STAR TREK®: NEW EARTH - THIN AIR

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

  “Then do it and be quick about it. I need at least two, maybe three of them flying as soon as you can.”

  “More bombs, Capt’n?” Scott asked.

  “Not this time,” Kirk said. “I’m betting they won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

  Pardonnet stood on the steps leading up into his temporary office and stared out over the darkened desert. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard from the Enterprise. It was the news he had hoped to hear, but now he was more depressed than he had been.

  It was just hours before they needed to button up the canyon city to protect everyone from the siliconic gel. Kirk and the makeshift fleet of ships had defeated the larger Kauld fleet with one shot. And also got the key to shutting off the nanoassemblers.

  The Kauld fleet was still threatening, but it was much smaller now.

  What had excited Pardonnet even more was the solution to the nanoassemblers causing the siliconic gel. But then Spock said, and Pardonnet’s own engineers had agreed, that using the key to shutting off the nanoassemblers was going to be much more difficult than anyone had imagined. A seven-note sequence had to be broadcast at a certain frequency, for a certain period of time, into every square meter of the entire planet’s landmass.

  Pardonnet had no idea how that was going to be possible.

  And that would have no effect at all on the siliconic gel. The siliconic gel was going to have to be broken down by sonic vibrations, again aimed at almost every square meter of the entire planet’s surface.

  Again almost impossible.

  He stared out over the desert around them. Even with the answer to the nanoassemblers, was this planet still doomed? Had the Kauld finally won?

  It sure seemed that way to him.

  Tegan Welch stared at Dr. Immi. Tegan couldn’t believe what she had just heard. The Brother’s Keeper had returned to a position very near the Quake Moon, the highest concentration of olivium ore in the entire system.

  “What is Captain Skaerbaek thinking?” Tegan demanded. “I need to see him. At once.”

  “He knows,” Dr. Immi said, trying to get Tegan to calm down. “Trust me, he knows. But right now he’s under orders and in a fight with the Kauld. The entire colony is at stake.”

  Tegan wanted to shout that she didn’t care about the entire colony. That only her son mattered to her. But she didn’t. Dr. Immi understood.

  And at a certain level, she knew Captain Skaerbaek did as well. But with Charles sick again, she just had to be mad at something.

  “You and I need to just stay with Charles,” Dr. Immi said, “and keep him stable until this crisis is over and the ship can be moved again.”

  Tegan shook her head. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  “Actually,” Dr. Immi said, “neither can I.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  THE KAULD FLEET spent exactly one hour stationed around the observation asteroid before finally moving toward Belle Terre. For Kirk, it had been a very long hour of waiting, preparation, then more waiting.

  But as it turned out, it was exactly the right amount of time. Kirk now felt his small fleet was as ready as it could be for a fight. And from the looks of the fleet headed their way, it was going to be the fight of their lives.

  This close in to Belle Terre, he had had to assign a couple of ships to guard the inhabited Conestogas. He’d had those big ships moved to the other side of the planet as well, just to get them even farther out of the fight.

  During the past hour Scotty and Captain Branch had managed to get three of the empty Conestogas running and the controls rigged through the bridge of the Enterprise.

  Captain Branch was now standing beside Mr. Scott. Between the two of them, they figured they could fly the three remote-controlled ships enough for this battle. And this time, those ships actually were empty. No bombs, no crew, nothing. Just some olivium ore hastily moved to the big ships in case they were scanned. Ore that wouldn’t blow up if hit with a phaser.

  Of course, the Kauld didn’t know that.

  “They’re moving, Captain,” Sulu said. “Two minutes until they are in range.”

  “Scotty, Captain Branch, get those big ships out in front of us. I want the Kauld facing them first.”

  “You got it, Capt’n,” Scotty said.

  On the screen the three empty husks of ships that had served the colonists so well moved into positions, forming a wedge between the Kauld fleet and Belle Terre and the colony fleet.

  The Yukon, the Oregon Trail, and the Lewis and Clark. Three ships that were again doing their duty for the colony.

  “That ought ta give ‘em pause,” Scotty said.

  “That’s the idea,” Kirk said. “Tell the fleet to go to battle stations and stand by.”

  “One minute away,” Sulu said.

  “Open a hailing channel to the Kauld fleet.”

  “Open, sir,” Uhura said. “This time they are responding.”

  “The Kauld fleet is stopping,” Sulu said. “Just out of explosion range of the big ships.”

  “On screen,” Kirk said.

  He stood as the image of a Kauld warlord he did not recognize filled the screen. The warlord had big shoulders, even for a Kauld. And he was clearly angry.

  Beside this new warlord, and a step back, stood Yanorada, looking smoke-covered and not happy.

  “Ah, Yanorada,” Kirk said, smiling, before the warlord had a chance to speak. “Just wanted to thank you for the information. Your seven-sound deactivation code is working just fine on the nanoassemblers in the soils. We should have them all shut down and the siliconic gel dispersed in a matter of a day. Hope you have as much luck with the ones on your homeworld.”

  The warlord glanced around quickly at the shocked expression on Yanorada’s face. Yanorada’s mouth moved like he was a fish out of water.

