Chapter 4

As the others left the briefing room, talking quietly about their mission, Kirk still had one thing to do.

„Kirk to transporter room."

„Kyle here, sir!"

„Ah, Lieutenant Kyle, are you beaming us down today?"

„Er - yes sir!"

„I'm pleased to hear it! - I would be grateful, if this time I didn't get flattened by the planet when we beam down." He heard the transporter chief's chuckle.

„Understood, sir."

„Where is Ensign N'grodth?"

„On general duties, sir."

„I'd like to speak to her - now if possible."

„Aye, sir! - She has been reprimanded, sir."

„That wasn't what I had in mind, Lieutenant."

„No, sir."

„Send N'grodth to the gardens."

„Aye, sir!"

„Kirk out." He hurried out of the briefing room and made his way to the gardens, just arriving before the ensign.

„Good day, Ensign N'grodth", he greeted his extremely nervous subordinate in a friendly voice.

„Good afternoon, sir!" The young humanoid whispered. She saluted quickly, afraid of making yet another mistake. Her normally bright yellow skin had paled to a sickly white, Kirk noticed.

„Are you ill, Ensign?"

„N-no, sir", she stuttered.

„Let's walk in here for a few minutes", the captain suggested, indicating the doors.

„Y-yes, sir."

They entered the gardens and Kirk took a deep breath. „Ah - smell that! Doesn't it remind you of home?"

N'grodth copied him. „No, sir - on Hatsawa we have no flowering plants."

„Tell me about your world."

„It is a damp, grey world. There is hardly any sunlight, perhaps two hours a revolution. There is no weather pattern either. Our world is flat, with many lakes and rivers, with plenty of trees and bushes and other non-flowering plants. Apart from the lack of sunlight it is atmospherically identical to any other Class M planet."

„You say it's flat?"

„Yes, sir."

„Any seismological movements?"

„No, sir." N'grodth stood still. „I apologize sir."

„What for?"

„For making such a terrible blunder."

„Apology accepted."

„I - I heard you were nearly killed, sir."

„And you're feeling guilty?" She nodded.

„Don't be too hard on yourself, Ensign! - Did anybody in all your training ever mention earthquakes and the likes to you? Did you ever practise setting anybody down on a mountainous terrain, let alone in the middle of a quake?"

The Hatsawan looked at him with fearfully widened turquoise eyes. „No, sir."

„Did anybody ask you if you knew about such occurances?" There was a pause before the ensign shook her head.

„I just learned more about your world in the last five minutes than I knew before, Ensign. It is the first world I have ever heard of where there is absolutely no seismological movement at all."

„Really, sir?" She looked astonished. „All the other worlds shake like that?" There was almost pure horror in her voice.

Kirk laughed gently. „Some more than others. Vulcan is supposed to be pretty bad when it errupts, Earth is always at it. Part of San Francisco was destroyed by eathquakes several times in the past."

„Aren't Terrans afraid?"

„We respect the power behind the quakes, but we're not afraid - I guess we hope we'll survive this one, and that the big one just won't happen in our life-time." She looked confused.

„A Terran joke, Ensign. Mister Spock would say we humans are illogical and would work out the probability of the big one occurring for you, and then efficiently plan the route of orderly evacuation."

She caught the smile just before it showed on her face, but he saw it in her eyes.

„I've been caught in several quakes before, Ensign. Never quite as directly before, but it wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last."

„You're not afraid, sir?" she asked increduously and then all her visible skin turned dark yellow. „I'm sorry, sir", she stuttered.

„Nothing to apologize for, Ensign - and no, I'm not afraid." He studied her. She had lost all her color again. „The question is, Ensign N'grodth - are you afraid to operate the transporter again?" He asked it very gently, but she still looked frightened.

„I don't know sir."

„You made a mistake, Ensign, because you hadn't been properly instructed. It was not your fault."

„Lieutenant Kyle thinks it is, sir."

