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BY ANY OTHER NAME (D. C. Fontana and Jerome Bixby)
The landing party answering the distress call consisted of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, the security officer Lt. Shea, and Yeoman Leslie Thompson. At first there seemed to be no source at all on the planet for the call-no wrecked spaceship, no debris. Had the ship been destroyed in space and the survivors proceeded here in a shuttle?
Then two people appeared from the nearby trees, a man and a woman, dressed in outfits rather like Merchant Marine jumpsuits. The woman was lovely, but it was the man who dominated their attention. He looked fortyish, with enormous power in his sturdy frame, great authority and competence in his bearing. Neither of the strangers seemed armed, but Kirk noticed that they wore small unobtrusive boxes on their belts. Their hands rested on the belts near the boxes in an attitude so casually assumed that it seemed to be only a part of their stance, but Kirk was wary.
“I’m Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. We came in answer to your distress call.”
“It was very kind of you to respond so quickly, Captain. But now you will surrender your ship to me.”
Kirk stared. “You have an odd sense of humor.”
The strangers touched buttons on the boxes. Instantly, Kirk found himself paralyzed-and so, evidently, was the rest of the “rescue” party.
“I am Rojan, of Kelva,” the strange man said. “I am your Commander, from this moment on. Efforts to resist us, or to escape, will be severely punished. Soon we, and you, will leave this galaxy forever. You hu-mans must face the end of your existence as you have known it.”
The woman moved forward to relieve the people of the Enterprise of their phasers and communicators. Rojan went on: “You are paralyzed by a selective field that neutralizes impulses to the voluntary muscles. I will now release you all, Captain Kirk.”
He touched the belt device. Kirk tensed to jump him, then thought better of it. “A neural field?”
“Radiated from a central projector, directed at whomever we wish.”
“What do you want?”
“Your ship, Captain. We have monitored many. The Enterprise-a starship-is the best of its kind in your galaxy. It will serve us well in the long voyage that is to come.”
“Voyage to where?”
“To your neighboring galaxy, in the constellation you call Andromeda.”
“Why”
“The Andromeda galaxy is our home,” Rojan said in a remote voice.
“What brought you here?” Spock said.
“Within ten millennia, high radiation levels will make life in our galaxy impossible; it is reaching the stage in its evolution which will make it what you call a quasar. The Kelvan Empire sent forth ships to explore other galaxies-to search for one which our race could conquer and colonize.”
“Sorry,” Kirk said. “This galaxy is occupied.”
“Captain, you think you are unconquerable-your ship impregnable. While we have talked, three of my people have boarded it, and the capture has begun.”, He took one of the confiscated communicators from the Kelvan woman and clicked it open. “Subcom-mander Hanar, report.”
“This ship is ours,” a strange voice said from the communicator. “We control the bridge, engineering and life support.”
Rojan folded the communicator shut, and stowed it on his own belt.
“What good is capturing my ship?” Kirk said. “Even at maximum warp, the Enterprise couldn’t get to the Andromeda galaxy for thousands of years. It’s two million light-years away!”
“We will modify its engines to produce velocities far beyond the reach of your science. The journey between galaxies will take less than three hundred of your years.”
“Fascinating,” Spock said, “Intergalactic travel requiring ‘only’ three hundred years is a leap beyond anything man has yet accomplished.”
Yeoman Thompson asked the Kelvan woman: “Did you make a voyage of three hundred years?”
“Our ships were of multigeneration design,” the woman said. “I was born in the intergalactic void. I shall die there, during the return journey.”
“Our mission,” Rojan added, “will be completed by a Captain who will be my descendant.”
“What happened to your ship?” Kirk said.
“There is an energy barrier at the rim of your galaxy-“
“I know. We’ve been there.”
“We broke through it with great difficulty. Our ship was destroyed. We barely escaped in a life craft. Our time here has been spent scanning your systems, studying you. And now we have the means to begin our journey again.”
“Why use our vessel?” Spock said. “Why not trans-mit a message back to your galaxy?”
“No form of transmission can penetrate the barrier.”
“Rojan,” Kirk said, “we could take your problem to our Federation. Research expeditions have catalogued hundreds of uninhabited planets in this galaxy. Surely some of them would be suitable for your colonization.”
“We do not colonize, Captain,” Rojan said sharply. “We conquer. We rule. There is no other way for us.”
“In other words,” McCoy said, ‘this galaxy isn’t big enough for both of us’?”
“What will happen to the intelligent races here?” Kirk said.
“They will not be mistreated. Merely subordinated.” Rojan shrugged. “The fate of the inferior… in any galaxy. Ah, Hanar!”
While he had been speaking, another Kelvan had popped into being beside him, a younger man, with a hard intelligent face. There was no shimmer or any other such effect comparable to the workings of the Transporter; he just appeared.
