Mudd's Angels Read online

  "The tractor beam seems to be reversed, sir," said Sulu.

  "Captain, we're moving!"

  "In what direction?" asked Kirk.

  The tractor beam had repelled Mudd's ship, and the Enterprise, reacting to the thrust, was falling toward the star.

  "Try the deflectors—and pray!"

  In a moment, the screen showed dust, tables and boxes falling toward them. "It's working!" said Sulu. "The deflectors are attracting—and there's Mudd's ship!"

  "… Turn it off! You can have them free, just get me outa here!" howled the voice of Harry Mudd. A one-man pod hurled out of the Superstella.

  "Cut the deflectors."

  "Captain, radiation readings on Mudd's vessel are reaching the red zone," reported Spock.

  The pod hit the Enterprise's bay with a sensible thump. "Tractor beam, quick, on that ship!"

  The Superstella, strained by her abnormal cargo, exploded in a blast of steel and light. Then there was a retreating mass of crystals hanging in the sky, reflecting the brilliance of the expanding sun on enormous facets. A glittering school of coruscations sped toward it.

  "Our crystals," said Scott sadly. There was an actinic flash as the Enterprise's dilithium crystal supply attached itself to the spheroid mass.

  "We've secured the pod, sir. The man is aboard," reported the security squad through the intercom.

  "Captain," interrupted Spock, looking up from his console, "we're still too close to that—phenomenon—out there. There's one piece of good news, however. We have moved away from the variable sun, which gives us a little time."

  "Try the tractor beam on that formation. Maybe we can repel it. And bring Mudd up here immediately," commanded Kirk.

  The beam flared out; the planetoid of crystals seemed to draw closer. But Sulu reported that they were 30,000 kilometers further away from it. "It's still growing, that's the trouble," he added worriedly.

  "Without the drive, we may be unable to achieve sufficient distance to be useful," said Spock.

  "Well, laddie," said Mudd, dusting himself off as he entered between two guards, "I decided you were right. We do seem to find ourselves in a small predicament."

  Kirk found nothing to say to this.

  "I take it we're stranded? No crystals, no drive."

  "That is correct, Mister Mudd," said Spock. "You should never sell merchandise you don't understand."

  "You're too right, Arrow-Ears," sighed Mudd. "Plays hell with your guarantees. Well, what do we do now?"

  A timid voice sounded. "May we join you? We don't know if we can help, but—" Two veiled Bantu girls stood in the doorway.

  Uhura made a sound. "Please don't be offended, Lieutenant. It was a sign of admiration, truly. And our names are Aruhu Seven and Thirty-eight." The Communications officer hesitated. The Aruhus looked at each other, and began to withdraw.

  "No, it's all right, come in," said Uhura. Kirk nodded.

  "Unfortunately," said one Aruhu, "We are unable to consult with our main unit, and all we can offer is our individual programs. But though the Human Mudd ordered us programmed only for pleasure, we were made from the templates of your Lieutenant."

  "So we have her other gifts as well."

  "I don't think—" began Spock.

  "Who knows? It doesn't seem that Communications has the knowledge to get us out of here, but they might come up with something somewhere along the line, Spock," said Kirk.

  McCoy came in, followed by two more pretty androids. "What line?" he said bitterly. "These two were Astrogator and Engineer, Jim."

  "The engineer could go down to Scotty, if she likes. You—Marilyn 47, is it?—can you take over our Navigator's station?"

  "Captain," said a humble Russian voice. "Could they let go of me now?"

  Kirk gave Chekov a sharp assessing look. "For the time being," he said. "But keep an eye on him, guards."

  "Yes, sir," Chekov agreed dispiritedly. He looked longingly at his console, now occupied by a shapely blonde wearing a bit of lace.

  Weinberg sidled over to Chekov, his instruments at the ready, as the navigator sat gloomily against the wall. McCoy tried to console him.

  The Aruhus went to Uhura, and soon they were murmuring softly in Swahili. Spock and Kirk stared at the visual readouts, and brooded. Mudd settled himself in a chair, watching the screen as though in a theater.

  Kirk said quietly, "I think this is it, Spock. Five hundred years from home, no drive, and the ship's systems unreliable… some effects reversed, others normal, others erratic… We have passed the point of no return."

