Belle Terre

by Dean Wesley Smith

  Dr. Audry dug into her own bowl. “I agree. And don’t worry, we’re going to make sure this plant gets saved, too.”

  McCoy had another spoonful of the wonderful stew filling his mouth and could only nod his approval of that idea.

  Countdown: 7 Days, 13 Hours

  Kirk sat in his command chair, watching the fuzzy picture on the main screen. He could see some of the nearby ships, but this static-filled picture was the best they could do so far against the Gamma Night. He hated sitting here, mostly blind for ten out of every thirty hours. For the past two weeks he had tried to be somewhere else during the ten hours, including eating and sleeping, just so he didn’t have to be aware of how helpless they were.

  But this Gamma Night he had stayed on the bridge the entire time, waiting, while Spock and Scotty went over and over the information they’d scanned from the olivium moon before the Gamma Night set in. It had done him and the crew no good for him to stay, but he couldn’t leave, even to eat. He just felt his place was on the bridge.

  As the Gamma Night started to clear and the image on the main screen sharpened, Uhura turned to him. “Incoming call from Governor Pardonnet.”

  “On screen,” Kirk said. He knew exactly why the governor was calling. If he had been in Pardonnet’s shoes, he would have done the same thing.

  “Any ideas on stopping the explosion, Captain?” Pardonnet asked. It was the exact question Kirk had expected.

  “Nothing yet,” Kirk said. “But we might have more information after getting some preliminary readings on the moon’s pressure after the last ten hours. Have your scientists come up with any ideas?”

  “Nothing,” the young governor said.

  Kirk could tell Pardonnet wasn’t happy about that either, so he changed the subject. “How are the preparations for evacuation coming?”

  “No one is happy about them,” Pardonnet said. “I’m certainly not. But we seem to have no choice, do we? So we’re getting ready as fast as we can. We’ll start moving the first wave of personnel back to the Conestogas in the next hour to get them ready.”

  “You know how important it is to get as many supplies stocked on the ships as possible?” Kirk asked. He didn’t want to tell the governor that he had sent one of the pathfinder ships in search of another planet close by. There would be no point, since that had only an outside chance of success at best.

  “I understand, Captain,” Pardonnet said, coldly. “I prepared for the mission here, I understand what it will take for us to return. I am very clearly aware we will not have enough provisions starting out.”

  “Good,” Kirk said. “I’ll keep you informed as to our progress here.”

  With that he motioned for Uhura to cut the connection, then stood and moved over beside Spock. Scotty had left a short time ago to check out a problem in Engineering.

  “Any changes?”

  Spock turned from his station. “None, Captain. The explosion will still occur at the time predicted.”

  Kirk nodded. For some reason he’d been half hoping that the pressure inside the moon would just suddenly drop during the Gamma Night. Of course, he knew that wasn’t going to happen, but a part of his brain had hoped it would.

  “However,” Spock said, “I may have discovered one possible method of causing a contained explosion, to release the pressure inside the moon.”

  Kirk could feel the energy of hope surge through him. “Show me,” he said.

  Spock brought an image of the moon up on the screen above his station, then cut the moon in half, leaving a cross section. The interior olivium was shown as a bright red, almost angry-looking area, constantly in motion. The crust was black and thick and very solid-looking.

  Spock pointed to one area of crust near the upper-right-hand corner of the screen. “This area is on the side of the moon away from the planet.”

  “What’s special about that area?” Kirk asked, not seeing anything different at all.

  Touching a switch on his station, Spock magnified the area of the crust, and it instantly became clear to Kirk what he was talking about. In the cross section he could see a decidedly thinner area of the moon’s crust right at that point.

  “At one time in the past,” Spock said, “this area appeared to be one of many vents from the core of the moon that released pressure into space. These release passages were what kept the moon from exploding for so many centuries. But they have become plugged, as they all did. This plug would be the weakest area of the moon’s crust.”