  Open, close. Open, close.

  Kirk figured that telling them about his bluff would keep a bunch of Kauld searching the homeworld for some time to come. Of course, they wouldn’t find anything, but it would worry them for a while.

  Finally some words came out of Yanorada’s mouth. “You’re not going to believe this human, are you?” he demanded of the warlord.

  “I’ll believe who I please,” the warlord said. “It is as I suspected.”

  With a wave of his arm the warlord indicated that Yanorada should be taken away; then he turned back to face Kirk. “I see you have more tricks in store for us with your big ships.”

  “I did not trick you,” Kirk said. “I warned you about my lead ship, just as I am warning you again right now about them. Your people did not listen and paid the price for their stupidity.”

  Kirk stepped toward the screen to make his point. “Understand that we will defend this planet against your attacks with any means possible.”

  “And it seems you have enough olivium ore to make your threats good,” the warlord said, smiling.

  “More than enough,” Kirk said. “Now remove your fleet from this system. You have no business here.”

  “Ah, Captain,” the warlord said. “We are back to that old argument. It is you and your people who have no business here.”

  Kirk snorted. “Don’t anger me. We have Yanorada’s mess to clean up as it is. I’m in half a mood to send a half-dozen of these big ships at your homeworld and see how you do stopping them. If nothing else, it would be entertaining to watch.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” the warlord shouted, clearly worried about the thought.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Kirk asked, smiling at the warlord with his best social smile. “As you said, I have more than enough olivium ore to do the job.”

  The warlord looked confused for an instant.

  Kirk just smiled.

  The warlord glanced around, clearly not sure what to do or say next.

  So Kirk decided it for the warlord. Kirk stepped even closer to the screen and dropped the phony smile. “As I said a moment before, remove your fleet from this system. You have n
o business here.”

  “And I have your word you will not send those ships against my world?”

  “No, you don’t,” Kirk said. “But the quicker you leave, the happier I will be, and the happier I am the less inclined I will be to do just that.”

  The warlord nodded. “This is not over.”

  “Of that,” Kirk said, “I have no doubt.”

  The connection was cut and Kirk returned to his chair.

  On the screen the Kauld fleet turned and pretty much as a unit headed out of the system.

  Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, Captain Branch, and the others cheered. All Kirk could do was sit there and stare. They had won, and lost only one ship in the fight. He would have never thought that could happen.

  “This bluffing technique, Captain,” Spock said, stepping down beside Kirk’s chair. “You are becoming quite good at it.”

  “It’s all in the setup, Mr. Spock,” Kirk said, laughing as on the screen the three big, empty Conestogas held their positions.

  “What do you mean?” Spock asked.

  “Simple,” Kirk said. “Show your power once and your opponent tends to believe you from there on out. That’s the secret to a good bluff. That, and a little luck.”

  “I will remember that,” Spock said.

  “I’m sure you will,” Kirk said, standing. “But right now we have an even bigger crisis to solve. People!”

  The celebration on the bridge calmed.

  “We have a planet to save. Anyone have any ideas on just how we’re going to go about getting a seven-sound code into the nanoassemblers in the soil?”

  The bridge was suddenly, intensely silent.

  “I was afraid of that,” Kirk said.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  CAPTAIN SKAERBAEK got the all-clear signal from the Enterprise just a few moments after the Kauld fleet turned and headed out. Skaerbaek had been impressed with Captain Kirk before, but now he was flat-out in awe. The man had managed to turn back a fleet of ships on a trick and a bluff. Skaerbaek was glad he’d never been in a poker game with Kirk.

  “Inform the Enterprise,” Skaerbaek said. “Tell them I’m taking my patients back out of the system. Then lay in a course to the opposite side of the system away from that olivium explosion area. Half a light-year out should be enough. Engage when ready. I’ll be in the emergency ward.”

  He stood and headed for the lift entrance. By the time he got there the ship was moving.

  The conditions in the emergency ward were worse than he had imagined. From one glance at the monitors over the beds, it was clear that all four patients were in critical condition.

  Tegan was sitting beside her son’s bed, her head down on the blanket next to him, her hand comforting him by stroking the side of his face slowly. She was one amazing woman. He hadn’t realized how much he had been worried for her and Charles over the last hour until just now.

  The other three patients all had family either standing near them, or sitting beside them.

  Dr. Immi saw him come in. She was talking to Bettie Steven’s brother, Dan. Both immediately moved to talk to him.

  Before either of them had time to say a word he raised his hands. “Listen up, everyone,” he said, his voice carrying over the emergency room.

  Tegan’s head shot up, her eyes wide. He smiled at her and went on.

  “Thanks to Captain Kirk and the Enterprise, the Kauld fleet has been turned away. This ship is now moving to a point outside the system that is free of olivium radiation and its subspace affects.”

  Light applause and sighs of relief filled the room.

  “I’m sorry for what this battle has put you and your families through. It was not intentional, but it could not be helped. All of our lives were at stake against the Kauld. And we won.”

  He turned to Dr. Immi and in a normal conversation voice asked, “How are they?”

