42.15 minutes later (ship-time), Sawyer, Finn, Ko-Ko, and Chief Engineer Gordon assembled in the main transporter room. Gordon carried three small traveling bags in his arms. He handed them out to his fellow officers while Sawyer tried to regard the upcoming attempt with a detached air.
"It seems incredible that a man could take a few cells from his body and successfully reproduce himself time after time. Yet that seems to be the kind of twisted genius we're dealing with in Dr. Curtix and his oversized successors."
At the moment, however, Ko-Ko had other things on his mind than the astonishing feats....biological or otherwise---of their giant enemy. Most of his worries concerned the untested quantity resting in the leather carry-bag. He hefted it and tapped the contents. It responded with a faint metallic ring.
"I just hope these things work, that's all."
"They will work, Lieutenant, I assure you," said Gordon. "The equipment's simple enough---foolproof, in fact. Berry and I saw to that. But I admit I've got my own doubts about the stuff they contain. I've heard of some mighty strange ways to fight aliens, but..."
"There are mighty strange aliens we're fighting, Tony." Sawyer moved into the transporter alcove. "As soon as Dr. Finn, Mr. Ko-Ko, and I have beamed down," he told the chief engineer, "I want you to leave orbit and..."
"Leave orbit, sir?"
Sawyer nodded. "If they think we've gone, I've got a hunch they'll stop scanning the area around their still-functioning structures. On any other planet in a similar situation it'd be standard precautionary procedure to keep scanners on. But the Kithrans do whatever Curtix tells them to do, and this mutant is so confident of his own power---he's been a virtual god for so long---he won't think any mere humans like us will dare to defy him.
"He's been out of touch with humanity too long to be anything but contemptuous of it. Not that I can blame him, considering what the species was like during the Eugenics Wars. Give us 30 minutes on the surface, Tony, and then circle back."
"All right," the chief engineer reluctantly agreed. "But if I may be allowed an opinion, sir---I don't like it."
"Neither do I." Sawyer made sure he was well inside the perimeter of the transporter disk. "But without phasers or any other modern weapon, we'll need all the surprise we can muster. If the ship seems to leave, we might get it."
Finn and Ko-Ko joined him in the chamber. He turned to look at the waiting chief Santos.
"Energize."
The three mine became three drifting masses of lambent color. Then they were gone.
Tony stared into the empty chamber for a moment, became aware that Santos was watching him.
"What the deuce are you staring at, Santos?"
"Nothing, Chief. I..."
"See that it doesn't happen again."
"Yes, sir."
Gordon stalked off toward the elevator doors. He'd have to officially assume command now---and it would be he who would have to issue the dreaded retreat order.
Life was unfair sometimes!527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypywm2rnlp
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Three glittering cylinders resumed human shape on a street of the Krithan metropolis. Ko-Ko was checking his tricorder as soon as they'd fully rematerialized. He kept the mysterious leather bag tucked tightly under one arm.
"No indication of a scan, sir," he said at last. "I don't think they know we're here. Unless...."
"No," Sawyer sighed gratefully. "That kind of subtlety is beyond Curtix. If he knew we were back he'd show up roaring biblical pronouncements, or send a crop of those toothy fliers. Let's get a move on."
Sawyer took two steps and started to turn the corner around the thin tower they'd set down next to---and almost walked straight into a flight of the just-mentioned swoopers.
Flattening themselves against the curving wall in the convenient shadow of the glass edifice, they barely breathed as the swarm of powerful carnivores sailed past.
"I'm not sure I can take too much of this," Finn finally gasped. "Watch those predictions, Tom. Why'd you take me anyway, instead of Zaith or two security personnel?"
"You know better than that, Huck. We don't know what kind of shape we'll find Spock in."
"If we find him, that is," muttered Finn.
"Let's just think positive, okay?"
Ko-Ko looked up from his tricorder and tried to inject a more positive note. "I wouldn't worry too much about those swoopers, Doctor. They seem to be almost mindless. They attack primarily as a reflex action.
"Out of sight, out of mind, is that it?" Finn grunted. The helmsman nodded.
"The way is clear now, Captain."
They turned the corner without being challenged. Moving at a smooth trot, they headed for the lab building.
Once, a tiny dandelionlike plant tried to follow Ko-Ko. It took Sawyer and Finn several minutes to catch up with the sprinting lieutenant. Other than the single fuzzy, they encountered nothing ambulatory.
They'd materialized in a different section of the city than the first time. If only they'd landed here initially, events might have taken a different course. But that was wishful thinking. They turned another corner....
….and came up short.
"I don't believe it," Ko-Ko murmured.
