Star Trek 09

by James Blish

  Lindstrom, watching, could not contain himself. There was scorching contempt in his voice as he cried, "You didn't even try to bring her home, Reger! What kind of father are you, anyway?"

  Reger looked up, his eyes tortured. "It is Landru's will," he said.

  "Landru again." Kirk's comment was toneless. "Landru—what about Landru? Who is he?"

  Reger and Tamar exchanged terrified glances. Then Tamar said slowly, "It is true, then. You did not attend the festival last night."

  "No, we did not," Kirk said.

  Reger gave a wild cry. "Then you are not of the Body!" He stared around him as though seeking for some point from which to orient himself in a dissolving world. He made no move as McCoy, noting the effects of his shot, gently moved Tula to a nearby couch where he laid her down. "She's asleep," he said.

  Reger approached her, peering at her stilled face. Then he looked at McCoy. "Are you . . . are you . . . Archons?"

  "What if we are?" Kirk said.

  "It was said more would follow. If you are indeed Archons—"

  Tamar cried, "We must hide them! Quickly! The Lawgivers . . ."

  "We can take care of ourselves, friend," Kirk told him.

  "Landru will know!" Tamar screamed. "He will come!"

  The front door crashed open. Two hooded Lawgivers stood on the threshold, Hacom beside them. The old man pointed a shaking finger at Tamar. "He is the one! He mocked the Lawgivers! I heard him!"

  Tamar had shrunk back against the wall's support. "No, Hacom . . . it was a joke!"

  "The others, too!" cried Hacom. "They were here, but they scorned the festival! I saw it!"

  One of the hooded beings spoke. "Tamar . . . stand clear."

  Trembling, scarcely able to stand, Tamar bowed his head. "I hear," he said, "and obey the word of Landru."

  The Lawgiver lifted his staff, pointing it at Tamar. A tiny dart of flame springing from its end struck straight at his heart. He fell dead.

  Stunned, Kirk said, "What—?"

  The Lawgiver, ignoring the fallen body between them, addressed Kirk. "You attack the Body. You have heard the word, and disobeyed. You will be absorbed."

  He raised his staff again; and Lindstrom, making a swift reach for his phaser, was stopped by a gesture from Kirk.

  "What do you mean, absorbed?" he said.

  "There! You see?" Hacom's voice was venomous. "They are not of the Body!"

  "You will be absorbed," said the Lawgiver. "The good is all. Landru is gentle. You will come."

  For the first time the second Lawgiver lifted his staff, pointing it at the Enterprise party. Reger spoke, hopelessness dulling his voice. "You must go. It is Landru's will. There is no hope. We must all go with them . . . to the chambers. It happened with the Archons the same way."

  Slowly, with deadly deliberation, the two staves swerved to focus on Kirk and Spock. Reger, fatalistically obedient, was moving toward the door when Kirk said, "No. We're not going anywhere."

  The stony faces showed no change. The first Lawgiver said, "It is the law. You must come."

  Kirk spoke quietly. "I said we're not going anywhere."

  The two cowled creatures stared. Then, hesitantly, they moved back a step. After a moment, the first one bent his hood to the other in a whispering conference. Spock, edging to Kirk, said, "Sir, they obviously are not prepared to deal with outright defiance. How did you know?"

  "Everything we've seen seems to indicate some sort of compulsion—an involuntary stimulus to action. I just wanted to test it."

  "Your analysis seems correct, Captain. But it is a totally abnormal condition."

  The two Lawgivers had ended their conference. The first one spoke heavily. "It is plain that you simply did not understand. I will rephrase the order. You are commanded to accompany us to the absorption chambers."

  Kirk pointed down at Tamar's crumpled body. "Why did you kill this man?"

  "Out of order. You will obey. It is the word of Landru."

  "Tell Landru," Kirk said, "that we shall come in our own good time . . . and we will speak to him."

  A look of horror filled the stony faces. The first Lawgiver pushed his staff at Kirk. Kirk knocked it from his hand. The creature gaped as it clattered to the floor. Lindstrom picked it up, looked at it briefly, and was handing it to Spock when the Lawgiver, as though listening, whispered, "You . . . cannot. It is Landru."

  Both Lawgivers froze. Spock, the staff in hand, spoke to Kirk. "Amazing, Captain. This is merely a hollow tube. No mechanism at all."

