by 11(lit)
She nodded her enchanting head. "Yes. You beamed me aboard yourself when you came up. A ridiculously long process..."
"What have you done to my ship?"
"Nothing."
He swung around to gesture to the motionless bridge people. "You call that nothing?"
"They're all right," she said. "They're just what they have always been. It's you who are different."
He stared around him. "Lieutenant Uhura... Mr. Sulu... every one of them..."
"Captain, they can't hear us. To their ears we sound like insects. That's your description, you know. Accurate, if unflattering. Really, nothing's wrong with them."
"Then what have you done to me?"
"Changed you. You are like me now. Your crew can't see you because of the acceleration. We both move now in the wink of an eye. There is a dreary scientific term for it -but all that really matters is that you can see me and talk to me and..." The creamy eyelids lowered over eyes the color of wet green leaves. "... and we can go on from there."
"Why?" Kirk said.
"Because I like you. Didn't you guess?" She came closer to him. She was ruffling his hair now; and he seemed unable to do a thing about it. The situation was out of hand... the presence of his crew... this public exhibition of endearments... her overwhelming beauty... his ship's predicament. He seized the caressing hands. They were warm, soft. It wasn't the answer.
"Is it because you like me that you've sabotaged my ship?"
"It hasn't been sabotaged. We just had to make some changes in it to adjust it to our tempo."
" 'We'?"
"Of course. My chief scientist and his men. I'm their Queen. You're going to be their King. You'll enjoy living on Scalos."
"And what happens to my ship-my men?"
"Oh, in a few of their moments they'll realize you've vanished. Then they'll look for you. But they won't find you. You're accelerated far beyond their powers to see. So they'll go on without you..."
He became conscious that her hands were still in his. He released them. She smiled at him. "Don't be stubborn. You can't go back to them. You must stay with me. Is that so dreadful a prospect?"
He reached for his phaser. "I won't kill you-but the 'stun' effect isn't very pleasant."
"Go ahead," she said. "Fire it at me."
He fired the stun button. She stepped aside and the beam passed harmlessly by her. She laughed at the look on his face. "Don't look so puzzled. My reactions are much too fast for such a crude weapon. Besides, I'm quite good at self-defense." She pulled a small instrument from her golden belt. Pointing it at his phaser, she fired it-and its beam tore the phaser out of his hand. "It can be set for stun and destroy, too," she said. "Like yours. Please accept what's happened. There's nothing you can do to change it."
His ship. Suppose he capitulated-and went with her? Went with her on the condition she made the Enterprise operational again and removed the device attached to the life support system? Spock could carry on...
His face was somber. She saw it set into grim lines and cried, "Don't fret so! You'll feel better about it in a little while. It always happens this way... they're all up-set at first. But it wears off and they begin to like it. You will, too. I promise..."
He turned on his heel and left her. She touched a medallion on the golden belt. "He's on his way to you, Rael. Be gentle with him," she said.
Kirk came at a run down the corridor to the life sup-port center. He found what he expected. The Enterprise guards at its door were stiff, rigid. He skirted them; and was starting toward the door when a third guard in the Starship's uniform emerged from a corner. "Compton!" Kirk shouted.
Compton beamed at him. "Captain Kirk! So you made it here!"
"You've been accelerated, haven't you?" Kirk said.
"Yes, sir."
"Are they in there? They've got something hooked in to life support-and we've got to get rid of it. Come on!"
But Compton had barred his way with the Scalosian weapon. "Sorry, sir. Entry is forbidden."
"Who gave that order?"
"The commander, sir. You'll have to step back, please."
"I am your commander-and I order you to let me in."
"I am very sorry, sir. You are no longer my com-mander."
"Then who is? Deela? Are you working for her?"
Compton reached an arm back into the corner's shad-ows and drew out the other Scalosian girl. He spoke very earnestly. "At first I refused, sir-but I've never known anyone like Mira. She brought me aboard and I showed them the ship's operations, its bridge controls and life sup-port. I didn't understand at first but I do now. I-I've never been in love before, sir."
Kirk stepped back. Then, lunging at Compton, he chopped the weapon away from him and raced for the door.
In the center, Rael, two other Scalosians beside him, was working on the small device. He looked up as Kirk plunged in. "Stun," he said to one of his men. The weapon came up; and from behind Kirk, pushing him aside, Comp-ton hurled himself at it. His try at protection was too late. The blast caught Kirk. He collapsed. Raging, Rael felled Compton with a blow. "You were ordered to stop him! Why did you disobey?"
Compton's mouth was bleeding. "You wanted to hurt him," he said.
"He was violent and to be subdued. Why did you dis-obey?"
"He-he was my Captain..."
Compton crumpled. "Go to him, Ekor," Rael said. The man with the weapon knelt beside Compton. Mira, who had drifted into the center, joined him. When he looked up, he said, "There is cell damage." The girl, her pretty face curious, stooped over Compton. "Don't be trou-bled," Rael told her. "Another will be secured for you." Nodding, she strolled out of the door.
