Star Trek - NF - 11 - Restoration

  His father surveyed the situation for a moment. I saw that he was manipulating what appeared to be a chronometer he was wearing on his wrist. But then I realized that it was actually the re-mote device he was using to summon his ship. If I hadn't been busy imagining how nice it would be to throttle nun, I would have been admiring his ability to do more than one thing at a time.

  'Throw him the girl," he said.

  "What?" said Nik loudly, beating me to the punch by half a heartbeat.

  'Targs are very vicious, but not particularly bright," he said, as calmly as if he was discussing the weather. "They're easily dis-tracted. If you push the girl right on top of it, it will be busy sav-aging her, and in the meantime, we can be on our way."

  "No!" He sounded horrified. I couldn't figure him out at all. On the one hand he spoke like a stone-cold killer, but on the other hand there seemed to be things that he was simply unable or un-willing to do.

  "Do it!" Olivan shouted, and there was nothing of any willing-ness to compromise in his voice.

  And without hesitation, like a puppet on a string, Nik shoved me right at the targ.

  My feet went out from under me, the mud providing no traction at all, and I went down hard. I was practically under the targ's hooves, and the only thing that stopped the beast from trampling me right then and there was the fact that it was surprised. It darted backward, as if suspicious that my presence in front of it was a trick. Its roaring was drowning out what Olivan was saying, but it was probably something like, "Come on, let's go!"

  I tried to roll away from it, but Olivan had been right. Once its attention was on me, it wasn't going to be pulled away from me. It let out a roar, its foul breath rolling over me, and I choked. It still had vestiges of whatever the hell it had eaten earlier on its breath. I gagged on it, and then the creature charged me. I had no chance. I threw up my arms to ward it off, as if that was going to help one

  iota, and then, over the creature's bellowing, I heard Olivan in the distance. I had no idea what he was shouting, and then, suddenly, the targ let out a grunt of surprise.

  I was no less surprised than the targ when I saw that Nik had landed on top of the beast. "Go! Go!" he was shouting at me. I stumbled back, confused, trying to figure out what was happen-ing, and then Olivan grabbed me so tightly that I immediately lost all circulation to my forearm.

  "Nik! Get away from it! Get away!" Olivan was shouting.

  Nik seemed to be fighting for position, even as the targ was doing everything it could to shake him off. It threw itself to one side and then the other, and all the time Nik held on, his face a mask of con-centration. He had one arm firmly under the creature's chin, which was how he was managing to hold on at all, and was endeavoring to get leverage with the other arm, as if trying to find just the right spot

  "Nik!" Olivan cried out once more. There was another huge wave of water coming. Within a minute, even the area where we were standing would no longer be safe.

  And then Nik seemed to get the angle he wanted. His teeth set, he twisted as hard as he could. There was a crack so loud that it sounded like lightning had struck nearby, and that crack was ac-companied by an agonized squeal.

  The targ shook violently, and Nik released his hold on it He rolled out of its path, but it wasn't as if the creature was going to take another run at him. Instead the targ staggered around, its head at an odd angle, clearly not yet aware that it was dead. Then the message finally managed to get to its brain, and the targ stum-bled once, twice, and then fell over. It twitched several more times, its cries dying in its throat, and then it lay still.

  Olivan looked angrily at his son. "That," he said heatedly, "was not what I told you to do."

  "You didn't tell me not to do it"

  "Don't play games with me, boy! You know what I-" He shook his head. "This is idiocy. Let's go. Bring the girl; there may be another targ."

  "Please, Father... enough. Let's let her g-"

  But he gave Nik a look that seemed designed to cut him in half. At this point, I had no idea what was going on, or what sort of hold Olivan had on him. But clearly Nik was in no position to fight it, whatever it was. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me be-hind him, and under his breath he muttered, "Please don't fight me. I don't want to have to hurt you."

  It was pure craziness, but somehow I really did believe that this... this murderer didn't want to do me harm.

  We went higher and higher. From our vantage point, I could see people desperately splashing around in the rising water. Some were belatedly trying to follow in the same path that we'd been taking, but they were having trouble getting to it. And I could also see another wave building up, this one even larger than the one before. I couldn't help but feel that this was going to be the big one, and it would just wipe out everything, includ-ing us.

  And then I saw it, angling in quickly from the direction of the central landing field. It was a four-man shuttle, moving right to-ward us, and Olivan was guiding it with confidence. Without even bothering to glance in my direction, Olivan said, "Rip her shirt off and use it to bind her hands. Get ready to bring her on the ship."

  "Father!"

  "Knock her unconscious, if you prefer. I don't need her resis-tance..."

  "But-!"

  The ship was getting closer, almost within landing distance. Olivan was clearly becoming angrier and angrier that Nik was giving him problems. "Don't you understand, you young fool? You don't get to say 'but'! You don't get to defy me! I'm your ere-your father, and you will do as I order you!"

