Constellations (30 page)

With this, even Kyo-Ina couldn't continue to smile. She lowered her head and told Kirk, “I warned you to leave.”

Kirk asked, “Warned us about what?” The men in black began to drag Scott away, while Kirk was held in place. “Where are you taking him?” Scott fought against those holding him, but the men were too strong and he was soon pulled off through the doorway from which they'd come. Kirk shouted after him, but the engineer was gone. And all the people continued to walk by, seemingly oblivious of the scuffle, except for a young man with blond hair who had watched, discreetly, from behind a nearby pillar and then hurried away. Kirk demanded to know from Kyo-Ina what was happening.

In a low tone she said, “Your engineer has committed an act of sedition with his statements.” Kirk didn't understand. “On Donico, the punishment for sedition,” she continued, “is death. The sentence will be carried out tomorrow morning.” At this, Kirk strained desperately against his captors, but it was no use. Kyo-Ina noted, “I told you—there is no problem here.” She pleaded with her eyes as well as her voice. “Please, you must leave now, while it is still permitted. Do not commit the same act as your engineer or you will face the same result.” She nodded to the men in black, who released Kirk's arms. As Kyo-Ina raised Kirk's phaser and aimed it at him, the smile returned to her face, though not her eyes. She handed him his communicator and watched as he flipped it open to contact his ship.

“Kirk to
Enterprise,
one to beam up,” Kirk said as Kyo-Ina gestured at him with his own weapon. “This isn't over.”

 

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Uhura sat around the table in the briefing room. McCoy berated his captain. “Jim, you're not just going to sit there and let them kill Scotty, are you?”

Before Kirk could respond, Spock interrupted. “Doctor, the Prime Directive demands noninterference in the society of such a planet. Despite the captain and the engineer's best intentions to help, the Donicans have clearly shown an unwillingness to permit it.”

“And for that, we just let Scotty die?” McCoy angrily asked.

Spock pointed out, “Violating a planet's sovereignty, as we have done, always carries risks. Mr. Scott has broken one of their laws. Do you suggest we break more of them?”

“Gentlemen.” Kirk's concerned voice entered the fray. “We are not going to let Scotty die and we are not going to interfere with the government and justice system of Donico II.”

Uhura couldn't resist asking, “Then, Captain, what will we do?”

“Come up with a third option. There has to be another way,” Kirk concluded.

Spock injected, “The lieutenant may have found one possibility.” All eyes turned to Uhura, who shifted in her seat, nervous to be the center of attention. Had she always been this nervous in a briefing? She couldn't recall her former self mentioning this in a log, so she supposed not. She must have always been so confident. Then. Her captain expected as much of her now—but that little voice nagged at her. Who did she think she was? What did she think she knew? For a moment, Uhura thought her anxiety would overwhelm her, but Kirk smiled his encouragement, which soothed her a bit.

Using her notes as a reference point, Uhura briefly outlined the ongoing, minute changes she'd discovered by studying the planet's communications.

“So someone is rewriting the history of Donico II,” Kirk concluded.

“Not just their history,” Uhura pointed out, “they're rewriting the present, too. It seems like anything that could possibly offend or upset someone is routinely and methodically removed from documentation as if it never happened. A traffic problem. A drought. A war. It's as if by pretending these things never happened, they're trying to make them go away through sheer denial.”

McCoy harrumphed and shook his head.

“Though it may seem illogical and unsustainable by our present standards,” Spock noted, “the Donican system is not without precedent. There was a time in Earth history when humans were so concerned about a word or definition offending another group of humans that they tried to redefine the word or censor its usage. This led some to call for the removal of various displays of cultural heritage, art, or works of literature if they were determined to be possibly ‘offensive,' rather than teach people the context of the history in which such beliefs were held. For fear of upsetting some groups of people, they wound up disrespecting others and disavowing their own past.”