  “It’s still over three hundred kilometers thick,” Kirk said.

  “Three hundred and sixty-four point one-six-four-nine-seven-zero kilometers thick,” Spock said.

  “How do you propose we break through that?”

  “I don’t propose we break through the plug, Captain,” Spock said. “I’m suggesting we might be able to loosen—so to speak—the plug and let it push outward, with help, of course, from the pressure building inside the moon. Such a release would not cause the major explosion we are trying to avoid.”

  Kirk looked at his first officer, but as always Spock showed no emotion at all. The Vulcan was being completely serious, as always. Somehow Spock thought it might be possible to pull a two-hundred-mile-thick plug of dense rock out of a pressurized moon.

  “Okay,” Kirk said. “Explain how this might be done.”

  “A specialized tractor beam, focused at a certain point, pulling on the interior of this blockage, would create friction along the static points of the rock plug, causing the rock on the edges to heat to a point where it would become liquid.”

  “Thus allowing the pressure from inside the moon to push the plug in that vent outward,” Kirk said. “Like a cork popping from a champagne bottle.”

  “Simply put,” Spock said, “but yes.”

  Kirk stared at the massive hunk of rock shown in the cross section. “How many tractors would we need?”

  “I calculated that if every ship in the fleet, including shuttles outfitted with special tractor beams, focused a tractor beam at a specific point, the chance of success would be five point two percent.”

  “That’s not very high, Spock,” Kirk said, staring at his first officer.

  “It has a significantly higher chance of success than any other option.”

  Kirk nodded. He was afraid of that.

  He stared at the screen for a moment, then turned to face his first officer. “So what are the downsides of this idea?”

  “This action will consume much of every ship’s energy supplies, as well as put extreme strain on each ship’s systems. I calculate that a number of the ships would be destroyed in the attempt.”

  “That’s a high price to pay for such a low chance of success,” Kirk said.

  “Granted,” Spock said. “There is also a two point three percent chance of our actions triggering the major explosion.”

  “And killing us all,” Kirk said.

  “Basically,” Spock said. “Yes.”

  “Wonderful,” Kirk said. “This is just getting better and better all the time.”

  Chapter Five

  Countdown: 7 Days, 10 Hours

  THE SILENCE in the large meeting hall seemed heavy, as if the entire roof were pressing down on the hundred or so colony leaders and top citizens that had crammed inside. Governor Pardonnet forced himself to take a breath. He was standing in front of the group, on a slightly raised stage, with Captain Kirk and his first officer, Spock.

  For some reason, all Pardonnet could do was stare at Captain Kirk and the Vulcan as if they had both gone crazy. They had found a slim chance of keeping the moon from exploding, but by attempting it, they were asking him to put every man, woman, and child in the colony at risk. Sixty-two thousand lives.

  “Excuse me!” someone shouted from the back. “Did I hear that right? You said there was only a five percent chance of success with this idea?”

  “Approximately five point two percent,” Spock said.

  “Oh, that makes it better,�
�� the person in the back said, clearly disgusted.

  A few people laughed, but not many.

  “And this is the best idea anyone has come up with?” Pardonnet asked. He glanced at Kirk, who nodded. Pardonnet then turned to the group of his top physicists. “Do any of you have any better ideas?”

  None of them spoke.

  Again the silence around them seemed to grow heavier, the room smaller, the air harder to breathe. Pardonnet couldn’t believe this was even happening. It seemed that Belle Terre, with its exploding moon, was offering them very few choices, and none of them good. They either packed and ran for home, or stayed and took a very slim chance of saving their new world by risking their lives.

  Neither option had much chance of success, as far as Pardonnet was concerned. Too bad they couldn’t try both. Or just maybe they could.

  Pardonnet turned to Spock and Captain Kirk. “If we’re to try this uncorking of the moon, when is the best time?”