  But Nik had caught the sudden switch in his father's voice, the blip in his wording. "Dad," he said cautiously, as if he was defus-ing an explosive. "Dad... what's going on?"

  The shuttle angled around toward us, settling into a landing po-

  sition five feet away. Had the situation been less dire, I would have admired his technique.

  "We don't have time for this," Olivan said curtly.

  "Let's make the time, Father."

  The doors to the shuttle dilated open. "Render the woman... un-conscious... and get in the shuttle/' Olivan said. His voice was like iron. His full concentration was on Nik. "Do... as I say."

  Nik was visibly trembling. I'd never seen anything like it. It was as if Olivan's voice was tearing him apart. "I..."

  "No 'I.' No 'you.' Just me. And you will do as I say. Now." Then, more loudly, he repeated, "Now! Now! N-"

  And because he was so completely focused on Nik, what hap-pened next caught him completely off guard. There was a sudden rush of air, something hurtling through it. Even with all the dis-tractions, Olivan-as he had before-sensed imminent danger. This time, however, he was a half-second too late.

  There was a thudding sound, like a knife being slammed into a melon. Olivan stood there, looking surprised, staring down at his chest and seeing the blade and hilt still quivering. He touched it, as if doing so would be the only way that he could verify that he was, in essence, dead.

  Nik was so much in shock that he released me, forgetting about me completely as he took several steps toward his father and then stopped, his attention being caught by the individual standing in the doorway of the craft.

  It was Si Cwan. Kalinda was behind him, smiling in grim satis-faction. Cwan was still in a pose like a javelin thrower, at full ex-tension. Slowly, he lowered his arm and nodded approvingly, his expression matching that of his sister.

  "You checked... the registry... of my personal vessel," Oli-van said in wonderment. "How very... clever of you." He sank to his knees, and there was blood trickling from his mouth.

  Stepping out of the vessel, Si Cwan extended a hand to me. "Robin. Quickly. Into the vessel. I," and he looked forcefully at Nik, "will attend to this one."

  "I'm not going anywhere, Si Cwan! Not without my mother and Scotty!"

  The wave was roaring up from the sea, thundering with such choppy force that we practically had to scream to make ourselves heard.

  Nik made a move toward me, but Si Cwan stopped hi
m in his tracks with a contemptuous, "Are you so little of a man that you need to hide behind a woman?"

  His face darkening, Nik said, "I didn't have to hide behind any-one to kill Jereme, Thallonian."

  "No. You didn't. Now... let's see you try to kill me."

  "He had no choice."

  It was Olivan who had spoken. He was looking at us with such utter contempt, that-had I not been so sick with worry about my mom and Mr. Scott-I would have gone over and kicked his teeth in on general principles alone.

  Nik looked at him in confusion. "What...what do you mean... no choice... ?"

  Olivan coughed up more blood, and he was looking with hatred at Si Cwan. "You won't kill him, Cwan. I know you. You're too pure, too noble of spirit, just as the girl said. You're going to let him live... on general principles... because even you wouldn't condemn someone to death who had no choice in their ac-tions..."

  "What are you talking about?" demanded Si Cwan.

  'This..." Olivan said, his voice getting weaker, "is... not real. Not... my son. My... my technology... created... it..."

  "It?" Nik wasn't faking. He clearly had no idea at all what Oli-van was talking about.

  'This... is no son of mine... it is... a clone... of me..."

  I felt a distant buzzing in my head, as if my brain was going to start leaking out of my ears. Nik stared at his father-or sire, or whatever-and tried to speak, but his voice choked. Si Cwan was standing a few feet away, still dangerous, but for all the threat Nik posed right then, Cwan might as well have been a million miles

  away. "What?" he finally managed to whisper... which, given the circumstances, is probably all I would have managed to say.

  "You heard me... clone... programmed... hardwired into your brain... to obey me... so you could..." He coughed up a larger glob of blood. It was pretty disgusting, really. Part of me just wanted to scream, My God, die already! "... so you could... be me... so I would... live on... you have... no free will... no nothing..."

  "I do!" shouted Nik defensively. "I... I can think on my own... I can...!"

  "Good... here's... here's your... chance... look... here... here comes... the water... at least I die... knowing that you... you..."

  His voice trailed off, his eyes widening. At first I thought, in the insanity of the moment, that he was seeing some sort of great, final destiny approaching him at a rapid pace. But then I realized what he was looking at.

  It was the water.

  It was subsiding. The wave generators were working to pull the water in reverse. Not only that, but I could already hear great drains opening up, siphoning off the water that had threatened to overwhelm the entire facility.

  "They did it," I whispered, and then, louder, I practically shouted, "They did it!"

  Olivan saw it happening, saw it all.

  "I... hate... Scotsmen.. "

  And with those parting words, Olivan let out a raspy sigh that I had heard all too frequently in my life-a death rattle.