"Incredible," was the only word Sawyer could think of. Finn just stared.
They were standing close by the entrance to a colossal, hangarlike building. The structure was easily a couple of kilometers long. Inside, ranged neatly in double rows, were hundreds of translucent, milky, teardrop shapes, each dozens of yards high.
In the immediate foreground were the five Kithrans. Each rose on a small, automatic lifting platform. They were working at the teardrop shapes, cleaning them, scraping and pulling a thick mossy growth from their sides.
"Ships, Tom."
Sawyer agreed. "Looks like they're getting ready to go on a trip, too. But to where? Why?"
"By the number of ships here I'd say a mass migration is being planned---or invasion."
"Plendor insisted they were a peaceful race," Ko-Ko put in.
"Oh, sure!" spat Finn sarcastically. "We've had ample evidence of that, haven't we? 'Peaceful' has almost as many definitions as love, Mr. Ko-Ko."
"Is that a clinical opinion, Doctor?"
"East off you two," warned Sawyer. "We'll probably have a definition supplied, soon enough." He looked thoughtful. "But you've got a point, Finn. These ships, this city - I'm not saying the motives and abilities of a vegan civilization would be so different from ours, but let's not jump to any conclusions. This is the first one we've encountered."
"And the last, I hope," the doctor muttered. He added, half to himself, "I always did hate vegetables as a kid. Now I know why."
"And that's about enough hilarity, Huck. If Spock were here he wouldn't be laughing."
"Sorry, Tom." Finn turned serious again. "I'd almost forgotten why we're here." He nodded in the direction of the gigantic hangar. "Those ships look like they've never left the ground. Probably they were all set to leave, when Curtix the first arrived and his new diseases decimated the planet."
Sawyer nodded, glanced at Ko-Ko. "Any indication of Curtix's or Mr. Spock's whereabouts?"
Ko-Ko checked the tricorder, looked disappointed. "They're not around here, sir. Certainly not in the hangar. I read only the Kithrans."
"Ummm. Well, followers can be led. Maybe we can be as persuasive as Curtix."
Moving from wall to wall and taking care to conceal themselves well, they gradually made their way to the entrance of the enormous structure.
It appeared that each Kithran was taking care of one ship by himself. That was fine with Sawyer. It would make the momentary disappearance of one of their number less obvious to the others.
Plendor was working close by. At the moment he was filling the tank of his lifter with some kind of cleaning fluid from huge canisters stacked neatly against the near wall. Taking up positions behind these, the three men waited for the Krithan leader to return.
Two others came and filled their tanks before Finn whispered tensely, "Here he comes!"
"Do we want the flitter he's riding?" asked Ko-Ko hurriedly. Sawyer shook his head.
"Might take too long to figure the controls. I'd rather stay on the ground anyway. It might be subject to outside orders. I don't want someone yanking my feet out from under me 200 meters up in the air."
Plendor brought the little vehicle down smoothly to the canisters. His back was to them. They tackled him without any trouble.
Ko-Ko and Sawyer were momentarily repulsed at handling a creature who felt like a clump of sticky straw. They nearly lost control of the struggling alien.
Fortunately, Finn was used to handling things that would turn many men squeamish. He wasn't at all bothered by the unconventional feel of the Krithan. He hung on tightly until Sawyer and Ko-Ko had recovered from the initial shock of contact.
They had no trouble dragging him back behind the high containers. Sawyer's only worry had been the chance that the repair lifter might be fitted with some kind of automatic alarm that would relay back to Curtix. But there was no sign that anything of the kind existed. A moment's consideration and he realized there was no need to be worried.
The little repair vehicle had shown a tendency to take off again. But once they'd removed its sole passenger, it stopped and now floated patiently in place.
"Plendor," began Sawyer quietly, "we don't want to hurt you. You say you're a peaceful people. Well, we're an easygoing race, too, we humans. But we must have Balus Spock back. If this means using crude physical force against you, then rest assured we will."
Plendor was not impressed. Nor was he arrogant. More than anything else his attitude smacked of resigned indifference. If he was shocked to see the humans again, he didn't snow it.
"I do not think that is possible," he said blandly, "The Vulcan/Human blend of wisdom, sense of order, durability, reason, and strength is the finest the Master has ever found. We are pleased Spock will carry on our work."
"Shinji rarenai!" Ko-Ko gasped. The whole situation had been turned upside down and a new light now gleamed on its backside.
"Your work?" was all Sawyer could stutter.
"We are the last of a dying people on a dying planet, Captain," intoned Plendor. A limb that remained unpinned gestured towards the ships.
