Star Trek 12

by James Blish

  A gun aimed at Kirk. "Speak now!" she said. "It's the last chance you'll get!"

  "I must see the Führer. It is urgent."

  She seized a gun from a trooper. "Urgent? Yes, I'll bet it is!"

  Abrom tried to distract her attention from Kirk. "I alone am responsible for what happens here."

  "Do you know what we do with responsible Zeons?"

  Her finger depressed the gun's trigger. There was a burst of fire and Abrom fell.

  "Now we finish the job!" she cried.

  A trooper swung his gun to cover Isak, Spock and Kirk.

  Isak exploded in fury. "Where do you stop, you Nazis? When you've killed the last of us, what will you do then? Turn your guns on yourselves?"

  Kirk met Spock's eyes in a signal. They ducked, then hurled themselves forward. Spock came up under a trooper's gun, and Kirk, hitting the weapon in Daras's hands, wrenched it away from her. He whirled with it, covering the three Nazis.

  "Wait!" Isak yelled to him. "Don't shoot!"

  Abrom had gotten to his feet. "No more," he said. "You've proved you're on our side."

  Bewildered, Kirk turned to Isak, who met his eyes bravely. "Forgive me," he said. "We had to be sure."

  Abrom put his hand on Kirk's arm. "Taking you in could have betrayed all our people if you had been Nazi spies."

  Isak rushed into explanation of his own. "The Gestapo's methods are frighteningly efficient. To survive, we must be careful. We in the underground don't even know who our leaders are. If we break under torture, we can betray only a handful of our people. Forgive me. It had to be done."

  Spock was eyeing Daras. "I do not understand," he said. "You are a Nazi. A 'Hero of the Fatherland.' We saw you decorated."

  "I'm an Ekosian . . . fighting the terrible thing that's happened to my people. The decoration was for betraying my own father to the Party."

  At Kirk's look of revulsion, she added hastily, "My father's idea. He was very close to the Führer; but when he saw the change, where it was leading, he turned against the Party. He was imprisoned. Melakon sentenced him to death."

  "Melakon?" Kirk said.

  Abrom explained. "The Deputy Führer. He's taken over."

  Daras spoke to Kirk. "My father denounced me, making it seem I had betrayed him. It gave me a weapon to continue the fight."

  Spock was still trying to reconcile her story with facts as he knew them. "But how could that have seemed right to John Gill?"

  "Who?" Abrom said.

  "The Führer," Kirk said. "He's one of our people."

  "What people is that?" Abrom asked.

  Kirk hesitated a moment. "I'm Captain James Kirk of the United Space Ship Enterprise. This is my First Officer, Mr. Spock. John Gill, your Führer, was sent here as a cultural observer by the Federation."

  The statement stunned Daras. "The Führer is . . . is an alien?"

  "That is correct," Spock said.

  The girl's face was incredulous. "I grew up to admire him. Later, to hate, despise everything he stands for. But I always believed he was one of us. To learn he's an alien sent to destroy us—"

  "That was not his mission-ever," Kirk said. "It was to report, not to interfere. Something went wrong. That's what we're here to find out. And to correct. We must see him."

  "Impossible!" Isak exclaimed. "Even if this were some other time, it would be impossible. He sees no one, permits no one but Melakon to see him. He is under maximum security."

  Kirk and Spock exchanged a look. "Under maximum security. Is he so afraid?" Kirk said.

  Isak's fists had clenched. "There are many of us—Ekosians and younger Zeons—who would gladly give our lives to kill him!"

  Kirk turned to him. "I can't explain what's happened. This is against every principle John Gill believed in. But our only chance is to see him—quickly."

  "That's impossible now," Daras said shortly. "He makes a speech tonight from the Chancellery. The top Party officials will be there."

  "Will you be there?" Kirk said.

  "Of course." She added bitterly, "As the symbol of the proper attitude toward the Fatherland."

  Spock spoke to Kirk. "As an honored member of the Party, she should be able to get us past the guards."

  Daras protested. "Only a few of the top, most trusted Party members will be allowed into the Chancellery. The nation will watch on the viewscreens."

  "You'll have to get us in there," Kirk said.

  "Into the Chancellery? It would be suicide, Captain Kirk."

