The BLTS Archive - The Demon of Beta 55
by Sethos (unsknownscribler@hotpop.com)

---

One of the time-honoured privileges that have been  in existence from
the age of the wooden sailing ships to the days of interstellar travel
is the prerogative of a ship's Captain to conduct weddings on board
his ship. Presumably this right had arisen from a necessity that might
occur on board a passenger ship which would be on sea for weeks; with
all due modifications the custom had been kept on, contrary to all
logic.

In a time when marriage was little more than a cross-reference between
sets of data in a computer, and in which thousands of worlds used
millions of different ceremonies to emphasise the joining of
individuals, a wedding ceremony aboard a ship might appear archaic;
yet for the diverse and different creatures serving in Starfleet this
old custom expressed a feeling of belonging, and of separateness at
the same time.

In any case, no crew member of Enterprise would ever have thought of
marrying in any other way. They would simply receive a printout of
their marriage certificate, after a few friendly words from Captain
Kirk, spoken while the respective Personnel Officer on duty would make
the all-important computer entry. Afterwards they would be assigned
their new quarters by the quartermaster, followed, of course, by a
celebration on the recreation deck, for which the officer in charge of
that facility would every time devise something especially suitable.

In this way Enterprise had, since the beginning of her five year
mission, seen a Deltan group wedding and the joining of two Sulamides
whose precise gender wasn't discernible even from the arrangement of
their tentacles. What was on the agenda today could be counted as
'small fry' by any sensible standard.

Tiina Kärkisaari was an engine room Lieutenant who prided herself on
descending from a people that was able to hold its liquor even better
than Scotty; and her companion Caroline O'Dell was a descendant of the
first Mars colonists and served as an Ensign in navigation. Ten
standard days ago they had asked the Captain to set a date for their
wedding; and Kirk had chosen this moment on their way back to Starbase
Seven, while they were crossing a section of space deemed completely
empty, so the wedding would give the crew a pleasurable distraction.

Yeoman Rand reminded Kirk of the date, although he hadn't forgotten it
himself.

"Thank you," he said, "I know my duties by now. Mr Spock, you can
certainly abandon your computations for a few moments, although I must
admit that every cadet could quite sufficiently make the necessary
entries into the personnel files".

"I also know my duties, Captain", the Vulcan replied. "I do not intend
to deny the ship's human crew members their need for ceremonies if my
participation as current personnel officer is demanded by
regulations".

"Very good; wouldn't have expected it otherwise. Come on, let's get it
over with".

The unwritten protocol of the celebration in the recreation deck
demanded the presence of the senior officers to congratulate the
newlyweds; it also demanded them to keep discreetly in the background
as not to disturb the crew's merrymaking by instilling inhibitions.

After he had given his best wishes to Kärkisaari and O'Dell, Kirk
joined McCoy in a quiet corner. "I'm probably a dinosaur", the doctor
commented, "but I can't help it, I find it a bloody waste, two such
pretty young women".

"As an exception, I must admit you're right", Spock said, arriving at
that moment in their corner, with a glass of violently violet liquid
in his hand. "You are in fact what is colloquially known as a
dinosaur. The right of marriage, without respect of race, species or
gender, has been in existence as long as the Federation itself; as
there are numerous single-gender and multi-gender species known to us,
everything else would be anthropocentric discrimination, and a
violation of the principle of infinite diversity in infinite
combination; it would certainly be possible to quote the Prime
Directive as well in this context. If anybody is capable of
disregarding all those principles at once, it would be you, Doctor".

"You can say 'anthropocentric' ten times if you like, Spock; I still
don't believe that a green-blooded icicle like you would suddenly
become an ardent supporter of homosexuality. I don't say it's wrong; I
just say it's a pity".

"Homosexuality, as you call it, is a behavioural pattern especially
common in humans, Doctor", Spock answered. "You should know that. The
percentage of exclusively homosexual persons is estimated at about
eight point three percent among a purely human population, while among
Romulans it is to our knowledge only four point seven percent, and
among Klingons even..."

"The Klingons can do as they please, as far as I'm concerned", McCoy
replied ill-humouredly. "I bet there are no Vulcans that are bent".

"That would be a point against you, Bones", Kirk intervened.

"No, Jim; it would mean he'd have to agree with me".

"I do not have to do anything. You are blatantly confusing several
separate concepts, Doctor. Different sexual orientations in alien
cultures are of course accepted by Vulcans as an integral part of the
IDIC principle; but the concept of sexual orientation itself rests on
assuming personal emotions to be a valid factor of decision. Thus
homosexuality is naturally perfectly illogical to us. As a Vulcan,
such behaviour is repulsive to me; but as a Starfleet officer,
especially as personnel officer on duty, I know that my culturally
biased opinion is not called for in this instance".

"That's a thing you should realise more often", the good Doctor
triumphed.

Spock raised both eyebrows at once. "That would be quite illogical as
well as counterproductive in those cases when I am right.
Additionally, you have just turned against your own argument, if I may
remind you".

"Shut your Vulcan mouth", McCoy grumbled, but Spock had no chance of
rebuking him for this completely inappropriate reply, as the intercom
chimed in this moment to summon the Captain and his ranking officers
to astrocartography.

A very excited Andorian Ensign was on duty there.

"Our sensors registered in passing that one of the planets in the Beta
Antinoi system, which was deemed lifeless before, is in fact a class M
world, and there are even possible signs of carbon based life forms,
Sir".

