Unfinished Business
Chapter 39 : Bare Rock
May 2274
As they neared the edges of the newest planetary system to be discovered, it was obvious that something was very strange. There were no life readings at all, not even at the microbe level. Slowly they approached the outermost planet and Kirk ordered the scans to the main viewscreen. Rock. Bare rock. Plain and barren. Not even any dust. It was like someone had taken a giant vacuum cleaner to the surface of the planet and sucked away everything right down to the bedrock. The bridge was silent, except for one whispered voice. "What could do something like that?"
There was no answer, for no one knew. They had only seen things like this in asteroid belts, and even there, there was likely to be dust, or loose rock fragments. Here there was nothing.
They moved inwards, towards the next planet. They found it in the same condition. If anything, the atmosphere on the bridge became even quieter, more strained. There was no conversation.
They worked their way in towards the sun, examining each planet as they went. If there had ever been life here, it was impossible to find even a trace of it now. If there had been civilizations, they were forever lost. Even the moons, for those planets that had them, were impossibly clean, sterile.
When they had completed their survey, and found absolutely nothing whatsoever that they could report on, except the frightening nothingness, Kirk finally turned to Spock and asked what could have caused this. "Insufficient data, captain. I cannot guess what may have happened here. It is unlike anything that I have ever seen before."
It was too eerie. The crew was on edge. If there had been invaders, no one wanted to wait around and see what they were like. Anything that could do this was far beyond their ability to resist. And so they left warning buoys, and sent off a drone to StarFleet Command, saying that this system was so barren that it could not be natural, but that there were no clues as to what had happened. And they left, proceeding for their next assignment more quickly than was their nature.
In the quietness of his quarters, Spock sat before his fire pot and attempted to meditate. There was something about what he had seen that was violently disturbing to him. He could not quite put his finger on what it was, though, which bothered him. He was still there, brooding, when Nyota slipped into his quarters. He motioned to her, and she came and folded herself down beside him, and he slid one arm around her, pulling her close, seeking comfort from her nearness.
"Spock, I didn't like that system at all."
"Nor did I. I do not believe that any of the crew were comfortable there."
"What could have caused such sterility?"
"I do not know. And some part of me feels that we would be better off not knowing, never encountering any being that could destroy an entire planetary system in that manner."
She shivered in his grasp, and clutched at him. "I think you're right." She was quiet for a moment, and then burrowed in closer. "Hold me tight and make me forget how empty that was."
"Empty. Yes, that is the correct description. That entire system was empty." A ripple of unease flowed through him. "That was what bothered everyone. The emptiness. The stark sterility of it."
And he lifted her into his lap, and held her close against his body, and slowly the two of them eased each other, as they filled each other with comfort, sending the bleakness away, filling the emptiness with love.