Chapter 12
"Please, Lieutenant Kyle," pleaded Lyra. "Think harder! What form did Pantalaimon have when we were first brought aboard?"
"I-I don't remember," replied Kyle. "A bird, or a squirrel; I think. Why?"
"Because Mr. Spock said we have to be as close to the way we were when we first came aboard! We have to wear our old clothes and Pan has to be in the form he had when you first saw us!"
"Oh, well," said Kyle. "Why not just review the records, then?"
Lyra watched the small viewer in the transporter room. It was like watching the cinema as she saw herself, Pan and Will when they first beamed aboard. Oh, Will was so brave but he was bleeding so badly! Then, she saw Pan in the form of a small bird, flying onto her shoulder as she vomited on the transporter platform. Kyle froze and magnified the image of Pan on the viewer.
"Right," said Lyra with relief. "Pan, please take that form again so we can be ready."
Pantalaimon remained a white ermine. "Lyra . . . I . . . I don't think I can."
"Please, Pan!" pleaded Lyra. "You must change! Oh, you must!"
Slowly, Pantalaimon took the form of the bird on the screen. But Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Lt. Kyle saw just how much effort it took poor Pan to make the change. And Lyra felt her daemon's difficulty. Like being forced to run fast and far when you are exhausted and ready for bed.
"Lyra," said Kirk. "What is happening to Pantalaimon? Why is he having so much trouble shifting his shape?"
"This isn't us, Lyra," said Pantalaimon. "This bird form, I mean."
"Oh, Pan!" said Lyra. "Y-you can't be settling now! You just can't be . . . ."
"Will must come back soon, Lyra," said Pantalaimon. We have to go back to Cittagazze as soon as possible; then all will be as it was. This bird isn't us, Lyra. And I don't think I'll be able to change too much more while we are here . . . ."
Interlude: In The Land of the Dead
"Please stop here, James Kirk," said Gracious Wings.
"Do you need to take a break?" said Kirk. "An intermission?"
"No," said the harpy. "My sisters and I need to remind you and Leonard McCoy that we want you to tell us your story about Will and Lyra; without any hearsay or quoting from official Starfleet reports."
"That is what we are doing," said McCoy.
"Than why were you about to tell us what happened to Will Parry and Montgomery Scott on the Volynov?" said Gracious Wings matter-of-factly.
"Oh, right," said Kirk. "Please forgive me, Gracious Wings. Scotty told me what happened when he and Will went over to the Volynov so many times over drinks; I could almost have sworn that I was there with him."
"But, you were not there with him," Gracious Wings said gently, but firmly.
"Let us pick up where Scotty and Will returned to the Enterprise," said McCoy. "I'm sure Scotty and Will already told Gracious Wings and her sisters what happened on the Volynov, Jim."
Gracious Wings shook her head. "Remember, Leonard McCoy; Will Parry retained no memory whatsoever of his time aboard the Enterprise. As for Montgomery Scott; he has yet to come this way and share his stories."
"How can that be?" said McCoy. "I heard that Scotty went missing with everyone else on the USS Jenolen back in 2294. They were all presumed to have died."
"No," said Gracious Wings. "Montgomery Scott is not dead yet. We know this from a crewman from the Jenolen named Ensign Matt Franklin. He and Montgomery Scott were the only survivors left when the Jenolen collided with an enclosed sun: what you would call a 'Dyson Sphere.'
"According to Matt Franklin, Montgomery Scott modified the Jenolen's transporters to serve as a survival shelter by recycling themselves through the pattern buffer continuously. Unfortunately for Matt Franklin, his pattern did not hold. Thus, he came our way several decades ago. He told us his stories. He moved on. Perhaps this will happen as well to Montgomery Scott soon, perhaps not. In any event, we harpies anxiously await his story when he does arrive."
"Well," said Kirk. "Then for now, suffice it to say that Scotty and Will returned safely to the Enterprise with the biofilter components in one of the Volynov's shuttlecraft."
McCoy said, "Lyra and I were in the hanger bay to meet Will and Scotty when they returned to the Enterprise . . . ."
