choice."
Spock looked down at McCoy's pale face. "Very well," he said. "But
you must hurry."
McCoy shivered as the wind swept over him. Spock was sitting so as to
block the wind as much as possible,
but it still was not enough; he tucked the doctor's cloak more tightly
about him and raised the hood so that it sheltered McCoy's face from
the wind and sand. Precisely forty-seven minutes ago, Anitra had left,
and McCoy had been mercifully unconscious the entire time until a
moment before when the delirium had started.
Spock had only twice before seen the effects of ale matya's
poison--once, on a pet; the other time, during the ordeal of the
Kahswan, on a childhood friend. Neither had received help in time to
survive. Spock knew that while the poison might affect humans somewhat
differently, the doctor would no doubt suffer greatly.
McCoy's face had already turned a distressing shade of gray, and his
muscles spasmed periodically, then relaxed, trembling from the effort.
His eyelids fluttered, but never opened quite long enough for him to
focus on anything. He was speaking now, but the words were so slurred
that Spock could barely make them out.
"Anitra," he said. "Don't go. Don't.. ."
"She will be back soon," Spock said. "Don't speak."
"Sorry," McCoy mumbled. "Didn't mean to ... didn't mean to .. ." He
tried to pull himself up, but Spock held him down gently.
"It wasn't your fault you were injured," Spock said, although he
doubted the doctor heard or understood.
"My fault," said McCoy. "Didn't mean to love her.. ."
Hardly something to apologize for, Spock thought.
"You mustn't hurt her, understand? Can't let you hurt her--" McCoy
broke off, shaken by another spasm of pain. "Isn't fair .. . isn't
fair to her. Too many people ... trying to make her into ... something
she's not.. .."
Spock listened in the darkness. "I shall keep it in mind, Doctor," he
said softly, "... if she ever makes it back."
Kirk crouched inside the darkened doorway to Scott's inner sleep
chamber, waiting for the moment when the engineer would be off duty. He
had picked the lock to the engineer's quarters and carefully relocked
the door behind him. He had been squatting patiently in the dim light,
his phaser drawn, for a good fifteen minutes before he heard the door
slide open.
His grip on the phaser tightened and he half rose, ready to fire, but
stopped before his finger squeezed the trigger.
Tomson entered the outer room. She wore her phaser, an accoutrement
not all that unusual for a security chief, but the Klingon dagger--a
brutal, three-pronged weapon outlawed in Federation territory --was.
She walked slowly about the outer office; she, too, was clearly
searching for a place to hide. As she neared Kirk, she paused, and the
sudden deliberation with which she moved alerted him to the fact that
his presence had been detected. Before she reached either weapon she
wore, Kirk had already fired his.
She slumped to the ground.
He stood over her for a moment, thinking. He could
drag her outside Scott's quarters and hide her somewhere, with the
hopes that Scott would not arrive while Kirk was gone. However, there
was also the chance that she might regain consciousness before Scott
arrived, and return to reveal Kirk's presence.
He decided not to risk either scenario. He pulled his security chief
up over his shoulder. At six feet six inches, she made an awkward
bundle; her upper torso hung all the way down his back, and her thin
platinum hair, unraveled from its customary knot and hanging forward,
swept the floor. Kirk wobbled a bit at first, but managed.
He was quite unable to suppress the smug feeling that he had just
gotten even with something.
Anitra ran--flew--over the desert dunes. The wind filled the back and
sleeves of the cloak, which she had permitted to fall open, and they
flapped and billowed; her hood had long ago fallen back, and she let
her hair stream quite unselfconsciously. The thought occurred to her
that removing the cloak would reduce wind drag, but she could not let
herself take the time even for that.
It took her less than an hour to reach the outskirts of the city; in
the distance, the multiple pale domes of the academy shone weakly. She
stopped for a moment to remember Spock's directions and orient
herself.
The sky was virtually empty of traffic, and she was the only pedestrian
on the sand streets. She waved to the occasional skimmer that passed
overhead, but none stopped, and she wished she had thought to ask Spock
the Vulcan gesture for hitchhiking.
Fortunately, the fourth skimmer that passed
stopped in the sky and gently lowered itself beside her. She could
see just well enough in the darkness to make out a smiling human face,
and she lowered her screens long enough to sense the absence of evil.
She returned the smile and climbed into the skimmer.
