gaze, and stood opposite him.
"I have nothing to explain to you," Spock said. "But there are some
things you can explain to me."
"I'd be happy to, sir, but I'm not sure I understand --"
"For example, what has happened to her?" Spock nodded at the still
form beneath the monitor.
"Now, why would I know anything about what happened to your mother,
sir? Is she ill?"
"She's dead," Spock said, "and you killed her."
"Have ye gone daft, man, like everyone else on this ship? Begging your
pardon, sir, but maybe you should pay a little visit to Dr. McCoy."
"Perhaps not you who control Scott, but one of you," Spock said.
Scott stared, thunderstruck, at him and put anervous hand on his
phaser. "Please, sir, I'll leave ye alone if ye'll just tell me where
I can find the captain. There's been trouble on the bridge."
"What kind of trouble?" Spock continued to gaze steadily at Amanda. "I
am second in command. Perhaps I can help."
"It's hard to explain, sir.... Ye'll have to come see it for
yourself."
"If that is the case, then I cannot help you," Spock answered. "I will
not leave this room."
He did not see Scott's face harden, did not see the cold hatred burn in
his eyes, but he heard the shift in his voice. "Maybe you'll tell me
where he is if you know it'll save your mother's life."
"She is already dead. You cannot harm her further."
"We did her no harm."
"We," Spock repeated softly. "How many of there are you?"
"Here?" The sound was hollow, thin, mocking. "Not so many yet. Look
at me, Vulcan. Look or I will kill you."
"I am not as easily persuaded as some others. It would be wisest to
kill me."
Scott raised the phaser, but a split second before he could fire, the
heavy object in McCoy's hand impacted with his skull.
"A hypospray would have been somewhat less violent, Doctor," Spock
chided. "I trust no permanent damage has been done."
McCoy bent over the unconscious engineer. "Poor Scotty. He'll have a
hell of a headache when he wakes
up." He frowned up at Spock. "You've got a lot of nerve, complaining
about my methods. I just saved your life, Spock."
"And I am grateful, Doctor." He regarded the instrument in McCoy's
hand with an arched brow. "The method was crude .. . but most
effective."
McCoy grinned. "I never knew these portable life units were so
versatile." He struggled with Scott's dead weight. "Come on. Help me
get him onto an exam table."
"We haven't the time, Doctor--"
"Fine," McCoy gasped. "I'll do it myself. You take Amanda."
Spock sighed. He lifted the engineer out of the doctor's hands with
enviable ease and laid him on the table.
Freed of his burden, McCoy leaned shakily against the table and turned
on the monitor. "Looks like a headache is the worst problem he'll
have. Okay, Spock, that's enough excitement for one day. Let's get
your mother out of here."
"Doctor," Spock said, "the excitement has not yet begun."
Anitra stopped at the door to her cabin. "There are some instruments
here I'll need," she said. "It'll only take a second."
"For what?" Kirk asked suspiciously. "More of your practical
jokes?"
"Absolutely," she replied, her eyes dancing. "Only this time, I
promise to play them on the opposition."
He almost smiled, then glanced warily about them;
the corridor was deserted. "You have exactly one second. And don't
forget your phaser."
She hesitated in the doorway. "Us or them, is it?"
"Absolutely."
She set her jaw and disappeared inside. In less than ten seconds she
was back with a phaser and a small kit. "Worried about me, aren't
you?" She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Lying about it would be useless."
She frowned, puzzled.
"I know about your psi rating, Ensign."
"Who told--" she began angrily, but he cut her off.
"After all, how else do you explain overhauling Scotty's engines .. .
exactly as he would have? Lucky for you, wasn't it, that he was
standing over you the whole time."
"I see." She turned red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
"Well, maybe you don't know that Spock has been giving me lessons to
shield out other people's thoughts. I am not a telepathic peeping Tom
. sir."
"I'm sorry if I insulted you, Ensign. I suppose I'm rather ignorant
about such things."
"I was just going to say," Anitra said haughtily, "that you can trust
me in a pinch. I may be a practical joker, but I'm capable of being a
team player."
"And if we're not in a pinch?" Kirk teased her gently.
"Then you can just forget it, Captain." And she smiled in spite of
herself.
They managed to stop at Kirk's quarters as well for his phaser, then
made it to their destination without
incident. The door to auxiliary slid open, and Kirk caught a blur of
movement as the young officer on duty quickly removed his feet from the
console. He jumped to attention, blushing deeply. Kirk smiled at him.
