"You need not explain."
"I'll decide what I need, damn it! And right now I need you to come back in that cave and fight for her. I may pin your elegant Vulcan ears back, later, if I'm up to it. But I won't be chosen because I'm the one to be rescued, or because the Totality has pulled some string."
"You were chosen, from the beginning," Spock said.
Kirk shrugged. "She didn't know you. Spock, she's in danger, and if I thought I was the only way to save her, which I did, I would. But I don't think it would work now. She sensed—even then—that you were in trouble."
"It proves nothing."
"Logic, Spock. If we dance to the tune the Totality called, if I bond with her—or even if you did—they would control her. Spock, is there some possible salvation in the fact that we three—are three?"
Spock looked at him carefully. "Unknown, Captain. Insufficient data."
Kirk reached out and handed Spock the communicator. "I suppose it's asking too much that you get this back in working order?"
Spock inspected it, rising to the bait. "Considering that we lack even stone knives and bear claws, this time, possibly."
Kirk grinned. "I'm afraid I'm always asking too much of you, Mr. Spock. Now come back into the cave."
Spock rose without a word and obeyed.
Chapter 25
Kirk watched the Vulcan work, as he had on so many other missions, the intent face bent over the fine work … "I am attempting to construct a mnemonic circuit using stone knives and bear claws," Spock had told Edith Keeler.
Now again there was the argument from the necessity of the galaxy. Kirk was perhaps more tired than he knew of the necessity of the galaxy. Today he had felt the pull of the bonding, strong and sweet, more than the flesh, and not forbidden to him this time by some gulf which could never be bridged. This woman belonged in his world and time, lived on his terms, played in his league as a Free Agent.
Their joining would make her give a hostage to fortune whom she could not lose, would doubtless put them both at the mercy of the Totality. It might well loose her powers in some way which would unleash Oneness on the galaxy. But at one moment Kirk had almost been prepared to risk that, and he sensed that her resistance on that count had also been stretched to the point of the unendurable. Even now he saw in her fire-lit face that the pull of the bonding was strong. She might have risked all the other hazards.
It had been a more personal consideration which had truly held them back until interruption saved them from having to admit that there was one unalterable objection. That objection had a name, and the name was Spock.
"Spock?" Kirk said.
The Vulcan looked up and met his eyes, and Kirk saw that the Vulcan had missed nothing in the tree-cave, Kirk's tattered Sickbay jacket left behind, and Sola's belt. The Vulcan's eyes held no accusation, merely comprehension.
"The Totality," Kirk said carefully, "has assumed that the necessary conclusion of mate-hunt could not be resisted or deferred, and that it must inevitably lead to bonding. That was a mistake."
"Indeed?" Spock said, as if they were talking about a point of scientific curiosity.
"Indeed," he said firmly. "Mistake number two. Soljenov assumed he could force her to choose. He could not. There were practical reasons why she would necessarily come after me, if she wanted to preserve us both."
"That was," Spock said, "a message which I attempted to convey."
Sola lifted her head. "Your message came through, Spock. Very clearly. I could not have gone to you with his body." She met the Vulcan's eyes. "Nor he to you, with mine. That would have been his only choice."
"So I surmised," the Vulcan said.
"You surmised!" Kirk said, startled.
Spock shrugged fractionally. "One cannot stir such physiological and psionic processes to such a peak and offer no completion without grave, perhaps fatal, risk." He turned to look at Sola. "Even now, if you have evaded the final necessity of bonding, I suspect you are at risk."
"If I am, I must be," she said. "I cannot choose. Today when I was called to hunt—I was called in two directions. I still am."
Spock was silent for a long moment. Finally he nodded. "It is something I had wanted to know."
So did I, Kirk thought, but he did not voice it. From somewhere the plan which had been coming to him in bits and pieces began to fit together. It would not have worked, not even for Spock, if she had felt no such call. And Kirk had thought once that afternoon that perhaps she had not.
