Star Trek 06

by James Blish

  "I have plotted the storm's path, Captain," Chekov said. "On its present course it will hit the Memory Alpha planetoid as it did us."

  "Uhura, warn them of the proximity of the phenomenon. Can you give us an ETA for it, Chekov?"

  "It's impossible, Captain. It has the ability to change speed."

  "Sorry, Captain," Uhura said, "But I'm unable to establish contact with the planetoid. Am hailing on all frequencies. No response."

  "It does not matter, Captain," Spock said. "Memory Alpha has no protective shields. When the library complex was assembled, shielding was regarded as inappropriate to its totally academic purpose. Since the information on the memory planet is freely available to everyone, special protection was deemed unnecessary."

  "Wonderful," Kirk said sarcastically. "I hope the 'storm' is aware of that rationale."

  "We're completing approach to the planetoid," Sulu said. "But the storm's gotten there first."

  "Uhura, get through to—"

  "I cannot," Uhura said. "I cannot get past the interference, sir."

  "Mr. Spock, how many people are there on Memory Alpha?"

  "It varies with the number of scholars, researchers, scientists, from various Federation planets who are using the computer complex."

  "Mr. Chekov, maintain standard orbit."

  "The storm is now leaving Memory Alpha," Sulu reported.

  "And," Spock added, "the sensors give no readings of energy being generated on the planetoid."

  "Any life readings?"

  "None, sir."

  "Check for malfunction."

  Spock did so. "Sensors inoperative again."

  "We'd better find out what's going on down there." Kirk turned to the intercom. "Kirk to Sickbay. Is Mr. Scott there?"

  "Scott here. I was checking on the lass. She's going to be fine, though. Nothing wrong with her."

  "I'm relieved to hear your prognosis. Is the doctor there with you?"

  "McCoy here, Jim."

  "How's the girl?"

  "I think she's in good shape."

  "Apparently Scotty thinks so, too. Both of you, meet me in the Transporter Room, on the double. Mr. Spock, come with me. The con is yours, Mr. Sulu."

  The four materialized in a computer room on Memory Alpha. The room was utterly silent, and there was no light at all.

  "Somehow," McCoy grumbled, "I find transporting into the darkness unnerving."

  "Scotty," Kirk said, "can you give us some light in here?"

  Scott checked the boards nearby; they could hear him fumbling. Then a small glow appeared, a safe-light of some sort. "This will have to do. The generator is inoperative. The alternative is to go back to the ship for hand torches."

  Spock moved to the face of the largest computer cabinet with his tricorder, but for several moments simply stood there, doing nothing. Kirk guessed he was waiting for his eyes to become dark-adapted, a gift far better developed in Vulcans than in humans. Then he lifted the tricorder.

  "Damage report, Mr. Spock?"

  "It's a disaster for the galaxy, Captain. The central brain damaged—all memory cores burned out. The loss might be irretrievable."

  Kirk took a step and stumbled over something large and soft. He put a hand down to it, but he too could see better now.

  "Mr. Spock. I've just encountered a body. Look around the floor."

  There was a long silence. Then Spock said: "There are dead men and creatures from other planets sprawled all around us. Move very carefully until you can see better. I'm scanning for a life reading . . . Yes, I have one, very faint."

  "Location, Mr. Spock?"

  "It is too weak to get an exact bearing, but . . ." He moved away.

  "We'd better find him while he's still alive. We have to get more knowledge of this . . . enemy."

  "Over here, Captain," Spock's voice called.

  The other three carefully moved toward the sound of his voice. At his feet a girl, evidently a technician, was on her knees, struggling to get up. An already dead man nearby had evidently tried to help her. She was murmuring.

  Spock listened intently. "The same garbled sounds," he said, "that Lt. Romaine was making when she fainted after the disturbance."

  "Are you sure, Spock?"

  "Absolutely sure."

  Kirk flipped open his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise . . . Mr. Sulu. Beam down Lt. Romaine immediately—and have her bring five hand torches."

  "Yes, sir."

