rooms, especially after that bumpy ride you just took.” He shook his head. “You were both brave to go out in that storm.”
Ordinarily, the
“That’s very thoughtful of you, Captain,” she said warmly, “but there is no ‘both.’ I piloted the shuttle myself.”
“I see,” Kirk said, impressed. Qat Zaldana was clearly a woman of many talents. “This way, then.”
The doors slid shut behind them as they entered the corridor outside. Busy crew members, intent on their duties, hustled past them. An engineering team performed routine maintenance on an exposed power conduit. Kirk lowered his voice on the way to the turbolift.
“So, what’s it like down on the colony?” he asked. “How are people bearing up?”
“No better than you might expect, Captain.” Zaldana kept her voice subdued. “The governor is doing her best to try to keep everyone calm, but people are frightened. Who can blame them? Tremors are shaking the moon, the storms won’t let up, and everyone’s worried about what’s coming next. Your timely arrival has reassured people a little, but nobody knows if that’s going to be enough. Folks are on the verge of panicking, I’m afraid.”
Kirk didn’t like the sound of that. A rioting population could cost lives and make evacuation efforts even more difficult. He made a mental note to ask Governor Dawson if she needed any additional security forces.
“Panic is seldom logical,” Spock observed, “but your fellow colonists have reason to fear for their safety. By my calculations, Skagway will soon fall out of its orbit unless we can determine the source of these anomalies and find a way to restore the status quo.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s why you need to see my new data right away.”
Kirk didn’t have to see her face to know how urgent this was. He commandeered the nearest turbolift, which took them directly to a hallway outside the ship’s main briefing room. The lights turned on automatically as they entered the chamber and sat down at the conference table. Kirk briefly wondered if he should summon McCoy or Scotty to this meeting but decided against it; he could get their advice later if necessary. Kirk activated the computer terminal.
“All right,” Kirk said. “What do you have for us, Ms. Zaldana?”
“Please, call me Qat,” she insisted.
“If you wish,” he said. “Is that a name or a title?”
“Both,” she answered. “But take a look at this.”
She inserted a data card into the terminal. An image appeared on the triscreen viewer facing their seats. Churning clouds swirled around what appeared to be an enormous hexagon bordered by six dark purple jet streams. The vortex seemed to extend deep into the planet’s turbulent atmosphere. Straight sides and sharp angles gave it an oddly artificial appearance, not at all like a natural weather pattern.
“What you’re looking at,” she explained, “is one of Klondike VI’s most distinctive features: an enormous hexagonal vortex that permanently covers the planet’s north pole. It’s more than thirty thousand kilometers across, large enough to hold at least four Earth-sized planets, and it’s been there for as long as anyone remembers.”
Kirk examined the image, which looked familiar. “I’ve seen storm formations like this before. There’s one just like it on Saturn.”
“As well as on Myrddin V, Nova Limbo, Valhalla Prime, and various other gas giants throughout the quadrant,” Spock added. “All ringed planets, as it happens.”
“Just so,” she confirmed. “The hexagon on Klondike VI is virtually identical to the one on Saturn, or at least it was.” She advanced the file on the computer. “That image was taken months ago. Now look at time-lapse recordings taken over the last several weeks.”
On the screens, the colossal hexagon began to contract, gradually at first but with increasing speed. Deep purple clouds lightened in color, looking pale and washed-out. A time stamp at the bottom of the recording charted the vortex’s contraction. Weeks clicked by rapidly.
“It’s shrinking,” Kirk said. “Growing smaller by the day.”
She nodded. “And at an accelerating rate.”
“Fascinating,” Spock observed. “Such formations are known to be uniquely stable. To my knowledge, a contraction of this nature has never been observed elsewhere.”
Kirk stared at the screen facing him. The hexagon was only a fraction of its original size. “And you only just noticed this?”
“We’ve been rather preoccupied with the outer rings raining down on us,” Zaldana pointed out. “Besides, the process began so slowly that it was almost imperceptible at first, like watching grass grow or a glacier slowly melt over time. By the time you register the change, it’s already well under way.”
Kirk could see that. The surface of Klondike VI was vast and turbulent, after all. He could hardly expect the colonists to monitor every square kilometer of the planet at all times. Skagway was primarily a mining operation, not a scientific outpost. The gas giant was just background scenery to them.
“And the hexagon started shrinking around the same time the rings began collapsing?” the captain noted. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
“No,” she agreed. “But is it a cause or an effect? Or is some other factor causing both phenomena?”
Kirk looked at Spock. “What do you think? Could what’s happening to the hexagon be causing the rings to deteriorate?”
“That is impossible to determine without further data,” Spock declared, clearly reluctant to speculate before all of the facts were in. “But this development certainly warrants closer study. I suggest we use the ship’s scanners to examine the vortex.”
“An excellent idea, Mr. Spock,” Kirk said, “pro-vided it doesn’t get in the way of protecting the colony.” He mentally charted the
“I am quite aware of that, Captain,” Spock stated, “but unless we can determine the source of the disturbances and find a means to reverse them, there will be no colony to defend.”
Qat Zaldana inhaled sharply behind her veil.
“Forgive my bluntness,” Spock apologized. “But the facts are what they are.”
“You needn’t apologize for stating the truth, Mr. Spock.” Her voice was solemn but unshaken. “Skagway is doomed unless we can stop this. I know that.”
Kirk was impressed by her bravery. He’d known Starfleet recruits to crack under less pressure. “Aside from the hexagon, is there anything else we should know? Another avenue of investigation?”
“Funny you should ask that, Captain.” She placed a new card in the computer. “There is something else you should see.”
The seething hexagon vanished from the screens, replaced by the image of a luminous white comet. A haze of dusty vapor surrounded its frozen nucleus. Its misty tail stretched out behind it, no doubt pointed away from the nearest sun.
“Our long-range scanners just detected this comet entering our solar system. And it appears to be coming straight toward us.”
Seven
2020
“Okay,” Zoe said. “Now I understand why you all wanted to get here.”
After more than ninety days in transit, Saturn loomed before them in all its majesty. Although still more than four million kilometers away, the ringed planet dominated the view from the cockpit windows. All three astronauts, plus one stowaway, had gathered on the flight deck to take in the breathtaking sight. The mustard-colored planet was immeasurably vast, second only to Jupiter in size. Horizontal bands of yellow and gold marked the passage of