  Isak turned to her. "It's a risk to live at all, the way things are going. If the Captain thinks he has a chance, I'm willing to commit suicide with him."

  Daras whirled on him. "You? A Zeon? You expect to get into the Chancellery too?"

  "It's my fight even more than yours!"

  "If you'll risk it, Daras," Kirk said, "I have an idea that just might work."

  It was a challenge she had to meet.

  They had commandeered a command car. And Gestapo uniforms. Spock and Isak were helmeted as troopers, but Kirk, carrying a camera, wore a Captain's insignia. The other two held lights.

  As Kirk saw the guards at the Chancellery entrance, he lifted the camera to conceal his face, saying, "Turn on the lights."

  The guards squinted angrily in the sudden glare. One said, "You. What is your business here?"

  The second command car pulled up at the curb, and as Daras got out of it, Kirk, Spock and Isak gathered around her, photographing her. She smiled, waving for the camera, then mounted the steps. Still shooting, still flaring the lights, the three fell into line behind her. The guards had recognized her. Passing them, she said, "The Führer's special documentary corps. The door, please, Corporal. And smile at me as I enter it."

  Dazzled but smiling, the guard opened the door.

  The party moved forward into a corridor. Daras was trembling. Spock lowered his voice. "You know, Captain, I begin to sense what you Earthmen enjoy in gambling. However carefully one computes the odds of success, there is a certain exhilaration in the risk."

  "We may make a human of you yet, Mr. Spock—if we live long enough."

  The open doors of the audience chamber, holding a collection of Party officials, were directly ahead of them.

  Kirk spoke to Daras. "Where does the Führer enter?"

  "He doesn't. They watch him on that big screen. He broadcasts from the end of the room where the two guards are. For security."

  Kirk saw a window at the end of the room, draped and flanked by the two guards.

  "Where's the entrance?" Kirk said.

  "It's heavily guarded, Captain."

  "Where?" he said again.

  "Straight down the corridor."

  Kirk was getting his bearings. The guards were armed with submachine guns. They were standing on either side of a door. One of them peered through a small window set into the door.

  "You're not going to try to get into the broadcast room?" Daras whispered.

  "We're going to look," Kirk told her.

  Isak spoke. "Distract the guard long enough for me to get the machine gun. The broadcasting room is a small booth. I could shoot through the door."

  Kirk turned quickly, his voice hard. "You're not here for your personal satisfaction. We need Gill and we need him alive. Is that clear?"

  Isak finally nodded resignedly. He moved forward with them and a guard, gun raised, stepped toward them. Kirk was abruptly full of business as a documentary cameraman.

  "Hold it there," he told the guard. "This is for the record of the Führer's Final Solution speech. The behind-the-scenes story."

  "We want to photograph the men responsible for the Führer's safety," Isak said. "The men who make the Führer's decisions possible."

  Daras's presence with the trio reassured the man. He returned to the door and, standing at attention, turned his best profile for the camera. Kirk spoke to the other guard. "You. Over there. I want you together, guns held at the ready."

  They moved away from the door,
and Kirk positioned them so that Spock could look through its tiny window. He spotted Gill sitting at a table, facing a TV camera. He nodded to Kirk. The guards moved back and Kirk said, "Thank you. There'll be more coverage later."

  Spock had rejoined Kirk. "It is John Gill. But he did not move, did not once look up, Captain."

  "That might be part of the plan—the semi-divine detachment."

  "Or a deep psychosis," Spock said.

  "It might be even simpler. He could be drugged. We need McCoy, Mr. Spock." He turned to Daras. "Is there a place we can be alone for a few minutes? I'm going to send for help. There's no time to explain. A closet—any place will do."

  "The cloakroom," Isak suggested.

  Alone with Kirk, Spock made last adjustments on the communicator. He flipped it open. "Spock to Enterprise. Come in, Enterprise . . ."

  On the Starship, reception was bad. Uhura made hasty moves with her switches. "Enterprise, Lieutenant Uhura."

  Kirk took the communicator. "This is the Captain. Put Dr. McCoy on."

  "Yes, sir. We don't read you well. You're nine points into the low frequency band."

