"We do too," admitted Kirk, "so long as the alternative doesn't turn out to be rapid recovery."
"It is continuing to move away, Captain," Arex said softly, "but more slowly now."
"Sensors indicate it is discharging energy at an incredible rate, Captain," declared Spock. "It may be regaining some of its ability."
"I wonder—Spock, do you think it's capable of anger?"
"I don't know, Captain. But the instinct to defend oneself is basic to many very primitive organisms." He eyed Kirk expectantly. "You have something in mind?"
"Somehow, Spock, we have to distract it long enough for Hivar to engage the capture mechanism. If the creature doesn't actually conceive of us as a threat, it should at least regard the ship as a challenge. By now it should be dazed and disoriented—its present movements indicate that. I can only see one way to draw it within range of the Boquian device—and that's to tempt it into chasing us."
"Jim!" McCoy exclaimed, startled. "If it manages to envelop us again . . ."
"I know it's a risk, Bones, but we've got full motive power back. We'll have to cut it close, but if it gets too close we can outspurt it at the last moment." I hope, he added silently.
Spock helped him make up his mind. "I agree it should be tried, Captain."
"What do the Lactrans think?"
Spock listened silently. "They are agreeable to anything which has as its final purpose the capture of a jawanda."
"Good. Mr. Sulu, slow our speed gradually. I want it to look like we're having trouble of our own."
"Slowing, Captain," the helmsman responded. "Should I notify Engineering?"
Kirk considered and half smiled as he replied, "Better not, Lieutenant. I can guess Chief Scott's picturesque opinion of this idea." He became all seriousness again as a pulsing spot appeared on the viewscreen, an object the size of his thumbnail, a seething pool of color.
Fat and sassy, he thought. Probably thickened its waistline by an enormous amount—maybe even another whole millimeter. If the monster had the instincts of an amoeba, it should be spoiling to defend itself against anything that smacked of an attack—particularly an attack by a source of food. Still, the jawanda's ability to relieve itself of excess energy remained an unknown, unmeasurable factor. As important as the time factor was, they would have to proceed with caution.
"Speed of target, Mr. Arex?"
"Still moving away from us, Captain, approximately warp-factor one point two two."
"Spock, we're counting on its reacting like any other living organism, but we still have no idea how advanced it really is. Any chance it could be intelligent?" That, he thought, might complicate events considerably.
"I doubt it, Captain," the first officer declared, glancing up from his instrumentation. "Its instincts should be quite primitive. It gives every indication of existing only to perform three basal functions: eating, excreting, and reproducing."
"I agree. It better . . . I'm tired of surprises, especially potentially lethal ones. Is Hivar the Toq ready?"
Spock paused. "The Boqus is standing by its equipment, Captain. All elements of the mechanism are in readiness."
"Position?"
"Still too far away." Not that Kirk had expected any other reply—they would have to draw the dazed jawanda into the trap.
"Captain!" Kirk looked back to Arex. "The creature is turning. It has reversed its direction and is now moving toward us."
"Mr. Sulu, you are aware of the position of the Boquian mechanism?" Kirk inquired hurriedly. The helmsman nodded confirmation. "Change course then, to take us through its center. Continue to slow speed toward warp-factor one."
"Coming about, sir . . . slowing."
Long minutes passed, while the jawanda, its thin body still blazing with all the fury of a translucent reactor, expanded on the screen with startling speed. The reason was evident: The Enterprise had to change course in a wide curve, while the jawanda had simply folded in on itself, in effect going instantly into reverse.
"It's closing on us, sir," Sulu announced. "Coming on at warp-factor one point . . . warp-two." He threw a hasty glance over his right shoulder. "Should I increase our own speed?"
"Steady as she goes, Mr. Sulu," responded Kirk calmly, his eyes never leaving the viewscreen.
A shorter pause, then, "Still gaining rapidly on us, sir."