"Once we had a great mission. Then the disease destroyed nearly all of us. We five are the frail remnant of that race, the inheritors of that purpose.
"And we are sterile. We cannot put out spores. When we die, there will be no more of our kind."
"This great plan, this mission of yours," probed Finn. "What happens to it if something happens to Spock---or to the Master?"
It was Plendor's turn to be put off-stride and confused. He recovered fast, utilizing the response that all "masters" engender in their subjects.
"There will always be a Master. But come, you are worried about your friend, and that is needless, I assure you. I will show you that he is safe and in good conditions. Better than you can guess."
He wriggled out of their relaxing grasp and shuffled into the hangar. Sawyer and the others hesitated, then followed.
"Just like that, Captain?" asked Ko-Ko. Sawyer was thinking furiously, trying to stay one mental step ahead of Plendor. Yet, who could tell how the Krithans saw things?
"Yes, just like that, Mr. Ko-Ko. All the same, keep that bag handy." By way of emphasis he hefted his own.
"No tricks now, Plendor." The Krithan didn't reply. He leaned forward and pressed a button on the console of the flitter.
Rapidly the other four joined them. They dismounted from their own repair craft. Then the five moved together to stop before what looked like a solid and blank wall.
"Through here, gentlemen," said Plendor. He moved forward. In doing so, Sawyer noticed that he stepped on a circular section of floor that was slightly different in color from the rest. Immediately, the wall slid aside to reveal a huge metallic iris behind it.
Plendor moved again and stepped on a second odd-hued round area. Now the iris dilated. An enormous tunnel appeared, a gaping wound in the earth. Its floor was smooth and sloped gently downward, under the city.
Sawyer could just make out another iris far away down the tunnel. A second later it, too, opened.
Beyond was only endless darkness.
Plendor and his fellows started into the tunnel. Sawyer did not follow immediately. Nor did Finn or Ko-Ko. That bottomless hole looked awfully dark.
Plendor turned. "We sprang from the earth, Captain," he said reassuringly. "These tunnels are part of our ancient home." He drew a flat disk from his middle. It was somewhat larger than a sensorator. He did something to one side of the disk, and it suddenly put out a brilliant beam of light.
"This will serve to show our way." He turned and stared down the tunnel.
Sawyer wasn't anxious to follow, but they didn't have much choice. Beating up an already willing Plendor was a poor alternative to what seemed to be acquiescence.
"Once more into the breech," muttered Finn.
There was more than one tunnel, they soon saw. More than two, more than three. After a short walk they'd already passed dozens of intersecting corridors, a veritable labyrinth of passageways cutting through the earth beneath the city.
Ko-Ko was busy with his tricorder.
"No wonder we couldn't detect Spock or Curtix with ship's sensors, Captain. Our sensor beams couldn't penetrate here."
"Phooey," Finn objected, observing their surroundings. "It must have been interference of some kind. These walls don't look thick enough."
"Maybe not, Doctor," admitted Ko-Ko. "But according to tricorder analysis they're composed of artificial elements some 600 times denser than iron, in addition to a surface force field." He shook his head wonderingly. "I can't even begin to guess at what kind of foundation they're sitting on."
"On the other hand..." continued Finn as if he'd never doubted the walls' shielding ability.
They hadn't been walking much longer before something else caught Sawyer's attention. He whispered to Finn.
"You hear that?"
"What, Tom?"
"I'm don't know." Sawyer's brow furrowed in concentration.
"Not much further now, Captain," came Plendor's voice from just ahead.
"There it is again!" Sawyer gave a sudden start and stopped, his voice rising. "A flapping sound...."
That was the cue for light to leave the tunnel, and illumination of another kind to set in. They found themselves standing helplessly in blackness as black as the deepest sleep.
They'd been tricked again!
He shouted, "Belt lights! Now!"
"They're not functioning," replied Ko-Ko nervously. "I've already tried."
"Plendor!" Sawyer yelled angrily. "Plendor!....
Plendor didn't answer.
Now Finn and Ko-Ko also recognized the uneven, beating sounds of the approaching swoopers. In the confined darkness of the tunnel it sounded like a growing storm. Most men are willing to face a certain amount of danger in normal circumstances.
But not in the dark!
The hardest thing was to resist the urge to go charging off into nothingness, to run blindly away from the menacing noise.
They might crash into a wall or, worse, there might be vertical shafts in the underground maze as well as horizontal.
They hadn't seen any pits on the way in, however. At worst it would be a quick and clean death. With Sawyer, to think was to act.