  “As soon as possible,” Spock said. “It will take some time to modify all the tractor beams, but that should be accomplished within twenty-four hours.”

  “The best window would be immediately after the next Gamma Night,” Kirk said. “About twenty-seven hours from now.”

  “So we continue the preparations to head home,” Pardonnet said. “If the idea does not work, we’ve lost nothing. We’ll still have time to evacuate and get out of range of the explosion. Am I right?”

  The audience seemed to like his idea as the silence turned to murmurs of agreement. Pardonnet watched as Captain Kirk glanced at Spock, clearly uncomfortable, then turned back to face Pardonnet.

  “What am I missing, Captain?” Pardonnet asked before Kirk could say anything.

  “Remember, there are many risks involved with this,” Kirk said. “As I said before, there is a chance the attempt may trigger the explosion earlier than expected.”

  Now the people were back deadly silent.

  “And we’d all be killed,” Pardonnet said. He so wanted to forget the chance of that happening, but Kirk wasn’t letting any of them forget it.

  “Exactly,” Spock said.

  “But we might all be killed on the way back to the Federation,” Pardonnet said. “So go on.”

  “True,” Kirk said. “The good side of it is that the chances of our attempt triggering the explosion are less than the chances of our saving the moon. However, I don’t know how much you would be damaging your chances of making a successful evacuation if this is attempted.”

  “I’m not following you, Captain,” Pardonnet said. And he could tell from the looks of some of those close by, neither were any of the others.

  “The attempt to pull the plug out of the moon will drain every ship’s energy reserves. It may cripple or possibly even destroy some ships.”

  Pardonnet nodded. Now he understood. There was even a higher price to pay for this attempt. “Will there be enough energy left to get most of the ships outside the explosion range if this attempt fails?”

  Kirk glanced at his passionless first officer, then back at Pardonnet. “We should be able to get the surviving ships out of range in one way or another. But you will not have enough energy to start home immediately.”

  Pardonnet nodded, but he could tell there was one more thing Kirk wasn’t saying that needed to be said. “Go on, Captain.”

  Kirk stared at Pardonnet for a moment, then glanced at the gathered colony leaders. “I’ve been direct with all of you since the beginning,” Kirk said. “I need to do that now, even though I do not want to, or even like what I’m about to say.”

  Pardonnet had never heard Captain Kirk talk like that before. The entire room was deathly still as Kirk went on.

  “Explosion or no explosion, the Enterprise will not be returning to the Federation.”

  “The olivium,” Pardonnet said, instantly understanding what Kirk was saying. “It’s far too valuable to Starfleet to let it fall into anyone else’s hands. I had suspected as much.”

  “Far too valuable to all of science,” Kirk said. “To all of the Federation. To every citizen of the Federation, not just your colony. So if you decide to not try stopping the explosion and just head back, you will be doing so on your own.”

  “So you are willing to let sixty-two thousand people travel defenseless?”

  “You have the privateers-the original plan was for you all to come out here with just them, remember. And if your choice is to head for home I’ll do what I can to help you. You will be far from defenseless. But you will not have the Enterprise.”

  “I don’t see where there is anything else we can do but head back,” Pardonnet said. “That moon isn’t giving us much of an option.”

  Kirk faced Pardonnet squarely, clearly not caring who was listening in the audience. “You and your people have lots of choices.” His voice was low and controlled and Pardonnet could feel the anger just under the surface. “You all risked your lives, and your children’s lives, to come out here. There may be other planets worth colonizing nearby. There is still a remote chance of saving this planet. Or if the moon explodes, you can remain close by until an escort arrives from the Federation.”

  Kirk stepped one step closer. Pardonnet kept his gaze firmly on the captain as Kirk went on. “There are options, Governor. You have more options than just cutting and running for home. I’m just trying to be clear with you how I must stand on that one choice. I want you to have all the information.”

