STAR TREK: The Original Series - Garth of Izar

by Pamela Sargent

  Scotty nodded. “I know. I wish we had time for the slow way, Captain.”

  He steadied himself, knowing what was about to happen. Scotty aimed his phaser and Kirk felt the darkness sweep over his mind as the engineer fired.

  Kirk was lying on the hard surface of a floor. He opened his eyes and saw Spock and Scotty leaning over him.

  “I set my phaser to the lowest setting,” Scotty said as he and Spock helped Kirk to his feet, “but it still packed a wallop.”

  “You were right, Scotty.” Kirk rubbed the back of his head. Strong and skilled as the Antosian shape-changers were, even they could not maintain forms that were not their own after being stunned by a phaser, but reverted immediately to their original selves. The encounter with Garth on Elba II had proved that.

  “I can be sure of you and Mr. Spock,” Scotty said. “He came to just a few minutes before you did. I suppose it’s time to bring in another.”

  “Do it, Scotty.” Kirk moved away from the [108] transporter platform and waited with Chekov and the security detail.

  Scotty signaled to Kyle and Grinzo. “Bring in the yeoman and the doctor, but leave Garth for last.” The forms of McCoy and Wodehouse appeared on the transporter platform.

  “Stay there,” Scotty ordered as the security crew members near him took aim with their phasers.

  McCoy frowned. “What the hell’s going on? Have you all gone crazy?”

  “I’m sorry, Bones,” Kirk said. “We have to make sure you’re you.”

  McCoy grimaced as he glanced at Wodehouse. The two crumpled to the floor as the phaser beams struck them.

  Kirk’s head still ached, but he was already feeling better. “You took a chance, Scotty, beaming us up like that.”

  “I know the safety of the ship had to come first, but I couldna let that madman kill the lot of you.”

  Kirk and Chekov went to the platform, where McCoy and Wodehouse were now regaining consciousness. McCoy sat up first, then eased the yeoman into a sitting position.

  “I am sorry we had to do this,” Chekov said.

  “Remind me later,” the physician muttered.

  Kirk and Chekov helped the two to their feet. “Captain,” Lesley Wodehouse said, “what happened to Garth?”

  “He’s in stasis hold.”

  [109] “Who else is there?” McCoy asked.

  “Our doubles,” Kirk said. Empynes was still down in the camp, along with Gyneeses and Heje-Illuss’s band of captive Antosians. None of them were likely to fare too well in the hands of Garth’s followers, who had so abruptly had their leader snatched from them.

  “Shall I bring in His Lordship now?” Scotty asked.

  “He was holding a phaser,” Kirk said. “We’d better be ready to grab it before he can fire it.” He silently reproached himself again for having taken the phaser down to Antos IV. “Spock, stand behind that plate. Chekov, be ready to stun him.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” Chekov said, raising his phaser pistol.

  “Energize,” Scotty said to Kyle and Grinzo.

  Spock stood behind the plate that was to receive Garth. Kirk was saddened as he thought that the hero of his youth would again be brought low, and for the last time. A column shimmered above the plate and became the figure of Garth.

  Spock was about to grab the phaser from behind, but Garth suddenly dropped the weapon to the floor.

  “Well,” Garth said calmly, “it certainly took you long enough.”

  Chapter Seven

  KIRK STARED AT the man who had so recently been ranting at him. Even Spock, who was looking at Garth with upraised brows, seemed confused.

  “You’ve done exactly what I was hoping you’d do,” Garth went on. “I was counting on getting aboard, one way or another. It was part of my plan to help the Antosians.”

  “To rule them, you mean,” Kirk said.

  “You must believe me, Captain Kirk.”

  “Lord Garth, I can’t believe you.”

  “Please—it’s Captain Garth. Let me explain.” Garth opened his arms. “Time is growing very short—you have to listen to me.”

  Though he spoke with an urgent intensity, Garth sounded rational. His blue eyes gazed at Kirk [111] steadily. The madness he’d seen on Elba II—and in the clearing minutes earlier—was gone.

  “Captain Garth,” Kirk said at last, “I am placing you under arrest.”

  “But I can prove what I say.”