"This is shuttlecraft Judith Resnik, NCC-1803-2," said Scotty. "Requesting clearance ter come aboard Enterprise. Will and I are alright, and we got everything we need ter upgrade our transporter."
"Permission granted," replied Captain Kirk. "Well done, and welcome home!"
"How much longer," said Lyra. She felt relieved as she looked through the observation deck's window, watching the box-shaped shuttlecraft slowly turn around on the floor mounted turntable. Her heart leapt as she saw Will through the front viewport of the shuttlecraft. He had seen her and Pan and waved to them frantically.
"It will only take a few more moments, Lyra," said Dr. McCoy. "The hanger deck needs to re-pressurize; then we can go in."
When the light over the door turned from red to green, Lyra shot through, running to the shuttlecraft with Pantalaimon, still in bird form, flying alongside. The hatch opened on the shuttlecraft and Will rushed out. The two children met halfway, hugging, spinning around, and kissing each other as though they had been apart for years instead of hours.
"LYRA!" said Will, barely able to contain his excitement. He put his hands on the sides of Lyra's face. "You won't believe what happened! I saw them! The Specters! On the Volynov! I could see them!"
"What?!"
Will told Lyra that within minutes of beaming into Ship's Stores aboard the Volynov, the Specters came for them. Will could not see them at that time, but Mr. Scott told him where they were. The moment Will drew the Subtle Knife; the Specters backed away, but did not leave. Moments later, Mr. Scott had located the spare biofilter hardware and loaded it onto a hovering platform. Then the hard part began as Mr. Scott and Will walked the gauntlet of Specters as they made their way to the Volynov's hanger deck.
Mr. Scott had told Will that, under normal circumstances, it would only take a few minutes to go from Ship's Stores to the hanger deck on a Miranda-class starship; but the Specters had them surrounded. It was almost as if they could sense the fatal flaw in the two human's strategy. The Specters feared the Subtle Knife, but seemed to understand that the knife's Bearer was only a child who could not see them, and relied on the adult to point them out. Unfortunately, the adult was also preoccupied with trying to get the hardware they came for safely to the hanger deck. Moving inches at a time, Will could see Mr. Scott becoming more anxious and nervous as the Specters swooped in to feed before Will could drive them back.
All this time, Will held his fear under control. Others depended on him, and not just this Scotsman from the 23rd century. Will thought of his mother, who needed him in his own world and time. He thought of the father he never really knew, who needed him to be strong and mature so he could find and help him stop the Dust from going away. But most of all, he thought of Lyra and the feelings he had for her. She needed him more than ever, and he needed her. And then, Will Parry saw the Specters.
The Specters of Cittagazze looked roughly man-shaped; a wavering, shimmering in the air. Kind of like the alien hunter's camouflage in the Predator movies. And Will attacked; destroying the creature nearest to him and Mr. Scott. Then, he slew another one. And then, another. By then, the Specters realized what was happening and began to back away from the fierce boy-no-longer-a-boy, and Mr. Scott was able to push the platform with the precious hardware the rest of the way to the hanger deck without incident.
Will could still see the Specters watching them in the cavernous hanger deck, albeit keeping a respectful distance. When Will and Mr. Scott came to the closest shuttlecraft, they saw several more Specters hiding inside, but they, too, fell to the Subtle Knife. Moments later, Will and Mr. Scott were safely on their way back to the Enterprise.
"Oh, Will," said Lyra. "Something has happened . . . ."
"What? Lyra, what's wrong?"
"I . . . I can't read the Alethiometer! When you left for the other ship, I tried to get the coordinates of the window for Mr. Spock. The ones I saw before . . . but I can't!"
Lyra told Will that as soon as he and Mr. Scott beamed over to the Volynov, she and Pantalaimon went to the bridge to help Mr. Spock locate the window the Enterprise would need to pass through to get home to their own world and time. But when she tried to consult the Alethiometer for the window's coordinates, she was unable to learn anything.
Lyra had set the dials to the same symbols she had chosen when she first learned about the window orbiting Cittagazze, but was unable to slip into a proper alethiometric trance. Instead, she watched helplessly as the large needle moved, seemingly pointing at random to the other symbols.
