Soljenov moved Dobius like a puppet and Gailbraith fought him for control. Sola was reaching for Spock where he fought to pull Kirk back in. If the big Tanian could reach them, he could help them—or pop them off the wall like beads on a string.
McCoy moved, but he would be too late.
He was not certain whether Soljenov meant to use the Tanian against the three.
For the first time it occurred to McCoy that there could be some primitive level in Soljenov which might even see Sola dead rather than let her go. Was that what some of this had been about? McCoy wondered. The man was the core of a new superbeing, but he was still a man who had been locked in a struggle of Titans with this single woman for years. Was it possible that he had had to know what would draw her to a man? Or what fatal flaw or error barred her to him?
McCoy stepped forward suddenly and caught Soljenov's eye. "Force," he said. "You brought the same old error which drove you from Earth—and the one thing she could never accept. Stop. If you force this now, she will not forgive—nor survive."
McCoy was not certain whether he had reached Soljenov, but he had shifted some balance of attention, at least. Gailbraith's face went rigid with a massive effort. Soljenov braced against it—and the clash of mental forces seemed to make the volcano rumble still more ominously. And then Mr. Dobius' terrible efforts to move against his divided brain suddenly became smooth and easy. "Captain!" he called, and swarmed out on handholds which only his giant frame could reach.
Dobius caught Sola's hand and braced her as she drew Spock toward them, supporting an exhausted Kirk. Then the Tanian swung them past him, one by one, and at the end helped Spock support Kirk to solid ground.
The solid ground promptly began to shake. McCoy seemed to feel the volcano coming apart.
Soljenov broke away from Gailbraith and stepped back.
"Doctor," he said finally, "I will consider your argument. But I do not concede your premise. Multicelled life did not regard it as force to co-opt amoebas to become a new life-form. Nor do I. But I now perceive that some amoebas are unsuitable for my purpose." He looked at Kirk and Spock. "And that there is some strength in—choice—which I will study."
Soljenov stepped over to Sola where she stood with Kirk and Spock. "We will go now," Soljenov said. "The volcano has perhaps four minutes to destruct. The others have gone to the escape ship. When your bargain is honored, these four may beam out."
Kirk touched Sola's shoulder, turned her to face him. "Don't go," he said.
She lifted her head. "I must."
He held her shoulders. "You have done enough. Now you deserve your reward. We—three—have just solved our immediate problem. We will solve all of it. Come with us."
Spock stepped forward quietly. "I—concur," he said.
She smiled, and McCoy saw that her eyes were bright and full. "I—cannot. I gave a word to Soljenov for your lives. And my work is not finished. If I go, the Enterprise goes free, and so do the Argunovs and Z'Ehlahs among my people. And I do not believe that conquest will then be on the agenda of the Totality—when Soljenov and I have argued the shape of its adult."
Kirk turned to Soljenov. "Promise her that, now. Do not stand against her choice."
Soljenov shook his head. "She chose—to come with me. She is not finished—with her work or with the Totality—or perhaps even with me. Else she would not have been able to bring you through the jungles and the psionic field without bonding irrevocably to one of you."
Spock shook his head. "She could not, for other reasons."
The Vulcan turned to her. "There is no unsolvable problem, Sola. I am not hurt by this. Jim is not. No choice you make or do not make will harm any of the three of us. Unless—you go. I also ask you to stay."
She reached out and took Spock's hand in the Vulcan manner of paired fingers—and Kirk's in a simple clasp. "What we have had will exist—always. But it must stop here. I go. And I cannot come back. I will go with the Totality, not into it. But there are choices I must be free to make." She looked for a moment at Soljenov. "And choices I cannot make. While there is any danger, I cannot bond with anyone to become someone's weapon—or to give hostages to fortune. Certainly not"—for a moment her voice caught in her throat—"two hostages."
Then she stood very straight. "I did not say it, and before I lose the right: I love you, Spock."
The Vulcan started to speak, but she stopped him. "Don't say it." She turned to Kirk, "I love you, Jim, freely and forever." She leaned forward and brushed his lips.