"Keep going until we find some light. We can't do anything unless we can see what we're fighting. Keep your hands out and feel for the walls. And keep talking - stay together!" Sawyer moved away, starting in the direction he thought they'd been going.
"This way!" Then he broke into a run. Finn and Ko-Ko were nearby. They didn't have to keep talking to stay aware of each other's position - footsteps and increasingly heavy breathing solved that problem.
The same sounds might also reveal their location to any pursuers, but Sawyer suspected that whatever was chasing them could find them easily enough in the dark anyway.
"Don't stop!" His voice echoed like thunder down the tunnel. "DON'T STOP ... Don't Stop ... don't stop..."
All of a sudden it sounded like they were leaving the alien cacophony further behind.
"We're gaining on them," he panted.
"Tom, up ahead!" Sawyer squinted at Finn's shout. Sure enough, there did seem to be a pinpoint of light off in the distance.
"I see it... I see it... keep going!" There couldn't be light where there was no light - that was one kind of mirage man hadn't encountered yet.
Ko-Ko had slipped slightly behind. Unconsciously, they'd changed into the most practical order for running - Finn being barely in the lead, Sawyer in the middle and Ko-Ko, the youngest and freshest runner, bringing up the rear.
The change from the blackness of the tunnel to the light of the room was overpowering. It was like waking up in the glare of a rising sun. They were momentarily blinded and stumbled to a halt.
The underground chamber they'd emerged into was roughly circular in shape and the by-now expected four times human size. Two other entrances gaped in the walls, leading off to unknown regions. Controls and flashing panels lined the walls.
There was a long table sat in the center of the room, surrounded by an attached series of fragile-looking, semitransparent crystalline globes that formed a sparkling corona for the platform. All of them were connected to one another and to the delicate instrumentation built into the table.
There, on the table, lay Mr. Spock.
Finn hesitated just long enough to unhitch his medical tricorder before sprinting forward, Sawyer and Ko-Ko following him..
Finn took a hurried preliminary reading from the motionless form. He checked the results, reset frantically and made another, slower pass. His eyes were wild when he finally looked over at Sawyer and Ko-Ko.
"Something's affecting his brain. All other bodily functions read normal, but he's dying anyway."
"IT IS TOO LATE, CAPTAIN SAWYER!"
They whirled as that rolling voice exploded off surrounding walls. Curtix 5 towered over them, staring down at the tiny intruders, from one of the other entrances.
"IN A LITTLE WHILE YOUR FRIEND WILL BE NO MORE---IN AWAY. BUT AS CURTIX 1 LIVES ON IN EACH OF HIS CLONES, SO SHALL BALUS SPOCK. BEHOLD, GENTLEMEN, THE DAWNING OF A NEW AGE--THE SALVATION OF A GALAXY---SPOCK 2!"
He made a grandiose gesture toward the third portal. Again Sawyer, Finn, and Ko-Ko turned.
Another gargantuan figure had appeared there. It had a familiar detached look, oddly arched eyebrows. It was Mr. Spock, four times over.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KTOYIx6tT
His expression was not unfriendly. But neither did the giant show signs of recognition at the appearance of his shipmates, nothing to give the three officers a surge of hope. 527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWYFm4hqka
They had only the single moment to register shock before the sounds of their tunnel pursuers grew suddenly very loud.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9Em17grkl
Now the contents of the mysterious leather sacks were revealed as the three men drew out filtering masks and slipped them over their heads. Sawyer tugged the protective bag off his own device.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡefrvfexSff
It was a slim cylinder with a slightly flared end. Several little nozzles protruded from that end, while the opposite sported a handhold and control knob. Finn began fitting the fourth mask over the supine face of Spock 1.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy9sIaXM3aw
"WEAPONS DEACTIVATORS ARE IN OPERATION HERE, TOO, CAPTAIN SAWYER. NOW, I WILL NOT REPEAT MYSELF - RETURN TO YOUR SHIP."527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQOlMNhX74I
That's when the tunnel exploded in a landscaper's nightmare. There were swoopers, too, scattered among a crawling, hopping, rolling collage of leafy, screaming monstrosities, offshoots of an insane plant kingdom.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WAZoCECMw
Sawyer, Ko-Ko, and Finn depressed the single control set in the base of their cylinders. Suddenly the room was enveloped in a thick chemical mist.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjZ4uxbt8n
At first the gray fog hugged the floor. As it began to rise a strange expression came over the face of Curtix 5. He started coughing roughly and retreated from the rapidly dimming room. No one noticed as Spock 2 did the same.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuGkxnS6fU
Not only could Ko-Ko not see Captain Sawyer or Dr. Finn in the drifting miasma, he couldn't see the vegan monsters that were assaulting them, either. But he could sure hear them. At which point the steady hiss that had been issuing from his cylindrical sprayer fizzled out.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0LxpbtQGq
He yelled into the mist. "Sprayer empty, Captain!"527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVPVE8mpqp
"Mine too, Tom!" came the familiar voice of Finn. Ko-Ko moved toward it, clinging tightly to the empty sprayer. They might be reduced to fighting with fists after all.527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgEpd0T915
He bumped into something solid and almost screamed. Thankfully, it was only Finn. 527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9UF6Fw5rk
"Wait a minute," came another voice, Sawyer's. "Listen!"527Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrazTSjzBb
Nobody said a word. Sure enough, the plant noises had stopped. Not died out slowly, or faded out, just---stopped. Finn tried to make out shapes in the thick haze surrounding them.
