Open Writing

The grayness cleared, and the four figures materialized in a large stone room. All of them had powerful lights attached to special brackets on their shoulders, and Spock and McCoy held scanning devices. In addition, all four were armed with the same heavy-duty phaser that Spock had used to kill the creature on the ship. As McCoy had remarked wryly as they waited to transport down, “No more Mister Nice Guy.”

They looked warily around the room, alert to any movement, and no one spoke. They had scanned the planet carefully before beaming down from the ship, in order to find a place that was clear of aliens, and this group of buildings seemed the ideal choice. Not only was it free of life forms, it also appeared to be very old, and almost certainly constructed by the original inhabitants of the planet.

The four moved across the room to a doorway, their lights casting multiple shadows on the stone walls, and after checking it was clear, passed through. They found themselves in another room, similar to the first, only larger. Other doorways led off it; their lights illuminated the dark beyond, and it too was deserted.

Spock studied his tricorder and said, “Captain, it is almost certain that we have discovered a structure dating from the time of this world’s original species.” He indicated several stone statues lining the walls, each at least three meters tall and matching the description of the alien being that Ripley’s crew had found in the crashed ship on LV426. McCoy looked at them uneasily.

“What are these supposed to be, Spock? Family portraits?”

Spock studied them for a moment. “Obviously, doctor, that is precisely what they are. Life-sized replicas of themselves.”

Kirk turned slowly and looked around the room, the beam of his floodlight illuminating the tall stone figures. “Well, why not? We do it, why shouldn’t they?” He glanced around the room again, then said, “Spock, any idea how many more of these rooms there might be?”

The Vulcan studied his tricorder for a moment. “There could be dozens, captain. It is a very large complex, that much we saw from the ship. I do not, however, recommend that we split up to search.”

Kirk shook his head. “Absolutely not. We stay together.”

Keeping a sharp lookout, they began to move from room to room, occasionally taking samples for dating from the walls. The dark pressed in on all sides, and they kept close together. This was also not a place in which to get lost. Lights on full power, running on forty-eight hour cells, they moved on.

*

Back on board the Enterprise, Nkolo Uhura was coming to a decision. She sat in her quarters in front of a large mirror, and studied her reflection closely. She was having a debate with herself, one she had had before, and this time she was determined to resolve it.

Go on, she said to herself. You might not get another chance. You know how it is with these feelings you get, how they’re seldom wrong.

But they still could be wrong, all the same, her other self argued. You don’t know for certain. And what if he doesn’t return your feelings? What if all you succeed in doing is making a fool of yourself and embarrassing him?

What if you’re right, and you don’t do it? came the reply. Think about that.

So she did, and the truth of it came to her. She had been bottling up these secret emotions for more years than she cared to remember. If there was ever a time to let them out, that time was now.

Uhura rose from the stool before the mirror and gathered up her courage, then marched to the door. It opened before her and she passed resolutely through and headed down the corridor. When she reached the turbolift, she stepped in and said, “Engineering.” The lift started down, and her heart fluttered. Come on, girl, she said to herself. It’s now or never.

Emerging from the turbolift, she went straight to her destination, a cabin close to the engines. When she stood before the door, she almost turned and ran, but then she steeled herself and placed her hand on the touchpad. A moment later, the door slid aside, and she looked up into the smiling, kindly face of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott.

“Uhura!” Scotty exclaimed delightedly. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

Uhura gathered all of her courage and marched past him into the room. “Mr. Scott, we have to talk,” she said.

The bewildered Scotsman watched her walk into his cabin, and said, “Aye lass, it seems that we do.”

*

“Jim! Over here!”

Kirk and Spock turned at the sound of the doctor’s voice, away from the glow of their lights towards the far end of the room where McCoy and Sulu were working.

“Over here,” he called again. “I think we’ve found something.”

Kirk and the Vulcan hurried to the other end of the chamber, which was identical to a dozen others they had searched in the last two hours.

McCoy was standing in front of a gray, featureless door, set into the stone wall. It was the first sign they had seen of anything resembling technology, and they studied it carefully as their lights played over its surface.

“What do you think, Spock?” asked Kirk.

“Interesting, captain,” replied the Vulcan. “It appears to be made of some metallic substance that I am unable to identify at present.” He continued to play his scanning device over the door, and Kirk said, “The question is, how do we get it open?”

McCoy said, “Maybe we could try knocking.”

