Worlds in Collision (56 page)

The creature's taloned hand shot out toward them and he began to shriek again.

“The disruptors!” Wilforth begged.

The floor shook with another cluster of sonic booms.

Kirk clutched the cylinders.
Enterprise!
he called out in his mind.
Come to me now.

The male Talin stood. His hand went to a long pouch strapped to his bibcloth covering his chest and withdrew what could only be a chemical projectile weapon.

The ground shook again.

The Talin raised his weapon.

And the storeroom filled with the light of the ship who had come to claim her master.

The transporter room formed around Kirk and he felt the familiar transition back to the
Enterprise'
s gravity. The faces of Spock and McCoy as they waited by Kyle's console were also welcome.

Kirk jumped down from the platform. He saw Spock's eyes drop to the cluster of disruptors he had strung around him.

“Who's attacking the university? What's the situation below?” Kirk asked. He was puzzled by the way McCoy suddenly burst into a brilliant smile. “Good to see you, too, Bones.”

“The university's not under attack,” McCoy said.

“The situation is quite remarkable,” Spock added.

Kirk looked from one to the other. Behind him, the FCO personnel broke open their equipment to retrieve the Talin datadisks. “We heard warplanes,” Kirk said, still confused.

“Yes,” Spock agreed. “There are hundreds in flight even now.”

Kirk didn't understand. A world was at war and yet no one seemed to care.

“They are being recalled,” Spock said simply.

“What happened?” Kirk asked.

McCoy's grin was blinding. “Peace, Jim. The Greens and Browns are withdrawing their forward troops. All over the planet.”

“Wh-what?” Wilforth stuttered. Beside him, Cardinali and the technicians stopped their work.

As Kirk paused, wondering if he was going to have to ask more questions or whether some member of his crew might decide to fill him in, the transporter room doors slipped open and Carole Mallett ran in. Her smile was as broad as McCoy's and she went straight to Cardinali to hug him.

“They're going to make it!” she told them all. “They're really going to make it.”

Before the doors closed again, Kirk had time to hear what sounded like a party in the corridor. He actually heard a noisemaker blow.

“Spock…?”

“It has been a most fascinating sequence of events, Captain. The Talin had brought themselves to the brink of complete disaster.”

“But that's what saved them!” McCoy's voice broke in. “They went straight to the brink—right to the edge, Jim, and they stepped back.” The doctor spoke so quickly, so excitedly, that his Georgia drawl surfaced and his words ran together. “We were all listening to it on the bridge. Hell, we were all listening to it through the whole ship. Carolyn put it on the intercom.

“They
knew
they were minutes from destroying themselves, and they
chose
not to.” McCoy shook his head at the wonder of it. “They chose not to.”

Kirk was elated. It was the last thing he had expected to hear.

“Bones, that's wonderful. It's more than wonderful.”

“It's unbelievable,” Wilforth said quietly.

“But most logical on the part of the Talin,” Spock concluded.

McCoy shook his head in dismissal. “Oh, spare us the logic of it, Spock. Those beings down there were scared. Cold, senseless,
emotional
fear. It was their feelings that saved the day. Not logical thinking. Emotions!”

“It was their emotions that brought them to this point in the—”

“Please, Spock, Bones, before we have to ask the Talin negotiators to come up here next.” Kirk put a hand on the console to reassure himself that he was back and that all he was learning was real. “What brought them to the brink so quickly? Things weren't that bad when we beamed down, were they?”

“It was the dispute over polar airspace,” Spock said. “Because of the difficulties in monitoring the area through the interference of the planet's magnetosphere, they—”

“The Greens thought the Browns were exploiting gaps in the continent's defenses,” McCoy said, to cut through Spock's detailed explanation. “But the Browns kept denying it. So the Greens thought that the Browns were really up to something and started to escalate their war readiness. And that made the Browns convinced that the Greens were making up the whole thing as an excuse to go to war, so
they
started escalating. It was like one of your bloody chess games with Spock. No one knew when to call it off.”

McCoy and Spock stared at each other.

“And…?” Kirk said, not wanting the story to be cut off there. “What happened?”

“The Talin negotiators intervened,” Spock said. “Each side realized that there was no advantage to the other for doing what each was accused of doing.”

“They blamed the whole thing on communications failure,” McCoy said, “to save face. Hardly logical but it sure worked.”

“And they were able to have their armies stand down so quickly?” Kirk asked.

“The Talin have an elaborate system of oaths,” Spock said. “Invoking some of them carries a great deal of authority. And some of those oaths were invoked between the Browns and the Greens for the first time.”

Wilforth's mouth dropped open in a way which reminded Kirk of the Talin who had seen the cylinders. “The Browns and Greens invoked oaths of common kinship?”

“Yes,” Spock said. “That was the term used by the translator.”

Kirk thought Wilforth was going to faint.

“An hour ago,” the FCO director said, “I would have sworn that would have been impossible.” He looked at Kirk and frowned. “I told you we should have stunned that second pair. They didn't need to go to a shelter.”

Kirk deflected Spock's question by speaking first. “We were detected by one pair of Talin and stunned them. A second pair saw us—or at least saw the cylinders beam out.”

“A not uncommon occurrence during FCO operations,” Spock observed.

“So I've been told,” Kirk said dryly.

Cardinali came up beside him, one arm around Mallett. “Captain Kirk, this is an unprecedented moment in Talin history. Perhaps one of the greatest gifts we could give them when contact is finally established is a complete record of what transpired during this incident. I'd like permission to have the sensor satellites go to full scan under the
Enterprise'
s control for at least the next week.”

Kirk began to say no. He didn't want to extend his stay in this system any longer than he had to.

But Cardinali's exhilaration was infectious. “Remember how much Earth appreciated the communication logs made by the Vulcans during the last decade of the twentieth century? So many questions were answered.”