"Fascinating. Our predecessors must have been asleep when charting
this sector, to use a human expression".

"Well", said Kirk, "let's have a look at the place. Bridge, set course
to Beta Antinoi. Officers to the bridge".

Two standard hours later, Enterprise was in orbit around the planet
Beta Antinoi 55, which later, after it had been quarantined and
declared a forbidden planet by Starfleet, was only surreptitiously
mentioned as Beta 55. But now Enterprise was orbiting the planet with
all its electronic curiosity, all sensors and scanners in full action.

Everybody else would have become rather agitated at the science
station at this moment, but Spock gazed quietly into his viewers while
imparting his findings to a recording device and to the general
public.

"We are dealing with a planet similar to earth regarding its size and
distance from the sun, which is orbited by a twin planet that is no
mere satellite and resembles the Vulcan moon T'Khut rather than the
Earth moon, and which keeps the oceans of the world currently under
observation in constant flux. A single stable continent amounting to
no more than eight percent of the planet's surface. In the oceans a
rich population of plants and invertebrates, additionally a cetacean
life form that may be assumed to be sentient. Population three
million. On the continent abundant vegetation of every description,
numerous invertebrates, furthermore a species of obviously humanoid
inhabitants, population about seventy-five thousand. Very interesting.
The total lack of non-sentient vertebrates suggest the conclusion that
the planet was colonised at different points in time by a cetacean and
a humanoid species, the whales having arrived first, as may be
surmised. Concerning the speculations about the existence of a space
faring cetacean civilisation see, among others, the articles by T'Pel
from the Vulcan academy at ShiKahr. The humanoids appear to have
regressed to a vaguely bronze-age pre-civilisation, which allows the
conclusion that they must be descended from one of the so-called 'lost
ships' from the early ages of space colonisation. Furthermore sensors
detect..."

"Now stop it, Spock, no mere human brain can follow you that quickly.
Did you really say that on this planet whales and humans coexist,
while all other vertebrates are missing?"

"Correct. However, there is no reason for stopping before the scans
are complete. The situation can hardly be described as coexistence as
each species uses its habitat without any incurrence upon the other.
Furthermore..."

"There you are, Jim", McCoy, lurking around on the bridge with his
usual curiosity, interrupted now. "Never interrupt a Vulcan when
pontificating".

"Precisely, Doctor. Heed your own advice and let me do my work. You're
a doctor, not a science officer". Spock gazed seriously and quietly at
McCoy, obviously wishing the good doctor might be so kind as to freeze
on the spot, and continued his evaluations. "The most fascinating
occurrences observed on the planet are however a number of random
eddies of pure energy which appear to move without any specific
restrictions in the magma core as well as in the planetary crust, the
oceans and the atmosphere. They change size and expansion and seem to
effect results without being caused by any discernible reason. Thus
they may be assumed to be some kind of non-material life forms; our
past experiences suggest that such non-material life forms may be
sentient. Our sensors detect forty-two of those creatures, if they may
be taken as such. One of them, according to my screens, is currently
engaged in driving a swarm of small crustaceans toward a shoal of the
whales, while another entity is driving away clouds from a part of the
continent settled by the humanoids. In this instance, Captain, your
term of 'coexistence' may be entirely appropriate".

"And where do you think those spirits come from?"

"The term 'spirits' is again quite correct, Captain; at least the
bronze age humanoids certainly regard the entities as such; I do not
venture a guess concerning the opinion of the cetaceans on them, as
our knowledge of whales is extremely limited. Earth is the only world
of the Federation on which cetaceans reached intelligence; and there
they became mostly extinct before Vulcans had an opportunity of
studying them. Well, I assume the spirits to be the planet's original
inhabitants".

"And they allow humans to crawl around on their planet? How
unenlightened of them".

"Non-material entities often display an almost naive fascination with
the activities of material life forms; we were ourselves more than
once in a position to observe this, Doctor. Before the arrival of the
cetaceans and the humanoids the spirits were certainly rather bored,
to use a human analogy".

"That's enough", Kirk interrupted. "It's all very fascinating from up
here, Mr. Spock, but I think we should have a closer look at those
spirits. Spock, Bones, you come down with me. Plus, we need a
xenobiologist and a xenosociologist, and a security man; we never know
what they may be doing down there. We don't have a spirit caller?"

"May I suggest that my Vulcan ability of mind melding should
suffice..."

"Now we know finally why we haul you around. You're our spirit
caller".

"Bones, let the man finish his sentence!"

"Thank you, Captain. And if you have to interrupt me, Doctor, please
do so only for remarks that are to the point, although that again is
almost asking too much of you".

"Stop it, both of you". Kirk touched a control in his chair's armrest.
"Scotty, please come to the transporter room. Spock, did you assemble
the landing party?"

"The requested personnel is already awaiting us at the transporter".

"Excellent. Let's not waste any more time; we do not want to be
assumed missing by Starbase Seven".

"You can't be serious, Captain. Did you really say there's ghaists
down there, and I should stand by in case they start their hauntings?"

"You understood the Captain correctly, Mr. Scott. I have diverted a
detailed map of our landing area to your screen and request that you
constantly monitor our position; if you reach the impression one of
the non-material entities is closing down on us, beam us back aboard
without any further order, unless ordered otherwise".

"Energise", Kirk added; and the six persons of the landing party
vanished in columns of blue light.

