STAR TREK: The Original Series - Garth of Izar

by Pamela Sargent

“Kirk to Enterprise,” he whispered into his communicator. “Get us both out of here, Scotty.”

  It seemed to be forever that he waited there with Garth in the middle of the empty corral.

  Chapter Nine

  THE TRANSPORTER BEAM sang to Kirk, and he breathed a sigh of relief. At his right, Garth stood in the transporter, looking at him wearily.

  “You should have left me,” Garth said.

  “You might have died.”

  “That might have helped to end the conflict.”

  Kirk said, “No, it wouldn’t have, and you know that as well as I do.”

  Lieutenant Kyle and Ensign Grinzo were watching them from behind the transporter console. The lieutenant seemed about to come around the console toward them, but as Kirk caught his eye, Kyle looked away. Kirk turned to Garth, saw the resignation in his face, and knew that the other man finally understood that his elaborate plan to help the Antosians was coming apart.

  [188] “How clever I was.” Garth spoke with great bitterness. “What a master of tactics and improvisation. I wanted to help, and I only made things worse.”

  Kirk stepped off the transporter; after a moment, Garth followed him to the doorway. Kyle and Grinzo stood at attention as the door opened.

  “So what now?” Kirk asked as they stepped into the corridor. “What do you think is going to happen down there?”

  “The conflict will widen,” Garth said as they walked down the hallway. “Friends and relatives of the exiled rebels will take up their cause. A leader will rise among them and they’ll follow him, because the Antosians are adapted to that kind of central authority, and there may be no First Minister to oppose the new dissidents. They will fight, and win over others to their cause, or else they’ll be defeated in a bloody battle, and there will probably be several such cycles of violence and even more factions led by charismatics rising up before it’s over.”

  Garth halted and leaned against the wall. Kirk stood with him, waiting.

  “They lack our advanced weapons systems,” Garth continued, “but I fear that may only make the conflict even more protracted and violent. They’ll be fighting with spears and knives and primitive explosives and simple projectile weapons and anything else they can use while riding into battle on elleis or in wheeled vehicles. They’ll be doing most of their fighting hand-to-hand, and that will make their battles much more [189] personal and the hatreds growing out of them more enduring. The cycles of violence will be costly, with accounts kept of the smallest wrong. My foremost aim on Antos IV was to stop a war. It got infinitely more complicated.” He shook his head. “As if we could control and shape what goes on in a humanoid heart. Failing that, we justify lesser evils as the price of avoiding greater ones.”

  “Sometimes the price is worth paying,” Kirk said.

  “Sometimes.”

  Heje-Illuss was dead. McCoy informed Kirk and Garth of that while giving the two captains a quick med-scan in sickbay. The unfortunate Heje-Illuss had been dead even before being beamed aboard, probably only a few moments after he had been struck by the thrown spear and then stabbed repeatedly by knives.

  Empynes was alive, but barely clinging to life. Kirk stood at the bedside of the unconscious Antosian, noting how pale and bloodless Empynes’s face looked and how shallow his breathing was.

  “I think we should bring his bondpartner aboard,” McCoy said softly. “Antosian physiology is very similar to ours, but there are a few small differences. Wenallai’s a healer. She might be able to help him. At least she’ll have a chance to say her farewells.” The doctor had an angry look in his eyes, as he so often did when speaking of death. “We should beam their son up with her.”

  [190] “Yes,” Garth said in a flat voice. “They may not be safe down there, with perhaps even more people turning against Empynes now.”

  McCoy looked sharply at Garth, then at Kirk. “Beam Wenallai and her son aboard,” Kirk commanded, “as long as they’re willing to come here. I’m going to the bridge.” He waited for a moment, expecting that Garth would decide to come with him, but the other captain sank into a chair and sat there, shoulders slumped, his face sagging with defeat. Kirk left him there to keep his vigil at the side of the rapidly failing Empynes.

  Kirk sat at his command station on the bridge, listening as Ensign Chekov reported to him from Acra. The ensign, along with Yeoman Wodehouse, was still with Heje-Illuss’s band, who had just received the last of the supplies beamed down to them from the Enterprise.

