something else .. . something horrible. With grief and revulsion, she
remembered Silek.
But where was she now? There was something familiar about the place,
as though she had been here before, perhaps with Sarek.. ..
The starship. She put her feet on the floor and went to find Spock.
"It worked!"
Spock raised both eyebrows at the shout that emanated from his
communicator. Next to him, Anitra and McCoy grinned.
"Are you quite sure, Captain?"
"The bridge crew is straggling in, making their apologies. They all
seem to be their affable selves again." Kirk exchanged smiles with
Uhura and Sulu, both at their stations. "What can we do to help you at
this end?"
"The buoys will be ready soon, Captain. When you have someone manning
the transporter room, we'll send them up and then feed you the
coordinates for their placement in the atmosphere."
"Let me know when you're ready. Oh, and Mr. Spock.. ."
"Captain?"
"I have someone here who will be beaming down shortly." He smiled
over at Amanda.
The city began falling asleep. On the streets, a few souls dropped in
their tracks and slept where they fell. In the air above them,
passengers in skimmers slumped over their control panels and were
gently shepherded by the computer to their preprogrammed destinations.
They never disembarked. The thin, white cloud descended and found its
way into homes, buildings, even the caverns of Gol, where T'Sai and her
followers slept. It filled the halls of the empty academy --except for
the one room which had been sealed with lead walls. People fighting,
gruesome embraces.
The planet Vulcan slept, and the evil faded.
EPILOGUE
"I think I need to talk to you," Anitra said. She stood hesitantly in
the doorway of McCoy's quarters..
"Come in, my dear." McCoy smiled warmly. "Can I get you something to
drink?"
"Absolutely," she said before he'd even had a chance to finish the
question. "I assume it'll be sour mash."
"Bourbon. Sour mash is mighty hard to find out here."
"It'll do." She stood and looked around, obviously uncomfortable, as
he poured the drinks. Her eyes were large and bright.
He turned away from the cabinets and gave her one of the glasses he was
holding. "Don't tell me. Let me guess. It has something to do with
your leaving the service."
Her jaw dropped. "How'd you know?"
"Sit down, Anitra, and relax."
She took a seat and he sat across from her behind the desk and held up
his glass in a toast. "To your leaving the service."
She raised her drink but did not smile. "You sound almost happy about
it."
"Quite the contrary. I am heartbroken. But I want what's best for
you." He said it softly so that she would understand he was serious,
then took a swallow of the whiskey.
"Funny, I feel exactly the same way." She drank and leaned forward
with a conspiratorial air. "You wanted to know about the ulcer. Now
that I'm leaving, I can say that it had something to do with the fact
"I thought it was just the one 'project'--"
She shook her head. "They were always after me to get involved in more
projects for them. It was beginning to get very political--" She took
a huge gulp of her drink. "I don't feel guilty. I've done my
duty--the galaxy is once again safe for the Federation's particular
brand of democracy, so I told them where to put their projects and
resigned my commission."
"Good for you," McCoy said approvingly. "And I understand that the
Vulcans are once again their logical selves."
"Yes, but the toll on the population was great. Spock told me they
found two of the boxes with the contents still intact."
"My God! What did they do with them?"
"You know the Vulcans. They're on display at the academy mus eum."
McCoy stiffened. "Are they insane? What if one of those damn things
decides to open?"
Anitra shrugged and sipped her drink calmly. "Nothing will happen.
They've got them shrouded behind a dozen force fields."
"Well .. ." McCoy said grudgingly, "I still think they're asking for
trouble."
"If they are, you know what to do, Doctor."
He smiled at that, but it faded quickly. "Where will you go?"
"Back home, I think. I'd like to do private research, maybe with my
dad."
"We're all really going to miss you."
"Promise me something," she said, her violet eyes large with sorrow.
"Anything," McCoy said gently, suddenly touched.
"Promise me you won't let them take the microphone out of the captain's
"Why you--" McCoy said.
She grinned, an imp once again.
Beyond the outskirts of ShiKahr lay the small shrine that housed the
city's dead. There were no bodies there, merely polished black
markers, each inscribed with two names the name by which the deceased
was known to all written in modern Vulcan, and the family name in
ancient script. Recently, the number of new markers had increased
startlingly.
Spock knelt forward and brushed the sand away from two of the markers.
T'Ylle and Silek were not physically here; the sand was too soft and
shifting for burial. Their bodies had been cremated, and Sarek, as the
closest living relative, had scattered the ashes on the desert wind.
They were a part of the roaming desert tide now, part of the sand that
polished the markers until they glistened in the sun.
Spock touched the markers of the aunt and uncle he
had never seen alive. To both of them, the planet owed its thanks,
and they would never know. But the family would remember,
After a time, he rose and headed slowly toward the city. Behind him,
the wind stirred, uncovering a small object left by a mourner on
Silek's grave.
Encased in heavy crystal, forever safe from the ravages of wind and
sand, was a small, perfect yellow rose.