"Yes, of course." Anitra was too stunned for a moment by the
incongruity of the situation to determine the proper course of action.
Maybe the stress of what had happened to Amanda on Vulcan had induced
some sort of breakdown, so that she walked unannounced into the rooms
of relative strangers. Anitra stood just in the doorway to the outer
area and moved no closer. Spock, we need your help.. ..
Amanda's eyes shone with an unnatural brightness. "I'm just sorry that
the .. . circumstances on Vulcan prevented us from having the chance to
really meet each other." She moved closer.
Instinctively, Anitra retreated slightly. There was something wrong,
something terribly wrong.. ..
In midstride, Amanda seemed to double over. "Get away," she shrieked,
"get AWAY." She crumpled to the floor.
A split second before she spoke, Anitra had already received the
warning and was bolting past her to the door. She didn't make it.
Amanda rose from the floor in a smooth, graceful upsweep, as though
levitated by some invisible force, and caught Anitra's wrists in a
surprisingly firm grip.
All those years on Vulcan, with the higher gravity, Anitra thought
with detachment.
"Look at me," Amanda snarled. "Look me in the eye."
"I know BETTER." Anitra freed her wrists from the hold and punctuated
her statement by throwing the older woman against the wall. Amanda
slid to the floor.
Anitra ran.
"Stop." The tone in which it was said was enough to make Anitra turn
and see the phaser pointed at her.
"You can join us," Amanda said, "and you will be the most powerful
among us. Or you can die here and now."
"Go ahead and shoot," said Anitra. She closed her eyes.
Behind her, the door to the cabin opened. Spock stood in the doorway,
his phaser leveled at his mother.
Amanda's eyes rolled back in her head, and when the pupils reappeared
again, the eyes were wide with terror. The voice that spoke was
unquestionably Amanda's. "They say if you shoot me, even stun me,
they'll kill me. I know you won't let them hurt me, Spock. I know
that. I trust you." And she smiled at him, Amanda's sweet smile.
Spock fired.
Anitra was closer, but somehow Spock made it to his mother's side
first.
Anitra threw an arm across her forehead and leaned against the wall.
"I'm sorry it had to happen this way, Spock," she said softly. "Dear
God, I'm sorry. Both of your parents now. I should have let you bring
her here sooner. It's my fault."
Speck's shields were up, as they always were around her unless he was
teaching the mind meld-partly out of politeness, to spare her from
another's thoughts, but mostly, Anitra suspected, to protect himself.
Now those shields were tight as a steel vise, with no trace of thought
or feeling emanating from him now--but when he looked up at her, his
eyes were haunted.
"She appears to be dead," Spock said.
Suicide, the forensics lab maintained even after Tomson had insisted on
a second thorough investigation. Rodriguez had shown her the curly
headed corpse himself, holding the knife with skillful precision. "See
here," he pointed at the most gaping wound, "and here. You can see
that it's a very awkward position from which to try and inflict a wound
on someone else; I can't really thrust at that angle. But on myself--"
He indicated exactly how the victim had inflicted the stab wounds upon
himself.
Everyone in security and forensics was thus convinced that Sanghoon Cho
had murdered Ensign Teresa Liu and turned the weapon on himself. They
were quite hopeful that a thorough examination of Cho's quarters would
yield enough evidence to credit him with al-Baslama's murder as well.
Everyone, that is, with the notable exception of the chief of security.
She was well aware that she could pin it on Cho if she wanted to, and
make it stick, just as she was dead certain that Cho was not the man
they were looking for. She knew who was, and she had absolutely zero
proof.
Tomson was therefore not in a particularly good
mood when she went to question Stryker, especially because she had
meant to bring someone with her--as a wi tness, she told herself, not
because of the late Cho's caveat. But all of her people were tied up
with the suicide murder investigation, and she had no real excuse for
questioning Stryker at this point anyway, since Cho's supposed suicide
exonerated him.
The door to Stryker's cabin opened on the first buzz; Tomson had half
hoped that it wouldn't open at all. She stepped inside, and as the
door closed behind her, she felt a surge of panic. The outer office
was completely dark; she could barely make out a male form in the
room.
Stryker pressed the panel, and the lights came on. The man standing
across from her could scarcely be described as threatening; he had an
honest, friendly face, which at the moment wore a broad smile.
"Lieutenant Tomson," Tomson said stiffly. "I'm here to question you
about the murder of Mohamed al Baslama."
