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    Star Trek - TOS - 30 - DEMONS

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      "Yes, of course." Anitra was too stunned for a moment by the

      incongruity of the situation to determine the proper course of action.

      Maybe the stress of what had happened to Amanda on Vulcan had induced

      some sort of breakdown, so that she walked unannounced into the rooms

      of relative strangers. Anitra stood just in the doorway to the outer

      area and moved no closer. Spock, we need your help.. ..

      Amanda's eyes shone with an unnatural brightness. "I'm just sorry that

      the .. . circumstances on Vulcan prevented us from having the chance to

      really meet each other." She moved closer.

      Instinctively, Anitra retreated slightly. There was something wrong,

      something terribly wrong.. ..

      In midstride, Amanda seemed to double over. "Get away," she shrieked,

      "get AWAY." She crumpled to the floor.

      A split second before she spoke, Anitra had already received the

      warning and was bolting past her to the door. She didn't make it.

      Amanda rose from the floor in a smooth, graceful upsweep, as though

      levitated by some invisible force, and caught Anitra's wrists in a

      surprisingly firm grip.

      All those years on Vulcan, with the higher gravity, Anitra thought

      with detachment.

      "Look at me," Amanda snarled. "Look me in the eye."

      "I know BETTER." Anitra freed her wrists from the hold and punctuated

      her statement by throwing the older woman against the wall. Amanda

      slid to the floor.

      Anitra ran.

      "Stop." The tone in which it was said was enough to make Anitra turn

      and see the phaser pointed at her.

      "You can join us," Amanda said, "and you will be the most powerful

      among us. Or you can die here and now."

      "Go ahead and shoot," said Anitra. She closed her eyes.

      Behind her, the door to the cabin opened. Spock stood in the doorway,

      his phaser leveled at his mother.

      Amanda's eyes rolled back in her head, and when the pupils reappeared

      again, the eyes were wide with terror. The voice that spoke was

      unquestionably Amanda's. "They say if you shoot me, even stun me,

      they'll kill me. I know you won't let them hurt me, Spock. I know

      that. I trust you." And she smiled at him, Amanda's sweet smile.

      Spock fired.

      Anitra was closer, but somehow Spock made it to his mother's side

      first.

      Anitra threw an arm across her forehead and leaned against the wall.

      "I'm sorry it had to happen this way, Spock," she said softly. "Dear

      God, I'm sorry. Both of your parents now. I should have let you bring

      her here sooner. It's my fault."

      Speck's shields were up, as they always were around her unless he was

      teaching the mind meld-partly out of politeness, to spare her from

      another's thoughts, but mostly, Anitra suspected, to protect himself.

      Now those shields were tight as a steel vise, with no trace of thought

      or feeling emanating from him now--but when he looked up at her, his

      eyes were haunted.

      "She appears to be dead," Spock said.

      Suicide, the forensics lab maintained even after Tomson had insisted on

      a second thorough investigation. Rodriguez had shown her the curly

      headed corpse himself, holding the knife with skillful precision. "See

      here," he pointed at the most gaping wound, "and here. You can see

      that it's a very awkward position from which to try and inflict a wound

      on someone else; I can't really thrust at that angle. But on myself--"

      He indicated exactly how the victim had inflicted the stab wounds upon

      himself.

      Everyone in security and forensics was thus convinced that Sanghoon Cho

      had murdered Ensign Teresa Liu and turned the weapon on himself. They

      were quite hopeful that a thorough examination of Cho's quarters would

      yield enough evidence to credit him with al-Baslama's murder as well.

      Everyone, that is, with the notable exception of the chief of security.

      She was well aware that she could pin it on Cho if she wanted to, and

      make it stick, just as she was dead certain that Cho was not the man

      they were looking for. She knew who was, and she had absolutely zero

      proof.

      Tomson was therefore not in a particularly good

      mood when she went to question Stryker, especially because she had

      meant to bring someone with her--as a wi tness, she told herself, not

      because of the late Cho's caveat. But all of her people were tied up

      with the suicide murder investigation, and she had no real excuse for

      questioning Stryker at this point anyway, since Cho's supposed suicide

      exonerated him.

      The door to Stryker's cabin opened on the first buzz; Tomson had half

      hoped that it wouldn't open at all. She stepped inside, and as the

      door closed behind her, she felt a surge of panic. The outer office

      was completely dark; she could barely make out a male form in the

      room.

      Stryker pressed the panel, and the lights came on. The man standing

      across from her could scarcely be described as threatening; he had an

      honest, friendly face, which at the moment wore a broad smile.

      "Lieutenant Tomson," Tomson said stiffly. "I'm here to question you

      about the murder of Mohamed al Baslama."