„Did you tell him that you couldn't interpret the information?"

„No sir." She ducked her head and her light brown hair hid her face.

„Ensign, report to the transporter room. I will inform Lieutenant Kyle that you are back to your normal duties. - And Ensign - if you like, tell Mister Tanzer which of your home planet plants you'd like in this garden - most crew members have on favorite - it helps them feel at home."

„Do you have a favorite, sir?" she asked timidly.

„Yes - it's that big oak over there. Mister Tanzer had to accelerate it's growth somewhat - it takes about two hundred Terran years to reach that size."

She stared at it. „But nothing from my world would survive here."

„Mister Tanzer will devise a way - and Sulu or Spock will help him. We want all crew members to feel at home here. - And Ensign, you were assigned to the Enterprise on the merit of your abilities. Lieutenant Kyle will teach you what you don't know about other worlds - and I will be sending a dispatch to Starfleet - they need to modify their teaching to include new Federation members' worlds and their differences."

She looked at him round-eyed and decided he meant it. She colored again - but this time only to her usual shade of yellow. Her eyes also became deeper turquoise and Kirk felt as if he was looking into an ocean. She managed a smile, baring a toothless mouth.

„Thank you, sir!" she said ferverently and saluted.

„Dismissed, Ensign!" Kirk smiled and walked with her to the exit. She walked off - almost gliding.

The captain pressed the comm switch. „Kirk to transporter room."

„Kyle here."

„Lieutenant Kyle, Ensign N'grodth is on her way to report for her normal duties. - Her reprimand is to be struck from her record and you will instruct her on the geographical and seismological anonomalies different worlds present us with. - Her world is flat and absolutely stable - she would know to avoid any amount of water and plant-life but she has never seen a mountain or experienced a quake!"

„She - she didn't say anything to me, sir." Kyle sounded dubious.

„She felt guilty and you are her superior. You didn't ask either, did you?"

„No, sir."

„And Kyle - she might be nervous about beaming me down in a little while - would you go through it with her step by step?"

„Yes, sir. - Beaming down, sir?"

„Yes - a landing party of ten - we'll go in two groups."

„Aye, sir!" „Kirk out."

Almost whistling Kirk entered the turbo lift and told it to take him to the bridge. He stepped out and resumed his place in the captain's chair. „Ms Pl'jailk, how long to our destination?"

„Four minutes, captain."

„Four minutes and two point four seconds to be precise", the science officer said and he stepped down to stand beside his captain. The navigator half-turned but thought better of it.

„Anything new show up on the sensors, Mister Spock?" Kirk asked, hopefully.

„No. It appears to be in exactly the same condition as all the other planets we have encountered so far.

„Uhura, any sign of comunications?"

„No, sir. I've tried all frequencies, even old radio-waves but there's nothing we can pick up."

„Keep trying. And keep locked into our communicators when we're down there. The moment you start to lose our signal have us beamed up again."

Kirk turned back to the screen. The planet loomed closely now. It looked almost Terran in its tranquility. Clouds made the same swirling patterns, there were oceans and continents. „Magnify!" he said quietly.

The picture changed to show a lush green color and mountainous landscapes with white peaks. Rivers carved up the land and there were several lakes to be seen. All in all - a normal class M planet - if it weren't for the absolute lack of sentient life forms.

„Spock, will we be alright without our environmental suits?" Kirk asked.

„Yes, captain - analysis shows that the atmosphere is similar to that of Earth. You will not require protection."

„And what about you?" Kirk asked with a slight grin.

„I do not require one either. However it is not advisable that I spend more than eight point six hours on the surface."

„Do we need any inoculations?" Kirk asked quickly.

„No - the only organisms detected are not harmful to humans - or Vulcans - or Doctor McCoy has recently given us the necessary vaccinations."

„Good. - Standard orbit, Mister Sulu - and find us a good place to land! Preferably flat for miles."

