Star Trek - TOS 38 Idic Epidemic (35 page)

She tightened her grip, letting a little air out of her
bursting lungs, fighting the urge to draw in when there
was nothing but water all around her.

Suddenly she was caught in a whirlpool!

She was tossed to and fro. Not even her Vulcan strength could hold on to Deaver. They were hitting
other objects now; she felt him lurch away.

Merciless current took her.

She couldn’t see him, couldn’t feel him, knew only burning lungs and numbing cold, endless water—

And then nothing.

Chapter Thirty-six

Only minutes after the ice dam burst, Spock stood
on the flat roof of the Nisus Trade Center, the tallest building in the city. The
Enterprise
was using it as a
beamdown point. Directing the rescue effort, Spock
watched the evacuation of the city below and saw that
the facilities of the
Enterprise
could not possibly make a dent in evacuating those thousands of people. None
theless, they had to try.

By foot, on the slidewalks, and in every kind of
vehicle, people were moving out of the city toward the nearest hills. But above them, the wall of water moved
relentlessly down the mountain, roaring toward the
swollen reservoir before any but those on the out
skirts of town could reach safety.

No one knew how high the water would reach when
it hit. Spock reported the oncoming tide, and emer
gency workers started directing people into the Trade
Center and other tall buildings as it became obvious they could not make it out of town.

On the Trade Center roof, groups of people alter
nated with equipment in the transporter beam. Some were regular landing parties, accustomed to working
together, like the medical crew setting up an emergen
cy unit in one corner.

Spock watched Landing Party Seven arrive, six people drawn from engineering, computer sciences,
medicine, economics, security, and ship’s stores. Kirk
sometimes referred to this team as “the IDIC party,” because their talents were so diversified, but the
designation was actually one of the captain’s jokes,
for to hear them squabble you would think they could
not agree on so much as who would stand on which transporter pad.

Despite their disagreements, though, they were as
efficient as any other team. They were directed by the
engineer, Rogers, a portly man with curly brown hair.
Running to the marine vehicle that landed just after
them, they began to assemble it, the giant security officer holding the pieces together by sheer strength while the two women in the party bolted them into
place.

Meanwhile, the third man assembled the onboard computer, working with almost Vulcan concentration, while the last member of the party, a small, nondescript sort of man, always had the right tools ready to hand to those who needed them.

Four separate arguments broke out in the process of
assembly—and yet the vehicle was together and ready
to go before the next landing party and set of equipment had coalesced on the beamdown point.

“Humans,” a calm voice observed from behind
Spock. “I sometimes wonder how they ever learned to
cooperate well enough to achieve civilization.”

Spock turned. “Father. What are you doing here?”

Sarek was not only present; he was dressed in a
borrowed Starfleet uniform, ready for action.

“I understand that every available able-bodied per
son is needed,” replied Spock’s father. “When I
pointed out to your captain that I am able-bodied and
available, he succumbed to the logic of the situation.”

“Logic? To send a Vulcan into a flood? Can you
swim, Father?” Spock asked, looking for an excuse to
send Sarek back aboard.

“Of course I can swim,” Sarek replied. “Your mother taught me when we first met on Earth.”

Oh. Of course she would have. He wondered wheth
er Amanda would appear with the next landing party.

As if reading his thought, Sarek said, “Amanda is
with the staff waiting to care for flood victims beamed
aboard the
Enterprise.”

Spock was looking at Sarek, so he saw the sudden
tightening of the jaw, the forced control as he looked
out over the city. Spock turned. The wall of water had
hit the reservoir and was traveling across it, at least
thirty meters higher than the surface.

The water sailed straight over the top of the dam
and crashed over it into the narrow valley, engulfing
the buildings below. If everyone had obeyed instruc
tions as it appeared, there were no people within a
kilometer of the dam. But the water was not going to
stay in that vicinity.

“All available air vehicles launch!” Spock instructed into his communicator. “Marine vehicle
crews stand by!”

Helplessly, Spock and Sarek watched as the flood waters pooled and swirled for long moments at the foot of the dam, but as water poured across the top into the valley, the wall of water rebuilt itself and
rushed inexorably toward the central city. As it roared
into the populated areas, taller buildings created
channels, speeding the rushing water and at the same
time driving it to new heights in the narrow streets.

Hoverers and shuttles swooped down, snatching
people out of harm’s way—but there were simply not
enough such vehicles! Spock and Sarek were too far away to see individual people, but they saw air vehi
cles dart away from the oncoming wave, saw it engulf
the streets below. A hoverer remained down too long,
trying to pick someone up. It was caught by the wall of
water and smashed like a fragile insect.