“Tomar has examined the ship,” Hanar said. “The modifications are under way.”
“Space again!” said Rojan. “I don’t think we could have kept our sanity, living so long on this accursed planet.”
It did not seem to be so accursed to Kirk; in fact it was quite a pleasant, Earthlike place. But Hanar said: “It is an undisciplined environment; one cannot control it Yet there are things of interest.”
“Yes. But-disturbing. These ugly shells in which we have encased ourselves… they have such heightened senses. How do humans manage to exist in such fragile casings?”
They did not seem to care at all whether they were overheard, an obvious expression of supreme confidence. Kirk listened intently to every word; he had known such self-confidence to be misplaced before.
“Since the ship is designed to sustain this form,” Hanar said, “we have little choice.”
Rojan turned to the woman. “Kelinda, take them to the holding area. We will be keeping you and your party here, Captain. Your crew will undoubtedly prefer to cooperate with us if they understand you are hostages.”
“Move that way,” said Kelinda. “Keep together.”
Their jail proved to be a cave, with a door constructed of some odd-looking transparent material, which Spock and Kirk were examining. Shea was also at the door, looking out, ostensibly watching Kelinda.
“I’m unable to determine the nature of the material, Captain,” Spock said. “But I do not believe even phaser fire could disturb its molecular structure.”
“All right, we can’t break out. Maybe we can find another way.”
“Captain,” said Yeoman Thompson, “what do they want from us? What land of people are they?”
“A good question, Yeoman.”
They registered as human,” McCoy said.
“No, more than that, Doctor,” Spock said, frowning. “They registered as perfect human life forms. I recall noting that the readings were almost textbook responses. Most curious.”
“Spock,” Kirk said, “what are the odds on such a parallel in life forms in another galaxy?”
“Based on those we have encountered in our own galaxy, the probability of humanoid development is high. But I would say the chances were very much against such an absolute duplication.”
Shea turned slightly from the door. “Well, however perfect they are, sir, there don’t seem to be very many of them.”
“But they’ve got the paralysis field,” Kirk said. “Ro-jan mentioned a central projector.”
“If we can put it out of operation,” McCoy said, “we’ve got a chance!”
“I am constrained to point out,” said Spock, “that we do not even know what this projector looks like.”
“No,” Kirk said, “but those devices on their belts might indicate the position of the source.”
“I would like to have one to examine.”
“You’ll have one, sir,” Shea said. “If I have to rip one of the Kelvans apart to get it for you.”
“Lieutenant Shea,” Kirk said firmly, “you’ll have your chance-but I’ll tell you when.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kirk eyed him narrowly; but he could understand the younger officer’s defiant attitude toward their captors. “Spock, do you remember how you tricked that guard on Eminiar? The empathic mind touching-“
“Quite well, Captain. I made him think we had escaped.”
“Can you do it again?”
“I will attempt it”
He checked Kelinda, who was standing fairly close to the bars, and then put his hands on the cave wall approximately behind her. Then he began to concentrate.
At first the Kelvan woman did not respond. Then she twitched a little, nervously, as though aware that something was wrong, but unable to imagine what. She glanced around, then straightened again.
Kirk signaled his people to position themselves along the wall, so that from outside the cave would appear to be empty. Then he bent and scooped some dirt from the loose, sandy floor.
Suddenly Spock broke out of his intense concentra-tion, as though wrenched from it by something be-yond him. He gasped and staggered back against the wall. At the same moment, Kelinda came to the door, opened it quickly and started in.
Kirk hurled his handful of dirt into her face. She cried out and clawed at her eyes. While she was half blinded, Kirk delivered a karate chop. It sent her sprawling, and, surprisingly, out. Kirk and McCoy dragged her the rest of the way inside.
“Mr. Spock—?”
“I… will be… quite all right, Captain. We must hurry.”
“Bones, keep an eye on him. Let’s go.” He took the belt device from Kelinda and led the way out. He had hardly taken two steps before he was paralyzed again, the device dropping from his limp hands.
“I am sorry, Captain,” said Rojan’s voice. He came into view with Hanar, who went into the cave. “The escape attempt was futile. You cannot stop us and you cannot escape us.”
Hanar reappeared. “Kelinda is somewhat bruised, Rojan, but otherwise unhurt.”
Rojan nodded, and turning back to Kirk, released the party from the freeze. “I cannot let this go unpunished. This will serve as an example.” He pointed to Yeoman Thompson and security chief Shea. “Hanar, take these two aside.”
“What are you going to do?” McCoy said.
“This is not your affair, Doctor. Captain, as a lead-er, you realize the importance of discipline. I need you and these other specialists. But those two are unnecessary to me.”
