Avellach: the shimmering world on the main viewscreen was like a bright jewel on the dark brow of space. Jim Kirk smiled to himself. It was rare for a planet to move him to poetry, he was too experienced a space traveller for that - and most did not deserve it anyway, but Avellach - well she was different.

The planet obliquely reminded him of Earth - and home. Oh, not in the shape of the continents or ratio of sea to land, it was the world itself, the green, gold, and the blue of it. He felt an inexplicable yearning, tried to rationalize the sensation, and failed. Perhaps he was tired! He sighed deeply and looked up into McCoy's beaming face as the doctor came to stand by the Command chair.

"Homesick, Jim?"

"Hmmm, maybe. A little." Kirk wryly eyed the bridge crew; several had been sneaking admiring glances at the view screen ever since they had achieved orbit. "I doubt I'm the only one."

"Well, it's certain that one member of the crew won't be moved by all the green and blue down there. By the way, has he returned with the results yet?"

Kirk eyed McCoy with exaggerated astonishment, a puckish smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Why Bones, do I detect a trace of concern for Spock?"

"Most certainly not." Clasping his hands behind his back, McCoy bounced up on his toes a few times, eyes looking straight ahead. "To borrow a phrase, that would be illogical. I'm just wondering if he's figured out a way to penetrate the planet's magnetic field. I've heard that 'blanket effect' plays merry hell with sensor equipment, never mind transporters."

Crossing his legs, Kirk, wearing an amused expression, leaned towards McCoy. "Even Spock can't work miracles, Bones."

McCoy tried to browbeat Kirk. "Who said anything about miracles? I only meant that he's pig-headed enough to come up with something that looks like one."

"Oh, I see..."

McCoy cut in before Kirk could utter another word. "But don't tell him I said so!"

"Not a word," said Kirk, with an innocent shake of his head.

Lieutenant Uhura turned from her communications board, "Captain, the Galileo has just come aboard. Mr. Spock has gone straight to the briefing room as you requested."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Call departmental heads. I want to see them there immediately."

"Aye, aye, sir."

oOo

Kirk looked at Spock across the briefing room table. Immaculately turned out as usual, beneath the iron expression his first officer appeared unduly ruffled to Kirk's practiced eye.

Spock addressed Kirk directly, " Despite the blanket effect hampering the efficiency of our equipment, I have established that the colonists' reports are valid. A major earthquake will occur approximately twenty four hours from now."

"Twenty-four hours?" McCoy questioned, glancing up quickly at the first officer. "But there's more than twelve thousand people down there, as near as damnit makes no difference to the threatened zone. We can't hope to evacuate them all in that time."

"For once, I would agree with you, Doctor," Spock, patience itself, fitted a tape into the tri-screen on the desk and watched as a detailed schematic of the area appeared.

"As you can see," he continued quietly, "the colonists have unfortunately chosen to build here, a fault line in the surface crust that will receive most of the disturbance. As the Doctor has stated, with transporters effectively out of action, it is highly unlikely we will be able to beam them to a safer area in time. Logically, therefore, the only alternative is - to divert the earthquake."

Kirk, sipping at a cup of lukewarm coffee, almost choked. What had Bones been saying about miracles----? McCoy took it even less stoically.

"And how do you figure on doing that," he asked after a shocked silence, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Do an impression of King Canute, Vulcan-style?"

Kirk hid his own amusement as a ripple of amused laughter erupted from the other departmental heads around the table. He knew from experience that Spock's insatiable curiosity with anything human, had led him down many weird and wonderful paths of discovery. He was sure the name of an obscure British king would not have escaped the Vulcan's knowledge. A moment later he was proved right.

Spock raised an expressive eyebrow. "King Canute, Doctor McCoy did not have the benefit of modern technology when attempting to stop the ocean tide. We do."

Seeing the inevitable argument beginning to brew, Kirk intervened quickly. "I think we can safely leave King Canute for later, Gentlemen. Mr. Spock. What have you in mind?"

Spock changed tapes and indicated the picture on the screen. "It will be relatively simple, Captain - although there is an element of risk. Here you see a particularly mountainous area on the southern continent where there have been several tremors of varying intensity, the last one three point four days ago---."

"You're quite certain about that, Mr. Spock?" Kirk asked lightly.

Spock blinked, "As certain as the latest data permits, Captain. Of course there could be a slight error due---"

"Never!" McCoy muttered under his breath, which none-the-less was audible to the rest of them.

Spock glanced at him. "You have some comment to make, Doctor?"

Bones glared like a little boy caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. "I was just making a remark that it would be illogical for you to err, Spock!"

Kirk smiled gently, "As you were saying, Mr. Spock---."

"Indeed, Captain."

The first officer turned back to the screen. "This area is riddled with cave structures, many of them leading down hundreds of feet beneath Avellach's surface. It would need only a small, shaped charge planted in this specific fault-line, engineered to coincide with the earthquake itself to produce a disrupting effect..."

"You mean if we release the pressure with a quake of our own, the large one won't take place."

"Exactly, sir."

"Uh-huh." Kirk pondered for a moment before looking up at his assembled staff. "What is your opinion, Mr. Mura? You're the geologist."

Mura, originally of Swedish descent with thick prematurely white hair, looked up keenly.

"The theory is sound." His slow smile rivalled Kirk's own for charm factor. "There have been cases on Aleph IV and even on Earth, where this sort of thing was tried - quite successfully."

"Scotty, do you think you could rig up the sort of device, Mr. Spock would require?"

"Aye, Captain, it shouldnae be too difficult. I'll need an hour---mebbe two."

"You've got them, Scotty."

"Hold on, Jim!" McCoy butted in, "don't you think we're rushing into things. There are twelve thousand colonists down on that planet. We can't just go ahead with some cock-eyed scheme..."

"Bones, we have twenty-four hours in which to act. "There are risks as Spock pointed out, both to the colonists and to any landing party that we send, but if you have a better idea---."

"Dammit, Jim, you know I haven't!"

Kirk looked at him kindly. "Then I propose we go ahead. Pick your team, Mr. Spock. I want you down on that planet as soon as possible. That's all, Gentleman."

"Aye, aye, Captain."

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5

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