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  In any event, the first alien did not stop talking, and after a few seconds he began gesturing with his free hand, waving it in the direction of the viewscreen and then in all directions, as if trying to include the entire Enterprise in his gesture. In response, the middle alien, perhaps the senior of the three, perhaps trying to make up for what he considered his own earlier lapse of control, repeated the single syllable he had uttered before, adding a brief string of harsh, staccato sounds.

  The third alien then spoke up for the first time, pointing toward Dr. McCoy, who stood not far from Spock near the science station.

  Not wanting anything to interrupt the sudden flow of words, Kirk gestured to the security team, motioning for them to lower their phasers and stand back. As they complied, the first alien caught the motion and gestured wildly in the direction of the security team, then erupted with a new torrent of words.

  The one in the center, however, would still have nothing to do with it. With a final harsh repeat of the one syllable he had already used, he clamped his mouth shut and turned his face away.

  "Sir," Tomson said quietly, almost in Kirk's ear, "Mr. Spock would like a word."

  Looking around quickly, Kirk saw Spock motioning subtly to him. Glancing briefly at the aliens, Kirk stepped back and made his way past the command chair and up the steps to the science station.

  "Yes, Mr. Spock?"

  "I believe the computer will be able to provide us with a rudimentary translation capability very shortly," Spock said, keeping his voice low in order not to risk interrupting the aliens' sudden talkativeness. "Ordinarily a totally unknown language would require a much more extensive data base than we are receiving verbally, but it appears that much of the needed data has already been acquired by means of the subspace burst this ship initiated. In addition, because those bursts appear to have been primarily descriptions of two of the other ships, and because images of those ships were included in the information in the bursts, the computer has been able to establish additional relationships and cross-references."

  "Excellent. But how soon is shortly?"

  "You should be able to exchange very basic information already, Captain."

  Kirk turned back to the aliens. The tallest one was still rigidly silent, and the other two had apparently given up arguing with him. And one of them, the one whose tears Kirk had noticed only minutes before, was now looking directly at Kirk. But it was also the same one, Kirk realized with a touch of uneasiness, who had tried to break his neck earlier, when he had decided Kirk was the one in charge and therefore the one to kill.

  Chapter Nine

  KIRK KNEW IT could be sheer folly to assign Terran human emotions to expressions appearing on the faces of totally unknown non-Terran humanoids, no matter how closely those expressions appeared to match corresponding human expressions. Even so, the expressions existed and had to be taken into consideration. And the seeming similarities so far noted—the tears, the momentary panic upon first awakening in totally alien surroundings, the stoic passivity broken briefly when confronted by objects or images they couldn't quite control their reactions to—did appear to outweigh the differences.

  And now the face of the one looking directly at Kirk held neither the rigid passivity of the long hours in the cell nor any indication of the hatred that had briefly twisted his features during the attack. The eyes, more deeply recessed than most humans', were still moist from the apparent tears of a minute before. The jaw, rounded but solid, no longer appeared thrust belligerently forward but, because of the slightly lowered head, seemed almost to recede. The entire body, while not slumping in defeat, stood more loosely, its posture somehow softer, conveying both defiance and something else, perhaps a form of apology.

  "We are not your enemies," Kirk spoke slowly into the translator, deliberately holding it up in full view and looking directly at the aliens.

  For a moment, there was silence as the computer made the billions of decisions necessary to attempt a translation at this uncertain point. Finally, a string of sounds emerged, faithful imitations of the aliens' voices, at least to Kirk's ear.

  The reaction was instantaneous.

  The tallest alien, the one who had refused most recently to talk to the other two, released a truncated version of the same keening wail he had made when first awakened. For a moment it looked as if he were about to fall, and the other two had to support him, one on each arm. He recovered quickly, however, and harshly repeated the single syllable that was the only intentional sound he had so far uttered.

  After another pause, the computer, simulating a generic human male voice, translated. "Be silent."

  Ignoring McCoy's muttered "I could have told you that, Jim," Kirk spoke again into the translator.

  "You do not need to be silent or try to keep any secrets from us. We are not your enemies."

  Obediently but still slowly, the computer translated, and for a moment it looked as if the tallest alien were trying to locate the precise source of the voice and hurl himself at it.

  Ignoring the tallest alien's protests, the one who had tried to strangle Kirk responded. More quickly this time, the computer supplied a translation, highlighting every third word or so with a faint tone, indicating that those words were, in effect, still only educated guesses.

  "What you have shown us does prove that you are not our enemy," the alien began, but then the other broke in harshly.

  "It does not matter that he is not the enemy," the computer translated. "The fact that our speech is known to anyone could lead to our destruction!"

  "Who is this enemy you speak of?" Kirk asked when the computer fell silent. "Were those his ships that first attacked our own ship and then yours?"

  "Did you think they were our friends?" the tallest one sneered, apparently having given up his attempt to maintain silence. "They are no one's friend! They have already destroyed a thousand worlds and will continue as long as worlds exist to destroy."

