Star Trek: The Original Series - 082 - Federation (47 page)

“No,” Cochrane gasped. “The trajectory is wrong.” In the tactical viewer, the Klingon battle cruiser filled the screen.

“No!” The ready light stopped flashing. Cochrane heard the whine of the Irt Shefion’s warp engines begin. He looked straight ahead through the viewport. The blue glow of Thorsen’s tractor beam vanished. Darkness rushed at him, enormous, unstoppable, swallowing everything.

“Impact,” the computer said.

Zefram Cochrane and the Companion passed through to the place where light stops.

One instant, the Ian She/ton was on the main screen, a glowing spot of blue light barely ahead of the Klingon ship. The next instant, it was gone.

“I could not override,” Spock said.

“Where is he?” Kirk demanded.

Spock had set the shuttlecraft’s trajectory personally. It was supposed to pass through the event horizon on a parabolic curve that would bring it around the singularity and return it to just beneath the horizon in time to rendezvous with the Excalibur. At that time, if the lan She/ton were limited in its movements to only normal space-time and electromagnetic phenomena, it would never be able to return to the other side. But the small craft carrying Cochrane and the Companion had warp capability and could easily move past any barrier that light could not escape.

But Thorsen’s obsession had gone beyond the limits of even
hat Kirk had counted on. When it had become apparent that the tSucr/“‘Lse’s shuttlecraft was beyond rescue as Spock had planned, Thorsen had followed it toward the event horizon.

At first. Spock had not been concerned by Thorsen’s cruiser’s change of course. He said that the structure of the Klingon ship was designed for combat, and did not have the integrity of the Enterprise.

But Thorsen’s ship had held together. His tractor beam had deflected the Ian Shelton to a new trajectory.

For all Kirk knew, Cochrane could be on a direct descent into the singularity itself—the point of absolute mass and pressure where physics broke down and from which not even the technology of the twenty-third century could rescue him. “Spock,” Kirk repeated, “where is he?” “Sensors indicate the shuttlecraft has entered the event horizon, Captain. I am detecting no increased level of Hawking radiation from the boundary layer; therefore, we may assume the Shelton has survived the passage intact.” Kirk couldn’t remain seated. “I know it survived, Spock. The whole plan was based on the fact that it would survive. But what’s its trajectory?” Spock finally looked up from his station. His expression was pained, and not just in a subtle Vulcan way. “At the angle it entered, it will spiral into the singularity within ten of our subjective hours.” Ten hours. The Excalibur wouldn’t even have arrived by then.

“How long will it seem to Cochrane and the Companion?” “As they approach the singularity, their relativistic velocity will approach the speed of light, and the corresponding time dilation will, from the perspective of the outside universe, stretch out their final seconds to infinite length.” Kirk felt as if he’d been kicked. Stars would form and die.

Whole cultures evolve and become extinct, and Cochrane and the Companion would still be falling to their deaths. There was nothing they could do. Nothing Kirk could do. He refused to accept it.

Spock suddenly pointed at the viewscreen. “Captain, Thorsen is attempting to follow the shuttlecraft.” Kirk wheeled in time to see the Klingon battle cruiser flash into the absolute darkness of the event horizon. “That’s suicide. Isn’t it?” he turned to Spock. “Did he make it?” “Scanning for Hawking radiation… scanning…” Spock looked up, making no attempt to hide his surprise. The tension of the moment was bringing out his human half. “No radiation.” u ‘He made it,” Kirk said. The concept was sickening. The pursued and pursuer trapped in an endless, infinite fall. But if the Klingon ship could do it.

“Spock! You said the D7s weren’t built for the stress the Entcrprixc can take.” Kirk pounded his fist on the railing separating the upper level of the bridge from its center. “If Thorsen can do it. we canF’ Spock’s expression of Vulcan calm returned to him. “Captain, I understand your desire to save Mr. Cochrane and the Companion. But they are but two individuals, and the Enterprise has a crew of–” “Don’t tell me about my crew!” Kirk shouted. “If Thorsen can go in there, then he can come out with Cochrane! And what happens if the warp bomb is possible? Are you willing to risk it being put into that madman’s hands? Can the Federation risk that?” Kirk’s heart was pounding. He knew he was right. “Calculate an angle of entry, Spock. Now!” The intercom whistled. “Engineering to the bridge,” Mr. Scott said. “Captain, if we don’t start out within the next two minutes, we won’t have the power t’ be out of range when we lose the crystals.” “We’re not leaving, Scotty.” “Captain? We’ve only got another thirty minutes in our crystals. Less than a second if we try to go to warp.” “That’s all right, Scotty. We’ll be here when the Excalibur and Lcink, lon arrive.” Kirk went to the rail by Spock’s station.

