Star Trek-TOS-027-Mindshadow

by Kevin Underwood

  "Keep the channel open, Lieutenant, and

  keep trying

  until you get in touch with someone. Just find

  him

  She smiled gratefully. "Aye, sir."

  "Captain?"

  Kirk turned to look at Sulu. "Yes?"

  "Sir, you said that Mr. Varth was in the brig.

  May I

  ask what the charges were?"

  "Any particular reason you're interested, Mr

  Sulu?"

  Sulu swallowed. "We're friends, sir."

  The expression on the captain's face was

  absolutely

  MINDSHADOW

  enigmatic. "Mr. Varth is now confined

  to quarters

  under guard. I may or may not decide

  to release him

  shortly. And no, you may not ask what the charges

  are."

  "Yes, sir." Stone-faced, Sulu

  swiveled in his chair

  to once again face the viewscreen. The captain

  had to

  have his reasons--Sulu himself had told Varth that

  Kirk was a fair person, that the captain would not

  persecute a person, regardless of how much he

  disliked

  him ....

  But he was left with a very uncomfortable feeling.

  "Top priority message from Admiral

  Komack, Captain,"

  Uhura said. "Scrambled and coded."

  "Relay it to my quarters," Kirk said.

  "I'll take it

  there."

  When he returned to the bridge, it was with a rather

  smug-looking first officer. But the instant he

  stepped

  from the turbolift, Kirk knew that something was

  wrong. All eyes were fastened on his;

  Uhura's eyes

  were full of sympathy.

  Varth immediately went to his station, but Kirk

  remained standing in front of Uhura.

  "You've located Mr. Spock,

  haven't you, Lieutenant?"

  he asked softly. Dear God, don't let her

  tell me

  he's dead...

  "Yes, sir." Her voice was barely audible.

  "I kept

  the hailing frequency open and finally a Vulcan

  Security

  officer responded. He said that Mr. Spock

  is in

  ShanaiKahr Hospital."

  "What happened?"

  "I contacted the hospital. They say Spock

  is in

  serious condition, but is expected to recover."

  Uhura

  paused, unable for a moment to continue or to meet

  the captain's gaze.

  "Uhura," Kirk pleaded.

  She drew a breath and looked up at him. "They

  also

  say that circumstances indicate he attacked his

  father

  and then attempted suicide."

  Emma Saenz sat on the stool and

  shook her head

  sadly. "I was afraid something like this would

  happen,"

  she said, in a voice that conveyed no recrimination,

  only regret.

  McCoy's jaw was stubbornly set. "Whatever

  Spock

  has been charged with, I'm sure he's innocent.

  I'm

  going to try to see him."

  "No!" Emma's fist struck the lab counter with

  such

  force that both Kirk and McCoy jumped.

  "Spock

  won't want to see you now. The shame would be too

  great for him. I know from experience--"

  "Doctor Saenz," Kirk said in an

  aggrieved tone,

  "we are all well aware by this time of your

  experience

  with Vulcans."

  "You may know Vulcans, Emma," McCoy

  said with

  the old fire, "but I know Spock, and have for many

  years, and right now I happen to think that

  Spock

  needs our help."

  Emma shook her head vehemently.

  "I know Spock better than anyone here,"

  Kirk said,

  "and I know that he could never hurt anyone. That's

  why I'm going down there to do what I can to clear

  him of the charges,"

  Emma sprang from her seat, her body tensed with

  anger. "I fail to see, gentlemen, why no one

  here

  seems to give a damn about my medical

  opinion. Why

  did you request a medical specialist,

  Doctor, if you

  had no intention of listening to her?"

  "Take it easy." McCoy motioned for her

  to sit back

  down. "I have listened to your medical opinion. I

  gave

  Spock the neodopazine on your recommendation and

  I

  sent him to his quarters earlier than I would have

  liked

  to, again on your recommendation. But here

  I draw

  MINDSHADOW

  the line. Spock is our friend, and we know him

  better

  than you do."

  She sat back down and folded her arms

  tightly.

  "How can I make you understand that damage to the

  brain can change a person, can even make a

  person

  like Spock violent, regardless of how well you

  think

  you know him? If you are his friends, don't make it

  any more difficult for him than it has to be. Just

  let him

  Kirk stiffened. "What do you mean, let him go?"

  "Spock is not responding to the medication. He's

  dangerous to himself, and to others. I'm going to

  recommend he be sent to Ebla Two."

  McCoy was livid. "You'll never get me

  to sign the

  papers to send Spock to an asylum for the

  criminally

  insane!"

  "You haven't seen him in over a month," Kirk

  pointed out, leaning over her. "Aren't you even

  interested

  in looking at him before you diagnose him as

  incurable and ship him off?."