“You can’t just kill them!” Kirk said.
Rojan did not respond. Thompson turned, looking pleadingly at Kirk. “Captain…”
“Rojan, let them go. I’m responsible for them.”
“I think we are somewhat alike, Captain. Each of us cares less for his own safety than for the lives of his command. We feel pain when others suffer for our mistakes. Your punishment shall be to watch your people die.”
Rojan touched his belt device. Shea and the girl seemed to vanish instantly. Where each of them had been standing was an odd geometrically shaped block, about the size of a fist.
Hanar picked them up and brought them to Rojan, who held them up to Kirk. “This is the essence of what those people were… The flesh and brain, and also what you call the personality, distilled down to these compact shapes. Once crushed-” He closed his hand over one, crushing it in his grip, letting the fragments sift through his fingers, “-they are no more. This person is dead. However-” He flipped the second block away. It bounced to a halt on the grass. Rojan again touched a button, and Shea was standing there, bewildered, “-this person can be restored. As I said, Captain-very practical.”
They were herded back into the cave, leaving be-hind the fragments which were all that were left of a pretty girl.
Shocked and dispirited, they all sat down on the cave floor but Shea. Spock’s manner seemed more than usually distant.
“Mr. Spock,” Kirk said, “are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes, quite all right, Captain.”
McCoy said, “You looked very sick a while back, when you broke the mind lock.”
“I did not break it,” Spock said slowly. “I was… shoved away by… something I have never experienced before.”
“What was it?” said Kirk.
“Images… bursting in my mind and consciousness. Colors… shapes… mathematical equations… fused and blurred. I have been attempting to isolate them. So far, I have been able to recall clearly only one. Immense beings… a hundred limbs that resemble tentacles, but are not… minds of such control and capacity that each limb could do a different job.”
“You mean,” McCoy said, “that’s what the Kelvans really are?”
“I do not know. It seemed the central image, but whether it was a source or a memory, I cannot tell.”
“If they do normally look like that,” Kirk said, “why did they adapt to bodies like ours?”
“For the sake of deception, what else?” McCoy said.
Kirk remembered the conversation they had overheard. “No, practicality. They chose the Enterprise as the best kind of vessel for the trip, and they need us to run her. We have to stay in our gravity and atmosphere, and they had to adapt to it… We have to find a way to beat them. We outnumber them. Their only hold on us is the paralysis field.”
“That’s enough,” said McCoy. “One wrong move and they jam all our neural circuits.”
“Jamming,” said Kirk. “That’s it. Tricorders could analyze the frequency of the paralysis field. Spock, if you reverse the circuits on McCoy’s neuroanalyzer, would it serve as a counterfield to jam the paralysis projector?”
“I am dubious about the possibility of success, Captain. The medical equipment is not built to put out any great amount of power. It would probably burn out.”
“Is there any chance at all?”
“A small one.”
“We’ll take it. You and Bones have to get up to the ship”
“How?” said McCoy.
Kirk looked at his First Officer. “Spock, you’re sick.”
Spock’s eyebrows went up. “Captain, I assure you that I am in excellent health.”
“No, you’re not. Dr. McCoy has examined you, and you’re seriously ill. In fact, if he doesn’t get you up to Sickbay you may die. And Rojan won’t let that happen because he needs you to get through the barrier.”
“It’s a good idea,” McCoy said, “but anybody looking at him can tell he’s healthy.”
“Vulcans have the ability to put themselves into a land of trance… an enforced relaxation of every part of the mind and body. Right, Mr. Spock?”
“We find it more useful for resting the body than the so-called vacation.”
“Can you do it now, and come out of it when you’re in Sickbay? Say in half an hour?”
“It will take me a moment to prepare.”
Shea walked to where he could watch for guards, then turned to nod and wave an all clear. Spock, remaining seated, composed himself very carefully. He seemed to be directing his attention inward upon himself. Then, almost as if someone had snapped off his switch, he flopped limply to one side.
McCoy rose to examine him, and at once looked a little alarmed. “Jim, his heartbeat really is way down-respiration almost nonexistent-“
Kirk turned to the door quickly and shouted “Guard! Guard!”
Hanar appeared. “What do you want, human?”
“Mr. Spock is ill. The doctor thinks he’s dying.”
“This illness came on him very suddenly,” Hanar said. “Is it not unusual?”
“He’s a Vulcan. They don’t react like humans.”
“Look, he may die,” McCoy said as Hanar hesitated. “If I can get him up to Sickbay, there’s a chance I can save him.”
“Stand away from the door.”
The others pulled away. Hanar came in, hand on his belt device, and bent to study the motionless Science Officer. He frowned. “I will have you beamed aboard, but you will be met by Tomar and watched.”