“Won’t we, Mr. Spock?” “Captain Kirk,” Scott protested, “those ships are hours away.

,Ve‘11 never last that long out here.” “Understood, Mr. Scott. That’s why we’re going into the event horizon.” Scott said nothing.

Kirk continued. “With time dilation, we can spend a day down there and have only thirty subjective minutes pass.”

“Aye,” Scott said, sounding definitely unconvinced. “She’ll hold together on the way in, but to come out again, she’ll need to go to warp, and the crystals will never take the strain.” “Will they give us a second of warp, Scotty?” “After thirty minutes on the other side of the event horizon, we’ll be lucky to get a tenth of a second.” Kirk looked to Spock. He knew a tenth of a second would be close, but he couldn’t be sure. Spock exhaled, as if making a decision. Kirk waited to hear if the next words to come from his science officer’s mouth were to relieve him of command.

“Spock here, Mr. Scott. We will only need to move faster than light for a distance equal to five times the ship’s length, once we return to the event horizon. Can you guarantee us warp propulsion for even one one-hundredth of a second?” Scott replied as if a phaser had hit him. “Guarantee?! Mr.

Spock, no ship has ever gone through an event horizon before and come out to tell the taleY Can you guarantee a ship this size can even make it through?” “We have just witnessed a D7 Klingon battle cruiser do exactly that, Mr. Scott.” “What?!” Scott squealed. “You’re saying a tin can piece o’ junk D7 can make it?” Kirk grinned. “One hundredth of a second, Scotty. Just a small miracle.” “Aye,” Scott sighed. “And if I don’t come through, we’ll never know it.” “Is that a guarantee, Scotty?” Kirk knew what he wanted to do.

He knew what he thought his ship and crew were capable of. But if his chief engineer couldn’t be convinced, Mr. Spock was right— he couldn’t throw away the lives of 430 crew members and the rescued passengers from the Planitia, even for the sake of the Federation, without a guarantee.

“It’s as close to one as you’ll get from me,” Scott finally said.

“Keep a clear channel open so I can hear what foolishness you’ll be dreaming up next.” “Is Kirk gave Spock a questioning look.that good enough for you, Mr. Spock?”

A corner of Spock’s mouth actually twitched up in a partial, unpracticed smile.

“It would not be good enough for my father,” Spock said, “because there is little logic in the decision. But it is the right thing to do.” Spock looked past his captain. “Mr. Sulu, I am transferring trajectory coordinates to your navigation system.

Please follow them exactly.” At the command console, Kirk saw Sulu and Chekov exchange a glance of surprise, perhaps even of excitement. “Aye-aye, Mr.

Spock,” Sulu acknowledged. “Trajectory plotted.” “Are you ready, Mr. Scott?” “As I’ll ever be,” the engineer replied.

Kirk returned to his chair. His course was set. “Uhura, launch a flight recorder with a transcript of everything we’ve just said here, along with complete sensor records of the flight paths of Thorsen’s D7 and the Ian Shelton. I want the recorder sent on an intercept course to the Excalibur so they’ll know what to be looking for when they get here.” He settled into position. “Mr.

Chekov, what is the position of the second Klingon cruiser?” “It has withdrawn to a higher orbit, sir.” “Perhaps waiting to see if the other cruiser emerges,” Spock suggested.

“Flight recorder away,” Uhura announced.

“Any sign that the second cruiser spotted it?” “No, sir.” Uhura answered. “There’s so much interference, I doubt anything that small could be scanned.” Kirk glanced back at Spock. Spock nodded. It was enough.

“Mr. Sulu, take us in.” Sulu’s hands hovered over his controls. “Coming up on trajec-torv entry in eighteen seconds.” Except’for the sounds of the ship herself, the bridge was silent.

No one spoke, because there was nothing more to say. At five seconds, Sulu began a countdown.

Kirk tightened his grip on the arms of his chair. He had Changed the rules once again, and now it was time to see if the universe was playing the same game as James T. Kirk.

“Two.” Sulu said. “One…” hnpact.

APPROACHING TNC 65813 Stardate 43922.2 Earth Standard: May 2366

“Who the hell is Thorsen?” Riker asked.