It was Uhura who first noticed the empty command chair. "The captain!" she cried. "He's gone! Mr. Spock, the captain's gone! He was sitting there just a minute ago! He'd just drunk his coffee! There's the cup-on the- arm of his chair! But where's the Captain?"
Spock had already left his station. "Mr. Sulu, what did you see?"
Sulu turned a bewildered face. "That's what hap-pened, sir. He was there, putting his cup down-and then he wasn't there!"
There was a moment's silence before Spock said, "Mr. Sulu, did you drink coffee when the yeoman brought it around?"
"Yes, sir."
Spock eyed the bridge personnel. "Did anyone else?" he said.
"I had some," Scott said.
One by one Spock lifted their cups, sniffing at them. Then he sniffed at Kirk's.
"Was it the coffee?" Scott cried. "Are we going to vanish, too, like the captain?"
"The residue in these cups must be analyzed before I can answer that, Mr. Scott."
"And by that time-" Scott fell silent.
"I suggest," Spock said," that we remember the Cap-tain's words. Make them take the next step. In the mean-time we must determine effective countermoves. The con is yours, Mr. Scott. I shall be in the medical laboratory."
Deela sat on the deck in life support center, the head of the still unconscious Kirk in her lap. Rael, at the device, watched her as she smoothed the hair from his forehead. "I told you," she said, "to be gentle with him."
"He was violent. We had to stun him to avoid cell damage."
She looked over to where Compton lay in a neglected huddle. "Who damaged that one? You? I might have known it. I suppose he was violent, too."
"He turned against us," Rael said.
"And you lost your temper."
"He had to be destroyed. He had not completely ac-cepted change. It is a stubborn species."
Deela's eyes were still on Compton. "I know what happens to them when they're damaged. You will control your temper, Rael. I don't want that to happen to mine. If they're so stubborn a species, perhaps they'll last longer."
"It may be."
"I hope so. They all go so soon. I want to keep this one a long time. He's pretty."
"He is inferior, Deela!"
"We disagree, Rael."
"You cannot allow yourself to feel an attachme
nt to such a thing!"
"I can allow myself to do anything I want!" The flare of anger passed as quickly as it had come. "Oh, Rael, don't be that way," she coaxed. "Am I jealous of what you do?"
"I do my duty."
"So do I. And sometimes I allow myself to enjoy it."
As she spoke, Kirk's dazed eyes opened. Under his head he felt the softness of feminine thighs. He shook it to clear it; and looking up, saw Deela smiling at him. "Hello," she said.
He sat up-and recognized Rael. Leaping to his feet, he turned on Deela. "Is this what you wanted us for? To take over our ship?"
She rose in one graceful movement. "We need your help. And you and your ship are supplying it."
"And what does that device of yours have to do with the supply?"
"Hush," she said. "I'll tell you everything you want to know. And you'll approve of it."
"Approve!" he shouted. "We're your prisoners!"
"Hardly," she said. "You're free to go wherever you want."
Kirk rushed to the life support unit. Instead of inter-fering, Rael stepped aside. "Go ahead, Captain. Our mechanism is not yet completely linked to your support system but it is in operating order. Study it if you wish. I advise you not to touch it."
Kirk's eyes narrowed. He eyed the small device; and spotting its connecting switch, extended a wary hand to it. He snatched it back, the Scalosians watching him expres-sionlessly. Then, despite the shock of contact with it, he grabbed it boldly with both hands. They froze on it. Deela ran to him; and, careful not to touch the switch herself, re-leased his hands.
"He told you not to touch it!" She folded his numbed palms between hers, wanning them. "The cold will soon pass," she said.
Rael spoke. "Our mechanism has its own self-defense arrangement. You should have heeded me."
Kirk jerked his still icy hands from Deela's. He'd had enough of these aliens; and, feeling a sudden compunction for Compton, sprawled and untended in his heap, he went to him quickly to kneel beside him. But what had been the young and vigorous Compton was now withered by age, mummified as though dried by a thousand years of death. He looked up in horror and Rael said, "In your struggle with Compton, you damaged some of his cells. Those new-ly accelerated to our tempo's level are sensitive to cell damage. They age very rapidly and die."
Kirk got to his feet. "Is this what you have prepared for us?"
"We all die," Rael said. "Even on Scalos." Kirk looked around at the bland faces. Where was the way back into his own time... the time of Spock... of McCoy... of Scotty? A sense of unutterable loneliness overwhelmed him. He walked out of the center.
Behind him Deela cried, "Rael, why did you lie to him? He didn't damage the dead one! You did!"
Rael shrugged. "Perhaps he'll be less violent now."
"There was no reason to make him feel worse than he does!"
"What do you care about his feelings?"
