STAR TREK: The Original Series - Garth of Izar

by Pamela Sargent

  Kirk reined his ellei to a halt, then rose in his stirrups, gazing at the desert that lay ahead. The yellow sands joined the azure sky at what seemed to be a razor-clear line. He still wore the long brown coat that Empynes had given him at the stable; he had needed it against the cool morning air of the city, but the desert air was growing wanner. Beneath him, his ellei was very still, waiting for her rider’s next command.

  He had taken to the animal at once, guiding her [80] with the reins of a harness that resembled a horse’s bridle, but which had no bit. His saddle had leather stirrups and a deep, reasonably comfortable seat; his mount’s easy, flowing gait left him feeling unwinded even after nearly two hours of steady riding.

  Kirk looked out over the desert and spotted a herd of wild elleis in the distance, sleek black creatures with a white-furred albino among them. Empynes had told him that the elleis were originally desert animals, and that untamed ones still roamed the desert that lay to the west of Pynesses; seeing an albino ellei was considered a sign of good fortune.

  We could use some good luck, Kirk thought as he glanced at his companions. Spock, McCoy, and Lesley Wodehouse were also clothed in long brown coats, while Garth’s coat was black. He sat his mount gracefully and moved easily with him, as if used to riding such animals. Garth was a skilled equestrian who had won every dressage competition at the Academy during his time as a cadet, and perhaps he had ridden elleis before during his time on Antos IV. Empynes and Gyneeses wore long black coats like Garth’s; Empynes lifted an arm and shaded his eyes with one hand. The First Minister had looked tired, his face drawn, when Kirk had met him that morning, and had said almost nothing during their ride out of the city and over the grassy plain that bordered the desert.

  Gyneeses had been equally quiet until Lesley Wodehouse had ridden closer to Kirk to speak to him. [81] “Captain, I hope this meeting succeeds,” she had said, “but what will happen to the rebels if it doesn’t? How will the peaceful Antosians be able to handle them?”

  Gyneeses, riding in front of them, had turned around in his saddle, obviously having overheard the question. “You needn’t worry about that, Yeoman Wodehouse,” the Chief Adviser had replied. “We have discussed possible courses of action if we fail.” His statement was reasonable enough, but the harder tone in his voice had bothered Kirk, and Gyneeses had not gone on to explain what he meant by possible courses of action.

  “Ready?” Kirk called out to the others.

  “Yes, Captain,” Spock replied. Empynes nodded.

  Kirk reached under his coat, flipped open his communicator, and said, “Kirk to Scott—you can prepare to move us now.”

  “Ready with your seven-league boots, Captain,” Scott replied. The transporter room where the chief engineer was on duty could beam no more than six people at a time, so Wodehouse and McCoy had agreed to be beamed to their destination after the others.

  “Is this truly necessary?” McCoy suddenly asked.

  Kirk turned toward the physician. “If you would prefer to ride three hundred more kilometers across this desert, and then rest for the night at whatever oasis we find before going on ...”

  “We might as well have beamed there directly [82] from Pynesses,” McCoy said, “instead of riding out. As it is, given how well-behaved these animals have been, maybe we’d be better off riding the distance than taking a chance on spooking the beasts with the transporter.”

  “Let me assure you that these elleis are very well trained,” Empynes said, “and won’t be easily frightened, now that they’re used to their riders.”

  “Still—” McCoy began.

  “Bones,” Kirk interrupted, “it was requested that we arrive on elleis, and we agreed to that. The rebels want to be sure of our approach, and that we won’t use our transporters offensively, or come armed in a shuttlecraft.”

  McCoy’s ellei edged closer to Kirk. “They’re being awfully damned fussy, if you ask me,” McCoy muttered. “I don’t know. Frankly, I’m starting to wonder if they’re laying a trap for us.”

  “But we’ve taken that into account,” Kirk said. “That’s one reason for getting to the meeting place sooner by having ourselves beamed there.”

  “Unless by some chance that’s what they’re expecting us to do.”

