STAR TREK: The Original Series - Garth of Izar

by Pamela Sargent

  Kirk picked up his stride, keeping pace with Garth. Now he could see, in the distance, what looked like people in capes hurling themselves from the edges of the cliffs, and then he noticed that the capes were wings.

  The Antosians had morphed into birds; others were changing shape even as Kirk and Garth ran toward them.

  “Stop!” Kirk shouted, but no one even glanced in his direction. He slowed his pace as he neared them. A woman who had begun to flow into the form of a bird suddenly reverted to her own shape again and turned toward him and Garth.

  Kirk approached her cautiously. Garth was at his back, ready to cover him, and as he glanced south, Kirk saw that Spock had left the Galileo and was running toward them across the grass. Kirk turned toward the Antosian woman, who held out her hands, palms out.

  [229] She shook back her long dark hair, then gazed from him to Garth in silence before pointing to the east. Kirk moved cautiously to the edge of the cliff and looked down in time to see two birds alight on the black sand below and then revert to the shape of humanoids. Other tiny forms crouched over bodies that were stretched out on the sand or on the flat rocks near the waterline. Several Antosians were helping to pull another man out of the water. What he had taken to be the start of a mass suicide was in fact a rescue mission.

  “Some among us are healers,” the woman was saying to Kirk. “They have flown down to try to help the survivors who made it to shore, and then we will have to find a way to get them all back up here when they’re strong enough to be moved.”

  Other Antosians were gathering near her as she spoke; those farther away from them watched from a distance.

  Kirk said, “Our starship’s transporters can beam them up here almost instantly.”

  “Why did you come here?” Garth abruptly asked the woman. “Why did you leave the city? What brought all of you out of Pynesses to this place?”

  A bearded man stepped forward. “At first it was our despair, and a feeling that we could not stay in our homes while others we knew and cared about were condemned to exile on Acra. That’s what I recall, anyway, but most of us were not thinking all that clearly. Then, when we left the city, many of us were already beginning to feel that we had to come here, [230] that something was drawing us to these cliffs, almost compelling us to travel to this place. I cannot explain it any more clearly than that.”

  “I understand,” Garth said.

  “We had to come,” the dark-haired woman said. “The closer we came, the more I felt that something was about to happen. And we were right to feel that way, I knew it as soon as I saw that flock of birds flying toward us. Yet only a few of our friends and kindred made it to these shores.”

  “We saved as many as we could,” Kirk said. “We rescued some two hundred of them, and there are others—”

  “Too many were lost,” the man said, and Kirk saw his grief reflected in the faces of others.

  Kirk stood in silence with Garth until Spock reached them, then said, “I’ll ask my crew to start beaming those below up to safety as soon as you give the word.”

  “What will happen?” the woman said plaintively. “What will happen to them now?”

  “We’ve been sending the strongest back to Acra, at least for now,” Kirk replied, “but what becomes of them later on will have to be decided by your people.”

  “We’ve done everything we can to remedy the damage I caused,” Garth said, “but we can do little more without violating Starfleet directives, and perhaps there are some who will say that we bent our own rules too much as it is. In any case, the fate of your culture and your world is in your hands.” His voice had regained its former resonance, but there [231] was a subdued quality to its timbre. “You will have to decide what measures to take to restore the peaceful life you once knew.”

  “But what can we do?” the woman asked. She regarded Spock for a long moment, as if the Vulcan might have some wisdom to offer, then turned back to Kirk and Garth. “We have no First Minister now, not even a Chief Adviser to step into his place. Worse yet, a few among us raised their hands in violence against the First Minister when he came to meet with us, and killed a man who came with him to protect him, and others of us stood by and did nothing to prevent that evil deed.” It was as if she were saying that all of the Antosians, having known sin, could never be cleansed again. “And some of us were lured by dreams of glory, and turned against the rest of our race. Our world has been torn apart, and never can be mended.”

  Garth said, “I refuse to believe it.”