---

They materialised in the shrubs. Below a thick vegetation of birch and
pine trees there was a diverse undergrowth, mainly some kind of
brambles.

"You chose the place, didn't you, Spock", McCoy grumbled. "Typical.
Puts us down in a thicket of brambles without blackberries on them".

"The plants are lakka. We are currently on the continent's northern
peninsula; very close to our position there is a group of the
humanoids and two of the so-called spirits. My sensors did not
indicate the presence of the lakka, only the wood; and I deemed it
advisable to watch proceedings from a safe cover. I do not wish to
speculate how those primitive humanoids would react to our appearance
in their midst. After all, we do have a Prime Directive that we should
not disregard again for no valid reason".

"I didn't harm you, Spock; why do you poke fun at me", Kirk
complained.

"I did by no means intend to express any such thing; please accept my
apologies if that impression has arisen", Spock replied formally,
seriously regarding his Captain. Kirk and McCoy could nevertheless
detect a certain irony under his seriousness.

"That was just a warning, Jim", the doctor remarked, "you can't hold
that against him".

"All right; point taken. Let us proceed. Spock, you go first with your
tricorder".

The small landing party started moving. McCoy stepped behind Kirk over
the brambles already trodden down and murmured surly: "That's right,
Jim. Let him see by himself how he gets on with his damn blackberries
or however he calls those plants".

"The plants are called lakka, Doctor; they are an Arctic species
extant on many worlds, among them Earth, the fruit of which resemble
yellow blackberries. We should however continue in silence, as we will
in a few hundred meters come upon that group of humans and one of the
spirits. The energy potential of that spirit is extremely high and
growing. We will doubtlessly witness fascinating proceedings".

They would nevertheless have recognised that fact easily without the
help of a tricorder and Spock interpreting its readings, as at this
very moment a deafening disharmony of drums, pipes and human screams
set in; also silence was unnecessary, as the noise covered every sound
of their approach.

Spock stopped abruptly and without warning; Kirk, McCoy, the
xenosociologist, the xenobiologist and the security man bringing up
the rear stepped into each other's heels before arranging themselves
interestedly around the Vulcan.

They had come to a clearing. In its dead centre stood a huge,
misshapen rock, around which eddied wisps of greenish light. In the
clearing were gathered about fifty entirely humanoid creatures, all of
them male, unclothed, bedizened with garish body paint, their faces
hidden by very graphic masks.

"A ritual of worship honouring the spirit, I assume", Spock murmured.
"Fascinating".

While the drumbeat continued, a fire was lighted, into which a man
whose mask conveyed an unequivocally phallic symbolism threw a fistful
of herbs that immediately spread an acrid smoke. The masks pressed
toward the fire, inhaled the smoke and staggered away to begin a dance
of obviously sexual meaning. The spirit mingled with the dancers,
spread, widened. Another spirit, also greenish in hue, approached from
above, eddied into the other and began to melt with it at the edges.
The spirits mingled to a united cloud enveloping all of the dancers,
while one man threw himself onto the rock to be mounted by another,
freed from all inhibitions by the ritual.

"Of course", Spock murmured. "Just as I thought".

The unified spirit spread beyond the celebrants over the clearing,
already touching the first trees at its edges. Kirk recognised the
danger first, pulling Spock, completely enthralled by this
manifestation of diversity, by his collar with him and whipped out his
communicator shouting, "Scotty!"

The answer came through crackling static. "Strong energy field...
transporter beam can't get through", then nothing but static.

"Damn", McCoy said. "Now they'll have us for their spirit's
breakfast".

"Phasers on stun", Kirk answered.

The first cloudy rim of the spirit touched Spock and Kirk, filling the
clearing with a primeval roar of no discernible origin. Drums and
pipes fell silent, the dancers stopped in their tracks, while the
spirit contracted to an intensive glow less than three meters in
diameter, which threw itself into the undergrowth and brushed aside
the plants, so the landing party became visible to the participants of
the ritual.

"Scotty", Kirk shouted into his communicator, "Time's up!"

Static, drowned in the howling of the spirit and the screams of the
humanoids, which were rendered by the impassive universal translators
as "Desecration! Sacrilege! Blasphemy! Atonement! Vengeance!" and
suchlike expletives. The spirit's cloudy energy dragged the men from
the Enterprise into the clearing, where the natives threw themselves
upon them. They shot from all phasers, but the spirit effortlessly
absorbed the energy. They could just as well have pelted it with
rotten tomatoes.

The humanoids grabbed the members of the landing party, several
holding on to one of them, their arms behind their backs. Phasers fell
uselessly to the ground.

The spirit whirled its disembodied energy faster and faster through
the clearing, spreading again, while pulling the foremost crew member,
Spock, to the rock, where it congealed again to a green-hot fireball.
Some of the natives fell on Spock, bound him to the stone with leather
thongs and ripped off his clothing, throwing it all over the clearing.
The spirit concentrated more densely than ever before and than merged
into one of the dancers, the leader with the phallic mask, who threw
himself onto Spock and the stone in the green glow of possession.

In this moment transporter beams seized the landing party. Five of
them found themselves rematerialising on the transporter platform,
complete with phasers and communicators, but without Spock, of whom
only his gadgets had been brought up.

"Scotty, get Spock!"

"I didnae ken that he'd throw away his communicator. There he is. I
got him - no, that ghaist got him. I cannae get through the energy
field".

