by James Blish
Odona's sigh pierced the shell of exaltation Hodin had erected around his consciousness. Kirk smoothed her blazing forehead; Hodin stood by her bedside in a state of misery. But Odona's weary eyes only gazed at Kirk.
"I . . . am glad you are here. Is my time short?"
"Very short," Kirk whispered.
"I asked you to make the journey last forever." She smiled wanly. "It began here, didn't it?"
Kirk spoke very clearly, hoping to penetrate the feverish haze that surrounded her senses.
"The journey can continue. If you will let me, I can make you well."
"Lake your arm?"
He nodded hopefully. She lay still, expressionless. Then, with a slight cry, she raised her arms to embrace him. The delicacy that had given her such grace in health now gave her too much fragility in his arms. He willed her with all his might to agree to be cured.
"I am not afraid of . . . what will happen. I am not at all afraid," she murmured feebly against his shoulder. "It's only that now . . . I wish it could be . . . with you . . . forever . . ." Her voice sank. Gently Kirk laid her unconscious head on the pillow.
The door closed with a decisive snap.
"I am glad to see you looking so well, Captain. Apparently Starfleet's analysis was correct after all." Spock's cool words cut into the air.
Kirk whirled; it was Spock. "I'm fine," he managed to say. "But we do have a patient." He lifted Odona from the bed. Hodin stood, paralyzed.
"Spock to Enterprise. Spock to Enterprise Three to beamup Mr.Scott," Spock slipped the words out with machine-gun speed.
Three—? Er—same coordinates, Mr. Spock?"
Scott had obviously grasped the need for haste.
Hodin plunged at Spock with an inarticulate sound of fury.
"Your Excellency, please do not interfere." As the sparkles replaced the three figures, Mr. Spock's last, "I already have enough to explain to upper echelons, Prime Minister," hung in the air over Hodin's impotent rage.
"I am . . . cured?" Odona's tone wavered between disappointment and wonder.
"Completely." Kirk lifted her to her feet and stood smiling down at her brightened eyes.
"Then I can now take your place on Gideon," she said gravely.
"Is that what you want to do?" Kirk was very serious, yet a small smile crossed his face as he watched her. She touched his cheek tenderly, lightly.
"That is what I must do. I am needed there."
Kirk kissed her hand, a gesture of salute to her gallantry—and a farewell. "People like you are needed everywhere, Odona."
They walked side by side into the corridor.
"Will you sign this, please, sir?" A young crewman held out a clipboard to Kirk. He scrawled his initials, and in the bustle of traffic in the corridor he saw her watching a couple stroll hand in hand toward the lounge. As she caught his eye, the wistfulness in her face vanished. She smiled.
"It's different from our Enterprise."
"It's almost exactly the same," said Kirk. "Only this one works." He added wryly, "And it's crowded."
She laughed. "Does it seem so to you?"
"It does now."
"Excuse me, Captain, but before this young lady goes home we are obliged to devise some way to complete our mission. The Prime Minister, you may recall, was somewhat agitated when we last saw him." Spock was apologetic, but quite firm.
Kirk clapped a hand to his head. "Foof, I was forgetting him. Call McCoy and Scott; we'll confer on the bridge."
"Captain," said Spock very formally. "I beg leave to report that I have broken regulations. Starfleet Command gave specific orders which I, upon my own responsibility, disobeyed. In view of Prime Minister Hodin's intransigence to date . . ."
"If you mean father," said Odona, "he did not really want me to volunteer for this sickness at all. He will be grateful to have me back, and if I am carrying the virus, all will be well."
"He wanted you to be a symbol for your people," said Kirk thoughtfully. "He was quite impassioned about that, Odona."
"He had to have some way to live with himself, letting me die, Captain," said Odona gently. "I haven't died. Perhaps there may be some way to inspire our people, nevertheless."
Spock was frowning into his console. "I wonder," he said. "There are many ways to gather public approval—besides the sacrifice of . . . er . . . young women."
There was a silence; each of them cast about in his mind for alternatives. Hodin required something that would serve to call forth volunteers from his people for infection with a deadly disease; and this was a unique public relations problem for the crew of the Enterprise to consider.
"In the old days of medicine . . ." began McCoy. "I seem to recall that there was some sort of signal . . . illness aboard, doctor required; I don't quite remember . . ."
Spock laughed. "Bravo, Doctor!" He punched rapidly at his console. "Here it is; a distress flag, flown by seagoing vessels . . . the design sounds simple enough."
Uhura rose from her seat. "I'll see to it at once." She left the room quickly.
"What is it? What are you doing?" Odona was unable to follow their rapid trains of thought. Kirk smiled to himself. This time her puzzlement was genuine.
"What we propose, madame, is to send you home with a badge of honor," said Spock. "When you show it to your father, he can offer such badges to all your people who volunteer for the . . . service he so urgently wishes to render them. This will make it a matter of pride to have such a badge in the family, and thus serve the same purpose as your death was designed to do."
Uhura returned with a small flag, as described by Spock. Kirk took it from her, and going up to Odona, while the crew stood at full attention, he pinned it ceremoniously to her shoulder.
"For service to Gideon above and beyond the call of duty," he intoned. He hesitated, then kissed her on both cheeks. "An old custom of some of our people," he said, smiling at her blush.
"Will you stay on the ship?" she whispered.
He looked at her quickly. In that moment he recognized the ambiguity of her question, and replied unmistakably.
"On this ship, I will stay, Odona."
She said wistfully, "Forever?"
"Sometimes I think so," he said, very quietly. "But this is my ship, my dear." He struck at the intercom.
"Kirk to Transporter Room. One to beam down to Gideon."
Later, McCoy asked, "Captain, is the Federation really all that anxious to gain the membership of what is now more or less a plague planet?"
"That," said Kirk, with a glance at Spock, "will be for the diplomats to decide."