Kirk turned to Spock. “If we keep to tightbeam, can we stay in an orbit beyond the range of their sensors?”

“Most efficiently,” Spock said.

“Very well,” Kirk said to Cardinali. “Coordinate your communication requirements with Lieutenant Uhura.”

Cardinali thanked Kirk excitedly, then left with Mallett. The party sounds from the corridor sounded even louder when the doors opened a second time.

“No problem on the close orbit while I was gone?” Kirk asked Spock.

“The Talin had other matters with which to occupy themselves.”

For the first time since his initial meeting with Wilforth, Kirk felt himself begin to relax. He had gone into this mission expecting the worst, yet it had unexpectedly ended with the best possible result. He knew he'd have to be careful or he'd begin to start expecting this to happen all the time. He smiled at his friends. He had won again, even though this time he hadn't known all the rules of the game.

“I guess you know that that leaves us with only one thing to do,” McCoy said.

“Absolutely,” Kirk agreed.

Now it was Spock's turn to be puzzled. “I do not understand. I am aware of nothing more that needs to be done at this time.”

“Of course you don't understand,” McCoy said as he headed for the doors. “Because
you
don't have anything left to do.”

Spock looked at Kirk. Kirk smiled. “What Bones means is that since it's going to be at least fifty years before we can celebrate with the Talin, right now we have to celebrate
for
them.”

Spock thought that over. “An entire planet has been saved today. A race has been preserved and someday will have a chance to spread among the stars. Yes, I believe a celebration is in order.”

McCoy stared at Spock in amazement. “Well, I'll be…Maybe there is hope for you after all, Spock.”

Kirk patted the doctor on the back. “If the Talin can make it, Bones, anyone can. Come on, Mr. Spock, we've got some logical celebrating to do.”

 

Kirk kept reading the quartermaster's report and reached out for the coffee cup on the yeoman's tray without paying attention. The QM subprogram warned that alcohol consumption had shown an alarming increase among the crew but Kirk signed off on it. Yesterday's Talin celebration party had been the first real blowout his crew had had since the last Nobel and Z. Magnees Prize ceremonies. They were entitled. Then he became aware that he had closed his hand around empty space. He glanced up from his screenpad to see what had happened to the coffee.

The tray was out of reach. Slowly he realized that his yeoman had pulled it away from him.

“Yeoman Frietas, what are—oh.”

“Hello, Captain,” Carolyn Palamas said smoothly. “Did you want some coffee?” She brought the tray back within reach.

Kirk took the cup. Being fifty thousand kilometers out from Talin and monitoring the ongoing peace developments had given the bridge of the
Enterprise
a different feel. He was glad to see her there.

“Why, Lieutenant, I don't recall approving your transfer to yeoman.”

Palamas moved a fraction closer. “I didn't request a transfer. It's just that someone ran off without his breakfast this morning and I thought you could use some…coffee.”

Kirk smiled. It had been a wonderful celebration and he was happy to have someone to share it with. “What I could use,” Kirk said, “is the five-day slow voyage out of this system.”

“I thought you didn't like slow voyages.”

“Depends on whom I'm voyaging with,” Kirk said. Their eyes met and held.

“Excuse me, Captain,” Spock said from his station.

Kirk turned instantly.

“Sensor satellite five does not respond to its scheduled tightbeam data upload,” Spock reported.

Kirk stepped from his chair and had time to nod good-bye to Palamas as she headed for the turbolift. She nodded in return, understanding in her eyes. The mission and ship came first, always.

Kirk checked Spock's readouts. “The satellite's still in orbit. Is its power supply functional, Mr. Spock?”

“Without a tightbeam upload, the only way to be sure is with a sensor scan, Captain. But at this distance, the sensor probe would spread enough so that residual radiation would reach Talin's surface and might be detected.”

“Get Scotty up here to go over the controls. He rigged the satellites. He can fix them.”

“Very good, Captain. But if we are unable to regain contact with the satellite?”

Kirk looked at the image of Talin IV on the main screen—a world at peace. “Then we'll go in for a look. Nothing to worry about down there now.”

The crisis abated, Kirk returned to his chair and the quartermaster's report. He looked toward the turbolift as he stepped down to the central area, but the doors were closed and Palamas was gone.
Oh, well,
he thought,
at least we've got the voyage out.

Chief Engineer Scott appeared on the bridge within two minutes of Spock's call. “I don't understand,” he said as he went to work at the engineering station, “those satellites were perfect. They'll still be working fifty years on.”

“But one is not working now, Mr. Scott,” Spock said.

“I can see that, Mr. Spock, but there's no reason for it. Look at these readings for yourself. It's perfectly clear. The dual-looped power units were fully coiled on the two-fifty bypasses and the L-37s were securely crosslinked to all duotronics.”

Kirk leaned against the railing and listened to Spock and Scott trade technical jargon. He knew what almost everything they mentioned was but he wasn't sure how any of it should go together. It had been a long time since some of his Academy classes.

After a few minutes of increasingly incomprehensible specifications had been cited and all controls had been adjusted and readjusted, the science officer and the chief engineer appeared to have hit an impasse.

“Should we go down and take a look?” Kirk asked.

“No need,” Scott said. “It's the software.”

“We should,” Spock said. “The hardware appears to be at fault.”

Both men turned to look at Kirk.
Now this
is
a classic no-win situation,
Kirk thought. “Sorry, Scotty, but if there's the slightest chance that the satellite has been damaged somehow, we can't risk it re-entering by accident. We'll go in close enough so that we can scan for damage without flooding the Talin with sensor radiation, and once the equipment's checked out we can come back here to work on the software at leisure.” Kirk hoped he had talked fast enough.