As Hanar turned away, opening a communicator, Kirk and McCoy glanced toward each other.
“Do the best you can with him, Bones,” Kirk said. McCoy nodded quickly, significantly.
The Kelvan Tomar and McCoy entered the Enterprise’s examination room, supporting the limp Spock between them. Nurse Christine Chapel followed. “Doctor, what happened?”
McCoy ignored her. He said to Tomar, “Here. Put him down.”
They eased Spock onto the table. Tomar peered curiously at the Vulcan, who was breathing only shallowly, and with alarmingly long pauses between breaths.
“Shall I summon more of your underlings?”
“I’ll call my own underlings,” McCoy said snappishly. “You stay out of the way. Miss Chapel, prepare two cc’s of stokaline.”
“Stokaline? But, Doctor—”
“Don’t argue with me, Nurse. Get it.”
Christine turned and went to get the required air hypo. McCoy activated the body function panel over the table and began to take readings, which were obviously low. Tomar hesitated, then moved away to where he could watch from a discreet distance.
Christine came back with the hypo, and at McCoy’s nod, administered it, looking at her chief in puzzlement. There was no response from Spock for a mo-ment. Then his eyes snapped open. McCoy shook his head very slightly and the eyes closed again. Over their heads, the readings began to pick up, some of them quickening, others returning to their Vulcan norms, which were almost surely strange to Tomar.
“This may be the turning point, Nurse. Prepare another shot.”
“Doctor—”
“Miss Chapel, please follow orders.”
She did so, though McCoy was well aware of her mounting puzzlement. He continued to study the panel. Finally he nodded. “That does it. He’ll be all right now. Let him rest.” He turned to Tomar. “It was a flare-up of Rigelian Kassaba fever. He suffered from it ten years ago, and it recurs now and then. There’s no danger if he receives medication in time. He’ll be up again in an hour or so.”
“Very well. I will inform Rojan. You will stay here.”
The Kelvan went out and McCoy went back to the table, grinning at Spock, who was now propped up on his elbows.
“I said I would awaken myself, Doctor. What was that shot you gave me?”
“It wasn’t a shot. It was two.”
“I am not interested in quantity, but in content.”
“It was stokaline.”
“I am not familiar with that drug. Are there any after effects?”
“Yes. You’ll feel much better.”
“It’s a multiple vitamin compound,” Christine said, beginning to look less confused.
McCoy patted Spock’s shoulder. “Stop worrying. It’ll put a little green in your cheeks. Let’s get at the neuroanalyzer.”
Spock grimaced and rolled off the table to his feet. “It would be helpful to have Mr. Scott here.”
“Agreed. Miss Chapel, it is time for Mr. Scott’s medical exam.”
“I’ll see that he reports immediately,” Christine said demurely.
Hanar summoned Kirk out of the cave and brought him to Rojan, who was lounging comfortably by a lakeside, with Kelinda close by. Rojan waved Hanar away. “Proceed to the ship, Hanar. Rest yourself, Captain.”
“What do you want with me now, Rojan?” Kirk said angrily.
“We will beam aboard the vessel shortly. I wish you to understand your duties.”
“My duty is to stop you in any way I can.”
“You will obey.”
“Or you’ll kill more of my people?”
“Captain, I cannot believe that you do not understand the importance of my mission,” Rojan said slow-ly, as if trying to explain to an equal. “We Kelvans have a code of honor-harsh, demanding. It calls for much from us, and much from those we conquer. You have been conquered. I respect your devotion to your duty. But I cannot permit it to interfere with mine.”
Kirk remained silent, thinking. It was impossible not to be impressed by what seemed to be so much straightforward honesty. It was apparent that that “code” was what Rojan lived by, and that he believed in it unshakably.
It was also impossible to forget the crumbled shards of what had been Yeoman Leslie Thompson, scattered in the grass not far from here.
Kelinda had moved away to a nearby burst of flowers. Rojan watched her, but not, Kirk thought, with any sign of ordinary male interest.
“I hunger to be in space again, Rojan,” she said. “But these-these are lovely. Captain Kirk, what is it you call them?”
“Flowers,” he said, moving closer to her, cautiously. “I don’t know the variety.”
“Our memory tapes tell us of such things on Kel-va,” Rojan said. “Crystals which form with such rapid-ity that they seem to grow. They look like these; fragile things, somewhat. We call them ‘sahsheer.’”
“The rose,” Kirk said, “by any other name…”
“Captain?” Rojan said.
“A quotation, from a great human poet, Shake-speare. ‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’ “
Kelinda bent to smell the flowers, while Kirk studied her. Did this woman in reality have a hundred tentacles, all adapted to different uses? It was hard to imagine.
