He was slow to respond. “I knew what we had would be brief. That I’d have to give you up once we got the New Humans to safety. But that doesn’t make it easy to let you go.”
Jones tilted her head. “I wasn’t sure you still felt that way, knowing what you know now about me and my secrets.”
“Neither did I—until the time came.” He stopped walking and clasped her by the shoulders. “But I look at you now … and I never thought shining silver eyes could be so beautiful.”
He moved to kiss her, and she eagerly met him halfway. It went on quite a long time, and she was in rare form, almost like a first kiss all over again.
Then Kirk realized this was the first time they’d kissed when Kollos was along for the ride. And Kollos was always enthusiastic about new experiences …
After a moment’s hesitation, Kirk shrugged and went with it. After all, the last thing he wanted was to lose his spirit of adventure.
U.S.S. Reliant
“Good morning, Captain,” Rem Azem-Os said to Clark Terrell as he stepped onto the bridge.
“Morning, Rem. I relieve you.” He looked around to see all the rest of the alpha-shift crew already in place, with Doctor Wilder also on hand. So much for liking to be ahead of schedule, he chided himself. But he was glad to have a crew more reliable than he was. It gave him something to live up to.
“I stand relieved.” The Aurelian relinquished the command chair smoothly. “Engineering reports the mains should be back online by oh-nine-hundred hours. All other systems are restored to nominal function, though we’ll need a few weeks in drydock to get the Reliant back in top form.”
“Well, that just means more leave time before our next mission. Thank you, Commander.”
Chekov put his hands on the railing in front of the science station and leaned in toward Terrell. “Too bad DiFalco and the Aenar couldn’t stick around to fix the ship for us.”
“Yeah,” Beach said from the helm, “and too bad they wouldn’t let us keep those engine and shield upgrades.”
Bianca Wilder glared at them both. “You know how much of a strain those tricks put on their bodies. Emergencies are one thing, but don’t get spoiled, boys.”
“I’m just saying,” Beach went on, “people who can do magic like that are handy to have around.”
“Or dangerous,” Chekov said. “Imagine if they’d stayed in the Federation, their powers continuing to grow. From what DiFalco told us, even the Spectres didn’t have that much power over matter in our dimension until they fused with humanoids. And the refugees could be just as vulnerable as their Lords to the seductions of that kind of power. We could’ve faced a new Eugenics War one day after all.”
“That’s a little cynical,” Terrell said. “Personally, I think the Federation has lost something now that the New Humans are gone. Their movement may have been based on … call it a misunderstanding of their true nature … but still, it was a source of hope for many. A promise that humanity was capable of achieving something transcendent. After the time I spent among the New Humans, I have enough faith in their basic humanity to believe they could have kept that idealism intact.”
“Forgive me, sir, but I believe that would have changed had their powers continued to grow,” Chekov said. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Terrell raised a finger. “You know, they’ve done a few studies on that. They’ve generally found that it wasn’t true—that how people used power, for good or ill, reflected what their tendencies had already been before they had it. People whose impulse was to do good continued to do good, just more effectively.” He gestured at the Reliant around them. “Look at us. The power we control would be astonishing to our ancestors. But are we more corrupt than they were?”
“I think I see what Pavel’s saying, sir,” Wilder put in. “It’s not just a matter of raw power, but its proportion. The technology we use is shared by everyone; the power is distributed equally. But if we were the only ones who had it, imagine the temptation to abuse that advantage.”
Chekov smiled. “Yes, Doctor, that’s it exactly. Thank you.”
“But wait, wait,” Kyle put in. “If that’s the standard, then that’s not absolute power, it’s relative power.”
Beach groaned. “Oh, Johnny, don’t tell me you’re going to be the guy splitting hairs over definitions.”
“Excuse me,” Terrell said gently. “Don’t we have a starship to run?”
