by 10(lit)
"Try us," Kirk said.
"About my home planet... I distorted a fact in the interest of self-preservation and my sacred cause. You, too, are a stranger to one, Captain-an unknown factor." He swung his legs from the table, making a tentative effort to stand.
"I needed help, not censure," he said. "Freedom, not confinement as a madman. If I told you the truth, I feared that was what you'd call me."
"The truth now, if you please," Kirk said.
Lazarus looked at him, his deep passion thickening his voice. "All right, sir! My planet, my home-or what's left of it-is down there below us!"
Kirk stared at him, dumbfounded. "What are you say-ing?"
"That my space ship is more than a space ship. It is also a time chamber... a time ship. And I, if you will, am a time traveler."
Kirk frowned. This man was a compounder of mys-teries. All he had told were lies... and yet that vessel of his, like nothing before seen on heaven or earth, its unrecognizable complexities.... He spoke tonelessly. "And this thing you search for? Is it a time traveler, too?"
The eyes went wild. "Yes! He's fled me across all the years, all the empty years! To a dead future on the dead planet he murdered!" He was feverish now, staggering to his feet. "Help me, man! You have more crystals! Give me the tools I need to kill him!" He tottered and McCoy grabbed him. He wrenched free of the supporting arm.
"The crystals! What are they to the abomination I hunt? What is anything compared to its supernal evil? Do you want him to get away?"
"Lazarus, there are a lot of things going on that we know nothing about. But you know. Now tell me- where are our crystals?"
"I told you!" Lazarus shouted. "He has them! He took them!"
They had to ease him back on the table or he would have fallen. He lay there, prone, his eyes glassy, face streaming with sweat. McCoy said, "He's got to rest, Jim. And would you mind getting that muscle man out of my Sickbay?"
Nodding, Kirk dismissed the guard. Uneasy, he watched McCoy cover Lazarus with a sheet. There was a deep sigh and the eyes closed. "He's in a lot of pain, Jim."
"Pain," Kirk said. "Sometimes it can drive a man hard-er than pleasure." He looked at the face on the table. It was whiter than the sheet. "But I guess he won't be go-ing anywhere for a while-not this time."
As the door closed behind them, the sheeted form moved. The eyes opened. Grasping the table, Lazarus hauled himself to his feet. He faltered, shaking his head to clear it. Then, cautiously, stealthily, motored by his inexorable determination, he moved to the door.
Kirk chose the Briefing Room to put the Big Questions to Spock. He turned from his restless pacing to cry, "But just what have we got? A magnetic effect which produces your 'wink-out' phenomenon. And a mysterious, unidentifiable source of radiation on the planet. Lazarus, a walking powder-keg. Your 'rip' in the universe. That murdering humanoid none of us have seen..."
Spock looked up from his computer tie-in. "True, Cap-tain. But what is significant to me is the fact that our ship's instruments are specifically designed to locate and identify any physical object in the universe, whether it be matter or energy."
"But using them you were unable to identify that source of radiation on the planet!"
"Correct, sir."
"Are the instruments in order?"
"In perfect operating condition."
"Then what you say leaves only one conclusion. The source of that radiation is not of our universe."
"Nor in it, Captain. It came from outside."
Kirk resumed his pacing. "Yes-outside of it. That would explain a lot! Another universe... perhaps in another dimension... but occupying the same space at the same time."
"The possibility of the existence of a parallel universe has been scientifically conceded, Captain."
"All right. What would happen if another universe, say a minus universe, came into contact with a positive one such as ours?"
"Unquestionably a warp, Captain. A distortion of physical laws on an immense scale."
"That's what we have been experiencing! The point where they touch-couldn't it be described as a hole?"
Their two minds seemed to meet and meld. Spock nodded vigorously. "Indeed, Captain. I also point out that a hole in the universe-or in a simple container-can ei-ther allow the contents to escape or-"
"What is outside to enter it!" Kirk shouted. "Mr. Spock, the invasion that Commodore Barstow suspected!"
"There is no evidence of any large-scale invasion, sir."
"But a small-scale invasion! Spock! What's your evalua-tion of the mental state of Lazarus?"
"At one moment, paranoid. But the next, calm, ration-al, mild. Almost as if he were-" Spock paused on the edge of light. "Almost as if he were two men."
"Exactly! Two men-different but identical. And a hole in the universe! No! Not a hole! A door, Spock, a door!"
"You are hypothesizing a parallel universe, Captain!"
"And why not? It's theoretically possible! Look at Laza-rus! One minute he's at the point of death... but the next alive and well, strong as a bull. That cut on his forehead. First he has it, then it's gone-and then he has it again! For one man it's all physically impossible!"
"I agree, Captain. There are unquestionably two of him."
"But... what's going on? This leaping from one universe to the other? The wild rant about a murdering thing that destroys civilizations! What's the purpose?"
"Captain, madness has no purpose. No reason. But-it could have a goal!" Spock's face was stony as his Vulcan blood triumphed over his human agitation. "He must be stopped, Captain! Destroyed, if necessary."
