirk. You have stood where I stood that day.”
“In a way,” he agreed.
And then she pointed at Duchad. “Your kind have been doing this for centuries. Tell me, is this the price of it? Brothers and sisters sacrificed for knowledge? Agents of the unknown, motivated by alien impulses, threatening our lives? Were we naïve to think that we could reach out from our home to touch those distant stars and not be burned by them?”
“I would be lying to you if I didn’t say there’s a cost to every new frontier we cros
s.” Kirk’s lip curled in a sympathetic half smile. “A few years ago, my crew and I found ourselves facing a dilemma of similar dimensions. A chance to gain great knowledge through contact with an incredibly advanced alien species. The dangers were equally great.” He met her gaze. “I’ll tell you now what I told my people then, what I still consider to be true. Risk is our business, Kaleo. That’s why we’re out here. And I believe you feel the same way.”
“For one so hairless, you are very perceptive,” said the other captain. “And yes, I am ready to take that risk. But I will not put my people and my homeworld in harm’s way. Some will say this leviathan has come because we dared to go where no Syhaari has gone before. I have to know if they are right.”
At length, Kirk gave a solemn nod. “We’ll help you.” He got up. “I’ll have M’Ress pipe a subspace channel down here, you can speak to your people from this room.”
As he approached the door, Kaleo took his hand to halt him. “Why are you doing this, Kirk? You owe us nothing. You could simply put us off your ship and be on your way, out of any potential danger.”
“If our circumstances were reversed, is that what you would do?”
“No.”
“Then you already know the reason why.”
Six
The turbolift deposited Leonard McCoy on the bridge and he stepped out, advancing on the captain, finding Kirk in the middle of a conversation with Sulu and the Syhaari woman, Kaleo. “What’s this about?” he demanded before anyone else could speak. He had been in the Enterprise’s operating theater for hours, struggling to make sure that Ron Erikson would live to see another day, and fatigue was fraying his temper.
Kirk saw right through that in an instant. “Bones, when did you sleep last?”
“That’s your question?” he retorted. “I can never tell what time of day it is on these damn ships.” The fact was McCoy had been about to take a shift in his quarters, crash out, and let himself rest, but the captain’s summons to the bridge trumped that. He folded his arms across his blue duty tunic and eyed his friend and commander. “Never mind that. What’s so important you’ve got me running up here?”
“Forgive me, Doctor,” said Kaleo. “I asked Captain Kirk to bring you in. I wanted you present to address any medical questions.” She sighed, and McCoy felt a little churlish as he saw the mirror of his own fatigue in her. This was the first time he had seen Kaleo away from Duchad’s side since the man had been brought aboard, and if she had slept or eaten in all that time, he hadn’t noticed her doing so.
“Questions from who?”
“We’re about to find out,” said Kirk.
At the communications console, Lieutenant M’Ress plucked the comm unit from her arched ear and spoke up. “Incoming signal. I’ve patched in our subspace arrays to boost the power and reduce lag time, sir.”
Kirk nodded toward the main viewer. “On-screen,” he said, by way of answer.
The display wavered, a picture of the gray void of Syhaari space re-forming into something McCoy recognized as the Great Hall, where they had sat down to the unusual feast. It had been less than a day ago, but it felt like months had passed since then.
Tormid entered the range of the imager at the other end of the transmission, and he gave them a stern glare. “Captain Kirk. Where is your vessel now?”
McCoy shot his commanding officer a look. Tormid clearly wasn’t one to waste time on the niceties, but then, James T. Kirk could play the same tune when he needed to.
“We are inside the orbital track of the gas giant Yedeen, on a return course to Syhaar Prime. We estimate—”
Tormid didn’t let him finish. “You will alter your heading,” he said firmly. “Bring your ship about and make for Sya III, the planet we call Gadmuur. I will meet you there.”
McCoy recalled what he could about the third planet from the initial mission briefing. Gadmuur had once been a lot like Mars in the Sol system, but where humankind had set to work terraforming the red planet to make its environment habitable, the Syhaari had turned their Mars equivalent into a manufacturing colony. For all intents and purposes, it was a factory world to which the majority of Syhaar Prime’s heavy industry had been outsourced.
“Why?” said Kaleo. “The Assembly—”
“They agree with me,” Tormid broke in again, and McCoy scowled at the being’s seeming inability to let anyone end a sentence. “In light of the visuals you sent us from the outer system and the report that accompanied it, I put it to the elders that our best response is one of strength and speed. Your people require your presence, Kaleo. And you, Captain Kirk . . . we must have every fraction of data you have on the monstrosity.”
