"More and more fascinating," declared a thoroughly enchanted Spock. "A race begins with all the knowledge it will ever have, and as it evolves, the knowledge is progressively lost. Progressive regression."
"We could remain eternally awed at the differences between our universes and civilizations," Kirk snapped briskly, "but we have to find a method of returning to our own universe."
"Exactly what I've been devoting all my time to since Karla Five beamed me the details of your difficulty," Karl Four told them. He gestured. "If you'll direct your attention to the far wall . . ."
As they turned, he moved to a small panel and adjusted the switches on it. The wall across the chamber seemed to vanish. In its place was a three-dimensional cube looking for all the world like a gigantic block of glassy chocolate-chip ice cream.
"This is an in-depth map of our galaxy—at least, the portion of it we have explored," Karl Four explained. "Our home system, and Arret, is here."
As he spoke, one of the black flecks near the cube's center brightened—or was it darkened?
"And you entered our universe through the new star, the Amphion Nova . . . here." A minuscule distance away from the first, a second black fleck pulsed noticeably.
Kirk studied the exquisite detail of the map carefully. "Somehow we have to coordinate this with our own charts, match the location of known novas in our universe to potential birthing stars here. Mr. Spock?"
"I foresee no difficulty, Captain. All physical laws appear to operate uniformly here, only in opposition to those we know. Therefore, distances and speeds in this universe should conform to our own. Karl Four, if I could have a look at the workings of your chart projector, and an explanation . . ."
"At your service, sir," the Arretian scientist responded.
Several hours of study and numerous exchanges of information with the Engineering Department brought results in the form of several specially modified chart-spools beamed down from the orbiting starship.
They should have functioned, according to Spock's design, in the Arretian navigational computer, but they did not. They failed even to activate it.
It was April who suggested the solution. "How soon we forget. Try running your computer in reverse, Karl Four. It should accept our information then."
And so it was. Everything went smoothly after that.
"Incredible, the degree of parallel," Karl Four murmured continually. "I wonder which universe will meet its end first. Yours, which is aging, or ours, which becomes progressively more youthful. I wonder if the nova-nova bridge is the only physical interrelation between our universes. I wonder," he mused, "what the theological relationships might be?"
"Maybe someday we'll have time to find out," ventured Kirk. "Right now, it's the nova-nova bridge I'm interested in."
"Assuming Beta Niobe and the Amphion sun here do match up on the two charts, Mr. Spock," wondered April aloud, "can we locate similar potential occurrences in both universes?"
Spock replied thoughtfully. "I believe so, Commodore, provided the Arretian navigational equipment will continue to process Enterprise information as efficiently as it has thus far."
Karl Four adjusted the chart projector once again. Kirk started in spite of himself when the huge map shifted suddenly to a black cube with colored stars hung within. Nor could he fail to notice the way Karl Four jumped at the appearance of the, to him, perverse sight—one which contradicted all his own laws of nature.
"A direct match-up," said Spock, indicating the second still-pulsing pinpoint. "Beta Niobe . . . Amphion on the negative-universe chart. Plotting from there . . . have you some kind of probe, sir?"
Karl Four hunted in a cabinet until he produced a long, thin metal rod. He handed it to Spock, who inserted it into the black cube, moving it slowly forward through space and stars with equal facility, until the tip stopped near a small star.
"This should be Vulcan."
The Arretian pressed a switch, and the system Spock had located glowed brightly. Again the pointer moved, slightly.
"And here, Earth."
"Amazing," Karla Five said. She nodded to her son, who switched back to the Arretian chart. "It corresponds exactly to Arret." Back to the color-on-black universe of the Federation. Kirk found himself growing a little dizzy as they switched universes by the minute.
"I would like to visit my Vulcan analog," Spock declared, studying the glowing points within the cube projection. "Perhaps someday it will be possible."
"If we don't get out of here, Mr. Spock, you'll have a chance to do more visiting than you want."
