The Autobiography of James T. Kirk (17 page)

“Suggestions,” I said. I looked at Kaplan, who sat quietly, scowling.

“I think we’ve got to find some dilithium,” Gary said.

“That’s a big help, Science Officer,” I said. The ship did not have a crewman specifically trained as “science officer”; I had assigned it to Gary because he was the best choice of a bad lot.

“The Tellarites used to have a dilithium operation on Dimorous,” Griffin said. “I remember the captain of my old ship, the
Rhode Island
, bought some crystals from them. Not cheap, is all I want to say, and those suckers love to argue …” Griffin, a breezy, rotund officer, had gotten a commission from my predecessor, for reasons that were never made clear to me.

Gary programmed some information on the computer console in front of him.

“He’s right, sir,” Gary said. “The Tellarites abandoned the mining facility about five years ago. It looks like they left a fair amount of gear.”

“Don’t expect me to operate Tellarite mining equipment,” Kaplan said.

“Noted,” I said. “Do we know why the Tellarites left?”

“They reported the operation was quote,” Gary said, reading off his screen, “ ‘No longer a profitable enterprise,’ end quote.”

“That sounds fishy,” McCoy said, and I agreed with him. But I didn’t see we had much of a choice.

“Any intelligent life on the planet?” I said.

“Various indigenous animals, but nothing to worry about …” Gary said.

We achieved orbit of Dimorous and detected two compounds on the planet. One was clearly the dilithium mine, but the other, about 20 miles away, was a mystery. From orbit we detected what looked like some kind of laboratory facilities, as well as what appeared to be animal pens. There was also a large density of animal life surrounding that facility. It was tantalizingly peculiar, but there was no time to satisfy my curiosity.

I beamed down to the mining facility with Gary, McCoy, Assistant Engineer Lee Kelso, and Security Chief Christine Black. (I left Kaplan in command, since dragging him planetside was always an ordeal.) The Tellarite mining facility was housed in a bunker-like building, set in an arid area of rock and sand dunes. Inside the building, there was a control station set up next to a huge chasm, leading deep under the planet’s surface. A mining laser hung over the chasm, set up to cut through the ground, down to the dilithium vein; the crystals would be brought up with tractor beams. It was state-of-the-art equipment, and the reactor that powered the station, though deactivated, was still nominal. It made little sense that the Tellarites would just leave it there, along with an abundantly rich vein of dilithium. The only explanation was that they left in a hurry.

“Jim,” McCoy said, looking at his tricorder, “life-forms approaching. A lot of them.” While Kelso quickly got to work, Gary, McCoy, Black, and I went outside. A wall, creating a fort-like structure, bordered the Tellarite facility. The four of us went up to the parapet and were unprepared for what we saw next.

“Jesus,” McCoy said.

A moving mass of brown and gray rolled toward us. It was hard to make out distinct shapes in the mass, but there were hundreds, thousands of eyes and fangs. As it got closer, I could see the individual creatures moved on all fours, thick hind legs and small upper limbs, like rats. But huge; each was four or five feet long. They were scrambling over each other, biting, clawing, but moving fast over the terrain. As they approached, the cacophony of their piercing shrills grew in intensity.

“I think we know why the Tellarites left …” Gary said.

“There’s no record of a life-form like this on Dimorous—” McCoy said.

“There is now,” I said, taking out my communicator. “Kirk to Kelso, what’s your status?”

“Kelso here. I’m bringing up the first sample now—”

“One sample’s all you’re going to get,” I said. It would’ve been nice to have a little in reserve, but it was not to be. “On the double, we’ve got to get out of here.” I then switched channels. “Kirk to
Hotspur
, stand by for emergency transport.” I was prepared to leave even the one crystal behind, except I quickly found out that wasn’t an option.

“Commander, this is
Hotspur,”
Kaplan said. “Our power levels have dropped too low, transporter is out.”

“Send a shuttle,” I said. I looked out at the furry, noxious mass getting closer. I was angry; somehow I blamed this whole situation on Kaplan.

“Already launched, sir. They’ll be there in minutes.” At least he’d done that right.

The animals’ shrieking was making it difficult to hear. I instinctively drew my phaser, but as Gary and Black followed suit, I was reminded of my responsibility.

“On stun,” I said.

“Really?” Gary had already set his phaser to full power. “Is this the time to get sentimental?” I could see from Black’s expression that she agreed with the first officer, but was respectful enough not to offer her opinion.

“Mr. Mitchell,” McCoy said, “our mission is about the preservation of life.”

“Yeah, I always figured that included us,” Gary said.

“McCoy, go give Kelso a hand,” I said. Having McCoy there harping on our duty to other life-forms wasn’t helping; I knew the right thing to do, but I was also scared, and his somewhat self-righteous tone made me want to disagree with him.

“Let’s see if we can scare them off,” I said. “Take out a few in the front.”

We fired and hit about a dozen of the creatures in front. It did not slow the mass down; the creatures climbed over their unconscious brethren without pause. The brown and gray wave now separated into more distinct shapes, spreading out in the plain surrounding the mining facility. They were moving on us from a broader front; their line was thinner, but we wouldn’t be able to cover that wide an area.

“Sir, that was a tactical move,” Black said. She was right; though fierce and relentless, it was a sign of intelligence. These were not wild animals. And then, just as I noticed something else, Gary did too.

“Jim, are some of them … armed?” Above their hind legs on a large portion of the creatures’ backs were something that looked like bandoleers; each held several pointed projectiles.