  “Dr. McCoy,” Garth said, and Kirk was relieved to hear his voice; Garth had been uncharacteristically subdued throughout last night’s dinner and their ride into the desert. “Everything we can do to prevent a planetary civil war is something we must do. Riding in like this and using the transporter to speed our journey is a minor inconvenience. We will [83] not give even the suggestion of being the aggressor here.”

  Kirk wondered if that was possible.

  “A show of good faith,” Empynes said, “requires that one do what one does not have to do.”

  McCoy sighed.

  “Are you ready, Captain?” Scott’s voice asked over the communicator.

  “Proceed, Scotty,” Kirk ordered.

  The desert shimmered in his eyes—

  —and was replaced by woodlands and green hills beyond the trees; west of the hills, a wall of mountains rose against a cloudless blue sky. He turned in time to see McCoy and Yeoman Wodehouse, along with their elleis, shimmer into solidity a few moments later.

  Empynes trotted closer to Kirk. “I’ve camped out in this region before,” he said, “when I was younger. Gyneeses and I will take the lead.”

  Kirk nodded; they were still at some distance from the designated meeting place. Empynes’s ellei slipped forward, as if stalking creatures in the forest, followed by Gyneeses on his mount.

  “Scotty,” Kirk said into his communicator, “track us constantly. I’ll report to you every two hours. If more than three hours go by without your hearing anything from me, beam me up along with the entire landing party and have security waiting.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain. Scott out.”

  Kirk glanced at Garth; the other captain looked pensive. “There’s much to be done,” Garth said, “and [84] it won’t be easy.” His voice sounded weaker, without its usual timbre, as if Garth feared that they might fail in their mission.

  As they rode slowly toward a virtual wall of trees, Kirk was struck by their awesome beauty. Massive trunks rose a hundred meters or more into the sky; smaller growths clustered around the titanic parent plants, perfect miniatures of the giants. The air was clear and fragrant with growing things, a mix of strangeness and familiarity that sang of refuge in the givens of nature, where one’s skin would feel the air, sunlight, and water. It was, he thought, a siren song of the natural paradise from which all intelligent life was slowly exiling itself. That paradise had never truly existed, of course—nature was as cruel as any jealous god that might be imagined—but intelligence would survive as a gardener, a nurturer of beauty, a tamer of the beast within itself and custodian of nature’s mirror world of necessary struggle.

  They moved among the trees, the elleis prowling. Kirk found his thoughts drifting; he was reading an alien text, but it was beginning to reveal its beauties ...

  Suddenly the trees just ahead became humanoid figures.

  “Halt!” a voice shouted. “Raise your arms very slowly, and be still’.”

  Kirk and his companions lifted their arms. Shadowy figures in cloaks and hoods came forward in the [85] dusky light. Some were pointing spears in their direction, while others carried long knives.

  “The First Minister has come to meet with you, as you asked,” Gyneeses called out. “He has brought the offworlder Garth of Izar, along with the four Starfleet—”

  “We know you,” the stranger’s deep voice interrupted. “Dismount from your elleis immediately, remove your coats, and don’t try anything unless you’d like to feel the prick of a spearpoint.”

  Kirk dismounted, careful not to make any unnecessary moves, and draped his coat over the pommel of his saddle. His companions were being searched; four of the strangers grabbed at Lesley Wodehouse’s tricorder and communicator. Sp
ock was quickly relieved of his devices; two more men advanced on McCoy.

  “I’m a physician,” McCoy said, “a healer, and this is a medical tricorder. Can’t you—” One of the hooded figures took the tricorder from him; the other jabbed at him with his long knife. McCoy took a step back and quickly handed over his communicator.

  Kirk did not protest as he surrendered his equipment, thankful now that he and his team had not brought phaser pistols, but still conscious of the hand phaser strapped to his ankle inside his boot. If this was a trap, they had no choice but to wait until Scotty, after not hearing from Kirk, beamed them up to the Enterprise. He hoped that it would not come to that, or any chance for accomplishing their mission might be completely lost.

