Windows on a Lost World by V. E. Mitchell

Author:V. E. Mitchell [Mitchell, V. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction; American, Space Ships, Star Trek Fiction, Space Opera, Interplanetary Voyages, Fiction, Science Fiction, General, Media Tie-In
ISBN: 9780671795122
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 1993-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

of these creatures." Spock ran his tricorder

over Kirk's head and throat, concentrating on the

areas where the vocal apparatus was found in most

creatures.

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Spock?"

Hernandez was a small woman with an

aggressive, determined manner, but at the moment

a nervous frown wrinkled her forehead.

Spock looked up from his tricorder screen.

A sharp gust of wind ruffled his bangs before moving

on to other mischief. "I presume that your

tricorder reports no evidence of any vocal

apparatus capable of reproducing a spoken

language."

"Yes, but Dr. McCoy's autopsy

report implied that we were dealing with an

individual abnormality in the alien he

autopsied." After a moment's delay, the light

dawned for her. "You mean none of these creatures

has the capability of producing a spoken

language?"

"That covers the facts we have observed so far,

Doctor. Have you discovered any relevant

information that we have omitted from our analysis?"

Spock circled Kirk, studying the Kh@fflict

anatomy.

A sense of relief, which washed his mind with a

soft apricot haze, swept through Kirk.

Spock had deduced how the Kh@fflict

communications system worked. That meant he had

only to manipulate the alien's physiology

long enough to tell Spock what had happened to him.

With the colors and patterns being controlled by the

Kh@fflict lower brain, his prospects of

bypassing the programmed responses seemed

remote.

Suddenly he knew what to do. If his lower

brain projected designs on his carapace in

response to his thoughts, he could alternate between

two contrasting ideas to produce a message in

old-style Morse code. The question was, did

he remember the signals well enough to get

Spock's attention on the first try? If he

didn't, he wasn't sure he would have a

second chance. Unless he got past the

obstructions created by the Kh@fflict programming

soon, Spock would return to the artifact to work

on the puzzle from that end.

Kirk tried to remember the games he had

played with his brother when they were children. One

vacation at his grandparents' home in Vermont,

he, Sam, and the three McLaughlin boys from the

adjoining farm had spent an entire month

pretending they were Indians battling the invading

white settlers. Their long-range communications

system had been a set of talking drums they had

built from designs Tommy McLaughlin had

scrounged off the computer network. At the time none

of them had considered that their parents, whom they had

cast in the role of the invading British, were as

capable of translating their messages as they

were. Still, by the end of that summer, Kirk had been

proficient at using Morse code, and he

felt he should remember it, even if he had not

used it much in the intervening three decades.

The next question was what would catch Spock's

attention the fastest. The traditional SOS was a

simple, repetitious pattern that would give him

a chance to experiment with controlling the Kh@fflict

physiology. On the other hand, signaling his name

would tell Spock what had happened, but the longer

and less regular pattern to the letters spelling

"Kirk" increased the chance that he wouldn't be

understood. In addition, once he got Spock's

attention, he could repeat complex messages

until Spock understood them.

His decision made, Kirk concentrated on

"communication" until the interwoven blues and

greens swam across his vision. When the pattern was

established in his mind--and, he hoped, reflected

on his carapace--he summoned his anger and

frustration at being trapped inside the Kh@fflict

body.

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