  The technician's voice murmured on, but it was becoming steadily weaker. Then she pitched forward on her face.

  McCoy took a reading, and then silently shook his head. Kirk said: "Can you tell what she died of?"

  "Severe brain hemorrhaging due to distortion of all neural centers. Dissolution of all basic personality patterns. Even the autonomic nervous system."

  "The attack, Captain, was thorough," Spock said.

  "What did the others die of?"

  "Each had a different brain center destroyed," McCoy said. "Just how, I can't tell you. Maybe when I get back to the ship's computer—"

  The shimmer of the Transporter effect briefly illumated the charnel chamber and Mira materialized. The beam of a flashlight leapt from her hand, but Scott moved swiftly to step into it, blocking her view of the bodies.

  "Mira—the Captain has some questions. Give me the rest of the torches."

  "Here you are . . . Yes, Captain?"

  Kirk said gently: "Mira, while you were unconscious you were, uh, speaking."

  "What did I say?" She seemed genuinely surprised.

  "We don't know. You talked in a strange language we didn't understand. We found one person barely alive in here, and she was speaking in the same way—"

  "Was speaking?" Before anyone could move to prevent her, she darted around the central computer and swept the beam of her flash over the floor. When she spoke again, it was in a frightened whisper. "All dead . . . just like I saw them. Captain, we must get back to the ship."

  "Why?"

  Her hands went to her brow. She seemed unable to answer.

  "Tell me why!"

  "Captain—that . . . that . . . it's returning!"

  "How do you know?"

  "I know. You'll be killed if we stay."

  "I assure you, lieutenant," Spock said, "that unexplained phenomenon was headed away from the planetoid before we came here. It is probably seeking other victims."

  "I tell you, it will kill us!" Her panic was genuine, that was clear.

  Kirk's communicator beeped. "Bridge to Captain Kirk. The storm has reappeared on the long-range scanner."

  "I told him it is not a storm," Spock said.

  "Course, Mr. Sulu?"

  "Coming back in this direction, and closing fast."

  "Beam us up."

  The minute he saw the Transporter Room coming into being around him, Kirk headed for the intercom, but Scott's voice stopped him.

  "Captain, wait! We've lost Mira."

  Kirk turned and saw that Lt. Romaine was indeed not there. Lt. Kyle was at the Transporter controls. Scott leaped to his side.

  "Where is she? Stabilize her!"

  "Something's interfering with the transporter signal," Kyle said. "I have her coordinates, but she's suspended in transit."

  "Let me." Together the two men struggled with the controls. Suddenly, Kyle said, "Aha, it's cleared," and at the same moment Mira materialized on the Transporter platform. She stepped off, dazed but smiling.

  "Mr. Scott, Lt. Romaine, you'd best go to the emergency manual monitor and see if enough new equipment is in inventory to repair at least some of Memory Alpha." Kirk hit the intercom. "Mr. Sulu, get us out of here. Mr. Spock, to the bridge, please."

  In the emergency manual monitor, Mira and Scott were working side by side. The inventory had proceeded for some time in silence. Then Scott said:

  "When I—thought we lost you, back there in the Transporter Room—well, you're not to do that again."

  "It was so frightening," she said. "I fel
t pulled apart."

  "You almost were. There was interference with the Transporter mechanism."

  "And that's more than you can say about me," she said. What she meant by this, Scott had no idea.

  "I'll tell you something. You are the sanest—the smartest—the nicest—and the most beautiful woman that has ever been aboard this ship."

  "And what else?"

  "Anything else, I'm keeping to myself for the moment."

  "But I'm so much trouble to you."

  Trouble? What trouble? Of course, you could drive a man daft, but that's not what I call trouble."

  She smiled. "Do I drive you daft, Scotty?"

  "Well now—if it was me, you might have to work at it."

  "I'd be willing—" Then, as if embarrassed, she turned away and resumed being busy.

  The Enterprise has been my life," Scott said. "I love this ship, and I love every day I've spent on it. But, until you came aboard, I didn't know how lonely it is to be free in the galaxy . . . So, don't you talk of trouble." He took her in his arms. "Now I want to forget about Memory Alpha."