Pantalaimon suggested that she was unable to read the Alethiometer because she was so worried about Will, but Lyra disagreed with her daemon, reminding Pan that she had successfully used the Alethiometer before under stress and was able to receive clear, detailed answers to her questions. No, Lyra had said. Something was different. She was different, but she could not say how.
Lyra had felt her heart sink. Without the Alethiometer, finding Will's father would be more difficult, but in the here and now, she would be unable to keep the promise she had made to Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew; and they relied on her to be able to go home. Lyra had felt as though she had betrayed the people on the Enterprise. She knew the feeling of betrayal. She had felt the same way when she realized that she had brought her best friend, Roger Parslow, to his death at the hands of her father, Lord Asriel.
Call Lyra a liar; she wouldn't even flinch. Lyra was proud of the stories she could tell. Call her a barbarian. Call her a greedy little savage. Lyra had been called much, much worse. But never, never, never call Lyra Silvertongue untrustworthy. Whatever else she was, Lyra prided herself on her loyalty to those she considered friends. It was because of this that Lyra told Will that she was willing to submit to another mind-meld with Mr. Spock in the hope that her subconscious mind remembered the coordinates to the window home for the Enterprise.
Will was worried, but Lyra told him that this time, the mind-meld would not be so traumatic for her and Pan. The first mind-meld, initiated accidentally when Mr. Spock attempted to protect Pantalaimon by snatching him away from the golden monkey's grasp, resulted in a flood of memories. It was analogous, Mr. Spock had said, to a massive 'data-dump' with a computer. This time, Mr. Spock would initiate the mind-meld by touching Lyra's head; obtaining the information needed and nothing else.
At that moment, a team of technicians arrived to gather the biofilter hardware and take it to the transporter room. Mr. Scott said goodbye to Will, Lyra, and Dr. McCoy, then accompanied the technicians to the transporter room to supervise the installation. Dr. McCoy then escorted Will and Lyra to the turbolift to the bridge.
"Welcome back, Mr. Parry," said Captain Kirk. "Scotty tells me that he could not have done it without your help. You know, part of me wishes you and Lyra could return to the 23rd century with us; but you have something more important to do in your own time. I guess Dust's gain is Starfleet Academy's loss."
Will smiled. "Thank you, sir." Will had his arm around Lyra's shoulder while Pan sat perched on her finger. "Though, it would be class to pilot a starship."
"Well, you would need to be a little older, Will," said Lt. Sulu. "They don't let cadets pilot starships."
"Definitely, Mr. Sulu," said Kirk. "Starfleet would never trust a kid with a starship."
"I'm ready to help Mr. Spock," said Lyra. "I'm ready for the mind-meld. If the coordinates to your window are there; I'm sure Mr. Spock will find them."
"That will not be necessary, Lyra," said Spock as he stood from his work station.
"What do you mean?" said Lyra.
Captain Kirk gestured to the main viewer. Will and Lyra gasped and Pan cocked his head. On the viewer, highlighted with false-color imaging to make it easier to see, was the window in space connecting Cittagazze with Will's world, and it was surrounded by a halo of particles.
"Dust," said Lyra, almost with reverence.
"H-how did you find it?" said Will.
"Prior to our escape from the alternate-timeline space fleet of the Magisterium," said Spock. "Will had told Lyra that, in addition to his parents and neighbor, 'Dr. Malone' was also deceased. Initially, I assumed that Will was referring to his mother's physician, however, I knew of another Dr. Malone from my studies of Second Elizabethan English history. A doctor Mary Malone, whose doctorate was in physics.
"Dr. Malone's early research was focused on the location and study of Dark Matter. Indeed, Lyra had visited Dr. Malone at Oxford University in Will's world to enquire about the 'Dust' she was seeking. After concluding that 'Dust' and 'Dark Matter' were in fact the same, I configured the Enterprise's sensors to scan for Dark Matter; allowing me to locate, four minutes three seconds later, the spatial interphasic rift that had ensnared the Volynov as well as the Enterprise."
"Thank you, Lyra," said Kirk. "I would say this fulfills your end of our agreement; you did help Mr. Spock find the window back home."
Lyra was so happy that she did not betray the people from the future, that Pan had to nip her ear to get her attention and remind her to say, "you're welcome."