The hatch lowered as Anitra settled back into her seat; in the glow
from the control panel, she was able to make out her host's face. She
would have climbed right back out if they hadn't already been a hundred
feet off the ground.
"I never thought to see you again," Roy said. If possible, he was
drunker than he had been the last time they had met. "I knew it was
you the minute you smiled. I've never seen a smile like yours."
The much-touted smile froze on her face. "Roy, isn't it?"
He beamed, pleased that she should remember. "That's right. Aren't
you gonna tell me yours?"
"Anitra."
"Anitra. That's a pretty name."
She started to protest, then thought better of it. "Roy, you could
really help me. I have a "friend in trouble--"
"Not one of them you was with last time," Roy growled. "I don't owe
them nothing."
"No," she lied. "Someone else ... a girlfriend of mine. She got hurt
out in the desert. I have to get a healer."
"Hurt, huh? Not bad, I hope."
"Bad," Anitra said. "We've got to hurry." She pointed. "Over in that
direction."
"The suburbs, of course." Roy hiccupped. "I suppose I could head this
baby in that direction."
"Thank you," she said fervently.
He squeezed his eyes at her sideways. "You know, I hope you're not
still mad about what happened."
Anitra bit her lip and decided it would be best to stay on Roy's good
side. "Not at all. I notice you're still on Vulcan. I thought you
were just on shore leave."
"I decided to extend it," Roy said darkly. "Funny things are going on
with the crew--kind of a mutiny, you could say. I thought it'd be
safer to stay behind. Of course, it's been getting weird enough around
here these days. Vulcans killing Vulcans now, they say. Things like
that haven't happened for thousands of years."
He glanced at her in the darkness, but she sat absorbed in her own
thoughts.
"I might ask you what you were doing out in the desert at night. It's
never been too safe out there."
"That's why we need the help," Anitra said drily. "Look, the important
thing is that we get the healer. We can talk later."
"Suit yourself."
They flew along in silence for a moment; Anitraleaned back and watched,
hypnotized by the sight of the city passing by beneath them.
"Wait a minute," she said. "We've passed it."
Roy did not seem to hear.
"Turn around. It's back behind us."
Roy continued flying without a word.
"Hey." A note of anger crept into Anitra's voice. "Where do you think
you're taking me?"
Roy leered at her. "We'll get you to your healer. I'm just taking the
... scenic route." He leaned over and put his huge hand on her
thigh.
Anitra's hand sought the phaser hidden in the folds of her cloak and
closed on it. "Turn this craft around," she said, pulling the phaser
out.
Roy's initial astonishment gave way to amused confidence. "Now, look
here, honey, you're just a little nervous. I know you wouldn't use
that thing on me."
"I'm with Star Fleet Intelligence, you mouth breathing idiot, and I'll
do whatever I have to do to get to a healer. Now turn this goddamn
thing around before I blow you away and do it myself."
"Holy .. ." Roy said.
The skimmer came about in a wide arc.
Anitra stood outside the stone wall and pounded on the wooden gate.
Vulcans, Spock had told her, rarely, if ever, locked anything, but the
healer's doors were sealed shut against intruders. She called out
several times, but could not be sure that her cries were not swallowed
by the wind.
When she was on the verge of tears and utter desperation, her face
leaning against the smooth, polished gate, she heard a voice on the
other side of the gate.
"Go away," the healer cried. "Leave me in peace."
"I'm not dangerous," Anitra called. "I don't want to hurt you. My
friend was attacked by ale matya on the desert and needs your help."
"Say what you will," came the voice. It was thin, reedy, aged. "I
will not open the door. Go."
Anitra's voice rose, impassioned. "You must. My friend will die if
you do not come!"
"You are like all the others. Emotional, violent--"
"I'm not like all the others. If I sound emotional, it'sbecause I'm
Terran and my friend is dying. Please hurry. We don't have time to
argue--"
"I will not come." The healer's voice was cold and distant; already he
was moving away from the gate.
Anitra sobbed without tears; her face still pressed against the cool
gate, she could hear the steps of the healer, walking away.
"Stop!" she called. "If you won't come, then throw me the le matya's
antidote over the wall. Do that and I will leave you alone."
There was a silence on the other side of the wall, and she was sure
that the healer had gone, already out of earshot. She bowed her head
in frustration, but then a voice said on the other side of the fence,
"Your friend--is he also Terran?"
"Yes," she said. Her eyes burned with sudden tears.
