SPOCK'S ANNOUNCEMENT BROUGHT total silence to the bridge.
"Very well, Mr. Spock," Kirk said finally. "Convince me."
"Lieutenant Uhura," Spock said, turning to the communications officer. "I assume you have a complete record of the exchange with Starfleet."
"Of course, Mr. Spock."
"Please play back the twelve point five seconds between Admiral Wellons's threat to have us arrested and his asking if we had heard him."
"But there was nothing said during that time."
"Nonetheless, Lieutenant, play it back."
With a puzzled glance toward Kirk, she complied. Spock, as he had before, listened silently. Then he tapped a code into the computer.
"I will now have the computer produce an enhanced version of that same period. The background of subspace noise will be suppressed, and all other sounds will be increased in volume and clarity."
"Your Vulcan hearing picked up something we humans missed, Mr. Spock?" Kirk asked.
"I believe it did, Captain. Listen."
Again, silence fell on the bridge.
And there was a voice. Even with computer enhancement, it was so faint as to be barply audible above the remaining background sounds—Wellons's rapid breathing, the rustle of his clothes as he moved restlessly, muffled footsteps on the plush carpets of a Starfleet office.
But the voice was there, and after a few moments a second voice and possibly a third broke in, all speaking at once. No words could be made out in the jumble, but the emotions were plain—a mixture of anger and fear.
And then, even fainter, the distinctive whine of a phaser and the sound of something striking the floor. An instant later, Wellons's voice, amplified to deafening proportions, returned and drowned out everything else.
"It is possible that further processing could bring out some of the words, Captain," Spock said. "But I believe this is enough to support my supposition. Though I cannot be positive, I believe that one of the voices in the background belonged to Admiral Noguchi."
"He's right, Kirk," Ansfield said. "My memory for voices is almost as good as my memory for star patterns. That was Noguchi all right."
"Let's hear it again," Kirk said quietly.
Wordlessly, Spock obeyed.
When the dozen seconds had passed again, Kirk was silent for another dozen.
"And the source of this infection?" he asked finally. "The massive gate that Admiral Noguchi said had appeared within a parsec of Starfleet Headquarters?"
"That is my assumption, Captain, although it is possible that other gates, even closer to Starfleet Headquarters, have appeared but have gone undetected."
"And the entity that you say has attached itself to us, Mr. Spock—considering everything that's happened, considering your belief that Starfleet Headquarters itself has been infected by something very much like it—doesn't it strike you as suspicious that it seems to want us to return to the gate? Perhaps it wants to keep us away from the Federation, so that the other infection will have sufficient time to spread"
"Even if we increased our speed to warp eight, Captain, it would take us six standard days to reach Starfleet Headquarters. If the infection is indeed going to spread, that would give it more than sufficient time. Also, it must be taken into account that, as of this moment, we possess no knowledge or weapons with which to combat that spread."
"You're saying, then, that we should accede to its desire to return to the gate?"
Spock nodded. "I believe we should—though it would be more accurate to say that what we tentatively perceive as its desire coincides, for the moment, with what we tentatively perceive as our own best interests and those of the Federation."
"And the likelihood that we will find something in the gate system that will allow us to fight the infection?"
"I cannot say—but I estimate the odds for success to be significantly greater than those that would prevail if we were to return to Starfleet Headquarters at this time. I strongly suspect that there is little new knowledge to be gained there, whether the infection has spread drastically or not. Within the system of gates, however, from which this entity presumably has sprung, there is the potential for great gains in knowledge. And knowledge, not force, is obviously the Federation's only hope in the present circumstances."
Kirk pulled in a deep breath. Disobeying a Starfleet command, no matter what the reason, was not easy, would never be easy.
But Spock was right. Against whatever had come through those gates, force was obviously worse than useless. As it had been for the Aragos, and who knew how many others in how many other distant parts of the universe in the past ninety thousand years, force was literally suicidal.