"That anxious I am not, Captain." The first officer turned his attention back to the chart, gesturing with the long pointer for all the world like a schoolmaster lecturing a class of youngsters.
"It is now possible to determine with reasonable accuracy the position of simultaneous novas in the two universes, with more ease than I thought would be the case. If . . ." and he looked back at Karl Four, "you can coordinate both maps at the same time."
The Arretian thought hard a moment, then shook his head slowly. "Yes, I think the projector can handle two spools at once. I won't vouch for what it will look like, though."
He worked at the controls. The result was a chart that was neither black nor white, but a faded gray. The density of the chart was tremendously increased, filled as it was with nearly twice the number of stars and systems.
"A touch here," Karl Four murmured, "and we should see something interesting."
Twenty-odd points on the chart turned red. Spock studied them, then walked over and had a brief, tense conversation with the astronomer.
"The red glows indicate where two stars occupy the same space in both universes," he explained to the onlookers. "The difficulty is that while several are novas in our universe, none is sufficiently youthful to be birthing stars here.
"The star material here which will birth soonest, Karl Four tells me, is this point," and he indicated one of the pulsing lights. "It will spring to life in roughly three hundred fifty of our years . . . give or take a decade or two."
"And we haven't got three hundred fifty years—give or take anything," Kirk declared. "Though it's not a question of age." His mouth twisted slightly. "We'd all have returned to infancy and been long gone by then."
Spock inhaled deeply. "Unfortunately correct, Captain."
"There's the chance of keying one of these potential new novas into life here, gentlemen. Locate the best possible combination of swirling gases and concurrent pressure, and ignite the first thermonuclear reaction. An overloaded ship engine could conceivably do it," Karl Four said.
"We thought of that," Kirk told him, "but we can't use our warp-drive engines—that would leave us relatively helpless, our speed curtailed severely."
"How about one of our vessels?" the Arretian suggested.
"If you think it might work. I don't see us trying anything else."
"There is one other problem." They turned to look at Karla Five. "In order to avoid destruction, I had to pass through the nova at maximum velocity. I understand that your vessel, Captain Kirk, is not capable of such speeds."
"A good point, Captain," Spock agreed. "To which I see no immediate solution."
"Of course, you're welcome to use my ship, Captain Kirk. It is the most advanced of its type . . . we have no others capable of reaching such speeds, either."
"Then I'm afraid that won't do us much good, Karla," Kirk replied sadly. "Thanks for the offer . . . but I have a crew of four hundred thirty, and your ship is suitable for only a few people, at most."
"Captain," Spock said, suddenly brightening, "there is a chance Karla Five's vessel could solve all these problems. We require another, powerful vessel to go to overload, to initiate the new star. We can use hers both as an unmanned projectile, to accomplish this, and as a tug to aid us in achieving the necessary speed. We need merely keep our tractor beam attached. We gained the velocity required to pass into this universe in this fashion. I do not see why we
cannot use the same method to pass out from it."
"Spock, you may be right. You'd better be, because I don't see that we've got another choice," he finished grimly.
"Of course, any miscalculation . . ." He paused meaningfully. "If the reaction isn't sufficient to set off the new star in this universe, we may run through a murderous field of superhot plasma. Or if speed alone is enough to carry us through, the proper distortion may not be created. In that event, we could emerge right in the heart of an unstressed nova."
"In which case," April observed succinctly, "we won't have time to consider our mistake . . . having already ceased to exist."
Preparations proceeded smoothly, thanks to the aid of the sympathetic Arretians. Some of Arret's top physicists reworked the mathematics, to insure that everything would perform as required. For example, it was felt that merely overloading the extremely advanced engines which powered Karla Five's exploratory skiff would be insufficient to spark the necessary thermonuclear reaction in the center of the star-to-be. So the Arretian military loaded the smaller craft with compact but immensely powerful fusion weaponry, to provide a proper catalyst.