  It was the wrong thing to say. She pushed against his chest, her hands trembling. "Scotty . . . before that . . . I saw it—exactly as it happened."

  "What of it? That happens to lots of people. There's a French term for it. They think they're seeing something before it actually occurs. But actually one eye picked it up without realizing—"

  "My eyes weren't playing tricks!"

  He smoothed her brow. "Then I'm sure there is some other perfectly reasonable explanation that will erase that worried frown."

  "But Scotty, I saw the men dead in their exact positions—before I ever left the ship."

  He put his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me. I told you in Sickbay what strange tricks a first trip in space can play on your mind. That's all it is."

  "No, Scotty."

  "Have you ever had visions of future events before this?"

  "Never."

  "And, if you ask me, nobody ever has," Scott said firmly. "That seeing the future is pure bunk. You know that, don't you?"

  "I always believed it."

  "And you're absolutely right."

  "But what is it, Scotty? What is frightening me? Ever since we've been near that—that storm, I've had such strange thoughts . . . feelings of such terror."

  "Space, space, space, that's all it is."

  "Then I don't have to report it?"

  "If you want to spend the trip in Sickbay," Scott said. "But what good would it do? McCoy can no more cure it than he can cure a cold. It'll pass."

  "When I get my permanent assignment . . . I hope it will be to the Enterprise"

  "You just better make sure of it."

  "Captain," Sulu said. "It's changing course."

  "Plot it, Mr. Chekov."

  "Present course will bring it across our starboard bow."

  "Mr. Spock, you made a statement that that phenomenon was not a storm."

  "Yes, Captain. No known conditions in space would support it as a natural phenomenon. But the sensors seem to be in working order at the moment. Perhaps this time the elusive creature will reveal something about itself." He bent into his hooded viewer. "It seems to be maintaining its distance, but matching course with us. I am receiving increasing magnitudes of energy. Yes—undoubtedly a life form. Fascinating!"

  "Control your fascination, Mr. Spock. Pragmatically, what are the implications?"

  "We saw the results of full contact in the deaths on Memory Alpha. The humanoid neurological system is destroyed when fully exposed to these peculiar wave patterns."

  "But what is it, Spock?"

  "Not what is it, sir. What are they. There are ten distinct life units within it, Captain. They are powerfully alive and vital."

  "Who are they? Where are they from?"

  "Impossible to determine without programming for computer analysis."

  "Not now." Kirk shot a glance at the main viewer. "It's clear we can't outrun them. Can we shield against them?"

  "I do not think so, sir."

  "There must be some defensive action we can take."

  "Captain, it is a community of life units. Their attack is in the form of brain waves directed against the brain that is most compatible."

  "A living brain!" Kirk said. "Perhaps we can avoid a next time. Lt. Uhura, open all channels and tie in the universal translator. Maybe I can talk to them."

  Uhura got to work. Indicators began to light up. "All channels open," she said finally. "Translator tied in."

  Kirk looked up at the form of lights on the viewer. Incongruously, he felt wryly amused at the notion of trying to talk to an electrical cloud. "This is Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. We wish you no harm. Physical contact between us is fatal to our life form. Please do not come any closer to this ship."

  There was no response; only a faint wash of static. Spock said, "Perhaps it did not understand."

  "Captain, change in velocity recorded," Sulu said. "It has accelerated its approach."

  "Perhaps it will understand another language," Kirk said, beginning to feel angry. "Condition Red Alert. Prepare for phaser firing."

  The Red Alert began flashing, and the distant alarm echoed throughout the ship.

  "Mr. Sulu, lock in phasers for firing across their course. Do not hit them."

  "Locked in, sir."

  "Fire."

  The phaser shot lanced to one side of the lights and on off into deep space.

  "Reaction, Mr. Sulu?"

  "None, sir. They are still approaching."

  Apparently a shot across the bow was insufficiently convincing. "Lock to target."

  "Locked on, sir."

  "Fire."