"Very well, Mr. Spock," Kirk said. "The logic of the situation is inescapable. Mr. Sulu, reverse course. We're going back."
Captain Sherbourne, darker than Uhura, taller than Spock, glowered at Kirk from the Enterprise main viewscreen, his deep-set eyes pointedly avoiding Dr. McCoy's disgusted scowl. Around him, a small section of the bridge of the Devlin mirrored that of the Enterprise.
"I repeat, Captain Kirk, lower your deflectors!" his bass voice rumbled. "I have my orders, directly from Starfleet Headquarters. You are hereby relieved of command. My first officer, Commander Bontreger, will beam over and take command of the Enterprise for the purpose of returning it to Federation territory. You, Captain Kirk, will surrender and be confined to quarters."
"I'm sorry, Captain Sherbourne, but that's out of the question," Kirk reiterated, keeping his voice as level as he could. "We have explained our position. We have given you the evidence. You have heard the tape of what was going on in the background during our exchange with Admiral Wellons."
"Which you could have faked with ease, I'm sure. And even if it's genuine, it proves nothing."
Kirk sighed angrily, giving up the pretense of calmness, and continued. "We have even offered to transmit the map to your own computer so that you can analyze it and take it back to Starfleet yourself."
"At this point, getting the map to Starfleet Headquarters is of secondary importance! Of primary importance is your obeying orders and not reentering that gate!"
"Blast it, Sherbourne." McCoy, who had been grimacing silently throughout the exchange, broke in. "Can't you see what's at stake here?"
"Better than you, apparently, Dr. McCoy," Sherbourne said stiffly.
"Bones—" Kirk started to caution McCoy, but the doctor wasn't in the mood for caution.
"Your own ship's sensors showed you what happened on the Aragos planet!" he grated. "That whole civilization was literally wiped out! Ninety percent of its people were slaughtered! And it's already starting to happen to the Federation! You're just too blind to see it! Or too stubborn to accept it!"
"Dr. McCoy," Sherbourne said coldly. "You have a reputation for rampant emotionalism. At the present time, however, you would be well advised to restrain yourself—before you find yourself sharing the precarious position in which your captain has unwisely placed himself."
"I'm already sharing it! If you think—"
"Captain Sherbourne," Kirk broke in sharply. "Arguing is pointless. As my officers and I see the situation, I have no choice in this matter."
"As I see it, Captain Kirk," Sherbourne said stiffly, "the streak of rashness you displayed during your Academy days has obviously become more pronounced over the years, until it has overwhelmed your rationality and your sense of duty. Whether you are simply misguided in this particular instance or were affected by whatever happened inside that gate, I have no way of knowing. All I know is, I did not come here at maximum warp just to disobey Starfleet orders myself and let you pass. You are not reentering the gate. Now, I order you for the last time, lower your deflectors."
"Unless you plan to fire on another Federation ship—"
"If you force the decision upon me, I will, Captain Kirk, believe me. Unlike you, I truly have no choice in this situation."
Glancing at the chronometer, out of Sherbourne's view, Kirk saw that less than three minutes remained until they reached the point in the gate's cycle that they had selected. If they didn't enter the gate then, it would be more than four hours until the next destination for which the map listed a series of secondary destinations would come around, and by then a second ship would have arrived to back up the Devlin.
Kirk had risked warp eight in an effort to reach the gate before the Devlin, but Sherbourne, after an emergency call from Starfleet, had done the same. Sherbourne had also risked approaching the gate to within less than twenty million kilometers, and there he had waited, certain that the Enterprise couldn't slip by undetected.
And it hadn't.
The Devlin, all deflectors up, had put itself directly in the Enterprise's path, and there it had remained while Sherbourne obstinately refused to budge despite the evidence Kirk and the others had presented.
"Captain Sherbourne," Kirk said. "For the sake of the Federation, I must take this chance. I would prefer entering the gate with my ship in peak operating condition, but entering it in any condition is preferable to remaining here or returning to Starfleet at this point, with nothing gained, with no hope to offer the Federation."