  “You’ll have a chance to argue your case,” Kirk said. “Ensign Chekov, take charge of this man, and see that he’s restricted to quarters.”

  “Restrain me if you must,” Garth said, “but at least listen to what I have to tell you first. There isn’t much time—the lives of the Antosians we left behind are now in danger. What have you got to lose by hearing me out?”

  “Very well.” Kirk stepped back. “We’ll listen to you, but you’ll remain under guard.” He turned to Scotty and said, “Bring the remaining doubles in from stasis and put them in the brig.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  Garth was marched to the nearest briefing room. Chekov sat down next to him at the table, while two security guards stood behind Garth’s chair, phasers at the ready. Kirk sat down across from Garth, with Scotty on his right and Spock on his left. Wodehouse was in the chair nearest the door.

  McCoy quickly scanned Garth with the medical tricorder that had been brought to him in the transporter room. “No evidence of brain injury,” McCoy said as he gazed at the readings. “No evidence of any injury, in fact.” He looked up. “I’d conclude that he’s [112] sane, but I can’t be absolutely certain until I confirm that diagnosis with a complete examination and workup in sickbay. The effects of shape-changing on his neurological functions, subtle damage that a quick scan might not pick up—all of that is possibly—”

  “Doctor, let me assure you that I’m sane,” Garth said.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” McCoy sat down. “But even being sane doesn’t mean that you can’t be duplicitous.”

  “Please.” Garth folded his hands. “Listen to what I have to tell you before you judge me.”

  Kirk motioned with one arm. “Go ahead, Captain Garth.”

  “You’ve probably already deduced that a double traded places with me not long after I beamed down to Antos IV.” Garth spoke in a measured tone. “Within a day after I was down there, Kellin—that young Antosian—had taken on my form. He’s a strong youth, capable of holding shape for an extraordinary length of time, which is why I chose him. I coached him on how to act and advised him to keep to himself as much as possible, then rode out from Pynesses and went west to rejoin my followers, to assume my position as head of the rebellion once more.”

  “Head of the rebellion?” Scotty asked.

  “Yes, Mr. Scott,” Garth said. “I joined the rebellion—or, more properly, infiltrated it—more than a year ago, after my discharge from Elba II, when I stopped at Antos IV on my way back to Earth.” He [113] paused. “After arrangements were made by the rebels for a meeting with the First Minister and Ms Chief Adviser, I knew that you and my double would have to accompany them to the meeting place. Then, when you arrived there, I was counting on beaming up to the Enterprise under your automatic order, as we had planned, with the pretext of seizing the ship. My followers believed that was my intention, but once I was aboard the ship, my plan was to begin beaming up the rebel Antosians in groups in order to forward them to Acra, one of the islands in the eastern ocean, thus averting a civil war. All of you would have learned of my plan sooner, if Captain Kirk had not delayed me.”

  “Do you expect us to believe that?” Kirk asked.

  “Acra is the northernmost of the Tiresian Islands, which are much like Earth’s Hawaiian Islands, so no one would have suffered unduly by being confined there. But Acra is also an island from which there is no escape. One might be able to make it to one of the nearer Tiresian Islands to the south, but to reach the eastern coast of the continent of Anatossia by boat, assuming any such craf
t could be built, would take some days, and there would be no place to land anyway, since most of the eastern shore of the continent consists of extremely high, sheer, and rocky cliffs.”

  “So our preliminary sensor scans of the planet revealed,” Spock said.

  “I canna think,” Scotty said, “that I wouldna have seen through your guise sooner or later, even if you had succeeded in getting aboard as the captain.”

  [114] “I would have told you at once.” Garth lifted his brows, then looked at Kirk. “And I would have brought you and your landing party out of danger as soon as it was feasible.”

  McCoy let out a breath. “Infiltrating the rebels. Beaming people to some island. It’s ridiculous.” He folded his arms and sat back. “Jim, it sounds to me like Garth is trying to re-create Elba II all over again.”

  Kirk studied Garth, but there was no madness in the other man’s eyes, only a calm patience with children whom he had been forced to deceive.

  “May I continue?” Garth asked.