  Kirk glanced at it. Neither of the Lawgivers gave the slightest sign of having heard. Reger jerked at Kirk's sleeve. "They are communing," he said. "We have a little time. Please come . . . come with me."

  "Where to?" Kirk said.

  "A place I know of. You'll be safe there." Urgency came into his voice. "But hurry! You must hurry! Landru will come!"

  His panic was genuine. After a moment, Kirk signaled his men. They followed Reger out the door, passing the motionless figures of the Lawgivers. Outside, the street was littered with the debris of the festival—shattered glass, rocks, broken clubs, remnants of ripped homespun garments. In the windless air, smoke still hung heavily over a fire-gutted building. But the people who passed were peaceful-looking, their faces again amiable, utterly blank.

  "Quite a festival they had," Kirk said. "Mr. Spock, what do you make of all this?"

  "It is totally illogical. Last night, without apparent cause or reason, they wrought complete havoc. Yet today . . ."

  "Now," Kirk said, "they're back to normal." He frowned. "To whatever's normal on this planet. Bilar, for instance. Here he comes as blandly innocent as though he were incapable of roaring like an animal."

  Bilar stopped. "Mornin', friends," he said.

  Reger returned the greeting and Lindstrom angrily seized his arm. "He's the thing who did that hurt to your daughter! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

  "No," Reger said. "It wasn't Bilar. It was Landru." He shook himself free, turning back to the others. "Hurry! We haven't much time left."

  He broke off, staring around him. "It's too late!" he whispered. "Look at them!"

  Four passers-by had paused, standing so still they seemed not to breathe. All of them, eyes wide open, were frozen into attitudes of concentrated listening.

  "What is it?" Kirk demanded.

  "Landru!" Reger said. "He is summoning the Body. See them gathering?"

  "Telepathy, Captain," Spock said.

  Suddenly people were breaking free of their listening stances to pick up discarded missiles from the littered street. Slowly, like automatons, they began to move toward the Enterprise group. In the blankly amiable faces there was something chilling now, mindlessly hostile and deadly.

  Kirk said, "Phasers . . . on stun. Which way, Reger?"

  Reger hesitated. "Perhaps . . . through there, but Landru . . ."

  "We'll handle Landru," Kirk said. "Just get us out of this!"

  It was as they moved toward the alley ahead of them that the rocks came hurling against them. A man struck at Spock with a club, the smile on his lips as vacant as his eyes. Then Kirk saw that another armed group had appeared at the far end of the alley. Rocks were flying toward them.

  Kirk spoke tersely to Reger. "I don't want to hurt them. Warn them to stay back!"

  Reger shook his head despairingly. "They are in the Body! It is Landru!"

  Threatening, people were converging on them from both ends of the alley and Kirk, jerking out his phaser, snapped his orders. "Stun only! Wide field! Fire!"

  The stun beams spurted from their phasers with a spray effect. The advancing mob fell without a sound. Kirk whirled to confront the rear group. Again, people fell silently. Spock moved to one of the unconscious bodies. "Captain!"

  Kirk went over to him. The quiet face that stared blankly up into his was that of Lieutenant O'Neill. He turned to call to his two security crewmen. "Security—over here!" Then he spoke to Reger. "This is one of our men," he said.<
br />
  "No more," Reger reminded him. "He's been absorbed."

  "Nonsense!" Kirk said briskly. "We'll take him along with us, Mr. Spock."

  "I tell you he's one of them now!" Reger cried. "When he wakes Landru will find us through him! Leave him here! He's our enemy. He's been absorbed!"

  The full implications of the word struck Kirk for the first time. "Absorbed?" he said.

  "The Body absorbs its enemies. It kills only when it has to." Reger's voice sank to a terrified whisper. "When the first Archons came, free, out of control, opposing the word of Landru, many were killed. The rest were absorbed. Leave him here. Be wise."

  "We take him with us," Kirk said.

  Lindstrom spoke. "Captain, now that we've got O'Neill, let's beam out of here."

  "Not yet. We still have to find what happened to the Archons. Reger, which way?"