  “I told Trialla about the passing of Heje-Illuss,” Chekov’s voice was saying over the speakers, “just after your last message, Captain. It was a blow to her. Hearing that Empynes is close to death was another blow. She tells me that she is not used to one Antosian striking down another in cold blood. She is saying that she must have been mad to think of fighting against others herself, that no cause is worth killing others of her people.”

  “Is there anything more you and Yeoman Wodehouse have to do there?” Kirk asked.

  [191] “No, sir. These Antosians are more settled here now, and Trialla says that we have explained everything to them.”

  “Then prepare to beam aboard,” Kirk said.

  “Aye, aye, Captain. Chekov out.”

  Kirk sat at his station, thinking of the irony of the situation Trialla and her band now faced. They had chosen to stay on the island, instead of returning to their homes, in the hope of eventually persuading their fellow exiles to repudiate their rebellion and rejoin the rest of Antosian society. Now it was likely that Trialla and the rest of Heje-Illuss’s followers were much safer on Acra than they would be in Pynesses; of course the same was true for Hala-Jyusa and her group.

  He thumbed the intercom on the arm of his chair again. “Enterprise to Uhura.”

  “Uhura here.”

  “Anything new to report?” Kirk asked.

  “No, sir,” she said. “It’s another beautiful morning at the beach, and the Antosians below are still pointedly pretending that I’m not here even when I’m not keeping out of their sight. I’m getting a little lonely, being so ignored.” She paused. “Excuse me, Captain. I do see something a little different.”

  “What is it, Lieutenant?”

  “Several people have gathered along the beach, near the edge of the water, and others are joining them.” Uhura was silent for a few moments. “Now they’re just standing there, looking west. They’re not moving at all. It’s as if they’re watching or listening [192] for something, but there’s nothing out there except the ocean and a few of those large shore birds.”

  Kirk frowned. “I was about to beam Chekov and Wodehouse aboard, but I’m going to station them there to keep watch with you instead. Beam out of there the second you feel you might be in any danger.”

  “Aye, sir. Uhura out.”

  Garth had still not come to the bridge. He was probably still in sickbay, brooding over the failure of his mission, perhaps feeling that he had once again been brought as low as he had been when he was confined on Elba II. But whatever the man’s mistakes, Garth had made a noble effort. Whatever the flaws in his elaborate plan, Kirk was convinced that the situation on Antos IV would have been even worse in the long run if Garth had not tried to intervene.

  “Captain,” Spock” suddenly said from his station aft, “our sensors indicate that more Antosians are now leaving Pynesses and traveling east. They seem to be following the same route taken by those who left the city earlier.”

  Kirk stood up and turned toward Spock. “How many are leaving?” he asked.

  “Thousands,” Spock said, looking up from his computer. “They have been moving northeast, as the earlier convoy did. It seems most likely that when they get to the river that flows east from Greblendon Lake, they will turn east, as their predecessors did, given that the river is too wide for them to cross [193] without boats or other watercraft, and there are no bridges spanning that waterway.”

  “I want an image on the forward viewscreen,” Kirk said to the sh
ip’s computer. “Show us what’s happening around Pynesses, and then show us where the first group that left the city is right now.”

  “Yes, sir,” the computer replied.

  An image appeared, showing a mass of tiny shapes streaming from the northeastern outskirts of Pynesses. The image changed to reveal a long line of specks moving east along the southern side of the long river. Kirk estimated that the first group of Antosians would reach the eastern shore of the continent in less than a day, and that those in the second group would get there a day after that.

  But why were they going east, when almost the entire eastern shore of the continent of Anatossia was sheer high rocky cliffs, with no access to the ocean except by ship through the deep channel cut by the river? What did they expect to do once they reached the cliffs?

  “Mr. Spock,” Kirk said, standing up, “maybe it’s time we took a closer look at this mass migration. Stand by for my orders—I’m heading to sickbay.”