She changed her tactics. "Rael," she said, "he's not one of us. You know he's temporary." But Rael still stooped to his work. She sighed; and touching the medallion on her belt, listened. "He's in the medical laboratory trying to communicate with the Vulcan. He likes that one of the pointed ears. His species seems capable of much affec-tion."
"I have noted that," Rael said stiffly.
"Oh, stop sulking! Accept it. We've had to accept it all our lives! Don't make it worse!"
Rael seized her fiercely in his arms. Her hand was reaching to caress his face when she broke free, laughing and breathless. "Not now," she said. "Go back to work."
He didn't. Instead, he watched her as she followed Kirk out of the center. She found the door of the medical laboratory open. Ignoring the rigid figures of Spock and McCoy, she went to the communicator console where Kirk was dictating. "Kirk to Spock," he was saying. "I have fed all facts ascertainable into the computer banks-" He broke off as he saw Deela.
She studied him-a beautiful woman estimating a man for her own reasons. "Go ahead," she said. "It won't accomplish anything. But it may be historically valuable."
Eyes on her, he continued. "Hyper-acceleration is the key, Mr. Spock. We are in their control because of this ac-celeration. They are able to speed others up to their level as they did to Compton and me. Those so treated then ex-ist at their accelerated tempo, become eventually docile but when-"
"Damaged," Deela said.
Kirk gave her a mock bow. "When damaged, they age incredibly fast as if the accelerated living-"
"Bums them out," Deela said.
"Destroys them. Compton is destroyed. The device affixed to life support produces an icy cold. It is my belief it will turn the Enterprise into a gigantic deep-freeze and for purposes the Scalosians alone know-"
"Quite correct," Deela said.
Kirk was ironic. "My opinion has been verified. Their mechanism has it own protective shield, preventing physical contact. I have no means of destroying it. But its de-struction is imperative. I am dictating this in the presence of their Queen who has denied none of it. Why she has permitted me to-"
Leaning forward, the cloud of her hair brushing his shoulder, Deela spoke for the record into the communicator.
"Because by the time you hear this, it will be too late. Our mechanism will be activated."
He turned to look at the two stiffened figures of his friends. The ice would creep through the Enterprise to stiffen them forever in a shroud of frost. He swung to Deela. "Why? Why are you doing this?"
"You really want to know? In a short time, it won't matter to you a bit. You'll be quite happy about it, as Compton was."
"I want to know."
"Oh dear. Your are so stubborn. It should be obvious to one with your reasoning powers that we're doing it because we have to." She pushed the shining cloud of hair back. "A long tune ago, we used to be like you. Then our country was almost destroyed by volcanic eruptions. The water was polluted and radiation was released. That changed us. It accelerated us..."
He waited. It was possible. The long-term effects of radiation were still unpredictable. "The children died," she said. "Most of the women found they couldn't bear any more. All our men had become sterile. We had to mate outside our own people..."
A doomed race. Listening, Kirk seemed to know what he was going to hear. He felt a stab of pity. She gave him a sad little smile. "So, whenever a space ship came by, we sent out calls for help. But accelerating their crews to our level burned them out..." She came to him and put her head on his shoulder. "Don't you see? Must I give you every detail? We're going to take you down with us. Maybe one or two others of your crew, too. We have to. We'll be kind to you. I do like you, you know."
"And the rest of my crew?" Kirk said.
"It's as you said. They'll be kept frozen in a reduced animation we know how to suspend. It won't do them any harm. We'll save them for our future needs. You won't last forever. You know that." At the look on his face, a cry tore from her. "Captain, we have the right to survive!"
"Not at the cost you impose," he said.
"You'd do exactly the same thing! You came charg-ing down into that life support room just as soon as you knew it was threatened! You'd have killed every one of my people if you could have..."
"You had invaded my ship! You were endangering my crew!"
"There's no difference!" she cried.
"There's every difference. You are the aggressors!"
"We didn't ask for our situation. We're simply han-dling it the only way we know how to-the way our par-ents did and their parents before them..."
"Would you call it a real solution?"
She looked at him, silent. "Have you tried any other answer? Deela, tell your scientist to disconnect his construction-to destroy it! I promise you we'll use every skill we have to help you. We'll even move you to another plan-et if you want that. We'll call on the most brilliant minds in our Federation for help!"
She shook her head. "We have tried other ways. We tried to make the transition to your time level. Those who made the attempt died.
We're trapped, Captain, just as you are now. I'm sorry for what it's going to do to you but I can't change it. And you can't change me."
The medallion on her belt beeped. She touched it and Rael's voice said, "Go to the Transporter Room, Deela. Signal me when you're there and beam down."
"With the captain?"
She was frowning, concentrated on the medallion- and Kirk grabbed his chance. He pulled his dictated tape partially out of the computer so that Spock would note it. He heard Rael say, "Yes. I'll activate our mechanism and follow you. I'm setting it to allow enough time for all of us to get off the ship. But don't delay, Deela."