  Half turning toward Spock, Kirk briefly lowered the translator. "Bring back the images of the planets we've visited so far," he said quietly.

  Spock, nodding almost imperceptibly, leaned closer into the science station. Speaking barely above a whisper, he addressed the computer, then looked toward the viewscreen as the images began.

  As the first of the fused planetary surfaces appeared on the screen, Kirk spoke again into the translator. "Are these some of the worlds your enemy has destroyed?"

  The aliens watched in silence as a dozen incinerated worlds flowed across the screen. Then the tallest one spoke. "These are the ones you displayed for us before. I do not know that they are the worlds I personally have seen, but they bear the unmistakable mark of the Destroyers."

  For a moment, Kirk thought of trying to explain that, not only had these worlds been destroyed tens of thousands of years ago, but much of the destruction was simply beyond the capability of the ships of either of the warring groups. That, however, could easily lead their guests to conclude that more advanced ships—such as the Enterprise—were responsible.

  "How many such worlds are there?" he asked instead.

  "No one can know," the alien replied. "We know of none in this part of space that have not been visited by the Destroyers."

  "Then your world is not nearby?"

  The question brought total silence from all three aliens, not just the tallest one.

  "I apologize," Kirk said quickly. "I realize that you do not dare reveal any information about the location of your world for fear that it might enable your enemy to find you."

  "That is correct," the shortest one said, and then added in what could have been an apologetic manner. "We believe you when you say you are not our enemy, but belief is not enough in a matter as vital as this."

  "I understand," Kirk said. "The location of your world is not important to us. But can you tell us what you call yourself?"

  "We are the Hoshan," the computer translated the reply, indicating by an accompanying tone that the word "Hoshan" was, a
s Kirk had expected, the computer's humanized version of the actual sounds made by the alien. It would do the same in the other direction when it had to translate "human" or "vulcan" or any proper name into the Hoshan language.

  "And yourselves? Your own personal names?"

  When the Hoshan glanced quickly at each other, saying nothing, Kirk went on, "My name is James Kirk. As you guessed earlier, I am in command of this vessel. And this," he added, gesturing toward Spock, "is Mr. Spock, my second in command." Slowly, he continued around the bridge, giving the names of everyone there.

  Finally, the tallest of the Hoshan spoke. "Are we to be released, James Kirk?" he asked, holding up his still manacled wrists.

  Kirk glanced at the security team and their drawn phasers. Then he nodded. "Very well," he said. "Lieutenant Tomson?"

  Hesitating only a fraction of a second, the security chief tapped the release code into her control unit. When the manacles fell from the Hoshans' wrists, she quickly retrieved them.

  "Now," Kirk said, "will you tell us your names?"

  "I am Tarasek," the tallest one said, the computer seeming to insert vowels in what otherwise would have been altogether unpronounceable. "I was in command of the vessel that was lost."

  "I am Radzyk," the second said, adding nothing.

  The third, the one who had tried to strangle Kirk, met his eyes squarely. "I am Bolduc," he said. "I regret that our earlier actions have caused you and your crew member injury, and I thank you for your kind treatment."

  "We understand your reasons. In any event, I was not harmed, and Nurse Garcia, whose arm was damaged when your comrade died, will recover."

  Pausing, Kirk looked toward the forward viewscreen, where the four enemy ships maintained their steady pace, still retracing the path of the first ship the Enterprise had encountered. "Now, what can you tell us of this enemy you have spoken of?"

  "There is little we know to tell," Bolduc said. "We have seen only his ships and what he has done with them. As you can imagine, none of his race has allowed itself to be captured alive, nor have we been able to obtain even a body for study. Our knowledge is limited to knowledge of his actions, which we know all too well. He has slaughtered many thousands of our people and would slaughter us all if given the chance."

  "But why? Why does he want to kill you? How did this war between you begin?"

  "You have twice shown us what the Destroyers have done to countless planets," Tarasek broke in, "and still you can ask such a question?"

  Except, Kirk thought again, this particular enemy hadn't done any of what they had seen so far. He still did not want to get into that particular bucket of worms, however.

  "I only meant," he said, "how did you first come in contact with the Destroyers?"

  "They attacked us, of course," Tarasek said, "just as they attacked you."

  "There was no attempt at communication? By either of you?"

  "As you yourselves have seen, the Destroyers communicate only with their weapons!"

  "But your people did try?"

  "I cannot speak for the first two ships that were attacked. At that time we knew nothing of the Destroyers or the worlds they had obliterated, so those first ships undoubtedly did make an attempt. If they had the time. We know only that they ceased to exist. Their subspace beacons, which linked them to the nearest colony world, simply stopped transmitting."

  "How did you discover they had been attacked, then?"

  "If you require a living Hoshan to bear witness for you, there is none! Our ships of that time were built for exploration, not for war! They could not stand up to the Destroyers' weapons. Those first two were almost certainly totally destroyed, vaporized. If they had not been—if any of the crew had survived, or any of their charts—we would not be here today. Our colonies and our home world would have been found and destroyed generations ago."