There were a couple of low chuckles. Pl'jailk looked at Sulu in amazement. How could the captain make a joke like that? Sulu was laughing too, and yet he had, as the rest of the crew, been deeply worried about his captain's state after the last planet fall. She shook her head. Humans were so difficult to understand.

They settled into orbit and Sulu set the screen to maximum magnification. He searched the entire planet's surface for a site which would pose no danger to the landing party and at the same time be close enough to the remains of dwelling sites to be of some use. He found one and called it to the captain's attention.

Naturally Spock transfered all the data to his console and studied it as well.

„I think that about fits the ticket, don't you, Spock?" James Kirk asked after moment.

„I agree."

„Sulu - patch the coordinates through to the transporter room!" Sulu pressed the buttons as he acknowledged his orders.

„Mister Scott, you have the conn!" Kirk announced, before jumping up, He swept off the bridge, Spock half a step behind.

They were in the turbolift when Kirk suddenly said: „Dammit - I forgot to tell Bones to meet us in the transporter room. And Chekov! I must be getting old!" Spock refrained from saying anything. But privately he agreed, it was not like the captain to forget such details.

„Kirk to McCoy", Kirk said into the intercom.

„McCoy here."

„Meet us in the transporter room. We're on our way. Kirk out!" He repeated the message to Chekov just as the lift deposited them outside the transporter room. The two men entered. Kirk was pleased to see that the Hatsawan was standing at the control panel, Lieutenant Kyle beside her. The ensign looked even more aprehencious when she noticed the Vulcan first officer.

Spock's left eyebrow was slightly elevated, but he refrained from making any remark. If Kirk didn't have a problem with her operating the transporter, then it was not his place to say anything. The doors opened to admit Scotty.

He frowned and asked: „What is she doing at the controls?" N'grodth turned pale again.

„I ordered Ensign N'grodth back to her post, Scotty." Kirk's voice was cold.

„But captain, sir, she was at the controls when -"

„I am aware of that, Mister Scott!" The captain's tone brooked no discussion. The chief engineer turned red from the effort of not saying another word. When McCoy breezed in to the transporter room, his words echoed Scott's.

Kirk almost shouted: „If Starfleet's training was adapted more quickly to take the new federation members' worlds into consideration, the accident would never have happened. Also, if department heads would make it their business to find out about new crew members, Ensign N'grodth would have been informed that such things as quakes exist, what their readings look like on the transporter controls and then she would have never beamed us into such close proximity - even if she had been given those precise coordinates!"

„Sorry I spoke", McCoy said, almost sulkily.

Spock's eyebrow just rose higher and he exchanged a look with the doctor. Something was still not right with the captain - and it wasn't anything like they had experienced in a long time. Chekov had arrived during the captain's tirade and he stood looking guilty, though he couldn't work out what exactly was going on.

Kirk took a deep breath, trying to control his temper which wasn't the best at the moment. Stiffly he said: „Let's go!"

„I vill beam down first with Matthews and P'tash." Chekov's voice was firm. Kirk was about to dispute that when he remembered that as chief of security, Chekov was doing his job by the book.

„Alright. - The moment you're sure everything is secure, let us know."

„Aye, sir."

A jerk of his head, and the two red-shirted security men took their places along side Chekov, who nodded at N'grodth. She made the settings and then looked behind her at Kyle for comfirmation. Scotty also peered over her shoulder, and Kirk noted that the young female was shaking.

„Energize!" The chief engineer ordered.

There was a pause of three minutes, by which time they were all feeling tense, wondering what had happened to their landing team.

„Chekov to Enterprise."

„Yes, Pavel?" Kirk's relief was visible.

„Everything secure."

„Right. McCoy, Spock and I are beaming down next." The three men took their places on the transporter pad.

Again the Hatsawan requested the check by her superior. She was shaking even more.

„Ensign N'grodth - keep a lock on our communicators at all times. Uhura is also monitoring - she has an acute sense of hearing and will inform you the moment she hears a change in our signals - however minute. When she tells you - you lock on and beam us all up together!"