Sherbourne set his jaw firmly. "That doesn't alter what I have to do, Captain."
Kirk glanced again at the chronometer. "Mr. Sulu," he said. "No sudden moves, but take us ahead, impulse power. Scotty, put everything you can spare into the deflectors."
"Aye, Captain." Scott's voice came from the engineering deck.
"Damn it, Kirk!" Sherbourne half shouted over Scott's reply. "I don't want to fire on you, but I will! Believe me, I will!"
"I believe you, Captain Sherbourne. That's one reason we're maintaining our deflectors at maximum strength."
"Mr. Spock!" Sherbourne called. "I haven't heard from you yet. Certainly you can't be going along with this insanity! It just isn't logical to risk everything—"
"But it is quite logical, Captain Sherbourne," Spock said. "Based on what we have experienced—what the captain has told and shown you—it would be illogical for us to do otherwise."
"The way things are going," Ansfield added from her offscreen position next to Spock, "we're probably the only chance the Federation has!"
"I'm warning you," Sherbourne said, raising his voice and shaking his head angrily. "I'm warning everyone who can hear me on the Enterprise. You will be fired upon! Even with full power to your deflectors, phasers and photon torpedoes can—"
Sherbourne broke off as the Devlin helmsman spoke. "All systems locked on, Captain. Ready to fire at your command."
"You heard that, Kirk! Spock! Ansfield! All of you!"
"We heard, Captain Sherbourne," Kirk acknowledged tersely. "Mr. Sulu, ready for evasive maneuvers."
"Aye-aye, Captain. Ready."
"Captain Sherbourne," Kirk said. "We will not return fire, but—"
"Mr. Sulu," Spock said abruptly. "All stop."
"Spock!" Kirk turned toward the science station with a scowl. "What the devil—"
On the Devlin, Captain Sherbourne breathed a huge sigh of relief. "I knew a Vulcan couldn't be a part of this insanity, Spock," he said.
Ignoring Sherbourne, Spock stiffened, his eyes half closing for a moment. Kirk, his own eyes darting from Spock to Sherbourne and back, signaled to Sulu to follow Spock's lead. McCoy scowled at Spock but held his silence.
The Enterprise hung motionless less than a thousand kilometers from the Devlin.
"Be ready, Mr. Sulu," Spock said, his voice filled with the same stiffness it had displayed when the entity had attempted to take him over earlier. "Something is about to happen."
"Now what the blazes—" McCoy began, but he was cut off by a scream.
A scream from the Devlin.
"Full impulse power, Mr. Sulu. Now," Spock ordered, "while the Devlin's bridge is distracted."
As Sulu's fingers touched the controls, the Enterprise surged ahead. On the screen, Sherbourne was leaping from the command chair toward the helm. Just visible at the bottom of the screen, the helmsman's face appeared, twisted in a mask of terror as he leaped up from his station into range of the viewscreen.
In that moment, the Enterprise shot past the Devlin.
Ahead, the gate loomed large to the special sensors.
On the screen, the bridge of the Devlin was chaos. The helmsman had already collapsed, and the navigator started to scream. An instant later, the navigator fell, and then Sherbourne himself, now reaching past the fallen helmsman for the controls, stiffened as if paralyzed.
Just as Kirk himself had stiffened when the entity had descended on him.
"Spock!" Kirk snapped. "You knew this was going to happen!"
"I knew only that something was going to happen, Captain."
"But what's that thing doing?"
"Apparently, much the same as it was doing on the Enterprise bridge earlier, Captain."
"But why—"
"Captain," Sulu broke in sharply. "Entering gate in twenty seconds."
On the screen, still linked to that of the Devlin, Captain Sherbourne lurched forward, staggering, as if suddenly released from a set of invisible chains. An instant later, the helmsman and the navigator were struggling to their feet. For a moment, Sherbourne's deep-set eyes were blank, but then they focused abruptly on the screen.
