by 12(lit)
Quarterstaff practice had begun on the gaming board, Lars attacking, Uhura defending. As they moved away to a rhomboid, Chekov, holding a spear, was clumsily warding off Tamoon's attack.
"You must be fast, Chee-koof. Again, parry, parry. Thrust."
Anger flared in him. He swung the staff around, aiming its bladed end at a metal disk on her shoulder. It punctured the thing, and Tamoon drew back, de-lighted.
"That is good," she told him. "Soon you will be ready for the games. Why does that not please you, Chee-koof?"
"Chekov. The only thing that would please me is to return to the ship. How did they get us here? Where is their power, Tamoon?"
"It is not permitted to discuss." She hesitated. "Tell me of this ship. What is there so pleasing? Your Provider? Does he care for you better?"
"I have no Provider. Earthpeople take care of themselves."
She stared at him. "Care for themselves? But that is not safe! Many things can happen! You must never return there, Chee-koof. It is not safe at all!"
Meanwhile, Shahna, laboring under the belief that Kirk's legs required exercise, had been leading him at a brisk trot through a field; and they were still trotting as they emerged from a clump of trees, side by side.
Slightly breathless, Kirk said, "We've covered over two miles. Isn't that enough? How about a breather?" And at her blank look, interpreted. "A rest."
"Oh... very well-if you are tired."
Kirk dropped down on the stone pediment of a ruined building; and after a pause, Shahna joined him.
Inhaling deeply, he said, "It was good to get away from that training area-even for a little while. Why do they like it, the Providers? Why do they want to watch others hurt, killed?"
The dark lashes lowered over the sapphire eyes. "It is the way."
"The voices sounded mechanical. Are they com-puters?"
The lashes lifted. "Computers?"
He answered his own question with another one, saying to himself, "But why, why would computers keep slaves? Shahna, have you ever seen them? Do they have bodies?"
"Not such as ours."
He looked off at the rubble of ruins at the edge of the trees. "What is that place, Shahna?"
"It is not used."
"Doesn't it have a name? It's very old. Probably built by humanoid people. Shahna, could this once have been a city of the Providers?"
Her voice shook. "I do not think it is well to ask such things."
"They have bodies," he said, "like ours... or they had."
She spoke firmly, almost angrily, "One does not talk of such things!"
"I see." And regretting the discomfort he'd caused her, changed the subject. "Pretty country. Looks very much like Earth."
As all he got was another blank look, he explained. "My home planet-where I was born."
"Planet?"
Well, he thought, I can instruct too. "Have you never looked at the night sky, Shahna? The lights up there?"
"Oh, those," she said. "I have looked at them."
"They're stars. And around them are planets- places... many of them like this-with people just like us living on them."
She was staring again. "How can one live on a flicker of light?"
He smiled at her. "From Earth, Triskelion's two suns seem only a flicker of light." Then sobering, he said, "Actually, this is the darkest planet I've ever seen."
"Dark? Why, all is lighted! Here... the cham-bers..."
"Dark," he insisted. "Thralls have no freedom, Shahna. You can't think or do anything but what your Providers tell you."
"What else would one do?"
She was beautiful, and her ignorance added a qual-ity of pathos to the beauty.
"Love, for one thing," he said.
"What is love?"
He was tempted to kiss her, but refraining, said, "On Earth, it's more important than anything else, especial-ly between a man and a woman."
Comprehension flooded her face. "Oh, we, too, have mates. When it is time to increase the herd, my Provider will select one for me."
"On Earth, we select our own mates. Somebody we care for, love. Men and women spend their lives to-gether-sharing things... making each other hap-py."
Flushing, she whispered, "I do not think your words are allowed."
"All right. But tell me about the Providers. Where do they live? What do they look like?"
"I have never seen them, but they are said not to be like us. They stay in-"
Suddenly, the light on her collar went into glow. Shahna gasped. Kirk leaped to his feet, and looking up at him, she just managed to whisper, "I-I have... spoken... of the... forbidden. I must... be-"
She was choking with her agony. Going to her, Kirk stood beside her in his own agony of indecision, un-able to help but only to watch her slip off the pediment and sink to the ground, writhing, strangling.
He glared around him. "Stop! I did it! I made her talk!" Then his voice rose to a scream. "Stop it, I tell you! You're killing her!"
But the jewel on the collar only glowed brighter. Shahna's face darkened with the uprush of blood, her mouth opening, her clawing hands falling away from the collar. Kirk whirled to the cliff above the gaming area, shaking his clenched fist at it. "Stop it!" he shouted again. "She did nothing wrong! It was my fault. If you want to punish someone, punish me! Please, please..."
He was half-aware of a strange rustling sound like electronic laughter. Then the light on Shahna's collar winked out. As he fell on his knees beside her, a voice spoke, the high, semi-soprano voice of Provider One.
