Star Trek 3 by James Blish

Author:James Blish [Blish, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780553123128
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1976-05-01T08:03:05+00:00

AMOK TIME

(Theodore Sturgeon)

*Hugo Award nominee

It was actually Nurse Christine Chapel who first noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with Spock. Nothing serious-only that he wasn’t eating. McCoy, observing him more closely, saw no further sign but what seemed to be a gradual increase in tension, something that might almost have been called “nervousness” if Spock hadn’t been half Vulcan. This, McCoy thought, might have been purely a subjective impression on his own part.

It wasn’t. On the third day of the apparent fast, Nurse Chapel tried to tempt the First Officer with a vile green concoction called plomik soup, regarded as a delicacy on Vulcan. Spock threw the bowl at her, soup and all.

This was enough to move McCoy to suggest to Spock, a day after the soup incident and apparently without any connection to it, that it was time for his routine checkup.

The logical, unemotional First Officer’s verbatim reply to this was, “You will cease to pry into my personal affairs, Doctor, or I shall certainly break your neck.”

Regardless of his state of mind-whatever it was-Spock certainly knew that this would not go unreported. He forestalled inquiry by requesting a leave of absence on his home planet. On the present course of the Enterprise, he pointed out, a diversion to Vulcan would cost a loss of only 2.8 light-days.

Unfortunately, Kirk had to refuse him. In all the years that Kirk had known him, Spock had never asked for a leave of any sort, and in fact had refused offers; he had leave enough accumulated for six men. But the Enterprise was bound for the inauguration ceremonies of the new president of Altair Six-not, apparently, a vital assignment, but the orders left no leeway for side trips, all the same. Kirk suggested that shore leave facilities on Altair Six were excellent; Spock declined the offer stiffly, and that was that.

At least, that should have been that. Not six hours later, while the First Officer was off duty, Kirk discovered that the ship’s course had been altered for Vulcan anyhow, on Spock’s orders. Leaving the bridge in Scott’s charge, Kirk went directly down to Spock’s quarters.

He had seldom visited them before, but he resisted the impulse to look around. He got only the vague impression of a room simple, sparse and vaguely Oriental in decora-tion and mood, the quarters of a warrior in the field. Spock was seated at a desk studying a small reading screen. Kirk had the briefest of impressions that the screen showed the head of a very young girl, no more than a child, but Spock snapped it off too quickly for him to be sure.

“Well, Mr. Spock?”

“Well, Captain?”

“I want an explanation. Why did you change our course?”

“Sir?”

“You changed our course for Vulcan. I want to know why.”

Spock frowned slightly. “I changed our course?”

“You deny it?”

“No,” Spock said. “By no means, Captain. It is-quite possible.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Captain,” Spock said, “I accept, on your word, that I did it. But I do not know why.

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