How beautiful it was, Kirk had to admit to himself. Rippling, convulsing in smooth arcs of its body, the jawanda enlarged to fill the rear scanners, emitting energy in glowing discharges hundreds of kilometers long. What other inhabitant of the universe, however high, however low, sweated such magnificence?
"Captain," Sulu began worriedly.
"It's all right, Mr. Sulu. Attention to your station." He flicked a look sideways. "Mr. Spock?"
"Another minute yet, Captain."
Kirk considered. The jawanda was almost within contact distance of the ship's warp-drive units. If he accelerated, he chanced discouraging the creature. Or, worse, making it wary. Was it still angry or hungry enough to continue following them, even if he speeded up? Or would it—
"We are within the cage, Captain," Spock announced sharply. "Hivar has activated the mechanism." The first officer watched with interest through the images funneled to him from the Lactrans as Hivar the Toq drew strange sounds and lights from the free-form shape of the Boquian console with smooth movements of many-jointed crystalline limbs.
"Quarry is slowing, sir," reported Sulu. "Showing indications of uncertainty in its pursuit."
"It senses the collapsing gravity wells," Kirk murmured. Was the jawanda capable in its energy-engorged state of breaking clear of the cage?
"Slow to warp-one, Mr. Sulu."
"Reducing speed . . . It's beginning to change course, sir."
"Definitely suspicious now," muttered McCoy, staring raptly at the screen. They were about to play out the last act of the drama begun seemingly so long ago, back on the surface of Lactra.
"Full course change," Arex announced, "and it is accelerating."
"Bring us about on a pursuit course, Mr. Sulu . . . but slowly. Let's see if it can break free."
The Enterprise commenced another wide curve, which would bring it around behind the jawanda again—if Kirk chose to give the order to increase ship velocity, for the energy-eater was now fleeing in the opposite direction.
Kirk knew that if it broke free of the Boquian mechanism they would never be able to approach within capture range again.
"It's slowing, sir," Sulu declared positively. "Slowing . . . It's stopped!"
On the heels of the helmsman's announcement, Spock informed them, "Hivar pronounces itself satisfied as to the mechanism's performance. All six moons have been properly aligned, and the jawanda is trapped by their gravity."
"For how long?" McCoy whispered, gesturing at the screen. "Look."
Twisting and writhing like confetti in a tornado, the jawanda was rushing in tight circles around the inside of its invisible cage. Incredible bursts of pure energy bristled on its surface as it hunted frenetically for a hole in the trap.
Accelerating breathtakingly to warp-three it probed violently at the weakest points of the cage, between the moons. But no matter which way it darted, it could not escape the attraction of at least four of the controlled satellites. The octahedral prison proved secure.
"That's a lot of energy it's throwing off," Kirk noted. "Mr. Sulu, activate our defensive screens." The helmsman touched several switches—not a minute too soon, it turned out, as something powerful shook the bridge. There was a pause and then a second enormous purple bolt of energy crossed the space between ship and jawanda.
"It may not be intelligent," Kirk observed, stilling the slight shaking in his hands, "but it's not blind and helpless, either." He knew the power of the Enterprise's defensive screens, but it was one thing to consider them from the standpoint of abstract statistics and another to do so while looking down the throat of an energy charge as big around as one of the ship's war
p-drive units.
As Kirk ordered the cruiser to back off as far as possible, the madly convulsing jawanda continued to throw harmless if awesome bolts at them.
Spock observed dispassionately, "We already know that the creature is able to transmute great quantities of energy, Captain. It is not surprising that so efficient a converter should be capable of utilizing its ability to discharge excess energy for defensive purposes."
They remained in position while the attacks from the jawanda decreased steadily in intensity.
"Damage report, Lieutenant Uhura?"
"All negative, Captain," she replied. "All decks and stations report no injuries and no damage, although Engineering reports that the first several charges put considerable stress on the defensive screens. Since then, however, they report all attacks shunted aside with ease."
Kirk's attention went once again to the screen. Save for throwing an isolated spark toward the Enterprise, the jawanda had apparently given up its assault. Its movements, also, were much subdued. There was no more violent spinning about and contorting. Now it drifted in one place, its black surface rippling slowly like the stomach of an exhausted, overweight man drawing in painful breaths after a long run.