He caught her to him, and for a moment McCoy did not think he would let her go. Then the volcano roared and spewed new lava into the chasm below.
Sola leaned away from Kirk, and McCoy did not hear but saw her lips form, "Good-bye." She caught Spock's hand to her face and then released it and turned away, blindly, to Soljenov.
Soljenov pressed a button on his belt. "Your communicator will work now, Vulcan," he said over the noise. "You have perhaps one minute."
He took Sola's arm and ran with her to the corridor opening. She stopped once and looked back—at Kirk and Spock. Then her look included McCoy for one instant. "Thank you, Doctor. Take care of them for—"
But the volcano cut off the last word.
Then she moved with Soljenov, and suddenly they were out of sight.
For a moment there was only silence, except for the threat of the volcano.
Then Kirk spoke. "The communicator, Mr. Spock."
Spock nodded and used it. "Spock to Enterprise. Five to beam up—immediately."
There was a sound of distance and interference, and McCoy was certain that it would not work and that they had been left to die.
Then Uhura's voice came through. "Yes, sir. We have your signal. Beaming—now!"
McCoy saw lava explode and splash up toward the ledge—and he heard the ungodly rumble of what must have been a thermal-powered first stage of the escape ship.
Then the transporter took them.
Chapter 34
Kirk came onto the Bridge. He moved with some difficulty, but there was no effort to it. Somewhere the gray weight of fatigue had left him—and now he was merely exhausted.
He didn't bother to conceal it from the Vulcan, or from the doctor tagging at his heels as he sank gratefully into the command chair.
"Mr. Spock, report," he said. Spock turned from the science station to look at him. "'On the ship?'" he asked.
"Certainly on the ship, Mr. Spock."
"The Enterprise is under our control again. Soljenov appears to have kept his word to release our people. Gailbraith reports them clear—and he has released those he took as a countermeasure. Mr. Dobius is unharmed. The escape ship from the volcano made it safely and is departing for Zaran."
The turbolift doors opened and Gailbraith appeared in them.
"Ambassador," Kirk said, "what are your plans? Are we to deliver you now to Zaran?"
Ambassador Gailbraith shook his head. "I intend first to report to the Federation Council—and to certain of the New Human and other Oneness groups—the results of my mission here and its implications. I shall report that the matter of choice is crucial to all such new entities, and to the galaxy. I shall also report to the Chief of Staff of Starfleet your role in bringing me to that conclusion. And I will tell him that his choice of his servant Job was—wise. Even if he did not know that I had arranged to have it made for him …"
"I see," Kirk said. "And have you considered who chose—Mr. Spock?"
Gailbraith smiled. "I believe that might have been the Devil himself." He sobered. "Gentlemen, I do offer whatever form of condolence may be appropriate. I had not foreseen that it would come to—this."
Kirk felt his jaw harden. "No. You had not. But you wished to use me, us, my ship—and her. Ambassador, I am grateful for your help in crucial matters. I applaud your decision in the matter of choice. And I would personally like to wring your neck. Would you excuse us, sir?"
Gailbraith looked at him without apology. "I
would. I will look forward to dealing with you again under more propitious circumstances." He turned on his heel and left the Bridge.
Kirk sat back tiredly.
"There are still the silver birds on Vulcan," Spock said. It was the repetition of an offer he had made, long ago, when Kirk had lost Edith Keeler: the healing of Vulcan, a desert to walk on, and the bright silver birds …
"Thank you, Mr. Spock," Kirk said, but he shook his head. "I think—our healing is here. Whatever we have lost—I don't know about you, Spock—but I would not undo it, not any of it."
Spock was silent for a moment. "Nor I, Jim."
"The Zaran ship is accelerating, Captain," Sulu reported. "They're on their way."
McCoy came to stand close behind Kirk's chair, and for a moment he put a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be all right, Jim."
