STAR TREK - TOS - 21 - Uhura's Song

Star Trek - TOS 021 - Uhura's Song

Chapter One

Captain's Log, Stardate 2950.3:

The Enterprise continues in orbit around Eeiauo, on the outermost fringe of Federation space. At

McCoy's recommendation, Starfleet has placed the world under quarantine. The Enterprise will remain

here to enforce that quarantine until the arrival of a Federation task force, specialists in epidemiology and

in enforcement.

Dr. McCoy and Nurse Chapel have elected to beam down with the medical team we transported to aid

the Eeiauoans in their desperate fight against the plague that is devastating their world- a plague they call

"The Long Death."

Personal Log, James T. Kirk, Stardate 2950.3:

Bones, at least, has something useful to do. The rest of us can only sit and listen, as more and more

Eeiauoans are struck down. Over a quarter of the population now has ADF syndrome. If only the

Eeiauoans had asked for help sooner!

I told Bones of our frustration. His response was predictable....

"You're frustrated! By God, Jim!" McCoy let his exasperated words hang for a moment, then he stepped

slightly to one side.

"Bozhe moi," breathed Pavel Chekov as he watched the viewscreen; it was nothing less than a prayer. To

Kirk's right, Lieutenant Uhura gave a small wordless gasp.

Even a clinical knowledge of ADF syndrome left Jim Kirk unprepared for the view behind McCoy.

Consciously, he knew the miles that separated him from the scene, but he was still hard put not to take an

involuntary step backward.

He saw row after row after row of the circular Eeiauoan hospital beds, each one occupied. The victims

of ADF were no longer recognizably Eeiauoan: they lay as if dead, their furless bodies covered with raw,

oozing lesions. From Bones's briefing, Jim Kirk knew that, given adequate intravenous feeding and similar

maintenance, they could survive in this state for years. If you call this survival, he thought. Seeing them, he

didn't.

Those in the early, ambulatory stage of the disease hunched in their pain, brushed away their loosening fur

and carried on the work of maintaining the others.

The Eeiauoans had not asked the Federation for assistance until they no longer had the power to help

themselves.

McCoy blocked the view again.

"Sorry, Bones," Kirk said, when he found his voice. "That was a stupid thing for me to say."

McCoy shook his head. "The Eeiauoan doctors have dealt with two previous outbreaks of ADF

syndrome and never bothered to call in Federation help before. It wasn't bad enough, they tell me.

Wasn't bad enough! Jim, they lost twenty thousand people in the last one!" He himself looked on the

verge of collapse, but Kirk was relieved to see that he still had the energy for righteous indignation.

"Are you making any progress, Bones?"

McCoy snorted. "'Progress.' If that's a polite way of askin' have we found a cure yet, the answer is no.

Nor have we cobbled together a vaccine in our copious spare time. Give me all the time in the world and

the greatest scientists and doctors in history and even then I couldn't promise you results, dammit. I can't

command a scientific breakthrough."

He drew a long breath, his shoulders slumped. "I wish to hell I could. They're good people." With a flash

of his old humor, he added, "- for overgrown house cats."

"Is there anything we can do, anything at all?"

"You're supposed to be enforcin' the quarantine, not breakin' it. No, I don't want anyone else down here.

The best you could do is carry bedpans, and robots do that well enough. And they, at least, are immune

to ADF syndrome."

"Bones, when was the last time you heard of a disease that affects two species as different as humans and

Eeiauoans?"

"Rabies," said McCoy curtly. At Kirk's questioning look, he added, by way of explanation, "An ancient

Earth disease- it did indeed affect two species as different as..." He waved his hand. "The planet's under

quarantine, Jim, and I don't want to hear any more about it."

A tall Eeiauoan tapped McCoy lightly on the shoulder with a claw tip. He turned. "Yes, Quickfoot?"

Quickfoot of Srallansre, the Eeiauoan doctor McCoy had been working with since their arrival, was

obviously in the first stage of ADF syndrome. Each movement she made was stiff with pain. Her

gray-striped fur was already thinning and dingy. Her nictitating membranes, discolored and swollen,

partially obstructed her vision. Although she did not yet have the characteristic pained hunched posture,

Kirk suspected it was from force of will only.

