Uhura caught her breath. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Spock!" she said. "The image..." She began to laugh again. "I...am...sorry!" She redoubled her effort at control and finally achieved some measure of it. Between gasping breaths, she said earnestly, "I could...almost hear the captain give the command: 'Eyebrow on stun, Mr. Spock...."' That was too much for Jim Kirk. He could no longer suppress his laughter and Uhura, caught up by the wave of emotion once more, spread her hands in a helpless gesture of apology.
Spock waited patiently. When their laughter tapered off, they had a relaxed meal- punctuated by an occasional laugh every time Spock raised a brow- which he did with greater Frequency than usual. At last Jim Kirk rose to his feet and they all followed suit. As they moved to resume their journey, Jim Kirk glanced his way and said, "At least they can't be set for kill. If they could, we'd all be in a great deal of trouble right now."
They started down the trail in single file, Kirk now in the lead. Spock found his way barred by Evan Wilson's quarterstaff; he stopped, seeing the concern on her face. "There is no need for apology, Dr. Wilson," he said, before she could speak. "It is quite sufficient to note that even Mr. Chekov's color has improved." Relief flooded her features. The quarterstaff snapped out of his way.
"Still," she said, as he started down the trail before her, "next time it's the captain's turn."
Behind her, Brightspot said, "You're going to pull the captain's tail, Evan? That I'd like to see."
"You will, Brightspot. That's a promise." They fell silent. This, according to the two Sivaoans, was slash-back territory- and Spock kept his spear at the ready and his attention on their surroundings.
Tactically, the party would have been safer from slashbacks traveling in pairs, but this was impossible: the narrow trail, winding steeply down around bare outcroppings of rock and sketchy vegetation, was scarcely wide enough for single file. Still it was in many ways the easiest traveling they had yet had.
The sound of rushing water grew louder. Spock glanced back at Wilson, and she nodded. She could hear it too, now. Soon Spock recognized the distant roar of a waterfall- to judge from the sound, a very large waterfall. The air misted with water vapor, and the rock trail became dangerously slick underfoot. The party slowed again as a precaution. A fall here could be deadly. As he watched, a rock dislodged by someone up ahead careened down the cliffside. Striking a ledge some fifty feet down, it shattered and showered fragments the rest of the way.
To his relief, they passed over the most dangerous of this terrain without mishap, and the trail led them back into forest, where they could travel with surer footing. The ground was damp- so was the air- but the layer of decomposing vegetation was safer to walk on than bare wet rock. If one slipped here, one would fall into bushes or at worst stickpins- not down an escarpment.
The vegetation had changed: the heavy concentration of water vapor thrown into the air by the waterfall had probably had deleterious effects on the usual forest plants, perhaps animals as well. Others had moved in to take their place. There was a steady drip-drip of condensing water from the upper leaves of trees that Spock found irritating- his Vulcan half was not adapted to this sort of environment.
"Mr. Spock!" Evan Wilson had to shout to make herself heard. She drew very close, careful not to touch him, and stood on her toes to say into his ear, "Can you slow your rate of breathing?" Rather than shout, he nodded back. "Then do it," she said. "Your lungs aren't designed to handle this much water vapor." He nodded again; she was correct. She dropped back into line behind him but not, he saw, until he had done as she suggested.
They drew closer to the falls. Spock wondered if there might be others farther down the mountain. No falls had been indicated on Distant Smoke's map, only the smell of water vapor. The tiny droplets he had drawn might mean falls or marshes, and there had been three other such indications further downstream. He made a mental note to question Brightspot when conversation became less difficult.
Forcing his way through a thick duster of sharp-leaved bushes, he came to an abrupt halt. The entire party stood in a knot, looking up. Spock followed Lieutenant Uhura's raised finger and got his first clear view of the falls, from top to bottom. The mist made it difficult to estimate their true height, but he had never seen higher. Wilson pushed through beside him. "Oh, Elath!" she shouted exuberantly. "You do good work!"