  "And that crystalline anomaly is completely problematical," added Spock. "We have perhaps ten minutes before the variable star period reaches its peak." Their eyes met. "It has been a pleasure to serve with you, James Kirk."

  Kirk found that he could not speak.

  "Look at that!" cried Sulu. They raised their heads and looked at the viewscreen with mild interest. Nothing remained to be done but watch.

  The crystalline asteroid, now swollen and flaring in rhythmic pulses, filled the screen with prismatic colors and then disappeared into the light from a small yellow sun, covering the image of its lone planet. When its spiraling motion took it past the orbital path of the planet, the planet was gone.

  "It ate the planet," said Sulu, awed. It fell toward the sun.

  "We won't see it again," said Spock. "It is now traveling too fast. We can be grateful that it is not pulling us along with it."

  Sulu said, "Then why are we moving, sir?"

  Kirk and Spock moved to his station. "We are in its gravitational field, Captain," said Marilyn 47. "We seem to be following it in to that star."

  "Can't we pull out of the field?" asked Aruhu 7.

  "Not without power," answered Spock. "And what physical effects that object now has, or what it may do to the material structure of the universe, I dare not guess. No one has ever conceived of an anti-matter reactor of such a size."

  The sun flared briefly, blindingly; the screen blanked out.

  "I should have gone into show business," sighed Mudd. "You have to admit I have a flair for spectaculars."

  "Why didn't we go with it?" asked McCoy.

  "We're still far enough out…" The ship began to vibrate. "Debris," added Spock tersely. Sulu was manipulating the reversed tractor beam frantically.

  "Do you suppose there was life on that planet?" said Weinberg. "If so—"

  "There's no way of telling, and never will be now," said Kirk.

  "This is a unique phenomenon," said Spock, "Quite fascinating, in its way. That crystalline mass must have reached its climacteric within the gravitational field of the star, and even a quiet star cannot withstand an assault of antimatter. It must have lived through half its life cycle in a few seconds, instead of billions of years."

  The screen now showed clouds of luminous star matter billowing outwards. In the center—nothing. Neither star nor crystal remained.

  "Where is it? Where's the crystal thing?" asked Mudd.

  "It has vanished from the visible light spectrum. But I fear that the sphere of effect is expanding, Captain."

  "It's very strong in radio emission, sir," said Uhura.

  "The explosion of that star was much too fast for any normal effects. It would seem logical to assume that the sphere of activity will expand indefinitely—perhaps gaining force as it grows." Spock sounded worried.

  "Will it stay in the two-day cycle?" asked Kirk.

  "I cannot tell. But if we could remove ourselves from this area—"

  From Uhura's console came an unexpected report. "We have calculated the speed of its expansion from the radio readings. It is expanding in pulses; we believe it is retaining the two-day cycle. And, Mister Spock, if you will help us, we may be able to calculate the gravitational effects on the ship. There might be a way to exploit them."

  Spock went to the console and joined the three dark ladies.

  Fortunately for the Enterprise, Nubecula Minor is neither spherical nor
spiral. It is shaped like a ragged triangle.

  "If we could position ourselves at the end of one of these limbs, we could gain some time," muttered Spock.

  "What meaning does time have in this situation?" said McCoy bitterly.

  "Very little, it is true, Doctor," said Spock. "But as the sphere of effect grows, it will expand more and more rapidly… And for us here, there is still subjective time."

  "Captain Kirk! Captain Kirk!" Scott's voice pierced through the murmuring at the communications station. "We've got the emergency sub-light drive working! That blessed android—she cross-linked the inosculator with the control reactor loop and bypassed the actinabulator—" Scott became unintelligible. But the bridge suddenly seemed brighter. There was renewed argument at Uhura's console.

  "Well done, Scotty. Stand by." But Kirk knew that they were merely marking time until the end. There would be no way out even if they did reach the end of the Cloud's limb.

  Spock had been right. He, Kirk, had allowed his irritation with the unspeakable Mudd to override his primary loyalty. The orders had been an— excuse. The Enterprise would join the honorable catalogue of the lost. The crystals were gone forever, and now that their strange alteration in the Barrier was known, there was no way to warn other ships… "Uhura! Can we send a message to Star Fleet?" he asked, without hope.

