Star Trek: The Original Series - 082 - Federation (21 page)

“We’re proceeding to the wreckage now,” Kirk said. “I‘11 report when we get there. Kirk out.” “She seems to be taking it well,” McCoy said as he switched off his tricorder and let it hang at his side.

“She has no choice,” Spock reminded him. “She does not yet have all the pieces of the puzzle she is assembling.” “Gentlemen.” Kirk waved toward the ridge and began walking in that direction. He heard McCoy and Spock fall into step behind him. Unfortunately, they didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle either. Though they had more than the admiral did.

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy had met earlier that morning, as the Enterprise continued on her way to Cochrane’s planetoid.

McCov’s office in sickbay was deemed to be secure from Admiral Kabreigny’s sudden intrusion. In any case, the admiral was more concerned with remaining on the bridge and observing the sensor sweeps firsthand than she seemed to be with the captain’s activities, or those of his senior crew.

Just the same, McCoy had instructed the computer to lock the sickbay doors so they could talk in peace, unless any crew member required medical attention.

As Spock related them, the events of Cochrane’s final days were as Kirk had remembered them—history recorded few details.

That paucity of information could be explained by the fact that following his historic accomplishment, Cochrane had developed a reputation for being a private, reclusive individual. Historically, Kirk knew that that had been the response of Neil Armstrong to personal historic achievement—the first human to set foot on another world had virtually disappeared from public view for the remainder of his life, at great cost to history and undeniably afi’ccting public support of the fledgling space exploration programs of the time. Yoshikawa had also behaved in a similar fashion. though by his remaining on the moon, his life of seclusion was more understandable to many. How Daar would have chosen to live following her own unique success would lbrcver be a mystery, since her life had been cut short by the tragedy that had befallen her during her return from Mars.

But Spock had suggested there was more to the lack of inlbrmation about Cochrane’s final years than could be explained by mere human eccentricity and a desire for privacy. Spock’s intbnnal communications with the Cochrane Foundation of Alpha Centauri revealed that many of the contemporary accounts of Cochrane’s friends and coworkers, and Cochrane’s own journals, remained sealed, though for what reason, no one at the Foundation seemed able or willing to say. Even the.journal of Cochrane’s wife, the granddaughter of celebrated astronomer Sir John Burke, was not available to the public. Most intriguingly, there was apparently no indication as to how long those records xould remain sealed. The Foundation had simply reported that an~ potential release date was subject to ongoing review.

Spock had concluded that such an arrangement indicated that someone within the Foundation was indeed aware of the contents of the sealed journals and associated files, and was only then
aiting until certain conditions were met before allowing them to be released. But what those certain conditions could possibly be after a century and a half, not even Spock would hazard a theory.

In short, all that was available to be known about Cochrane’s final >cars was all that had already been known since the date of his disappearance. At the age of’forty-eight, he had attended a scientific conference on the moon, during which he had met Monica Burke, the woman who became his wife. They had returned to Alpha Centauri together, shortly before World XVar III devastated Earth.

During the reconstruction period, when all Earth colonies had strained themselves to their limits to aid the home planet, Cochrane had devoted himself to further refining his warp drive and had traveled among the many worlds to insure that each colony had the scientific and engineering capability to support its own warp drive industry. Recordings of the talks he gave showed how he stressed again and again that for his invention to truly benefit humanity, no one world or group of worlds should ever be able to develop a monopoly on it.

Several years before his disappearance, Cochrane’s desire to share the fruits of his labor drove him to take part in one of the first diplomatic missions to a colony world established by a race then known as the Vulcanians, from Vulcanis, a more accurate phonetic version of the Vulcan name for their world. In a daring move vehemently protested by conservative human organizations at the time, Cochrane turned over al! his research on warp drive technology, without conditions. The Vulcans, of course, had independently created their own version of the drive, but the explosion of scientific advancement that resulted from Cochrane’s unprecedented gift was quickly reciprocated by the enigmatic Vulcans. Far from weakening Earth, Cochrane’s gift, in fact, had led to a long-term and unshakable alliance between humans and Vulcans in which, many historians said, the first seeds of what would become the Federation were sown.