"Is that what you humans call compassion? It is in-teresting, but it has no value here. You present many interesting aspects, Captain. But you must learn obedi-ence. Then you will be an excellent Thrall."
Shahna had relaxed, her lungs sucking in great gulps of air. Released from her near-fatal agony, she began to sob. Kirk took her gently into his arms.
"I know," he said. "It's all right. You're safe now here in my arms-perfectly safe. Stop crying."
She leaned her head on his shoulder, the sobs quieting. Then looking up at him wonderingly, she said, "You risked bringing their anger on yourself. Why-why did you do it?"
He held her closer. "It's the custom for Earth people to help each other when they're in trouble."
He'd known it was coming, and it came-the mo-ment of magic between them when the mysterious shuttle moves between a man and a woman, weaving, interweaving them together in the nameless bond.
He turned her face to his and kissed her.
She drew back, startled. Then while the sapphire eyes searched his, she lifted a finger and touched his lips with it softly. "And that-was that also helping?"
Smiling, he kissed the finger. "I suppose you could call it that."
Her eyes were shining. "Please... help me once again."
This time the kiss grew deep, complete, and her arms lifted,to go slowly around his neck. As he brushed his cheek against one, she withdrew them.
"I-I did not know it could be like this between people. Is it always so in the place you come from?"
He said, "It always should be like this for you, Shahna."
The rustle of high laughter echoed again, and Galt was abruptly with them. Silently, Kirk released the girl.
"Captain, you do indeed present many surprises. Because you have amused the Providers, there will be no punishment. Return to your quarters."
Kirk spoke softly to Shahna. "Come, we'll go to-gether."
In the bridge command chair, Spock turned his head to the corner where Scott and McCoy were whispering together.
"Mr. Scott."
Scott started guiltily. "Yes, sir."
"Are you unable to manage anything faster than Warp Six?"
Scott moved to the command chair. "It's my opin-ion, sir, that we've come much too far as it is."
McCoy joined them to add his support to Scott's opinion. "He's right, Spock. We lost Jim and the others back at Gamma II. You've dragged us a dozen light years out here on s
ome wild hunch that-"
"I do not entertain hunches, Doctor. No transporter malfunction was responsible for the disappearance. They were not within the Gamma System. A focused beam of extremely high intensity energy was directed into the Gamma System from the binary system we are now approaching. No known natural phenomena would account for that beam. Does that not clarify the situation?"
"No, Spock, it doesn't. That's just a fancy way of saying you're playing a hunch. My hunch is that they're still back on Gamma II-dead or alive. And I want to make another search."
"Dr. McCoy speaks for me too, sir," Scott said.
"Gentlemen, I am in command of this vessel. We will proceed on our present course-unless it is your intention to declare a mutiny."
Spock received their glares unmoved. And for a moment, his two leading officers felt what they had of-ten felt before: an awe of Spock. Unnumbered had been the times he had demonstrated his devotion to his Captain-a devotion now under cruel and lonely test. He would follow his own decision, unsupported, giving no sign whatever of any inward doubt of anx-iety.
Scott could feel his respect for Kirk's best friend growing, suddenly. As to McCoy, he fell back on bluster.
"Who said anything about mutiny? You stubborn, pointed-eared... All right, but if we don't find them here, will you go back for another search of Gamma II?"
"Agreed, Doctor. Mr. Scott, now can you give me Warp Seven?"
"Aye. And perhaps a bit more."
Spock spoke to the navigator. "Warp Seven, Ensign."
Nourishment Interval. Shahna, unlocking the door of Kirk's stall, entered it without looking at him. As she set down the food container, Kirk said, "You're late."
She nodded unhappily, still evading his eyes. He rose from his bench to take the container from her. "Are you disturbed about what happened today?"
"Yes."
"Because of me?"
"You-you have made me feel very strange. If it were allowed, I would ask that you be given another Drill Thrall."
He placed the container on -the cubed stand. "I wouldn't like that, darling. I wouldn't like it at all."
He opened his arms to her and she walked straight into them. For a moment, she tried to resist his lips but then hungrily responded to them. Gathering her to him more closely, he suddenly dealt her a short, hard uppercut on the chin. As she went limp, sagging in his arms, he swiftly lifted her and placed her on the bench. The key to his stall door was in her harness. He took it. Then glancing down at her, regret in his eyes, he gently kissed her forehead.
"Sorry, Shahna. Sorry, darling."
Turning quickly to the door, he pressed the key to its lock. Ten seconds later, he was at Chekov's cell, releasing him. To his whispered question, Kirk shook his head. "No, she's out cold. What about Lars and Tamoon?"
"Uhura?"