„Aye, sir!" Scotty opened his mouth - and shut it again. The captain had just given a very clear order.

The tingle of the transporter beam took hold of Kirk and for the short time the actual dissembling and reassembling took, he felt free of the unknown force that seemed to be pushing against him. The moment he was able to move again on the planet's surface, that nameless and formless something picked up its battering.

Spock noticed the brief relaxation on his friend's face and then the tension returning as soon at the beam released them. Tentatively he reached out to Kirk through their faint link and was disturbed to find that Kirk slammed up a shield, cutting himself off from the Vulcan. Nothing they had yet experienced together had made Kirk do that. Spock blinked, and applied himself to the task in hand, telling himself that it was illogical to feel - rejected.

The medical and science staff beamed down and soon Kirk was in his element - discovering a 'new' world. He was glad when Pavel insisted that he be the one to guard the captain. Spock was already peering closely at his tricorder readings, and McCoy was in close conference with the medical team. Kirk activated his own tricorder and set it for picking up anything that could conceivably have been a building.

„Chekov, you and I will go this way!" He casually threw over his shoulder as he set off.

„Jim!" McCoy yelled.

„What?"

„Where are you off to?"

„While you look for life forms or what's left of them, I'm checking something out back here. I'll call you if there's anything interesting."

„Spock?"

„Yes, Doctor?"

„Aren't you going along?"

„I see no reason to."

McCoy shut his mouth. If Spock were human, he would have said he was sulking. But Spock isn't human, and Vulcans don't sulk, he chided himself. Still, both Kirk and Spock were acting strangely. He hoped he wouldn't have to pull medical rank again, slap them both into sickbay under guard and assume command of the ship.

Chekov pulled his phaser and with suspicious eyes peered into the dense undergrowth as he and Kirk pushed their way through it. Even though his tricorder told him there were no life-forms that could do them any harm, he felt a cloying sense of unease. Maybe he was taking his new position a little too seriously?

They arrived at the place Kirk's tricorder had indicated and stopped dead. There had been a complete village here. The houses were made of wattle and mud with thatched rooves.

Kirk pointed his scanner at them and after a couple of seconds whistled: „These houses are three hundred years old."

„But they have not been lived in for nearly two hundred." Pavel Chekov was intent on his own tricorder.

Kirk turned round his own axis, surveying the village. „It looks like this place was left in a big hurry."

There was a disorderly look to the place which had nothing to do with the partial decay of the houses and the overgrown 'streets'. Doors were open, some just left slightly ajar, others wide open, the same with the windows.

Kirk peered into through the door of the closest building. There was even more disarray: overturned chairs, trunks left open, even eating implements and cooking pots were strewn all over the floor. He moved on to the next house. Here there was a cooking pot hung over a fire, a table neatly laid as if for a meal and overturned chairs, as if the inhabitants had fled from the table in the middle of eating.

He walked in through the door and peered in the pot. There was a solid mass in the bottom of it - maybe it would give them a clue as to what people had lived here. He flipped open his communicator.

„Kirk to McCoy!"

„Yes, Jim?"

„We've found something that might interest you."

„What?"

„Come and see - and bring Spock with you - this is right up his street!" He shut the communicator slowly giving Spock and McCoy time to lock onto his bearing.

He was three houses along when he heard McCoy's voice yelling his name. He stuck his head out of a window and called him over.

„Bones! Come and run a medi-scanner over this lot!"

The doctor hurried into the house. „What happened here?" he asked.

„That's what we're trying to find out!" Kirk's impatience returned fast.

„Okay, keep your shirt on!" Bones grumbled, hiding his alarm. He activated his tricorder.

„Decomposed gruel made of several kinds of grain - they added berries and nuts to it, and something rather like honey."

„Cooked in water or milk?"

„I assume some form of milk - there evidence of animal fats."

