Chapter 14

"Should I begin firing, Sir?" McRae asked. Spock was impressed by her calm, but bemoaned the usual security mindset of shooting first and asking questions later.

"They have thus far shown no signs of hostility. Indeed, a formation of this sort suggests high intelligence."

"Intelligence and friendliness are not correlated, Sir," said McRae. One of the reptiles walked up to Spock. McRae pointed her weapon. It hesitated.

"Do not fire, Lieutenant, unless I order you to do so." Spock was intrigued now. The reptile walked up to him on its hind legs and placed a claw on his hand. Spock could feel the creatures move into his mind. . Indeed, he could feel a multitude of them. Some were curious, and some were angry.

"We do not intend to harm you," Spock thought.

"What do you intend?" shouted several of the minds he could hear. The loudest mind told the others to be quiet.

"You are telepaths," Spock thought.

"Yes, we can communicate with each other, but apparently not with your people. Except you, and you we have to touch."

"I am different from the others. My people are touch telepaths."

"Very well. The matter at hand is what you are doing here."

"We had thought to settle a small group of our people here."

"So you come to take our territory."

"We did not know this place was inhabited."

"Now you know."

"It is possible the two groups could live symbiotically. You may learn from each other."

"We could not communicate with them, unless they are like you . Your minds are too confined, trapped in your bodies. Go, back to wherever you came from, whether it's the north or south, and do not bring others back. We will make their lives hard if you do." Spock received images of the reptiles hunting as a pack, bringing down animals larger than themselves.

"We will go now," he thought. This must be what disappointment felt like.

Kirk was actually stunned into silence. He did not sit, or pace, or even speak for a full minute after Spock had made his report.

"So, the Innocents can't settle the only suitable planet we have found, because it's taken by a group of surly, xenophobic, telepathic lizards?"

"Xenophobic is a matter of interpretation, Captain – "

"Why did we not detect this species on the sensor sweeps?"

"Our sensors do not detect intelligence, Captain. We found no humanoid or large mammalian life. These reptiles, while intelligent, do not appear to have begun to smelt metal or do the other things that civilizations often do, things that we could have detected. They have probably not bothered to develop writing, since their telepathy makes it unnecessary. It was not even clear to me that they understood I was from another world; rather, they simply knew I was not from someplace nearby since they had never encountered my species before."

"There's no chance we could settle the Innocents there anyway?"

"Not possible, Captain. The reptiles are hostile and intelligent. I noted in my report that they are fully capable of hunting and attacking as a group in a way that would make them a formidable enemy. Their hostility makes it almost a certainty that they would attack the Innocents at will, and do so effectively."

"But they're lizards, and they're pretty small."

"The Innocents could probably eventually defeat them, Captain, given their size and the fact that the Innocents have metal weapons. However, the conflict would surely end in one group's genocide of the other. To create such a situation would be unconscionable, Captain. Indeed, as an intelligent species, the reptiles have certain property rights over this planet. In fact, as they are a pre-warp society, I have already breached several first contact protocols in communicating with them."

"We'll skip your court-martial for the time being, Mr. Spock. I don't want to depress you more than you already are."

"Captain?"

"Back to the drawing board."

Chekhov, who had been sitting silently in the corner, covered his face with his hands, as the Captain left the conference room.

"Bemoaning our fate will not improve it, Mr. Chekhov. We will need a new search grid."

"Aye, Sir."

Vulcans did not acknowledge despair as such. They had algorithms for determining the probability of success of an endeavor, and combining that with the necessity of the endeavor usually told them when an effort was futile or illogical to undertake. When data was insufficient to determine probability, however, even the most high-minded Vulcans might disagree on whether to proceed or "cut their losses," as Kirk would say. Spock didn't think they were near that point, but Federation space, especially that small segment that they were patrolling, was not infinite, and he began to wonder whether it would be necessary to call in the resources of the Federation.

Once again, Uhura found herself grateful that she and Spock had moved in together, and she got used to seeing him only every couple of days, when Spock would indulge in a few hours of much needed sleep. He and Chekhov were growing increasingly worried that they would run out of time to find a planet for the Innocents. She supposed that Spock would have said "concerned" or "possessing a greater sense of urgency", but Uhura thought he seemed worried. It was taking him longer to come to bed after meditating.

"Do you need to talk?" she asked, one evening.

"I am not aware of any topics we must discuss immediately. Your communications with Starfleet seem sufficient for the Captain's needs, and Mr. Chekhov and I do not anticipate needing your services immediately." Uhura sighed.

"What I meant to ask, Spock, was whether it would help you to discuss your – " she searched for a word that wouldn't take him aback, " your reactions to your search?"

"Perhaps. I had a professor at the Academy, a Professor Rongpe, who said that the best way to reason something out was to do it aloud to another person. Of course, I was never certain that this hypothesis was universal, as beings with gestural languages –"

"Spock."

"But perhaps it applies to humanoids such as myself. At any rate, Mr. Chekhov and I have scanned, using long range sensors, approximately half of the space that we are assigned to patrol. We have found two planets that were suitable with respect to climate and lack of built environment, but each of which had been claimed by another civilization that eluded our initial surveys. We plan on continuing our search grid, concentrating only on stars and planets most likely to be able to support life. It is probable that we will find at least another two suitable planets – "

"Spock, I was wondering less about your strategy, and more about how you were feeling."

"Nyota, I think that excessive emotionalism would be counterproductive to our endeavor."

"Is that why you are meditating longer every evening?" She saw him hesitate.

"I admit that more meditation seems to be necessary recently." She knew he didn't want to discuss it further, and she wasn't sure how hard to push.

"I have a friend from secondary school. Her name was Tanya, and her parents divorced when we were fifteen. Whenever she enters a relationship with someone, she throws herself into it, and she was devastated whenever her college romances ended. Her counselor told her that she was trying to save her parents' marriage with every relationship she entered." Spock hesitated.

"And you believe that I am trying to save my people by saving the Innocents." Sometimes, she forgot how quick he was. "I would prefer to think that I would be as diligent on behalf of the Innocents, even if Vulcan had not been destroyed."

"I'm sure you would be, but I think you might be more detached," she said, sympathetically.

"I do not know that I agree with your hypothesis, Nyota. The fact remain, however, that unless Mr Chekhov and I can find a suitable planet, the Innocents will suffer s difficult fate."

"Spock, you know that if worse comes to worst, Starfleet won't abandon these people to their fate."

"This is true, but a standard Starfleet evacuation would not be a resettlement. They would be refugees on whatever world would accept them. Their culture would be destroyed, and they would be thrust into a modern world for which they are ill-prepared."

"True, but even our proposed plan is going to wreak some degree of havoc on their culture. They'll have to adapt to new flora, fauna, climate. We can't give them their home back." Spock nodded.

"We must seek to do as little damage as possible."

"And you are, but if, in the end, you and Chekhov do your best, and there is still no solution…"

"Then I will accept that outcome."

"Good," she said, hugging him.

"I cannot forecast the same reaction on the part of the Captain. He does not like an unaccomplished mission."

"True," said Uhura, "but he's easily distracted."