  "We've had some difficulty, Lieutenant. Patch historical computer into ship's uniform section. I want McCoy outfitted as a Gestapo doctor, Nazi Germany, old Earth date 1944. Make him a colonel."

  "Yes, sir. Dr. McCoy coming on."

  "McCoy here, Captain."

  "Bones, we need you. Have Transporter lock on these coordinates."

  "What have you got, Jim?"

  "We've found John Gill. At least, we've seen him. He may be drugged or hypnotized or psychotic. You'll have to make a determination. Hurry with that uniform."

  Daras opened the cloakroom door, her face ashen. "Isak just heard two security men talking. They picked up your broadcast and pinpointed it within this building. They're starting a search."

  Spock closed the cloakroom door. "If there's a delay in transporting Dr. McCoy, I suggest we cancel the plan."

  Kirk spoke again into the communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise. What's happening?"

  "The Doctor is in the Transporter, sir. He's having trouble with the uniform."

  "Send him down naked if you have to. Kirk out."

  But the shimmer had appeared near a corner of the cloakroom. Daras fell back, her face blank with amazement as the sparkles materialized into McCoy. He held the uniform's coat over an arm and was clutching a boot.

  "It's . . . true," Daras whispered. "I only half-believed the things you said. But this—it's magnificent."

  McCoy sat down on a bench, trying to pull on the boot. "Stupid computer made a mistake in the measurements. The right boot's too tight." He jerked at it angrily.

  "Doctor, there's a logical way to proceed," Spock said. "Point your toe, pull with a steady, unemotional pressure on either side of the boot. We have no time to waste on emotionalism."

  McCoy gave him a sour glance but obeyed. The boot went on. "This is Dr. McCoy, our Chief Medical Officer," Spock told Daras. "Doctor, Daras, secretary of the National Socialist Party."

  Shouldering into the coat, McCoy said, "How do you do? Now what's this about John Gill, Jim?"

  The door was kicked open. A grim-faced Eneg, followed by two troopers, submachine guns leveled, walked into the room.

  They had all tensed, waiting for immediate death. When it didn't come, Daras fumbled for a cover story. "Chairman Eneg—" she nodded at McCoy "—the Colonel . . . has had too much to drink."

  "I see," Eneg said.

  Kirk and Spock had averted their faces lest the Party Chairman recognize them. Kirk, his face still turned, said, "We were afraid he would embarrass the Führer."

  "A doctor should have more pride," Daras said.

  Eneg nodded. "You were right to conceal him. There is a spy in this building with a secret transmitter. We're conducting a search. Hail the Führer!"

  After a startled pause, Kirk, Spock and Daras snapped a salute in reply. Eneg left and a trooper pulled the door shut behind them. Kirk drew a deep breath, and Spock said, "I do not understand how he could have failed to recognize us."

  "This is our lucky day. Luck, Mr. Spock, is something you refuse to recognize."

  "I shall reconsider, Captain."

  Out in the corridor, a buzzer sounded. "It's the Führer's speech," Daras said quickly.

  "Let's go," Kirk said.

  They followed her out of the cloakroom, down the corridor and into the main room. Isak saw them come in and nodded, relieved. The TV screen imaged a Nazi banner, then cut quickly to a close shot of the Führer. There was a general shout of "Hail the Führer!" Kirk, Spock and McCoy mouthed the slogan. The TV camera angle had been planned for drama, leaving the screened face half-shadowed. The voice coming from the speaker was calm, reasoned.

  "Ekosians, the job ahead is difficult. It requires courage and dedication. It requires faith."

  Wild applause broke out. The voice went on. "The Zeon colony has existed for nearly half a century . . ."

  "Watch the mouth," Kirk whispered to McCoy.

  But the camera had switched to a low shot in which the table's microphone hid the lower portion of the Führer's face.

  "If we fulfill our own greatness, that will all be ended." Excited cheers broke into the voice. When they ended, the voice said, "Working together we can find a solution."

  Spock leaned to Kirk. "The speech does not follow any logical pattern, Captain."

  "Just random sentences strung together."

  "He looks drugged, Jim, at an almost cataleptic stage," McCoy said.

  The voice was back. "What we do may sometimes be difficult, but it is necessary if we are to reach our goal. And we will reach that goal."