  "I've been in contact with his family," Emma

  said

  coldly. "As you may recall, I suspected

  Spock might

  become violent before McCoy sent him

  to Vulcan, and

  he went there under my protest.

  "Gentlemen, if you go to him now, you will accomplish

  two things--you will shame Spock, and you will

  break your own hearts, seeing him in such a

  condition."

  Kirk and McCoy looked at each other in

  silence for

  a moment, each one contemplating the possibility

  that

  Emma might be right.

  "We're still going," Jim told her.

  McCoy entered Emma's quarters without

  knocking,

  and got the briefest impression of a

  Vulcan face before

  she could snap the viewscreen off.

  "Checking up on Spock, are you?" He asked

  it

  gently, almost teasingly; he had seen her bursts

  of

  temper before, but they usually blew over quickly.

  This was the first time she had ever remained angry

  about something, and he was not quite sure how to

  approach her. "How is he?"

  She did not answer. She did not look up from the

  viewscreen.

  McCoy shifted uneasily. "I just came

  to say that

  we're in orbit around Vulcan and we're beaming

  down. Y
ou're welcome to come with us if you change

  your mind."

  She turned in the chair to face him, and he could

  see

  that her eyes were troubled, clouded, an expression

  far different from their usual clarity. "I won't

  change

  my mind."

  "Look, Emma, I didn't mean to insult your

  medical

  judgment. It's just that we have to try to help

  Spock if

  we can. Please try to understand."

  "I think I do." She looked blankly at the

  viewscreen

  in front of her, but it was clear to McCoy that she

  was

  thinking, thinking very hard about something. She

  continued to stare at the screen as she spoke

  thoughtfully.

  "You three . . . you care about each other very

  much, don't you?"

  "Which three?" McCoy was not following her.

  "You, Spock, the captain. Spock is very

  important

  to both of you."

  "I told you that the day I met you."

  She smiled an odd, tight little smile.

  "Yes, you did,

  didn't you? I suppose that was before I cared about

  . . anyone here ...."

  McCoy walked over to the chair and put his hand

  on

  her shoulder. "Come with us," he said gently.

  "Spock

  might need you."

  202 MINDSHADOW

  She rose from the chair, but the woman who stood

  before him seemed nothing like the Emma he knew.

  She was still smiling tightly, but her lower lip

  trembled

  almost imperceptibly. With a sudden urgent

  tenderness,

  McCoy realized that she was trying not to cry,

  and he took her in his arms.

  She pulled away apologetically, speaking with

  an

  irony that he did not understand. "Of all people,

  Spock needs me least. Besides, I couldn't go with

  you if I wanted to."

  "Why not?"

  "I'm leaving, Leonard. I've been

  reassigned. When

  you get back, I won't be here."

  This time, she let him hold her.

  "I am required to search you for weapons." The

  Vulcan guard pointed his hand-held scanner at

  Kirk.

  Kirk scowled, Vulcan Security had already

  verified

  his and McCoy's identities; he had not

  expected to be

  submitted to a body search.

  "I will take your communicator," the guard said.

  "Now wait a minute--" Kirk said hotly.

  The guard waited a minute, staring down

  humorlessly

  at Kirk from his six-foot-five-inch height,

  every inch of it lean muscle mass.

  "Never mind." Kirk handed him the communicator,

  but not without a twinge of exasperation. While he

  knew that the Vulcans could not risk Spock's

  sudden

  transportation from his hospital room to the

  Enterprise,

  he resented the implication that they did not trust a

  starship captain to refrain from doing so.

  Although they were probably right not to.

  McCoy submitted to the scan without so much as an

  insult, handing over his communicator before it was

  even asked for. Kirk could not help feeling

  disappointed;

  he had counted on the doctor's outspoken

  disregard for all things Vulcan to add a bit of

  humor to

  this otherwise unbearably somber occasion. But

  McCoy

  had not spoken since they beamed down; something

  was troubling him, something other than the

  prospect of seeing Spock.

  The guard was apparently satisfied with the

  disresults

  of the scan, for he led them to the door of Spock's

  room. Beyond the shimmering force field, Spock

  lay

  pale and barely breathing. Tubes of dark green

  led

  from his arm to above the bed. Another Vulcan,

  apparently the attending physician, was watching

  Spock's vital signs on the monitor with

  keen interest.

  "Your conversation will be monitored," the guard

  said. He moved a massive arm and the field

  evaporated

  just long enough for Kirk and McCoy to cross

  the threshhold.

  The Vulcan doctor did not bother to turn around

  when they entered; she seemed to be timing something

  critical.

