STAR TREK: The Original Series - Garth of Izar Page 4

  Garth bowed. “I shall miss our chess games, Fatima. You were a most worthy opponent.”

  “As shall I.” Captain Baksh smiled, but Kirk had the feeling that she was relieved to be on her way.

  Garth stood next to Kirk in silence until Baksh had disappeared into her shuttlecraft, then said, “Thank you for the welcome, Captain. Please lead the way.”

  The captain would, of course, be well aware of Starfleet’s reservations about returning him to active duty; he would have picked up on the doubts about him either directly or indirectly. The man was no fool; everything that others might have thought must have long since played through his mind. Kirk’s own conversation with Admiral Mendez had probably been only the tip of the iceberg; what had gone on below the surface had to have been much more contentious, and Kirk could easily imagine Garth confronting the doubts of others and then deflecting them in his own theatrical way. The Shakespearean cast of mind that Garth had shown as the mad Lord Garth, belonging as it did to a man who had grown to have confidence in his undeniable abilities and accomplishments, meant that he would not lose his sense of the dramatic, whether he was sane or insane. [40] That dramatic sense was part of what had made Garth a great leader in the first place.

  Garth had made the rounds at the reception, greeting each officer and crew member in turn and presenting the same amiable and composed demeanor to each person. Kirk had been watching him while trying not to be obvious about it, but Garth, in the middle of a conversation with Lieutenant Uhura and Nurse Christine Chapel, had glanced briefly at Kirk with the amused look of an actor taking pride in a successful, performance. Now he stood with Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott and Lieutenant Kyle as the three men sampled drams of Scotch.

  Leonard McCoy came up to Kirk and handed him a glass of wine. “Garth seems to be charming almost everyone in sight,” the physician said in a low voice.

  “Yes, he is,” Kirk replied. “Almost makes me think we should have laid on a full banquet for him after the reception.” In spite of his words, he was content with keeping Garth’s welcome on a smaller scale. He and Garth, along with Spock, had scheduled a meeting after the reception to discuss their mission in more detail, and there was always the chance that Garth, given the ambiguity of his position, might have found a more elaborate reception unsuitable, even subtly insulting.

  A group of engineers were leaving the reception; others, including Spock, had already left. Garth drained his small glass of Scotch, nodded at Scott [41] and Kyle, then made his way toward Kirk and McCoy.

  “Thank you for your hospitality, Captain. I’ve enjoyed meeting your people, and much as I would like to prolong this occasion, I know we have a meeting ahead of us still.”

  Garth, Kirk thought, already seemed to be taking command. “Mr. Spock is probably already waiting for us in the conference room.”

  “And I have to get back to sickbay,” McCoy murmured. “Good seeing you again, Captain Garth.”

  As McCoy left, Garth said, “I suppose that the good doctor feels that I am, in some small way, his handiwork.”

  “So you do remember him,” Kirk said.

  “I know that Dr. McCoy met me on Elba II at the onset of my successful therapy, and that he synthesized more of the serum you brought there for me and my fellow patients. But my memory of my first meeting with him is as vague as that of my earlier encounter with you and Mr. Spock. Perhaps that is just as well.” For an instant, Kirk glimpsed grief in Garth’s eyes, as if an unhappy memory had suddenly come to him, and then his unruffled expression returned. “Lead the way, Captain Kirk. Even though Vulcans are not capable of becoming impatient, perhaps it is time that we joined Commander Spock.”

  “Well, gentlemen,” Garth said as he looked around the briefing room, “are we the only ones coming?”

  [42] Kirk nodded, then sat down at Spock’s left. “No one else, Captain Garth.”

  “I would have no objection to the presence of others,” Garth replied as he seated himself at the table across from them. “My mission is of great concern to the Federation and to Starfleet.” Kirk noted that Garth seemed to be drawing a sharp distinction between Starfleet and the Federation.

  “Captain Garth,” Spock began, “please tell us exactly what you hope to accomplish on Antos IV.”