Thus did a shy and reclusive scientist live to see his invention forever change the shape and history of humanity. It was even widely accepted that Cochrane had made it possible for the species to survive atomic devastation; had made it possible for war-torn Earth to be rebuilt in decades, not centuries or millennia as had happened on some worlds; and had lived, too, to witness many more first contacts between humans and spacefaring alien cultures.

When Cochrane was eighty-seven, his wife, Monica, had died, apparently in a vehicle accident near the Cochrane ranch on Centauri B II—Cochrane, ever modest, had objected to any efforts to rename the world after him during his lifetime. The details of her accident were not available, either because no account survived, or because no account had been released.

Shortly after, Cochrane had revised his will, leaving his surprisingly small estate to the foundation that bore his name. He then filed a flight plan to Stapledon Center and disappeared.

The search that followed had been massive by contemporary standards. But the invention of subspace radio and subspace sensors remained several decades in the future, and ships that vanished while in warp were typically never seen again, as no faster-than-light method existed for communicating with or detecting them. A year after his failure to arrive at Stapledon Center, Cochrane was declared dead and the human worlds officially mourned his loss.

The story Spock told was the same as the one Kirk remembered studying in school as a child. But it was McCoy who detected the anomaly. He tapped his fingers on his desk in a sign of his agitation.

“Cochrane told us he was dying, Jim,” McCoy said after Spock’s report. “Isn’t that an odd coincidence? His wife dies in an accident just as he’s dying of… of whatever he was dying from.” Spock seized on McCoy’s recollection of their conversation with Cochrane. “Contemporary accounts do indicate Cochrane’s health was excellent,” he said. “Moreover, colonists in those days generally lived longer and healthier lives than did their counter-parts on Earth, owing to an absence of environmental toxins, though of course they had a higher death rate from accidents involving heavy machinery, as Monica Cochrane’s death would illustrate.” “Perhaps he wasn’t dying when he left Alpha Centauri,” Kirk countered. “He told us the Companion had brought his disabled ship to the planetold. Maybe something happened to him on board his ship.” “Another accident?” McCoy asked skeptically. “That’s even more of a coincidence.” When given a choice, Kirk tended to favor the simplest solution to a problem—a predilection Spock proclaimed eminently logical. So he wasn’t enthralled by McCov’s suggestions that Cochrane’s disappearance and his wife’s c(eath might not have been accidental.

But Spock’s second report, concerning Admiral Kabreigny’s intense interest in the Enterprise’s previous visit to the Gamma Canaris region, seemed to go in that direction as well.

“This is what Starfleet knows,” Spock began. “Six months ago, the Galileo encountered navigational difficulties in the Gamma Canaris region and was delayed in making its rendezvous with the Enterprise. As a result of that delay, Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford died of Sakuro’s disease. Within twenty-four hoursof his return to the Enterprise, Captain Kirk filed a detailed log describing those events. Those events, while regrettable, are not uncommon occurrences during starship exploration on the Federation’s boundaries.

“However,” Spock continued, “Starfleet is also aware that within five days of the captain’s return to the Enterprise, he shipped, by message pouch, an item for deposit in Starfleet Archives: a personal log to be sealed for one hundred years. Again, this in itself is not an unusual action for a starship captain to take.

The archive review board informally concluded that his personal log contained specific details of the death of Commissioner Hedford, withheld, perhaps, to spare her family any unwarranted grief.” Kirk could feel Spock building to a substantial “but.” He wasn’t disappointed.

“But since then, the archive review board, in conjunction with Starfleet Security and the Lunar Police, have decided that whatever the nature of the information in the captain’s sealed log, it was the reason for the recent breakin.” Kirk was shocked. “That’s not possible.” Spock’s expression of concern told Kirk it was more than possible. “Captain, what I am about to say is considered classified by Starfleet Command. I regret to inform you that I have obtained this information by other than official channels and it would be best if you did not inquire as to my methods. I would like to point out, however, that given the precariousness of our situation in regard to Admiral Kabreigny, and in light of the admiral’s interest in these events, it is my opinion that I have been justified in pursuing this course of investigation in a nonregulation manner. I am. of course, willing to make that case before any Starfleet board of inquiry and submit myself to its judgment.” McCoy had had quite enough. “For heaven’s sake, Spock, just get on with it.” “By sharing this information with you, Doctor, I am making both you and Captain Kirk subject to disciplinary proceedings at least, and I want you to be so informed.” “We’re informed, Spock,” Kirk said. “What have you found out?” “The Starfleet central computer system on Earth’s moon has becn compromised.” “That’s impossible,” McCoy sputtered.