McCoy accepted a sheaf of papers from her. "Get some rest, dammit, Quickfoot," he said irritably.

"Finish that later."

Quickfoot shook her head stiffly. "Too ssoon, too much resst, McCCoy. Work now. There is no later."

She limped away.

McCoy wiped his face and eyes. "Damn cat hair," he muttered, "gets in everything." Kirk nodded,

accepting the fiction. After a pause, McCoy straightened and said, "I have some more information for

Mr. Spock."

Casting a quick, puzzled glance at his chief science officer, Kirk said, "I thought we transhipped a hold

full of medical computers?"

McCoy muttered a response.

"How's that, Bones?" Jim Kirk was quite sure he had heard McCoy correctly- but baiting McCoy was a

habit of long standing and seemed to restore a measure of normality even in such grotesque

circumstances as these.

McCoy scowled. "I said," and this time he enunciated each word clearly, "I'd rather trust Spock."

At Spock's raised eyebrow, McCoy scowled again. Then, very rapidly, to change the subject, he said,

"How's Sulu?"

The forced inaction these past few weeks had given everyone time to return to hobbies or create new

ones from sheer desperation. Sulu had found McCoy's substitute, Dr. Evan Wilson, a fencing partner his

equal- or better. Hard-pressed during a recent match with her, he had tripped and, against all odds,

broken his ankle.

The thought of Wilson touched a nerve. Privately, Jim Kirk resented her presence on behalf of the

Enterprise's own medical staff. It was not the first time Starfleet Command had shown such a lack of

judgment however, and he was not about to mention his feelings in public. Morale was low enough

already; it would not do to have his crew questioning their acting chief medical officer. He said, "Sulu's

fine. Dr. Wilson says he'll be up and around in no time."

"'Up and around'? How did she get him to stay down?"

Until Bones's question, it hadn't occurred to him to wonder. Jim Kirk spread his hands and glanced at his

chief science officer inquiringly.

Spock said, "I believe she learned her bedside manner from you, Doctor."

"What d'you mean by that, Spock?"

"I mean, Dr. McCoy, that she used a purely emotional approach." Spock's features were innocent of

expression.

Now openly suspicious, McCoy growled, "I'm waiting, Mr. Spock."

Spock raised an eyebrow, presumably at McCoy's display of impatience, then said, "Dr. Wilson was

heard to tell Mr. Sulu that if he did not stay off his injured leg, she would- I quote- break the other one

for him."

Jim Kirk gave an inward cheer. He could not have delivered the tale half so well himself, and for the life

of him, he couldn't tell if Spock had done it intentionally.

Intentional or not, the story, or Spock's delivery, actually brought a surprised chuckle from McCoy. He

gave Spock a wary look, then turned back to Kirk, and said, "Feisty little thing, isn't she? Keep your eye

on her, Jim. What she lacks in height, she makes up in brass. Get her to tell you how Scotty and I met

her. Might give you a laugh and, God knows, we could all use a few."

Then his brief smile faded and there was a long moment's silence. Kirk could see McCoy's mind turning

back to the desperateness of the problem he faced. McCoy, silent, told him more than any of McCoy's

outbursts would have.

"I'll turn you over to Spock, Bones, and let you get on with it."

"No, Jim. I have to speak to Uhura first."

Kirk glanced at his communications officer. "Lieutenant?"

"I'm here, Dr. McCoy." Lieutenant Uhura stiffened, as if bracing herself for a blow. "Were you able to

reach Sunfall of Ennien?"

McCoy said, "Quickfoot located her. She's alive, Uhura, but- I'm sorry- she has it."

Uhura nodded. She must have spent a long time preparing herself to hear that, Kirk thought, or she's in

shock.

Finally, Uhura said, her usually gentle voice roughened by emotion, "How- far along-"

"She's in a first-stage coma, Uhura. I'm sorry," McCoy repeated, "We'll do everything we can."