  Garth smiled. “Right to the point, eh, Mr. Spock?”

  “Anything else would be pointless.”

  Garth seemed about to laugh, then folded his arms. “Quite right, Commander. I am already well acquainted with all the objections to my mission as voiced by Starfleet and the Federation’s diplomatic corps, as well as all of the discreetly expressed doubts about me, and I am in complete sympathy with those doubts.”

  “Indeed?” Spock said, raising an eyebrow.

  “I was a madman.” A pensive, almost regretful look crossed Garth’s face. “I may not be able to recall what happened to me when I was insane, but I have looked at all of the records of my deeds. I am well aware of what I did in that mad state, how much harm I caused, and how much more harm I might have brought about. That I retain no personal memory of those actions and am not held responsible for them is small consolation.”

  “And how will you address the doubts held about you?” Spock asked.

  Garth shrugged. “How can I battle vague [43] presuppositions, even outright fear of what I might do? I can only disprove the doubts of others through my actions, and even then there will still be those who will remain suspicious of me. And when I am gone, will others then claim, ‘Garth was true after all, and all of our suspicions were wrong’? Or will they say instead that I simply ran out of time to carry out my schemes?”

  “It is impossible to prove a negative,” Spock replied. “An infinite amount of time would be required.” Spock, Kirk knew, had his own way to probe and possibly reveal Garth’s true state of mind.

  Garth gazed at Spock for a few moments, then turned toward Kirk. “Perhaps I should ease your minds about questioning me this way. Be as harsh as you wish. It’s necessary, and I’ll do all that I can to answer you.”

  “Very well,” Spock said. “Please tell us exactly how you propose to learn of any dangerous intentions on the part of the Antosians.”

  Garth smiled. “I see that Admiral Mendez left it to me to fill you in on many of the details.”

  “Go on,” Kirk said.

  “I know the Antosians better than anyone else who is not one of them,” Garth said. “After my discharge from Elba II, on my way back to Earth and my meetings with Starfleet Command, I was able to stop at Antos IV for a time and visit those who had helped me there. I wanted to demonstrate to Starfleet that I could return to the place that had provoked [44] my ... illness without any deleterious effects, and was granted permission to do so, but my main reason for wanting to return was to apologize. I didn’t know what to expect, but I felt that I had to atone for my threats somehow. To their everlasting credit, the Antosians greeted me warmly and made me feel most welcome. I was very sorry to leave again.” He paused, then continued, “I intend to meet with the Antosian leaders and question them, and then I think I will perceive the truth.”

  “Indeed,” Spock said.

  “I will be standing before either a wall or a window,” Garth said.

  “That’s it?” Kirk asked, unable to restrain himself.

  Spock almost looked puzzled as he studied Garth. “But surely,” Spock said, “you see how problematic your proposal seems to be, since we will have only your opinion by which to judge a people who have never threatened anyone, who are reputed to be most peaceful, and who show no interest in extending their influence beyond their own world.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be vague,” Garth murmured, “or cryptic. You have to know more in order to judge the complexity of what we will be attempting.” He leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. “Captain Kirk, I must tell you and Commander Spock what Admiral Mendez did not.”

  Kirk took a deep breath. “Well, you certainly know how to p
ique my curiosity.”

  “That wasn’t my intention,” Garth said. “This [45] entire mission is of such vital importance that it must proceed by stages, including a careful control of how much anyone involved with it can be told at any given stage. Right now, both of you need more information from me, but there is a point, as you’ll see, beyond which no one, including myself, knows anything of what might happen with the Antosians and how the Federation might have to respond.”

  “Captain Garth,” Spock said, “I find myself confused.”