"At ease, Ensign. Just a routine inspection."
The young man seemed confused. "Routine, sir? Are you sure we aren't
on alert?"
"Why do you ask?" Kirk asked. Anitra stood behind him, her hand
discreetly gripping her phaser.
"You're wearing a phaser, sir. Isn't that rather unusual?" He stared
at Kirk, his eyes wide and innocent.
Kirk was debating whether or not there was time to explain, when
suddenly he was overcome by a sickening dizziness and felt himself
falling forward.
"No," shouted Anitra. He heard the phaser whine; somewhere, a body
dropped to the floor.
Kirk drew in a breath and waited for his head to clear; behind him,
Anitra dragged the young man out into the corridor and came back,
locking the door behind her.
"Thank you," he said. "Is he dead?"
"Just stunned," Anitra said. "Amanda was apparently a special case."
The door buzzed.
"It's Spock," Anitra said confidently, turning off the lock. McCoy and
Spock trooped in with Amanda in Speck's arms. A small device was
strapped to her waist. Spock carried her as easily as if she were
weightless and set her down gently in the small inner lounge area.
"You're late," Kirk said archly.
"I guess you could say we were held up," said McCoy. "It was Scotty,
Jim. He was looking for you."
"Then it's a good thing Spock stayed to look after you."
Spock and McCoy exchanged glances. "I believe you're making an
erroneous assumption, Captain," the Vulcan said.
McCoy beamed proudly. "Brained him myself with the medical
equipment."
"How does the Hippocratic oath go, Doctor?" Spock asked rhetorically.
"First, do no harm .. .?"
"Aren't we forgetting the fact that I also happened to have saved your
life in the process?"
"Gentlemen," Kirk said and waved his hands, "there's no time for
pleasantries. We've got to come up with some
answers fast. It'll only
take Scott a few hours to cut through the bulkhead and spring the
lock."
"Indeed," Spock agreed. "Perhaps Dr. Lanter and I could attempt to
slow Mr. Scott down somewhat." He looked questioningly at Anitra, who
nodded. "The electrical energy of the lock itself might be used to
generate a crude force field of sorts--"
"So much for the first problem," said Kirk. But we have a second
pressing concern at the moment. We need a strategy for regaining
control of this vessel."
"Simply accomplished," said Spock. "Neutralize the manual override and
then channel the navigational computer through this terminal."
Kirk looked at the doctor. "How long do you think it will take for
Scott to come to and start looking for us?"
"Not that long," McCoy said. "Probably some
where between five and thirty minutes for him to regain consciousness.
It wasn't that hard of a blow. And I'm sure his minions will be
advised about us soon enough."
"And the next question is, once we have control of this vessel, what
course heading do we take?" McCoy shook his head. "Wherever we go,
we'll spread these--whatever they are."
"Vulcan is already infested," Spock pointed out. "And shuttles run
daily between Earth and Vulcan. It will spread, with or without the
Enterprise's assistance. I suggest we return there."
"Definitely," Anitra said. "But rather than risk spreading the
problem, we should commandeer a shuttlecraft for ourselves and sabotage
the ship so it drifts."
"But what's the point of returning to Vulcan?" Kirk wanted to know.
"It's as dangerous there as it is on this ship."
"Even more so," Spock acknowledged gravely. "But our safety is not the
object, Captain."
"Mr. Spock and I were commissioned by Star Fleet to investigate and
find a solution for this problem." Anitra was suddenly all scientist.
"In order to do that, we need an infected subject and the proper
equipment for experimentation. And we need to be at a safe place where
no one can locate us. Vulcan offers these things."
"But the chances of being infected or killed there--" Kirk began.
"Are high," Anitra conceded. "We don't deny that. But the academy has
equipment that is far superior to anything we have here. And there's
the hope that we
can stop things before they spread to other planets."
"We have a subject h ere we could test--"
"Captain," Spock said quietly, "we need a living subject who is
definitely infected. It is quite doubtful that my mother will be
either one of those things."
"Vulcan is the only logical choice." Anitra's voice was calmly
determined.
The ghost of a smile flitted over Kirk's face. "You're as bad as he
is," he said with a nod at his first officer. "All right, then. If
we're going to isolate them, then we'll need to cut off communications.
I'll let the ensign do that from here, since she has already shown us
her expertise in the matter. And we'll need someone to sabotage
engineering so the ship will drift."
"I am qualified," said Spock.