Continuing his interrupted lunge toward the helm, Sherbourne slammed past the helmsman. "Damn you, Kirk!" he shouted as his fingers punched at the controls, bringing the Devlin around at a dangerous rate. "I knew you'd made a deal with that—that thing!"
"I'm sorry, Sherbourne," Kirk said, fighting down a sudden fear that the Devlin's captain was right. "Tell Starfleet that if—when—we find an answer to the problem, we'll be back."
In a flare of color, the bridge of the Devlin vanished from the screen, replaced by the visual hiss of subspace static.
Simultaneously, the thousands of stars of the Sagittarius arm vanished, replaced by an emptiness that could only be that of intergalactic space,
"All stop, Mr. Sulu," Kirk snapped. "Mr. Spock, get that gate on the screen. We don't want to lose this one."
"Aye-aye, sir," Sulu responded, while Spock worked silently and efficiently with the sensor controls.
Within seconds, the main viewscreen was filled with the multicolored computer-generated image of the gate they had just emerged from. Like the one they had entered earlier, it was a massive, chaotic kaleidoscope, the colors and size shifting continuously. On an auxiliary screen over the science station, a visible light image showed only the blackness of space, except for a cluster of minuscule specks of light in one corner.
"Lieutenant Uhura?"
"Nothing, Captain, on any frequency."
"Mr. Spock, is your friend still with us?"
"The entity is still present, Captain."
Involuntarily, Kirk shivered as the combination of the emptiness of space and the unseen presence that still lurked among them bore down on him, sending a chill rippling up and down his spine.
"And doing what?" he asked, pulling in a breath and tightly hunching his shoulders in a momentary effort to banish the chill.
"Unknown, Captain," Spock said. "It is simply present."
"Waiting to see what we do, I suppose."
"That is possible, Captain."
For a moment, Kirk looked at the auxiliary screen and the specks in one corner. They could be the Milky Way galaxy and its satellites, or the Andromeda galaxy, or any of the millions of others that had been charted in the last three hundred years—or of the millions or billions still uncharted even now.
But the identity of those distant specks made no difference.
Whether the Enterprise was a million parsecs from the Federation, or a billion, or ten billion, was of no importance.
Resolutely, Kirk turned back to the main viewscreen. This was what was important now, this thing that flashed and flickered and danced madly with some form of energy that only the Aragos sensors could detect. This constantly shifting opening in space itself that swallowed starships whole and spit them across the universe. This door to what was—perhaps—the home of a being that had annihilated countless civilizations over thousands of centuries and now threatened to annihilate the Federation.
Unless they could learn its secrets.
He punched a button on the command chair.
"Mr. Scott, any ill effects from our latest trip?"
"None that ye can notice, Captain," Scott's voice came back from the engineering intercom.
"Thank you, Mr. Scott." Kirk broke the connection. "We're going back in and hope that there's a different and more informative map associated with this gate. Mr. Sulu, take us to one kilometer. From that point, the computer will have the helm."
"Aye-aye, sir."
As before, the closer they approached, the more chaotic the sensors showed the gate to be. In visible light, it remained undetectable, no matter how close they came. There was, in fact, no way to tell it from the gate in the Sagittarius arm.
At one kilometer, Spock briefly studied the computer readouts, currently displaying the highlighted series of navigational commands that would guide them past the limbo lurking within the gate and into the bubble of "real space" hidden at its center. The second series, to guide them back to normal space, was displayed separately, not yet highlighted.
Kirk leaned forward in his chair. "All right, Mr. Spock," he said. "Whenever you're ready."
Coming as close as a Vulcan ever could to mentally crossing his fingers, Spock keyed in the code that sent the map's navigational commands to the helm.
The Enterprise aligned itself at a forty-five-degree angle to the gate and moved ahead.
After more than a minute, the forward edge of the saucer touched the surface of the gate and slowed. The sensors, almost a hundred meters back, on the front of the secondary hull, showed the surface of the gate, still swirling and flickering chaotically, begin to stretch and bend, as if it were an elastic membrane onto which the chaos was being projected.