"Spock, I'm not following you now."
"Two universes, sir! Project this! One positive, one negative. Or, more specifically, one of them matter-and the other one, antimatter!"
Kirk regarded him for a tense moment. "But matter and antimatter-they cancel one another out... violently."
"Precisely... under certain conditions. When identical particles of matter and antimatter meet-identical, Captain, like-"
"Like Lazarus-like the two of them. Identical, except that one is matter and the other antimatter. And if they meet..."
Kirk had never heard Spock's voice so somber. "Anni-hilation, Captain. Total, complete, annihilation..."
"And of everything that exists... everywhere.... "
It was a moment for failure in speech. They stared at each other as the fate of worlds, known and unknown, dropped itself into their laps.
Lazarus found the corridor deserted. He turned the cor-ner that led to Engineering; and sidling through its door, went swiftly to an electrical relay panel. Its maze of wires struck him as primitive. It took him barely a moment to remove a tool from his jumper suit, detach a connection and affix the wire to a different terminal. Closing the panel, he waited, a shadow in the darker shadow behind a throbbing dynamo.
Far to his left, Charlene Masters was studying the ef-fect of recharge on her di-lithium crystals. Above the bins the needle of a thermometerlike device had wavered up toward a red mark. It climbed above it-and a wisp of smoke drifted up from one of the lower dials. She looked away from the installation to examine the chart held by her assistant. They smelled the smoke at the same time. "The energizer! It's shorted!" she cried.
There was a flashing spray of sparks. A great, billow-ing cloud of smoke engulfed them. "Get out of here, En-sign! Sound the alarm!" She was coughing.
"You, too, Lieutenant!"
"No! I've got to-"
"You've got to get out of here!" he shouted. "The whole bank might blow!" He seized her arm, dragging her through the still-thickening smoke. Half-blinded, chok-ing, they staggered out into the corridor. As they passed him, Lazarus, a piece of torn sheet held over his nose and mouth, shut the door quietly behind them.
Charlene was at the wall communicator. "Engineering! Fire! Energizing circuits!"
Uhura whirled from her board. "Fire, Captain! Engi-neering! Situation critical!"
"All available hands, Li
eutenant! On the double! Spock! On me!"
The Ensign, still coughing, his face black-streaked, met them at the door to Engineering. "Under control, sir. But it couldn't have- Captain, that fire did not start by it-self!"
Spock said, "Lazarus, Captain? A ruse? To get at the di-lithium crystals?"
"Way ahead of you, Mr. Spock."
They both plunged into the smoky room. Coughing, Kirk groped his way to the bins. "He's got them all right. And he's beaming down right now. I'm going after him. Get together a Security detail. Follow me as soon as you can."
"Aye, aye, sir."
Lazarus had tied the crystals in the torn sheet. Mate-rialized, he hurried directly to his craft. In its working area, he unwrapped them exultantly. Shaking his fist at his invisible foe, he yelled, "Now I'll do it. I have a thresh-old! Run! Run! I've got you now!"
Bending to his labor, he selected certain rods and wires that soon assumed the shape of a protective frame before the ship's entrance. He worked quickly, arranging what were obviously premade units. In them he carefully placed the di-lithium crystals. When the last one was safely installed, he raised his fists skyward, howling like a wolf, "It's done! It's finished! Finished!"
Kirk, nearing the ship, heard" him. Phaser extended, he said, "Wrong, Lazarus. You're finished. Through. Back up!" He stepped through the door.
"No!" Lazarus shrieked.
The warning came too late. The shimmering sparkles flared. Kirk vanished.
Lazarus, head huddled in his arms, cried, "No! Not you! Not you!"
For Kirk, banished into the tunnel of negative magne-tism, tune and space died. He was spuming in a kind of slow motion where familiar time was boundless and emp-ty space stuff that broke off against his face in fluffy hunks. He was falling but he was also rising. He was twisting while at the same time he lay still. The nightmare of an absolute disorientation was crawling over him. The shim-mer shimmered. It faded-and he found himself on his hands and knees, fighting nausea.
Vaguely, with disinterest, he saw rocks, gullies, the old dry desolation, the cliff that sheltered the time craft. The ship was gone. There was no sign of it-no sign of any-thing or anybody. He got slowly to his feet, staring at the cliff base where the craft should have been. After a moment, he hefted the phaser in his hand, unsure that it was real. It was-solid, real against his palm. He looked around again before he called, "Hello!"
The word echoed back from the rocks. Then only the silence spoke.
He took off at a run up a slope. It gave on to a plateau. The time craft was there, set in a little open space, but no sign of life about it. Then the Lazarus of the uncut fore-head rose from his stooping position. He, too, was rigging some kind of framework before the ship's entrance. He smiled at the aimed phaser. "Welcome, Captain. I wasn't expecting you."
"No," Kirk said. "Him."
"You understand then?"
"Not completely. This is clearly a parallel universe."