  "We could sir, but it would reach Star Fleet Command in about two hundred years."

  Aruhu 38 glanced up. "Two hundred years, three months, seventeen days, seven hours and twenty minutes, Captain."

  … And Chekov’s mind had become as unstable as the crystals. How would the United Planets disentangle the problem of the miners' contracts? And the saboteur? Even the Klingons immobilized… One unruly element and the whole framework trembled. He eyed Mudd with resentment

  … No. Two unruly elements. There was also James T. Kirk of the uncontrolled temper. Little use to regret it now.

  "We've completed the calculations, sir," said Spock. "We can get to the outer edge of the limb if we start at once." He looked at the Captain, whose thoughts had darkened his face. "There's not much else we can do, Captain. We need time —time to find a way back."

  Kirk watched the screen, preoccupied with guilt. "Captain, we await your orders," said Spock gently.

  When hope was gone, it was time for courage. Kirk straightened and met Spock's eye. "Very well, Mister Spock. We will give the necessary instructions."

  The ship strained; Sulu's fingers flew. Deflector shields and tractor beam had to be operated in a wild, inverted tango. The lights dimmed with the surge of power.

  And the screens showed the magnificent panorama of the neighboring galaxy, Nubecula Major, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its anamorphic structure was clear as it loomed in the visible sky, like a diamond-studded ghost.

  "We've done it!" cried Sulu, pale and exhausted.

  The Enterprise, drained of power, floated at the farthest edge of the smaller galaxy. Stardust hazed the screens. On board there was muted jubilation.

  … And a little while for rest and refreshment.

  Spock came to Kirk, who sat alone on the bridge. "There must be some way to harness this energy, Captain."

  The screen showed turmoil in the stars. Even as they watched, suns burst and fell like fireworks, their sparks dying. Ten thousand years away, the sister Cloud shone with peaceful—and misleading—promise.

  "You know there isn't, Spock," said Kirk. He tried to smile.

  Spock did not reply. Stars flared and winked out. Kirk thought of the lives that might be going with them, perhaps billions…

  Harry Mudd strutted in. He stopped before the large screen.

  "Boy, oh boy," he said admiringly. "When I create special effects, nobody else in the business can touch it. Ping! Out with the lights! Pong! Vanish, universe, before I change my mind…" Was that smug pleasure written on his fat face?

  A triple star system blew up in a fountain of blue. "Maybe next time I'll make one. I'll need capital…"

  "That was close, Captain." Kirk was once again confronted with the problem of his temper. Time had run out. And in this hour of good-bye, Harry Mudd was still… Harry Mudd.

  The officers of the bridge came in, one by one, soberly.

  "We thought we should be at our stations, sir," said Uhura. Kirk nodded.

  As she started to her console, Mudd followed her. Chekov lunged and grabbed him in a stranglehold. Kirk started from his seat.

  "It's all right, sir. I'm me. I just can't take this fellow any more."

  "Mudd, I'm afraid you're going to spend your last moments in the brig. Lock him up."

  As Mudd was quick-marched off, Kirk spoke to the whole ship. "This is Captain Kirk. As all of you know, we have done all that was possible to gain time. We cannot go home, and there is no more time." The ship lurched. "The explosions are very close. Those of you who believe in God, pray now, for we are beyond the help of man…"

  The lights flickered and went out. In their places, the men and women of the Enterprise prayed, held hands with loved ones, committed themselves to the unknown.

  The ship plunged into the convulsive darkness. But no one felt the motion.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  WHEN A GALAXY explodes, even a small one under normal conditions, there are a number of effects. Radio waves pour across the universe. The matter of disintegrated stars hurls itself into space at enormous speeds. The dust and debris of planets, moons and suns spreads in a gaseous cloud away from the stripped core, perhaps now condensing into the tiny density of a quasar, or the enigma of a black hole… And when the precipitating factor of the explosion is a freak crystalline monster which focuses the powers of mutual annihilation, these effects are distorted in time and space. The Cloud hurled star matter, dust, moons and a tiny spaceship out into the cosmos. Some of the matter dissipates (dissipated, will dissipate), recondenses (recondensed, will recondense), reaches (reached, will reach) other galaxies. Occasionally some small bit of debris may be (was, will be) traveling at sufficient velocity to crash through an Energy Barrier and slow down, rolling and tumbling and eventually coming to rest in the time-space continuum of another Galaxy.