Kirk switched his phaser to disintegrating mode. "Get me back down at
once; as close as possible", he ordered; and he was gone before Dr.
McCoy could protest.

The commotion had even heightened, if that was possible. Screeching
like marsh fiends the celebrants reeled around the rock, while the
leader, glowing with the spirit, still battled to overcome Spock's
Vulcan strength, which couldn't possibly hold on much longer. He hung
like a hide stretched to dry, and his resistance was visibly flagging.
Nobody noticed Kirk in the fray, even though he materialised directly
behind the leader.

The Captain trained his phaser on the stone and severed all four
straps in one shot, leaving deep gouges in the stone. Spock slumped
onto the ground; and in the same moment when the spirit possessing the
man turned its attention to Kirk, the Captain turned the phaser on it.
The spirit shrunk back; Kirk bent down to Spock and gripped his
shoulder with his left hand while continuing to shoot the spirit
extending again beyond the man.

"Scotty!", he shouted into his communicator. Again, only static.

Spock struggled up a little and reached for the phaser. "Turn the
energy flow around", he said quietly, throwing a switch. The phaser's
beam turned green from the energy the weapon now drew from the spirit.
With a horrifying howl the spirit left the man's body and soared up
two hundred meters from the ground, while its host crumpled to a
blackened clump of slime, than nothing. The phaser overloaded and gave
a warning screech mingling with the general cacophony, while the
humanoids on the clearing fell onto Kirk and Spock. Kirk threw the
phaser toward them, and it exploded, tearing up several of the
attackers. He tucked Spock firmly under his left arm and shouted
again, "Scotty", upon which they found themselves on the Enterprise's
transporter platform. "Let's get going", Kirk ordered. "Set course to
Starbase Seven, Warp six point five".

Spock disentangled himself from his Captain's grip, stood up and
wordlessly took the blanket McCoy just as wordlessly handed him. He
wrapped it around himself and helped the still dazed Captain to his
feet.

"Good Heavens, Spock, those savages almost got you!", Kirk spouted,
grinning broadly with relief.

The Vulcan completely ignored this redundant display of emotions and
stepped off the platform. "So much for the Prime Directive. Now, those
pitiful life forms have something to tell around their campfires for
the next two hundred years".

"Should I have left you there?", the Captain stormed, following Spock
from the platform.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm under the circumstances, Captain; but
this isn't the point. The connections are entirely obvious to me. I
had discerned two distinct kinds of these entities, one of them
manifesting itself visually in shades of green, the other in shades of
reddish hue. If two different spirits merged, they would presumably
cancel each other out; but two of the same shade grow in strength by
unification. Hardly astonishing that those entities encourage their
worshippers to rituals of a homosexual nature; anything else would be
entirely illogical to the non-material beings. We can hardly fathom
how deeply this fact must have influenced the culture of those lost
settlers, if such they be".

"Don't go on holding lectures in your toga", McCoy now growled at him.
"Nobody wants to see a half naked Vulcan. You'd best follow me now to
sickbay before you go to your quarters to get dressed".

"Thank you, Doctor; rest assured I am in prime physical condition.
Those present are certainly delighted to have been spared a worse
sight, for example that of a half naked doctor", Spock retorted,
throwing a corner of the blanket over his shoulder and calmly exiting
the transporter room.

Lieutenant Kärkisaari, who stood at the transporter console beside
Scotty, started laughing tempestuously after the door had closed
behind Spock. "Damn Finns with their damn scratchy brambles and their
damn directness", McCoy growled, scurrying after Spock, which made
Kirk explode into laughter as well.

---

Kirk had just settled down in his chair on the bridge, watching the
execution of his hastily issued commands, when Spock already returned
to his duty, immaculate in his uniform, and with immaculately smooth
hair. Only a slight greenish scratch remained from the ordeal he'd
gone through.

"May I ask why you are in such a hurry, Captain", he remarked upon
entering. "If we carry on at the present speed, we will reach Starbase
Seven ahead of schedule".

"Warp four", Kirk conceded. "I just hoped to escape from Beta 55 as
quickly as possible. I don't want to imagine what might have happened
if one of the non-material entities had discovered us in orbit".

"Your motives are rather logical, although it would have been
fascinating to continue watching the proceedings on this unique
planet".

"You call that fascinating? You're the one with the best reason to
never want to see Beta 55 again, except on stellar maps".

Spock came a step closer. "I find myself impelled to ask what happened
to you on that planet, Captain", he said quietly. "We have been in
danger innumerable times without panicking".

"I'm not panicking; and for a human there is an important difference
in connection with a danger like that. It wasn't just dangerous, it
was degrading, harming our dignity".

"It was my own dignity, and I did not see that endangered for a
moment. I did not commit any act of degradation, and my dignity is
entirely dependent of my own actions and my own responsibility".

"Damn, Spock; I couldn't bear to see you hanging on that on that rock,
naked and helpless. Something like that will not happen to any officer
of my ship, and especially not to you, while I live to help it. Over
my dead body!"

Spock came and stood at the railing, bending down to his Captain.
"Jim", he said in a very low voice, "don't get agitated. That it
pointless and, redundantly to say, illogical. You kept that officer of
your crew, me, away from all harm. We escaped unscathed from Beta
Antinoi 55 so you can warn Starfleet away from the planet. Nothing of
the sort will happen again. Is that put simply enough for your
purpose?"