Uhura nodded again. "I know you will, Dr. McCoy. Thank you." She turned quickly to face her

communications panel, but her back spoke eloquently of her distress.

Spock turned to his computers. "Ready to receive your information, Dr. McCoy."

McCoy gave a meaningful nod at Uhura's back. "Yes," Kirk said, in answer to the screen, "we'll speak

later, Bones." He stepped to Uhura's side and spoke softly to her. "Lieutenant Uhura, I'd like a word

with you."

Uhura turned, her face expressionless. "Captain?"

"In private," he added. He motioned a nearby ensign to take her place and said, "Mr. Spock, you have

command." Spock nodded without taking his eyes from his screens, and Kirk gestured Uhura to the lift.

As the doors hissed closed, Uhura squared her shoulders. Oddly, the action seemed to make her more

vulnerable. "Yes, Captain. What did you want to see me about?"

"Do you want to talk, Uhura?" he asked, gently. "That's a question, not an order."

"Thank you, Captain. Yes, I g-guess I would." But she was silent as he escorted her to her cabin.

She offered him a chair, and he sat. She poured herself a glass of water and offered him something

stronger, which he declined. He decided it was best to wait for her to speak.

At last, she went to the wall and took down a small picture in a gilt frame. For a long moment, she stood

looking at it, then she handed it to him. She sat down. "That's Sunfall," she said.

It was an old-fashioned two-dimensional photograph- but there was nothing static about Sunfall of

Ennien. Jim Kirk saw an Eeiauoan dancer, as black as velvet, poised in mid-leap. Her long supple body

and tail curved ecstatically, her great pointed ears swept up to catch some music he could almost hear by

looking at her.... He realized he was holding his breath and let it out. "Beautiful," he said.

"Yes." There were tears trembling on Uhura's lashes now. "And that was what she was like inside, too.

All that beauty and energy- Captain, I can't bear the thought of her- of her -"

"The doctors are doing everything they can." He knew it was no consolation. The Eeiauoan hospital and

its horrors flashed back into his mind, and he thought of Sunfall in the same state. He thrust the thought

from him. If he could feel that way just seeing the photo, what must Uhura be feeling?

Uhura picked up her Charellian joyeuse, the delicate little stringed instrument she had just recently

learned to play, and cradled it, as if to draw comfort from the prospect of music. "Dr. McCoy is a good

man, Captain," she said. "I know he's doing everything he can, and more. I just don't know if it'll be

enough."

There was nothing to say, no comfort he could give. Kirk looked again at the picture. "How did you

meet?" he asked, at last.

Uhura wiped her eyes. "A long time ago. It was my first post, Two Dawns. Sunfall was a junior diplomat

with the Eeiauoan mission."

"A diplomat?" he said in astonishment. "Not a dancer?"

She almost smiled at that. "A dancer, a singer and a diplomat," she said. "Sunfall of Ennien was all of that.

She thought all diplomats should be. She said-she said it would give them more flexibility."

"It would," Kirk said, knowingly. He thought of the number of pompous diplomats he'd dealt with and the

interminable diplomatic occasions he'd been forced to sit through. What he wouldn't have given for the

presence of Sunfall of Ennien!

Uhura went on, "She and I traded songs. In the two years we spent together I think we went through

every song we ever knew. She even taught me some of the old ballads of Eeiauo."

"Have I heard any?" Uhura often sang for her entertainment and the crew's; Kirk tried to recall anything

he could identify as Eeiauoan.

"'The Ballad of CloudShape to-Ennien'?" she suggested.

The title jogged his memory. When he smiled at the thought, Uhura smiled wanly back and said, "Yes, I

see you remember it."

"The con artist," he said, "the Eeiauoan version of Harry Mudd!" A thought struck him. "Why

'to-Ennien'?" he asked. "All the names I've heard are 'of' something or other."

"I can't answer that, Captain. The Eeiauoans have a hundred or more songs about CloudShape- and

some of them call her 'to-Ennien' and some call her 'of Ennien'. That was one of the few I could translate

properly. Most of them, and not just the Cloud-Shape songs, deal with such a different culture that they

make no sense to a human unless she knows an Eeiauoan. I sometimes sing the others in Eeiauoan

because the tunes are so lovely." She hummed a snatch of song and Kirk nodded; he'd heard that one,

too, and she didn't exaggerate its beauty.