Sarek turned and strode toward where the landing
party he had beamed down with were assembling a
small air car. Deftly, he began installing the commu
nication and navigation computers. It was a two-man
vehicle, fitted with two outside pods for evacuees.
Two crewmembers sprang aboard and took off.

Sarek turned to pace the edge of the roof, scanning the rising waters for signs of survivors. Spock joined
him.

Sarek turned. “Is there a way to tell people trapped
in buildings that if they have air, they should stay
where they are?” he asked.

“I’ll have the
Enterprise
broadcast on all channels, although most intercoms are probably flooded out.”

Spock sent the order, and Uhura acknowledged it.

Sarek watched his son, then looked back over the flooded city. All around them,
Enterprise
crew and
Nisus citizens were taking people out of the water, off
rooftops, and from upper windows. On a rooftop below, a Tellarite and an Andorian helped a Human
woman out of the stairwell, then turned to bring out a
Hemanite. A Lemnorian, who had obviously been lifting people from below, climbed out after them. Another
Enterprise
marine vehicle, in which Spock
recognized Chekov and Sulu, took them all from the
roof and headed off.

“IDIC in action,” Sarek said, almost too softly for
Spock to hear above all the other noise. But he caught
his son’s eyes on him and knew he had heard, for he continued, “It should never have surprised me that
you chose Starfleet, Spock. It is the product of diversi
ty as much as you are. You could equally have chosen
Nisus.”

“Or the Vulcan Academy,” Spock admitted. “There
is a Human saying: true happiness lies—”

“—in your own back garden,” Sarek completed it.
“I do not comprehend ‘happiness,’ Spock, but I am
aware of the Human propensity for seeking it far from
home, usually unsuccessfully. What I tend to forget is
that you are half Human, and have the right to exercise that part of your heritage as much as your
Vulcan half.”

“You also forget,” Spock reminded him, “that all my life I have had before me the example of my
mother. Remember, Father, she truly
has
found hap
piness light-years from the world where she was born.”

The slightest of smiles curved Sarek’s lips. “And I
found
her
light-years from
my
home. You are the son
of both of us, Spock. I hope you never again hesitate to come home.”

“I shall return to Vulcan, Father, when my time in
Starfleet is over.” Spock could not say when he had
made that decision; he only knew that it was true.

“That will please your mother greatly,” was all Sarek said, but Spock saw in his father’s eyes that
Sarek was pleased as well. Logic was irrelevant at that
moment; the reunion that had begun on the perilous journey to Babel and continued when they had melded on Vulcan to save Amanda’s life only a few
weeks ago, was finally complete.

Father and son looked out together over the flooded
city.

Chapter Thirty-seven

When she came to, T’Pina saw Beau Deaver leaning
over her. She was wet and very, very cold.

“Where are we?” she asked, turning her head. She
lay on freezing metal, only a few centimeters from the surface of black water.

“We’re in an air pocket. The current carried us into
a building,” Deaver said slowly. “Water pressure must’ve smashed the windows. I don’t know which
building, or how high the water is above us. But we’re
safe here for a while, till we run out of air.”

T’Pina recognized that the dim lighting came from
the building’s battery-operated emergency system.
She and Deaver lay on top of tall cabinets. The ceiling
was less than a meter above them; there was not even enough space to sit up in, but it had trapped a layer of
air and saved their lives.

“What should we do?” she asked.

“Depends,” said Deaver. “The water should sub
side pretty rapidly. We might do best just to stay here—unless we’re near ground level,” he added.
“The sewer system’s probably already taken all it can.
The rest of the water will have to run off over the
ground, which could take a day or two. Don’t know
how long the lights will stay on, either. Let’s just rest
awhile and then see if we can find a stairwell. Even if
it’s filled with water, we could swim to the top.”

At the thought of going back into the icy water, T’Pina shivered. “You’re freezing!” said Deaver. On their tiny island of safety, he ensconced T’Pina in a cocoon of warmth, wrapping his arms about her. It helped, for a while. But soon she began shivering
again, and a strange prickling sensation broke out on her skin.

“T’Pina? What’s wrong?” asked Deaver.

“I
…
don’t know,” she replied. “I feel very
strange. I’m so thirsty, but—”

“Don’t drink the flood water!” Deaver said quickly.
Then he added, “Well, I don’t suppose it makes a
difference if you do now; we both certainly swallowed
some trying to swim.”