The bridge crew murmured apologies and got back to work. But Terrell smiled to himself. The friendly banter was a sign of a healthy crew. Even Chekov finally seemed to feel at home here—and it was probably a good thing to have his cynicism on hand to temper Terrell’s idealism, though the captain certainly hoped the reverse would be the case as well. These men and women had bonded into a solid team, one he was proud to command.
He hoped they would stay together for a long while to come.
Epilogue
Eldman, New York
“I finally understand, Gary.”
Jim Kirk stood over the memorial plaque that Gary Mitchell’s mother and father had erected in the family plot fourteen years before, in the absence of a body to bury. After a moment, he went on.
“What happened to you out there … it was never your fault. All these years, I thought you’d gone mad with the temptations of power. I didn’t want to blame you for what you were turned into against your will. I never let myself speak ill of the dead—I wanted to protect your memory, for your parents’ sake, and for your legacy.
“But on some level, Gary, I resented you for being too weak to resist the power. I never … I never had much respect for your impulse control, your self-discipline. I know it was unfair. You were a good officer when it counted. You saved your impulses for off duty—usually. And when you did follow your heart over your orders, like on Dimorus or Nacmor, you did it for a good cause, and you saved me from my excesses—my own tendency to be blinded by duty.
“But I knew that discipline didn’t come easily to you. You had to work at it. For years, I was convinced that one day your reckless pursuit of your appetites would get the better of you … and after the barrier, I thought that was what had happened.”
He looked skyward, breathing shakily. “Now I know how wrong I was. When that other mind awakened inside you, screaming in pain inside your head … you must have been so frightened. So confused about your own identity. So desperate for control. The Spectre in you probably felt the same way.
“In the end, all you wanted was to create a world of your own,” Kirk went on. “A place where you could start anew, where you could have the control you needed. Maybe if we’d let you … if we’d tried to understand what you were going through instead of fearing your power …”
He lowered his head and sighed. “Well, it wouldn’t have saved you. With an active Spectre inside you, its power growing exponentially, you wouldn’t have lasted long. But at least, perhaps, you could have felt safe in the time you had left. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you that.”
Kirk could think of nothing more to say. After a couple of minutes of silent contemplation, he offered his old friend one last silent farewell and turned away, to where Spock had been waiting nearby. “I’d ask if there’s anything you wanted to say to him, but I’m sure you’d find it illogical.”
“Not at all, Jim. If one needs to work through a personal issue involving a deceased individual, it is useful to have a symbol on which to focus one’s thoughts. It is not dissimilar to certain Vulcan meditative practices.” He tilted his head. “The loss of Mister Mitchell was the first personal tragedy I saw you endure in our time aboard the Enterprise—though far from the last. It helped me to understand you as a man, and as a commander.”
Kirk studied him. “It was the first time I heard you admit to feeling for another person. I think that was when I started to see you as a friend instead of just a first officer.”
“That was my intent,” Spock replied dryly.
The admiral let out
a much-needed laugh. “Well, it worked out pretty well, I think.” He put a hand on Spock’s maroon-jacketed shoulder. “You may not be my first officer anymore, Spock, but I’m glad we still have a way to serve together. And I think you’ve taken quite well to command, Captain.”
Spock raised his brows contemplatively. “The position has its advantages. Though I still consider myself a teacher first.
“However, you have taken quite well to the position of admiral, Jim. Much more so than you did the first time.”
Kirk thought it over as they walked toward the cemetery exit. “That time, I was forced into it by Nogura, limited by his agendas. This time, I get to make the job my own. Plus I still have the Enterprise, and you and Bones, and the chance to work with the rest of the family from time to time. It’s the best of both worlds. I can handle problems like the Naazh crisis—problems bigger than one starship can handle—but still stay close to the people who matter most to me.”
“Indeed,” Spock said. “This new arrangement has proven most effective so far. It will be quite interesting to see what other challenges we can solve in the future.”
Kirk smiled in agreement, but in truth, he was ambivalent. While he had spoken truly about the benefits of his new post, a part of him would always regret that the center seat was no longer his—that his responsibilities now anchored him to one planet, rather than freeing him to probe ever deeper into the unknown. The extraordinary realms he’d glimpsed on the New Human mission had renewed his hunger for discovery and adventure. Would the occasional special mission between Academy duties be enough to sate that need?