"Lieutenant Stryker," he said, still smiling, and held out a large hand
which Tomson took reluctantly. His grip was warm and firm.
"I've been waiting for you," he said.
And then Tomson noticed his eyes--impossibly clear and colorless--and
the sensation of being pulled downward, as if by an irresistible
current. With sudden, heart sickening certainty, she recalled Cho's
last words to her .. . and knew that he had been right.
In the next room, Amanda's body was gently illuminated by the pale blue
glow of the monitor.
"She's on complete life support," McCoy said. "Her condition is
stable--" If you can call it that, he thought to himself. My God, the
woman was dead, pure and simple. "--but it's going to deteriorate
quickly unless something is done."
"How quickly?" asked Spock, as coolly as if he had just inquired about
the weather.
McCoy hedged. "It varies with the individual, Spock. Two days .. .
three, at the outside."
"And what do we do with everyone else who's affected?" Kirk asked
quietly. "How do we stop it? Stun them all, and put them on life
support?"
Spock remained silent, withdrawn. Anitra said, "That's what we haven't
figured out yet, Captain. We're working on it."
"Is there any way we can protect ourselves--the crew?"
"Yes and no." Anitra sighed. "It appears to spread by some sort of
contact with an infested person--and when I encountered Sarek after he
was affected, I saw in his mind that he wanted me to look in his eyes;
he was trying to focus them on me. I think it might be spread by a
form of hypnosis. But I can think of only one sure-fire way to protect
ourselves."
"Which is?"
"Getting off this ship."
The muscles in Kirk's jaw tightened. "I can't leave my crew at the
mercy of these things."
"I understand your feeling, Captain," Spock said. He seemed
distracted, as if he were looking at som
ething very intently, though
his eyes were not focused on anything. "But it is something we may
have to consider. According to records found in Hydrilla, infestation
occurs rapidly. Even more so once they have
gained control of the Enterprise. Every planet within reach of this
vessel could be affected."
Kirk did not reply.
"It seems to me," Spock continued slowly, "that if the creatures are
capable of rational thought--and they do seem to be quite devious--they
would want to attack the bridge crew first, and anyone who is
knowledgeable about controlling this ship. From what we have seen,
they are quite capable of using the abilities of those they have
infested."
Kirk straightened suddenly and turned to McCoy. "Turn on the view
screen."
"A hunch, Jim?" asked McCoy.
"Turn it on."
The darkness of the small view screen in McCoy's office melted away
into stars.
Kirk's eyes held Spock's intently.
"Where's Vulcan?" McCoy asked.
Kirk was already signaling the bridge. Sulu answered; behind him, the
bridge appeared normal, calm, unaffected. Kirk forced his facial
muscles to relax.
"Status, Mr. Sulu?"
The helmsman smiled blandly. "Orbiting Vulcan as per your order,
Captain."
The expression, the intonation, all of it was perfectly normal and
right. "Who's got the con?" Kirk asked nonchalantly.
"Mr. Scott. Would you like to speak to him, sir?"
"Yes."
Montgomery Scott seemed as amiable as ever. "What can I do for ye,
Captain?"
"What's our status, Scotty?"
"Just as Sulu said, sir. Still orbiting Vulcan."
"Scotty--" Kirk studied the face, searching for a clue, any kind of
indication that would tell him not to continue, but found none. "Mr.
Scott... we are not orbiting Vulcan."
The engineer almost chuckled. "I beg to differ with ye, sir--"
"Check your instruments. My view screen shows we're out of orbit."
"Sir--" a hint of a registered insult crept into Scott's voice "--I ran
a diagnostics when I came on duty. With all due respect, Captain, if
you're worried about the instruments, maybe you'd like to come to the
bridge and see for yourself."
Anitra had been standing silently behind Kirk; he could barely hear her
say the words, "Don't. Don't go to the bridge."
Kirk smiled down at his chief engineer. "Never mind, Scotty. If you
say that the instruments are all right, I believe you. I guess I
better have this viewer checked out. Kirk out." He turned to Anitra.
"You're telling me that Scott.. ."
"I don't know for sure," she said. "I'm a touch tele path--I need the
people in the same room with me usually, although some people transmit
much more strongly than others. Call this a hunch, if you want, but do
you really want to walk onto that bridge?"
Spock looked up from the nearest terminal. "Captain, I have accessed
the navigational computers."
"And?"
"We are not in orbit around Vulcan. Our course heading is for the
Rigel system."
