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."