"Do you speak it? Eeiauoan, I mean?"

"I learned it from Sunfall and kept it up so I could talk to her the next time we met...." She spread her

hands in dismay. "We did speak now and again, and I was so happy when we were ordered to Eeiauo. I

wish- I wish-"

"So do I."

"Captain, couldn't there be just one exception to the quarantine? I'd- like to be there with her."

Her expression was so hopeful Kirk hated to deny her that consolation- but orders were orders, and it

would do her no good to see Sunfall as she must be now. He shook his head. "If there were something I

could do," he said.

"I know. If there were something any of us could do." Her voice trailed off. She wiped her eyes again. "I

should return to the bridge."

"Ensign Azuela can handle that for now," Kirk said.

"Thank you, Captain. I guess I would like some time to be alone."

Kirk took that as a dismissal. He clasped her hand in wordless sympathy and left. Behind him, he heard

the first glasslike sounds of the joyeuse, and then the words of an alien song, that might have been

Eeiauoan, that might have been a plea to the gods for the life of Sunfall of Ennien.

The door hissed closed. Adding his own silent plea to hers, Kirk returned to the bridge.

Chapter Two

Spock completed the data run for McCoy and, having finished his watch, retired to his quarters to

meditate on this newly revealed facet of McCoy's behavior. Logically, there was no reason for the doctor

to insist that he, Spock, run data that could be run as easily and as accurately by any medical technician.

Not that McCoy was known for his logic, any more so than any of the humans aboard the Enterprise, but

Spock did find the question of sufficient interest to devote some little time to its consideration.

There was also the more pressing problem of the crew's deteriorating morale. It seemed to him that their

irrationality was increasing by the hour. McCoy would have diagnosed it, in his own peculiar fashion, as

"working themselves into a state."

Perhaps the two were not separate problems, he thought; perhaps McCoy's request might be interpreted

as a symptom of the doctor's low morale: a desire to do something for the sake of doing it and for no

other reason. He had known humans to behave in such fashion before.

Indeed, such symptoms might be widespread, given the magnitude of the Eeiauoans' plight. Even Starfleet

Command had chosen to transfer Dr. Evan Wilson to the Enterprise, a step that while not completely

without precedent, was unusual enough to perplex.

A voice at his door pulled him from his thoughts.

"Mr. Spock? It's Lieutenant Uhura, sir. May I please speak with you?"

"Come in, Lieutenant," he said, curious.

She entered only far enough into the room to allow the doors to slide closed behind her.

He had admired her behavior on the bridge a few hours ago. Under circumstances that would have

elicited from most humans a conspicuous display of emotion, she had conducted herself with almost

Vulcan reserve. Even now, she kept that same calm.

He beckoned her to a chair. She sat. He pulled a second chair to the small table and sat down to face

her. She watched him for a moment.

"Mr. Spock, may I ask that you keep this conversation in confidence?" Before he could object, she

added, rapidly, "I assure you, sir, it does not involve the safety of the Enterprise or of anyone aboard

her."

"In that case, I would have no reason to speak of it to anyone else."

That seemed to satisfy her. She added, "I promise you a logical reason for my behavior, after you answer

a question for me."

Fascinating, thought Spock. "Please continue, Lieutenant."

"Is it possible that Eeiauo is not the planet of origin of the Eeiauoans? Is it possible that they're colonists

from another world?"

"Their histories state-" He stopped abruptly as she shook her head.

"I mean," she said, "aside from what the Eeiauoans claim, is there any external proof that Eeiauo is their

planet of origin?"

"An answer of any degree of reliability will take time, Lieutenant."

She clasped her hands together in the first sign of emotion he'd seen from her, then immediately stopped

the gesture and carefully composed herself. "If you say it's possible, sir, that would be enough."

He realized that she was quite deliberately holding back her emotions out of deference to him. "That will

take several hours, at the very least," he said. "Do you wish to wait?"