  That, Kirk thought, was putting it mildly. Suspicion was taking hold of him again; what was Garth actually trying to do? Given his abilities, he might be attempting something far removed from what anyone assumed, even if his plan was a constructive one. Leaders often acted for the good of others even if their worthy goals were at first concealed, or had to be concealed, from those who would benefit most. There were factions at work at Starfleet Command and the Federation Council and in other halls of decision, and the same might be true of the Antosians. If so, Garth might be able to exploit such divisions on Antos IV; there was endless opportunity for a creative mind like Garth’s to work toward purely private goals. Why had Garth been permitted to visit Antos IV? Who had decided that?

  “I must tell you the whole story,” Garth said, “and you’ll be hearing it from one who is convinced that he understands it better than anyone else can, because he is the only living direct witness, apart from the Antosians.”

  [46] “Go ahead, Captain.” Fascinated as he was by the idea of hearing this tale from the man who had once been his hero, Kirk cautioned himself that Garth might be an unreliable narrator in spite of his closeness to the events. Garth might not be in command of all the facts, he might be misinterpreting what he had experienced, or he might be deliberately trying to mislead them.

  “As you well know,” Garth began, “a transporter accident can wreak havoc on a human being’s structure—on any being’s structure, for that matter. Organs can be displaced, limbs broken—any number of horrific things can happen. In a way, I was fortunate—I didn’t die instantly, and I didn’t suffer the most grotesque possible effects of such an accident, but I was damaged and deformed, and had to struggle even to breathe.”

  The man seemed to be looking through Kirk as he spoke, almost as though he was in a mild trance; perhaps Garth was remembering his ordeal.

  “I had come to Antos IV,” Garth continued, “because the Federation wished to establish relations with the people of that planet. All we knew about their culture was that they were humanoids like us, and that their few contacts with other races showed only peaceful aims. There had been few offworld visitors to Antos IV, but what they had seen there indicated that the Antosians were a most cooperative and pacifistic race. There was no sign of any advanced weaponry, and no indication that the Antosians were at all interested in violent pursuits.”

  Garth paused for a moment, and Kirk saw a [47] mournful look cross his face, as though he were sorrowing for something he had lost.

  “I find myself wondering,” Spock said in the silence, “why it is that you, a man known for your military exploits as a fleet commander, were sent there rather than a seasoned diplomat.”

  “Both Starfleet and the Federation Council wanted to demonstrate both our peaceful intentions toward Antos IV and our ability and willingness to protect the Antosians from any outside aggression.” Garth opened his hands, palms up. “They thought that a Starfleet captain, one who had fought his battles only in the interests of restoring or furthering peace, would be the perfect representative. And I will confess that my superiors knew by then that I was already looking forward to another kind of life.”

  Spock arched his right eyebrow.

  “I had won my victories,” Garth said in answer to Spock’s silent query. “I had been in Starfleet for my entire adult life. A man comes to a time when he must leave the battlefield to others and look for other challenges. I didn’t know yet what might lie ahead, but I did not want to become an old warrior, living in the past, losing myself in thoughts of victories I might have had in past times.”

  Garth was being extremely honest, Kirk thought. He was in effect admitting that an aspect of the mad would-be conqueror Lord Garth had always lived inside him.

  “In any case,” Garth went on, “I made contact with [48] the Antosians and was asked to beam down alone—I believe only because the Antosians assumed that since I was the Federation’s designated representative, anyone else accompanying me would be unnecessary or redundant. As it turned out, that was fortunate—it meant that only I was disabled and damaged in that freak transporter accident.”

  “A freak occurrence indeed,” Spock said, “since the odds of it happening under normal circumstances—”

  “—are several trillions to one at least,” Garth finished. “Yes, I am well aware of being an extremely rare exception.” He looked away for a moment. “I was dying. I couldn’t breathe, and I imagined that I could feel the deformities in my body produced by the malfunctioning transporter. I don’t quite know how to describe what happened next. The Antosians, in order to help me in my distress and begin my healing, sent me into myself. I believe they began this process by using a technique similar to your Vulcan mind-meld, Commander Spock, but I was in too much agony to sense exactly how they managed it. I was sent into, in effect, the mirror-memory of my own structure. They taught me, through cellular metamorphosis, to reverse the changes that had damaged me.”