Jim Kirk tapped her and shouted, "Keep moving, people. Save the rubbernecking for your next shore leave!" He urged them all back onto the trail, but Spock saw him take a final look over his shoulder at the falls too.
For the next mile, the trail paralleled the river at a distance. Through the trees, Spock caught glimpses of roiling muddy water, although not the torrent he had seen at the base of the falls. The ground leveled off, and Kirk took advantage of the easy travel to hasten them on. They planned to cross to the far side to make camp for the night. Jinx and Distant Smoke's map concurred-slashbacks seldom ranged the other bank.
Even this far from the falls, the air was thick and uncomfortable to breathe. Spock continued to check his rate of intake whenever it was possible to do so; but their rapid pace made it more difficult, and his attention to the unfamiliar dangers frequently made him neglect the more prosaic.
The trail turned abruptly toward the river and debouched directly onto the bank: they had reached the crossing. Brightspot stared at the churning waters and shivered, her hackles rising. Jinx too watched fearfully.
There was a suspended bridge, made of the everpresent usefuls and just wide enough for a single person at a time, dipping low over the water. Ordinarily, he thought, it must be several feet above the river. But the river was swollen with the recent rains and now and again it caught the bridge at the low point of its arc, swinging it ominously downstream and splattering muddy water high.
Kirk eyed this structure with distrust. "Suggestions, Mr. Spock?" he asked.
"I see no alternative, Captain," Spock replied.
"All right, Spock. Bridge it is."
"It will hold three at a time," Jinx said, "but larger people should spread out." Jim Kirk nodded at her and took the lead. The bridge swung with each shift of his weight, and it took him some time before he caught the rhythm of it and began to move with assurance. When he reached the center, Jinx started across. The added motion of her steps threw Jim momentarily off stride, a surge of water struck- the bridge veered wildly and Jim clung to the twisted cloth railings.
After what seemed an interminable time, the bridge swung back, and Jim resumed the crossing. At last he reached solid ground on the far bank. He wiped muddy water from his face, then motioned them to join him.
Jinx was halfway across now, and Chekov started hesitantly. His face had once again taken on a grayish cast.
Without taking his eyes from Chekov, Kirk held out a hand to Jinx and pulled her onto dry ground. She dropped back and turned, to guard against danger from the forest.
Uhura went next, but she had gone only a few yards when the counteracting motion she generated overwhelmed Chekov and he faltered. Uhura quickened her steps to reach and assist him. "Freeze, Uhura!" Wilson shouted, and she did.
From the opposite side, Kirk said, "Freeze, Mr. Chekov." Chekov too stopped where he was.
"Now," said Jim Kirk, "do exactly as I say. Drop your spear."
"But sair-" Chekov began.
Kirk said, "That's an order, mister."
Chekov obeyed, and Kirk went on, "Grab both railings and move slowly toward me. Lieutenant Uhura, stay put." Chekov awkwardly, almost blindly, worked his way across. Then Jim had him and was sitting him down on the safety of the bank. With a smile of relief, Jim Kirk glanced up and called, "Come ahead, Lieutenant. Don't keep us waiting."
Uhura did. "After you, Mr. Spock," said Wilson, and Spock stepped cautiously onto the end of the bridge. His added motion did not unsettle Uhura in the slightest- even as a surge drenched her with muddy water, she never hesitated. She stepped lightly onto the far side.
It was only then that Spock realized something was wrong. As he reached the midpoint of the bridge, there was no additional motion. Brightspot had not begun to cross. He turned to look back, but Wilson called, "Keep going, Mr. Spock! We're coming together!" He was close enough to hear her add, in a quiet tone of command, "I'm not going without you, Brightspot, so stop being an idiot."
Spock quickened his pace as much as he dared and, as he neared the waiting Jim Kirk, he said, "Brightspot is afraid to cross."
"So I see," said Kirk, stepping aside to let him pass onto firm ground. "Evan," he called, "shall I come back?"