At some primitive level he felt a sudden, blinding wish that she had not. Then he pulled himself back to what had to be his main focus.
"Spock, what I said today, to both of you, still goes." He started to move out of the mouth of the cave. "I'll take the first watch."
Spock's arm blocked the way. "I am neither fragile nor in need of assistance. Nor will you move beyond the portal."
Kirk looked at him in some astonishment. He could not remember when, if ever, the Vulcan had spoken to him in that tone.
"Nor am I," Sola said, and he perceived that he was in some difficulty with both of them.
"For the record," he said rather flatly, "neither am I." He gave a moment's thought to trying to move beyond the Vulcan's arm, thought better of it. "Mr. Spock," he said in the command tone, "about that communicator …?"
Spock hefted it in his other hand. "It is in perfect order, Captain, and I suspect that it always was. If we cannot now reach the Enterprise, and I detect no blocking force-field, we must conclude that the Enterprise—or at least its communications network—is in enemy hands."
Spock hit the control on the communicator at Kirk's nod. "Spock to Enterprise. Come in please."
There was no answer. Spock consulted a reading. "There is no force-field. The Enterprise does not answer—because it cannot."
Kirk looked restlessly at the cave entrance. They had his ship! The heart of it, at least. And he was helpless here. These two would certainly not let him get away by himself, even if he were to convince himself that it was anything short of suicide to try that.
"How long to moonrise?" he asked Sola.
It was Spock who answered. "Approximately two-point-one-three hours."
Sola moved toward the mouth of the cave. "I brought one force-field generator. If it works, no watch is needed."
She set the control and in fact a force-field sprang up to flicker across the entrance, blocking any animal or humanoid danger. It was better than a thorn boma.
"All right," Kirk said. "We'll rest for two hours. It will pay in the long run." He himself felt ready to drop. The other two did not seem much the worse for wear, but each of them had been very close to death this day. He suspected that Sola still was. And they would all probably be much closer to it still before the night was over.
"I see no alternative," Kirk said, "to a direct assault on the crater. The Totality has some interest in us. Soljenov will quite possibly even let us in."
In fact, Kirk was certain that it was he, chiefly, whom the force in the mountain wanted, and if he came close enough, he expected it to take him. Then he would make his bargain for a galaxy—and two souls …
Meanwhile the three of them had reached a peculiar resting-place here, and there was an odd kind of comfort in the presence of the other two, even for these brief hours. He settled down to try to rest.
Chapter 26
Captain's Log, Enterprise, Supplementary. Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott in temporary command. Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock, together with the Zaran—ah—passenger, Sola Thane, remain missing. Communications reports no contact, in spite of the fact that Sola Thane was equipped with a working communicator. Sensor scans of the planet below are unable to distinguish their life-form readings from the extremely high level of background biological activity.
We are no closer to any means of detecting or combatting the takeover of Enterprise crew by either the Zaran Totality or Ambassador Gailbraith's Oneness. Personally, I am not a' that sure which is
worse.
I myself believe that I remain clear of both of them, but I am certain of no one else. Perhaps not even of myself. Doctor McCoy believes that there is a latency period in which even the victim does not know or remember that he or she has been taken over. Victims continue to think and act as before, but their actions may unconsciously serve the Totality, or they may blank out for a moment something they are made to do.
If that is true, it may be that I command a ship of aliens who wear all the familiar faces of family.
McCoy came onto the Bridge to hear the last of Scott's log dictation. He saw the Scot turn toward him with the slight, guarded speculation which said: Are you One of them?
Then Scott nodded to him. "Any progress?" he asked. McCoy noted that Scott did not even use his name.
McCoy shook his head. "That's right, Scotty. I may be One. Or you may. Meanwhile, I think I may have bought us both some time. Anything on Jim? Spock? Her?" He saw Scott's negative. "Or about the Totality stronghold?"