  Kirk kept his eyes on Garth, wondering exactly how much of that knowledge the other captain still retained, and whether he still had the power to transform himself.

  “I learned that I had to be extremely watchful of [49] my cellular structures,” Garth said. “The Antosians could not tell me how long it would be before the original memory of my bodily integrity would again take hold and prevail against the disarray.”

  Garth bowed his head and was silent for a while. When he looked up once more, the mournful look had returned to his eyes. “With what I was taught, I healed myself, more quickly than I could have imagined possible. I remained among the Antosians for a short time, and by the time Liang Jin—he was my first officer—contacted me to see what orders I had for him, I assumed myself ready to return to my ship, and I gave him the order to beam me back aboard. I was physically whole, physically myself, but my brain was disordered, my nerves ...” He passed a hand over his face, then rested his arms on the table-top again, looking defeated. “But you know what happened after that.”

  Kirk again imagined the scene on the bridge of the Heisenberg: the raging Garth returning, screaming that the Antosians had to die, disintegrating Liang Jin and his second officer with his phaser. Something in him recoiled as he thought of the monstrosity that had possessed the man who sat before him, and yet he still felt the pull of loyalty that Garth had been able to exert on those under his command. It was the heritage of a psychological plumage, a personal style that could stand outside the morality of a particular context. It was good that Garth had not lived in past times; he might have been the kind of dedicated [50] conqueror that the mad Lord Garth of Elba II had been too irrational and ill to become.

  “Do you remember why you gave the order to destroy the Antosians and their world?” Kirk asked.

  Garth shook his head. “Not exactly. All I can remember about my return to my ship is my absolute fear of them and my utter conviction that they were a danger to every inhabited planet in the galaxy. And of course that wasn’t the case.”

  Spock said, “Captain Garth, either the Antosians are as peaceful as we have believed them to be—and all evidence points to this as a permanent condition—or there is evidence for something else. If they are a pacifistic race, then sending someone else to complete your original mission of establishing contact would have been quite enough. Therefore, I cannot believe that the Federation would be sending us on this particular mission without some evidence, or at least suspicion, of an upcoming problem. Whi
le such heights of paranoia are not unknown in human history, I am baffled by its presence in this case, with such an apparently benevolent race as the Antosians.”

  “Quite right, Commander,” Garth said. “Now we come to the reason for my mission. The Antosians, thanks to me, are no slouches at paranoia themselves. They learned a lot about human beings in restoring me to myself. They also heard me raving about how, with their shape-changing abilities, they could rule the universe—how, with their power, we could not chance their very existence, that we had to destroy [51] them to save ourselves, because even if it took ages, they might one day, sooner or later, begin to use their power against other cultures.”

  Garth leaned forward. “You see, gentlemen, it was my very presence among the Antosians that has changed matters. My last visit to their world has confirmed it. These peaceful people thought only of saving my life, and in return for that, they were treated to my ranting about their great power and how they might conquer the universe. They witnessed my fear of what they might do and heard my threats against them. And now—” He sighed. “A faction of Antosians has grown to believe that they should destroy us before we destroy them. They do not think that they can risk our ever having a change of heart about them. This was what I discovered when, after my discharge from Elba II, I visited those Antosians who had helped me, in order to express my gratitude properly. I found out that I have infected their people with my fear and paranoia, with my former madness. That is my greatest burden. That may be the worst of all my deeds.”

  Kirk noticed that Spock remained silent. It was his way of showing surprise. The captain broke the silence himself. “So now the Antosians are like us, holding many opinions, perhaps from one extreme to the other.”

  Garth nodded. “It was my own deranged presence that injected the virus of doubt into a vulnerable group of Antosian minds. And it is now up to me, with your help, to undo what has been done.”

  [52] “And you are certain of this,” Kirk said.