  Reger pointed ahead, indicating a left turn at the end of the alley. The Security men picked up O'Neill as the group hurriedly followed Reger's lead. It introduced them into a cellarlike chamber, dark, but bulked with shadowy objects of odds and ends. As the guards set O'Neill down against a wall, Reger crossed to a wall to open a cabinet from which he extracted a flat package, wrapped in rags. Revealed, it turned out to be a translucent panel. A section of it, touched, began to glow with strong light that illuminated the entire room.

  Spock said, "Amazing in this culture! I go further. Impossible in this culture!"

  Reger turned. "It is from the time before Landru."

  "Before Landru? How long ago is that?" Kirk said.

  "We do not know positively. Some say . . . as long as six thousand years." Reger spoke with a certain pride. Spock was examining the lighting panel with his tricorder. "I do not identify the metal, Captain. But it took a very advanced technology to construct a device like this. Inconsistent with the rest of the environment."

  "But not inconsistent with some of the things we've seen," Kirk said. "Those staffs, those hollow tubes, obviously antennae for some kind of broadcast power. Telepathy—who knows?" He saw the look of astoundedness quiet Spock's face into a more than usual expressionlessness. "What is it, Spock?"

  "I am recording immensely strong power generations, Captain . . .'

  "Unusual for this area?"

  "Incredible for any area." Spock leaned closer to his tricorder. "Near here but radiating in all directions—"

  A groan from O'Neill broke into his voice. McCoy, looking up from his bent position over the unconscious man, spoke to Kirk. "He's coming around, Jim."

  Reger uttered a shout. "He must not! Once he is conscious, Landru will find us. Through him. And if the others come—"

  "What others?" Kirk said.

  "Those like me . . . and you. Who resist Landru."

  "An underground," Spock said. "How are you organized?"

  "In threes," Reger told him. "Myself . . . Tamar who is dead now . . . and one other."

  "Who?" Kirk said.

  Reger hesitated. "I don't know. Tamar was the contact."

  "Jim," McCoy said, "I need a decision. Another few seconds—"

  "He must not regain consciousness!" Reger screamed. "He would destroy us all. He is now of the Body!"

  Kirk bit his lip. Then he looked down at O'Neill. "Give him a shot, Bones. Keep him asleep." He whirled on Reger. "I want some answers now. What is the Body?"

  "The people. You saw them."

  "And the Lawgivers?" Spock asked.

  "They are the arms and legs."

  "That leaves a brain," Kirk said.

  Inflection drained from Reger's voice. "Of course," he said. "Landru." In a mechanical manner as though speaking a lesson learned by rote, he added, "Landru completes the Whole. Unity and Perfection, tranquility and peace."

  Spock was eyeing him. "I should say, Captain, that this is a society organized on a physiological concept. One Body, maintained and controlled by the ones known as Lawgivers, directed by one brain . . ."

  Kirk said, "A man who—"

  "Not necessarily a man, Captain."

  Kirk turned to Reger. "This underground of yours. If Landru is so powerful, how do you survive?"

  "I do not know. Some of us escape the directives. Not many but some. It was that way with the Archons."

  "Tell me about the Archons," Kirk said.

  "They refused to accept the will of Landru. But they had invaded the Body. Landru pulled them down from the sky."

  Incredulous, Kirk said, "Pull a Starship down?" He turned to Spock. "Those power readings you took before. Are they—"

  Spock completed the sentence. "Powerful enough to destroy a Starship? Affirmative, Captain."

  They looked at each other for a long moment. Then Kirk flipped out his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise. Come in!"

  But it wasn't Uhura who responded. It was Scott, his voice taut with strain. "Captain! We're under attack! Heat beams of some kind. Coming up from the planet's surface!"

  "Status report," Kirk said.

  "Our shields are holding, but they're taking all our power. If we try to warp out, or even move on impulse engines, we'll lose our shields—and burn up like a cinder!"

  "Orbit condition, Scotty?"

  "We're going down. Unless those beams get off us so we can use our engines, we're due to hit atmosphere in less than twelve hours."

  Spock came to stand beside him as he said, "Keep your shields up, Scotty. Do everything you can to maintain orbit. Well try to locate the source of the beams and stop them here. Over."

  Static crashed into Scott's reply, drowning his words.

  ". . . impossible . . . emergency by-pass circuits but . . . whenever you . . . contact . . ."

