STAR TREK - TOS - 60 - Ice Trap

VIP免费

2024-12-20 0 0 501.93KB 250 页 5.9玖币

侵权投诉

STAR TREK

ICE TRAP

L. A. CRAF

POCKET BOOKS

New York London Toronto Sydney Tokyo

Singapore

This book is a work of fiction. Names,

characters, places and incidents are either

products of the author's imagination or are used

fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or

locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely

coincidental.

An Onginal Publication of POCKET BOOKS

of_

POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon

& Schuster Inc. 1230 Avenue of the

Americas, New York, NY 10020

Rights Reserved.

STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of 0

Paramount Pictures.

This book is published by Pocket Books, a

division of Simon & Schuster Inc., under

exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.

reproduce this book or portions thereof in any

form whatsoever. For information address

Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas,

New York, NY 10020

ISBN 0-671-78068-9

First Pocket Books printing July 1992

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

POCKET and colophon are registered

trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

Printed in the U.S.A.

To Julia, Karen Rose, and Melissa,

without whose inspiration and cooperation

this book would never have been possible

Chapter One

LEONARD MCCOY GLARED at the

transporter from which he, Kirk, and Spock had

just disembarked. The small of his back felt sticky

with nerve sweat, as it always did when he was

forced by circumstance to use a transporter

rather than a more conventional, safer method of

travel like his feet. He snaked an index finger

inside the pale green collar of his uniform and

tugged gently. If man were meant to fly . . . he

thought sourly. "I hate those damned things."

"I know you do, Bones." Jim Kirk paused beside

him, his voice tuned sympathetically and, to

McCoy's ears, a trifle resignedly to an old and

oft-aired complaint. "Just think of it as one of

those wonders of the modern space age."

The doctor snorted, glancing up at the tall

Vulcan beside his captain. "I consider Spock one

of the wonders of the blasted galaxy, but I don't

like him, either."

.L. A. Graf

"Thank you, Doctor," Spock replied. "I shall

take that as a compliment."

Kirk's hazel eyes danced with barely contained

humor. "As I'm sure he intended it."

McCoy snarled and let it ride. Shifting his

medikit from one hand to the other, he looked

around.

The transporter room aboard the Nordstral

Pharmaceuticals orbital station Curie was spare

and utilitarian. A flat-finished hue known back in

McCoy's school days as "institutional pond-scum

gray" colored the unadorned walls. McCoy

assumed the only door afforded access to the rest

of the station. Behind a glass-fronted area to the

right, a lone technician with the bright-hued logo

of Nordstral Pharmaceuticals splashed across the

front of his coveralls worked diligently at a

console, ignorant or uncaring of their presence.

McCoy couldn't decide which rankled him more.

`'You two didn't have to come with me, you

know. I'm a big boy I can handle a simple

medical consultation on my own. You have a

rescue team to lead."

"Spock doesn't," Kirk said, avoiding discussion

on McCoy's first comment. "This stop won't take

long, and I want to find out as much as possible

about this medical crisis Nordstral's having before

I go down to look for their lost shuttle. After all,

Nordstral Pharmaceuticals asked us to help with

both problems."

"And they may prove to be related," Spock

pointed out.

McCoy grunted reluctant agreement. "Wasn't

someone supposed to meet us?"

"That's what I was told." Kirk stepped off the

final riser, obviously bent on hailing the

preoccupied technician. At that moment the door

at the other end of the room slid open to admit a

short, dark-haired

ICE TRAP

woman of middle years. She hurried toward them,

her pale blue lab smock rustling faintly against her

trousers. Her eyes flicked over their rank insignia

and she extended her hand.

"Captain Kirk? I'm Maxine Kane, station

physician for Nordstral Pharmaceuticals. Welcome

aboard Curie. "

Kirk's hand met hers. "Thank you, Dr. Kane.

This is my first officer, Mr. Spock, and my chief

surgeon, Dr. Leonard McCoy."

"Mr. Spock." Kane nodded politely to the

Vulcan, then offered her hand to the doctor. "Dr.