“Kelinda, Captain, come away,” Rojan said. “We must leave now.”
Directly they were beamed up, Rojan directed Kirk to take him and Kelinda to the bridge. There, Uhura was at her station, and Chekov at his, but a Kelvan woman was in the Helmsman’s seat, and Hanar was standing nearby.
“Drea has computed and laid a course for Kelva, Rojan,” Hanar said.
“Sir,” said Chekov, “we’ve jumped to warp eight.”
“And we’ll go faster yet,” Rojan said. Increase speed to warp eleven.”
Chekov looked around sharply at Kirk, who could only shrug his helplessness and nod.
“On course and proceeding as planned,” said the Kelvan woman at the helm, who was evidently Drea.
“Very well,” said Rojan. “Hanar, proceed with the neutralizing operation.”
Hanar nodded and went to the elevator. Kirk said quickly: “What neutralizing operation?”
“You humans are troublesome for us, Captain. There are not enough of us to effectively guard all of you all the time. Further, the food synthesizers cannot continue to manufacture food for all of you for our entire journey. We are therefore neutralizing all nonessential personnel.”
“No!”
“Captain, you can do nothing to stop it. The procedure is already under way. Now, as to bridge personnel…” He moved toward Uhura. “We have no need of communications for some centuries.”
Uhura sat frozen in her chair, staring at Rojan in horror. He touched his belt device-and there was nothing left in her seat but a geometrical solid.
“And since Drea is now capable of doing our navigating-” Chekov too vanished. Drea had already neutralized two crewmen beyond Scott’s station. Kirk stood frozen.
“They are not dead, Captain,” Rojan reminded him. “They are merely reduced to the sum total of what they are.”
“That’s very comforting,” Kirk said sarcastically. “But not pleasant to watch. I’m going to Sickbay. My First Officer was taken ill.”
“Yes, I was informed. Go ahead.”
Sickbay was deserted. Kirk found Scott, McCoy and Spock picking at food at a table in the recreation room. Getting himself a tray, he joined them. “Reports, gentlemen?”
“I’m a little sick,” McCoy said. “We burned out my neuroanalyzer, to no effect. I saw one of the Kelvans, the one they call Tomar, reduce four of my doctors and nurses to those… little blocks.”
“I’ve seen them do that too. Remember, the process is reversible. I only wonder how far it’s going to go.”
“I have been checking our table of organization against their apparent capabilities,” Spock said. “It appears that we will have very few ‘survivors.’ They will need none of the security men, for example. And once we cross the energy barrier, Engineering can be reduced to a skeleton crew. Beyond that point lies some three hundred years of straight cruising-at an astonishing velocity, to be sure, but still cruising. And of the officers, it would seem that only we four could be regarded as ‘essential.’ I am not even sure of your status, Captain, or mine.”
“How so?”
“Rojan is in command now.”
“Quite so,” Kirk said bitterly. “Scotty, have you found out anything about the paralysis projector?”
“Quite a lot, and none of it good. The machine is in Engineering, and it’s encased in that same stuff the door of our jail was made of. Furthermore, it’s nae a simple machine-and it’s the only one of its kind on board. I think it must be the source of all their special powers-and it’s impregnable.”
“Any suggestions?”
“One,” Scott said. “Self-destruct.”
Kirk considered it. “We’ve been driven to that point, or almost, once before,” he said at last. “But aside from my aversion to suicide-and the deaths of everybody else-it’s not practicable. We’d never complete the routine with the computer before Rojan paralyzed us.”
“I thought of that,” Scott said. “I could do it myself, though. Remember that we’ve got to cross the energy barrier. It willna be easy at best. A little sabotage in the matter-antimatter nacelles, and we’d blow, for good and all.”
Kirk made a quick silencing gesture. Tomar had come in, and was now approaching them, staring curiously at their trays.
“I do not understand,” he said, “why you go to the trouble of consuming this bulk material to sustain yourselves.” He pulled a flat pillbox from a pocket and opened it. “These contain all the required nutritional elements.”
“Not for human forms,” McCoy said. “Bulk is necessary to our digestive systems, and there’s a limit to the amount of energy that can be crammed into a pill, too. Perhaps you haven’t been in human form long enough to find just pills debilitating, but you will-you will.”
“Indeed? Then you had better show me promptly what else we shall need, and how to manage it.”
McCoy looked rebellious and Kirk himself felt a hope die almost before it had been born. “I think you’d better, Bones,” he said.
“All right. Come on, I’ll show you how to work the selector.” McCoy led Tomar off toward the wall dispenser.
“Spock,” Kirk said in a whisper, “shall we self-destruct? Crossing the barrier may be our last chance to do so.”
“Granted,” Spock whispered back. “But it is said on Earth that while there is life, there is hope. That is sound logic: no multivalued problem has only one solution.”