  Kirk nodded. “For the moment.”

  “It was my hope that in time, with the most recalcitrant of the rebels restrained, and the Antosians proceeding to rid themselves somatically and genetically of their morphing abilities, many if not most of the rebels would also agree to give up their shape-changing talents. Those who refused would remain imprisoned on Acra.” He fell silent for a bit. “You are no doubt wondering why I kept all of this to myself.”

  “Of course I am,” Kirk said.

  “During my earlier visit to Antos IV, I fell into communication with several of the dissidents and managed to gain their trust. Given that a few of them were among those who had healed me and taught me the art of cellular metamorphosis, this wasn’t difficult. Then I knew what I had to do.” Garth gazed steadily across the table at Kirk. “The only sure way to stop a rebellion, especially one involving such [115] powerful threats as genetic modification, is to take it over from within. Once this conflict erupted into the open, small groups would escape into the hinterlands and shape-shift forever, and they would also have time to gather new followers, people who might have second thoughts about giving up their skills.” He leaned forward. “You made my task more difficult when you alerted Mr. Scott not to beam us up automatically. You might have derailed my whole plan.” Weariness had crept into Garth’s voice. “Maybe I was too clever for my own good, and should have told you, but I couldn’t wait for permission from anyone to do what had to be done. I saw how things were in the higher circles of Starfleet Command. There were too many officers who wanted to force me into retirement for me to think that I would be able to get official sanction for my scheme in time to help the Antosians, and a good chance that I would never get such approval.”

  Garth sounded sincere, and his arguments, once his premises were granted, were plausible. Kirk felt shaken by the conviction in the other man’s voice, but then said, “Captain Garth, a great man once said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Mr. Spock tells me that your phaser was set to stun and not disintegrate when you threatened him, and that you didn’t deliver much of a blow to his head when you struck him, but that suggests only that you intended to bluff us into beaming you up, nothing more. If that is your proof of good intentions, it’s not [116] enough.” He paused. “And another thing—I find it implausible that someone as intelligent as you hung so much of your plan on my backup arrangement for Scotty to automatically beam us all up.”

  “Unless he really is barmy,” Scott muttered.

  Garth glanced at Scotty. “Actually, I was counting on you to do something clever, Mr. Scott, since I had painted myself into a corner. You were my backup, just in case Captain Kirk altered his first plan without my knowledge. Luckily he’d brought a concealed phaser with him—I thought that he might have one, because sneaking one down is just what I would have done under those circumstances—and that weapon enabled me to add a lot of conviction to my bluffing and my threats. And happily I was able to rant and rave on long enough to give you time to figure out what to do.”

  Scotty had a dubious look on his face. “Let’s assume that’s true for a wee bit,” the engineer said. “What would you have done if I hadn’t acted?”

  “Stunned Commander Spock with my phaser and started in on Dr. McCoy or Yeoman Wodehouse, hoping that they would be taken for dead. The rebels don’t know much about phasers. It would have been the only course left to me, and then there would have been a chance, however slight, that Captain Kirk would have second thoughts and give you the order you required from him. And maybe that would have been enough to convince you that it would be the better course of valor to beam us all up.”

  [117] “Lucky for you that I had my wits about me,” Scotty said.

  Garth focused on Kirk. “Sometimes you have to take things one step at a time, especially if you’re in a corner, and see what develops.”

  Kirk found himself nodding in agreement. He knew the truth of that statement well, since he had followed the same course of action several times himself.

  Garth continued, “One way or another, I was going to get myself and your doubles aboard.”

  “And what are we to accept now?” Kirk asked. “That the rebels will now believe that you’ve taken over the Enterprise?”

  “That is exactly the plan,” Garth said. “They will believe it, if I return to them. That I am here in your custody, that I wanted to be beamed up here with you, proves my point, that we are both on the same side. But time is short. Think of the lives that may be lost if this complex deception collapses.”

  “May I point out,” Spock said calmly, “that you apparently intended to beam up with other shape-shifters to attack the Enterprise. Let us assume that this was your true intent, to take over the ship. Had Mr. Scott been taken in and believed you to be Captain Kirk, you might have succeeded. You would have been able to issue commands as the captain to others of our personnel, order them to beam down to the meeting site, and then replace them with more of your Antosian confederates.”