"If I will not disturb you."

"You will not."

The answer to Uhura's question came more quickly, and with more certainty, than Spock had expected.

An hour later, he turned from his computer to Uhura. She stared into the attunement flame - light

flickered on her dark, unreadable face. Most humans reacted unfavorably to the higher ambient

temperature he maintained in his cabin. Uhura looked chilled.

He said, "A cursory examination of Eeiauoan science shows a number of anomalies. There is, for

example, no species of vertebrate now living on Eeiauo that resembles the Eeiauoans themselves. In

Earth analogy, there is no creature on Eeiauo related to the Eeiauoans as chimpanzees or gorillas are

related to humans. It would be as if your closest relative were a lizard.

"In addition, while the Eeiauoans have a highly developed science of paleontology, there is nothing in the

fossil record that bears a family resemblance to the Eeiauoans. Under those circumstances, I find it highly

unlikely that they could have developed a theory of evolution, yet they did, independent of Federation

science.

"There are other anomalies as well, but every one of them could be accounted for if the Eeiauoans did

not originate here."

"Mr. Spock?"

"Simply put, Lieutenant, there is indeed a high probability that the Eeiauoans are not native to this world.

Is that sufficient for your purpose?"

Her eyes held a look he'd seen in McCoy's often- one that preceded a bellowing cheer. She blinked,

clamped her jaw and took a single sharp breath. "Thank you."

She stood as if a sudden weight had been released from her shoulders. "You see, the source of my

information also suggests that the Eeiauoans' homeworld knows a cure for ADF syndrome. Your

confirmation of the one means that the other has some chance of being true."

"An interesting possibility," said Spock. "Although one does not necessarily follow the other as fact, it

would be worth pursuing."

"Yes." She nodded. "Any possibility- thank you, sir. I'll tell the captain now."

"I do not understand, Lieutenant, why you chose to tell me, in confidence, and not the captain, as you

now intend to inform him.

Her head ducked briefly, but not before he saw embarrassment in her face. "I've taken advantage of your

background, Mr. Spock. Your hopes would not be dashed if there were no possibility. I knew you

would wait for facts."

"Ah," he said, "your logical reason."'

She nodded.

"Admirable," he said. "I shall accompany you."

Jim Kirk sat in the briefing room with Uhura and Spock to either side of him. Behind him, Chief Engineer

Montgomery Scott watched the viewscreen over his shoulder and shifted restlessly. The inaction's getting

to Scotty, too, Kirk thought.

McCoy was as voluble from a distance as he was in person, but his words came as a disappointment.

"No way, Jim," he said. "I even talked to the World Coordinator-she's down the hall bein' treated. She's

in the early stage of ADF syndrome. If there's a cure, she'd have every stake in findin' it, even on this

hypothetical homeworld. She says all her generations were born here. I don't know where you got your

information, but everybody here denies it."

Kirk said, "Denies it how, Bones? As if it were a fable, a fantasy?"

"How d'you expect me to know what goes on in their furry heads? They have all the emotional

expression of Spock there. What on earth gives you the idea this isn't their planet of origin, anyway?"

Spock intervened. "Aside from their histories, there is no physical evidence, either in their paleontology or

their archeology, to suggest they originated on Eeiauo."

"In other words," McCoy snapped, "we have only their word for it. Why should they lie about a thing like

that, dammit? It doesn't make sense, Spock."

"I am hardly accountable for the illogical behavior of the Eeiauoans, Dr. McCoy. Other beings have been

known to distort their histories."

"To the point of self-destruction? That's crazy!"

Spock said, "I agree, but also highly probable in this instance."

"Gentlemen, enough." Kirk had no intention of letting Spock and McCoy get out of hand. "Lieutenant

Uhura, you seem to know this culture quite well. Why don't you ask one of the Eeiauoans?"

"I'll get Quickfoot," McCoy said. He vanished momentarily off-screen, though not before Kirk caught a

glimpse of his expression and knew he was being humored, as far as his chief medical officer was

concerned.

"One moment, Captain."

"Yes, Mr. Spock?"