  There is no way to describe time in this situation.

  "Star Fleet Command calling Enterprise. Come in Enterprise."

  There was no reply. The Enterprise is lost in another part of the universe, never to return. It is odd how even after death the voices of the past remain in the ears.

  "Star Fleet Command calling Enterprise. Enterprise, do you read us?"

  Now Kirk understood. He was in hell, and for all eternity he would hear the cries of Star Fleet Command, betrayed by his sin. And imps were prodding him with pitchforks.

  "Laddie, wake up!" Of course. Hell would be populated by Mudds, endless phalanxes of Harcourt Fenton Mudds—murderer, unproven— thief, reformed—liar, when convenient—vagabond, of the Mudd Mahal—swindler, legitimate businessman… he moaned.

  "Are you coming to? Finally? Wake up, will you?" Endless eons of eternity, hounded by Harry Mudd. Divine Justice was bitter.

  His eyes flickered open, briefly. Yes, there it was, the coarse, fat face with its gnawed moustache, hanging over him in the red light. He was doomed to look at Harry Mudd forever and ever, if he opened his eyes. He would keep them shut.

  "Captain! Captain! Out of the way, you—" Was there to be one mercy in Hell, that he could hear distantly the voice of Spock? Had They, Whoever They might be, been magnanimous enough to read the loyalty of his inward heart…

  "Jim! Wake up! We're home!" McCoy, too? Two mercies? "Let me check him out, Spock."

  "Gladly, Doctor. I think he's all right Just dazed."

  "Ohhh." Uhura? Kirk blinked, opened his eyes.

  Mudd's face had been removed, and McCoy's kind eyes looked at him with concern.

  "Hello, Jim. See if you can sit up. Slowly."

  He raised himself cautiously. The bridge, unfamiliar in dim red light, surrounded him.

  "Are w
e in Hell?" he whispered.

  McCoy smiled. "No, Jim, I think we just escaped it. We're home, back in our own Galaxy."

  "I remember… What happened?"

  "The final explosion of the Cloud threw us outward—and we were located at the edge nearest to the home Galaxy."

  "Spock, did you know it would matter?"

  The Vulcan's eyebrows slanted upward, and his ears looked very pointed in the infernal light. "Certainly not, Captain. The maneuvering of a ship through a galactic explosion is not a skill in which I have had experience."

  Kirk would never know more than this.

  "The ship? The crew?" He struggled to his feet "Reports from all stations!"

  "This is Star Fleet Command calling Enterprise. Can you read us, Enterprise? Star Fleet Command calling—"

  "This is U.S.S. Enterprise calling Star Fleet Command, We read you."

  Kirk thought, I never expected to hear that again. And I never thought I'd find those words… poetic.

  "What's the idea, Enterprise? You just crashed into a heavy traffic zone and warped every ship in the area thirty degrees off course. This is Star Base Seven. You'd better have a watertight explanation, Captain."

  Kirk burst into joyful laughter, "I think we do, Star Base. But we need some repairs." The bridge echoed with laughter as each officer realized that he was still alive and life was good.

  "I don't know what you're all laughing about," said Mudd peevishly, as he emerged from a warped door frame. "I've just lost a good seven million credits and it's all your fault"

  The Enterprise, battered and crippled, was towed ignominiously to Star Base Seven for repairs. Kirk passed the trip composing a long report.

  Commodore Blunt shook his head. "Captain Kirk, I regret to inform you that Star Fleet Command has asked me to ensure that you have a thorough psychiatric examination. This report—"

  The Commodore, who bore a marked resemblance to Harry Mudd—cleaned up and with a more military moustache, sat behind a vast desk.

  "What's wrong?" said Kirk. "I know it's complicated, but—

  The Commodore regarded him sadly. "A man of your record, Captain. It is a great loss to the Service, a great loss…"