  McCoy shook his head at Kirk as he entered sickbay, indicating that Empynes was no better. Garth still sat in a chair not far from the biobed that held Empynes; a small dark-haired boy was sitting next to him. Wenallai was leaning over Empynes, her hands [194] cradling his head. Too many seconds were passing between the rhythmic thrumming sound of Empynes’s life sign readings. Kirk looked at the readings on the diagnostic panel above the bed and saw that they were almost flat.

  He went to Garth. The boy next to him stood up. “I am Benaron,” the child said.

  “Then you must be the son of Empynes and Wenallai,” Kirk said, seeing that the boy had his father’s contemplative expression.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Captain Kirk.”

  Benaron’s eyes glistened, as if he might cry. He bent his head toward Kirk, then went to his mother.

  “Captain Garth,” Kirk said, hoping to draw the other man out of his brooding, “our sensor readings now show that even more people are leaving Pynesses and heading east. Do you have any ideas about why they might be going there?”

  Garth lifted his head and focused on Kirk; at least he was listening. “No, I don’t.”

  Wenallai glanced toward them. “More are leaving the city?” she asked.

  Kirk nodded. “They’re traveling east, along the river that runs from Greblendon Lake to the sea.” He went to her side; after a moment, Garth got up and followed him. Kirk gazed down at Empynes. “I am sorry that we didn’t get to him in time.”

  “Heje-Illuss and I might have been able to save him together,” Wenallai murmured. “I am trying to [195] help him heal, trying to enable him to heal himself, but I sense resistance in him, almost as if he does not want to live after having other Antosians seek his death.”

  Kirk recalled that Garth had mentioned experiencing a technique similar to a Vulcan mind-meld when the Antosians were healing him. “You’re using telepathy to help him?” Kirk asked.

  “No, Captain Kirk, I would not call it telepathy. What I sense is much too tenuous for that. It is more like a natural sympathy or empathy with a fellow Antosian that we can sometimes feel.” Wenallai cupped the pale, waxy face of Empynes in her hands. “I am losing him. And now his people are leaving Pynesses.”

  “Only some of them,” Kirk said.

  “I don’t understand why any of them are leaving the city to go east,” Wenallai said. “There’s nothing there except cliffs and the ocean and far to the east, so far away that they cannot be seen from shore, the Tiresian Islands.” Her green eyes widened slightly. “It is a protest, then. I guessed it might be. They must be going there to gaze in the direction of Acra, to demonstrate that they will not forget those exiled there. And perhaps more will join them, and then they may be moved to take up the cause of the exiles together. That’s all it can mean. And perhaps they are not so wrong in wanting to retain our bodily heritage. Only shaping can help my bondpartner now, and even that art may not be enough to save his life.”

  Kirk stood with her for a moment, wishing there [196] were something he could say to console her. “I am sorry, Wenallai,” Garth said next to him. “I brought him to this.”

  “You wanted to help us, Garth,” Wenallai said. “You must not blame yourself for what happened to Empynes.” She paused. “Death is only another shape-changing. That is what we have always believed. It is only another transformation. The dead are everywhere on our world, in the form of our trees and our rocks and our soil, still changing.”

  “Father,” Benaron said. Wenallai slipped an arm around her son’s shoulders.

  Kirk crossed the room to where McCoy was studying a medical report on a small screen. “What are his chances?” Kirk whispered.

  McCoy gestured at the readings on the screen, and Kirk saw the answer in the physician’s scowl. He led Kirk toward his office; the door slid shut behind them.

  “Jim,” McCoy said as he sat down behind his desk, “there may be nothing more you can do for the Antosians now. Maybe we just have to isolate their planet for a while until the fever burns itself out. You and Garth tried, but maybe it’s time to leave it alone.”

  Kirk sighed. “I don’t know how well Garth would take the failure of this mission. At the very least, it would bring an end to any hope of reestablishing himself as a Starfleet officer, or possibly even of getting an honorable discharge. About the only hope he’d have of getting out of Starfleet without being [197] disgraced is to prove that he was mentally impaired during this mission, that he had suffered a relapse.”