  “Captain,” Spock said, looking back to the shuttle-craft.

  Kirk turned around and saw four Antosians outside the Columbus, along with McCoy. Sulu stood with them, with a tall, fair-haired man at his side. One of the Antosians handed what looked like a large wrapped bundle to the Antosian next to Sulu, and then the group started to walk in Kirk’s direction.

  Kirk and those with him watched them stride across the grassy expanse. As they came closer, Kirk recognized Kellin, the young man who had [232] impersonated Garth. Kellin was still carrying the bundle that had been handed to him, and now Kirk saw the long black hair that hung from one end of Kellin’s burden.

  Garth let out a sigh as they approached. Kirk glanced at him and caught the look of pain and loss in his pale eyes as he stepped forward and took Kellin’s burden from him. The body had been wrapped in a cloak; part of the garment fell back, revealing the face of Hala-Jyusa, her eyes closed, looking as though she were finally at peace. Garth held her in his arms, trembling slightly, biting his lips, and Kirk saw what it was costing him to control himself.

  Garth turned to face the crowds of Antosians again, still holding Hala-Jyusa. “This is what the lust for power brings,” he called out. “This is the reward for dreaming of conquest and glory and forcing one’s own violent will upon others.”

  Kirk saw that the Antosians nearest to them were murmuring to others, passing Garth’s words along to those who were farther back in the multitude.

  “This woman, Hala-Jyusa, was one of those who healed me,” Garth continued. “She was a kind and gentle soul before dreams of glory corrupted her. The art which brought beauty and grace to your culture and use in healing, became a weapon in Hala-Jyusa’s hands, and wielding that weapon brought her death.”

  He knelt and lay the Antosian’s body gently on the ground.

  “I give up my dreams of glory!” Kellin cried out [233] then. “I must turn away from what I became, and I am convinced that all of my comrades will do the same. What happens to us, whether we must stay on Acra or be allowed to rejoin the rest of our people, will have to be decided by others. I do not blame Garth for what I became, for some other offworlder might have come here and turned me against everything we are taught. At least this man came back to try to remedy the damage.”

  Kellin helped Garth to his feet, then stumbled a little. McCoy gripped Kellin by the arm, helping him to stay on his feet.

  Kirk looked around at the Antosians near him, then took out his communicator. “Kirk to Enterprise.”

  “Scott here.” The eyes of two children standing with the Antosians widened with surprise at the sound of the engineer’s voice.

  “Prepare to beam up the Antosians from the beach below this cliff,” Kirk said.

  “Aye, Captain, but first there’s someone I have to beam down. He insists, and I’ll keep a fix on him in case we have to bring him back aboard quickly. He’s in a transporter room now, and Kyle will set him down right next to you.”

  A translucent glittering column had already appeared at Kirk’s right. Several in the crowd gasped as the particles of light resolved themselves into the form of Empynes.

  More gasps went up from the Antosians. At least a few in this crowd had to have been at the corral where [234] Heje-Illuss had died and Empynes had been struck down; the woman who had first spoken had admitted that Kirk suddenly feared for the First Minister, even while knowing that Kyle would be scanning them continuously, prepared to beam the Ant
osian back aboard if trouble threatened.

  But the Antosians in the front of the crowd were staring at Empynes with awe, even with expressions of joy.

  “You are alive!” a gray-haired man said. “Our First Minister has returned to us!”

  Empynes gave his people a solemn look, then glanced down at the lifeless body of Hala-Jyusa.

  “I am sorry it had to come to this,” he said in a low but strong voice. “I had hoped that Hala-Jyusa would be given time to reconsider, to heal, to become as she once was.” He lifted his head. “But it is not too late for the rest of us. I must forgive you for what you have done, for I too have made many mistakes, and cannot find it within myself to condemn others for reacting with anger or fear to unforeseen events that we never expected to face, and which we lacked the experience to handle. What is done is past. We can gain nothing by allowing it to poison our future.”

  “What are we to do?” a man cried out from the crowd. His cry was quickly taken up by others.