  Pardonnet held Kirk’s stare for a long few seconds, time that seemed to stretch even longer with the intense silence in the room full of people. He didn’t like Kirk’s attitude, he didn’t like what Kirk had just implied about him, but he understood why Kirk had said it.

  Pardonnet let himself smile, still not looking away from Kirk. “So let me get this straight, Captain. You are willing to risk your crew, the Enterprise, and the other Starfleet ships and crews to help us save our new world?”

  “I am,” Kirk said. “I was willing to do that when I signed onto this mission. Nothing has changed.”

  “And if we fail, and something goes wrong, you will be killed along with us, leaving the olivium defenseless?”

  “That is correct,” Kirk said. “Saving this planet is a risk I’m willing to take in exchange for that. I am not willing to risk the olivium falling in the wrong hands just because you chose to head home.”

  Pardonnet nodded and after a few long seconds broke away from Kirk’s stare. He turned to face the colonists gathered in the room. “The captain is right. We took many risks to come here, knowing this wouldn’t be an easy path to follow. We should not turn away from another risk now. I suggest we try to pull the plug on that explosion. But I’m open for other ideas. Or ways to accomplish that task as safely as possible.”

  A voice from the back said, “Put all the children in one Conestoga and move it out of danger before we start.”

  Pardonnet nodded. “Good idea,” he said. Everyone murmured their agreement.

  “It will greatly reduce the chances of success,” Spock said. “Every ship will be needed in the effort. Especially the ones with the large mule engines.”

  “Surely we can spare one ship for the children?” Pardonnet asked.

  “No,” Spock said. “We cannot.”

  Pardonnet stared at Spock as the meeting broke down into loud chatter. Kirk was right. There were lots of choices, there just weren’t any good ones.

  Countdown: 7 Days, 10 Hours

  Lilian Coates began packing, not exactly sure where to start. She could remember her and Tom packing and then repacking back on Earth, throwing away things they wouldn’t need, discovering items they couldn’t live without. But back then they had many more personal possessions than they would have been allowed to take. It had been hard to pare down everything, but at the same time it had been exciting and often fun. The prospect of a new life ahead of them kept them going, energized.

  Now she had no idea what lay ahead for her. There was nothing back
on Earth to return to. She had never expected to need to go back.

  She had to do all the packing herself, with only what she had brought from their cabin and storage on the ship. Yet this time it seemed harder, slower going. She found herself moving away from the task often to do anything else. But there just wasn’t much else to do but get ready to leave the home they had known for only a few weeks.

  Reynold came into the room and saw the packing containers. His nine-year-old face seemed to drain of life as he stared at her. “You promised we weren’t going to have to leave.”

  She dropped the sweater she’d been folding and moved to him. He didn’t want to be held, so she knelt in front of him and looked him right in the eyes. “I know I did. And we still might not have to. Tomorrow they’re going to try to stop the moon from exploding.”

  “And if they can’t stop it?” he asked. “Then we have to leave, don’t we?”

  “I’m afraid we do,” she said. “There’s nothing I can do to change that.”

  “Well,” he said, looking at her with his stubborn frown, the same look his father used to get all the time. “I’m not leaving. You can’t make me.”

  With that he turned and went out into the other room.

  She sat on the bed and stared at the door. How she wished it were that easy. How she wished that they didn’t have to leave. Maybe they would all get lucky and the attempt to stop the explosion on the moon would work. Maybe this was all just a false alarm.

  She glanced around at the packing containers and her clothes laid out on the bed and knew deep in her stomach that wasn’t going to be the case. This next day or so would be the last days they would spend in this home.

  Countdown: 7 Days, 9 Hours

  “You’re in my light,” McCoy said gruffly as a shadow covered the hole he was working in. He had just managed to fill two containers completely full of rich dirt containing the bacteria. He knew he could get at least two more full containers out of this hole before he’d have to move on.

  “Sorry, Doctor,” the voice of Jim Kirk said from above, almost as if it were coming out of the blue sky.