The first officer was on the floor, leaning back against Worf’s inoperative tactical console, as Dr. Crusher applied a nerve masker to his broken leg.

“You will lose your ignorance soon enough,” the Data-thing said. “Ensign McKnight: Course and speed! Report at once!” But McKnight said nothing. Picard could see the young woman’s back stiffen in determination as she kept her eyes fixed on her board.

The Data-thing grimaced. “Captain Picard, while part of me retains professional admiration for the command structure your crew follows, the rest of me will tear Ensign McKnight’s head from her body if she, or any one else on this bridge, does not follow my orders as they would your own.” Slowly, chillingly, he made a fist. “You know this bociy has the capability to do that.” “Ensign McKnight,” Picard said. “Tell Mr. Thorsen our course and speed.” The Data-thing glowered directly at Picard, who found it unnerving to see such emotion play over Data’s usually placid features. The Thorsen personality matrix was even more turbulent than Data’s brother, Lore.

“And it isn’t Mister Thorsen. It’s Colonel Adrik Thorsen.” A sudden smile brightened the android’s face as he glanced about the bridge. The sudden changes were unsettling. “The next one to forget that will die.” “Ensign McKnight,” Picard said, not looking away from Data’s xello’a eves. “report to Colonel Thorsen.” “On course for INC 65813,” the ensign said. “Velocity at warp factor nine.” The Data-thing looked suspicious. “This ship is capable of greater speed.” “Not without an engineering crew,” La Forge said. He still nursed his hands against his chest. Picard could see that the engineer’s fingers could move, though with obvious pain. He could also see anger beginning to build once again in the android’s face.

”’
bu did have us traveling at the ship’s top speed,” Picard said quickly, trying to defuse the situation. “But that requires constant adjustment of the warp core, which we are unable to carry out without a lull complement of crew members in engineering.” The Data-thing hesitated, then pushed past Picard to the propulsion system station. Rapidly, his fingers moved over the Ilashing control surfaces. Then he turned to La Forge. “I have vented the anesthezine from engineering and opened a communications channel to that section. Your crew will be awake in a few more minutes. You will then supervise them to have this vessel operate at its maximum speed for the remainder of its journey.” La Forge looked at Picard.

“Don’t look at him/” the Data-thing ordered. “
am your commander now!” Picard could see that La Forge couldn’t help the sneer that briellv touched his lips. But the engineer said, “Yes, sir,” and sat down’ at the station.p>

The Data-thing looked pleased with himself. Then, without xarning, he reached out and grabbed Counselor Troi by her thick hair. twisting her around until he held her tightly against him, back to fi’ont, with one hand crushing her neck. “I shall keep this half-breed alive for three minutes. At the end of that time, I expect to see every phaser on this bridge stacked up on that chair.” He grinned as he tightened his grip on Troi. “Two minutes fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight seconds…” With Wesley’s assistance and before the time limit was up, all phasers from the bridge storage lockers were on the chair. The Data-thing discarded Troi by dropping her to the deck, then methodically picked up the phasers and crushed them, one by one. His concentration on the task allowed Picard to analyze their position. He surprised himself by thinking things didn’t seem as grim as he had feared they’d be.

In terms of crew, O’Brien and McKnight were unharmed and at their stations. Worf was on his feet again, with a minor concus-sion Dr. Crusher wanted to treat in sickbay. Riker was pain-free, though it would be at least a day before the first officer’s broken leg was healed, and he would not be capable of much walking for at least the next twelve hours.

Except for a raspy throat, Wesley had recovered from the explosive decompression in the shuttlebay, and remained close to his mother, helping her with her medical duties. La Forge was reduced to activating controls with only two fingers, but could still function adequately. And the counselor, though her neck was bruised and she appeared shaken, was otherwise unharmed.

Most important, however, was the status of the unusual person-alitv matrix that had taken over Data the way it had taken over the’Enterprise. Picard was sure he had heard the name of Colonel Adrik Thorsen before. He had some recollection of the man as an underling in Colonel Green’s cadre in the period of upheaval directly preceding Earth’s third world war. How or why a machine intelligence would take on that persona, Picard had no idea. But where there was reason for hope was that Thorsen now had to ask for information about the Enterprise’s status. Whatever kind of phenomenon Picard was facing here, the personality matrix that had taken over the ship was no longer operating in the ship’s computer system. If Data could be overcome, then there was a chance the Thorsen personality could be defeated.