Unfinished Business

Chapter 16 : Information

March, 2273

Uhura turned slightly from her workstation and called for the captain's attention, pointing out the display now on the main viewscreen. StarFleet had sent them information on V'Ger's position, and also the fact that it was sending out a signal. Kirk and Spock and McCoy all watched, not quiet sure how to react. Why was V'Ger sending a signal and to whom?

Decker entered the bridge with the Ilia probe, who looked at the display and listened to the sound being produced, and stated that V'Ger was signaling the Creator. But who or what was the Creator and why was it expected to be found on Earth? None of this made any sense.

Kirk turned to Spock, to see what he could make of the signal. The answer came in a voice definitely not as flat and harsh as that used a few hours ago. At least that progress had not been lost. But the answer he got was astonishing. Radio? A simple binary signal? Why?

Decker told Kirk that V'Ger expected an answer. Kirk looked at him, a frown on his face. "But I don't even know the question."

The Ilia probe spoke again. "The Creator has not responded."

And Chekov looked at the displays on his control panel and started, announcing in a panicked voice that the whole planetary defense system had just shut down. The people on the bridge looked at one another, uncertain what would happen next. There was dread in their faces, for the most part.

V'Ger began to fire bursts of green light at Earth, which spaced themselves about, equidistant across the polar cap. They flashed in unison. Uhura gave a quick report from StarFleet, and McCoy stepped forward, alarmed, thinking they were the same energy bolts as had attacked the Enterprise. Spock calmly corrected him, his voice closer to what it had been earlier, telling them that these devices were far more powerful than the ones they had seen in action, and that from the positions they were taking could devastate the entire planet.

Kirk stepped toward the Ilia probe and asked why V'Ger was acting this way. The reply stunned him. The carbon-based units would be removed from the entire Earth? Because V'Ger had decided they were interfering with the Creator's ability to respond to it? The people of Earth were an infestation?

He tried to explain. "Carbon units are not an infestation. They are a natural function of the Creator's planet. They are living things."

"They are not true lifeforms. Only the Creator and other similar lifeforms are true."

Behind him, McCoy spoke. "Jim, V'Ger is saying it's creator is a machine."

There was silence then, as Kirk struggled to find something, anything that he could say, any fact he could argue with. Others on the bridge were obviously as stunned as he was, and no one offered anything until Spock spoke again. He rose from his seat, and Kirk and Decker and McCoy closed in to listen to what he had to say. "V'Ger is a child."

There were stunned looks from the other men at that statement. And the next proved even more astonishing. "I suggest you treat it as such."

Kirk looked at him, not sure that he understood. "A child?"

"Yes, captain, a child. Evolving, learning, searching. Instinctively needing."

Decker leaned forward. "Needing what?"

McCoy interrupted before Decker could continue, his voice as acerbic as normal. "Spock! This child is about to wipe out every living thing on Earth! Just what is it that you suggest we do? Spank it?"

Spock looked at him, and drew back into himself just the slightest bit, and then turned his face away, back to Decker. "It knows only that it needs, Commander." And then he turned back to Kirk, and spoke again. "But like so many of us, it does not know what."

Kirk got a far-away look in his eyes, and turned back to look at the Ilia probe again, his lips pursed. He bent down, his hands braced on the railing around the bridge pit, and took a couple of deep breaths, calming himself. And then he straightened up and spoke, loudly and clearly. "The carbon-units know why the Creator has not responded."

Decker walked around to where he could see Kirk's face, astonished, his eyes wide. And the Ilia probe spoke. "Disclose the information."

"Not until V'Ger withdraws the devices orbiting the third planet."

Uhura interrupted, agitated. "Captain, I'm losing StarFleet. Interference from V'Ger."

The probe spoke again. "Kirk unit, disclose the information. Why has the Creator not responded?"

Kirk stood his ground and uttered only one word. "No." And then he looked about and began to issue orders. "Secure all stations. Clear the bridge."

There was a noise, as of loud static, and something jolted the Enterprise, making people clutch at railings and consoles to brace themselves. And Sulu turned to Kirk, not certain that he had heard correctly. "Clear the bridge, captain?"

"That was the order, Mr Sulu, clear the bridge."

But before anyone could move, the ship was enveloped in blue lightnings, and shook again, making everyone grab whatever was closest. McCoy looked up. "The child is having a tantrum, Mr Spock."

Spock did not disagree with him, but turned and did something at his console. The ship shook again, to a sound like shaken metal, as people began to enter the turbolifts on either side of the bridge. And the probe spoke once more. "V'Ger requires the information."

Again Kirk issued orders. "Secure all stations. Move out."

Behind him McCoy flared in anger. "Jim! What the hell kind of strategy is this?" Uhura moved past him into the turbolift, with Sulu and the navigator DeFalco right behind her. Only McCoy and Decker and Spock made no effort to enter the fast filling cars.

The Enterprise shook again, the blue lightnings playing over its hull. Kirk spoke directly to the probe. "If V'Ger destroys the Enterprise, the information that V'Ger needs will also be destroyed."

The doors to the turbolift on the far side of the bridge closed, and Kirk motioned and the remaining four officers proceeded to the other lift, moving in. Behind them the probe spoke again, a note of desperation beginning to creep into its voice. "It is illogical to withhold information." When they did not stop their forward motion, it called out again. "Kirk unit. Kirk unit."

The stopped, right at the entrance to the turbolift, and turned to look in that direction. "Kirk unit, why do you not disclose information?"

Kirk took two steps back in the direction of the probe and spoke with great intensity. "Because V'Ger is going to destroy all the carbon units on the third planet."

"They have suppressed the Creator."

"The information will not be disclosed." He spoke with great finality, and turned back toward the turbolift.

"V'Ger needs the information."

Kirk turned toward the probe again, and took a step back in that direction. "Then V'Ger must withdraw all the orbiting devices."

"V'Ger will comply, if the carbon units will disclose the information."

Kirk turned, and walked back to where his officers stood, not sure what to do now. McCoy glared at him. "Learns fast, doesn't it?"

Spock stood there calmly, and reminded him that the entity that called itself V'Ger operated from a central point. Immediately Kirk realized where he was headed. "The devices would be controlled from that point, wouldn't they?"

"Precisely."

Kirk turned and walked back toward the probe. "The carbon units information cannot be disclosed to V'Ger's probe, but only to V'Ger, directly." He waited to see what impact this statement would have.

The probe was quiet, and turned slowly to face the viewscreen, standing there still for several minutes. And then they were moving again, forward, pulled by a tractor beam.