STAR TREK - The Brave and the Bold Book One Page 14

  Captain Dax started, but Keogh ignored her.

  Im afraid youll have to wait a while. Were in the midst of an operation that requires phasering the surface of the moon were on. As soon as thats done, I promise to do whatever I can to solve your problem.

  Captain Dax started again, but Keogh waved her off.

  Thats very kind of you, Captain, Im extremely grateful to you for your helpbut Im afraid Im in a bit of a rush. Do you think I could land on the moon before you start your operation?

  I suppose its possible, Keogh said without even considering it. All he wanted was to make sure that Aidulac was happy.

  This time, Dax pulled him away from the viewer as she bellowed, Captain!

  Dammit, Lieutenant, I dont see

  Then his head cleared.

  He tried to reconstruct the last minute or so, and found that he couldnt. What just happened?

  Captain Keogh, please, you must believe me, I need to come down there. Keogh heard Aidulacs words, but refused to look at the viewer.

  Lieutenant, what the hell is going on? he whispered.

  Shes a Siren, Deco, and shes trying to trick you into letting her land.

  Keogh had heard stories about the women of Pegasus Major IV who had been specially trained by the Peladon Affiliation to be irresistible to men, but he had always dismissed them as tall tales told at bars by older officers to junior officers or by junior officers to cadets.

  As a Starfleet captain, Keogh had had his share of experiences with telepathy and mind control, including one rather nasty occasion last year when hed been possessed by an energy creature that was trying to blow up a planet as a practical joke. He did not take kindly to it then, and he was out-and-out furious about it now.

  Keogh to Odyssey. Tactical specifications of the Sun, Mr. Talltree?

  Ah, standard shields, one phaser bank, no torpedoes of any kind.

  So in your professional opinion

  We could take her out with one shot, sir. Maybe two.

  Did you copy that, Captain Aidulac? You have one minute to leave the Bajoran system, or we test to see which of Mr. Talltrees guesses is accurate.

  Very well, Captain. Ill leave. Aidulacs tone was petulant. But youll regret this, I promise you that.

  Keogh heard the viewer switch off. Only then did he trust himself to look at it. The weakness hed shown irritated himmore so for having it happen in front of Dax, of all people.

  Gonzalez to Keogh. The Sun is leaving orbit, sir, and is now on a course for the Federation border.

  Good, Keogh said. Mr. Talltree, ready phasers.

  Kira to Dax. Is everything okay down there, Jadzia?

  Dax was about to answer when Keogh interrupted. A slight delay, Major. Nothing to worry about. Well begin the operation momentarily.

  If you say so, Captain. Rio Grande out.

  Smiling sweetly at Keogh, Dax said, Dont worry, Deco. It couldve happened to anyone. If your Commander Shabalala had been on the Odyssey instead of Gonzalez, she might have talked him into it.

  Still and all, Lieutenant, I would appreciate it if you didnt bring up the details of what just happened.

  Dax looked down at her console, still with that damned smile of Curzons. As I recall, Captain, those were the exact words you said to me on the Lexington twenty-five years ago. She then looked at him. Besides, from what Ensign Prez told me a few weeks later, it wasnt really worth mentioning.

  Keogh closed his eyes. I knew she was going to bring something up sooner or later, either the holodeck or Curzons liaison with Rosita. So naturally, she mentions both in two sentences.

  Then he opened them and, pointedly not looking at Dax, said, Mr. Talltree, you may commence firing when ready.

  And feel free to aim a shot at Daxs head.

  ***

  Aidulac set a course out of the Bajoran system. Once she was safely out of range of either the Odyssey or the Rio Grande, she pounded a console out of frustration.

  Damn, she thought, now Ive got a bruised hand to go with my bruised ego.

  She had hoped that her failure with Decker and Kirk was a fluke, that when the next Instrument was revealed she would be able to convince whoever was in charge to turn the Instrument over to her.

  But it was time she faced facts. Her skills had atrophied.

