“The only family he has is a young nephew.I’m Jim’s executor. You can look at his will if you want to. He asked not to be kept alive if there were no hope of recovery. I’d been keeping his body alive for hours, against his wishes, trying to pretend to myself that he might get well. It wasn’t fair, not to anybody, particularly not to Jim.”
Some of the tension left Braithewaite’s stance, and he stepped aside, but he followed McCoy down the corridor.
“The power failure—it was the result of using the time-travel device.”
McCoy did not reply.
“Dr. McCoy, I want to believe your story about Captain Kirk, please believe me. But you’ve got to tell me where—and when—you sent Spock and Mordreaux.”
“I didn’t send them anywhere. What do you mean, ‘when’? Time travel? That’s the craziest thing I ever heard. I told you you can’t talk to Spock till he’s gotten some sleep. But Mordreaux is still in his cabin. Why don’t you go check?”
McCoy was too preoccupied to notice the fury that spread over Ian Braithewaite’s expression when he was confronted again with the pathetic fabrication of Spock’s hibernation, or estivation, or afternoon nap if they wanted to call it that. The falsehood of it had been blatantly demonstrated to him. But Ian knew his own flaws. He was out of his depth in this case, and had been from the beginning, trying to balance his passion for justice against a threat so devastating it was almost incomprehensible, trying to weigh suspicion against his own good faith.
You’re being naive, Ian, he thought. Again.
But it was possible that McCoy himself was being deceived.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll check on Dr. Mordreaux. But you’ve got to come with me.” He was not so naive that he would trust McCoy till he had some proof of the doctor’s innocence.
McCoy sighed. “Whatever you want, Ian,” he said. His voice was uneven. He was shaking, from being forced to relive Jim’s death. He went with Braithewaite toward Mordreaux’s cabin, getting angrier and angrier at the attorney. He doubted that seeing the professor would allay the young busybody’s suspicions, and suppose Ian discovered that it was Spock, not Mordreaux, who was. missing? The only safe thing to do was to get him out of the way long enough for Spock to do his work.
At Mordreaux’s cabin, Barry al Auriga stood talking to the two guards on duty. All three security officers looked up.
“We’ve come to see Dr. Mordreaux—if he’s still here,” Ian said. al Auriga frowned, but kept his temper. “He’s here.”
“Unlock the door.”
“No, Barry,” McCoy said. “Don’t.”
Everyone stared at Dr. McCoy; Ian Braithewaite turned pale.
“I was right,” he whispered. “You are ...”
“That’s enough out of you,” McCoy said. “Barry, would you please take Mr. Braithewaite into custody, and lock him in his room till he learns some manners?”
“Dr. McCoy,” al Auriga said, “it will be a pure pleasure.”
“Gently, please.”
“I’ll handle him with gloves of softest silk.”
Ian tried to back away from the huge, massive security officer, but he was trapped between him and McCoy, and the two other guards stood at ready.
“You don’t understand! Mordreaux is gone! McCoy and Spock helped him escape!” He had to look up to meet al Auriga’s glare: it was years since he had encountered anyone taller than he was, and the effect of al Auriga, looming over him, was terrifying. He pressed his hands flat against the cool bulkhead behind him.
“They killed Jim Kirk!” Ian said. “The security commander helped plan it, but she wanted too much so they killed her, too—”
al Auriga reached out and grabbed Braithewaite by the throat.
“Barry—” McCoy said.
“I won’t hurt him,” al Auriga said. “I won’t—” His voice broke. “Unless he says another word.” He bent down and looked at Braithewaite straight on, pinning him with the glare of his incredible scarlet eyes. “If you say another word against Mandala, I’ll kill you.”
Braithewaite set his jaw and met al Auriga’s gaze, in silence, but without flinching.
Well, McCoy thought, he’s got some backbone, I’ll say that for him.
al Auriga marched him down the hall, around the corner toward his cabin, and out of sight.
McCoy appreciated the fact that Barry had refrained from saying, “I told you so.”
Spock materialized on the transporter platform in a blaze of rainbow light. He paused for a moment before stepping down, for the transfer had wrested him through time and space, twisting the continuum and brutalizing him as well. Every muscle in his body felt wrenched.
It took him a moment to dispel the pain, a moment longer than he thought it should. When he moved he felt stiff; he tried to hurry but found it nearly impossible.
“Mr. Spock?”
Spock froze for no more than a second, then turned calmly toward the chief engineer, pushing the changer back behind him on its strap so Scott could not see it.
“Mr. Scott. I should have ... expected you.”
“Did ye page me? Are ye all right? Is something wrong wi’ the transporter?”
Spock said the first thing that came to mind, realizing, after he spoke, that he was telling Scott what Scott claimed Spock had said in the transporter room.
“I simply noticed some minor power fluctuations, Mr. Scott,” Spock said. “They could become reason for complaint.”
“I can come back and help you,” Scott said, “as soon as I’ve reported to Captain Kirk about the engines.” He frowned.
“That is unnecessary,” Spock said. “The work is almost complete.” He did not move. Scott remained in the doorway a moment longer, then turned on his heel and left Spock alone.
Spock waited until he knew the chief engineer was out of sight of the transporter room. Scott would enter the turbo lift with Ian Braithewaite and the captain, and then a few minutes later Scott would come back down again. After that it should be possible for Spock to enter the lift unobserved—no one else had come into the bridge before Dr. Mordreaux appeared—and wait inside to intercept the professor’s deranged future self. Spock touched his phaser. He would prefer not to be forced to use it, but he did not quite see any other way of stopping Mordreaux permanently. Stopping him now would be useless if he were simply to return in time again, somewhere else, and murder the captain there.
Spock concealed himself near the lift, around a corner and in shadows.
“Ah, Spock, I thought you came after me.”
The Vulcan spun around: and came face to face with Dr. Mordreaux, the same, slightly older Georges Mordreaux who had appeared on the bridge of the Enterprise , dressed in the drab gray prison uniform his other self wore, carrying the same vicious-looking gun he planned to use in a few moments.
“I should have known better than to involve you at all, but I had to get you away from that damned singularity, you caused me more trouble than Braithewaite and Kirk and the whole Federation put together.”
“I do not understand what you mean, Dr. Mordreaux.” Spock let his hand move slowly toward his phaser.
Dr. Mordreaux gestured with the muzzle of his pistol. “Please don’t do that. I never meant to hurt anyone, I was only trying to keep myself out of more trouble. But you have no idea how complicated things can get. You make one change, it sets in motion a whole series of others that you couldn’t predict...”
“Professor, you are seriously disturbed. You must not carry out the action you plan. It is exactly as you say: it will start a whole chain of events that you do not wish to happen.”
“No, no, this one will fix it.”
He gazed at Spock a moment longer, and the science officer realized neither of them had any choice anymore. If Spock could not stop the professor, the professor was going to kill him. And Jim Kirk.
Throwing himself to one side, Spock drew his phaser. As he aimed it he heard the pistol go off, and he felt
