STAR TREK: TOS #44 - Vulcan's Glory

by D. C. Fontana

  Pike had been wondering to himself how he had managed to be at the head of this strange troop of gypsies on the way to the Tisirah Oasis. He had offered to lead a search for the two straying children of Shinsei Farnah and Melkor Aliat, convinced that the young people had simply eloped and would soon be found happily together and defying their parents’ conventions. Then it would be a simple matter of their facing parental anger and effecting reconciliation. Somehow, the string of people who insisted on accompanying him along the trail left by the two youngsters had multiplied into Farnah and his sons, Melkor Aliat and his attendant friends, the following nomad tribespeople, and all their animals. Pike was not ungrateful for the tracking services of the nomads, but [160] the trail was so broad and clear that even he could have followed it without real trouble. The long cavalcade that meandered after the tracking head of Farnah and his sons was worthy of a crusade.

  He looked back at the muddle of people and animals ambling along behind them and frowned. Berendel, riding beside him, noted it and smiled quietly. “Something troubles you, Indallah Krees?”

  “I think you understand what has happened between these two young people, makleh. Rebellion against what their parents decreed and a chasing after their own hearts. That’s between them and their elders. Who are all these others who seem to have an interest in the matter?” Pike sighed wearily. “Why do these things have to get so complicated?”

  Berendel smiled slightly. “You have little experience in the ways of dealing with people, I think.” Pike shot her a sharp glance, one engendered by his years of command. Though she could not know that was behind the look, she shook her head and amended her statement. “Not people. You have dealt with them—I see that in you, Krees. Perhaps it is the emotions that you do not quite understand here. As a makleh, I see all these things in making a barter, a will, a marriage. It is always the high feeling that will tell in these dealings, the loves and the hates, the suspicions and the trust. When emotions run so high, there are many who must be interested in them, because they will win or lose by the decisions that are made.”

  “And in this case?”

  “Ah. Silene is the last child of her father’s loins, the only daughter. He thinks of her as his desert flower, [161] pure and sweet as those flowers are. She is only seventeen seasons, and he cannot believe she can possibly have the urges of a young woman who wants her own man. Another difficulty—the young man she wants is not acceptable to Farnah because he is a town boy. Aliat is a merchant of importance. Bardan is his only son, his heir, and Bardan is moved to love a nomad girl. Unacceptable to Aliat, despite the emotions and desires of his son. Now, who gains if both these wayward children are disowned by their fathers? I have bargained for my people with Aliat, and I know there is a stepson who assists him in his business. It is likely this boy would come into more inheritance if Bardan is disowned. Shinsei Farnah’s daughter has a sizable dowry that would go to her brothers if she were shamed and cast out by her father. I do not say that any of this will happen, but it could. All those who follow us are here to see what will happen. Greed and curiosity are common failings among us, yes?”

  “Common to many beings, I think, makleh.”

  Berendel nodded to indicate ahead of them. “Tisirah Oasis,” she said. “Perhaps we will find these children now and make a settlement of this thing.”

  Before Pike and Berendel reached the outer edges of the kerra tree grove, they heard the wail of sorrowing tribesmen. “What’s happened?” Pike kicked his meercan to greater speed and entered the shade of the thick trees. As he drew up, he could see Farnah’s tall bulk in the center of the oasis, pacing up and down in a frenzy. Aliat was on his knees beside the pool, beating his fists on the ground. Pike dismounted quickly, dropping the beast’s reins so it would stand [162] obediently in a ground hitch. Berendel followed him, sliding off her meercan with the instinctive grace of the nomad.

  “Shinsei Farnah, what is it?”

  The big man flung out a hand toward the pool and the ground beside it. “My daughter is gone beyond saving. The tracks tell all—there!”