Linkages were established which would permit the Enterprise's helm to control Karla Five's vessel as precisely as a living pilot could. Eventually, the two ships left Arretian orbit together, traveling at rapidly increasing speed and with the best wishes of Arret's scientific community. The prognosis was only slightly in favor of success, but both sides concealed their true feelings and concerns under a mask of empirical assurance.
"Captain's log, Stardate 5536.6," Kirk was reciting, days later. "Time continues to flow backward for us. We have set our course for a dead star aborning in this universe which corresponds to the nova Minerva in ours.
"There appears to be a new, correlating factor between the flow of time and our increasing speed, but as yet this has presented no difficulty. We are on course, and all instrumentation is operating at maximum efficiency, including the devices linking the Enterprise to the Arretian scout ship."
He concluded the entry and turned a gaze as yet only mildly concerned toward the science station. "Mr. Spock, any indication as to what the possible effects of the accelerated time-flow might be?"
"Theoretical only, thus far, Captain," his first officer replied. Then he added the obvious, "Anyhow, we must proceed with the programmed course and velocity regardless of all side effects. It is our only chance."
Kirk nodded, looking over his shoulder, and smiled at the pacing figure of Commodore April. He had been walking his destinationless path ever since they had left Arret.
"You may as well relax, sir. As Mr. Spock says, our course of action is committed, unalterable. And that patch of brown in your hair is very becoming."
April stopped, grinned a lopsided grin at Kirk. "Thank you, Captain. You're looking rather on the youngish side yourself, lately. Don't let my aimless meandering worry you . . . I am relaxing." The grin vanished, and he looked disappointedly at the deck.
"I have mixed feelings about the remainder of our journey, no matter what its outcome. Oh, I'll be glad to get home, all right, but not necessarily to Babel. That only means the official end of my career. Of my usefulness . . ."
Kirk was spared the necessity of a reply as Spock broke in with an announcement. "I have visual contact with the region of the potential new star, Captain."
Kirk mentally thanked his first officer for the interruption—the conversation was beginning to make him uncomfortable. His tone turned businesslike.
"Let's see what we're heading into, Mr. Spock."
The Enterprise's forward sensors leaped ahead, finally slowing to focus on still another rectangle of this fantastic, cream-colored universe with its black suns and feathery gray nebulae.
"I don't see anything, Mr. Spock."
"A moment, Captain. We are headed directly for it, but it is denser white matter in white space. I will superimpose an outline."
Adjustments at the science console produced a rough black circle in the center of the screen.
"If I didn't know better, Mr. Spock, I'd suspect it was another white hole."
"No, Captain, preliminary sensor readings indicate it's nothing like the one we encountered near the Milky Way's Shapely Center.
"There is considerable stress, shifting gravitational potential, and other unusual phenomena present, but nowhere near the extreme distortions of the spatial matrix we encountered in the white hole."
"Just as well," Kirk murmured. "I've no desire to repeat that trip again." Uhura called over to him, cutting off his thoughts in midremembrance.
"Message coming in from Arret, Captain. Karla Five making contact."
"Put her through, Lieutenant."
Transmission all the way from Arret was no longer crystal-clear, but the resolution was sufficient to show the aged yet youthful scout standing before the star-chart projector in her son's laboratory.
"I want to wish you luck, Captain Kirk," she said, her voice filtered and distorted with distance. "I was present at the official farewell, but I applied for and received permission to make this final broadcast. As I was, in a way, personally responsible for bringing you here, the government felt I was entitled to wish you on your way personally. The pity of it is that after all we've done, no matter what the astrophysicists tell me, I'll never know if you fail or succeed."
"Just keep in mind that you've done all you could for us, Karla," replied Kirk truthfully. "And perhaps you will know someday. Someday when a way is found of crossing the barriers between our universes in safety and comfort. When that day comes, we'll thank you personally for your help . . . in our universe, next time. The important thing is that you've shown such a journey is possible. We thank you also for the sacrifice of your vessel. You see, I know that your government couldn't force you to turn it over to us, and that you volunteered it freely."