“Fortunately, Mr. Spock, we pulled our heads out of the sand and figured out that denying our earlier ignorance only led to more ignorance rather than enlightenment, and that there was room enough for multiple beliefs and behaviors,” McCoy observed.

“Indeed, Doctor. And it only took you a century or so to manage it. Several millennia
after
the Vulcans discovered IDIC.” Spock cocked a sardonic eyebrow at this latest thrust and parry in his and McCoy's long-standing argument on the maturity of humanity.

“It seems that the Donicans, however, are still firmly buried up to their necks,” Kirk said.

“But it's worse than just denial of facts, Captain,” Uhura explained. “The Donicans are a totalitarian society where no ‘unpleasant' speech is allowed. Everything from history to news to entertainment is controlled and sanitized until it can't disturb anyone. That's why they arrested Scotty—something so ‘unpleasant' as a potential planetary catastrophe can't be publicly proclaimed.”

“So they'll all die happy and ignorant. Wonderful solution,” McCoy grumbled.

“Not our solution. Lieutenant,” Kirk asked Uhura, “Spock said you had another possibility? Even if we could gain control of their communications systems and warn the Donican population of the threat, it doesn't sound like the population is in any condition to hear the truth.”

“You're right,” Uhura acknowledged. “Most of them couldn't understand or accept the truth of a bad situation because they've been conditioned to see the world from an idealized perspective. However…” Kirk smiled as he sensed a solution forthcoming. “While I was scanning the planet, I noticed what seemed at first to be a sensor echo following my scans. But after a while, instead of shadowing what I did, it seemed to head off in certain directions. When I followed it, I uncovered certain ‘unpleasant' facts that had yet to be rewritten. Caches of information that seemed hidden away from the main comnet and media highways. It was as if someone was leading me to them.”

Kirk's smile widened. “We have an unknown ally.”

“Unidentified, but not unknown. I suspect there is a group of people on Donico II that are trying to protect the truth, their history, and they've been leading me to them. I believe…” For a moment Uhura hesitated, then, feeling the support in the room, finished her thought. “I believe these are the people who initially sent out the distress call. I think I can trace the echo and contact them. They might be able to help us find a way to help Scotty from within.”

“Hopefully, before it's too late,” McCoy worried.

“Do it.” Kirk ordered Uhura to contact the rebel group of Donicans. “In the meantime, I'll see if I can try to convince Kyo-Ina to postpone Scotty's sentence.”

 

The unfamiliar face of a blond-haired young woman answered their communication. Kirk asked to speak with Kyo-Ina. The woman responded, “Kyo-Ina is not available at the moment. I will inform her that you contacted us if I speak with her. Have a lovely day.” Contact was broken. Frustrated, Kirk turned to Uhura, who had been working away at her communications panel. She had a concerned look on her face.

“Captain, I've managed to contact them, but I think they want…” She hesitated.

“Put it onscreen, Lieutenant,” Kirk ordered. “If there's a chance to save Scotty, we need to take it now.”

“Aye, sir.” Uhura obeyed the command.

A dark-haired middle-aged man sat in a darkened room. It was hard to make out the details of anything behind him, though the room might have been filled with computer equipment or junk. There was no visual sign of anyone else in the room, but the occasional shift or creak around him belied that idea. The man tried not to glance at someone presumably standing just off to his left side, but instead stared into the viewscreen. He looked at Kirk and asked, “Where is Uhura?”

Kirk glanced back at his communications officer, then introduced himself. “I'm Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation
Starship Enterprise.
Who am I addressing?”

The man looked disturbed and snuck a look over to the person standing offscreen, then back again. “I will speak only to Uhura. Where is she?”

Kirk indicated for Uhura to step forward. She did, albeit a bit reluctantly. “I'm Lieutenant Uhura, communications officer for the
Enterprise.
I'm the one who contacted you.”

The man looked suddenly angry. “Communications officer? On Donico that would mean it's your job to obscure the truth, clean it up so it's all ‘fine' and easy to swallow.”