  Pike and Berendel moved closer to the poolside, where Aliat knelt in sorrow with Silene’s brothers. The youngest, Neepah, looked up at them and gestured toward the personal possessions scattered beside the water where a camp had been set up. The rumpled blankets lay beside the ashes of the fire that had died. Even Pike could read the signs of the struggle in the remnants left on the ground, and the tracks in the soft earth at the edge of the pool were unmistakable. Bardan’s and Silene’s were regular and small beside the twisted, gross prints that studded the ground.

  “Mutants,” Neepah said sadly. “Silene and the town boy were camped here. The beasts came out of the dark and carried them away.”

  “Where? What direction?”

  “Toward the Druncara Range.”

  “Why should the mutants come here?” Pike frowned, studying the situation carefully. “This is very far from the Druncaras. The mutants don’t come such distances lightly.”

  “You are correct, friend Krees,” Berendel said. “I have not heard of them approaching so close to us or to the townspeople in many years. There is something strange about this.”

  [163] Melkor Aliat rose to his feet, tears running down his cheeks. “My son is lost. Lost forever.”

  “Perhaps not, Trader Aliat,” Pike said. “These tracks seem very clear and easy to follow.”

  The others stared at him, blank and silent. Durlin shook his head sadly. “There is no hope of saving them, friend Krees. The mutants kill their captives. It is said they ... that they eat their flesh. Our sister is dead, and the foolish town boy with her.”

  “You will pardon me if I don’t accept that as a pure fact,” Pike snapped irritably. “You’ve given up before you have even tried.”

  “But it is useless.”

  Pike turned toward Aliat and Farnah, who stood together, joined for this moment in grief for their children. “I would like a moment to myself—to meditate on this great sorrow that has visited you.”

  “As you will,” Farnah responded. He gestured deeper into the grove of kerra trees. “There is quiet there and peace for meditation.” He looked around as the van of the followers began to arrive at the edge of the oasis. “I must tell Ingarin of our loss.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Aliat said suddenly. “It’s my loss, too.”

  Famah studied him briefly and nodded. “Yes. It is no comfort, but we both share the sorrow. Come then, Trader Aliat.”

  Pike watched the two men move away, leaving the group beside the pool. “I will be a while in meditation, Makleh Berendel.”

  “Do you think you will find an answer to this tragedy?”

  [164] “Perhaps. I don’t know, but I will try.” Pike walked away, picking a path among the trees of the oasis that would move him out of sight of the nomads. When he was far enough away, he reached inside the voluminous pocket in his robe and pulled out his communicator. Flipping it open, he waited for the cheerful pip of its active signal and then said, “Pike to Enterprise.”

  Number One glanced up quickly as the communications officer swung around in his seat toward her. “Captain Pike, Number One.” She tabbed the communications button on the chair arm and snapped, “Number One here, sir. I’m very glad to hear from you.”

  “Trouble?”

  “Yes, sir. We’ve had a murder on board.”

  “What?”

  “Lieutenant Commander Meadows was killed several hours ago—”

  “Number One, if this is a joke ...”

  “Dead serious, sir. That’s not a pun.”

  “Motive?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. That’s one of the things we’re investigating right now.”

  Pike’s sigh was audible. Number One could picture him shaking his head in frustration as he said, “You’ll have to handle it for now, Number One. I have a double kidnapping down here to deal with. The son of one of the merchants and the daughter of a nomad lea
der have been taken by mutants. I have to try to get them back, alive and whole. If I can do it, the alliance between the townspeople and the tribes just might be [165] saved. I want a Vulcan and a couple of other alien crew members to beam down to assist me—”

  “Negative on the Vulcan, sir. All of them are under suspicion for the murder.”

  “Vulcans? All of them?”

  “Well,” Number One amended, “except for Lieutenants Spock and T’Pris. We’ve cleared T’Pris, and she claims she and Spock were together at the time of the murder.”

  “Do you believe her?”

  Number One turned it over in her mind, remembering what she had said to Orloff in their discussion of the matter. “Yes, sir. I do. I don’t believe Spock could have been the murderer. That’s just a gut feeling, you understand, but I’ll stand on it. I’ll send Spock and two other aliens down to you in twenty minutes.”