Kirk followed the Zaran ship with his eyes. His impulse was to go after it and take the Totality on with his bare hands or bare mind—bring her back …
He knew he would have the impulse for a long time. And he knew that she had made her choice. Had she decided, as McCoy had said at some point, that the triangle was inherently unstable? Or had she merely gone to keep the word that had saved their lives? Or for her duty and her mission? Or for all of that, and for reasons which he might never know …?
She had gone.
He would hear her voice and remember the shape of what might have been for a long time, and nevertheless, he could not regret that she had come.
He looked at Spock, and it seemed to him that the chains and the vultures had lifted. The look of control was merely deeper and more certain now. And he did not think that the Vulcan would ever regret this day, either.
One day perhaps they would have to tackle the issue of Oneness head-on. But for the moment Kirk would settle for the particular amoebas he had around him. And for the memory of one who had come, and gone.
"Heading for home, Mr. Sulu," he said. "Warp Factor Three. Let's go."
Look for STAR TREK fiction from Pocket Books
Star Trek®: The Original Series
Enterprise: The First Adventure • Vonda N. McIntyre
Final Frontier • Diane Carey
Strangers From the Sky • Margaret Wander Bonanno
Spock's World • Diane Duane
The Lost Years • J.M. Dillard
Probe • Margaret Wander Bonanno
Prime Directive • Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Best Destiny • Diane Carey
Shadows on the Sun • Michael Jan Friedman
Sarek • A.C. Crispin
Federation • Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Vulcan's Forge • Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz
Mission to Horatius • Mack Reynolds
Vulcan's Heart • Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz
Novelizations
Star Trek: The Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. McIntyre
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock • Vonda N. McIntyre
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home • Vonda N. McIntyre
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier • J.M. Dillard
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country • J.M. Dillard
Star Trek Generations • J.M. Dillard
Starfleet Academy • Diane Carey
Star Trek books by William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
The Ashes of Eden
The Return
Avenger
Star Trek: Odyssey (contains The Ashes of Eden, The Return, and Avenger)
Spectre
Dark Victory
Preserver
#1 • Star Trek: The Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry
#2 • The Entropy Effect • Vonda N. McIntyre
#3 • The Klingon Gambit • Robert E. Vardeman
#4 • The Covenant of the Crown • Howard Weinstein
#5 • The Prometheus Design • Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath
#6 • The Abode of Life • Lee Correy
#7 • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. McIntyre
#8 • Black Fire • Sonni Cooper
#9 • Triangle • Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath
#10 • Web of the Romulans • M.S. Murdock
#11 • Yesterday's Son • A.C. Crispin
#12 • Mutiny on the Enterprise • Robert E. Vardeman
#13 • The Wounded Sky • Diane Duane
#14 • The Trellisane Confrontation • David Dvorkin
#15 • Corona • Greg Bear
#16 • The Final Reflection • John M. Ford
#17 • Star Trek III: The Search For Spock • Vonda N. McIntyre
#18 • My Enemy, My Ally • Diane Duane
#19 • The Tears of the Singers • Melinda Snodgrass
#20 • The Vulcan Academy Murders • Jean Lorrah
#21 • Uhura's Song • Janet Kagan
#22 • Shadow Lord • Laurence Yep
#23 • Ishmael • Barbara Hambly
#24 • Killing Time • Della Van Hise