Kirk gave the doctor an exasperated look, but Spock turned to them and said, “That may in fact be the answer, captain. Not knocking exactly, but perhaps touching the surface with our hands. The door could be activated by body heat.”

They began to run their hands over the surface of the door and around the edges, but without success. Spock said, “Perhaps we should try the rock wall immediately adjacent to the door’s edge.” He began to search that area, and said, “Look for a hidden recess, or any kind of switch.”

After a few moments, Sulu said, “Here, captain. There’s something here.” Where he was indicating, a small stone was pulled out from the wall, behind which lay a smooth metallic panel. Kirk reached out and laid the flat of his palm against it, but nothing happened. Then Spock said, “Allow me, captain,” and Kirk moved aside. Spock laid his hand on the panel, and the door slid smoothly aside.

Kirk gave the Vulcan a sideways look, and Spock said, “Obviously, the aliens are a warmer-blooded race than humans.” Kirk searched his friend’s face for any trace of irony or humor, but as usual, there was none. Then Spock stood aside, and Kirk entered the room beyond.

*

Scotty turned back from the door and faced Uhura, who stood in the middle of his cabin, hands on hips, a defiant look on her face. The Scotsman began to say something, but Uhura spoke first.

“Mr. Scott, we’ve known each other a long time, haven’t we?”

Scotty looked at her warily. “Aye, lass, that we have.”

Uhura nodded. “Yes, a very long time.” She hesitated a moment, then plunged ahead, the very picture of a woman determined to say what she had to say before her nerve deserted her.

“Well,” she said, “let me tell you this, Montgomery Scott. I’ve followed you half way round this galaxy for the last twenty-five years. When you retired, I thought, well, that’s it, he’s gone, forget him. But now, it seems, we have a second chance.”

Scotty stood by the door, a bewildered expression on his face as the African beauty bored remorselessly on. “Mr. Scott, I am standing in your cabin, the door is closed, and Chekov, a starship captain, has the bridge. Neither of us has any duty for the next four hours.” She stared at him defiantly. “Now, just what are you going to do about it, mister?”

Scotty still stood by the door, but comprehension was beginning to replace the bewilderment on his features. “D’ye mean to tell me,” he said slowly, “that you…I mean…I never knew…never dared tae hope…”

Uhura relaxed her stance a little, and her features softened. “We’re neither of us getting any younger, Scotty,” she said with a small smile. “Don’t you think we’ve wasted enough time?”

Scotty moved away from the door at last, and moved towards her. “Aye, lass,” he said. “I think you’re right,” and he folded her into his arms in a bear-like embrace.

*

“Captain, I believe I may have found what we’re looking for.”

Kirk turned at the sound of the Vulcan’s voice, flat and muffled in the muted non-resonance of the room. The walls, ceiling and floor were of the same material as the door, and returned no echo.

Kirk, McCoy and Sulu played their lights over the section of wall that Spock was studying, seemingly no different from any part of its surroundings. As they watched, the Vulcan brushed gray dust away, then touched a small panel set into its gray smoothness, and a low hum sounded. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, all around them, and it lasted only a few seconds before dying away. Kirk was about to say that they should try something else, when the room was lit by a blue-tinged glow.
Slowly, the glow began to resolve itself into a definite shape, until finally a hologram of a vaguely humanoid figure stood in the middle of the room. The four watched, hardly daring to breathe, as the being’s features became clear.

It stood approximately three meters tall, with long, gangly legs and arms that hung down almost to its knees. It possessed a somewhat elongated head, and a barrel-like thorax. Kirk and the others noted that while there was some resemblance to the alien creature they had left in the Enterprise’s sick bay, there were also some marked differences. This figure projected none of the menace that the other had; also, it had neither the vicious teeth and double jaws, nor the barbed tail.

The alien being fixed its sad-eyed gaze on the wall opposite and began to speak. At first, the sounds were a meaningless jumble; Spock held up his universal translator and rapidly adjusted the controls. Suddenly, the voice came through, loud and clear.
“….have activated this recording, I bid you welcome. If events have progressed as has been anticipated, then I and all of my kind are long gone, and only the Others remain.
“The tale you are about to hear is one of great folly, and of even greater treachery. Let it serve as a testament to my people, and as a warning to others of the dangers inherent in too much knowledge in the wrong hands. My name, and that of my race, is unimportant. What matters is that other races know what has happened here, that they might not make the same mistake as did we.

“Many years ago, we were a flourishing and prosperous people. We built large cities, and were beginning to explore the other planets of our system. Our attempts at space travel were in their infancy, but we were progressing rapidly, thanks to the many brilliant scientists among us.