"With billions of inhabitants," Anitra said. "And Earth not far
beyond." Kirk sat down heavily at McCoy's desk.
Spock faced him. "I suggest we take action to protect ourselves,
Captain, and soon. Mr. Scott will no doubt have become suspicious,
and it will not take him long to find us."
"We could barricade ourselves in auxiliary control," Kirk said, "but to
leave the rest of the crew stranded--"
Spock was grave. "We can warn them from auxiliary control, Captain,
tell them to lock themselves in their quarters, if necessary. But we
cannot risk becoming infected ourselves. If we do--"
"Vulcan," Kirk said. "Rigel, Earth. But Scott's affected, and he
knows this ship better than any of us. It won't take him long to break
into auxiliary or find a way to override us."
"I respectfully suggest, sir, that the combined efforts of Dr. Lanter
and myself just might prove to be a match for Mr. Scott's talents in
that regard."
Kirk almost smiled and started to reply when the intercom whistled; for
a moment, he did not answer.
"Ensign Nguyen from security, sir. There's been another murder--this
one on B deck."
"Let me talk to Tomson," Kirk said.
"I haven't been able to raise her, sir, which is very unusual, since
she's on duty. I'm extremely concerned about it."
There was a heartbeat of silence; Kirk looked grimly at the others as
he spoke to Nguyen.
"Ensign, I want you to listen carefully. I am not insane, and what I
am telling you is the truth. There are entities on board which have
taken control of some
of our personnel. They are spreading quickly, and right now we have
no way of controlling them. These entities cause people to become
extremely violent. I want you to go to your quarters and lock yourself
in. Don't come out until you hear from me again. Do you
understand?"
There was a startled silence at the other end of the intercom as Nguyen
contemplated whether the captain was the victim of paranoid delusions
.. . and then she replied meekly, "Yes, sir."
Kirk looked up at his friends. "It's time we headed for auxiliary
control, gentlemen."
"Amanda," McCoy said suddenly.
Kirk stopped.
"We can't just leave her here," the doctor said. "God knows what they
might do to her. The least of which would be to turn the life-support
system off."
Spock closed his eyes and opened them again slowly.
"Any chance we can take her with us?" Kirk asked.
"I can rig up a portable life-support system--but it'll take a few
minutes."
"We may not have a few minutes, Doctor."
"I won't leave her," McCoy said doggedly. He was aware of Spock's eyes
upon him.
"Come with me," Kirk told the others. "McCoy, we'll meet you later in
auxiliary."
"I.. . prefer to wait and escort the doctor," Spock said
uncomfortably.
Kirk considered it and decided not to argue. "Dr. Lanter," he said,
extending his arm in the direction of auxiliary control. She gave
McCoy and Spock an anxious glance before she turned and left with
him.
Chapter Six
"doctor," Spock said, "I appreciate your concern for my mother's
safety. But there is no reason for you to be detained any longer. If
you will tell me where you keep your equipment, I--"
McCoy shrugged, uncomfortable at the Vulcan's remark; he far preferred
argument as a means of communication. "Forget it, Spock. It would
take longer to explain it than to do it. You stay here. I'll just be
gone for a second." And he went into his office.
Spock turned his attention to the woman on the bed. The life-support
system encasing her chest made her appear to breathe, made the pulse on
the monitor beat steadily, made her seem alive, though the face was
drained of color and already acquiring the pinched look of a corpse.
Spock had to remind himself sternly th
at she was not alive.
Someone entered the room while Spock's eyes were on Amanda. He was
about to compliment McCoy on his swiftness when he looked up and saw
Engineer Scott. It took him no time to notice that Scott was wearing
his phaser, while he was unarmed.
"Mr. Spock." Scott greeted him cordially. "I'm glad
to have found ye. There's something urgent we must discuss."
"I'm sure that it can wait, Engineer," Spock said evenly. He fastened
his eyes on Amanda and kept them there.
"It's about the captain," Scott said.
"What about him?" Spock's tone was brusque.
"I wonder if you might look at me while I'm speaking to you, Mr. Spock.
This is rather important."
"It is important," agreed Spock. "And that is exactly why I am not
looking at you, Mr. Scott."
Scott appeared honestly puzzled. "I'm afraid I'm not followin' ye,
sir.. .."
Spock walked in measured steps halfway round the bed until he directly
faced the door to McCoy's office. Scott followed, hoping to catch his
Star Trek - TOS - 30 - DEMONS Page 10