  “What shall we do?” a woman said.

  “What will happen to us now?”

  “Will we have to give up flowing forever?”

  “What will become of our brothers and sisters on Acra?”

  [235] Empynes lifted his arms, and gradually the Antosians fell silent. “I do not know,” the First Minister replied, his voice betraying the strain that recovery had placed on him. “That remains for us to decide, when we have returned to Pynesses.”

  The Antosians were whispering among themselves, passing on word of the return of Empynes and what he had said. Kirk realized that Empynes was now safe among his people, chastened and mournful as they were about the fate of Hala-Jyusa and so many of her comrades.

  Kirk stepped back, then held his communicator to his face. “Kirk to Enterprise,” he said softly. “Scotty, you can beam the Antosians at the foot of the cliff up here now.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  All along the cliffside, Antosians began to take down their tents and prepare their elleis for the return to the city.

  Kirk was apprehensive as he entered the meeting room. All of the officers most involved in the mission to Antos IV had recorded and filed their reports, but he had decided to limit the number of crew members at this meeting to Spock, McCoy, Garth, and himself.

  He was the last one to arrive; the others were already seated around the table.

  “The purpose of this meeting,” Kirk began as he sat down, “is to record our thoughts about what has happened, so as to give Admiral José Mendez a basis [236] for deciding whether this mission has succeeded or failed. I have already collected and stored the reports of all officers and crew involved in various aspects of the mission, since Admiral Mendez may ask for them later.” He paused. “Let the record show that First Officer Spock, Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy, Fleet Captain Garth of Izar, and I, Captain James T. Kirk, are all present to certify to the best of our knowledge and understanding what has happened. We are here to attempt, at least, to agree on the facts.”

  McCoy leaned forward and rested his elbows on the tabletop. “I know this is being recorded, Jim, but do we have to be so damned formal?”

  Kirk shook his head. “Not at all, Bones. Be as informal as you wish, if that will help us.”

  “Captain,” Spock asked, “will you also be providing the relevant passages from your captain’s log to Admiral Mendez?”

  “No, at least not yet,” Kirk replied. “At first I thought we might all transmit our reports to him, and that is still an option.” He gazed at Garth, who sat with his head bowed, not looking at anyone. “I think it’s best that we all know what is said here, and record it under the assumption that Admiral Mendez may want to listen to it, unless at the end of this session we decide that transmitting it to him isn’t necessary. I believe that this will offer the best chance of fairness in any judgment about the decisions that Captain Garth made.”

  McCoy sighed. “What have we done here? What [237] did we imagine we were doing? Sure, Scotty was able to get most of the Antosian rebels beamed aboard safely, without accidents, and maybe that proves he’s the engineer we all know he is, or else maybe it’s just luck. There were still too many dead, and some of them are still washing up on that black-sanded beach.”

  “Dr. McCoy,” Garth said, “consider how many would have died in the coming civil war.”

  “Is that so clear?” McCoy objected.

  “Yes, Doctor, it is,” Garth said.

  “Really?” McCoy sat back and folded his arms. “You made mistakes, Garth, you didn’t anticipate certain events. For all we know, the rebels, left to their own devices, might have settled for the occasional relatively harmless guerrilla foray into Pynesses, or gone off to play at rebellion on their own. Maybe most of the other Antosians would have ignored them after a while.”

  Garth fixed his gaze on McCoy. “You’re wrong. You saw how desperate the fliers were. You saw the thousands who found themselves impelled somehow to leave Pynesses and travel to the eastern cliffs. Had Empynes died instead of returning to them, they would have become another band of rebels, a larger one, capable of carrying on a fight to free the exiles. Do you think—”

  “You’re not what you were,” McCoy interrupted.

  “You mean I’m not deranged,” Garth cut in.

  “Yes!” McCoy snapped. “But what’s really [238] worrying me now is how easily you enlisted us all in your complicated plan.”