Kirk stared into his face, preparing an angry retort, but then saw the
serious affection in those black eyes, normally so expressionless, and
shut up. "I was just afraid for you", he finally managed.

Spock lifted an eyebrow and regarded Kirk with gentle irony. Now stop
projecting your irrational human emotions onto me, the gaze seemed to
say. I will never entirely understand that, for all friendship.

He gave the barest hint of a shrug and returned to his science
station, where he intently monitored his screens for some time, while
Kirk watched the stars streaming over the main view screen, slowly
calming down. It was really unfair to vent his human paranoia on
Spock. What did he expect; was the Vulcan to comfort or reassure him?
He himself had after all been the spirit's victim, and the Captain
could hardly expect him to understand what he felt. Mainly it wasn't
part of Spock's job description. The appropriate thing would be to pay
McCoy a visit, get a drink from the medicinal cupboard, and unburden
his heart to the doctor, who would make some cynical remark, upon
which they would both laugh. That should make him feel much better.
Spock was still staring into the screen, the adjustment of which he
was rapidly changing. Kirk shortly pondered whether some kind of
apology would be in order, and then abandoned the idea of burdening
the Vulcan with yet another expression of redundant emotions. The
Captain stood up to go to sickbay.

In the same moment the ship shuddered as if shaken by a giant fist.
"Captain, you are certainly not at all delighted to learn that you
were right. A Betan spirit has taken possession of all systems of our
ship. I do not care to speculate what that may mean for us".

"I don't, either", Kirk answered. "Spock, throw it out".

"That will not be easy".

"But can you do it?"

"At a probability of eighty-five percent, I can not".

"Than please make use of the remaining fifteen percent before the
spirit destroys the ship". Kirk pressed a button on his armrest.
"Scotty, is everything all right down there?"

"Machines are working, Captain, but cannae be regulated; the
transporter is almost completely..."

"Shut your mouth", the intercom screeched in a blood-curdling
synthetic squeak before apparently perishing with a loud crack.

"Sulu, stop the ship", the Captain ordered now. "We mustn't carry this
spirit to inhabited worlds".

"Automatic course set to Starbase Seven, no change possible at the
moment", Sulu reported.

"I doubt, Captain", the Vulcan's quiet voice added, "that the spirit
needs to be carried anywhere. It must have followed us through space
at a velocity above Warp nine, if taking into account the relation
of..."

"Sorry, Spock, no time for that. What do you think it wants?"

"I want to teach you manners!", the spirit screamed from the computer.
All screens flickered in mocking green.

Spock tried a strategy that had worked well in the past. "Computer.
Calculate the value of pi to the last digit".

"You can calculate it yourself; you love that sort of thing, don't
you", the computer retorted perversely.

Spock pressed a button, and all screens turned dark. Instead of the
computer the intercom reawakened.

"Scott here. Complete computer failure".

"Kirk here. Spock switched them off, because they were infested by the
spirit".

"Sickbay! Astrocartography here. The crew is going crazy, they appear
to hold some strange orgy..."

"I want to teach you manners!", the communications console screeched.

"Uhura, switch that off".

"Pointless, Captain. She left her post".

"Then you switch it off, quick".

"Security to bridge", Kirk ordered. No reply. "Security", the Captain
repeated energetically. "Later", an unknown voice answered lazily from
the intercom. "They do my bidding now", the computer commented
triumphantly. "I have you all in my...", but Spock switched it off
again.

Green wisps whirled through the bridge. "You will pay for my people's
suffering", the spirit declared disembodiedly, losing itself in a
gloating howl.

Spock switched on the computer again. "Computer. Create force field to
completely envelop the non-material energy form currently at large on
the bridge".

For a moment the spirit was visible as a green glow, caught in the
bluish sparkle of the force field, but then it seemed to drink in the
energy of the field.

"Computer. Invert the energy flow of force field".

The field glowed shortly, but then the entity seemed to spit the
energy over Spock. He shrugged it off as if a to drive away an insect.
"Computer. Neutralise force field".

"I caught you, not you me", the spirit leered, from the computer
again. The Vulcan switched it off again manually.

The intercom awakened once more. "Sickbay here. What in blazes
happened? Nurse Chapel, what are you doing there? Jim, this is a
madhouse!"

The intercom gave up its ghost, which icily cold howled over the
bridge again.

"Spock!", gasped Kirk. "It will destroy us all for what we did to..."

"It will do no such thing", the first officer replied calmly. He had
approached the turbo lift. Its doors open to reveal to Kirk, who had
followed Spock, Uhura in intimate embrace with Yeoman Rand. Spock
pulled the two women resolutely from the 'lift, whiled Kirk turned
back to the bridge. Sulu and Chekov were busy tearing off each others
clothes. "What the hell do you think you're doing", Kirk thundered,
but Spock pulled him easily by the upper arm into the lift.

"Sickbay. Useless, Captain. The spirit has taken possession of them.
It has unmistakably expressed its aim: as revenge for our disturbing
its ceremony it intends to convince us of the sexual behaviour which
is the only possible way for it. A very intolerant spirit. I would
gladly discuss the principle of infinite diversity in infinite
combination with it, but that does not appear advisable under the
present circumstances".

"But can you establish contact with the entity?"

The turbo lift opened onto the corridor in front of sickbay. Couples
contorted in plain view in the corridor, only men with men and women
with women. Nobody minded the two commanding officers; nobody minded
anyone except his or her companion. A wisp of green energy slipped
mockingly by.