Spock observed: „These people were not vegetarians."

„Not to the extent of Vulcans", McCoy agreed. „Nothing here indicates they ate meat, though."

The captain held up a rotting garment. „They made clothes of leather - which means they must have killed animals. I've never heard of a race which kills only for clothing, so I guess they must have eaten the odd steak."

Spock took the garment gingerly and studied the seams. „They also used dried gut to sew with - plant fiber would have rotted away by now."

„Keptin!" Chekov's voice conveyed no urgencey. Kirk stuck his head back out of the window.

„Yes, Pavel?"

„I think you should see this, sir!"

„We're coming!" The captain withdrew his head and headed for the door.

Spock and McCoy followed. The security officer was in the largest house in the village. There was an opened trunk in the middle of the great hall and in it were all kinds of weapons.

„All veapons have poisoned tips!" Chekov warned before Kirk's hand closed round a spear.

„Poison?" The Russian nodded.

McCoy activated his tricorder. „Deadly stuff", he agreed. Nobody even smiled at his pun. „Lethal if it enters the bloodstream directly. It stops the heart and brain immediately and irreversibly - and its absolutely harmless if you swallow the stuff. Very sophisticated."

Thoughtfully the four men split up and searched the remainder of the village. When they met again, Kirk invited them to speak their minds.

Spock began: „There is no evidence of greater science. No obvious means of transport. I discovered a smithy where the spear points and blades were manufactured. All dwellings are in the same state of disorder as the one we met you in, captain."

„Bones?"

„Nothing that would resemble a doctor's surgery or even an apothecary. No large food stores, nor storage containers. I would guess the inhabitants were bipeds, possibly humanoids judging by the chairs and tables. They must have had hands with at least one opposing digit to be able to sew, eat with implements and make weapons. It would be useful to have some remains to work on.

„Oh - and whatever else they looked like, this race was about seven feet tall - unless they liked to have their feet dangling at least a foot above ground when they sat in chairs and wore their tunics to the ground. They were capable of delicate handiwork. I couldn't tell you if they were scaly, furry or had skin like humans or even were covered in feathers."

„Chekov?"

„All veapons vere in the central house. There is nothing like a prison or punishment area. There are no locking dewices on any trunks, vindows or doors. Only the pens over there have a means of securing them." The Russian couldn't believe what he had seen. „Is it possible, that they trusted each other so completely?" he added in a wondering tone.

„On Vulcan we do not require locks", Spock reminded him.

„Oh." Chekov looked crushed for having forgotten that.

„Do you know what I found most odd? There is no evidence of records of any kind - no drawings, no writings, no sacred place where scripts are kept", the Captain mused.

„Every race we've ever encountered has some form of keeping their history alive", his First Officer said evenly.

„Could it have been destroyed by whoever wiped the inhabitants out?" The doctor threw in.

„They'd have to be extremely thorough - they must have missed something." Kirk had lost his snappiness.

„Suppose these people handed their history down verbally - like old African tribes used to, back on Earth hundreds of years ago?" McCoy speculated.

„But even they had some artifacts to use in their rituals and to keep the memories alive. - Even Vulcans with their phenomenal memories have kept written records", Kirk pointed out. „Could the people have destroyed them before they themselves were killed - or taken?"

„Possibly", Spock said slowly.

McCoy's communicator beeped. „Yes?" he asked after flipping it open.

„We've found something, sir - maybe the captain should look at it as well."

„We'll be right there."

Chekov took the direction off the signal and led them back through the village to their landing site, and then down a hidden pathway which somehow hadn't become overgrown. They ended up beside a deep, clear pool.

„Over here!" a blue-shirted figure beckoned them.

They walked round the pool and stopped short at the sight of the bleached skeleton. McCoy and Spock both started their tricorders, gathering what information they could.

At the same time, the doctor hunkered down and inspected the remains. „Well, he's definately dead, Jim." His attempt at humor didn't raise even the ghost of a smile on his friend's lips.

