Gateways 1 - TOS - One Small Step (a) by Star Trek

Author:Star Trek [Star Trek]
Language: deu
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2011-02-06T10:07:13.040000+00:00

Mr. Spock was waiting with Mr. Sulu and Security Guard Reinhart in the entrance chamber. After he had rescued them from the sealed and airless chamber, they had immediately ceased their explorations of the Kalandan station, as per Captain Kirk’s orders.

The landing party materialized, and Kirk introduced Commander Tasm and her officers. Spock noticed that McCoy stayed near the Kalandan medical technician and always seemed to be speaking to her. Luz made a pretense of helping as the doctor administered the vaccine to all three men.

Before beaming down, Kirk had briefly shared his misgivings with Spock about these newly arrived Kalandans. However, Spock believed it was logical to exhaust every opportunity for exploration. He was unable to form an opinion about the Kalandans until he could examine their behavior.

“Let’s proceed to the command center,” the captain suggested. “Sulu and Reinhart, you stay here.”

Sulu murmured an acknowledgment. Neither of them were in top condition after their near-asphyxiation. But clearly Kirk didn’t want to leave the entrance to the station unguarded while the shield was down.

Commander Tasm walked by Kirk’s side down the corridor, with Spock directly behind. Officer Kad fell in next to Spock, behind his commander. Kad seemed interested in the botany labs, craning his neck to see inside, but Kirk didn’t pause on the way through.

Bringing up the rear were the two doctors. “I’ve heard they used to terraform the surface on these old stations,” Luz was saying to McCoy.

“You should see what the surface used to look like,” McCoy replied. “Simply breathtaking!”

Spock dismissed the idle chatter as they passed through the oval nexus chamber.

Then Kirk gestured to the corridors that spread out around them. “Here’re the living quarters we just discovered.”

“These quarters must hold a wealth of information about our ancestors.” Commander Tasm hesitated at one cross-corridor, as if wanting to go inside one of the rooms.

“Not as much as you would think,” Kirk said gently. “Mostly like the object I gave you. A few personal belongings they packed up, I suppose after each one died.”

Commander Tasm displayed a remarkable restraint of emotion. “The sporophyte virus kills slowly.”

There was an awkward silence that Spock associated with a rather useless phenomenon known as survivor guilt. Naturally, he felt nothing. For a moment there was only the soft pad of their footsteps in the empty corridor.

Then Kirk ventured, in a deceptively mild tone, “In all these quarters, we’ve found no signs of children or their playthings. Is it common for your people to not bring children on their voyages?”

Commander Tasm looked speculative. “Are you sure? Since we no longer maintain planetary stations such as these, it’s difficult to know. Most Kalandans are concentrated in colonies, and there we have plenty of children. But there are no children on board my long-range ship.”

Spock spoke up from behind. “This station was certainly created to be a long-range vessel.”

“Do you have children living on the Enterprise?” Tasm asked.

“No,” Kirk said. “It’s felt that it’s too dangerous on a ship that explores unknown territory.”

“Is that what you think?”

Kirk hesitated.

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