"Not advisable, Captain. I do not intend to encourage the spirit. I do
however deem it possible that McCoy may find a substance that will
render the body impervious to that kind of possession. Than again we
can..."

In front of the sickbay doors they found Dr. M'Benga, the xenomedicine
specialist, doing extremely bizarre things to an Andorian security
man's antennae. "Perhaps that'll help him with his work", Kirk
murmured ill-humouredly. Spock looked at him and blinked in
astonishment.

"Captain, it is entirely possible that you are right".

"What? You can't be serious".

"Allow me to postpone explanations to a more suitable time", the
Vulcan answered, carefully stepping over the doctor. Kirk followed him
less carefully, but even the touch of his foot did not win the Captain
any attention.

They entered sickbay. There was sheer chaos here as well. Nurse Chapel
was busy with a female xenopsychologist on a diagnostic bed showing
some quite extraordinary readings, and Dr. McCoy...

"Don't look", Spock said. He picked up a feinberger from the floor and
moved it over Nurse Chapel's body. He put the instrument down on a
console and administered the Vulcan nerve pinch to the nurse. She sank
unconsciously onto her partner, who peered at Spock irritatedly. A
green wisp circled Christine Chapel; she jerkily regained
consciousness to frantically continue her former activity.

"Our chances are expended; we are beaten. Vulcan philosophy knows a
principle that could be translated as 'mastering the inevitable'; we
should hold recourse to that now".

Another wisp of green energy circled both of them. "Then go to your
quarters and meditate on philosophical principles; everything else is
pointless". Kirk winced as if in sudden pain. Spock regarded him in
astonishment. "When and where I meditate on what is no concern of
yours; that is a private affair".

"Man, don't you want to understand. You're not safe. Not even from me.
The spirit got me". Kirk leaned in the door frame and observed his
shoes. "Especially not from me. Spock, get yourself to someplace safe.
I don't want to... not you - Spock!"

"Jim, you can never do anything to me against my will. It is too late.
The spirit has taken possession of me as well". He leaned against the
other side of the door frame, as if suddenly dizzy. "Damn and blast.
It's like Pon farr. We should have flattened the whole goddamn planet
with our photon torpedoes!"

"If this is Pon farr, I am glad I'm no Vulcan". Kirk doubled over
again when the wildness coursed through him once more, the wonderful
and forbidden feeling pulsating in his jugular.

Spock lifted for a second both eyebrows at once. "Of course", he
murmured, as if he'd suddenly made sense of the whole absurd
situation. "So let us master the inevitable. I nevertheless do not
intend for the good doctor to find us in front of his door at the end
of the show. Let us master it! We should still be able to make it to
your quarters". He pulled Kirk back into the turbo lift. "Officers'
quarters".

In the 'lift Kirk - at last? - sank into his first officer's arms, and
Spock did not reject him, did not preach Vulcan principles to him, but
made him welcome.

---

What followed was a tangled, feverish dream. Later, Jim couldn't
remember how they made it to his quarters; obviously Spock's self
control had held out at least that long against the battering of the
spirit's wishes. Jim's mind brimmed over into that of the Vulcan;
unable to clearly distinguish between Me and You they smashed the
foundations of their life, laughing. They sacrificed everything they
had ever meant for each other in return for a single moment of
all-powerful, all-fulfilling, deeply satisfying madness, as if they'd
always wanted it, as if they'd lived for nothing else. Pon farr.

And then, awakening from the profoundest night of the soul, the worst
of all possible moments; waking up in the darkened cabin lighted only
partially by the computer screen in front of which sat Spock. Spock,
in Jim's quarters, Jim's bathrobe thrown casually over his shoulders,
against the cold, not from modesty. Spock, with tousled hair as nobody
had ever seen him, sitting in front of the computer as if there was
nothing extraordinary about the situation. His strong, gentle fingers
- oh, if only Jim had never known how gentle - danced over the small
emergency keyboard, as if he didn't want to wake the sleeper by
controlling the computer by voice. He sat just as if he had a right to
be there.

Jim groaned; he couldn't stop himself. All the horror of the situation
fell upon him once more. He had obeyed the wishes of that abominable
spirit with his best and closest friend, his excellent first officer,
the most reliable and most reserved of all comrades; he had destroyed
the cornerstone of their friendship. From now on, there was nothing
left to them than to despise themselves and each other. In some
dreadful way, it had been ravishingly beautiful, but in the light of
the morning after the price was too high. So unimaginably high, for
almost nothing at all.

"How can I ever bear to look into your eyes again, Spock", he sighed
painfully. "Why didn't you just lock me into some freezer room when
this all began".

Spock leaned back on his stool, looked through the lattice at the bed
and Jim, and laughed softly. "Don't panic", he said, still with that
laugh in his voice. "I assume you suffer from something you humans
sometimes term a 'moral hangover'. A freezer room would have been
detrimental to your organism, and the stasis chambers should only be
used by medically qualified personnel. And what do you suggest that I
should have done? Put myself into the freezer? No, what you say is
illogical. Why should you feel guilt or shame? Guilt and shame are
supposed to result from personal misbehaviour, and that wasn't the
case. We were acting on the orders of a powerful non-material entity,
the effect of which were similar to Pon farr, although modified in a
rather interesting way".