  [86] “We came here for a meeting,” Empynes said. “We haven’t even reached the site where the meeting is to be held, and—”

  “You’ll be taken there now,” a voice said from the trees. “We mean you no harm.” A tall hooded figure emerged, nodded at Empynes, then took a communicator from one of his comrades. “We know Empynes, and Gyneeses his adviser, and Garth the offworlder ... Which one of you strangers is Captain James Kirk?”

  Kirk took a step forward. “I am,” he said, fearing that he would be searched more thoroughly.

  The hooded Antosian handed him the communicator. “Then you may now assure your starship crew that you are in no danger.”

  “Is that true?” Kirk asked.

  “I assure you that it is,” the tall Antosian replied. “We mean you no harm. We are only trying to prevent any accidents by keeping you under restraint. Go ahead, contact your ship.”

  Kirk flipped open his communicator, wondering if this might be a trick. He and Scotty had set up a password system; he could order the engineer to beam them all up. But that would be a show of bad faith and would destroy any good that might come from this meeting. He would wait and see what developed, while putting Scotty on the alert to possible danger.

  “Kirk to Enterprise.”

  “Scott here,” Scotty’s voice answered.

  “Scotty, routine check Aberdeen fourteen—

  [87] The communicator was suddenly snatched from Kirk’s hand. “No secret messages, please,” the tall cloaked figure said.

  But Scotty already had the essential message: a potentially perilous situation, stand by for further orders.

  “We will now take you to the meeting place,” the tall rebel said, dropping back his hood to reveal an angelic face with wide-set eyes and a head of thick gray hair.

  “Heje-Illuss!” Gyneeses cried out, sounding surprised.

  The gray-haired Antosian lifted his brows. “But surely you knew that I would be here.”

  “At the meeting place,” Gyneeses said quickly, “not out here with these others.” He looked around, as if expecting the rest to throw back their hoods and reveal themselves.

  Garth turned to Kirk and murmured, “Heje-Illuss was one of those who saved my life by teaching me how to change shape.”

  “Captain Garth and I shared much,” Heje-Illuss said. “I am pleased to see you well and among us again.”

  “I am well,” Garth replied. Again Kirk noticed the lack of resonance in Garth’s voice, the tired and almost defeated tone, but perhaps that was to be expected. This Antosian had been one of Garth’s rescuers, and had been repaid for that by being infected with the mad Garth’s dreams of power and conquest. Garth would be only too aware of that.

  They made their way on foot through the forest [88] along what seemed to be a trail, leading their elleis by their reins, and soon came to a clearing. The rebels who brought them there took their elleis and led the animals to the far end of the clearing, where other elleis were tied to a long rope hanging between two large trees.

  Kirk looked around the rebel camp, noting the campfire in the center of the clearing and the circle of tents and simple shelters made of tree branches thrown together; this was a meeting place ready to be abandoned at once. The Antosians who had led them here and the hooded figures huddled near the fire or standing near the shelters were no more than two dozen people, and there was not much room in the tents and makeshift shelters for many more.

  A small group of rebels armed with spears and knives did not seem much of a threat. Yet Kirk had studied enough history to know that several successful revolutions in the past had begun with even less promise. The Antosians of Pynesses lived with a small-scale technology. Solar panels heated their homes, while elleis pulling carts and streetcars fueled by a natural gas were their primary means of urban transportation; only their biological sciences had been developed to a more advanced level. They were people who knew nothing of war; a determined band of rebels might be able to win control of their world.

  The sky was becoming a darker blue. Heje-Illuss motioned to his visitors to sit down around the fire. Kirk sat down; even near the flames, he was grateful [89] for the warmth of his coat, which Heje-Illuss and the others had allowed them to put back on.

  “We have come here in good faith,” Empynes began. “I do not see you as an enemy, Heje-Illuss.” The Antosian leader glanced at Kirk. “He is a healer who used to work with my bondpartner Wenallai.”

  “I am not your enemy, Empynes.” Heje-Illuss had stayed on his feet, and moved around the fire as he spoke. “I must tell all of you at once that there has been a schism in our group. Hala-Jyusa and her faction have left us and ridden into the mountains—exactly where, I do not know.”

  Empynes bowed his head. “When did this happen?” he asked with a sigh.