“Apparently no longer,” Spock replied calmly. “Starfleet Security has learned of unauthorized data-retrieval worm programs that have somehow been inserted into the system. How or why this has been done is unknown. However, it is known that one of the triggers for a particular program was the reference ‘Gamma Canaris.’” Spock paused and looked at Kirk.

Kirk understood the significance of Spock’s information. “I included that on the filing data for the personal log.” “Precisely,” Spock said. “And though the actual contents of your log were not uploaded to the system, its filing data were, gMng the source of the item, the time and place of its creation, and—” “Its location within the archives storage stacks,” Kirk concluded grimly. “And since the information it contained was not available in the computer itself, someone needed to physically break in to obtain the log.” But you said the log wasn’t missing,” McCoy objected.

Spock regarded McCoy with extreme forbearance. “Doctor, the log was in the form of a standard, unencrypted data wafer. A simple tricorder could record its data in seconds without leaving any trace of the process.” Kirk was deeply troubled by Spock’s revelation. “Why would anyone be so interested in the Gamma Canaris region, Spock?

And who would have the technical ability to compromise Starfieet’s central computer?”

Spock appeared almost apologetic. “I have been able to arrive at only one, extremely tenuous connection between Gamma Canaris and current events,” he said. “According to celestial navigation charts as they were used one hundred and fifty years ago, the Gamma Canaris region is almost directly opposite the course that would be set at the time between Centauri B II and the colony of Stapledon Center at Wolf 359.” Kirk understood instantly. “If Zefram Cochrane had been intending to… throw off anyone who might be following him, for whatever reason, what better way to gain some distance and some time than by heading off in the opposite direction from the one anyone would suspect?” “Without subspace sensors,” the science officer agreed, “the possible volume of space Cochrane might be found in would grow exponentially with each passing second.” “You’re saying Cochrane was running from someone?” McCoy asked, clearly astounded at this sudden expansion of his foul-play theory.

Spock crossed his arms, clearly not eager for a debate. “I said it was only a tenuous connection, Doctor. If it is real, I do not pretend to understand its significance.” But the events of one hundred and fifty years ago weren’t Kirk’s immediate concern. “What about Starfieet’s computer system, Spock? Who has the capability to enter it without detection?

Klingons? Romulans?” “It is inconceivable that any hostile force could get operatives close enough to the system’s programming units. Such a force would have to infiltrate key input stations on Earth’s moon in order to upload the sophisticated worm programs Starfleet has detected,” Spock said. “Then who?” “Only someone working within Starfleet would have both the opportunity and the capability to circumvent existing security protocols.” The logical outcome of Spock’s reasoning hit Kirk like a phaser blast. There was no other explanation.

McCoy leaned forward, his voice an urgent whisper. “Do you know what you’re saying, Spock?”

“I am well aware of the conclusions that can be drawn from the information I have uncovered, Doctor.” Kirk stated those conclusions out loud, as repugnant as they were. “There is a possibility that Admiral Kabreigny herself is involved in a conspiracy at the highest levels of Starfleet, and that that conspiracy has something to do with Zefram Cochrane.” McCoy was incensed. “That’s madness. Next thing you’ll be saying that it’s up to us to find the conspirators on our own because we can’t trust anybody!” Spock nodded. “Indeed, Doctor, you have anticipated me. I suggest we proceed with utmost caution, pursuing these affairs outside of normal channels, as I have already begun. By acting against Admiral Kabreigny, it is possible that we are helping to preserve the stability of Starfleet and the Federation itself.” “But,” Kirk warned, “if there is no conspiracy, it is just as possible that we’re engaging in treason.” On that encouraging note, Kirk recalled uneasily, the meeting had ended.