  “The most serious is Bettie,” Dr. Immi said, nodding to her brother, Dan, who was standing beside her. “But all four of them took a very severe shock to their systems. At this point only time will tell how they will recover.”

  He nodded. He had been afraid of that when the big ship exploded at the start of the Kauld attack. That size of explosion could only have been done with olivium.

  He moved from bed to bed, patient to patient, family to family, intentionally leaving Tegan and Charles to last.

  When he got there she reached up and he took her hand.

  She squeezed his hand and he sat down beside her, holding her soft hand in his.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “For what?” Her thanks surprised him. He had been afraid she would be angry at him.

  “I know you kept all our best interests in mind the entire time. I know there was nothing you could do, except what you are doing now. It’s more than I could have hoped for a day ago. So thank you.”

  He squeezed her hand and together they sat with Charles, watching the monitor and waiting. There was nothing else either of them could now do.

  Benny felt pride in the fact that he was going to be the first to kill nanoassemblers. What an honor. He took the transport in at the exact height needed over the test area, making sure the coded sound was on and everything was working as it should be.

  All instruments registered on the money.

  Perfect.

  Near the edge of the canyon city, Governor Pardonnet, Captain Kirk, the Vulcan Spock, and a dozen others stood, watching him make this pass. It was the first test of the system to stop the nanoassemblers. And the governor had picked him to do it.

  He ran the short test area, swung the transport around as he had been instructed, and then ran a second strip beside the first. At the moment he was only covering a thirty-paces-wide area. Not much, but enough for the test, they told him.

  After his second pass he brought the transport in for a landing with a flourish, making sure all the new equipment was shut down as he’d been told it should be.

  Captain Kirk and the governor strode toward him, greeting him as he got out. “Nicely done, Benny,” Kirk said.

  “Thank you, Captain.”

  Benny beamed as together the three of them headed for where Spock and the other colony scientists were digging in the test area, then studying what they found with special scanners designed only to spot live nanoassemblers.

  “Well?” Kirk asked, moving up beside the Vulcan.

  “It seems, Captain,” Spock said, “that the test has been successful.”

  “All right!” Benny said, pumping his fist. Then he looked at the governor. “What’s next? It’s going to be pretty much impossible to cover the entire planet like I just did.”

  “But for the moment,” Kirk said, “that’s exactly what we’re going to have to do. We’re going to put this device and a sonic disruptor to destroy the siliconic gel on every transport and every shuttle that can fly low. For now it’s going to be a defensive war. We’ve got to clear the siliconic gel from the colony areas, farmlands, and forests as soon as possible.”

  Spock nodded. “It should be possible in thirty hours to construct a larger device that will be mounted on the Enterprise and other ships and cover a two-hundred-mile-wide strip.”

  Kirk patted Benny on the back. “But until then, it’s going to be up to you and everyone who can fly a transport to start clearing important areas.”

  Benny smiled at the captain. “Just tell me where to fly and how low.”

  Kirk laughed. “I knew I liked you for a reason.”

  Kirk walked into the Enterprise sickbay and knew at once that something wasn’t right.

  Lilian was still on the bed, the monitor over her head looked normal, but McCoy was now sitting at the foot of her bed, just staring at her.

  McCoy looked up as he entered, then looked back at Lilian. “You know,” McCoy said, “I always really liked her.”

  “I know,” Kirk said. And he had always known. At first he felt odd that Lilian had wanted to spend time with him, instead of McCoy. But
McCoy hadn’t even tried to spend time with her, so it had just happened. Yet it had always been clear what the doctor’s feelings were about her, right from the start.

  Kirk moved over and stood next to Lilian. “What’s happened?”

  “She’s not going to make it,” McCoy said, his voice soft.

  Kirk felt as if someone had kicked him in the stomach. He stepped back and sat down in a nearby chair, staring first at her, then at McCoy. He knew better than to ask the doctor if he was certain. When it came to Lilian, McCoy would always be certain. He hadn’t moved from her side for the entire time she was here.

  “How long?” Kirk finally managed to ask. His voice sounded hollow to his own ears. He didn’t want to know the answer, but he had to.

  McCoy sighed and stood. Slowly he moved around to the side of the bed, as if walking in thick mud. Then, without looking at Kirk, he clicked off a switch.

  All of Lilian’s vital signs flatlined on the monitor over the bed.

  “I was just keeping her heart and lungs working the past hour on the machine. She’s been brain-dead for a few hours now.”

  The two men stared over Lilian’s lifeless body, neither looking at the other, neither wanting to let her go just yet.

  Kirk sat there and thought back over the time he had spent with her, the nights reading and talking in her cabin, the hours worrying about her, the bravery it took when she saved the children during the Burn.

  Poor Reynold. Kirk would have to break the news to the boy. Lilian would want that.

  Lilian. How was it possible she wasn’t with them anymore?

  He stared at her body and right at that moment, more than anything else, he wanted to be away from this colony, this planet, and all its problems.

  He wanted to go to the bridge and turn the Enterprise toward home and just forget.

  Forget Lilian.

  Forget Belle Terre.

  Forget it all.

  And the day he could do that would not come soon enough now for him.

  He stood and moved around her body to McCoy. He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “You did everything you could.”