McCoy."

Her handshake was firm, but her palm was

damp. She attempted a genuine smile at McCoy,

but it faltered at the edges. The skin around her

green eyes was pinched tight with fatigue and

worry, giving her face a harsh cast. McCoy would

have laid odds she was nursing a massive

headache. He smiled. "My pleasure, Dr. Kane."

As though unsure what to do with her hand

once McCoy released it, Kane shoved it into her

pocket. The pull of the smock's loose material

showed the fingers curled into a fist.

"I apologise for not being here when you

arrived. Things have been . . . hectic lately.

Between the shuttle crash and the problems in my

own division, I'm usually needed in about fifteen

places at once." She chuckled, a decidedly sad

sound, and ran a hand through her gray-shot hair.

"Too bad our cloning facilities only work for the

local plankton."

Spock cleared his throat. McCoy rolled his eyes;

he could guess what was coming.

"Unless I am mistaken, Dr. Kane, 'plankton' is

not a technically correct term for Nordstral's

indigenous marine protists. Plankton, such as

found on Earth, are 3

L. A. Graf

photosynthetic, using sunlight to convert carbon

dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen.

Nordstral's marine biota, however, use energy

from the planet's strong magnetic field to perform

the same function."

"I really wouldn't know about that, Mr. Spock,"

Kane said with a sigh that McCoy thought

sounded suspiciously like his own. "I'm a medical

doctor all I know is that Earth plankton and

Nordstral biota both float around in the oceans

and churn out the planet's oxygen. That's enough

for me."

"But since these plankton" McCoy threw a

defiant scowl in Spock's direction "are the main

reason Nordstral Pharmaceuticals is here, it seems

to me they can call them whatever they want."

Spock lifted an eyebrow. "The company did not

invent the biota, Doctor."

"Yes. Well." Kane stared at the floor when they

all turned back to her, then looked up with a

faintly embarrassed grin. "I'm sorry Dr. Stehle

isn't here to discuss this with you, Mr. Spock.

Vernon. .." She paused. Emotion washed her

features, changing them like the permutations of

warm wax. "Vernon Stehle headed the planetary

research team that vanished. He's the one who

could have explained the plankton's

pharmaceutical uses I just do first aid." She

breathed deeply and expelled it in a huge, gusting

sigh. "Why don't I take you someplace more

comfortable to talk?" She left the room without

waiting for a reply, trailing the Enterprise officers

behind her.

Kirk caught McCoy's eye as they followed Dr.

Kane down a well-lit corridor. Eyebrows sought

hairline as he mouthed, What do you think?

McCoy shook his head and shrugged

fractionally, his eyes reading the slump of Kane's

shoulders. She 4

ICE TRAP

was an obvious victim of stress, fatigue, and, if her

comments were any indication, overwork.

She led them to a small laboratory. McCoy

couldn't help but think that only a scientist would

find a lab a "comfortable" place to hold a serious

conversation. Places and names might change, but

labs had a tendency to remain the same, world to

world.

She motioned for them to sit at one of the

tables. "Can I get you anything?" When they

refused, Kane ordered an enormous cup of coffee

and two aspirin from the servitor in the corner

before sitting across from Spock. She popped the

aspirin, knocked back a mouthful of the steaming

black beverage, and sighed. "It may be ersatz

coffee, but at least the caffeine's real." She toyed

with the cup, running a finger around and around

the damp rim. "Sometimes I think it's the only

thing keeping me functioning."

"Perhaps sleep would help," Spock suggested

diplomatically.

A corner of her mouth quirked with a sad little

twitch. "It's a precious commodity around here

right now. I don't know of anyone who's had a

whole lot of it lately. Too much has been

happening."

"Why don't you start wherever's easiest?" Kirk

said.

"Nowhere's easiest." Kane slumped back, fingers

clasping the coffee cup. "Suffice it to say that

several weeks ago some of our staff began acting

erratic. We've learned over time that a certain

amount of odd behavior is normal in the people

on longterm company assignments, particularly

when the planet is as nasty as Nordstral. But this

was like nothing we've ever documented. We

currently have over a dozen personnel in

residence at the medical canter."