  “Make it ten, Number One.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do you have enough help to continue the murder investigation?”

  “Affirmative. In addition to Commander Orloff, I’ll enlist Lieutenant T’Pris and Dr. Boyce to assist.”

  “Good. Now, listen to my instructions carefully. Spock and the others are to beam down wearing particular costumes and in a very specific place. I’ll give you the coordinates ...”

  Farnah and Aliat huddled together beside a cook fire, ignoring the others around them, refusing food, sharing a grief universal to parents. Melkor Aliat, widowed many years, was grateful for the little niceties Ingarin offered him in comfort. She was insistent [166] that he have a bit of tea, that he sit with them to wait for Indallah Krees. Neither man was hopeful, but somehow Ingarin kept a brighter view. She sometimes felt women had to take a different outlook for the sake of their sanity, that there was light on the other side of darkness, that for every loss there was a gain, that for each tragedy there was some hope to counterbalance it. Ingarin had placed her optimism on the wanderer. She didn’t know why, but she had always sensed a purer strangeness about him than just the tale he told of being a loner.

  “He has been longer than he said he would be in meditation,” Aliat said fretfully. He stood up to peer into the deeper darkness of the oasis trees.

  “Meditation is one with the man. Who can say how long it should take?” Ingarin said quietly. “It is as long as it needs to be.”

  “Yes, of course. It is not my way, but I understand you have the right of it, madame.”

  She smiled a little shyly at him, liking him for the honorific. “My name is Ingarin, Trader Aliat. If our children are in love as they say they are, perhaps we should speak as friends.”

  Aliat looked away as Farnah pushed to his feet in agitation. “Silene is not a city woman. She would never be happy behind that boy’s walls.”

  “Perhaps not, my man. But the boy may be happy in our tents.”

  “No,” Aliat said quickly.

  “It is not for you—either of you—to say. It is for them,” Ingarin pointed out calmly. “And if we do not gain them back, our ideas of what they want are for naught.”

  [167] Pike reappeared among the kerra trees, and Farnah saw him first. “Indallah Krees is here.” They waited for him to approach, and he smiled encouragingly as he neared them.

  “I’ve decided I will continue after the mutants and bring your children back if they are still alive. If you’ll both come with me, or delegate others to come with me ... ?”

  “No, it is not possible,” Aliat said. “My men and I are not outside-born. We know nothing of the desert and the mountains. We would only be a drawback to you.”

  Pike turned to Farnah and saw the big man pulling back inside himself as much as the townsman. The shinsei had no excuse as valid as Aliat’s, but he shook his head firmly. “There is no use to going, Indallah Krees. No one—no one—comes back from the Druncara Range. Not alive. Sometimes bones have been found, left as signposts to mark the mutant lands. Our children are lost forever.”

  “I tell you they certainly will be if no one tries to save them. And you who love them, even you will not go with me?” Pike stared challengingly at Farnah and Aliat, and the two men dropped their gaze away from him.

  “I see. Very well. I will go.”

  Ingarin pushed her way forward. “You cannot go alone. A large band of men might have a chance, but not one by himself. You will also be lost to us.”

  “I do not propose to go alone.” Pike turned, shaded his eyes against the bright desert light that beat against the cool of the oasis, then pointed. “They’ll go with me.”

  [168] The others turned to see three hooded and robed figures trudging through the desert sands toward the oasis. They moved purposefully, striding across the ground, looking neither left nor right at the nomads and townsmen tending meercans and crouched around small campfires.

  Pike held up an arm and called out to them. “To me. Here.” They moved unswervingly toward Pike, finally stopping before him and executing deep bows. Their heads were completely shrouded by the hoods of the desert robes, and their faces could not be made out.

  “We have come to serve you, Indallah Krees,” one of them intoned deeply.

  “Who are these men?” Farnah asked.

  “Not men,” Pike replied. He gestured to the three, who reached up and pushed back the hoods to reveal their faces. Those who could see them gasped and involuntarily took a step away.