  “True, Mr. Spock, very true. But you’ll note that I [118] avoided that circumstance. It was my decision that gave Mr. Scott his opportunity.”

  “Who else knows about this plot of yours?” Kirk asked, thinking of how subtle Garth’s ability was to think and to act in a comer—if what he said was true. “I doubt that you could have carried it off entirely by yourself.”

  “Empynes and Gyneeses know parts of it,” Garth said, “and I remind you that they are both prisoners right now.”

  “And what about Heje-Illuss and the other Antosian rebel leader who was mentioned, Hala-Jyusa?” Spock asked.

  “They fell out from their own motives, after the meeting was arranged. I stayed with Hala-Jyusa, since she had the larger force. My purpose all along was to keep the rebels together in one large group, to make it easier to round them up.” Garth smiled briefly. “I think Heje-Illuss had enough of my flamboyant ways, but as for the rest, I think Napoleonic posturings played very well.”

  Kirk shook his head. “This is still assuming that we can believe what you’ve just told us, and that this isn’t a ploy of some other kind, or else a feeble attempt to worm your way out of a plot that’s failed.”

  Garth stood up slowly. The security guards behind him stepped toward him; Kirk held up a hand and motioned them back.

  “The only proof I can offer,” Garth said, “is that you play out this scenario as I have sketched it. When [119] the rebels are all confined on Acra, you’ll know that I was telling the truth.”

  “Then this prison has been prepared,” Spock murmured. “You would need Antosian cooperation for that.”

  “Who is your ally in this plot?” Kirk asked. “That person could confirm your story.”

  “Yes, he can.” Garth sat down again. “But he won’t.”

  “And why not?” Spock said.

  “Because he is a traitor whom I have set to expose. He went along with my plans as far as setting up a place of exile on Acra. After t
he rebels were all gathered there, his intention was to equip and command his own private army, with the help of a starship, which I had promised to supply.”

  “I don’t understand,” Kirk said.

  Garth sighed impatiently. “My plan coincides with that of my false ally’s up to a point only. He has his own agenda and ambitions, and a backup plan in case he is unable to get a starship. If acquiring a starship fails, he plans to allow for a time of relative peace while he secretly arms the rebels on Acra, for use as his army some years from now, long after I am gone and the Federation’s fears are presumably allayed. Once he is in control of the planet, he would, I suspect, plan for bigger things, although it’s possible that all he wants is to rule Antos IV. In other words, he is planning to hijack my plan at some point.”

  “Who is he?” Kirk asked.

  Garth replied, “We need him a bit longer. Who the [120] traitor is will become apparent. He’ll reveal himself, and then you won’t have to take my word for it.”

  Kirk studied Garth for a while in silence, then said, “One more thing. This explanation of yours still seems much too contrived and almost beyond proof. The return of the mad Lord Garth is a much simpler explanation for what’s happened.”

  “I must say that I agree with you, Captain,” Spock added.

  Garth nodded. “But consider this—what have you to lose by believing me? I am your prisoner now. If you prevent my plan from going forward, there’ll be a civil war down there sooner or later. Let me act according to plan, as if I have managed to take the Enterprise. Send me back down to Antos IV with a guard at my side—you, Captain Kirk—and I will prove the truth of what I’ve told you. You have everything to gain, and your shipmates will be on guard here. There’s no danger of rebel Antosians taking over your ship without my help.”

  “Captain Garth,” Spock said, “I must ask you another question. This solution of yours—namely, the imprisonment of the rebels on the island of Acra—is a drastic and cruel solution, is it not?”

  “Yes, it is, Mr. Spock, and I am to blame. Once the lust for power entered Antosian culture through me, the choice of solutions became few. This is the only practical solution, while the number of rebels is still only a few hundred. They must be isolated from the vast majority of Antosians who have not been [121] infected by their dreams of conquest, who may be ready to renounce shape-shifting for themselves and future generations in order to preserve their peaceful culture. We must help them to remove this unnecessary temptation by setting up new traditions.”