“Speaking of mist…” Mouth flexing, his ears going straight up, Taell sampled the air in the corridor through the olfactory organs located on the underside of his ears. “Do you not sense an increase in ambient moisture?”
Founoh took a cursory sniff. Behind them, an increasing number of their cohorts were doing the same, turning in several directions as they checked the air from different angles.
“Perhaps the humans and other occupants of this outpost prefer a higher humidity than they maintain on their ships?”
Taell sounded dubious. “Why should the moisture content of the air they breathe be different on a station than on a starship? One would expect consistency.”
In response to the sudden rush of incoming damp air, the Enterprise’s officers blinked in rapid progression.
So did the Perenoreans.
Starting to sway, Taell eyed the science officer uncertainly. Then his eyes grew very wide indeed.
“But—but you were under the influence of the spray!”
Founoh had been forced to take a seat on the floor of the corridor. “The modified mist that was used on you was specifically tailored to target the Vulcan respiratory system.”
“But—how…?” Taell had also dropped to the floor. So had the majority of Perenoreans as one by one they were rapidly overcome. Behind the leaderesque, they had been joined by Kirk and McCoy.
Falling to his knees, Spock was also in the process of passing out. His unnatural smile had vanished, to be replaced by the familiar Vulcan expression of calm resolve.
“Perhaps,” he murmured in a sly echo of something the leaderesque had said to him days ago, “someday I will explain.”
Before he could continue, the level of anesthezine gas that had been injected silently into the corridor reached a concentration that barred consciousness as well as conversation.
16
No detail was overlooked to ensure that the Perenorean delegation would not be able to make or, more importantly, implement any helpful suggestions while they were being transported back home. The section of the Enterprise where they were quartered had been sealed off from the rest of the ship as completely as it was possible to do so. It was made very clear that serious consequences would accrue to any member of the crew who even tried to open a line of communication to the secured area, even if only to say “hello.”
After analyzing the basic chemistry of the sleep-inducing mist that the Perenoreans had introduced into the atmosphere of the Enterprise, a Perenorean-specific equivalent was swiftly synthesized by Federation biochemists. This was then introduced into the air of their collective living quarters to ensure that they would remain both docile and “suggestion-free” on the journey back to the SiBor system. With Starfleet taking no chances, they were also relieved of their clothing and personal effects for the duration of the trip. Food and water was provided via an automated delivery system that itself was subject to military-level security.
Thus drugged, naked, and provided with the minimum requirements necessary to sustain life, from Leaderesque Taell on down, the Perenorean delegation offered neither suggestions nor trouble as the Enterprise sped through warp space on its way back to DiBor.
Confident that everything was secure and under control, his memories restored by the antidote concocted by Starfleet experts, Kirk finally asked his first officer: “How, Spock? How did you pull it off?”
“I knew it was only a matter of time until the Perenoreans manufactured a spray that would disable me. I was able to send a message to Starfleet. I reported our status and I suggested what should be employed upon the Enterprise’s arrival—what I believed would prevent violence and avoid any suspicion until the last possible moment.”
Kirk’s tone revealed his bemusement and impatience. “Spock, how was the message not detected by the Perenoreans?”
“It was their own narrow view of what has value that blinded them, Captain. The force field had already been dropped.”
McCoy whistled softly. “Jim, the Voyager probe. They probably only saw it as junk.”
“Correct, Doctor. I let the Perenoreans believe that they were cornering me in the cargo bays and I was forced into using an escape pod. However, I was able to access the probe and use its communication array to send the message. Starfleet—as the successor to Earth’s ancient space programs—listens for any signal from the countless probes that have been launched.”
“I was guilty of the same narrow view,” Kirk confessed. “I didn’t see any value in something so small and primitive.”
“But you did have the good sense to listen to your doctor,” Uhura observed. “So what happens now, Captain? To the Perenoreans, and to their relationship with the Federation?”
“And to SiBor,” Chekov added. “Don’t forget the SiBoronaans.”
Kirk straightened slightly in the command chair. “Starfleet has decided that for the good of the Perenoreans, as well as for that of the SiBoronaans and the Federation, the Perenoreans are to be confined to their new home until such time as an appropriate means has been found to deal with their dependence-inducing and depression-causing ‘helpfulness.’ ”
“In other words,” McCoy chimed in, “they’re gonna be quarantined on their new world, and not just on this ship.”
Kirk nodded. “Representatives from Starfleet will replace the Perenoreans as advisors to the SiBoronaans, to help them understand their new technologies—without imposing feelings of inferiority on the recipients. No more shuttles, either from Federation worlds or from SiBor, will be permitted to land on DiBor. The Perenorean refugee ship, the Eparthaa, will be immobilized along with any shuttlecraft. As for the refugees, they’ll be allowed to continue to develop their colony in peace and quiet—but only their colony.” He turned thoughtful.
“Meanwhile, I think it would be useful for Starfleet to renew contact with the Dre’kalak to explain that we regret the circumstances of our earlier encounter, and that we would like to proceed to open diplomatic relations on the basis of a new understanding. Also,” he added dryly, “to inquire if there are any other species who have been the recipients of Perenorean ‘help’ to whom we might render assistance.”
McCoy dourly grunted. “Hopefully the Perenoreans won’t manage to build a starship out of leftover settlement materials and any junk lying around until we’ve figured out a proper way to cope with them.”
It was quiet on the bridge for several moments, each officer attending to their respective duties, until Spock spoke up. “Everything seems to be under control, Captain. There is only one thing that troubles me.”
Kirk idly glanced up. “What is it, Mister Spock? Something we’ve overlooked in dealing with the Perenoreans?”
The first officer nodded in the direction of the main viewscreen. At that moment, it showed only a starfield ahead.
“No, Captain. Not the Perenoreans. I cannot help but wonder: What if one day, in the course of carrying out our explorations, we eventually encounter a new species that is a hundred times more… ‘helpful’ than them?”
Kirk said nothing. Neither did McCoy. But the attention of all was fixed on the vast starfield that lay in front of them.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
#1 New York Times–bestselling author Alan Dean Foster’s work to date includes excursions into the hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, and western genres, as well as historical and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous nonfiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as the novelizations of many films, including such well-known productions as Star Wars, Star Trek, the first three Alien films, Alien Nation, and The Chronicles of Riddick. Other works include scripts for talking records, rad
io, computer games, and the story for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. His novel Shadowkeep was the first-ever book adaptation of an original computer game. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science fiction ever to do so. Foster’s sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major science-fiction magazines as well as in original anthologies and several “Best of the Year” compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 130 books.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Alan-Dean-Foster
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Foster, Alan Dean, 1946– author. | Roddenberry, Gene, other.
Title: The unsettling stars / Alan Dean Foster ; based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry.
Other titles: At head of title: Star Trek
Description: First Gallery Books trade paperback edition. | New York : Gallery Books, 2020. | Series: Star trek
Identifiers: LCCN 2019054440 (print) | LCCN 2019054441 (ebook) | ISBN 9781982140601 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781982140618 (ebook)
Subjects: GSAFD: Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3556.O756 U57 2020 (print) | LCC PS3556.O756 (ebook) | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019054440
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019054441
ISBN 978-1-9821-4060-1
ISBN 978-1-9821-4061-8 (ebook)
The Unsettling Stars Page 23