L. A. Graf

McCoy pursed his lips in a silent whistle. "What

kind of behaviorare we talking about, Doctor?"

Kane held up one hand and ticked down the

fingers as she talked. "Paranoia. Hallucinations.

Hysteria. Violent mood swings. Suicidal ideation."

She snorted. "You name it, we've had it." Her

fingers twisted, lacing together like mating spiders.

"And then it got weirder."

Spock tilted his head. "Could you be more spe-

cific?"

She put aside her cup and stood. "Come with

me and I'll show you."

Kane tapped a short identification code into a

recessed panel beside a high-security door. A tone

sounded, and the indicator light flashed from gold

to blue. She pressed another button and the door

silently slid apart down the middle.

"Home, sweet home," she said, ushering t hem

before her. "This is the psychiatric section of our

complex." She made certain the door was secured,

then preceded the three men down the hall.

A young mea-crew staffer sat behind a station,

back bent over her work. She looked up at the

sound of footsteps and smiled in greeting,

obviously glad for the opportunity to take a break.

Kane returned the young woman's smile. "This

is the help Starfleet promised us." She indicated

the men beside her with a short sweep of her

hand. "They're finally here."

"Thank God," the medtech commented without

rancor. She rubbed her eyes and stifled an

enormous yawn. "These late hours are killing me."

"How's the gang tonight?" Kane asked.

The medtech rested her chin in one hand. "I

ICE TRAP

checked them an hour ago and they were quiet

watching vid and playing cards."

"Well, that's promising, at least." Kane snagged

a chart from the rack beside the work station and

tucked it under her arm.

"Be forewarned, though," the medtech added in

a lower tone. "Mr. Personality is looking for you."

Kane's expression of bitterness and utter

contempt startled McCoy. "What did the. . . what

did he want?" she amended, her eyes shifting only

slightly toward her guests.

"He didn't say." The tech splayed one hand

across her chest. "I'm just a lowly peon,

remember?"

"Right." Kane sighed with such irritation that

McCoy, beside her, felt her whole body shudder.

"Well, let's hope he's given up and gone to bed.

Gentlemen, if you'll follow me?" She started down

the hall.

"'Mr. Personality'?" Kirk queried when they

were out of the medtech's earshot.

Kane's lip curled. "Nicholai Steno, Nordstral's

station manager. If you haven't met him, you're in

for a singular treat. He makes you hope the old

adage of everyone having a twin somewhere in the

universe isn't true." She stopped beside a door

and keyed in another code. The smile she flashed

over her shoulder momentarily eased the tension

around her eyes. "Come on in and meet the gang."

The community recreation room was similar to

many McCoy had seen in his long tenure as a

doctor. Colorful and well-lit, the walls were

decorated with what appeared to be native

handicrafts. Better than a dozen people dressed in

generic spacers' civvies were in attendance. Some

read from viewers in secluded carrels, while others

sprawled in comfortable-looking 7

L. A. Graf

chairs and watched an old movie on a

wall-mounted via. A card game was under way at

a table in the center of the room.

"Hey, Dr. Kanet" A stocky, dark-haired man in-

volved in the card game greeted her with a wide

grin. "Care to try your luck?"

She toggled a finger at him. "Not tonight,

Bracken." She rested a hand on another patient's

shoulder. Her genuine affection for these men and

women was obvious. "How's everyone feeling?"

From around the room came responses in the

affirmative.

"Are you doctors, too?"

McCoy looked down at the gentle-eyed man at

his elbow. At Kane's nod of encouragement, the

ship's doctor smiled. "Well, I am, at least. This is

Captain James Kirk and First Officer Spock."

"Are you here to help us?" A slight woman,

curled in a chair, had spoken up. Her hands

tussled nervously in her lap. "We'd all like to

know what happened. Why we went so crazy."

"You're not crazy," Kane stressed in the uncom-

fortable silence that followed the woman's remark.