  Of course theyve atrophied, she admonished herself. Its been how long? She couldnt even remember how to keep track of the passage of time in Zalkatian terms anymoreit had been that longbut by Federation timekeeping, it had been ninety thousand years.

  A long time to wait for someone to stumble across where those fool rebels had hidden the Instruments.

  Things would have been so different if Malkus had never come to me. If he had never forced me to oversee the construction of the Instruments.

  Of course, it wasnt as if she had a choice. Malkus was the supreme ruler of the entire Zalkat Union. Aidulac was a mere scientist working on a world as distant from the Homeworld as it was possible to be and still fall within the Unions borders. She had spent her life working in relative obscurity, developing new technologies, figuring out new ways to use existing technologies, and trying to stay out of the way of other people. Aidulac had always preferred solitude. Once something was finished, she sold the patent to someone else who would develop it and make it available to the general public.

  She had set up shop on a small planetoid in a star system that she couldnt even remember the name of now. In the intervening millennia the sun had gone nova, the planetoid long since consumed by the stars death throes, but back then it was just another dying stellar body that nobody cared about except as a scientific curiosity.

  Which was how Aidulac liked it.

  The only company she had were robot servants, who only spoke when spoken to, the occasional supply ship that would stop by, and the agents she employed to auction off the rights to anything she invented that might have practical mass-market use. Even then, she limited the contact as much as she could. She was only truly happy when she sat in her lab, trying to unlock the secrets of the universe. Since the universe was miserly with those secrets, the challenge had never lost its luster.

  Then the strange ship arrived.

  It had all the necessary authorization codes to enter orbit without being shot out of the sky by her automated defenses, which meant that they had been able to bribe that information out of one of her agents. At that moment, she sent out messages informing all her agents that their contracts were terminated, effective immediately, and she made a note to begin searching for new ones the next day.

  The ship identified itself as the flagship of Malkus the Mighty. Aidulac was skeptical, obviously, but Malkuss flagship was identifiable through a variety of unique and secure identifiersmost of which were based on Aidulacs own designs.

  Very well, she told the obsequious young man who contacted her. I will grant The Mighty One an audience.

  That left the young man nonplussed, but he signed off, and within minutes, Malkus had shifted down to the surfacespecifically, to the atrium where Aidulac received her few visitors.

  She had seen images of The Mighty One, of coursethey were impossible to avoidand she had expected the reality to be disappointing. After all, it was extremely easy to make oneself better looking, more charismatic, and larger than life on a viewing surface, but, in Aidulacs experience, few accomplished it in real life.

  Malkus, however, was one of those few. He stood half a head taller than Aidulacwho was unusually tall herselfand had a bearing that could only be described as regal. Even though the atrium had directed lighting that emphasized the potted plants and sculptures that she had placed to make the room more relaxing, it seemed that every light in the room shone on him.

  She knew the rituals of her people. She bowed from the waist and said, Mighty One.

  When he spoke, it was in honeyed tones that practically begged to have every word hung on to in the hopes of gaining great pearls of wisdom.

  I am told that you were granting
me an audience. I rather thought it was the other way around. The smile that accompanied this statement took the threatening edge off his words, though Aidulac now noted that his four bodyguardswhose presence she hadnt even registeredhad moved their hands to their rather large (if still holstered) sidearms.

  It is you who came to me, Mighty One.

  He laughed, then, a relaxing, pleasant sound. The bodyguardshands went back to their sides. Quite correct, quite correct. You are Aidulac of the Girons, yes?

  It has been some time since I identified myself as belonging to the Girons, Mighty One, but yes, that is I.

  Excellent. I am told that you are the greatest inventor of our age.

  She shrugged. Perhaps.

  I hope so, he said with another smile. I would hate to think that I was lied to. In any event, Aidulac of the Girons, I am the greatest leader of our age. It seems only fitting that we work together.