She was beside him too, now in the corridor. "I told him I didn't like the food. He's gone to report me."
Chekov said, "Tamoon won't give us any trouble, either. But I think I've killed our romance."
In Chekov's stall, the fanged creature was seated on the floor, bound with part of her own harness. A metal pot covered her head to the mouth to stifle any muf-fled objections.
Kirk and Chekov exchanged grins, but Uhura ran forward to make sure the corridor was deserted. It was; and the three went quickly through its archway toward the gaming area.
With lowered voice, Kirk said, "I think Galt's the only one who can operate the collars. If we can find our phasers, we can use the circuits to short the col-lars out."
They had passed the central triangle when the Mas-ter Thrall made one of his sudden appearances.
"Stay where you are, Captain."
As Kirk hesitated, Galt closed his eyes. For a mo-ment, the three slave collars glowed then went out.
From a wall, their owner spoke in his unmistakable high-pitched voice. "Only a reminder, Captain. You Earthmen are most unusual... most stimulating."
The next moment, they were surrounded by armed, sullen-faced Thralls.
Ensign Haines was the only member of the bridge personnel who had her eyes on her console.
"Standard orbit, Mr. Spock."
Spock's eyes, like those of Scott and McCoy beside the command chair, were on the viewing screen. All watched the slowly rotating planet imaged on it.
"Sensors indicate only one concentration of life forms-in the lower hemisphere on the largest land mass." Spock's voice was toneless. "Humanoid read-ings, however."
"At least that gives our landing force a starting point," McCoy said.
"There will be no landing force, Doctor. Assuming that the Captain and the others are still alive, it would be unwise to endanger them by beaming down a large contingent."
"Well, we're not just going to leave them there while we sit here and wait, are we?"
Spock, leaving the command chair, was back at his scanner. Straightening, he said, "Interesting. The sensors record no power source. It might be shielded."
The strain was too much for McCoy. "Or it might be a wild-goose chase just as we've been telling you!"
"I shall beam down," Spock said. "If I am unable to communicate, a landing force may be necessary. You must make that decision, Mr. Scott."
"Well, Spock, if you're going into a lions' den, you'll need a Medical Officer."
Getting to his feet, Spock said, "Daniel, as I recall, had only faith. But I welcome your company, Doctor. Mr.ÿScott, you are in command."
"Aye, sir."
Without warning, the piercing metallic voice rever-berated throughout the ship. "No, Mr. Spock," said Provider One. "You will not leave the ship."
A silence, heavy as lead, fell over the bridge.
"What the de'il-" Scott began and broke off.
Miles, miles, miles below the Enterprise, the voice had been heard by Kirk, Chekov and Uhura on the gaming board, guarded by Lars, Tamoon, Shahna and Galt.
Provider One spoke again. "None of your control sys-tems will operate."
Kirk was moistening his dry lips with his tongue when McCoy's familiar voice came. "Spock, what the hell is going on?"
Explanation there was none. How in the name of all the gods had the Providers arranged this simultaneous communication between their prisoners and his ship? Would his people hear him as clearly as he had heard McCoy?
Maybe. "Welcome to Triskelion, gentlemen," he said.
They did hear him. "Jim," McCoy cried, "is that you?"
"Yes. By now it must be obvious to you that you were expected."
Scott had been making a frantic check of controls. Finishing, he called, "It's true-what that thing said, Mr. Spock. Nothing will respond."
Now there was a slight hint of amusement in Provider One's high voice. "Commendations, gentlemen. Your ingenuity in discovering the whereabouts of your companions is noteworthy."
They'll be trying to locate the voice, Kirk thought- and will fail just as we have. Well, he'd tell them what he could.
"What you are hearing, Mr. Spock, is a Provider."
Provider One expanded his information. "We are known to our Thralls as Providers because we provide for all their needs. The term is easier for their limited mental abilities to comprehend, Mr. Spock."
" 'Providing for their needs' means using Thralls- people stolen from every part of the galaxy-to fight each other while their owners gamble on the winner."
Spock, always, charmed by the idiosyncrasies of alien civilizations, said, "Indeed? Fascinating, Cap-tain."
"Not in fact, Spock. These Providers lack even the courage to show themselves."
Provider One was roused to say, "Your species has much curiosity. However, we knew that. You are in-teresting in many ways."
The conversation had now become a dialogue be-tween Kirk and his owner.
"But you are afraid!"
"You present no danger, Captain, while you wear the collar. And you will wear it for the rest of your life."
Did they hear it on the Enterprise?
> "Then show yourselves!" Kirk shouted.
His challenge was followed by a high, electronic whispering, followed in its turn by an acceptance of the dare.
"There is no objection," said Provider One, and the next instant Kirk had vanished from the gaming board.
