Crisis of Consciousness Read Online Free PDF Page A

shields. Without sensors they could not see them coming.
    “Damage report.”
    Spock hesitated a moment before replying. He checked something off one console, then verified it before looking up at the captain. “No damage. But there is something.”
    Kirk rose toward the science station but gave a half turn to the helm before stepping to the upper bridge. “Maintain evasive, Mister Sulu.”
    Pointing to an external schematic of the Enterprise , Spock indicated three points. “Inert material spaced equidistantly between the secondary and primary hulls.”
    “What are they?” Kirk shook his head at his own thought. “Not explosives.”
    “Unknown.” Spock flipped two switches on his console but little changed on the graphic above them. The mass reading suggested they were heavy, but that told them little. The power-output said null, but without active sensors, it was all a guess.
    Leaning down, Kirk hit the nearest intercom button. “Kirk to engineering. Mister Scott, I want those sensors back now.” He looked to Spock. “We may have to risk an overload to see what we’re dealing with.”
    Silence, no reply from Scott. Kirk repeated himself. “Kirk to engineering. Respond.”
    Just as the captain glanced toward Uhura, she was already checking. “Sir, I’m not getting a response on any channel. Internal or external.”
    Spock immediately bent over his viewer while Kirk checked the auxiliary science station. Internal sensors were either as hampered as the external grid, or . . . “A dampening field,” Kirk said. “From the . . . barnacles we just picked up?”
    His first officer had a flicker of recognition at what he probably thought was a quaint—if not fully apt—term for the material placed on their hull. “I see no evidence the field emanates from them, but I believe they’re amplifying one.”
    “We could remove them manually.” The captain stared at the blips on the schematic. Foreign objects on his ship.
    “Doing so in space suits would likely take two point three hours.”
    Time they didn’t have. Was this a prelude to being boarded? To being destroyed?
    “What about phasers?” Kirk spun toward navigation. “We’ll carve them off.” Maybe the act would take some hull plating with it, but force fields could be put in place in those locations once the dampening field was gone.
    Chekov checked his controls at Kirk’s request. “Phasers inactive, Captain.” He shook his head and turned toward Kirk. “But torpedoes are available, sir.”
    “Thank you, Mister Chekov. We won’t be torpedoing the Enterprise today.” The ensign was probably only giving full information and not really suggesting they should fire torpedoes on their hull, but Kirk wasn’t going to even entertain the idea. “Mister Spock, what about beaming them off?”
    The Vulcan nodded carefully. “Possibly.” He smoothly worked his console and began a computer simulation. After a few moments, he looked toward the captain. “Assuming Mister Scott gets our sensors online. It will take the majority of our battery reserves, channeled directly through the cargo transporters.”
    “Leaving us how much?” Kirk asked.
    Without checking his computations, Spock answered. “Twenty-two point four percent of capacity.”
    “Risky.” Kirk massaged his lower lip with his right thumb. If they wasted most of their battery power on this attempt, they’d be as good as helpless. But if it worked . . . well, that was the risk part, wasn’t it?
    He looked for the briefest moment at Ambassador Pippenge, who seemed as anxious as the crew probably felt. They were more accustomed to masking it. As the Maabas were alien to Kirk, what he saw may not have been anxiety. Still, there were some universals of body language and manner among humanoids, and the captain thought he knew nervous tension when he saw it.
    “Captain, I have Mister Scott.” Uhura pulled Kirk’s attention back to the moment, and he moved toward her station to