Spock turned as Evan Wilson shouted back, "Stay put, Captain. I'll manage." He wondered how she could sound so sure of herself; Brightspot's fur stuck straight out- her tail was a good six inches in diameter- and it was pure fear.
Wilson tucked her quarterstaff into her sash, calmly took Brightspot's spear and did the same, then gave the terrified Sivaoan a casual shove toward the bridge. Brightspot did not budge. She said something to Wilson that Spock could not hear. Jinx said, "Brightspot says she knows she has to- all those people will die if she doesn't- but she can't get herself to move. She wants Evan to help."
Evan Wilson nodded, said something and, with visible effort, maneuvered Brightspot to within an inch of the head of the bridge. Jinx told them, "Evan says she's just as scared, but she'll get Brightspot across if she has to drag her."
"She can't," said Jim Kirk, stepping onto their end of the bridge.
"It's too dangerous."
Hidden behind Brightspot, Evan Wilson made a swift snatching motion. Brightspot yelped and leapt forward. Before she realized what had happened, both her feet were on the bridge and Wilson was right behind her, blocking the route back to the near shore. "Go!" said Wilson. "Or, by Elath, we're no longer friends!"
Spiky with fear, Brightspot looked the length of the bridge. Jim Kirk held out his hand. "Come on, Brightspot. If I can do it, you can do it." And Brightspot began to inch across, Evan Wilson pressed so close against her that she had no alternative but to go forward. Snakelike, her thickened tail coiled tight around Wilson's waist.
They made it to the midpoint of the bridge. Beneath their combined weight, it sagged deeper into the water, sending up a constant muddy spray. As they began to inch through, Spock realized that their combined weight could not possibly equal his- the water was rising!
Fed by the runoff of last night's thunderstorms, just now reaching the river, the water surged higher; and this was Jinx's flash flood area. Spock shot a look upstream. In consequence, he was the only one who saw it coming. a vast sheet of red water filled with debris. "Flood crest, Evan!" he shouted. "Hold on!"
He saw her look upstream and brace, heard her shout to Brightspot to do the same. The crest struck. The bridge swung so far to the side that their upstream shoulders plunged into the water, splashing their faces. Brightspot howled. Wilson cursed over the roar.
For a moment, he thought them safe- then an uprooted tree trunk struck the bridge. It caught briefly and, as it did, Spock could hear the sound of ripping fabric. Ever so slowly, the bridge tore apart.
That was the last slow thing that happened; what followed was too fast for the mind to grasp completely. The two halves of the bridge snapped downstream, Brightspot and Wilson clinging to the nearest. Then Brightspot went under, went limp. Wilson grabbed for her tail, and the current tore Wilson from her precarious hold. And they were both gone in a swirl of red water and black branches.
There was a flash of movement at Spock's side and, before Spock could stop him, Jim Kirk dived into the flood waters after the two.
Spock recovered in sufficient time to catch both Chekov and Uhura before they could duplicate the captain's error. The rush of their despair almost overwhelmed him, and he shoved them away- thrusting them downstream. "Follow- on land- that's an order!"
The four of them crashed through the undergrowth along the edge of the still-rising waters. They had lost the trail, but that was of no importance. They had to reach some area ahead of the three in the water; they had to catch them somehow, before they were swept on by. Jinx wailed as she ran.
The water washed over the bank, but they splashed on until a branch carried by the current struck Uhura in the ankle and threw her to her knees. Jinx pulled her safely to her feet, but the dangerous eddies forced them back from the riverbank, further into the wood. Spock caught a last glance of Wilson swimming fiercely with the current; of Brightspot, of Jim Kirk, there was no sign. They plunged on, slowed by tangled vines and stickpins. Slowed too much, Spock knew, and yet he kept on.
An immense wall of gray rock loomed before them and put an end to whatever slim possibility they might have had of rescuing Jim Kirk and the others. Forced aside, the river veered violently to the left. Like the river, they would have to turn aside- in the opposite direction- and still they ran until they could go no farther.