She heard the soft sound of sand squeaking under his footsteps as he
went into the house. A moment later, a small object sailed over the
wall onto the sand. The wind began to roll it across the ground.
Anitra chased it a short distance and picked it up.
"When you open the vial," the healer called, "inside you will find a
hypospray. Use it on your friend and he will live if it is not too
late."
"Thank you," Anitra said. "Thank you."
But the healer had already gone back into his house.
There were three long buzzes at the door--the code Kirk and Uhura had
agreed upon--and Kirk walked over to the door and stood next to it, his
back pressed against the wall. He pushed the panel Anitra had rigged
to open the door.
Uhura entered, and Kirk relaxed visibly--but she was alone.
"You're late," he said. "Where's Sulu?"
"I got him without any trouble, Captain, but I need your help in
getting him back here. The problem was carrying him down the emergency
shaft--" She broke off as Tomson, locked inside the lounge, burst into
another tirade of unspeakable threats and obscenities. "Sir, that
certainly doesn't sound like Mr. Scott."
"It's not," Kirk answered. "It seems that Lieutenant Tomson had
planned her own little surprise for Mr. Scott. Only I was lucky
enough to get there first."
Uhura's eyes widened uncertainly.
"Tell me where Sulu is," Kirk said. "I'll go get him."
"I'll go with you, sir," said Uhura. "I'd rather you didn't go
alone."
"There's no point in risking both of us, Lieutenant."
"I know, sir, but I'd rather go with you than stay here and listen to
that." She nodded in Tomson's direction.
Kirk made a wry face. "You have a point there, Lieutenant."
She led him to the emergency shaft that opened just outside C deck, the
level of the officers' quarters. "You'll find him at the top of the
shaft, Captain."
Kirk entered the shaft first and began to climb the rungs; Uhura
followed. Before he could make it all the way up, he saw that Sulu was
indeed at the top. Brandishing a fencing foil, he leaned threateningly
over Kirk's head.
"How refreshing," Sulu gloated. "Another innocent victim."
Kirk looked down between his feet at Uhura. "Uhura, get out of here!
He's come to."
She did not budge.
"Lieutenant, that's an order. Move it! Do you hear me?"
"Oh, I hear you, Captain," she said sweetly, smiling up at him as she
trained her phaser on him. "I hear you. But you see, Sulu's promised
me a chance to feed."
Spock could see the skimmer lights approaching from some distance away,
and from the vessel's heading he was able to surmise that it was
heading straight for them. He could only hope that when someone
emerged, it would be Anitra.
Fortunately, it was. She was attended by a tall, muscular human male
who impressed Spock with his singularly unintelligent expression. He
hung back near the skimmer, but Anitra ran to McCoy's side
immediately.
"How is he?"
"He's been in a coma for the last five-point-three minutes," Spock
said. "I am uncertain whether he can be revived."
Anitra found the hypospray and emptied it into the doctor's arm, but
McCoy remained ashen and scarcely breathing.
"It's not working." Alarmed, she looked up at Spock.
"Give it time," Spock said. He ran the mediscanner over McCoy and
checked the results, then looked at Anitra.
"His heartbeat is getting stronger."
Anitra sighed and sank back into the sand.
"You lied to me," Roy muttered from a distance. "You said your friend
was a woman, but this is the jerk who knocked my tooth out."
Spock raised an eyebrow. "You must be mistaken, sir."
Anitra turned on Roy. "If I'd told you the truth, would you have
come?"
"Probably not," Roy admitted.
"Well, I'm grateful you did," said Anitra. "I can't tell
you how
much."
Abashed, Roy looked at his feet and mumbled something
incomprehensible.
McCoy's eyelids fluttered.
"Doctor," Spock said, "can you hear me?"
There was no answer.
"Doctor--"
"I hear you, Spock," McCoy said weakly. "You don't have to shout."
"I was hardly shouting, Doctor.. .."
McCoy moaned as he sat up and put his head in his hands. "Argh. What
a hangover. What happened?"
"The le matya scratched you," Spock said. "You're lucky to have
survived."
"Just a scratch did this?"
Spock nodded. "It has venom sacs in its claws. Anitra went to the
capital to procure some antivenin--" "So that's what's making me so
nauseous," McCoy groaned.
"Hmm," said Spock. "I believe that the idiom
'the shoe is on the other foot' is rather applicable here."
Star Trek - TOS - 30 - DEMONS Page 17
