“Quite true,” said the voice of Spock One. “But if they do not understand what has happened to Organia — contrary to my original assumption that they might have caused it — they would not want any Federation ship investigating the situation and possibly finding out the answer before they did, especially not a vessel as well equipped for research as a Starship. They would infinitely prefer the status quo; and so, they deploy valuable forces around the area.”
Despite the fact that the presence of the two Spocks aboard the Enterprise was now one hundred and seventy-six days old, it still gave Kirk a faint chill to listen to the two identical voices arguing with each other, as if he were deep in some nightmare from which he was never going to awaken. The dispassionate tone of both voices, as they pursued a discussion which must end, eventually, in the death of one of them, made it even more eerie. With an effort, he said, “Spock One, six weeks ago you were claiming positive knowledge of what had happened to Organia. Now you’ve changed your tune.”
“Not at all, Captain. I do know what has happened to Organia. I simply offer an alternate hypothesis as to its cause, and the Klingons’ response.”
“Spock Two, what’s your opinion of this hypothesis?”
“It has certain attractive features,” Spock Two said. “For instance, it explains why the Klingons did not attack us when we first appeared in the area. Had they had a trap prepared, they would have blown us out of space within a few seconds; they are highly efficient in such matters, as the Captain will recall. Whereas, as a garrison force, they would have been taken by surprise by our first irruption.”
“And another ‘attractive feature,’” Kirk said stonily, “is that the theory doesn’t require the ship to have been betrayed — by either one of you.”
“May I butt in, Captain?” Sulu said.
“Go right ahead, Mr. Sulu.”
“There exists no way whatsoever by which the Klingons could have known we were coming here. They couldn’t possibly have predicted my course after we shook that first little craft. And in normal space, they couldn’t have detected our approach in warp drive either, isn’t that right, Uhura?”
“Out of the question,” the communications officer agreed.
“So,” Sulu said, “a garrison seems to be the answer.”
“It sounds plausible,” Kirk said, “but unless I read the signs wrong, Spock Two has some reservations. What are they?”
“I would not describe them as reservations, Captain. I have myself suddenly realized what happened to Organia. The answer also contains the solution of the duplication problem, as was almost inevitable. Hence there is no further need for us to trade in guesses and probabilities. I should add, however, that the solution absolutely requires the destruction of the replicate in Dr. McCoy’s laboratory.”
“Why?” Kirk said, in rising desperation.
“Because he also claims to know the answer. I cannot say for certain whether his answer is the same as mine. I hope it is not. It is vital that he not have the correct answer, or, if he does have it, that he not be allowed to act on it.”
“So you’re holding out on me too, eh?”
“I regret that I must,” Spock Two said.
“I am getting so damn tired of all this blackmail,” Kirk said, “that I’m more than tempted to get rid of you both. Never mind, forget that I said it. Mr. Scott.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Does anything you’ve heard this time offer you any clues to your side of the problem?”
“It makes nae physical sense to me at all, Captain, I’m verra sorry to say.”
“Dr. McCoy, what about your method for distinguishing between the two Spocks? Does that have any bearing on the other questions?”
“It probably does, Captain, but if so I don’t see how. I’m nevertheless quite sure of it, on biological grounds alone. In fact I’m so sure, that I can tell you right now which one is the replicate, and I will, and I won’t put any price on the information, either. It has to be Spock One.”
“But you can’t tell me which of the two has the right answer to the problem of Organia — or even how the replication itself happened?”
“Sorry, Jim, but I haven’t the foggiest notion.”
“Then we’re still up in the air. Both Spocks claim to have those answers, and neither one will tell me what they are. We have to keep both men with us until we find out what they’re concealing — or if, on the other hand, they’re both of them simply bluffing.”
“One of us,” Spock One said, “is the original and therefore cannot be bluffing, Captain. Surely you will do him that courtesy.”
Kirk put a hand briefly over his eyes. “I’ll offer an apology to the survivor. And I’ll assume that one of you is telling the truth, of course. But which? The honest man, the real Spock, ought to offer his information freely; that’s his duty. Yet you’re both insisting, now, upon the death of the other Spock before you’ll talk. This is more than blackmail — it’s an endorsement of murder. That’s enough to make me wonder if either of you can be the original Spock.”
Now there was a nasty notion. Suppose the original had been destroyed in the mysterious accident in the transporter room, and both of these were replicates? But McCoy thought otherwise. Kirk was glad the idea hadn’t occurred to him earlier.
The rest of the staff on the bridge was listening with breathless fascination, as if they were onlookers at a performance of the penultimate act of a tragedy — as indeed they might be.
“May I point out, Captain, as you did during the battle, that we are at war?” said Spock Two. “To my certain knowledge, the replicate Spock must be, and is, a creature of the enemy, exactly as I proposed to you when you confronted the two of us in my quarters, nearly six months ago. The wages of treason are death for a good reason, Captain: not as a punishment, for we know capital punishment is useless as a deterrent, but because the traitor belongs by conviction to the enemy, and is therefore a permanent danger as long as the enemy himself remains an enemy.”
“And what about due process of law?” Kirk said. “You’re asking me for the death of Spock One, as far as I can see, as if it were a marketplace transaction — his death in exchange for your information, just as though you were a quartermaster charging me for a uniform. It’s a man’s life we’re dealing with here, and I’m not about to condemn him to death, even for treason, without trial and conviction.”
“To what tribunal could we submit such a case?” said the voice of Spock One. “There is no competent community of appeal aboard the Enterprise.”
“You can appeal it to me,” McCoy said, in a voice that sounded as if it was full of gravel. “I can tell the two of you apart, I know I’m right, and it’s easy to put to the test. Do you want to hear my proposal privately, Jim, or shall I just blurt it right out?”
“The accused have a right to know how they’ll be tried. Speak up, Doc, it’s getting late. There may be Klingons on our backs again any minute.”
“Very good, Captain. The test is this: let the barricaded Spock out, if he’ll come, and offer both men a standard ship’s meal. One of them will refuse it. That man is the ringer — and very likely a traitor too, at least potentially.”
Kirk leaned back in his command chair, feeling his jaw dropping. Were all these high issues, all these personal conflicts, all these emotional and military tensions to be resolved with two plates of chicken-and-quadrotriticale soup? It was a fantastic anticlimax; for an instant, he felt that he would almost rather have the problem than this answer. But he said finally, “Do you really think this is a critical test, Doc?”
“Yes, I do, Captain. If it fails, you’re no worse off than before. But I assure you, it won’t fail.”
Kirk turned to the incumbent First Officer.
“Spock Two, do you agree?”
“I do,” Spock Two said promptly. “Since I’ve been eating standard ship’s fare for months within everybody’s observation anyhow. And may I add, Captain, that the test is a highly elegant, simple and ingenious one. I congratulate Dr. McCoy; it had not occurred to me at all.”
“Spock One, do you also agree to it?”
There was no answer.