"No contest, Mr. Spock. And I'll sabotage the sensors on the hangar
deck."
"Hey," said McCoy, "what about me?"
"You can stay with me," Anitra piped up, "and provide moral support."
McCoy blushed; Spock looked nauseated.
"You heard the lady, Bones." Kirk winked at him. "I'm leaving. And
once you're satisfied, you can keep Scotty from breaking in here,
Spock, then you and the ensign can figure out how to make this ship
drift short of blowing up engineering."
Kirk decided not to risk taking the turbolift down to the hangar deck;
instead, he climbed down the emergency shafts connecting each level
until it seemed his arms would fail. The corridor leading to the deck
was, fortunately, empty--the area was not regularly patrolled. He had
almost made it to his destination when
he felt a giant hand clamped down on his shoulder. He reached
instinctively for his phaser, but the hand pulled his arm and twisted
it behind his back until the phaser clattered to the floor.
Kirk kicked backwards, freeing himself from the hold, and turned to
face his attacker. The huge, beefy crewman wore the blood-spattered
uniform of a maintenance technician and appeared to be in some sort of
frenzy; he was snarling and his mouth was flecked with foam. Kirk
froze and swallowed audibly.
The crewman roared and made a graceless lunge. Kirk sidestepped him
neatly and glanced desperately about for the phaser. He spied it lying
beneath the hangar console and scrabbled toward it, but the giant was
not as slow-moving as Kirk had judged him to be. He pulled the captain
toward him with a huge paw and laced his thick fingers around Kirk's
throat. Red faced, Kirk swung at his opponent, but the giant's arm was
sufficiently long enough to hold Kirk too far away to do any damage.
Kirk closed his eyes and was just pondering his next move when he heard
a feminine voice say, "Don't hurt him, fool!"
The next thing he heard was the whine of a phaser. The force of it
knocked them both to the floor. Apparently, the technician was stunned
by the blast, for the footsteps Kirk heard approaching were those of a
decidedly lighter person. He opened his eyes.
"Tomson." He smiled with relief. "Am I glad to see you."
"I'm glad I found you, Captain," she said in her typically flat tone
and bent over him. "Are you all right?"
He sat up, waving away her attempt to help him up,
and fingered his throat lightly. "Thanks to you, yes." "That idiot
was really trying to throttle you. I
couldn't let him do that. We need you." Kirk was puzzled by the
sudden warmth of her statement. "Where have you been, Lieutenant?
Your people are looking for you." "No kidding. What a coincidence."
Kirk blinked and shook his head. Her eyes had always been small and
narrow before; now they were huge, so huge they seemed to fill her
face, fill the room. "We've been looking for you."
McCoy was pacing again. He had noticed the tendency twice already and
had forced himself to sit down and relax, but was unsuccessful for more
than five minutes at a stretch. It had been hours since they had first
arrived in auxiliary. Spock and Anitra had rigged the lock, and after
a relatively brief discussion with Anitra, the Vulcan had gone to
sabotage the engines. He hadn't been gone all that long .. .
nonetheless, McCoy found himself beginning to worry about the Vulcan.
And as far as the captain was concerned, McCoy was convinced that
something horrible had happened. "How much longer do you think it'll
take 'em?"
"It depends," Anitra answered. "I've decided not to worry for another
two hours. They might have to be patient and wait for people to leave
before they can start working."
"And after two hours have passed?" McCoy asked gently.
Anitra sighed disconsolately. She was sitting with one elbow resting
on the vast control console. Her
chin was propped
up on one fist, and her hair streamed, unruly, down
her back. McCoy sincerely doubted that it had been brushed at all for
the past few days. "Then we try to make it to the hangar deck,
sabotage the sensors ourselves and take the shuttlecraft." McCoy
nodded unenthusiastically. "Makes sense. Do you think there's any
danger of Scott finding us before Jim and Spock show up?"
"My God, aren't we dreary? Look, if it's any comfort to you, I haven't
done anything to let them know we're in auxiliary control. The only
thing I've interfered with is their internal sensors."
McCoy frowned at the realization that he was pacing again and sat down
next to her. "Why would you need to do that?"
"They can't tell individual humans apart with an internal scan--but
they could certainly find the only Vulcan on board. They'd have us in
two minutes. I rigged it so they'll think it's an equipment failure.
They'll never trace it here."
McCoy whistled in admiration. "You've thought of everything, haven't
Star Trek - TOS - 30 - DEMONS Page 11