“Well, we couldn’t knock out their central machine even if we were able. It has to be kept intact to restore the rest of our people to human form.”
There was quite a long silence. McCoy had settled Tomar at a table with a tray, and Tomar was gingerly forking some meat into his mouth. Judging by bis nod, he found it agreeable, and he began eating at a fair speed for a newcomer to the habit. McCoy grinned and rejoined his colleagues.
“I’m almost sorry I did that,” he said. “It looks like he likes food-and I wouldn’t want any of them to enjoy anything.”
Spock continued to watch Tomar. “Most peculiar.”
“What is?” Kirk said.
“The isolated glimpses of things I saw when I touched Kelinda’s mind are beginning to coalesce in my consciousness. The Kelvans have superior intellectual capacity. But to gain it, they apparently sacrificed many things that would tend to distract them. Among these are the pleasures of the senses-and, of course, emotions.”
“But then, Tomar shouldn’t be enjoying the taste of food.”
“He has taken human form,” Spock said, “and is having human reactions.”
Kirk’s mind leapt ahead in response. “If they all respond to stimulation of the senses, maybe we could confuse them. They don’t know how to handle those senses yet. If we can distract them enough, we could try to get the belt devices away. That’s their only hold on us.”
“It seems reasonable,” Spock said.,
“All right. We watch for opportunities to work on them-hit them every way we can think of.”
Scott was studying Tomar. “I can think of one way right off,” he said. He rose and went to the Kelvan. “Lad, you’ll be needing something to wash that down with. Have you ever tried Saurian brandy?”
McCoy stopped Hanar as the Kelvan was passing by the door to the examination room. “Come on in a moment, please, Hanar.”
“What is it, human?”
“I’ve noticed you’re not looking too well.”
“Impossible. We do not malfunction, as do you humans.”
“No? You’re forgetting you’re in a human body. And that does malfunction-that’s why Rojan considers me essential. You look pale.” He gestured to the table. “Sit up there.”
When Hanar complied, McCoy picked up his medical tricorder and began taking readings. “Uh huh… Hmmm… I don’t know about that… Hmmmm.”
“Please articulate, human.”
“Well, it looks to me like this body of yours is getting a little anemic, and has some other subclinical deficiencies. Comes from taking your food in pills, instead of good solid substance.” He turned aside and picked up a hypo, which he set.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to give you a shot-high potency vitamin-mineral concentrate. You’ll have to have one three times a day for a few days. And eat some solid food.”
It had taken Scott a while to get Tomar down to serious drinking; initially he had been too interested in the tartan, the claymore, the armorial bearings on the walls, the standing suit of ancient armor in Scott’s quarters, all of which he declared nonfunctional in a starship. He did not seem to grasp either the concept of mementos or that of decoration.
Finally, however, they were seated at Scott’s desk with a bottle and glasses between them. After a while, it was two bottles. Tomar seemed to remain in total control of himself, as if he’d been drinking lemon-ade. “No more?” he said.
“Well… no more Saurian brandy, but…” Scott looked around and found another bottle. “Now, y’see, this liquor is famous on Ahbloron-I mean, Aldibib-ble-on one of these planets we go to.”
“It is a different color from the other.”
“Yes. And stronger, too.” He poured some into To-mar’s glass with an unsteady hand, and then, per-force, some into his own. Somehow this experiment was not working out right.
Kirk paid a call on the cabin Kelinda had com-mandeered. When she invited him in, he found her looking at a tape on a viewscreen. “Did I disturb you?”
“Disturb? What is it you wish?”
He went over to her. “I want to apologize.”
“I do not understand, Captain.”
“For hitting you. I wanted to say I was sorry.”
“That is not necessary. You attempted to escape, as we would have. That I was taken in by your ruse is my fault, not yours.”
Kirk smiled and reached out to touch her face gently. “I don’t usually hit beautiful women.”
“Why not, if there is need?”
“Because there are better things for men and wom-en to do.” He moved the hand down to her neck. “Was it here that I hit you?”
“No, on the other side.”
“Oh.” He leaned to the other side, kissed her neck, and nuzzled her ear. “Is that better?”
“Better? Was it intended to be a remedy?”
“This is.” Drawing her to her feet, he took her in his arms and kissed her.
After a moment she drew back. “Is there some significance to this action?”
“It was meant to express… well, among humans it; shows warmth, love-“
“Oh. You are trying to seduce me,” she said, as if she were reading a weather report. “I have been reading about you.”
“Me?”
“Humans. This business of love. You have devoted much literature to it. Why have you built such a mystique around a simple biological fact?”
“We enjoy it”
“The literature?”
“Kelinda, I’m sorry I brought the subject up.”