Bright bursts of light continued to show within its great body, but they came in fitful spurts now instead of the regular patterning previously observed.
"We've tired it out, I think," Kirk commented. "Is the Boqus ready to move, Mr. Spock?"
The first officer nodded. "Hivar indicates that the ancient components are performing well. Given a modest amount of power to feed to the control console, it foresees no difficulty in sustaining the cage indefinitely. The Lactrans," he added unnecessarily, "are overjoyed at our success."
"We're not in orbit around Lactra yet," Kirk pointed out. "I'll accept congratulations later. What about the possibility of our prisoner absorbing fresh strength from the radiation we'll encounter once we reenter the denser region of our galaxy?"
"All the energy it could assimilate from passing stars cannot possibly match the quantity it has already sapped and discharged from the warp-drive engines, Captain," the first officer insisted, after performing several calculations on the ship's computer. "We have already handled its best assault without damage."
"That's all I wanted to know. Mr. Arex?"
"Captain?"
"Plot a course to Lactra, presumably retracing our original tack via Boqu. Mr. Sulu, ahead warp-factor three."
Their acknowledgments sounded simultaneously, and soon the Enterprise was again Lactra-bound. Kirk's attention was still focused on their giant captive. He hoped Hivar the Toq was concentrating as intensely on his mechanism. They couldn't dare allow the jawanda even a small chance to escape.
But the octahedral cage formed by the six moons kept the energy-eater locked between them, dragging it smoothly along as they sped back toward the galaxy—although Kirk would have employed a term weaker than "sped," since at warp-three, they seemed to crawl along. But they were restricted to the maximum speed of which the old engines in the moons were capable.
During the following days Kirk had ample time to inspect that remarkable Boquian relic, its peculiar power leads, and the strange broadcast antennas temporarily installed on the epidermis of the Enterprise—antennas which somehow carried Hivar's instructions through the shapeless console to the six satellites caging the jawanda.
"Remarkable piece of instrumentation," Spock commented, bending to study the back of the console. It looked no different from the front.
"Prompted by a remarkable need," thought Hivar.
"How was it built?" inquired Kirk, wondering if it would last the duration of the journey back to Lactra.
"I do not know . . . I was able to learn only how to operate it." Hivar's concern mirrored Kirk's own. "The sooner we deposit the creature in orbit around your other guests' home world, the better I will feel, as it will signal the beginning of my return to Boqu."
The intercom buzzed for attention, and Kirk moved to acknowledge the call. "Bulk Transporter Room Three. This is the captain speaking."
"Lieutenant Uhura here, sir." There was an underlying hint of anxiety in that dulcet tone which made Kirk pay closer attention.
"Trouble, Lieutenant?"
"It's not certain, sir. According to Mr. Sulu, the creature is generating an unusual amount of energy. I've confirmed its output with my own instruments."
"You mean it's throwing energy bolts at us again?"
"No, sir." Kirk relaxed considerably, even though they'd already successfully fended off one such attack. "The discharge is in the form of radio waves."
"We already know that the jawanda is capable of producing those, Uhura," Kirk reminded her. "I presume you've detected something out of the ordinary about its present output or you wouldn't have called it to my attention."
"I think so, sir," she said slowly. "The emissions are in short, intense bursts of a type previously unrecorded. I have no idea what significance this holds, if any. But it's such an extreme departure from everything the creature has generated so far that I thought you'd wish to be notified."
"Rightly so, Lieutenant. I've no more idea than you what the meaning of this new activity is." He glanced back toward the attentive Spock.
"Nor have I, Captain," he admitted.
"Keep monitoring the output, Lieutenant," Kirk ordered her, "and begin taping." He flipped off the intercom and looked at the curious Boqus. "You'll have to continue the explanation of the mechanism's history later, Hivar. It's probably nothing, but . . ."