  “Mutants!” The word rippled among the onlookers, softly at first and then louder as it reached the outer edge of the group. Instinctively, some of the nomads reached for their weapons.

  Number One had sent Lieutenant (j.g.) Endel, the reptilian Kelyan, Lieutenant Ars Dan from engineering, a short Dioptan with a reddish complexion and a gnarled, troll-like face—and Mr. Spock.

  Pike flung up a hand and looked around at the Aretans. “These are my friends. They’ll go with me where you will not—and with luck and grace, we will find the two children you value.”

  Farnah and Aliat exchanged a look, saying much within it. Clearly, the wanderer commanded these [169] mutants, and if that were so, it might be that he actually would be able to recover Silene and Bardan. “Friend Krees, we will camp here and wait for five days for you to return. If you have not come back by then ...”

  “If we haven’t returned by then, you will know we are dead. But I expect we will be back in less time than that, shinsei. We’ll bring your children—or their bodies—back to you. I promise it. Do we go with your blessing?”

  Farnah nodded. “The grace of life and hope go with you, Indallah Krees,” he said quietly.

  “From all of us,” Aliat added.

  Pike bowed to the fathers and Ingarin. Then he turned, gestured to his three crewmen, and began to walk away from the oasis, toward the Druncara Range which loomed darkly in the distance.

  Chapter Ten

  NUMBER ONE paced the top level of the bridge, frowning in thought, turning over the problem of the murder. Orloff was reinterrogating the Vulcans one by one, but his brief reports to her had all been negative. The bridge watch glanced over at her from time to time; none of them spoke to her, not wishing to disturb her concentration. The lift doors slid open behind her, and she swung around to face Security Officer Reed as he came off the elevator.

  “Number One, I just heard about Commander Meadows.”

  “Yes? What’s your interest?”

  “Well, I wondered about the Glory.”

  “What exactly did you wonder, Mr. Reed?” The young security officer looked around, plainly worried. “You see, ma’am, the commander came to get the Glory, and I released it to him, but now—”

  “What do you mean, you released it to him?”

  [171] “He had the captain’s signature on an order to allow him to examine the stone. You know, for scientific purposes. He said he’d return it in three hours or so when he’d finished with it. But he hadn’t brought it back when I turned over my duty shift to Lieutenant Bryce. I didn’t think t
oo much about it, because he said it might take longer. But when I went down to the rec room, I heard the commander had been murdered. So I wondered, what about the Glory? It should be returned to the vault, don’t you think?”

  Number One sighed heavily. “It should if it were in our possession, Reed. You’d better come with me. Commander Orloff and I are going to want to hear all the details on this.”

  Orloff examined the clipboard and authorization Reed had given him, finally shook his head. “Obviously a forgery.”

  “Not too obvious a forgery, commander, or Reed wouldn’t have been taken in.” Number One had studied the signature purporting to be Pike’s. After a moment, she said, “It looks to me as though Meadows might have copied the captain’s signature from routine ship’s department orders. He did it well enough to get past a cursory examination, which is all Officer Reed here could be expected to give it under the circumstances.”

  Orloff glared at her, then at Reed. “There were strict orders to keep the Glory in the security vault unless other orders came through from the Vulcan High Council.”

  [172] “True. But Reed was on duty at the vault and couldn’t have known then whether or not the captain had reversed that order. The post is tucked off in a corner, with only one man assigned to it each shift.”

  “It’s a lonely station,” Reed agreed.

  Number One nodded. “And here, apparently written out and signed by the captain, is an order to release the Glory to a scientist of the ship for good and valid reasons. If I’d been on duty, I probably would have accepted it, too. Reed might be faulted for not conferring with you before he let Meadows take the Glory, but even you might not have questioned a written order from Pike. Meadows was taking a chance that the order would come under some scrutiny, but not too much. The man seemed to be obsessed with the stone, wanting to study it, even against captain’s orders. He contrived to get hold of it. That was his crime.”