Star Trek Shatnerverse - 007 - Captain's Peril by John Peel;William Shatner;Judith Reeves-stevens;Garfield Reeves-stevens

Author:John Peel;William Shatner;Judith Reeves-stevens;Garfield Reeves-stevens
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Chapter Twenty-One

REL VESSEL, MANDYLION RIFT, STARDATE 1008.1

AS THE TRANSPORTER EFFECT FADED, the room that took form around Kirk was filled with a hundred shades of green, and his first breath brought with it the rich perfume of a jungle in flower, lush plants, sparkling rivers.

He looked ahead, saw a luminescent wall of interwoven clusters of exquisite scarlet and saffron flowers, and the only reason he didn’t think he was on some Edenlike world was that a few dozen meters beyond the vegetation, a soaring, curved, transparent wall swept overhead to show the stars, and the Enterprise, hanging only a kilometer distant.

Kirk felt almost wounded by the unbearable loveliness of the vista.

Then he felt two hands slide lightly over his shoulders from behind.

He turned with a start and before he could speak, Norinda’s lips joined his, as if tasting him and being tasted in return.

She moved against him, one soft, smooth hand to his neck, pulling him closer, as if in another few seconds they would merge in an act of love no human had ever known before.

And then, as if getting his attention was all she had desired, she withdrew, hands folded demurely before her.

Kirk had to remind himself to breathe.

His host was swathed in a diaphanous wrap that glowed with the colors of the jungle-flower wall; intoxicatingly, the slip of fabric left bands of her smooth and golden skin uncovered.

Her low laugh was provocative, intimate, as if they already shared a secret only the two of them would ever know.

Her dark hair, lustrous, flowing, was like a windswept shadow.

“Do you want to play?” she asked.

That wasn’t the word Kirk had in mind. It would be so easy, he knew, to just rush forward and take her in his arms and recapture that maddening moment she had promised and then—

—taken from him.

But he forced himself to look away, to break the electric contact of her dark eyes, sparkling, literally sparkling as if stars or jewels were caught within her.

He took a steadying breath, mentally repeating what Piper had told him.

Telepathy…limbic region…manipulation…

And as he struggled to control himself, caught, just from the corner of his eye, a gleam of something else bright—in the dark of space.

The Enterprise. His ship.

Illuminated by her running lights, still floating beyond the vast transparent wall.

It was enough.

Kirk turned back to the beauty before him. Her red lips, full and parted. He could almost sense the sweetness of her breath, the rich warmth of it, the way it would feel as she whispered in his—

“No,” Kirk said aloud. “I’m James T. Kirk.” Even now he felt as if he were forcing himself to walk across burning coals, the effort was that great. “Captain of the—”

“U.S.S. Enterprise.” They named the ship together, their voices joined like a choir. Joined as if—Kirk shook his head to clear it.

“You are Norinda.”

“I am whoever, whatever, you wish me to be.”

Kirk made himself look back to the Enterprise, his ship, his home, his dream, and like Antaeus drawing strength from his mother Earth, he turned to face Norinda with new resolve.

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