"Maybe they're waiting for this to clear up. This far underground, there's gotta be some kind of automatic air-circulation system to blow out accumulating toxins."
Sure enough the mist began to clear, thinning even as he spoke. Soon Sawyer could see the two of them. They moved to stand back to back in expectation of a renewed attack. Sawyer removed his mask and sniffed.
"Area is secure."
Finn and Ko-Ko removed theirs. The cleaning process accelerated and the mist broke up rapidly. In seconds it was completely gone.
Likewise most of the plants.
Those that remained behind weren't going to attack anyone ever again. They lay on the floor, limbs twisted grotesquely, shriveled like dead clumps of hedge.
"Well, whaddya know?" Finn mused, studying the corpse-laden battlefield. "Great-granddaddy's weedkiller still works!"
"I'll witness that," said a relieved Sawyer, "so long as those that got away don't come back."
"I doubt very seriously they'll be in a hurry to do so, Captain," Ko-Ko observed.
"Even so, we've got to get Spock out of here before Curtix returns. Gordon should have the ship back in orbit now." He took out his communicator and activated it.
"There's a chance this shield is directional. We might be able to beam out, even if nobody can beam in. Sawyer to Esmeralda....Sawyer to Esmeralda..." There was no answering beep. He paused, tried again. No luck.
"Must be these damned walls. Sawyer to Esmeralda...."
Finn had been examining Spock ever since it seemed like they were safe from counterattack. Now he looked up and shook his head slowly, sadly.
"It's no use, Tom. He's fading too fast. He'll be dead inside a 1/4 hour." He hesitated. "He no longer thinks. His mind is gone. But it's not the normal blankness of predeath. This machine," and he indicated the instrument-rich table, "seems to be draining him somehow."
"OH, MORE THAN JUST DRAIN, GENTLEMEN." They turned.
Curtix was no plant. He'd returned.
"HIS MEMORIES HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED ... RELOCATED INTO THE MECHANISM ITSELF AND THEN TRANSFERRED AGAIN." He moved towards them.
"I CAN DUPLICATE EXACT PHYSIOLOGICAL STRUCTURES BUT I CANNOT DUPLICATE THAT WHICH IS LEARNED. I CAN REPRODUCE THAT SECTION OF THE BRAIN WHICH HOLDS THOUGHTS, BUT I CANNOT REPRODUCE THINKING. I CAN MAKE AGAIN THE AREA THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MEMORY, BUT I CANNOT MAKE MEMORIES.
"AND JUST AS MY PREDECESSOR TRANSFERRED HIS MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS TO ME THROUGH A SIMILAR MACHINE, SO HAVE I DONE WITH BALUS SPOCK AND HIS DUPLICATE."
"You talk about your cloning as if you were making life!" screamed a frustrated Sawyer. "But you have to commit murder to do it!"
Unexpectedly, that seemed to affect the giant. He halted in his approach, something within him seemingly in conflict with itself. Sawyer noticed the hesitation. While it seemed incredible that this monster might have some twisted sense of morality, he had to grab at any chance.
Together the three of them got hold of Spock's limp form and lifted it off the table. They started carrying him toward the third entrance.
They didn't get very far.
The second colossal figure had appeared and was blocking their retreat. Nor did the giant Spock seem inclined to move out of their way.
There was no hesitation in Sawyer's voice now.
"Out of my way, officer!" he yelled at the giant. "That's an order!" The huge head inclined slowly to stare blank-faced at them, but the giant showed no sign of moving. Finn had his medical scanner out and working.
"He doesn't understand, Tom. His mind is still trying to assimilate all the fresh data that's been poured into it."
That first order had come automatically. But now Sawyer found himself unsure how to proceed.
How much Mr. Spock was there in the giant towering silently over them---and how much Curtix?
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