      "Lieutenant Stryker," he said, still smiling, and held out a large hand

      which Tomson took reluctantly. His grip was warm and firm.

      "I've been waiting for you," he said.

      And then Tomson noticed his eyes--impossibly clear and colorless--and

      the sensation of being pulled downward, as if by an irresistible

      current. With sudden, heart sickening certainty, she recalled Cho's

      last words to her .. . and knew that he had been right.

      In the next room, Amanda's body was gently illuminated by the pale blue

      glow of the monitor.

      "She's on complete life support," McCoy said. "Her condition is

      stable--" If you can call it that, he thought to himself. My God, the

      woman was dead, pure and simple. "--but it's going to deteriorate

      quickly unless something is done."

      "How quickly?" asked Spock, as coolly as if he had just inquired about

      the weather.

      McCoy hedged. "It varies with the individual, Spock. Two days .. .

      three, at the outside."

      "And what do we do with everyone else who's affected?" Kirk asked

      quietly. "How do we stop it? Stun them all, and put them on life

      support?"

      Spock remained silent, withdrawn. Anitra said, "That's what we haven't

      figured out yet, Captain. We're working on it."

      "Is there any way we can protect ourselves--the crew?"

      "Yes and no." Anitra sighed. "It appears to spread by some sort of

      contact with an infested person--and when I encountered Sarek after he

      was affected, I saw in his mind that he wanted me to look in his eyes;

      he was trying to focus them on me. I think it might be spread by a

      form of hypnosis. But I can think of only one sure-fire way to protect

      ourselves."

      "Which is?"

      "Getting off this ship."

      The muscles in Kirk's jaw tightened. "I can't leave my crew at the

      mercy of these things."

      "I understand your feeling, Captain," Spock said. He seemed

      distracted, as if he were looking at som
    ething very intently, though

      his eyes were not focused on anything. "But it is something we may

      have to consider. According to records found in Hydrilla, infestation

      occurs rapidly. Even more so once they have

      gained control of the Enterprise. Every planet within reach of this

      vessel could be affected."

      Kirk did not reply.

      "It seems to me," Spock continued slowly, "that if the creatures are

      capable of rational thought--and they do seem to be quite devious--they

      would want to attack the bridge crew first, and anyone who is

      knowledgeable about controlling this ship. From what we have seen,

      they are quite capable of using the abilities of those they have

      infested."

      Kirk straightened suddenly and turned to McCoy. "Turn on the view

      screen."

      "A hunch, Jim?" asked McCoy.

      "Turn it on."

      The darkness of the small view screen in McCoy's office melted away

      into stars.

      Kirk's eyes held Spock's intently.

      "Where's Vulcan?" McCoy asked.

      Kirk was already signaling the bridge. Sulu answered; behind him, the

      bridge appeared normal, calm, unaffected. Kirk forced his facial

      muscles to relax.

      "Status, Mr. Sulu?"

      The helmsman smiled blandly. "Orbiting Vulcan as per your order,

      Captain."

      The expression, the intonation, all of it was perfectly normal and

      right. "Who's got the con?" Kirk asked nonchalantly.

      "Mr. Scott. Would you like to speak to him, sir?"

      "Yes."

      Montgomery Scott seemed as amiable as ever. "What can I do for ye,

      Captain?"

      "What's our status, Scotty?"

      "Just as Sulu said, sir. Still orbiting Vulcan."

      "Scotty--" Kirk studied the face, searching for a clue, any kind of

      indication that would tell him not to continue, but found none. "Mr.

      Scott... we are not orbiting Vulcan."

      The engineer almost chuckled. "I beg to differ with ye, sir--"

      "Check your instruments. My view screen shows we're out of orbit."

      "Sir--" a hint of a registered insult crept into Scott's voice "--I ran

      a diagnostics when I came on duty. With all due respect, Captain, if

      you're worried about the instruments, maybe you'd like to come to the

      bridge and see for yourself."

      Anitra had been standing silently behind Kirk; he could barely hear her

      say the words, "Don't. Don't go to the bridge."

      Kirk smiled down at his chief engineer. "Never mind, Scotty. If you

      say that the instruments are all right, I believe you. I guess I

      better have this viewer checked out. Kirk out." He turned to Anitra.

      "You're telling me that Scott.. ."

      "I don't know for sure," she said. "I'm a touch tele path--I need the

      people in the same room with me usually, although some people transmit

      much more strongly than others. Call this a hunch, if you want, but do

      you really want to walk onto that bridge?"

      Spock looked up from the nearest terminal. "Captain, I have accessed

      the navigational computers."

      "And?"