Kaleo glanced at Kirk and McCoy. “Gadmuur is home to our primary orbital shipyards and supply stations,” she explained. “It is the main base for our space fleet.”
“I have instigated a mass recall of all our vessels,” Tormid went on. “The authority for this was granted to me in the wake of the attack. Even as we speak, every ranger and explorer is converging on the docks to take on weapons and supplies. As of this day, our civilization is on a war footing.”
Kirk took this in, but didn’t press the point right away. “Tormid, where are Envoys Xuur and ch’Sellor? I’d like to speak with them, if I may.”
“They are currently being transferred to my command ship by shuttlecraft, and they will be repatriated to your care when we rendezvous at Gadmuur.” He paused, anticipating Kirk’s next request. “Given the seriousness of this situation, extraneous use of communications will not be permitted outside of signals sanctioned by the Learned Assembly.”
In other words, thought McCoy, no, we can’t talk to them.
The captain sat back in his chair. “Sir, let me be direct. What are your intentions at this time?”
“I will not address details of operational deployments on an open channel. But the only sensible response is the obvious one, Kirk. Retaliation in kind, with the full force of our military.”
McCoy’s lip curled. “With all due respect,” he began, meaning none of that, “your military have already taken a heavy hit out here. You might want to think twice about repeating that on a larger scale.”
“My chief medical officer is correct,” Kirk added. “We rescued just one single survivor from your people’s first encounter with the leviathan. And we barely escaped destruction ourselves.”
“Yes, Captain Duchad . . .” Tormid seemed to ignore the comment about the Enterprise’s near-fatal engagement with the intruder. “He lives, then?”
“He does,” McCoy confirmed. “The man was lucky.”
“The Assembly will require Duchad for a thorough debriefing,” Tormid went on. “You also, Kaleo.”
“I can’t guarantee Duchad will be well enough for anything,” insisted the doctor.
“Your responsibility for him ends when you arrive in orbit around Gadmuur,” Tormid said tersely. “Duchad will follow his orders. As will Captain Kaleo.”
“As the Gathering calls,” she replied, tight-lipped. “But I must question.”
Tormid glowered down at her from the screen. “As you always do. Speak, then. It is a right you have earned.”
“Your reasoning is flawed, Tormid. You are reacting without full balance of the facts. We have to consider all aspects of this situation before we commit our entire fleet!”
“What is it you think we have been doing since you sent us your terrifying message? You inform us of an alien invasion, a threat of such scope that the Syhaari have never before encountered. And now you seek to counsel for restraint?” He eyed Kirk and McCoy. “What have these offworlders said to you?”
“Nothing,” she insisted. “My concerns are my own! I simply do not wish to see us rush into danger.”
“The Assembly does not agree,” replied the other Syhaari, and McCoy wondered how much of that was being driven by Tormi
d’s force of personality. “Our brothers and sisters are ash and bones, and we cannot let their deaths lead to more of the same.”
“I know what they are!” Kaleo growled, her temper rising. “I saw the ruins of our ships, Tormid, with my own eyes!”
“Then you know we must strike back as forcefully as possible!” Tormid matched her tone.
McCoy could sense that Kirk was biting his tongue, reluctant to get in the middle of what was a Syhaari issue. But with his ill mood, the doctor didn’t feel the need for any such reserve and made it clear. “You do understand, sir, that the object of your fury is more than just some random astronomical occurrence? We are very likely talking about a unique life-form here, a living being with the same right to exist as the rest of us! It may have hurt your people just as it did ours, but we can’t destroy it until we know what it truly is!”
“Kirk, your officer speaks out of turn,” said Tormid, ignoring McCoy. “And he offers only suppositions and vague possibilities. I am dealing in facts. And this ‘leviathan,’ as you dub it, is a clear threat. That fact is not in question. The matter of its nature, alive or not, self-aware or not, is pure conjecture!”
The captain’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t about to be lectured on the bridge of his own vessel. “However forthright Doctor McCoy may be,” he replied, “his statement stands. The Federation cannot condone the kind of unilateral action you’re proposing.”
“Fortunate, then, that we are not in your Federation,” Tormid replied. “Go to Gadmuur, and make haste. If you do not arrive before the fleet deploys against the intruder, we shall not wait for you.” The signal cut with a crackle of static, and the image faded.
* * *
Uhura watched as the computer-generated image on the screen seemed to come apart, layer by layer. The rendition of the alien sphere transformed into a series of exploded elements, each drawing away from the others, until the display was some great three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. She extended a slender finger and pointed into the heart of the image.
The Latter Fire Page 10