The Vedala smiled softly at the Vulcan. "You will see, there will be no questions. Goodbye . . ." The Vedala began to dissolve.
Lara moved over to stand next to Kirk. "Goodbye, James. It's too bad—we almost could have . . ."
Her voice faded and became inaudible as Kirk's vision began to blur once more.
Scott and Sulu were in the transporter room when Spock and Kirk rematerialized. And although Kirk was glad to see them, he noticed something about their expressions.
"Captain, Mr. Spock," Sulu began anxiously, "what went wrong?"
Kirk took a moment to look down at himself, saw nothing wrong, glanced over at Spock. Everything seemed perfectly normal here—except Sulu and Scott's attitude.
"What do you mean, Mr. Sulu?"
"You went over and came right back," Scott explained. "Did the Vedala call this off, give you orders, or what?"
"Now wait a minute, what—"
Spock made a gesture indicating silence.
"How long have we been gone, Mr. Sulu?" Spock inquired.
Sulu shrugged. "About two minutes, maybe three, I guess. Just enough time for me to get down here after you beamed dirtwards."
A great deal passed between Kirk and Spock in a single look.
"The Vedala changed their minds," the captain said briskly, stepping off the transporter platform. "They needed some fast advice and we answered their one question. Back to your stations, now. This was just a momentary detour, a sidestop. Mr. Spock . . ."
"Yes, Captain?"
"I'm going to my cabin to make the official log entry. I'll see you on the Bridge."
"Very good, Captain." Spock started for the elevator.
"Oh, and Spock . . ."
"Sir?" Spock turned and waited.
"When you get there, instruct Uhura to contact the nearest Starfleet base for orders. Maybe this time they can find something a little more interesting for us to do."
"Interesting, Captain?" Spock threw back his head in surprise as Kirk walked up beside him. "It is interesting . . . to learn that understatement is not the exclusive province of Vulcans."
The doors closed behind them.
Scott leaned against the transporter console while Sulu stared in confusion after the two departed commanding officers.
"Now what do you suppose all that was about?" the helmsman wondered out loud. Scott smiled.
"It's verra simple, Mr. Sulu. Easy to understand when you've been around the captain and Mr. Spock as long as I have. See, they're both crazy. Only the captain tries to fool us into thinkin' it's a cover, and Mr. Spock is too polite to admit to it." Scott let out a long breath, moved away from the console.
"Well, you heard the orders. I suggest you get back to the Bridge. Me, I'm goin' back to Engineerin' and my engines. At least they're not loonie. It's easy to stay sane back there," he finished as he stepped into the elevator. "Because when anythin' goes wrong with them, I can always call on the little people to come and fix 'em."
The lift doors closed.
Sulu stared at them for a long moment, then muttered something no one was there to hear. It didn't matter—mankind had heard it before, had known it to be true since the beginning of time.
"Everyone's crazy here but me and thee," he sang, "and sometimes I'm not so sure about thee."
Whistling cheerfully, he ambled toward the elevator and the bridge beyond.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
PART I: THE AMBERGRIS ELEMENT
I
II
III
IV
V
PART II: THE PIRATES OF ORION
VI
VII
VIII
PART III: JIHAD
IX
X
XI
Alan Dean Foster, Star Trek - Log 5
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