"You have to believe that."

"Then what happened to us?" someone else asked.

Kane appeared stymied. Before McCoy could

frame a reply to the patients' fears that wouldn't

sound condescending, Kirk jumped in.

"We don't know yet. But we'll do everything in

our power to discover what happened." Kirk's

voice fairly rang with assurance. He stood in the

center of the room and, one by one, caught each

person there with his eyes and drew them in.

With pride in his friend and something

bordering on amazement, McCoy saw every set of

shoulders in the room relax. Even among people

other than his 8

ICE TRAP

crew people with no idea who he was or what

he'd accomplished in his lifetime, people who had

no reason whatsoever to believe in him Kirk won

instant trust. If he said it was so, then it would be

so, or he'd die trying to make it that way.

Somehow McCoy knew these patients had picked

up on that and would believe in Kirk when they'd

lost the ability to believe in themselves. McCoy

shook his head in gentle wonder, supremely glad

for his friend's presence.

Dr. Kane cleared her throat, obviously moved

by what had just occurred. "We've got work to do,

so we'll say good-night." She glanced at the

chronometer on the wall. "Lights out at ten," she

reminded them, and headed out the door.

Down the corridor and two turns later, they fol-

lowed Kane into her spacious, pleasantly

appointed inner sanctum. She urged them to pull

up chairs around her desk, then leaned between

them to key into the computer system. "Watch the

main screen on the far wall."

The screen flared to life. It was obvious they

were watching from the viewpoint of a wall

camera situated somewhere to the side and above

the subject. McCoy immediately recognized the

slender man who'd first spoken to him. The man

sat cross-legged, arms outstretched, fingers

crooked and plucking the air.

"He's playing a harp," Kane murmured by way

of explanation when Kirk made a

confused-sounding noise. "Or thinks he is, rather.

Said he was Rory Dall Morison. The computer

identified the name as belonging to a Highland

harper who died on Earth in 1713."

The view changed to the woman who'd asked

whether the Enterprise crew were going to help

them. A man sat to her right, watching her

intently. She

L. A. Graf

chattered animatedly, aiming most of the

conversation to the empty area on her left. She

was so frenetic, Kane keyed down the volume.

"That's Risa. She started talking to saints." She

shrugged when McCoy glanced sharply at her.

"This particular discussion took place between her

and Saints John Bosco, Raymund Nonnatus, and

Dympua."

"Who's the man with her?" Kirk asked.

"Captain of the John Lilly, where Risa was

stationed. When she demanded to see a priest, he

filled the bill until they could get her topside."

"What kind of ship is the John Lilly?" Spock

inquired. "One of your orbital Beet?"

Kane shook her head. "Oh, no. It's one of the

submarine plankton harvesters that work under

the ice sheets on Nordstral. The other two are the

Cousteau and the Soroya."

"Were all of these occurrences on the John

Lilly?" Kirk asked, not taking his eyes off the

screen.

"No." Another scene change, this one so abrupt

and startling that McCoy lurched in his seat as a

close-up of Bracken's face filled the screen. He

paced the confines of a tiny room with lurching

strides, arms swinging spastically and colliding

文档加载中……请稍候！
如果长时间未打开，您也可以点击刷新试试。

下载文档到电脑，查找使用更方便

5.9 玖币 0人已下载

立即下载 VIP免费下载

摘要：

STARTREKICETRAPBYL.A.CRAFPOCKETBOOKSNewYorkLondonTorontoSydneyTokyoSingaporeThisbookisaworkoffiction.Names,characters,placesandincidentsareeitherproductsoftheauthor'simaginationorareusedfictitiously.Anyresemblancetoactualeventsorlocalesorpersons,livingordead,isentirelycoincidental.AnOnginalPublicati...

展开>> 收起<<

STAR TREK - TOS - 60 - Ice Trap.pdf

共250页,预览50页

还剩页未读，继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

STAR TREK - TOS - 60 - Ice Trap

相关推荐

开通VIP享超值会员特权

作者详情

相关内容

热门标签

举报选择: