Star Trek by [TOS [[TOS]

Author:[TOS [[TOS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2012-01-23T21:23:29+00:00

INTERLUDE A.D. 2287

The planet came apart?

Kirk paused in his reading. According to Chekov, Khan claimed that Ceti Alpha VI exploded six months after he and his followers arrived on this very planet, resulting in a global cataclysm that all but destroyed the world’s ability to support life. But what had caused the disaster in the first place?

“I’ve never understood this,” he said, lifting his gaze from Khan’s journal. He glanced upward, as though peering through the roof of the cavern at the desolate wasteland above. “How could Ceti Alpha VI have exploded? This system seemed perfectly stable when we left Khan here, nineteen years ago.” He shook his head in confusion. “Planets don’t just explode.”

“This is true,” Spock agreed. Despite the weight of his environmental suit, he appeared completely at ease; Kirk envied his Vulcan strength and endurance. “Unlike, say, the Genesis Planet, whose matrix was composed of unstable protomatter, conventional planets are not capable of spontaneous detonation. Other cosmological factors must have been at work.”

“Such as?” Kirk prompted.

Spock gave the matter some thought. “It is impossible to determine for certain, at least not without a comprehensive gravimetric analysis, but it is possible that a miniature black hole, perhaps ejected from a binary system elsewhere, passed through the Ceti Alpha system. Its tremendous gravitational pull could have literally torn Ceti Alpha VI apart while simultaneously affecting the orbit of Ceti Alpha V.” Spock arched a speculative eyebrow. “Such a disaster is theoretically possible, and fits the description provided by Khan.”

Kirk nodded. Trapped as Khan was on a primitive world, without any advanced astronomical sensors, he would have had no way to know for certain what had caused the cataclysm, but he surely would have been able to observe the disappearance of Ceti Alpha VI … and feel the effects of its passing.

Makes sense, Kirk thought regarding Spock’s theory. More or less. “Shouldn’t we have noticed a black hole approaching the system when we were here before?”

“Not necessarily, captain. A black hole with mass sufficient to destroy Ceti Alpha VI might still have had an extremely small Schwarzchild radius.” Spock was referring to the hole’s outer boundary, the point of no return beyond which neither matter or energy could escape. “If the hole was traveling through empty space, as it would have been en route to the Ceti Alpha system, there might have been very little evidence of its passage.”

I suppose, Kirk thought. Spock’s explanation, plausible as it was, did not entirely assuage his sense of guilt for having missed the approach of the black hole so many years ago, if that was indeed what had set off the catastrophe. It’s possible we may never know for sure what really happened here.

“What about some sort of artificial planet-killer?” McCoy suggested. The doctor leaned against the wall of the grotto, letting the crumbling limestone support his weight. “Like that doomsday machine we ran into way back when?”

Spock considered the notion. “Possible,” he concluded, “but improbable. That particular mechanism was singularly methodical in

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