"I believe the lieutenant would prefer that you act on my information rather than her own." To Uhura,

Spock added, "It was a logical deduction from your behavior, Lieutenant."

"Is that true, Uhura?" Kirk asked. He need not have: her trapped expression told him clearly enough that

Spock's assessment was correct. He thought for a moment. "All right, Lieutenant. Is your Eeiauoan good

enough to translate for me?" At her nod, he said, "Perhaps you'll have some questions of your own for

Quickfoot." Kirk hoped she understood his suggestion. He had no time to make himself plainer; McCoy

had returned with Quickfoot.

"Quickfoot," he said, "This is Lieutenant Uhura, my chief communications officer. She has agreed to

translate for us." He smiled and added, "In a situation like this, I prefer not to rely upon mechanical

translation- that may cause more problems than it solves."

Uhura translated. The sound of it was so unexpected, he turned to stare at her. It was as if she'd taken a

random assortment of snarls, hisses and yowls and set them all to music, sweetening them somehow in

the process.

Quickfoot responded in kind. "Yes," said Uhura, "she understands the problem. Dr. McCoy has recently

been trying to ask something that is so bizarre everyone- everyone is wondering about his sanity!"

"Thanks a lot," McCoy muttered from a corner of the screen.

"My science officer, Mr. Spock," Kirk continued and indicated the Vulcan, "has been studying your

world and its history. He seems to think your people left their homeworld some two thousand years ago

to settle Eeiauo -"

He paused to let Uhura begin her translation, but he got no further. As Uhura finished, Quickfoot bristled

and laid back her ears. Her pupils dilated to twice their size. Her claws splayed at the screen.

Uhura translated her angry response, hard put to keep up. "She says Spock is crazy, too. The Eeiauoans

have always lived on this world. This is their homeworld. They have never known any other, they will

never know any other!"

Quickfoot spat, turned abruptly from the screen and stamped away, her hind claws clicking loudly on the

hospital floor.

Uhura finished, awkwardly, "That last was a very strong obscenity."

Kirk took a deep breath. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."

Scotty nodded, "Aye. Dr. McCoy, dinna ye recognize an angry cat when ye see one?!"

McCoy snorted at him. "Let me know when you've got something more than an angry cat. I have work

to do...McCoy, out." The screen went dark.

"So," said Jim Kirk to his staff, "we have a hypothetical planet -"

"Real enough to gi' Quickfoot a catfit," interjected Scotty, scornfully.

Kirk chose to ignore that. "- with a hypothetical cure for ADF. Any suggestions? Spock, Scotty?" He

turned pointedly to Uhura. "Lieutenant Uhura?"

She made no answer.

"Lieutenant Uhura," said Spock, "I should like to point out that a people capable of denying its own origin

in the face of such need might well be capable of denying a betrayal of that origin, if such were to their

advantage and if no open acknowledgment of the betrayal were made. I see no reason to inform the

Eeiauoans of the source of our information."

Kirk caught on instantly. "Of course we'll keep Sunfall out of it," he said; and, just as swiftly, Scott

added, "Aye, lassie, we wouldna hurt your friend."

Unable to keep the urgency out of his voice, Kirk went on, "Uhura, these people are going to die. Every

day that passes their chances get slimmer and slimmer. If you know anything that can help, you must tell

us. I'll make that an order, if you prefer."

Uhura shook her head. "Thank you, Captain, but it is my responsibility. Sunfall is dying. I'll tell you what

little I know."

She began so softly Kirk had to strain to hear her. "Sunfall and I were very close friends, Captain. It was

as if we were sisters, except that we shared more interests than most sisters. I told you how we traded

songs...

"One evening, very late at night, I taught her a dozen or so of my favorite"-she glanced away,

embarrassed- "bawdy songs. You must understand that to her there was nothing the least bit impolite

about those songs: Eeiauoan children learn songs twice as ribald, and in school!"

"Infinite diversity," said Kirk, quoting the Vulcan credo. Go on."

"I was careful to explain that the songs I taught her were taboo in many cultures, including mine, and not

STAR TREK - TOS - 21 - Uhura's Song

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