  “I understand, Doctor,” Garth said. “But I saw no other way, and still don’t, despite the number of dead and the greater number who have suffered to one degree or another. Believe me, I am not callous about the degree to which things went wrong.”

  “Went wrong? That’s putting it mildly!”

  “To have let matters develop without any intervention,” Garth said, “would have led to no resolution at all. The Antosian culture was already fragmenting. Dissident groups would have proliferated, each with its own central figure and suggestible followers. There would have been more violence, and more dislocation. I remind you that contact with the Federation, through me, began this chain of events. In medical terms, Doctor, I infected Antos. And it was up to us to heal the sick and provide some sort of vaccine against another outbreak.”

  Spock said, “Captain Garth, as a matter of pure logic, I would contend that your influence on the politics and society of Antos IV was that of a proximate cause, not that of the underlying one.”

  Garth nodded at the Vulcan. “Thank you, Commander Spock, but it does not console me.”

  “Then what in all damnation are you defending?” McCoy demanded.

  In the silence that ensued, Kirk wondered whether this meeting would accomplish anything at all. Maybe private reports from each of them would give [239] Admiral Mendez a more honest picture of the mission. Too much was still unsettled, with possible resolutions still uncertain. Uhura, Chekov, and the other Enterprise personnel who had been with the remaining exiles on Acra, including the security detail, were back aboard ship, but the Antosian rebels, including all of the survivors of the attempted escape, remained there. Empynes had spent the past days in long meetings with his advisers and in consultations with various groups of citizens, risking his health and a possible relapse, but Kirk did not know what decisions, if any, had been made.

  “When cultures meet,” Spock said at last, “there will always be unexpected results.”

  “And yet we cannot avoid meeting others,” Kirk added, “and reaching out, hoping to bridge whatever may separate us from one another.”

  Spock shrugged. “Meetings might be delayed.”

  Kirk stood up. “Gentlemen, I suspected that we might want someone else to join this discussion. I now see that we must hear from him.”

  He went to the door; it slid open.

  Empynes stood outside, with Christine Chapel at his side.

  “Please come in,” Kirk said.

  The First Minister entered the room. The other men rose to their feet; McCoy se
emed about to come around the table to assist Empynes.

  “Please sit,” the Antosian said. “I need to do so myself.” His face was tight with fatigue, and he [240] leaned heavily against Chapel as she guided him to a seat, but his dark eyes were alert.

  “Are you well enough to be here?” McCoy asked. “I told you that, when you were back in Pynesses, you would need a lot of rest for some time.”

  “Rest enough in the grave, Doctor,” Empynes murmured. “There was much work to be done, and I believe that we’ve found a solution to our present dilemma.”

  Chapel stepped back and seemed about to leave the room, but Kirk motioned to her to sit down. The others sat down again as Kirk seated himself. “I remind you,” he said to Empynes, “that we’re recording this meeting for our superior at Starfleet Command.”

  Empynes nodded. “I understand.” He took a breath. “First, I must tell you that it’s now clear to nearly all Antosians that the disagreement that divided us was a false dilemma. Our choices are not whether to retain shape-changing and all its risks, or eliminating the ability. Elimination goes too far. There is a third way.”

  McCoy nodded. “I’ve been leaning in that direction myself.”

  “I listened to my Chief Adviser, Gyneeses,” Empynes continued, “and his advice seemed sound to me. I didn’t know that he was deliberately misleading me. The issue was drawn by him as being between two choices, while, unknown to me, he was seeking personal power. Round up the rebels and exile them, eliminate our flowing skills—it was all part of his plan to make the rebels into a fighting [241] force of his own, and leave the rest of us with less power to resist them.”

  Garth said, “My madness infected him, too.”

  Empynes looked at Garth. “You blame yourself for too much, Captain Garth. Your presence did awaken certain ... ambitions among us. But those might have developed in any case, even if we had never been contacted by your Federation. Why? Because all intelligent life tends to run through its long repertoire of behavioral possibilities. They are always there, waiting, in the nature of a creative universe.”