“Gary, take the left wall, Black, the right. Don’t let them flank us,” I said.

“Can we kill them now?” Gary said.

“No, it’ll drain our phasers too fast. And make your shots count. Short bursts.” As Black and Gary moved to their positions, I fired my phaser. They soon joined me as our beams stunned creature after creature. It was only a temporary solution; the creatures didn’t stay unconscious for very long. We weren’t holding the line; there was just too many of them. Slowly they inched forward. As they did, some of the creatures gripped the dart-like projectiles strapped to their backs with one of their hind feet and threw them. They were thankfully still out of range, the darts falling a few feet short of the wall. I took out my communicator.

“Kirk to McCoy, status!” I said, now yelling to be heard over the din.

“Kelso’s finished, we’re on our way out,” McCoy said. I then looked up and saw a shuttle break through an orange cloud. At the same time, I heard repeated thunks against the wall. The rodent creatures were in throwing range. I watched the shuttle approach. The landing pad was outside the walls of the mining facility, which, for obvious reasons, was not going to work, and there wasn’t room inside the walls for the shuttle to land.

“Kirk to shuttle,” I said.

“Uhura here, sir.” I was pleased it was her. Uhura was a dedicated officer, and though she specialized in communications, she was a very good pilot.

“Uhura, we’re not going to be able to make the landing pad—”

“I can see that, sir,” she said. “I can land on the bunker, but I don’t think it will hold the shuttle’s weight for long …”

“Do it,” I said.

I took a quick glance to my left. Gary was holding off his creatures’ advance, but he was firing a little wildly, missing often; they were closing in. I then looked to my right and could see that Black’s shooting was much more efficient; the creatures on that side were farther back. The shuttle zoomed over us, heading toward the bunker, where McCoy and Kelso were now waiting, holding a canister with the dilithium inside.

“Black, move back to the bunker,” I said. I gambled that it would take a little longer for the creatures to reach her side of the wall. A few darts now hit just below where I was standing. “Stand by to give us cover.”

Black leaped off the walkway of her wall and ran back to the bunker. The shuttle rested on the bunker, and I turned to Gary.

“Go!” We both turned and leaped. Darts cleared the wall just as we jumped. As I ran toward her, Black, having reached the bunker, aimed her phaser directly at me and fired. The beam missed me but presumably hit the creatures, which were now crawling up over the wall behind me.

“Get in the shuttle!” I yelled. McCoy and Kelso were already climbing up onto the roof of the bunker. Black then quickly scaled the wall, and immediately knelt and continued to fire. I turned and saw the horde of rodent-like monsters scramble over the barrier. I fired several shots as Gary reached the bunker with me. I continued to fire as he gave me a quick leg up onto the bunker. I then grabbed him and pulled him up. I looked down and saw cracks were spreading on the bunker’s roof; the shuttle’s weight was too much. We moved to the hatch and I motioned Black inside. I was following her in when I was suddenly shoved into the craft, onto its deck. I turned to see Gary was prone on the bunker. He’d pushed me inside and taken a dart in the upper right arm. The shuttle shifted; the roof of the bunker was giving way.

“Black, cover me!”

I dove out of the shuttle and saw the angry, empty eyes clear the roof. Black fired from the shuttle’s entrance, shooting the creatures closest to me, giving me time to throw Gary over my shoulder and turn back to the shuttle. There were too many for Black to shoot, and she had to move back to let me on board. I could hear the skittering creatures inches behind me as I fell back into the shuttle. There was hot breath on my neck as the shuttle hatch slammed shut. Uhura, at the helm, screamed.

I turned; when the hatch closed, it had severed a creature’s head and one of its paws. The face stared at us from the deck, its mouth open, revealing unnaturally sharp razor fangs, oozing yellow blood. I heard the thumping of the rodents outside against the hull.

The shuttle jarred, and we were all thrown against the starboard bulkhead; the roof was collapsing.

“Uhura!” I shouted, but she’d already regained her composure and grabbled the controls. She jammed the throttles forward, the engines groaned, and the shuttle righted itself as we lifted off.

McCoy had already moved to examine Gary. He ripped Gary’s shirtsleeve to reveal the wound. A black stain was visibly spreading from the entry of the dart. McCoy took out his scanner. Gary looked up at me and forced a smile through his pain.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I said to him.

“Wasn’t,” Gary said, in pain. “Been … a problem … since the acad—”

“Gary, I have to knock you out,” McCoy said. He took out the hypo from the medkit on his hip and injected it into Gary, who immediately passed out. McCoy turned to Black.

“Give me your phaser,” McCoy said, as she handed him the weapon. “And everybody stand back.”

“What are you doing?” I said. McCoy was adjusting the setting on the weapon.

“I don’t know what this poison is. I need to buy some time.” He moved Gary’s injured arm out away from his body, carefully aimed the phaser, and
sliced off his arm
above the wound. The heat from the phaser cauterized the cut.

We all sat there in stunned silence for a moment. I looked around at my crew, scared, tired. There was the severed head and paw of a giant rat, as well as the amputated arm of my first officer and best friend.

“Well …” I said, “everybody, good work today.” And after a moment, I laughed out of exhaustion. And everyone joined me.

“The DNA is a 61 percent match to the animal native to Dimorous,” McCoy said. “But someone made some additions.”

On the viewscreen at McCoy’s desk floated a double helix. Part of the strand was highlighted.

“Genetic engineering,” I said. “Outlawed for a hundred years. You think the Tellarites—”