  McCoy shook his head. “And then I’d have to testify that he was mentally sound, and that my examinations showed no sign of any impairment.”

  “And if José Mendez needs to spread some of the blame around for Garth’s failure,” Kirk said, “I would also be on shaky ground. After all, I was assigned to be his watchdog. Not that I’d worry about that, as long as we could restore some kind of order to Antos IV.”

  He had trusted Garth, had gone along with him, had done his best to aid his plan. Maybe he would have to give up and admit failure, but this was not the time, not yet. His neck was out far enough as it was; he would see this mission through to the end. He could take a few more risks in the hope of aiding both the Antosians and the hero of his own youth.

  Kirk pressed his hand against the communicator panel on McCoy’s desk. “Kirk to Spock,” he said.

  “Spock here.”

  “Spock, you and Mr. Sulu are to go to the shuttle-bay and take one of the shuttlecraft to the surface. I want you to take a closer look at those Antosians moving east. Don’t get too close to them, and don’t provoke them, just observe them and report back to me. I want them to know that we’re still keeping an eye on them—that might prevent them from doing anything rash.”

  “Yes, Captain. We are on our way to the shuttlebay now. Spock out.”

  [198] “Bones, I’m heading back to the bridge,” Kirk said.

  He left the office in time to see Benaron climb onto his father’s bed and press his small form against the dying Empynes. As he watched, Benaron quickly flowed into the shape of a small furred creature and then curled up against his father’s side, paws out, head down, as if the warmth of his furry body might somehow restore Empynes to life.

  The forward viewports of the shuttlecraft Galileo opened as the vehicle entered the Antosian atmosphere. The shuttlecraft dived through wispy clouds toward the blue ribbon of the river, and Spock saw the line of tiny dots that was the procession of Antosians traveling east.

  Lieutenant Sulu brought the shuttlecraft lower, then swooped toward the Antosians. Spock could see them clearly now. Several people on elleis, and others in open carts or covered wagons being pulled by pairs of elleis, led the procession. Others had stopped by the river, to water their elleis and get water for themselves. Still other Antosians, traveling in wheeled vehicles, had come to a halt and were opening solar panels on the roofs of their vehicles to recharge their solar fuel cells in the morning sunshine. But most were still on the move, pushing east over the flat gr
een grassy plain that stretched before them.

  Sulu flew east, made a long sweeping turn, then flew west, keeping several kilometers above the Antosians. A few people looked up at them, but most of the Antosians were ignoring the shuttlecraft. They [199] were people of all ages, with many children among them, which indicated to Spock that they did not intend to return to Pynesses any time soon; otherwise, they would have left the elderly and their young in the city.

  “Mr. Sulu,” Spock said, “turn east again and follow them, but at a slower speed.”

  “Yes, sir.” Sulu peered at his instruments, then lifted his gaze to the center viewport. “They don’t seem too worried about us.”

  “No, they do not,” Spock said. They stood in orderly rows along the riverbank, waiting, looking to the east. Sulu circled them until they mounted their elleis or climbed back into their vehicles and were on the move once more.

  Spock opened a channel to the Enterprise.

  “Kirk here. See anything interesting down there?”

  “The Antosians who left the city are still traveling east,” Spock said. “They are people of all ages, including children and the old, and they do not seem to be armed—in any case, I have seen no weapons. Some of them stopped to rest and get water for themselves and their animals, and then they moved on. I have also noticed that there appears to be little interaction among them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They do not gather to converse with one another or to share a meal. Instead, they seem intent on their purpose, whatever that may be, almost as if they are in a kind of trance.”

  [200] “As if something outside themselves is holding them all together,” Sulu added. “Could something else be controlling them?”

  “I don’t know, but ...” Captain Kirk fell silent for a few seconds. “Welcome back to the bridge, Captain Garth.”

  “I just overheard your exchange with Commander Spock and Lieutenant Sulu,” said the voice of Garth. “I don’t think those Antosians are either in a trance or being controlled.”