Spock—and the rest of the bridge crew—watched the viewscreen intently. For five seconds, then ten, then fifteen, the apparent stretching continued, with the main hull of the Enterprise virtually surrounded by the crackling energies of the gate, even though, in visible light, nothing could be seen.
Then, in an instant, just as it had before, the universe vanished, and Spock found himself—his mind—floating free.
And listening.
Unlike the first time, he wasted no time with the chimera of false freedom that once again assaulted him. Knowing what to expect, he had prepared himself. It had been in this state when his sense of the entity that had attached itself to the Enterprise had been the strongest. This time, with that preparation, perhaps he could establish a stronger link, perhaps even gain some useful information.
But before he could more than form the thoughts in his mind, the same sense of dizzying, bodiless motion that had marked the beginning of the end of his stay in limbo that first time gripped him again.
And he was once again on the bridge of the Enterprise. Once again, all viewscreens operating on visible light showed only featureless grayness, a never-ending fog, while those fed by the Aragos-modified sensors showed patternless chaos.
According to the chronometer, less than a second had passed.
"Captain," Uhura called almost instantly. "A signal is coming in. It appears virtually identical to the one that gave us the map."
As before, the incoming signal was piped directly into the computer's memory banks.
"Dr. McCoy," Kirk said into the intercom once the data were flowing smoothly. "How is Mr. Chekov doing?"
"As well as can be expected." McCoy's harassed-sounding voice came back after a brief delay.
"And the physicals you were going to run—"
"Blast it, Jim, things haven't settled down long enough for me to do anything!"
"I know, Bones. But even if you can't do it yourself, get someone on it. We're flying blind in here, and I need all the information I can get—on everything."
McCoy was silent a moment before letting his breath out in an acquiescent sigh. "I know, Jim. Chapel has three of the orderlies on the tables now, running all the checks. I suppose you want to interrupt her to see how she's doing."
"Since you suggest it, yes."
"Yes, Captain?" Nurse Chapel's voice came a moment later. She had obviously been listening to the exchange.
"Any results yet?"
"Nothing that appears significant, Captain. All diagnostic readings and all tricorder readings are well within normal ranges. So far, there is no reading that appears to bear any correlation to the subjective time each felt he or she spent in 'limbo,' as you referred to it."
"Keep at it, Nurse. And notify me immediately if you do find anything—anything that looks even the least bit peculiar. Understood?"
"Of course, Captain."
As he switched from sickbay to engineering, he was certain he heard McCoy snort in the background.
"Mr. Scott?" he said a moment later. "All ship's systems still functioning properly?"
"Aye, Captain, no' so much as a bellyache," Scott answered. Then he added in a faintly accusing tone, "Not even in the warp-drive engines, despite the strain ye put them under."
"I'll try not to overwork your engines in the future, but try to keep them ready just in case."
Silently, then, Kirk settled back in the command chair, his eyes on the featureless grayness of the main viewscreen. His mind, however, roamed uneasily among the dozens of unanswerable questions that confronted him, until, finally, it came to an uncomfortable rest on the one that was both the most disturbing and, for now, the most unanswerable: could there be a degree of truth in the accusation Sherbourne had shouted after him?
Was he, no matter how unknowingly, doing precisely what the entity wanted?
The data transmission rate was no faster than before, but this time the signal cut off after less than half an hour.
"Take us back out," Kirk said abruptly once they were sure no more information was coming. "And we'll see what we were given this time."
Again, Spock keyed in the code that sent the navigational commands to the ship's computer. The ship oriented itself according to the map's commands, although the featureless gray that surrounded them still gave no indication of motion.
Impulse power came on.
Suddenly, the entire ship shuddered violently.
And vanished.
But this time, it wasn't a bodiless, sensationless limbo that everyone on the Enterprise was plunged into.
Instead, they were submerged in an ocean of pain, as intense and real as a thousand knives slicing through their flesh.