  “As soon as this meeting was arranged. They feared an agreement, because they see any accord as giving up our strength or as a threat to it, especially if it might mean removing cellular metamorphosis from our inheritance.”

  “And how does your remaining group view the matter?” Empynes said.

  Heje-Illuss stood still and held out his arms. “I am here to talk, as we promised, for as long as it takes to find a way to avoid the disaster that may come upon our world. But I already realize that we won’t be able to please everyone among our people, and that whatever decision is reached may require that the prevailing faction restrain those who continue to disagree, using decisive force if necessary.”

  “I wonder if we’re capable of that,” Empynes said. [90] “If the majority seeks to restrain those who choose to retain shape-shifting, the struggle may well be impossible. Our only hope is persuasion, to rely on the inner restraint that has served us so well in the past.”

  “Restraint,” Kirk heard Gyneeses mutter. “Self-restraint may not be enough for us anymore.”

  Kirk glanced around the camp, noting again how few people were here. How many had left with the Antosian called Hala-Jyusa?

  “What can those who broke away from you do?” Kirk said to Heje-Illuss. “Can they raise an army?”

  “In time, perhaps,” the gray-haired Antosian rebel replied. “I do not underestimate Hala-Jyusa, Captain Kirk. She is a woman of strong emotions who was even more susceptible to the dreams of power roused in her by the offworlder Garth than was I.” He offered Garth an unhappy look that seemed like a unspoken apology. “We must consider capturing and restraining her and her band. Would you be willing to help us?”

  Kirk considered the request for a moment. “Not unless this is something you would plan to do yourself. There’s a limit as to how much we can ... interfere.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Heje-Illuss said. “Garth has told us in the past of your Prime Directive. But how can noninterference be practical in this case, when doing nothing amounts to the same thing—standing idly by when some great war might be averted through action?”

  [91] “A sound argument,” Spock said. “Reality often outruns the Prime Directive.”

  “But do you think this new splinter group has enough supporters to do more harm,” Kirk said, “especially after they’ve broken with your group? And what do you think we should do—round them up and put them in some sort of prison?”

  �
�Exactly that,” Heje-Illuss said, “much as I regret that necessity.”

  “And your views?” Empynes asked. “What is the position that your group now takes, and how many more of you are there?”

  “Our group?” Heje-Illuss waved a hand. “What you see here is our group, Empynes. We finally understand that renouncing metamorphosis would probably be the best course, but as you see, there are only thirty of us. The group that split off to follow Hala-Jyusa numbers a few hundred. I am counting only those involved directly in the struggle, of course; there are others still in Pynesses who sympathize with them, who are likely to rise up later.”

  Kirk suddenly imagined a pitched battle of shape-changers, confusing one another with continuous shifts of appearance as they wielded their spears and swords. A civil war on Antos IV would be bad enough, but with their lower level of technology and so much uninhabited land in which the rebels could set up bases, such a struggle would be a protracted one and would not soon be decisive for one side or the other. A third force might be needed to tip the [92] balance, despite the Prime Directive. To do nothing would in itself be an action, as Heje-Illuss had correctly discerned, and inaction would benefit neither side.

  And if the Federation did nothing, a third force—the Klingons, perhaps—might decide to intercede on Antos IV.

  People were crouched outside their shelters, hoods thrown back from their cloaks, eating what looked like pieces of flat bread and drinking from water skins. They offered nothing to the visitors, not even to Empynes and Gyneeses, revealing that they probably had few provisions. A silence came over the forest, making Kirk uneasy; he was not used to the sounds of this world, but noticed now that the sounds of hooting and trilling birds had abruptly ceased. Maybe one hand phaser wasn’t enough protection; his team should have come armed. He looked at Garth and saw him staring listlessly into the fire, as if all the life had gone out of him.

  Kirk heard a mewling shriek. Heje-Illuss started. A series of short sharp shrieks followed.

  “It’s the elleis,” Heje-Illuss said. “Trialla, go and calm them down.” The mounts were flicking their tails and straining at the rope. A pale-haired woman strode toward the animals, followed by two men.