“Did you regard this contact of the lips as pleasurable?”
Kirk sighed. “I did.”
“Curious. I wonder why.” Abruptly she put her arms around him and kissed him back.
The door opened and Rojan came in. Kirk made a point of drawing back with guilty swiftness.
“Is there some problem, Captain?” Rojan said.
“None.” Kirk left quickly. Rojan stared after him.
“What did he want here?”
“He came to apologize for hitting me,” Kelinda said. “Apparently, it involves some peculiar touching contacts.”
“In what manner?”
Kelinda hesitated, then reached up to nibble at Rojan’s neck and ear. Rojan stepped away from her, frowning.
“They are odd creatures, these humans. Please have the reports on fuel consumption relayed to Sub-commander Hanar as soon as possible.”
Spock had taught Rojan to play chess; the Kelvan had learned with breathtaking speed. They were playing now, in the recreation room.
“Yes, they are peculiar,” Spock said, moving a piece. “I very often find them unfathomable, but an interesting psychological study.”
Rojan moved in return. “I do not understand this business of biting someone’s neck to apologize.”
Spock looked up, raising his eyebrows. Then he looked back at the game, saw an opening and quickly moved another piece. “I believe you are referring to a kiss. But it is my understanding that such, uh, apologies are usually exchanged between two people who have some affection for each other.”
“Kelinda has no affection for Captain Kirk,” Rojan said quickly.
Spock studied Rojan’s next move and shook his head. “You seemed disturbed about the incident Your game is off.”
“Why should I be disturbed?”
“It seems to me you have known Kelinda for some time. She is a Kelvan, as you are. Among humans, I have found the symptoms you are displaying would be indicative of jealousy.”
“I have no reason for such a reaction. Kelinda is a female. Nothing more.”
“Captain Kirk seems to find her quite attractive.”
“Of course she is.”
“But you are not jealous.”
“No!”
“Nor upset.”
“Certainly not!”
Spock made his move. “Checkmate.”
Kirk, Spock and McCoy were holding another council of war in the recreation room. Kirk was depressed. “The thing is, I can’t tell if we’re getting; anywhere. And I haven’t seen Scotty for what seems like months.”
‘“You haven’t seen Tomar either,” McCoy said. “But the point is, these things take time. The Kelvans started out with adapted human bodies in superb physical shape-textbook cases, as Spock said. They have high resistance. I’ve been giving Hanar shots that would have driven our whole crew up the wall in an hour. He responds slowly-but he’s getting more irritable by the minute, now.”
“And Rojan,” Spock said, “has exhibited symptoms of jealousy toward Kelinda and you.”
“What about Kelinda, Jim?” McCoy said.
“No progress,” Kirk said, uncomfortably.
“What approach did you take with her? Could be you’re a little rusty-“
Kirk felt himself begin to bristle. Spock interposed smoothly: “I would say it is sufficient that Rojan is jealous.”
“Right,” Kirk said quickly. “That’s the opening wedge. As soon as it’s a little wider, we move.”
Behind Kirk, Kelinda’s voice said: “I would like to speak with you, Captain.”
Spock stood up at once. “Doctor, I think I need another dose of stokaline.”
“Huh?” McCoy said. “Oh, yes. Pardon us.”
They went out. Kirk leaned back in his chair and studied Kelinda. “You had something to say?”
“Yes.” Did she really seem a trifle uncomfortable, even perhaps awkward? Kirk waited. Then she took a deep breath and touched him, lightly, on a shoulder. “This cultural mystique surrounding a biological function…”
“Yes?”
“You realize it really is quite overdone.”
“Oh. Quite.”
“However, I was wondering… would you please apologize to me again?”
Rojan was in the command chair. Behind him, the elevator doors snapped open, and then Hanar’s voice said, with surprising belligerence: “Rojan. I want to talk to you.”
Rojan looked up in surprise. “Very well, Hanar.”
“First, I do not like the way responsibility and duty have been portioned out to us.”
“It is the way your duties have always been assigned.”
“And that is my second quarrel with you. It was always unjust-“
Rojan snapped out of the chair. “Hanar-“
“And further, I do not care much for the autocratic way you order us about on this ship, which we captured, not you-“
“Confine yourself to your quarters!”
Hanar hesitated, as though he had had a lot more to say, but had thought better of it. Then he spun on his heel and left without further acknowledgment.
Rojan found his own fists clenching in anger-and was suddenly aware that Drea was watching him in amazement from the navigator’s station. As Rojan turned his back to hide his expression, Spock came onto the bridge and went toward his library-computer. Rojan followed.
“You were not called to the bridge, Spock. What is your purpose here?”
“Sensors and various other recording devices require monitoring and certain adjustments.”
