|
Spock is trapped on the
mobile at it heads toward
Tyrtaeus II's sun . . .
McCoy was about to say that
he had a feeling it wouldn't work, that it would be too easy, that Jim
had waited too long, that he should have kept Spock from going into the
mobile in the first place. But he kept silent, knowing that any remarks
he made now would accomplish exactly nothing.
The alien mobile seemed to
be waiting on the screen as the Enterprise readied to bore away
with its phasers.
"Spock, brace yourself,"
Kirk said.
"Ready, Captain," Spock
replied.
Myra Coles had come forward
to stand near McCoy; he saw the doubt and fear in her face.
"He's very trusting," she
murmured. "Spock, I mean. It's in his voice. He so obviously believes
that James will get him out of there."
He was about to say that she
was reading too much into Spock's usual expressionless tone, but
restrained himself. "I suppose he does," McCoy said at last. It was
nothing new.
"And James won't let him
die."
McCoy was silent. He knew
that the captain would make the right decision if Tyrtaeus II was in
danger; he would not risk imperiling millions of lives for Spock's sake.
But, as usual, Jim would do everything he could to find another way, to
bend the rules. He'd blackmail God or the Devil if he had to, McCoy
thought, to get his won way; it was the kind of persistence that wore
away mountains with drops of water.
"Open fire, Mr. Sulu," Kirk
ordered.
Sulu's hands moved over the
console. "Phasers locked on target, captain."
The beam reached out across
the silence of space and splashed against the alien.
"Cease fire." Kirk said.
"Aye, aye, sir."
The beam winked out, and the
screen view pulled in for a closer look. There was no sign of an
opening, no sign of any damage.
"Fire again, Sulu," Kirk
said, "and hold on target for thirty seconds."
"Yes sir. Engaging now." The
beam shot out and stood against the moving worldlet as the Enterprise
stood off in its position.
"Captain," Tekakwitha called
out from her station aft, "the object's velocity is increasing. It's at
half our impulse-power speed right now--it's extraordinary."
"Only six hours from the
sun's corona," Massoud added.
"Confirmed," Scott said from
engineering.
"Fire again," Kirk
commanded, raising his voice. "Hold for two minutes this time."
Again the beam lashed the
alien. Myra Coles leaned forward, her eyes wide. McCoy was certain that
everyone on the bridge had probably guessed the implications of what
they were seeing. If full power from the ship's phasers were having so
little effect, then striking with photon torpedoes might not do any
better. The alien would not be easily destroyed.
As the beam shut down again,
with no effect, Spock said, "You must fire photon torpedoes within the
next hour to have any hope of diverting the object's course . . . or of
destroying it in time."
The Vulcan might be
pronouncing his own death sentence. McCoy lowered his eyes for a moment
wondering if Jim would be capable of acting.
No one on the bridge spoke
for a long time. At last Kirk said, "Keep pace and ready the torpedo
spread." |