"Of course."
"Antimatter?"
"Here, yes."
"And if identical particles meet..."
"The end of everything, Captain. Of creation. Of ex-istence. All gone." He squared his broad shoulders. "I'm trying to stop him. It's why I took your di-lithium crys-tals."
"He has two more."
Lazarus searched Kirk's face. "That's very bad, Captain. If he can come through, at a time of his own choos-ing. But I think, if we hurry... and you will help me, he can yet be stopped. But we have little time."
It was Spock who materialized before the other time ship, still at the foot of the cliff. The matter Lazarus, the wound on his forehead, stood at its door, violently waving his arms. "Back! Back!" he screamed. "If you ever want to see your Captain alive again, get back!"
"Do what he says," Spock told his Security guards.
Up on the plateau, the second Lazarus had his thresh-old frame almost completed. He pointed to a tool; and as Kirk handed it to him, he said, "He meant to come through this but when you accidentally contacted it, it drained his crystals. It will take him at least ten min-utes to re-energize with the equipment on board his craft. That should give us time enough...."
"Just exactly what did I contact?" Kirk said.
"I call it the alternative warp, Captain. It's the nega-tive magnetic corridor where the parallel universes come together. It's... the safety valve. It keeps eternity from blowing up."
"This corridor," Kirk said. "Is it what caused the mag-netic effect-that sort of 'wink-out' phenomenon?"
"Precisely, Captain. But not because of its existence. Only because he entered it. The corridor is like a jail with explosives attached to its door. Open the door-and the explosives may detonate. Stay inside the corridor-"
"And the universe is safe," Kirk said.
"Your universe and mine, Captain. Both of them."
"Surely he must know what would happen if he ever does meet you face to face outside that corridor."
"Of course he knows. But he is mad, Captain. You've heard him. His mind is gone. When our people found the way to slip through the warp... when they proved the existence of another identical universe, it was too much for him. He could not live, knowing that I lived. He became obsessed with passion to destroy me. The fact that my death would also destroy him-and everything else- cannot matter to him."
Kirk spoke slowly. "So you're the terrible Thing... the murdering monster... the creature of evil...."
"Yes. Or he is. It depends on the point of view, doesn't it?"
He made a final adjustment. "It's ready, Captain. If we can force him into the corridor while I'm there waiting for him, we can put an end to this. But if he comes through the warp at a time of his own choosing-and breaks into this universe to find me..."
"I understand," Kirk said. "What do you want me to do?"
"Find him. Force him through his threshold frame and into the corridor. I'll be waiting. I'll hold him there."
Kirk's face had fallen into very sober lines. "You can't hold him forever."
"Can't I, Captain? You are to destroy his ship."
"But if I do that-won't this one also be destroyed?"
"It will."
"And that door-that warp-will be closed to you."
"Yes. But it will be closed to him, too."
"You'll be trapped with him," Kirk said. "You'll be trapped with him in that corridor forever... at each other's throats... throughout the rest of tune."
"Is it such a large price to pay for the safety of two universes?"
Lazarus reached out and placed Kirk within the frame of his threshold. "The safety of two universes." Kirk looked at the brave man. "Are you sure you want me to do this?"
"You must do it, Captain. We have no choice. Are you ready?"
Kirk's voice was steady. "I'm ready."
"Send him to me. I'll be waiting in the corridor."
He threw a switch. The shimmering sparkles tingled over Kirk's body-and he was back on the plateau, the other space craft before him. Spock ran toward him. He shook his head, waving him back.
The first Lazarus was busy at his threshold frame, his back to Kirk. He moved a lever. The structure glowed, then flashed into glitter. "You're done!" he told it exul-tantly.
Kirk jumped him. But he whirled in time to block the tackle with his heavy body. Then they closed, wrestling, Kirk, silent, intent, boring in as he fought to back the man into the frame. His aim became clear to Lazarus. "No!" he yelled. "You can't! I'm not ready! Not now! Not yet!" He seized a thick metal tool for bludgeon. Kirk ducked the blow, rising fast to connect a hard fist to his jaw. Lazarus wavered; and Kirk held him, pushing, pushing him backward until he stumbled, toppling over into the frame. The sparkle caught him. There was a blinding glare of whiteness-and he was gone.
Kirk pulled in a deep lungful of breath. Spock took over. Turning to his teen, he said, "Get those di-lithium crystals back to the ship. Hurry!" Then he spoke to Kirk. "Captain, am I right in guessing that this craft must be completely destroyed?"
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br /> "To the last particle."
"And what of Lazarus, sir?"
"Yes," Kirk said. "What of Lazarus, Mr. Spock?"
There was no out. And Kirk, back in his command chair, knew it. He'd chosen the Service; and if he'd been unaware of what would be required of a Starship Captain back in those long-ago Academy days, the choice was still his. Nor could any human being expect to foresee the consequences of any decision. Met up with them, all you could do was deal with them as responsibly as you could. He'd had to remind himself of this truth a thou-sand times-but this time...