„Well, Bones? What can you tell us about him?" Kirk asked impatiently.

„I'm a doctor not a psychic!" the older man muttered as he continued to examine the skeleton. His eyebrows shot up as he inspected the skull, but he continued to methodically do the job he was trained for. Finally he straightened. „I think we have a clue here, to what's been going on."

„Well spit it out!"

„I would guess that this is an inhabitant indigenous to this planet. Biped, two opposing digits, six feet, 10 inches tall, mixed diet, though mainly vegetarian. He was murdered - see here-" he indicated where the spine had been snapped. „-this would render him incapable of movement."

„That's not murder", Kirk pointed out.

„No, but surgically removing part of the skull and scraping out the brain is."

„Could that not have happened to the body? A predator perhaps." Spock asked cooly, masking his distaste.

„The brain was scraped out of the still-living body. Sure it was a predator, Spock - the whole damn bunch of them who came here and killed off all the people! - The skull was opened carefully, with some kind of surgical instrument, not by some hungry animal!" The doctor picked up the piece which had been removed and showed it to them.

„Wasn't there some myth or other on Earth that removing certain parts of the enemy's anatomy gave the vanquisher extra strengths or skills?" Kirk mused.

„Cannibalism?" Spock asked.

„Oh, not necessarily to eat, Spock. Usually just the fact that the organ or limb had been removed would do the trick."

„Jim, there were some tribes who did eat their enemies", McCoy pointed out.

„There were?"

„Mmm - your Indian ancestors for one - not every tribe, but some did. And African native tribes used to at one point in history as did some of the Amazon Indians."

„Are you sure about that, Bones?" the captain asked dubiously.

„When we get back to the ship I'll look it up for you. We have an extensive historical database, thanks to Spock. It'll be there somewhere."

„So you are saying, Doctor, that the brain of this person was eaten?"

„No. But I'm not saying it wasn't. It's a possibility."

„A guess?" Spock enquired in a bland voice,

McCoy shot the Vulcan a hard look. „A guess. Intuition. Hell, a feeling, for all I care."

„Bones - if these people were overly gifted in the brain department, would that be a reason for the cannibalism - or mutilation?"

„Could be - or else the attackers think they might gain powers by such methods."

„Anybody we know?"

Spock shook his head. „Negative, Jim. No known species has any ritual or belief than could result in this."

„Any rumors flying round?"

„None." Spock knew that this was not the time to be literal with his friend.

„Back to square one then." Kirk's voice sounded heavy.

„If we find more bodies like this, we'll have learned something. And if we can't get enough answers, we go to their next port of call. Simple." McCoy forced his voice to a lightness he didn't feel. In fact, he was beginning to feel a cold dread creep up on him. His suggestion seemed to shake Kirk alert again.

„Right, Bones." He pulled out his communicator. „Kirk to Enterprise."

„Yes Captain?" Uhura's voice answered.

„Get Sulu and Pl'jialk to find us another village - preferably with fresh water someway removed from it - and then have N'grodth beam us there in the same order we were beamed down here."

„Yes, sir."

Kirk waved Chekov, his two guards and the three science staff closer. He had just explained their plan of action when the transporter took Chekov and his two men. A minute later Kirk rematerialized in a similar spot to the one they'd left, and a minute after that the landing party was once again complete.

„Spread out - look for bones!" Kirk ordered. A couple of the science personnel chuckled at his unintentional double entendre.

It took them thirty minutes of fine-combing the overgrowth, but finally another skeleton was discovered. Its injuries were identical, down to the missing brain.

„Third time for certainty?" Kirk asked. His friends nodded grimly. He called his ship, made the request and they found a third victim, confirming their suspicions.

„Landing party ready to beam aboard!" Chekov informed the transporter engineer. She beamed up the captain, McCoy and Spock first, followed by the medical staff, and finally Chekov and his men.