Weapons ready, Kirk and the others formed a defensive line and waited for the final attack.
At that moment the Enterprise reclaimed her own.
Ker Kaseme let out a terrified squeal as the gray walls of the cargo transporter room materialized around him. His face ashen, he clutched Kirk’s arm and began to jabber incoherently. Kirk shook him off.
“Later,” he growled in Kyrosian. Kaseme gobbled in terror, then fainted. Kirk caught him and lowered him to the deck. McCoy, who was waiting for Kirk, took he little man.
“Status report,” Kirk said, his voice showing deep concern for his wounded officers.
“They’re in surgery now,” McCoy replied. “Mbenga’s lands could bring a statue to life. I waited here for you, to let you know.”
; Kirk nodded his thanks. McCoy went on. “I’ll take Caserne to sickbay and load him with sedatives. He won’t remember a thing.”
; Scott came up to Kirk. “The poor divil. We’ve icared the living daylights out of him.”
Kirk grinned for the first time that day, and said, “I’ll bet those hillmen took off like scalded cats when we earned up right before their eyes.”
“Well,” Scott said, “if Mr. Spock can arrange a miricle for his people, I guess we can, too.” ; Kirk’s grin flicked off as he stepped toward the transporter console and stabbed the button on the communicator panel.
“Bridge, this is the captain. What the hell was the idea of changing orbit?”
CHAPTER TEN
Captain’s log: Stardate 6725.1:
Investigating the orbit change, I have learned that Mr. Spock told Lieutenant Sulu to follow his orders or he’d destroy the trilithium crystals at once.
I cannot fault Sulu for his action; we still have three and one-half days left in which to retrieve the crystals.
After that, it won’t matter any more.
Kirk stood at the side of one of the diagnostic beds in the sickbay, looking down at Lieutenant Dawson’s sleeping form. He glanced at the indicators on the Fein-berg panels above. He nodded in satisfaction as, one-by- one, he checked the readouts.
“He looks a hell of a lot better than I expected him to,” he said.
“We got him here just in time,” said McCoy. “He’ll be back on his feet in a few days.”
“And Sara?”
“Almost as good as new,” said a weak voice from the other side of the sickbay. Kirk turned and went quickly over to another bed on the other side of the room.
Ensign George, face pale but eyes alert, gave him a wan smile. “They didn’t really damage the plumbing,” she said. “And Dr. Mbenga did such a nice job of microsurgery that I won’t even end up with a scar as a souvenir.” She gestured to her exposed abdomen, and Kirk saw the flesh-toned antiseptic patch on her. “He says I’ll be fit for duty sometime tomorrow.”
Kirk smiled and patted her shoulder. “How about the rest?” the captain asked, turning to McCoy.
“It was touch and go with several of them—those hand weapons leave nasty wounds—but we didn’t lose one.”
Kirk let out a long sigh of relief. “After the way I fouled up down there, that’s at least one thing I don’t have to feel guilty about.”
“Do you know what your problem is?” McCoy said softly.
“Yes… I was too cocky,” Kirk replied. “I took my men into a possible combat situation without adequately planning for contingencies. It’s just a fluke that several of them weren’t killed.”
“Wrong answer,” McCoy said. Kirk eyed him speculatively.
“Then what’s the right one?”
“You’re the best captain I’ve ever served under, except for one thing—you’ve somehow got yourself convinced that if the dice don’t come out the way you want them to every time you roll them, you’re to blame. No matter how carefully you plan, Jim, sometimes things just don’t turn out the way they should. Unpredictables always creep in. And there isn’t a general in history who hasn’t lost a battle or two because of them. Mbenga and I were convinced we had the right formula for the paralysis drug, but evidently there are certain Vulcan physiological factors that we just didn’t know about. There was no way you could know the drug would wear off in a few minutes. If it hadn’t, we’d have had Spock up here now and be on our way at Warp Three.”
“Maybe so,” Kirk protested, “but—”
“But nothing,” McCoy said impatiently. “A medical mistake was made. But Mbenga and I aren’t sulking in our tents because of it.” He gestured at the crowded sickbay. “We can’t afford to; there’s still too much work to be done. In the meantime, Spock is down there and we’re up here, and it’s up to you to do something about the situation, right?”
After a moment of silence, Kirk said tiredly, “You’re right as usual, Bones. The first thing on the agenda is to try to find Spock’s present location. The last thing I saw of him, he was disappearing down the street in that black wagon of his. I’m going to beam down and see what I can find out. How about a shot of something to clear my head and give me an energy boost? I’m so tired I can’t think straight.”
McCoy shook his head firmly. “The first item on your agenda is a decent night’s sleep. You can hardly stand, and you’ve a long day ahead of you tomorrow. I’ll send one of the survey party back down to check out the situation. My Rx for you is a double shot of brandy and bed.” He grinned when Kirk started to protest. “You may be captain, Jim, but I’m the ship’s surgeon. At times like this, you take orders from me. Bed! On the double!”
Kirk responded with a wan smile. “Aye, aye, sir,” he said, “but I want to be awakened as soon as we get word of what’s going on down there.”
Minutes later he entered his cabin, stripped off his Kyrosian healer’s robe, and threw it on the chair. Then, without even stopping to remove his boots, he tumbled into bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
He was wakened by a gentle shaking and the bracing smell of hot, black coffee. He opened his eyes blearily. Dr. McCoy was standing over him, holding out a large mug.
“Morning, Jim. Watch it, it’s hot.”
“What time is it?”
“07:00.”
Kirk sat up so abruptly that he almost knocked the cup out of McCoy’s hand.
“What happened? You were supposed to call me.”
“There’s bad news, but I figured you’d be better able to handle it after a good rest.”
In a split second, Kirk was fully awake.
“What is it?”
“I sent Elkins down. He beamed back up shortly after midnight with word that there’s hell to pay down there. Spock got back to his headquarters and sent out orders for all his people to assemble there. Those of his bodyguard who saw us flick out of sight were pretty shaken up. But he explained that as the work of demons from the stars who are trying to thwart his mission but were powerless against him.” McCoy’s tone grew grimmer.
“You know, Jim, using Kaseme’s men seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s really backfired.”
“How? Explain.” Kirk demanded.
“Elkins heard everything. Spock’s original plan was to enlist the city people and lead a combined crusade against the rest of Kyros. But after last night, his paranoid brain is convinced that all the Androsians have turned against him, so the city and its satellite villages are going to be the first targets. He’s sent out orders for all the nearby clans to gather, and before too long they’ll be riding out of the hills. Exosociology said they were never a threat to the city before because they were too busy fighting among themselves, but once Spock goes to work on them with that hypnotic voice of his, he’s going to amass an army that’ll top anything Mohammed ever commanded!”
“We’d better send another party down there right away!”