They’ll have to be, he told himself. Spock has earned the Enterprise. And we all have to grow up sometime.
Once they were back on the sidewalk, in a public place where transporter use would no longer be a breach of etiquette, Spock drew his communicator. “If I may, Admiral?”
“Go ahead, Captain.”
Spock flipped open the antenna. “Captain Spock to Enterprise. Two to beam up.”
Acknowledgments
The Higher Frontier is set in the post–Star Trek: The Motion Picture continuity I’ve previously depicted in Star Trek: Ex Machina (January 2005), Star Trek: Mere Anarchy Book 4—The Darkness Drops Again (February 2007), and Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations—Forgotten History (May 2012). Specifically, it falls between the 2275 portions of Forgotten History and Part Two (2279) of The Darkness Drops Again.
The concepts and characters of this novel are drawn primarily from the following episodes:
Star Trek: The Original Series. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” Written by Samuel A. Peeples. Star Trek: The Original Series. “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” Written by Jean Lisette Aroeste. Star Trek: The Animated Series. “Yesteryear” Written by D.C. Fontana. Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Screenplay by Harold Livingston. Story by Alan Dean Foster. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Screenplay by Jack B. Sowards. Story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards. Star Trek: Enterprise. “The Aenar” Teleplay by André Bormanis. Story by Manny Coto.
The New Humans originated in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture—A Novel, though the term was not capitalized there, and my version is significantly different. My portrayal of the Andorians and Aenar draws on several other prose works. The Star Trek: Enterprise post-finale novels, including The Good That Men Do and Kobayashi Maru by Andrew Mangels and Michael A. Martin and The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm by Michael A. Martin, provided information about the Aenar’s senses and their habitat. Star Trek: Typhon Pact—Paths of Disharmony by Dayton Ward established that the last known Aenar was believed to have died more than a century before 2382. The Chimes at Midnight by Geoff Trowbridge, appearing in Star Trek: Myriad Universes—Echoes and Refractions, established the Andorians’ twenty-third-century planetary warming program, to reconcile earlier novels’ portrayal of a temperate Andor in the twenty-fourth century with Star Trek: Enterprise’s portrayal of a glaciated world in the twenty-second. Though that novel took place in the alternate timeline seen in “Yesteryear,” it posited that the terraforming effort began ca. 2224, before the death of young Spock split the timelines, so it stood to reason that the terraforming and the resultant controversies also happened in the primary continuity, though I’ve posited that the specifics unfolded differently after the timelines diverged. Thelin’s bondmate Thali is also from The Chimes at Midnight, where they had a less happy outcome to their relationship. Andorian Homeworld Security was established in Star Trek: Worlds of Deep Space Nine Volume One—Andor: Paradigm by Heather Jarman, which also established Zhevra as the continent housing the Andorian capital city, variously called Laikan or Laibok in other books (even in the same book). Michael A. Martin addressed this inconsistency in Star Trek: Enterprise—The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor’s Wing by identifying Laikan as the political capital and Laibok as the industrial center, but that didn’t strike me as quite consistent with the references in twenty-fourth-century books. Making them twin cities that merged into one over the centuries is my attempt to reconcile the two.
Star Trek: The Captain’s Daughter by Peter David informs the status of Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu following the Enterprise’s return to Earth. Doctor Wilder of the Reliant was introduced in IDW Comics’ Star Trek—Alien Spotlight: The Gorn by Scott Tipton, David Tipton, and David Messina. Commander Beach’s nickname “Stoney” comes from Vonda N. McIntyre’s novelization of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Captain Terrell’s history aboard the Sagittarius in the Taurus Reach is depicted in the Star Trek: Vanguard and Star Trek: Seekers novel series by David Mack, Dayton Ward, and Kevin Dilmore. Spock and Chapel’s conversation in Chapter Seven references Star Trek: The Original Series—The More Things Change by Scott Pearson. Scott wrote his novella to be compatible with my Ex Machina continuity, so I’m returning the favor herein.