“One such was Garn. Always something of a lone agent, he nevertheless worked tirelessly to produce new forms of artificial life, intelligent androids supposedly created to assist in the colonization of other worlds, and to relieve our people of the necessity to engage in the more dangerous occupations. Too late, we discovered his true purpose.

“Unbeknown to anyone, Garn created a new species, not an android but a hybrid similar to us in some ways, but with certain differences. Where we were peaceful, it was malevolent, almost pathological in its hatred of all other living things, even including its creator and all of his kind.

“We urged Garn to destroy his creations, but by then he had become enamored of the notion that he could use them to conquer our world, to usurp those of us in positions of power, and set himself up in their place. In short, to rule.”

Here, the alien’s face and tone took on an even sadder, resigned cast, and he went on. “Even if you who have activated this message are of an entirely alien race to ourselves, I feel certain that this is an old tale that you will have heard before. It seems to be the nature of sentient beings to desire dominance over their fellows.”

The four exchanged glances, and the alien continued his narrative.

“Finally, when he judged that he had enough of the creatures, Garn unleashed them on the world. I will omit the details of what followed, partly because they will be of no interest to you, and partly because to recall them is still painful to me. Suffice to say that there were a series of battles, culminating in one great battle, and many millions of my people perished. However, we prevailed, and destroyed the creatures. Or so we thought.

“When Garn was finally cornered, he presented us with an ultimatum: he claimed he had concealed a queen egg somewhere on the planet; if we would allow him to leave, never to return, he would reveal its location to us.”

At this, the alien’s sad features grew even more morose and introspective. “If you are an untrusting, skeptical people, you might wonder at our naiveté, and the fact that we believed him. In our defense, I can only say that we always preferred to think the best of others, rather than the worst.

“However you look at it, for better or worse we trusted him, and we let him take his ship and go free. As you might expect, he betrayed us; as he passed the blockade we had placed around the planet, in order that none of the creatures might escape, he contacted us for the last time. He informed us that he had placed aboard his vessel many thousands of the eggs of his creations, several queens among them. As our ships closed in on him, his vessel suddenly disappeared in a massive burst of acceleration. He had apparently perfected a new type of drive, one that gave his ship faster-than-light capability, and none of our craft could match his speed. In an instant, he was gone.”

The alien paused, and Kirk and the others could feel the sorrow emanating from it as a perceptible thing, filling the small room with melancholy. Then it continued, now nearing the end of its tale.

“We searched the world for the queen egg, although we knew it to be a hopeless task. Then the creatures began to appear again, and we knew it was too late. The war began anew, but this time our resources were badly depleted and thinly stretched, and we knew it was only a matter of time before we were overcome. In the battles that followed, we destroyed what remained of our civilization, and still we did not account for all of the creatures.

“There are only a few of us remaining now, dwindling steadily, and our world is no longer capable of supporting life. What became of Garn and his creatures, I do not know. We are not a vindictive people, but whatever the manner of his passing, a part of me hopes it was not easy. Where he went, I also do not know. However, given our long life span, and his galaxy-spanning drive, I fear it could have been almost anywhere. I can only hope that he was not successful in unleashing his creatures on another sentient species.

“For, whether or not you have encountered them, be warned: these creatures cannot be reasoned with, nor can they be tamed to do another’s will. They have the capacity to learn; their brain is almost as large as our own, and their appearance and belligerent nature belie their intelligence. If they have indeed escaped into the greater galaxy, then all civilized beings everywhere are in great peril.

“That is my tale. I myself am the last of my people, and I will not wait for the creatures to find me. I do not intend to become a host for more of their kind; therefore, I will take my own life and join my ancestors. Perhaps in the next cycle of life in the universe, the next time all matter implodes in upon itself and redistributes, my kind and I will fare better. Now, I can do no more but wish you fortune in your attempts to destroy the creatures, better than was ours to enjoy. Above all, remember one thing: this is not a species. It is a plague, and it must be eradicated, whatever the cost, if civilized beings are ever to be safe in our galaxy again.

“I wish you peace. May your fate be other than ours.”

Slowly, the image of the alien being faded until it was gone from view. The Earthmen and the Vulcan were silent, mourning the passing of a race of peaceful beings, a people from whom they might have learned much.

After a few moments, Kirk took out his communicator and called the Enterprise. “Four to beam up, Mr. Chekov,” he said, and none of the others spoke as the transporter field bore them away from that place of sadness.

***