Uhura reassured him. “That's not my job on the
Enterprise.
” With the captain's nod of approval she stepped forward to express herself. “It's my job to make sure everyone knows what is going on. To make sure everyone has reliable information. So we can make informed decisions.”

Another man stepped forward in front of the viewscreen. He was young, blond, and very distrustful. “You serve the truth? The whole truth? Not just some palatable version? Not ‘Let's forget this person existed because they made a mistake or that person because they countered the accepted and approved histories'?”

“Yes, I serve truth,” Uhura said. “After all, if people don't know there was a mistake, how can they avoid it the next time?” This answer seemed to relieve the first man and the second stepped back again.

“You must forgive Tano,” the dark-haired man said. “He recently lost someone he cared about for daring to speak of something ‘unpleasant.' I am Kurning, leader of the FreeSpeakers. We sent the distress call that you answered. You have obviously discovered the danger we face should the Grid overload—”

“And no one will do anything about it!” Tano exclaimed. “So we have!”

“What do you mean?” Kirk asked.

“Why should we trust you, Enforcer?” Tano challenged, stepping forward again. “Do you not work for an oppressive government yourself?”

“No, I work for the United Federation of Planets, a peaceful organization, which does not suppress the rights of any of its members,” Kirk answered.

“Ah,” said Tano. “‘Peaceful.' Our Enforcers do not ‘suppress' either. We are allowed to express any happy, good thoughts we like. Those who do not are not ‘suppressed.' They simply disappear. Like your engineer.”

Kirk leaned forward intently. “Scotty? Is he all right?”

Kurning nodded. “He will be safe until morning. But if something is not done, he, too, will be killed.”

“As will many millions on your planet if the governmental leaders don't allow us to help you fix your Grid,” Kirk reminded him.

“Exactly!” said Tano with a dark grin. “So we have come up with an equitable exchange.” He reached for something offscreen and pulled forward a tied and gagged Kyo-Ina. Tano gleefully pulled her gag down so she could speak.

“Captain Kirk! Tell these…people…they must release me. It will do them no good to hold me here.” She looked at the viewscreen, pleading.

“Do you hear her, Enforcer? ‘These people.'” Tano repeated her words with disgust. “Not ‘criminals' or ‘rebels.' How about ‘misdirected believers'? No, those words are too negative and unpleasant! But we are all of these on Donico! Anyone who dares speak truly is an ‘un-preferred element.' Or is it ‘preeducated'?” he demanded of Kyo-Ina. “I so easily forget the latest acceptable terminology,” he mocked.

“That's enough, Tano,” Kurning warned. He looked into the viewscreen. “Lieutenant Uhura, if you truly believe in what you say—if you believe in truth and freedom of information, you must help us.”

“I don't understand,” Uhura said. “How can I help you?”

“We have tried to convey the truth to our people and have had our words twisted by our leaders and ‘reimagined' into shapes they do not mean. This is how the leaders control the people and maintain their power. Our own people will not believe us. They will not even believe you, as they have been told that offworlders are agents of deceit or that their existence is a fantasy tale told to children.” Kurning explained, “But the leaders of our world must be convinced not only to shut down the Grid with the help of your engineer, but to tell the people of Donico the truth! Truth about the threat to their lives. Truth about their world—the good
and
the bad of it—and the universe they live in.” Kurning's speech intensified. “If you are the one who conveys information, relay this to our leaders: We have one of their own.” He indicated Kyo-Ina. “We will exchange her for the release of the engineer Scott so that he can fix the Grid. But they must first inform the people of Donico of the unpleasant truth about the danger they are all in. If they do not admit what is real and true, we will not release Kyo-Ina. And your engineer will die. As will we all. But without truth, what is worth living for?” Kurning gave Uhura one last pleading look. “We will be watching and listening. Help us, Uhura. Make them communicate the truth.” The viewscreen went dark.