Scott sighed. "It's a sweet piece of engineering. Short of blowing up the planet—or at least touching off an active volcano, I'd say it'so impregnable—"
"What if you touched off the volcano?"
Scott shrugged. "For all we know the Captain is sitting on top of it. Or—in it. I'd say the Totality would have an auxiliary escape mechanism. Transport capability—and likely a ship. And if we attack, they'd more than likely be all over our Bridge the next moment—if they aren't already." He turned to look around the Bridge. Uhura sat at communications, looking darkly beautiful, as always. But was she One? Communications would be a prime target.
McCoy looked at Scott, who might also be One. "Scotty," he said deliberately, "I'm going down. If those three—or any of them—are alive down there, I think they'll sooner or later turn up at that volcano. That may be what this test is all about. But God knows what kind of condition they'll be in. I'm not going to miss this."
"And just what do y' count on to keep you alive, Doctor?"
McCoy looked him in the eye. "I'm taking Gailbraith. And Mr. Dobius."
"What?" Scott said. "But Gailbraith is just as likely to glom you for the Oneness as look at you. And you know Dobius has been taken by Gailbraith and the Totality. Though just how they expect him to think with two heads I dinna ken."
"That's the point, Scotty. He's the only one I can be fairly sure isn't totally controlled by the Totality. So long as he's controlled by himself or by Gailbraith, I'm all right. And if we need to contact the Totality, it can probably be through him. Besides, he's the strongest candidate to survive down there."
"I do na' like it, Leonard," Scott said.
McCoy grimaced. "Neither do I, Scotty. But I have to go. And I can't let you stop me, even if I wanted to. You could be controlled."
"Aye."
"Don't worry about me, Mr. Scott," McCoy said. "By Gailbraith's calculations, in less than two hours the Totality should have total control of the Enterprise."
"Doctor," Scott said, "over my body."
"That," McCoy growled, "is what I'm afraid of."
Chapter 27
By moonlight they traveled through the trees. The moon, nearly full and more than twice the apparent size of Earth's moon, cast a respectable blue-white glow. Many of the trees and flowers also fluoresced blue-white in the moonlight, lighting their way as if they walked in a diamond night.
And ahead was the ominous, red-gold glow of the living crater.
Both were spectacularly beautiful and dangerous. In the jungle great tree-orchids opened glowing blooms the size of a man. Somewhere else they would see tiny, perfect blooms the size of a fingernail—scattered by millions.
Nor was it all innocence. Kirk saw what he was certain was the local equivalent of a Venus's-flytrap. But this plant was of a size to trap cat-bear or man. He had almost walked into its open jaws before Sola caught him and steered him aside.
"This is like your home?" he asked.
She laughed. "Like the wild areas, yes. We have created certain parklike areas where children may learn in safety. But as on Vulcan there is no real safety except in knowledge learned very early."
He had a picture of her as a very small girl, moving in these hazards—and he turned for a moment to see that Spock must be having much the same thought. Possibly the Vulcan, who had survived the Kaswan at age seven, would understand that girl better than he did.
But then, Kirk also understood the woman who was the Free Agent only too well.
For this moment they all moved suspended in time, the three together, with no decisions to be made and no loss to be contemplated. He caught himself in the vagrant wish that it could always be so.
But it could not.
Ahead was the lowering, malevolent pit of the great crater. It might as well have been the pits of Hell.
In some dim way—perhaps through his earlier experience with Gailbraith's Oneness—Kirk could sense the Totality, waiting for him.
This was only the advance post of a mental entity which stretched through space to Zaran, and spanned millions of minds. He could sense now a kind of pyramid, held together by psionic science and the bonded females of Sola's kind. It was a pyramid which needed her at its apex—and control of her bond-mate to control her. But if she would not bond with him—or could not, given the counterforce of Spock—then perhaps the Totality could be made to settle for a Starship Captain, which it also wanted.
