“One minute, forty-eight seconds,” Spock corrected him. “Evasive action.”
“But there are ships all around us!” Sulu protested.
“And precisely nine hundred thirteen individuals aboard the
“Aye, sir!” Sulu fought his control panel. “The helm’s not responding! It’s sluggish!”
On the viewer, the ice ball came at them like a mountain. Spock realized that they could not evade it. Nor were the diminished shields enough to deflect it.
“All hands and passengers! Brace for impact!”
Twenty-two
2020
The airlock was damp and uncomfortable. Free moisture had condensed on the bulkheads. Empty spacesuits were stowed on the walls. Rolled-up sleeping bags had been jammed into one corner. The cramped compartment had never been intended to house one prisoner, let alone two. Kirk found himself pining for the relative luxury of Shaun’s personal living quarters. It was hard to imagine spending the next three months there.
“So, Fontana really thinks you’re an impostor?” Zoe asked. She seemed bemused to find him sharing her cell.
He shrugged. “A minor misunderstanding.”
“Boy, I knew she was paranoid, but this takes the cake.”
He felt obliged to defend Fontana, who was just trying to protect her ship from an apparent intruder. He would have acted the same way as he had whenever an alien intelligence had possessed a member of his crew. The safety of the ship and other crew members always came first.
“She seems to think that I’ve changed since my encounter with the probe.”
“Well, duh,” Zoe said, floating freely around the compartment. “You had a close encounter with a genuine alien artifact and nearly got fried in the process. An experience like that is bound to have an impact on somebody. How couldn’t it?”
Kirk wished he had thought of that argument, not that it explained his memory lapses. “Did you notice a difference, too?”
“Absolutely. You seemed more… mysterious somehow, like you were hiding something important. It made you more interesting, to be honest, not to mention a good deal sexier.” She winked at him. “You know me, I love a mystery.”
“I’m not sure Fontana feels the same way. I don’t suppose you’d care to explain that to her?”
“Talk sense to that green-eyed monster?” Zoe snorted at the notion. “Like she would ever listen to me, especially now.”
He had to agree. “Then it seems I’m here for the duration.”
“Sucks for you,” she said. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I appreciate the company… and how.”
She pushed off from the ceiling, launching herself toward him.
Kirk made no effort to avoid her but nodded at the closed-circuit camera monitoring the interior of the airlock. “Don’t forget. We have an audience.”
“No problem.” She peeled off her tank top and draped it over the lens of the camera. “Let them get their cheap thrills elsewhere.” She held her arms out, inviting him in. “C’mon, Skipper. I don’t know about you, but I could use a little human warmth right now.”
Kirk gazed at her enticing face and figure. Fontana had been right about another thing: he did find Zoe extremely attractive. He still wasn’t sure what Shaun would do right then, but maybe that didn’t matter so much anymore. He was already under arrest on suspicion of being an alien body snatcher; perhaps he might as well take advantage of the situation and Zoe’s generous charms.
“You know,” he said, “they’re going to notice that the video feed has been obstructed.”
“Then let’s not waste time.”
They embraced in midair, clinging to each other to keep from rebounding apart. Her taut, compact body molded to his as their lips found each other’s. Locked together, they tumbled about the airlock, occasionally bouncing off the walls and ceiling. They were going to have some interesting bruises afterward, but it seemed more than worth it. Their hands busily explored exciting new life-forms. Kirk wondered just how much time they had.
A sudden burst of acceleration threw them against the outer hatch. Kirk’s back took the impact, and his body cushioned Zoe. Their lips came apart, and they stared at each other in surprise.
“Whoa! Did you feel that?” she asked. “I mean, I knew I was good, but—”
“We’re breaking orbit,” he said, concerned by the unexpected jolt. The ship wasn’t scheduled to start its return voyage for another twelve hours or so. “This shouldn’t be happening.”
Zoe got the message and stopped fooling around. “Okay, that doesn’t sound good.”
Letting go of her, he flew across the compartment to the video-com. “Fontana! O’Herlihy! What’s happening up there?”
O’Herlihy’s face appeared on the screen. He looked sweaty and distraught, as if he was cracking under the pressure. His eyes were bloodshot. His hair needed combing. Kirk was reminded of Ben Finney — after his breakdown.
Kirk realized at once that the scientist had gone rogue somehow. “Where is Fontana?” he demanded. “What have you done with her?”
“What do you mean?” Kirk asked. “What are you up to?”
Kirk’s blood went cold. O’Herlihy was talking about a suicide run. Even in his own time, no vessel could survive a plunge into the heart of a gas giant. The titanic pressures would eventually crush the ship like a paper plane in a hurricane. And the
“That’s insane! You’re going to kill us all.”
“But why, Marcus? You can’t condemn us to death without telling us why!”
Kirk had seen pictures of Tera O’Herlihy. She was a lovely young woman in her early twenties. Her father had