  "And then?" Kirk prompted when Tarasek fell into a brooding silence.

  "And then," he continued, his voice suddenly sounding more tired than angry, although the computer's bland translation was unaffected by this change, "a third ship was attacked. This one, however, was in subspace communication with a colony world more than a parsec away. Before it was destroyed, it was able to transmit an image of its attacker and a description of everything that happened until the moment of destruction. Those images and that description are a central part of every Hoshan's earliest education."

  "What did you do once you knew these Destroyers existed?"

  "At first, not knowing the extent of their power, we did little but avoid the sector of space where the attacks had occurred. But then one of our colony worlds was destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of Hoshan were killed. Shortly after, we began to find those other worlds that had been destroyed in the past. At that point, we realized we had little choice in the matter. We knew we were no match for the Destroyers and their planet-killing weapons. Our only chance for survival lay in remaining hidden from them while we developed our own weapons, our own defenses. We had to retreat from space altogether, evacuating our colonies and destroying anything we could not take back with us. For decades, then, we worked only on our defenses. We constructed fleets of warships to match theirs, and we turned our planetary system into a fortress. Now, finally, after generations of sacrifice, we have grown strong enough to return to space, to begin seeking them out."

  Though the computer's translation was neutral in tone, the intensity of feeling was more than evident in the Hoshan's own voice.

  "But even after all this time, you still don't know why they attacked you in the first place?" Kirk asked quietly. "Why they destroyed your worlds and your ships?"

  "Ask them, if you dare."

  "If we get the chance, we will," Kirk said, noting that the translations had become virtually instantaneous, with the tone indicating uncertainty accompanying less than one word in ten.

  "You still have them there before you," Tarasek said, gesturing at the viewscreen, where the real-time image of the star field and the four alien ships were still on display. "Can you not steal them from their ships as you stole us from ours?"

  "It would be considerably more difficult. When we took you from your ship, you had no functional weapons and no shields."

  "That is true, but the Destroyers' weapons do not appear to have any effect on your vessel. If we are to believe everything that you have shown us."

  "When our shields are up, that is true. They must be briefly lowered, however, if we are to take you or anyone else from your ships in that manner."

  "So, you are not invincible?"

  "Far from it," Kirk said, hoping that he was not making a mistake in continuing to be so open.

  "And there are other ships like yours?"

  "Many, but they are not here, in this region of space."

  "Where, then? I could not help but notice that none of the scenes you so effectively displayed for us gave any indication of where your home world is located."

  "Believe me," Kirk said with a rueful shake of his head, "there is little I would like better than to be able to show you precisely where our home world is. Unfortunately, we do not know where it is."

  "You do not know where your own home world is? Your ship has transported you so very far?"

  "Unfortunately, it was not our ship that transported us."

  "What, then? What scientific magic do you control in addition to this ship of yours?"

  "Whatever it was that brought us here, we did not control it. It was as much magic to us as it would be to you."

  "And what might this magic be?"

  Turning his eyes toward the science station, Kirk said, "Mr. Spock, show our friends here how we arrived."

  "As you wish, Captain."

  A few brief instructions to the computer, and the sparse stars of the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way galaxy appeared on the screen. In the distance was the denser band of the Orion arm.

  "This is our home galaxy," Kirk said, feeling the words tug at his throat. "Our home planets�
�we are not all from the same one—are somewhere in that band of stars across the screen."

  A luminous circle appeared at a point in the Orion arm, and Spock's voice said, "The Federation is there, gentlemen."

  "Thank you, Mr. Spock."

  "Then you do know where your world is," Tarasek said.

  "In one sense, we do," Kirk said. "However, we don't know where we are right now. Just watch the screen, and you will see how we came here."

  All eyes, Hoshan and crew alike, were glued to the screen until, without warning, with only the briefest tremor of distortion, the scattered stars of the Milky Way galaxy were replaced by the glowing curtain of stars that had surrounded the Enterprise since that moment of transition.

  For several seconds there was only silence. Finally, Tarasek said, "It happened that quickly?"

  "It happened that quickly. I believe our computer analysis showed the actual transition period to have been approximately ninety-eight microseconds." Kirk smiled. "Correct, Mr. Spock?"

  "Precisely, Captain. During that period, we were, for lack of a better term, in limbo. The sensors detected literally nothing, neither matter nor energy, not even that of the Enterprise itself."

  "Thank you, Mr. Spock. Now show them what happened to the one probe we sent back through the gate before it vanished."

  The computer, responding directly to Captain Kirk's voice, complied.

  Tarasek's eyes narrowed. "You are saying that you simply vanished from somewhere in your own galaxy and appeared here?"

  "That is what I am saying," Kirk confirmed.

  "And this gate that you came through—why can you not simply return through it?"

  "It has vanished. For all we know, it could still be nearby, but we haven't been able to find it."