He stood up, came over into the sleeping quarters and knelt beside the
bed, leaning his chin onto his folded hands, and gazed levelly at Jim.
"And now you do look into my eyes, so this is indeed still possible.
Logic only demands the calm acceptance of the reality-truth, as the
Vulcan term for logic can be translated literally. We were possessed".

Obviously Jim accepted this explanation, as his worry went on to the
next subject. "What about the ship? For heaven's sake, what about
Starbase Seven?"

"I just learned from the computer that we are currently in standard
orbit around a completely uninhabited moon. Our course was changed
five point eight standard hours after the first appearance of the
spirit by O'Dell who I suppose will be Ensign no longer, while
Lieutenant Tiina Kärkisaari set the engines to one quarter impulse.
There is a logical reason why those two were able to do this".

"So at least we are safe from a major embarrassment at Starbase Seven,
and can now continue our journey in safety after the spirit's gone. It
is gone? What about the crew?"

"Still asleep, according to internal sensors; and the they will go on
sleeping for a considerable time. The spirit's possession of them
lasted for about ten point four standard hours, after which the spirit
left the last of them to fall asleep. The energies expended were our
own after all".

Jim's mind reverted to his first worry. "How could we be induced to do
something like that? How could the demon force us to do anything that
much against our natures?"

"It is illogical to deny a le'matya in one's own house; you get rid of
it only by first admitting its existence and then fetching the
catcher. This is a tenet of Surak's philosophy, and it is the way we
Vulcans treat all our emotions. - We did it because we had it in us;
and you know that as well as I do. We did not take just anybody, some
Ensign thrown over a conference table; we sought the privacy of your
cabin, together. Our friendship always contained some of this element,
acknowledged and rejected on my side, buried in the deepest reaches of
the human subconscious on yours. The demon of Beta 55 brought it out,
but now it can return to where it belongs. It is illogical to feel
regret".

"It's much worse", Jim said honestly. "I've always felt - emotions
toward you, and now those emotions have mingled with what we did".

Spock stood up to sit on the edge of Jim's bed. "Do you think it is
any different for me?", he said in a strangely husky voice. "You are
tense as a harp string. Let me help you". His warm fingers dug gently
- so frighteningly gently - into the muscles at the nape of Jim's
neck; but Jim did not fall unconscious. An astonishing peace flooded
his body, and his soul felt once more Spock's presence. The
remembrance of the hours before opened enticingly in their
intermingled minds. Jim tried to pull back from the utter insanity of
this voluntary contact, but found it was no longer possible. "Now I
will give you something you can truly regret", Spock mocked him in an
unfathomably tender voice. He pulled the blanket from Jim's body, let
the bathrobe slide to the floor, pulled his friend close, took him in
his arms - and the rest was again lost in the mind meld of Vulcan
closeness. But this time they did not fall asleep. This time there was
no excuse. What in all worlds had this green-blooded non-human done to
him? How could he, Jim Kirk, Starship Captain, have allowed this to
happen? He turned away, buried himself in his blanket, hurt, numb, too
shocked to speak or even feel. Then feeling returned slowly, a
heaving, sobs broke, and then he was crying, lying all alone in the
universe beside his friend-turned-lover, and crying his heart out in
his solitude. But he wasn't alone any longer; Spock gently
disentangled him from the blanket, the renewed contact meant only to
comfort, took him into his arms and just held him, while Jim vented
his emotions, his face hidden against the Vulcan's chest.

And then it happened. The computer suddenly awoke to life of its own,
and a tinny voice exclaimed triumphantly, "I have taught you manners.
You have learned your lessons and bettered your ways, and will never
again break my holy rules! Your desecration of my ceremony has been
atoned for; you now freely follow the way of my will. I can go home".
A crackling ended the spirit's good-bye.

Spock, letting Jim fall back to his bed, stood up calmly and went
around the partition to the computer again, mother-naked. He quickly
pressed some keys, stared at the screen, pounded the console again,
stared, pounded, stared. He turned to Jim again, quite his usual self,
except for lack of clothes. Seeing the utter bewilderment in Jim's
face, he laughed out loud for a last time. He came over quickly, sat
on the bed, bent down and embraced his Captain once more. There was
nothing sexual in that embrace, none of the teasingly beautiful
slowness of before, just comfort, and strength, and the triumph of a
logical mind over the amorphous power of the shapeless demon. Then he
knelt on the bed beside Jim, and his Vulcan seriousness returned for
good.

"It is enough; more isn't necessary. Kneel opposite to me and do as I
am doing".

Spock touched the nerve points in Jim's face with his fingers and
guided his Captain's hands through the beginning mind meld to the
respective points in his own face, and thus initiated a complete and
mutual meld according to the strict rules of the discipline.

So this was the shape of those regions of Spock's mind he had
heretofore deemed as too high for the human to follow; so here Spock
found the source of his unshakeable calm; so this was how one felt, or
rather didn't feel, under the regiment of the Vulcan mind rules. A
calm never before known to him enabled Jim Kirk to throw off the
confusion of the preceding hours, he understood everything, the
reason, the inexorable logic of the reality-truth that did not allow
any distorting emotions to conceal it. Then followed the emptiness of
meditation, and something else, that no human could ever hope to
understand, and that he still was allowed to share, as an expression
of gratitude for his emotional stumbling and suffering which had made
victory possible.

