The explosion knocked him backwards, vision going linen

white. In the sudden silence he thought it had deafened

him as well until he realised he could hear the blood roaring

in his head, his own sobbing gasps for breath. To his left

someone moved and coughed; to his right he heard a moan of

pain.

Slowly shapes resolved themselves out of the light.

Deckplates scattered across the floor, flotsam of the

tempest. He could see the burn marks in front of him

where the phaser had exploded. He could see Spock lying

crumpled on the floor a few feet further forward.

Laboriously, he got to his hands and knees and crawled

forward. It seemed to take forever to reach the Science

Officer and in a way Kirk didn't mind. Each time he

brought his hand forward and didn't see a science blue

uniform was another moment in which he didn't have to look

at Spock's arm, Spock's face, empty of the vitality that made

them familiar to him, transformed into just another

assemblage of bone and flesh. Kirk would crawl over an

acre, would crawl for eternity to avoid having to see that.

Then at last another lurch forward brought a blur of black

and blue in his peripheral vision. He sank down beside the

body of his friend.

Spock's eyes were half open, his nictitating membranes drawn

across. His face and body seemed unmarked. Kirk

touched his shoulder. "Spock." he said, thinking, ~this is the

last time, this is the last time I will say his name to him, from

now on the only use his name will be to me will be to speak

to others about him.~ He found no pulse at the big vein of the

neck, nor when he laid his hand on Spock's side.

Too quick, too quick, too quick to understand, to absorb.

Kirk told himself that it could have happened any time, on

any away mission. He had been prepared. It was

ridiculous to feel this sense of surprise. It was a risk they

shared, a risk they both accepted -

~No,~ Kirk thought. ~I have never accepted it. I never

believed it could happen to us. I have always known that

there was one more rabbit in the hat, that we were

immortal and could never lose.~

He put his hands on his knees and levered himself to his

feet. Duty forced him up. The faces of his crew, looking

to him for guidance, held him there.

"Let's see if we can get out of here." he said.

And Spock turned his head and blinked and woke.

"You had a rabbit in that hat." Kirk heard himself say in a

whisper.

Spock lay motionless for a moment. "I believe," he said at

last, his voice hoarse, "I have succeeded in gaining its

attention."

"Are you all right?"

"No, Jim, I am very far from 'all right'. If you inquire as

to whether I am still in control of my mind, then, yes, I

am." Slowly the Vulcan pushed himself into a sitting

position. "Your - unorthodox - solution had an unexpected

result. The creature feared the death of another host, and

reacted with panic. It shielded my body from the explosion,

but it was distracted from its attempt to dominate my mind. I

was able to take advantage of that." He looked at Kirk, and

despite the strain in his face the corner of his mouth twitched

upwards slightly. "I believe you would say, Captain, that I

have the tiger by the tail."

"Can you tell us anything more about what it is? How to

deal with it?"

"It is an immature member of its species. Curiosity

encouraged it to leave its community. Encountering

members of the humanoid races, it discovered a - taste - for

human emotions. As time went on, it became stronger. Here

on Starbase 34, it discovered a source of emotions and for the

first time realised it could enter a corporeal mind - a child

with a high psi index. This new experience both amplified its

powers and made the sensations more intense. It will do -

anything - to continue to have access to our emotions, and

to find a new host."

"You?"

"Not yet, Jim, though that is still its aim. I fear that the

linkage I have formed with its consciousness has

strengthened it, but it is unsophisticated and undisciplined.

I am finding it difficult, but far from impossible, to direct

its attention away from our physical presence."

"For how long?"

"I believe I can maintain my resistance for a few hours."

"Did you find out how to destroy it?" Kirk asked, hoping

the answered would be something achievable in 'a few

hours'.

Spock was silent for so long, his gaze turned inwards, that

Kirk began to fear for him. "Jim," he said, "it is a

previously un-encountered lifeform. It is a child of its

species. True, it has acted destructively, but it was initially

ignorant and later, corrupted by its contact with us. Do we

have the right to destroy it?"

"Can you persuade it to leave? To peacefully go back

where it came from? Or at least, to cease attacking us,

attacking ships in this sector."

"No." Spock said on a pent up breath. "No, I do not believe

I can do that."

"It must be stopped. if we cannot stop it short of

destroying it, we have to destroy it."

"Yes." Spock acknowledged. "It is not a Vulcan answer,

Jim, but it is the answer I agreed to when I joined

Starfleet."

Kirk waited, hunkered down on his heels, giving Spock

the time he needed although every passing second scraped

his nerves.

"The creature can be detected by its Mu spectrum

signature." Spock said. "It is diffuse, but its signature will

form a perfect sphere. Photon torpedoes, altered to emit

radiation at the forth and ninth bar of the Mu Spectrum,

will disrupt the creature's presence sufficiently to

effectively 'destroy' it."

"Then we have to get back to the ship." Kirk said.

"The door is unlocked now, Captain." Sulu called.

His words were born out by the door hissing open.

Chekov stood in the doorway, white faced. "Keptain." he

said, and stepped inside. McCoy and Chapel were behind

him.

"Bones." Kirk said. "You're late to the fair."

"We had our own." McCoy said. He took the room in at a

glance, motioned Chapel to go the Clarkson and pulled out

his medical tricorder. "Hold still there Spock."

"Your faith in primitive medical technology is touching,

Doctor." Spock said, regarding the tricorder with distaste.

"I doubt, however, that it will be of much assistance to you

here."

"What happened?" McCoy asked. Kirk brought him up to

speed.

"Still no communication with the Enterprise." Uhura said.

"Spock, will this thing let us leave? can you make it let us

leave?"

"I believe so, Captain." Spock said.

"Bones, get the wounded ready to travel."

They had to improvise stretchers from the torn up deck

plates and ripped uniforms, but the crew's professionalism

was intact and within ten minutes they were ready to go.

The first group had passed through the door into the

corridor and the second were filing though when Kirk

helped Spock to his feet.

Clang!

Every head turned. "It's starting again!" someone

whispered.

Crash!

"Spock." Kirk said tightly.

"I am trying, Captain it - " he lowered his head and

swayed slightly, his expression one of extreme

concentration. Then he looked up, and his mouth quirked

in a wry smile. "It does not want me to leave."