  I've wondered about him any number of times since then. What it was he saw in Si Cwan that he hated so much. What he saw in Jereme, their mutual teacher. I think that maybe, some-times, there are people in this world who are just so consumed with fury that if there's anyone out there better than they are, that they just get dragged down by it. There's two different kinds of people in the galaxy: those who see people who are

  better than they are and are inspired to aspire... and those who see people who are better, and only want to tear down the other people in order to make themselves feel better. I think Olivan was one of those.

  Either that, or he was just a creep.

  I'm not talking about Nik.

  I guess that's kind of obvious, isn't it?

  Nik stood there, just kind of shaking his head. "He's lying," he whispered. "This... this is all crazy..."

  And suddenly he became aware of Si Cwan advancing on him. So did I. Si Cwan stepped over to his father, yanked the sword out of his chest without giving the body a second look, and turned toward Nik.

  Nik started to back away. He stepped to the side of the landed shuttle, moving back farther, even farther, shaking his head.

  "Fight me," grated Si Cwan.

  "No, I... I have to sort this out," said Nik.

  "You are a murderer. There's nothing to sort out. You killed Je-reme, and the manager of this place, and who knows who else, and you will die for it, here and now."

  "Si Cwan, no!" I shouted. "You can't!"

  He seemed surprised that I would say that, and I realized he was taking it as a question of his ability rather than a moral dilemma. "Yes, I can," he said reasonably.

  "He's not fighting back! He's confused, he's-"

  "We're not confused," Kalinda said. "We know what has to be done. It is our right, as the aggrieved parties... as Thallonian no-bles..."

  "There's no Thallonian Empire anymore, and your whole order of nobility is gone! You have no authority!" I practically shouted.

  "I have a sword. That's all the authority I need."

  Things were spinning out of control. Nik looked like a lost child. It was hard to believe that, earlier, he had been a ruthless killer; now he seemed completely adrift. His willpower seemed

  to have died with Olivan. He kept backing away from Si Cwan, farther and farther, his eyes wide, his hands up defensively.

  I ran toward Si Cwan and grabbed his free arm. He could have shoved me away, but I could see he had no desire to treat me so roughly. "Robin... this is not your affair."

  "The hell it's not! He dragged me around like a sack of wheat! But he also saved my life! You bet it's my damned affair! Back off, Si Cwan!"

  "No."

  I had never heard him like that, the one word just... just thudding down on me like an anvil. He was so... so alien. So distant from me, in so many ways. It was like... like I didn't matter to him. Like nothing mattered to him except killing. I felt as if I didn't know him at all. Like this Si Cwan was a stranger to me.

  I pulled on his arm again. "I mean it, Si Cwan!"

  There was something in his eyes, then, that was so cold. This teacher, this Jereme, must have meant the world to him, to have unleashed something so terrible, so implacable in him. It was like his eyes were dead. Like shark's eyes.

  And that was when we heard a scream.

  We turned, and Nik wasn't standing there anymore. Instead, where he had been, there was a hole. When he'd stepped back, the ground had opened up beneath him. And I instantly realized what had happened. He had fallen into one of the subterranean areas similar to what I had tumbled into days ago.

  His initial scream had been in startlement from the plunge. But then... my God... the real screaming started. From below, in the darkness, and I realized what was happening. That... that thing, that gelatinous mass of whatever the hell it was, was pour-ing over him, consuming him, devouring him.

  "Si Cwan! We have to help him!" I cried out.

  "What's happening?" He genuinely didn't know, although he could certainly tell from the howling beneath that it wasn't any-thing good.

  'There's a thing down there! It's carnivorous! It's killing him!" And now I could hear other things, aside from his shouts... a sick sound, like... like slurping, like strips of meat being pulled off bone. "Hurry, hurry, oh, my God, hurry!"

  He just looked at me blandly. "Why?"

  "Why? Why?" I thought I was losing my mind. "Get a rope! From that craft! There must be something! There must..." And then I charged for the hole. "Lower me down, I'll reach him, we'll form a chain, I'll-"

  Si Cwan reached out, wrapped his arm around my waist, and for what was certainly not the first time that day, I was hoisted off my feet. Si Cwan's expression never changed. He just carted me away as I struggled, try as I might to resist. I pounded at his chest. I doubt he felt it. I was beginning to wonder if he could feel any-thing. Kalinda's expression was less cold-blooded. There was a trace, just a trace, of compassion on her face. But she did nothing to come to Nik's aid, nothing at all.


  And I protested and shouted, and demanded to know how he could be doing such a thing, and eventually I noticed that Nik's cries had stopped. There was nothing now except a faint slurping from whatever-the-hell that was that lay beneath.

  "I can't believe you did that," I kept saying, "I... I can't be-lieve it..."

  "He killed my teacher," Si Cwan said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.'The only thing I regret is that I did not take his life with my own hand."

  "But what if he truly didn't have ftee will! What if... what if-"

  He seemed about a hundred feet tall as he looked down at me. "I do not deal in 'what if.' I deal in 'what is.' "