  The shot seemed to score a direct hit. The community of life units dispersed in apparent confusion, and then began to reform. So they could be hurt—

  "Captain, Captain," Scott's voice shouted from the intercom, without even waiting for an acknowledgment. "Scott here. The phaser shots—they're killing Mira."

  "Killing Lt. Romaine?; How—"

  "When you fired, she was stunned, she crumpled. Another shot and you'll kill her."

  "Get her to Sickbay at once . . . Mr. Spock, we appear to be at an impasse. Any suggestions?"

  "Only one, Captain," the Science Officer said. "There seems to be only one possible defense. If we can find an environment that is deadly to the life form—and at the same time, isolate the girl from the deadly effects of it—"

  "It sounds like asking the impossible." Kirk turned to the intercom. "Kirk to Dr. McCoy . . . Bones, is Lt. Romaine well enough to be talked to?"

  "I think so," McCoy's voice said. "I can have her ready in a few minutes."

  "Bring her and Mr. Scott to the Briefing Room as soon as possible. Bring all available biographical data on the lieutenant . . . Mr. Spock, come with me."

  In the Briefing Room, Spock went immediately to his slave console; Kirk sat at the center of the table, McCoy next to him.

  "Go easy on her, Jim. She's in a bad state."

  "I'll try. But this can't be postponed."

  "I know. I was pretty hard on her myself the first time this happened. I needn't have been. We might know more."

  "I'll be careful."

  The door opened to admit Scott and Mira. He was holding her by the arm. She seemed pale and distraught. After she was seated, Scott went to his chair at the opposite end of the table.

  Kirk leaned toward her and said gently: This is not a trial, Lt. Romaine. You are not being accused of anything."

  "I know," Mira said, almost in a whisper. She glanced toward McCoy. "I didn't mean to be uncooperative, Doctor."

  "Of course you didn't," McCoy said. "I told the Captain that."

  "I'll tell you everything I know. I trust all of you implicitly. I want to help."

  "Good," Kirk said. This investigation is prompted by two events that may be connected. The first time was when you passed out on the bridge. The second is whe
n we fired the ship's phasers into the force that is attacking us, and we seriously injured you."

  "It wasn't serious, Captain. You mustn't worry about hurting me."

  "We're glad we didn't. Nevertheless, we won't take that particular defense measure again. Now, this is how we will proceed. Spock will provide everything we know about our attackers. Dr. McCoy has access to Starfleet's exhaustive file on you. A comparison of the two may turn up some unsuspected connection that will protect you—and ourselves. All right, gentlemen? Dr. McCoy, you begin. Does Lt. Romaine have any history of psychosomatic illness?"

  "Occasional and routine teen-age incidence."

  "Any evidence of any involuntary or unconscious telepathatic abilities?"

  "None."

  "Any pathological or unusual empathic responses?"

  "No, Captain. Not empathic. However, an exceptionally flexible and pliant response to new learning situations."

  At this Spock leaned forward, but made no comment.

  "There's one other thing, Captain," McCoy said. "Right after our phasers hit that thing, I gave Lt. Romaine the Steinman Standard Analysis. I don't have the results here but Nurse Chapel is having it sent down. In the meantime, I see nothing else very illuminating in the psychological file. Lt. Romaine has developed strong defenses to guard against her extreme competitiveness. Marked scientific and mathematical abilities set up an early competition with her distinguished father. It appears that the problem is still not completely resolved."

  "That's not true," Mira said, tears coming to her eyes. "It was over long ago. I'm not like that—not any more."

  "Everybody's record has much worse comments from the psychology majors," Kirk said. "Luckily for us, nobody ever reads ours. Pretend you didn't hear. Mr. Spock, any functional and motivating data on the life force?"

  "I have asked the computer why these beings pursue the Enterprise. The first answer was 'Completion.' When I requested an alternate formulation, it gave me 'Fulfillment' instead. I find both responses unclear, but the machine has insufficient data to give us anything better, thus far."

  The door opened and a yeoman entered with a cartridge which he handed to McCoy. The surgeon inserted it into his viewer. Almost at once, he cast a disturbed look at Mira.