"But what, Captain Kirk?" came the thought, strong and heady.
"It's probably nothing." Kirk decided he was worrying unnecessarily over a harmless new phenomenon, when he had plenty of known dangers to plague himself with. A few moments of study should suffice; then he could dismiss the development from his mind. But those few moments were not to be ignored. Their knowledge of jawandas still bordered on the nonexistent.
On returning to the bridge, Kirk's first instructions were for Uhura to play back some of the noise the jawanda had already produced. As it turned out, recordings weren't required.
"It hasn't let up, sir," the communications officer informed him. "It continues to repeat the same pattern, identically modulated as the initial outburst. Here, I'll put what it's currently broadcasting onto the speakers." Her hands adjusted controls.
An ear-splitting shriek drenched the bridge in bone-grating waves of sound. Kirk's hands went instinctively to his head. That soul-rending howl was piercing his skull over and over. The impression was worse than the actuality, since it was barely a couple of seconds before Uhura could reduce the volume to a bearable level.
"I'm sorry, sir," she apologized contritely. "I thought I'd reduced the level considerably." She eyed an isolated readout angrily. "Here's the trouble—the creature has intensified its output tremendously since I first contacted you." She shook her head in awed amazement. "The amount of energy it's putting out is just incredible, sir."
"I see. Mr. Spock, your opinion?"
Spock concluded his preliminary sensor study of the new emissions and looked up thoughtfully. "Perhaps it is merely another form of energy release, Captain, an instinctive reaction to the unusual situation in which it presently finds itself, akin in spirit if not function to the defensive charges it attacked us with before.
"At first I suspected that the noise might merely be the normal energy discharge of the creature, its intensity the result of all the radiation it had absorbed from the Enterprise. Now that I have heard it, I begin to doubt this explanation. My uncertainties are compounded by Lieutenant Uhura's insistence that these discharges are of a type previously not detected." She nodded ready confirmation. "Beyond the normal excretion of surplus energy, I cannot begin to imagine what function these violent pulsations have—Wait . . . wait . . ."
A clumsy gray shape squeezed out of the turbolift onto the bridge. The young Lactran was already in close communication with Spock.
br /> "The youth is relaying concern from Hivar the Toq," the first officer explained thickly. "The Boqus wishes to hear the sound for itself."
Kirk, picturing the eyeless, earless Boquian scientist, wondered if it "heard" in the same fashion as humans, or if the sound waves were absorbed uniformly across its sensitive crystalline surface. The latter was quite likely. The sound conductivity of crystals was known on Earth as far back as the Dark Ages.
"Pipe the broadcast through to the transporter chamber the Boqus is located in, Lieutenant," Kirk directed Uhura.
Her hands again adjusted controls. "Transporter Room locked into circuit, sir," she replied.
Something about the sound must have been familiar to the Boqus, because Spock's relayed response followed immediately on Uhura's announcement.
"Hivar recognizes the sound, Captain. There are recordings of identical vibrations on Boqu, and although they are extremely ancient Hivar insists the duplication here is unmistakable."
"Duplication of what?"
"A jawanda distress call."
That caused Kirk to pause, all right! There was only one possible corollary, but he asked the question anyway. "Distress call? To—others of its own kind?"
Spock turned to face him, though his gaze remained focused on a point halfway between the command chair and the science station. "Exactly, Captain."
Rapidly Kirk performed some crude calculations in his head, then relaxed slightly. Even if his estimations were a little off, there was still no reason to panic. "We could do without visits from our captive's cousins, Spock, but, judging from its initial attack, and taking into account that we'll be prepared this time, our screens ought to be able to handle energy charges from a modest swarm of jawandas. Particularly from jawandas who haven't been sucking up energy from our engines. No, I don't see much reason for concern. We're already traveling at warp-three. Even if the calls are picked up, even if a few of the creatures have an intercept angle on us prior to our reentering the galactic field, they'll have only their natural store of energy to draw upon." He started to rise, intending to return to the transporter room to conclude the examination of the Boqus's console.