“Very well, proceed… Have you seen Captain Kirk?”
“Do you want him? I will call him to the bridge.”
“No. I… wondered where he was.”
“Dr. McCoy and I left him some time ago in the recreation room.”
“He was alone, then?”
“No. Kelinda was with him. She seemed most anxious to speak to him.”
“I told him to stay away from her.”
“It would appear that you have little control over her, sir… or perhaps Captain Kirk has more.”
Rojan turned abruptly and headed for the elevator.
Kirk and Kelinda were locked in a kiss when Rojan came through the recreation room door. Kirk looked up, but did not release Kelinda entirely; instead he kept a possessive arm around her as he turned toward Rojan. Rojan stopped and stared.
“Kelinda, I told you to avoid this human!”
“I did not wish to,” she said.
“I am your commander.”
“I’ve found,” Kirk said, “that doesn’t mean much to a woman if she’s bound to go her own way.”
“You have done this to her! Corrupted her-turned her away from me!”
“If you couldn’t keep her, Rojan, that’s not my problem.”
Furiously, Rojan leaped at Kirk. He seemed to have forgotten all about the belt device, his bare hands reaching out. Kirk pushed Kelinda aside and met Rojan’s rush.
The two men, equally powerful, slammed at each other like bulls. Rojan was more clumsy, more unaccustomed to the body he was in. Kirk was the quicker and the more adept fighter, but he was not possessed by the anger which obviously drove Rojan.
Kelinda did not intervene; she only watched. After a moment she was joined by Spock and McCoy.
Kirk delivered a final punch that sent Rojan spinning down, backward. But he was not beaten yet. He started to climb back to his feet.
“Rojan–wait!” Kirk said. “Listen to me-“
Rojan flung himself forward, but Kirk fended him off. “Listen! Why didn’t you use your paralyzer? Don’t you know why? Because you’ve become a human yourself.” Kirk ducked a punch. “Look at you-brawling like a street fighter-shaking with rage-“
Rojan paused and stared as the words began to sink in. “What?”
“You thought I took your woman away from you. You were jealous-and you wanted to kill me with your bare hands. Would a Kelvan have done that? Would he have to? You reacted with the emotions of a human, Rojan. You are one.”
“No! We cannot be.”
“You have no choice. You chose this ship. Because of its environmental systems, you had to take human form to use it. And you’re stuck with it-you and your descendants-for the next three hundred years. Look what’s happened to you in the short time you’ve been exposed to us. What do you think will happen in three hundred years? When this ship gets to Kelva, the people on it will be aliens, the Kelvans their enemies.
“We have a mission. We must carry it out.” But Rojan’s tone showed that he was shaken.
“Your mission was to find worlds for your people to live on. You can still do that. I told you we could present your case to the Federation. I know it would be sympathetic. There are many unpopulated planets in our galaxy. You could develop them in peace, your way.”
“They would do that? You would extend welcome to invaders?”
“No. But we do welcome friends.”
“Perhaps,” said Rojan, “perhaps it could be done.”
Spock said: “A robot ship could be sent back to Kelva with the Federation proposal.”
“But what of us?” Rojan said. “If we… if we retain this form, where can we find a place?”
“Seems to me,” McCoy said, “that little planet you were on was kind of a nice place.”
“Pleasant… but…”
“The Federation would probably grant a colonization permit to a small group of people who desired to settle there,” Spock said. “You do represent an old and highly intelligent race.”
Rojan turned to Kelinda and jerked his head at Kirk. “You would want to go with him?”
Kelinda glanced at Kirk and then back at Rojan. “As you have said, he is not our kind. I believe I owe you an apology.” She kissed him. “It is pleasurable, Rojan.”
“You know, Rojan,” Kirk said, “one of the advantages of being a human is being able to appreciate beauty… of a flower, or of a woman. Unless you’d rather conquer a galaxy?”
“No, Captain, I would rather not.” Rojan took Kelinda’s hand. “A link in a chain-that’s all we were. Perhaps there is an opportunity for us to be more.” He turned away, crossed the room and activated an intercom. “Bridge, this is Rojan.”
“Yes, Commander,” said Drea’s voice.
“Turn the ship. We are returning to the alien… We are returning home.”
“Sir?”
“Turn the ship about.”
He led Kelinda out. Kirk, Spock and McCoy ex-pelled simultaneous sighs of relief.
“Jim, I was coming to tell you-“
“Yes, Bones?”
“I found Scotty in his room with Tomar. Apparently they’ve been having a drinking bout all this time. They were both under the table-but Tomar went down first. Scott had Tomar’s belt device in his hand. He just never made it to the door with it.”
Kirk grinned. “The Kelvans,” he said, “still have a lot to learn about being human, don’t they?”
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