Star Trek: The Original Series - 147 - Devil’s Bargain Read Online Free PDF Page B

with their planet, the Vesbians have chosen to dig in rather than evacuate. What is most curious is that the Vesbians seem to be aware of the consequences of their actions, yet have decided upon an irrational course nonetheless. We are continuing to investigate and to try to persuade the Vesbians that the time has come to leave.
    “A dance?” said McCoy. “Do these people have no conception of what’s about to fall on their heads!”
    “Clearly they do, Doctor,” Spock replied.
    “They’ll be dancing in the ruins soon enough!” McCoy exclaimed.
    Kirk found that he agreed with McCoy. Yet he also understood that continuing with local tradition was a way for the colonists to keep up their morale. He would’ve ordered such a dance to proceed hadhe been colonial governor. Still, the captain knew he must convince the Vesbians that the course they had chosen would lead to their annihilation.
    The quarters they had been assigned within the government complex were luxurious by any standards. His sleeping area in Stratos, the cloud city of Ardana, had been beautiful—except for the fact that it had come with an attacking rebel from the planet below (albeit a beautiful attacker)—but these rivaled those accommodations. The bed and furniture were made of some sort of local equivalent of mahogany. They were stained a lovely color. The cushions and mattress were extremely soft and covered with intricate textiles. The walls were hung with tapestries depicting the settlement of the planet. There were no closets in this room, but there were standing wardrobes and dressers to store items. Kirk was even happy to see an exercise station in one corner with a treadmill not dissimilar from that on the Enterprise . Maybe he could complete that Pikes Peak run after all.
    More food and beer was offered to them, but the landing party dismissed the servants. They all sat down to assess the situation around a table in the central atrium that connected to each of their bedrooms.
    “I’ve been looking over the colony’s history,” Spock began. “There are some fascinating and ill-explained anomalies.”
    “Anomalies? What do you mean?” asked Kirk.
    “The colony was originally a Federation settlement,” said Spock. “There is no indication that the original settlers had any desire to separate themselves from the Federation. In fact, several were retired Starfleet officers of the era, mostly science officers—and many of them biologists. But fifteen standard years ago the Vesbians initiated proceedings to legally separate from the Federation.”
    “What were the reasons?” asked McCoy.
    “Unclear,” said Spock. “But they appear to coincide with the period when the first children were born in the settlement. The official reason for separation was put down as the refusal to uphold and maintain Article 17 of the official Federation Homestead Act.”
    “And what, pray tell, would that be?” asked McCoy.
    “It is the article that prohibits any manipulation of the human genome, Doctor. I would think you might be familiar with it. It relates back to Earth’s history, and the Eugenics Wars. It was assumed that Vesbius initiated this secession in order to conduct experiments on its barley produce. There were some attempts to splice human DNA into certain grains of the time in order to build into them tolerance to microbes that humans naturally resist. Such experiments were outlawed within the Federation but were practiced on its fringes for a number of years. Theseproved to be inefficient, ineffective, and unprofitable. The line of research was eventually dropped. In any case, Vesbius never reapplied for admission to the Federation. Nevertheless, it maintains extensive trading ties to the entire Omega sector, and most people do not realize it is not a Federation colony.”
    “Kind of like being a Canadian in North America,” said Kirk.
    “I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with that comparison,” Spock replied.
    “Never mind,” said