My depictions of the Enterprise interiors are influenced by, but not identical to, the version in Star Trek: Mr. Scott’s Guide to the Enterprise by Lora Johnson (then known as Shane Johnson), and the phaser rifles described in the text are based on the conjectural design for a movie-era rifle in Johnson’s 1983 Weapons and Field Equipment fan manual. The refit Enterprise’s dual shield/force-field system was alluded to in ST:TMP; the specifics depicted here (and previously in Ex Machina) are based on a memo reprinted on p. 50 of Star Trek: Phase II: The Lost Series by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Andrew Probert’s site at probertdesigns.com was invaluable for plotting the sequences taking place in the Enterprise cargo/landing bay that Probert designed for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and David Kimble’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture Blueprints and cutaway poster were also helpful. My description of Earth Spacedock’s interior was partly inspired by the “Starbase 79” fan blueprints of Lawrence Miller, and the 1999 Miranda Class Cruiser General Plans by Michael C. Rupprecht with Alex Rosenzweig were helpful for depicting the Reliant, as were Donny Versiga’s CGI fan art re-creations of the Reliant bridge and transporter room. Thanks to Michael Okuda for answering my questions about how transporter reassembly works and what traces it might leave.
For Vulcan vocabulary, thanks to the Vulcan Language Dictionary at https://www.starbase-10.de/vld/. The Andorian terms naazh (phantom) and thetad (sleeper) come from a conjectural Andorian language created by Spence Hill in 1990.
Various conceptual and stylistic elements of The Higher Frontier were inspired by the Japanese Kamen Rider franchise created by Shotaro Ishinomori, with storylines developed by Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi having particular influence.
Finally, thanks to all the fans who helped me out with donations when I needed them desperately, a number of whom have had characters named after them in the preceding narrative. Thanks to Devin Clancy, Scott Crick, Ricarda Dormeyer, Ross Fertel, Devon Fisher, James Goetch, Ronald Held, Emily Jackson, Casey Lance, Ronald Mallory, Cody Lee Martin, Tom McNair, Michael Narumiya, Marko Nörenberg, Charlie Plaine, Rahadyan Sastrowardoyo, Daryl Schnell, Daniel Schreck, Gavin Sheedy, Jeff V
an Beek, Francesca Vassallo, Josh Vidmar, and anyone else I missed. And thanks to cousins Barb and Mark for letting me finish up the manuscript from their home.
More in the Star Trek Universe
Vulcan's Soul #1: Exodus
The Sundered
Star Trek: The Original Series: Crucible: Spock:…
Gateways #2
Vulcan's Soul #2: Exiles
The Klingon Gambit
About the Author
Christopher L. Bennett is a lifelong resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, with bachelor’s degrees in physics and history from the University of Cincinnati. He has written such critically acclaimed Star Trek novels as The Captain’s Oath, Ex Machina, The Buried Age, the Titan novels Orion’s Hounds and Over a Torrent Sea, the Department of Temporal Investigations series including the novels Watching the Clock and Forgotten History, and the Star Trek: Enterprise—Rise of the Federation series. His shorter works include stories in the anniversary anthologies Constellations, The Sky’s the Limit, Prophecy and Change, and Distant Shores. Beyond Star Trek, he has penned the novels X-Men: Watchers on the Walls and Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder. His original work includes the hard science fiction superhero novel Only Superhuman from Tor Books and the duology Arachne’s Crime and (coming in 2020) Arachne’s Exile from eSpec Books, as well as various works of short fiction in Analog and other magazines, most of which have been collected in the volumes Among the Wild Cybers: Tales Beyond the Superhuman, Hub Space: Tales from the Greater Galaxy, and Crimes of the Hub. More information, ordering links, annotations, and the author’s blog can be found at christopherlbennett.wordpress.com.
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