  With those words, Aidulac knew that her life would irrevocably change. People in the scientific community knew of her, of course, and some did indeed revere her to a degree she found frankly embarrassing. But she had shunned public acclaim because it got in the way of her work.

  Now, however, she had come to the attention of not just the public but the leader of them all. Her days of solitude, she thought, were over.

  She was both absolutely right and completely wrong.

  How, Mighty One? she asked, resigned to the inevitable.

  It will take some time. Will you dine with me aboard my flagship, so I may detail my plan?

  The question was a formality. To decline would be as good as telling one of the bodyguards to shoot her down where she stood. She agreed.

  Soon, she had shifted to the flagship. She had not changed her clothes, as all she owned to wear were single-piece jumpsuits that were functional and easy to put protective gear on over when she needed it. The Mighty One allowed the breach of protocol.

  They did not speak of his plan during dinner, which was a feast unparalleled with anything in Aidulacs experience. She had lived most of her adult life on a steady diet of processed food, brought regularly by the supply ships and stored until they were eaten. The Mighty One, however, dined on fresh game, vegetables, and drinks that had obviously been prepared specifically for this meal. Aidulac had no idea how it was transported on the ship, but considering the huge amount of space wasted on the vesselwhich was a hundred times larger than actually necessary to serve its functionAidulac was sure that they managed to find somewhere to store live animals, grow plants, and harvest flavored liquids. She herself had pioneered the technology for ship-based hydroponics gardens, though she never imagined anything that could produce such bright yellow clamdas. They ate at a large table made from actual tree pulp, using utensils of the finest tin.

  Much from that era had blurred in Aidulacs mind with the passage of ninety thousand years, including the specifics of the conversation during the meal. Aidulac was sure that The Mighty One spoke at great length about his own accomplishments, or perhaps about the food, or maybe his familys historythe only thing she knew for sure was that it was ultimately inconsequential. After the final course was served, he said, And now, to business. I wish you to create four Instruments of Power. I do not know how they may be created, but I wish them to allow me absolute control over all my subjects. I wish them to be portable and responsive only to me.

  Aidulac waited for more details. What are the specifications of these Instruments, Mighty One?

  Again, he laughed. How should I know? If I knew how to construct such items, Aidulac of the Girons, I would not need you. The Instruments must grant me power.

  What kind of power?

  Absolute power.

  Your pardon, Mighty One, but Im afraid I will need instructions a tad more specific than that.

  Malkus gazed upon Aidulac from across the table. He seemed to be studying her the way Aidulac herself would have studied a one-celled organism or a piece of plant life in her laboratory.

  Very well, he finally said, and Aidulac found herself letting out a breath she hadnt even realized she was holding. I wish to have power over the elements. Power over the mind. Power over life and death. And most of all, the power to overcome my enemies.

  For quite some time, she continued to ask questions. However, Malkus never got any more specific than that.

  Finally, she said, Mighty One, I am but a single person. I cannot possibly

  Malkus laughed, then. I do not expect you to achieve this by yourself. While it is true that you have accomplished many great things, you are, as you point out, but a single person. I have already assembled some of the finest minds in the Union. What they require is someone to direct them, to lead them, to mold themand thus allow them to see my vision through to fruition. That someone, Aidulac of the Girons, is you.

  When the meal ended, Aidulac was permitted to shift back to the planet to sleep.

  By the time she woke up, all of her equipment had been packed by her own robots, which had been instructed by Executive Orderthe one way that a robot could be overridden by its rightful owner, an override that was required to go into every robot constructed within the Unions borders. Aidulac had done so to secure hers (erroneously, as it turned out) in the knowledge that it would never be used, but not wanting to find herself subject to an inspection and failing it. As with all of The Mighty Ones laws, those who enforced them took them very seriously, and surprise inspections from The Robotics Authority were not unheard of.

  Aidulac would never see the planetoid again.