  McCoy had straightened in his seat. "We've got to get close to him."

  Daras stared at him. Then she rose, starting to edge her way through the crowd toward the door. Isak joined them, helping to clear a path. A few annoyed faces turned, then broke into smiles as Daras was recognized. As the others followed her, the irritation came back, but McCoy's Gestapo uniform aroused respect. They made the corridor.

  They could hear the voice continuing the speech.

  "Every action we take must be decisive. Every thought directed toward a goal. This planet can become a paradise if we are willing to pay the price . . ."

  At the windowed door of the broadcast booth, the guards were listening to their Führer's voice, but their machine guns were still leveled. Isak held the lights as Kirk arranged his camera. "I want a picture of you two with the Hero of the Fatherland as you all listen to the Führer's stirring words." He turned to Daras. "There, stand between them."

  The flattered men made room for her while the voice said, "As each cell of the body works in discipline and harmony for the good of the entire being . . ."

  Kirk, lining up the shot through his camera, nodded, and McCoy chopped a guard across the neck. Spock neck-pinched the second one. Both dropped. Spock tried the door and found it locked.

  ". . . so must each of you work to make our dream a reality—to find a lasting solution. Long live Ekos. Long live our Party!"

  A storm of cheers greeted John Gill's final words. Kirk and McCoy, searching the guards' pockets, came up with a key. It opened the booth's door. As the group entered, the Führerdidn't move. Kirk and Isak dragged in the guards. Over their heads, a wall monitor showed Melakon standing at the main room's podium. He gestured for silence. "The Führer has given us our orders. And we pledge him our lives in the sacred task. Death to Zeon!"

  "Death to Zeon!" the crowd shouted.

  McCoy straightened from examining Gill. "Definitely drugged. Almost comatose."

  "What drug?" Spock said.

  "I can't identify it without a medi-comp. And without knowing, giving an antidote could be dangerous."

  "Is there anything you can do, Bones?"

  "A general stimulant, but it's risky."

  As Kirk said, "Take the risk," Melakon was speaking from the monitor.

  "For year
s we have been defiled by the Zeon presence on our planet. We've tried many solutions to the Zeon problem-limiting them to separate areas of our cities, confining them. But despite our best efforts, they remain like a cancer, eating away at our state . . ."

  McCoy gave Gill a hypo injection. Watching, Isak said, "There's no reaction. Whatever you gave him, it isn't working."

  While McCoy used his scanner, Melakon was saying, "Like a disease, the Zeons appear from every side. You smash one, and two more turn up. Ten minutes ago, on our Führer's orders, our troops began their historic mission. In our cities, the elimination has started. Within an hour, the Zeon blight will be forever removed from the face of Ekos."

  Kirk leaned over Gill. "Can you increase the dosage?"

  "I'm working in the dark, Jim. I could kill him."

  Daras said, "If they find us here, we'll all be killed."

  At Kirk's nod, McCoy used the hypo again.

  Daras turned to Isak. "It's begun. It's finally begun." She had covered her face with her hands when McCoy looked up at Kirk. "The stimulant's working. He's near the level of consciousness." He lifted one of Gill's eyelids. "As though he's in a light sleep. That's as much as I dare do."

  "Spock, see if you can get through to him by the mind probe. If you can't, Bones will have to use a heavier dose, no matter what it does."

  There was a roar from the monitor. Old-fashioned rockets were taking off from launching pads; and Melakon's voice said, "Our space fleet is now on its way toward Zeon, both manned and unmanned weapons. This is the time of destiny! Hail the Führer!" There was a pause. "Hail Victory, Ekosians!"

  Daras went to Kirk. "There's one chance left. With the weapons you have, you could destroy the fleet!"

  Kirk shook his head. "That would mean the death of thousands of Ekosian spacemen."

  The crowd was chanting from the monitor, "Hail Victory! Hail Victory!"

  Daras cried, "But against those thousands are millions upon millions of innocent Zeon lives! We must choose the lesser of two evils, Captain!"

  "We could save Zeon that way, Daras—but not Ekos."

  Spock had completed his mind probe. "Captain, in his condition, Gill cannot initiate speech or any other function. But he can reply to direct questions."