  Kirk turned the gain up, but the static alone grew loud. Spock had unlimbered his tricorder. Now he called, "Captain! Sensor beams! I believe we're being probed." He bent over his device, concentrated. "Yes. Quite strong. And directed here."

  "Block them out!" Kirk cried.

  "It's Landru!" Reger yelled.

  Spock made an adjustment on his tricorder. Then he shook his head. "They're too strong, Captain. I can't block them." He lifted his head suddenly from his tricorder, then whirled to the wall on his left. A low-pitched humming sound was coming from it. Kirk, in his turn, faced the wall. On it a light had begun to glow, coiling and twisting in swirling patterns. They brightened, and at the same moment started to gather into the outline of a figure. It seemed to be collecting substance, the flesh and bone of a handsome elderly man. The eyes had kindness in them and the features, benign, composed, radiated wisdom. It appeared to be regarding them with benevolence. But its face and body kept their strange flowing movement.

  The figure on the wall said, "I am Landru."

  Reger fell to his knees, groaning in animal terror. Spock, observant, quite unawed, said, "A projection, Captain. Unreal."

  "But beautifully executed, Mr. Spock. With no apparatus at this end."

  The kindly eyes of the wall man fixed on him. "You have come as destroyers. That is sad. You bring an infection."

  "You are holding my ship," Kirk said. "I demand you release it."

  The mouth went on talking as though the ears had not heard. "You come to a world without hate, without conflict, without fear . . . no war, no disease, no crime, none of the old evils. I, Landru, seek tranquillity, peace for all . . . the Universal Good."

  This time Kirk shouted. "We come on a mission of peace and goodwill!"

  Landru went on, oblivious. "The Good must transcend the Evil. It shall be done. So it has been since the beginning."

  "He doesn't hear you, Captain," Spock said.

  Lindstrom drew his phaser. "Maybe he'll hear this!"

  "No!" Kirk's rebuke was sharp. "That'll do no good." He turned back to the lighted figure. "Landru, listen to us."

  "You will be absorbed," said the benign voice. "Your individuality will merge with the Unity of Good. In your submergence into the common being of the Body you will find contentment and fulfillment. You will experienc
e the Absolute Good."

  The low-pitched hum had grown louder. Landru smiled tenderly upon them. "There will be a moment of pain, but you will not be harmed. Peace and Good place their blessings upon you."

  Kirk took a step toward the image. But the humming abruptly rose to a screeching whine that pierced the ears like a sharpened blade. Reger toppled forward. McCoy and Lindstrom, driven to their knees, held their ears, their eyes shut. One after the other the security crewmen crumpled. Spock and Kirk kept their feet for a moment longer. Then, they, too, the spike of the whine, thrusting deeper into their brains, pitched forward into unconsciousness.

  Kirk was the first to recover. He found himself lying on a thin pallet pushed against one of the bare stone walls of a cell. Lifting his head, he saw Lindstrom stir. Getting to his knees, he crawled over to Spock. "Mr. Spock! Mr. Spock!"

  Slowly Spock's eyes opened. Kirk bent over Lindstrom, shaking him and the security guard beside him. "Wake up, Lindstrom! Mr. Lindstrom, wake up!"

  Spock was on his feet. "Captain! Where's the Doctor?"

  "I don't know. He was gone when I came to. So was the other guard."

  "From the number of pallets on the floor, sir, I should say they have been here and have been removed."

  "Just where is here?" Kirk said.

  Spock glanced around. "A maximum-security establishment, obviously. Are you armed, sir?"

  "No. All our phasers are gone. I checked." He went to the heavy, bolted door. "Locked," he said.

  "My head aches," observed Lindstrom.

  "The natural result of being subjected to sub-sonic, Mr. Lindstrom," Spock told him. "Sound waves so controlled as to set up insuperable contradictions in audio impulses. Stronger, they could have killed. As it was, they merely rendered us unconscious."

  "That's enough analysis," Kirk said. "Let's start thinking of ways out of here. Mr. Spock, how about that inability of those Lawgivers to cope with the unexpected?"

  "I wouldn't count on that happening again, Captain. As well organized as this society seems to be, I cannot conceive of such an oversight going uncorrected." He paused. "Interesting, however. Their reaction to your defiance was remarkably similar to the reactions of a computer—one that's been fed insufficient or contradictory data."