"A small sacrifice, Captain," the fading, emotional voice declared. "The information I was able to bring back is worth more to my people than any number of such vessels. Indeed, the information your computer library supplied made up the loss of one scout many times over.
"I only hope that it proves to be a worthwhile sacrifice. Success to you, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Commodore April, and all . . ."
The screen blanked. "Transmission ended from Arret, sir," Uhura reported dutifully.
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Mr. Spock?" The view of space forward resumed. "Mr. Sulu, how's the tractor link holding up?"
Sulu checked his read-outs. To ensure that the invisible bond joining the Enterprise and the smaller Arretian ship didn't break at a crucial juncture, every tractor beam on board that could be brought to bear was locked on the superfast scout.
"Still holding firm, Captain. The original tractor link as well as all subsequent holds."
"Very good, Lieutenant. Let me know immediately if the bonds show any sign of weakening."
Sulu nodded as Arex reported from navigation. "Speed increasing steadily, Captain. We're holding on course."
That left one last section to check. "Bridge to Engineering . . . Scotty, are you there?"
"Standin' by, Captain."
"What's our situation?"
"Stable so far, sir," the chief engineer reported. "Of course, I've some idea what to expect this time around, and we've prepared for it—I hope. That new bracin' installed by the Arretians seems to be doin' what they claimed it would. If it holds up under this passage it's goin' to cause some heavy thinking on the part of the engineers responsible for designin' warp-drive supports. Not to mention what a sensation those diagrams of that scout ship's engines are goin' to be."
"Don't get too excited about that, Scotty," Kirk reminded him. "Remember, the element that powers those engines is found only in the Arretian's universe. We'll have to work out the difficulties of interuniversal transport and travel before we can think of a cruiser traveling at warp-thirty or so."
"I know, Captain," Scott replied, trying not to sound as disappointed a
s he was. "Ah, but wouldn't it be a darlin' surprise for our friends the Klingons!"
It was hours later, when they had more than doubled their speed, that Kirk noticed the at once marvelous, ominous change creeping through the Enterprise.
He had been so involved in last-minute course calculations, in monitoring the status of the Arretian scout, that he had failed to see the startling alterations taking place all around him. In fairness, though, so had everyone else. The gradualness of the first changes—and their uniformity—were responsible for the oversight.
Metamorphosis was proceeding so rapidly now, however, that it struck Kirk like a blow to the belly. The subtle sensation that something was drastically different was concretized when McCoy and Sarah April reappeared on the bridge. The shift was most apparent in their faces.
The deep lines caused by too many patients lost through the unavailability of the necessary drugs, too many needless deaths incurred on hostile worlds, were missing from McCoy's visage. He was noticeably younger.
As was Dr. Sarah April, paragon of Starfleet medical technology, who was now a very, unvenerable fortyish beauty devoid of white hair, lines around the eyes, and all other indications of advanced age.
Abruptly Kirk saw the bridge staff through clear eyes and a clear mind. Sulu and Uhura, he now noticed, had regained the appearance of teenagers. Spock showed the least amount of change, which was only natural as Vulcans aged more slowly than humans. It was hardest to tell when he looked at Arex, since adolescent Edoans often look exactly like their wizened elders.
"Mr. Spock, I think we have passed the point of needing theoretical opinions on the effects of the increased time-flow."
"I had noticed it before now, Captain," the first officer said somberly, "but as we have no alternative course of action, I saw no point in needlessly distressing anyone."
Kirk wasn't sure he agreed with Spock's reasoning, but he had no time to argue with it. He wasn't sure how much time he had left, period.
"I suppose the first crucial minute will be when our youngest crew member returns to . . . to the moment of birth," he ventured.