Star Trek - TOS - 51 - Enemy Unseen by V.E. Mitchell

Author:V.E. Mitchell [V.E. Mitchell ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-08-06T16:31:40.384000+00:00

times in the past, but this was far more gruesome than he was

accustomed to seeing. He left quickly, and bumped

into McCoy as the doctor arrived. "Bones, can you

tell me when he died?" Kirk jerked his thumb

toward the corpse. "And also anything about the-weapon-that

did it?" McCoy looked over Kirk's shoulder

and his expression turned grim. He gulped,

nodded, and made his way to the body. Kirk walked

down the corridor a few steps and leaned against the

wall, trying to keep out of the way. Opposite him,

two crewmen were examining the floor with tricorders,

looking for any traces of blood that the murderer

might have tracked from the room. After several

minutes, McCoy joined Kirk. "He's been

dead only a few minutes, Jim. I'm

surprised Security didn't catch the killer in

the act." "That short a time?"

"Yes. How did Chekov get here so fast?"

"Someone called in an Alpha-One, but the

intercom was dead when Palmer switched back for

details. She's looking for the caller now.

What can you tell me about the killer?"

"I'll do a complete autopsy when Security

gets through recording the mess, but as a first guess,

I haven't a clue. I'm just an old country

doctor, Jim." McCoy shook his head in

bewilderment. "Those cuts are deep and clean, almost

like they'd been made with

an old-time surgeon's scalpel. But at the

same time, they're all parallel, like claw marks

from a giant cat. Though anything with claws long enough

to do that much damage would have to be one hellaciously

big monster." "I'll buy the hellacious,

Bones, but if that kind of a beast was on this ship,

we'd know it. You're going to have to tell us what the

killer really used."

"Yes, Captain." McCoy leaned against the

wall, looking grim and, for a moment, old. It had

been a long time since he had seen a man so

spread out by a murderer.

Tenaida's voice, low and questioning, came from down

the corridor. Janara Whitehorse answered him

at length and in Deltan. Kirk looked toward

them. Janara's movements were unsteady, and at first

Kirk thought Tenaida had an arm around her waist.

The captain blinked, and when he reopened his

eyes, he decided the illusion had been created

by his angle of view. Given the standard Deltan

oath of celibacy, he did not think Tenaida would

have allowed himself to become involved with Janara in the

short time they had known each other. And given

Janara's background, he thought she'd be

reluctant to trust anyone.

Janara saw the crowd in the corridor. Her

knees buckled and she slid to the floor. "They

weren't in time, were they?"

Tenaida met Kirk's questioning look. "Shan

Janara received mental images of a predatory

animal attacking the crewman in Auxiliary

Control. She insisted on reporting to you."

"You put in the Alpha-One?" Kirk asked.

Janara nodded. She slumped against the wall,

pressing her hands against her forehead. Alarmed,

McCoy passed his tricorder over the small

half-Deltan. "Blasted machine," the doctor

muttered. "Readings don't show anything wrong.

Lieutenant Whitehorse-Janara, can you hear

me?" Janara nodded again.

"What's wrong?"

"The-the body." Her whisper was hoarse. After

several seconds, she added something in a

Deltan dialect that had an unusual rhythm

to its sentences. Tenaida translated. "She says

she feels the reactions of everyone who has seen the

body. That they are too strong to block out."

Kirk looked from Janara to McCoy.

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