  "How does he look to you, Bones?"

  Kirk whispered.

  "Pretty good, except he's lost a lot of

  blood."

  McCoy cleared his throat and addressed the

  Vulcan.

  "Excuse me, ma'am."

  The Vulcan turned her head just enough to fix him

  with a cold look.

  McCoy turned on the charm. "We're friends of

  Mr.

  Spock, ma'am, and we're very concerned. That

  security

  guard out there won't tell us a thing about how he

  got here. Can you tell us how it happened?"

  She looked back at the monitor. "The

  patient's

  wrists were slit. He suffered critical blood

  loss. He will

  recover."

  "Why was he arrested?" Kirk asked.

  In spite of remaining totally expressionless, the

  Vulcan physician managed somehow to convey the

  MINDSHADOW

  fact that she found the presence of both men to be

  terribly annoying. "From the

  circumstantial evidence

  that was found, it appears that the patient first

  attacked

  his father with an ahn-vahr and then turned the

  weapon on himself."

  "Ahn-what?"

  "A ceremonial dagger. In ancient times, it was

  used

  in a ritual form of suicide when the victim

  believed he

  had brought shame to his family. Vulcan

  Security' is

  waiting for the patient's father to regain consciousness

  to verify if this was what actually happened before the

  suspect is actually placed under arrest."

  "Then Sarek is expected to recover?" Kirk

  asked.

  She raised her left eyebrow in an expression

  that

  made Kirk very homesick for his first officer.

  "I believe

  that can easily be inferred from what I just

  said."

  She bent down suddenly to look at Spock, then

  peered up again at the monitor. As if

  by magic, the

  indicator needles rose slightly. It was what

  she had

  been waiting for; she turned her back to the two

  humans, and hoisting a long, thin arm back,

  swung it

  forward with a force that would have knocked a human

  to the floor.

  It hit Spock squarely on the jaw.

  Kirk lunged at her with a short cry, but

  McCoy

  grabbed his arms and held him.

  "Jim, you fool! That's the nicest thing I've

  seen

  anyone do in a long time."

  Kirk looked at the doctor as though he had

  gone

  mad.

  "Jim," said McCoy, grinning from ear to ear,

  "she's

>   bringing him out of the Vulcan healing mode."

  The physician drew her arm back to administer

  a

  second blow, but Spock's hand reached out and

  firmly

  grabbed her wrist. "That will be sufficient."

  She nodded silently at Spock, and giving the

  humans

  a final glance that indicated what simpletons

  she considered

  them to be, she signaled the guard to let her

  exit.

  Spock propped himself up to a sitting position.

  "Spock!" McCoy could contain himself no longer.

  "You know the mind rules!"

  A familiar eyebrow rose. "Obviously,

  Doctor McCoy."

  The two humans looked at each other and laughed

  with delight. "You've got a hell of a nerve,"

  said

  McCoy, "getting logical on me at a time

  like this.

  Admit it, you overgrown elf, you're glad

  to see us."

  There was a brightness in Spock's eyes that belied

  his cool manner. "I believe that "getting

  logical" was

  what you sent me here for, Doctor, although I do not

  deny that I am, as you put it,

  "glad" to see you." His

  expression became more serious. "Captain, I have

  something rather urgent to tell you..."

  "Yes, Uhura said you were signaling the ship when

  you were cut off."

  "As you can see, I was... interrupted."

  "What happened?"

  "I went to the aid of my father, who was being

  attacked." He searched their faces. "Do you know

  his

  condition?"

  "He'll be all right," McCoy volunteered.

  Kirk nodded. "They're waiting for him to regain

  consciousness so he can tell them what happened."

  Spock frowned slightly. "I'm conscious. I

  am able

  to supply the information."

  Kirk and McCoy exchanged embarrassed

  glances.

  "I think they'd rather hear it from Sarek. You're being

  held on suspicion of attempted murder,"

  Kirk said

  gently. "It looked like you attacked your father and

  then tried to kill yourself."

  206

  MINDSHADOW

  "T'Pala," Spock whispered. A shadow

  crossed his

  face, and disappeared as quickly as it had come.

  "Who?" Kirk asked.

  "No one. How convenient. I assure you that is

  not

  the case."

  "I believe you, Spock," McCoy

  volunteered gallantly.

  "I appreciate your vote of confidence, Dr.

  McCoy. I

  only wish Vulcan Security were as easily

  convinced."

  "It's a lucky thing both of you survived the

  attack,"

  Kirk said. "Whoever tried to kill you seemed

  to botch

  the job. Did you see who it was?"

  "I did not know the individual, but I do not

  doubt