"I'll go in," Kirk said as they came to the foot of the crater. One side of it had been sheared away into a vertical cliff-face where an engineering masterwork had been performed to tap the massive geo-thermal energies of the live volcano. Without serious effort, the Totality could now mobilize much more than the power of a starship. There would be no way to penetrate this citadel by force. "They want me," Kirk continued. "They've obviously gone to some trouble to get me. They won't harm me. I'll talk. There are enough people in the galaxy who would willingly try a Oneness to make conquest unnecessary."
He stopped, seeing the massive resistance of the other two.
"If anyone goes alone," Spock said, "it must be I, Captain. You demonstrably have no defense against Oneness. And you are a primary objective of both Gailbraith's and Soljenov's Ones. They offer no guarantee against harm, and logic suggests that 'talk' is likely to prove less than effectual as a weapon. Your problem would not be to get in, but to get out. Ours is not to give you as a hostage to fortune. Do you suppose that either of us would not have to come in after you?"
Kirk sighed. "That is what has stopped me up to now. But it won't do. The Enterprise is at stake, and with it the galaxy. The ship can be used to wipe out the incorrigibles who resist the Totality on Zaran. Millions of lives. And from there it can threaten other planets, other ships. It can become the advance base for taking over other starships. It can be used in our names, using our crew, to discredit the Federation. Wars can be provoked and the Totality can pick up the pieces. Within our lifetimes the Totality can spread through the known galaxy like a cancer. Possibly the Totality could succeed even without Sola, if it had the Enterprise. In the face of that, we have to set aside the personal. I am best able to go, and I am in command. You will both remain here."
He turned to go, but Sola's hand settled on his shoulder, and when he turned to look, her eyes locked with his. "No," she said.
"Just—no?" Kirk asked, surprised.
"That's right."
"You and what army?" he asked, and if there was the trace of a smile on his lips, he was not amused.
She did not, quite, look at Spock. "You will recall, Captain Kirk," she said, "that your ship and its personnel were placed at my disposal."
It stopped him. "We agreed to attempt not to reach the point which would make you use that authority."
She nodded. "We failed."
"I have no ship," he said soberly. "We must assume that the Enterprise is under enemy control. Short of a miracle, which we had better perform, all of us will almost certainly fall under alien co
ntrol. We are three individuals, marooned here, possibly forever, and the rules which applied to a Free Agent and a Starship Captain can't have any real force here. I have my reasons for going in. You will respect that."
"No." She turned to Spock. "Hear me. This is my mission and my duty. I know how to do it. I cannot do it if impeded by hostages I cannot lose—and who are determined to place themselves in the hands of the enemy. Now that we have all reached this place, Spock, the service you can do for me is to take him, and yourself, to a place of safety, and see me go in."
Spock started to shake his head, but she interrupted him. "Logic, Spock," she said. "I am the galaxy's expert on fighting the Totality. You must let me perform my function. If I were a male, or of a quite incompatible species, you would not stop me. You cannot make what we are to each other the source of the destruction of what we are."
The Vulcan looked at her, then at Kirk, and some thought transformed his features. "No. But possibly what we are to each other is our only weapon."
It was their turn to stare at the Vulcan.
"The Totality counted on making her choose," Spock continued. "If she would not, or could not, they must devise a new plan. In an improvised plan, there will always be some flaw. We must go in together."
After a long moment Sola turned to Kirk. "Spock is right. It is my place to go to face the trial. But you—both—are the essence of the trial. I cannot exclude you, nor leave you."
Kirk nodded, but he kept his own counsel about what he would do inside. Spock might be quite right that their threeness was their best weapon.
Or—it might be their most serious danger.
More than likely it was both …
They turned and looked for a way into the Crater of Hell.
Chapter 28
Soljenov tuned the essence-finder. It brought in the holoauras of the three target essences, then tuned the bright colors down to a barely perceptible psionic background, and focused on a three-dimensional visual image of the three.
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