      "We are not in orbit around Vulcan. Our course heading is for the

      Rigel system."

      "With billions of inhabitants," Anitra said. "And Earth not far

      beyond." Kirk sat down heavily at McCoy's desk.

      Spock faced him. "I suggest we take action to protect ourselves,

      Captain, and soon. Mr. Scott will no doubt have become suspicious,

      and it will not take him long to find us."

      "We could barricade ourselves in auxiliary control," Kirk said, "but to

      leave the rest of the crew stranded--"

      Spock was grave. "We can warn them from auxiliary control, Captain,

      tell them to lock themselves in their quarters, if necessary. But we

      cannot risk becoming infected ourselves. If we do--"

      "Vulcan," Kirk said. "Rigel, Earth. But Scott's affected, and he

      knows this ship better than any of us. It won't take him long to break

      into auxiliary or find a way to override us."

      "I respectfully suggest, sir, that the combined efforts of Dr. Lanter

      and myself just might prove to be a match for Mr. Scott's talents in

      that regard."

      Kirk almost smiled and started to reply when the intercom whistled; for

      a moment, he did not answer.

      "Ensign Nguyen from security, sir. There's been another murder--this

      one on B deck."

      "Let me talk to Tomson," Kirk said.

      "I haven't been able to raise her, sir, which is very unusual, since

      she's on duty. I'm extremely concerned about it."

      There was a heartbeat of silence; Kirk looked grimly at the others as

      he spoke to Nguyen.

      "Ensign, I want you to listen carefully. I am not insane, and what I

      am telling you is the truth. There are entities on board which have

      taken control of some

      of our personnel. They are spreading quickly, and right now we have

      no way of controlling them. These entities cause people to become

      extremely violent. I want you to go to your quarters and lock yourself

      in. Don't come out until you hear from me again. Do you

      understand?"

      There was a startled silence at the other end of the intercom as Nguyen

      contemplated whether the captain was the victim of paranoid delusions

      .. . and then she replied meekly, "Yes, sir."

      Kirk looked up at his friends. "It's time we headed for auxiliary

      control, gentlemen."

      "Amanda," McCoy said suddenly.

      Kirk stopped.

      "We can't just leave her here," the doctor said. "God knows what they

      might do to her. The least of which would be to turn the life-support

      system off."

      Spock closed his eyes and opened them again slowly.

      "Any chance we can take her with us?" Kirk asked.

      "I can rig up a portable life-support system--but it'll take a few

      minutes."

      "We may not have a few minutes, Doctor."

      "I won't leave her," McCoy said doggedly. He was aware of Spock's eyes

      upon him.

      "Come with me," Kirk told the others. "McCoy, we'll meet you later in

      auxiliary."

      "I.. . prefer to wait and escort the doctor," Spock said

      uncomfortably.

      Kirk considered it and decided not to argue. "Dr. Lanter," he said,

      extending his arm in the direction of auxiliary control. She gave

      McCoy and Spock an anxious glance before she turned and left with

      him.

      Chapter Six

      "doctor," Spock said, "I appreciate your concern for my mother's

      safety. But there is no reason for you to be detained any longer. If

      you will tell me where you keep your equipment, I--"

      McCoy shrugged, uncomfortable at the Vulcan's remark; he far preferred

      argument as a means of communication. "Forget it, Spock. It would

      take longer to explain it than to do it. You stay here. I'll just be

      gone for a second." And he went into his office.

      Spock turned his attention to the woman on the bed. The life-support

      system encasing her chest made her appear to breathe, made the pulse on

      the monitor beat steadily, made her seem alive, though the face was

      drained of color and already acquiring the pinched look of a corpse.

      Spock had to remind himself sternly th
    at she was not alive.

      Someone entered the room while Spock's eyes were on Amanda. He was

      about to compliment McCoy on his swiftness when he looked up and saw

      Engineer Scott. It took him no time to notice that Scott was wearing

      his phaser, while he was unarmed.

      "Mr. Spock." Scott greeted him cordially. "I'm glad

      to have found ye. There's something urgent we must discuss."

      "I'm sure that it can wait, Engineer," Spock said evenly. He fastened

      his eyes on Amanda and kept them there.

      "It's about the captain," Scott said.

      "What about him?" Spock's tone was brusque.

      "I wonder if you might look at me while I'm speaking to you, Mr. Spock.

      This is rather important."

      "It is important," agreed Spock. "And that is exactly why I am not

      looking at you, Mr. Scott."

      Scott appeared honestly puzzled. "I'm afraid I'm not followin' ye,

      sir.. .."

      Spock walked in measured steps halfway round the bed until he directly

      faced the door to McCoy's office. Scott followed, hoping to catch his

     


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