#25 • Dwellers in the Crucible • Margaret Wander Bonanno
#26 • Pawns and Symbols • Majliss Larson
#27 • Mindshadow • J.M. Dillard
#28 • Crisis on Centaurus • Brad Ferguson
#29 • Dreadnought! • Diane Carey
#30 • Demons • J.M. Dillard
#31 • Battlestations! • Diane Carey
#32 • Chain of Attack • Gene DeWeese
#33 • Deep Domain • Howard Weinstein
#34 • Dreams of the Raven • Carmen Carter
#35 • The Romulan Way • Diane Duane & Peter Morwood
#36 • How Much For Just the Planet? • John M. Ford
#37 • Bloodthirst • J.M. Dillard
#38 • The IDIC Epidemic • Jean Lorrah
#39 • Time For Yesterday • A.C. Crispin
#40 • Timetrap • David Dvorkin
#41 • The Three-Minute Universe • Barbara Paul
#42 • Memory Prime • Gar and Judith Reeves-Stevens
#43 • The Final Nexus • Gene DeWeese
#44 • Vulcan's Glory • D.C. Fontana
#45 • Double, Double • Michael Jan Friedman
#46 • The Cry of the Onlies • Judy Klass
#47 • The Kobayashi Maru • Julia Ecklar
#48 • Rules of Engagement • Peter Morwood
#49 • The Pandora Principle • Carolyn Clowes
#50 • Doctor's Orders • Diane Duane
#51 • Enemy Unseen • V.E. Mitchell
#52 • Home is the Hunter • Dana Kramer Rolls
#53 • Ghost-Walker • Barbara Hambly
#54 • A Flag Full of Stars • Brad Ferguson
#55 • Renegade • Gene DeWeese
#56 • Legacy • Michael Jan Friedman
#57 • The Rift • Peter David
#58 • Faces of Fire • Michael Jan Friedman
#59 • The Disinherited • Peter David
#60 • Ice Trap • L.A. Graf
#61 • Sanctuary • John Vornholt
#62 • Death Count • L.A. Graf
#63 • Shell Game • Melissa Crandall
#64 • The Starship Trap • Mel Gilden
#65 • Windows on a Lost World • V.E. Mitchell
#66 • From the Depths • Victor Milan
#67 • The Great Starship Race • Diane Carey
#68 • Firestorm • L.A. Graf
#69 • The Patrian Transgression • Simon Hawke
#70 • Traitor Winds • L.A. Graf
#71 • Crossroad • Barbara Hambly
#72 • The Better Man • Howard Weinstein
#73 • Recovery • J.M. Dillard
#74 • The Fearful Summons • Denny Martin Flynn
#75 • First Frontier • Diane Carey & Dr. James I. Kirkland
#76 • The Captain's Daughter • Peter David
#77 • Twilight's End • Jerry
Oltion
#78 • The Rings of Tautee • Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch
#79 • Invasion! #1: First Strike • Diane Carey
#80 • The Joy Machine • James Gunn
#81 • Mudd in Your Eye • Jerry Oltion
#82 • Mind Meld • John Vornholt
#83 • Heart of the Sun • Pamela Sargent & George Zebrowski
#84 • Assignment: Eternity • Greg Cox
#85-87 • My Brother's Keeper • Michael Jan Friedman
#85 • Republic
#86 • Constitution
#87 • Enterprise
#88 • Across the Universe • Pamela Sargent & George Zebrowski
#89-94 • New Earth
#89 • Wagon Train to the Stars • Diane Carey
#90 • Belle Terre • Dean Wesley Smith with Diane Carey
#91 • Rough Trails • L.A. Graf
#92 • The Flaming Arrow • Kathy and Jerry Oltion
#93 • Thin Air • Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith
#94 • Challenger • Diane Carey
Star Trek: The Next Generation®
Metamorphosis • Jean Lorrah
Vendetta • Peter David
Reunion • Michael Jan Friedman
Imzadi • Peter David
The Devil's Heart • Carmen Carter
Dark Mirror • Diane Duane
Q-Squared • Peter David
Crossover • Michael Jan Friedman
Kahless • Michael Jan Friedman
Ship of the Line • Diane Carey
The Best and the Brightest • Susan Wright
Planet X • Michael Jan Friedman
Imzadi II: Triangle • Peter David
I, Q • John de Lancie & Peter David
The Valiant • Michael Jan Friedman
Novelizations
Encounter at Farpoint• David Gerrold
Unification • Jeri Taylor
Relics • Michael Jan Friedman
Descent • Diane Carey
All Good Things... • Michael Jan Friedman
Star Trek: Klingon • Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Star Trek Generations • J.M. Dillard
Triangle Page 17