  She no longer remembered how long she and her teamwhich, as promised, included most of the finest minds in the Zalkat Union, including many with whom Aidulac had studied or corresponded, many more whom she had never heard ofspent laboring over the Instruments. All she remembered was that it consumed her very existenceand that Malkus spared no expense on their behalf.

  Eventually, at a time when several outer worlds were fomenting rebellion and The Mighty Ones armies were stretched thin to keep order, Aidulac presented him with his Instruments. She had prepared a properly ostentatious speech to make the presentation, having learned how much The Mighty One liked his spectacles.

  You asked me, Mighty One, she said when she approached him in his Place of Governing, to give you power over the elements, power over the mind, power over life and death, and power to overcome your enemies. She indicated the simple black boxes, which she had adorned with Malkuss name. Behold, the Instruments of Malkus. With this one, she said, pointing at the first of them, you may control the weather on any world with a natural atmosphere, and control the environment of any place with an artificial atmospherepower over the elements. With this, she continued, pointing to the second, you may manipulate the thoughts of any sentient being within its rangepower over the mind. She moved on to the third one. With this, you may infect up to five hundred living beings with a virus that will kill them by making their hearts explodepower over life and death. And finally, with this, she pointed to the last of them, you have a weapon of tremendous power that can disintegrate matter in less than an instantpower to overcome any enemy.

  Malkus did not laugh. But he did smile.

  For ninety thousand years, Aidulac remembered that smile.

  Aidulac had hoped that Malkus would not use the Instruments, had hoped that the threat of their existence would be enough. But no one understood the power behind a simple black box without a demonstration.

  And Malkus the Mighty was only too happy to provide such a demonstration.

  The rebellions were all put down by having their ships disintegrated, their hideouts wiped out by hurricanes, their soldiers killed by the virus, and their leaders confessing to their crimes and repenting while under mental manipulation. The borders of the Union expanded by solar system after solar system, as Malkus used his Instruments to gain more and more territory.

  Aidulac had hoped that her own obligations would end, and she and her team would be permitted to go back to their own workwor
k that might help the people of the Union rather than its leader. How many inventions had fallen by the wayside, how many more secrets of the universe might they all have pried loose had they not wasted so much time giving The Mighty One his toys of conquest?

  But Malkus was not done with them. He wanted immortality.

  They developed a genetic therapy that would prevent Malkus from aging. Then The Mighty One made sure all evidence that it ever existed was destroyed.

  That evidence extended to the people who created it.

  One by one, the members of Aidulacs team were killed.

  The only one to escape the executioners pistol was Aidulac herself. She had half expected this kind of treachery, and had laid the groundwork for an escape. As an added bonus, she also had the only copy of the genetic therapy for immortality leftand so, when she made her escape from the Homeworld, she also gave herself the therapy. After all, even The Mighty One would be overthrown eventually. When that happened, then, perhaps, she could return to her work.

  How nave she was.

  The Mighty One did fall, of course. He had thought himself invulnerable because he was immortal, but all that truly meant was that he could not die naturally. The universes worst-kept secret was that it was far easier to destroy a thing than to sustain it. His body was devastated, and the Instruments confiscated.

  She herself was tracked down and arrested. Aidulac was inextricably associated with The Mighty One as the primary inventor of his Instrumentsand also the only one of that team still alive. While Malkus was in power and had a use for her, that meant that her life would always be comfortable and she would be treated with reverence. With Malkus overthrown and her own usefulness at an end, she became an object of disdain at bestan accessory to genocide at worst.

  Until the rebellion succeeded, Aidulac had never thought about the cost of her inventions to living beings. For that matter, she had never thought about the benefits of her early ones. She had always viewed it as a scientific puzzle to be worked out, the latest in a series of dialogues with the universe to try and trick it out of another nugget of information.

  Members of the rebellionnow the Zalkatian governmenttook her to some of the worlds that had been ravaged by her inventions. She saw the mass graves of people whod died by disease or by destructive weather. She saw the cities ravaged by the energy weapon she had invented.