---

When the ship awoke among terrible groaning, the Captain and his first
officer did their rounds as matter-of-factly as if they'd indeed spent
the time of running amok in the doctor's stasis chamber. In sickbay
they came upon a McCoy still somewhat groggy, but nevertheless
treating some crew members who had damaged themselves slightly,
grumbling as usual. "Did you come to any harm, Spock? That would just
make my day".

"Negative, Doctor; I must disappoint you. My physical condition is
excellent. I intended to enquire how the crew is recovering".

"Wonderfully, if you-all let me do my work. I'm a doctor, not an
enquiry agency".

Kirk grinned and leaned against the wall beside Spock, who stood as
always perfectly straight, his arms behind his back. After the last
patient had been treated McCoy turned to his friend and commanding
officer. "Don't tell me, Jim, you've certainly ruptured something".

"Negative", Kirk answered, grinning. "I also only wanted to make sure
the crew is all right. Well, now you got an interesting subject for
your next article in the Medical Academy Quarterly: possession".

"Don't give him any hopes, Captain", Spock interrupted. "At a
probability of eighty-nine percent the reports on the incident will be
classified at security level one, and the remaining two percent take
into account only the possibility of the classification being lowered
to level one b at most. Starfleet will want to protect the reputation
of what is generally esteemed their best ship".

Even more ill-humouredly than usual McCoy growled at his favourite
adversary, "It sure makes me wonder that your green blood didn't turn
to ice in your veins, no matter if it's normally almost boiling. I bet
you were sitting snugly in your little corner and meditated while your
ship fell into chaos around you".

"No".

"No?! Which self-respecting man would ever go wrong with such a
horsey-faced, green-blooded icicle like you?"

"The Captain".

Upon hearing this McCoy fell into such an immense laughing fit that he
had to be restrained to his own diagnostic bed and injected with his
own sedative.

When the fit was finally over, Spock declared ruefully, "Vulcans can't
lie".

---

Five standard hours before the ETA to Starbase Seven Kirk called all
his section chiefs to a conference, additionally the family
Kärkisaari-O'Dell.

"After recent occurrences it is more than probable that Beta Antinoi
55 and all reports about it will be quarantined and classified to the
utmost degree of red tape. Unfortunately, this results in all planet
leave being cancelled until further notice. Any persons suffering from
psychological after-effects should contact the psychiatrist section of
sickbay. Mr. Spock, please explain to all of us again the causes and
effects of this visitation".

Spock stood calmly. He began by explaining about the red and green
spirits, their presumable boredom and the result the arrival of whales
and humanoids must have had upon them. He went on by describing the
ritual witnessed by some of Enterprise's crew members, and the nature
of what the non-material entities expected from their human
worshippers. Then he described the ensuing incident, theorised upon
some possible reasons why the spirit was able to move so extremely
quickly through space (here he was interrupted by McCoy's aside
"Doesn't exist for them? Hell, you shouldn't quarantine them but hire
them to draw Starships instead"), to then enlarge his views upon the
occurrences aboard the Enterprise.

"Shortly before I as well was overcome by the possession I realised
that the Captain and myself had to be the main objective of the
attack; we were those who had most blatantly defiled the ritual of
those entities, I by refusing to participate and the Captain by
liberating me, killing some of their followers in the process. We were
the last to be possessed by the spirit; we were meant to see what
happened to our ship. It was obvious to me that all further
developments would depend from our behaviour. When the first onset of
possession weakened, I consulted the computer to find the spirit gone
so early from the system that Kärkisaari and O'Dell were able to
change our course while the demon was still concentrating upon the
crew. The said officers were able to do so because the entity had to
use only minimal force upon them to make them do something that was
perfectly natural to them; the incident just provided them with a very
special wedding night". (Uncertain occasional laughter, as nobody was
sure whether the Vulcan had indeed intended some kind of joke.) "Thus,
the effect left them much earlier than most of us, enabling them to
change our course in time. By consulting the computer I furthermore
gleaned that some residue must have remained; the computer's reaction
time had slowed by a fraction. As I knew what the spirit expected I
repeated the desired behaviour apparently voluntarily, upon which the
entity arrived at the intended conclusion that Enterprise's crew had
bettered their behaviour according to its wishes, so it gloatingly
returned to its planet. Altogether a rather narrow-minded and
intolerant spirit".

Spock sat. "Please explain to your crew everything that is necessary
for understanding the incident", Kirk added. "I have always been able
to depend fully on their reliability; it will be no different in these
classified matters. Thank you. That would be all".

While all others slowly filed out, McCoy hung back. Apparently he
still didn't give up. "Jim, I can't understand how in blazes you could
touch this pointy-eared, green-blooded..."

"Bones! That's enough!", Kirk interrupted him sharply.

"We never mentioned at what activity we had to observe you, Doctor,
although that would give rise to considerable astonishment", Spock
added innocently.

McCoy went off to sickbay in extraordinarily bad humour.

---

In the evening, after reporting their misadventure as vaguely as
possible to Starfleet command, Kirk went by Spock's cabin to talk
about what the big brass might decide. It had become obvious that some
crew members, too shocked about their own behaviour during the crisis,
would be unable to keep permanently silent; and as McCoy was
responsible for the psychological side of things, so Spock was
involved in the disciplinary aspects. Somehow it appeared inadvisable
to Kirk to discuss those matters with both of them at once, though.

Kirk turned towards Spock's perpetually unlocked door and walked
straight into it, as for the first time in his memory the door didn't
open as a matter of course. And neither was there any kind of reply,
not even a "Go away", although the bump must have been heard clearly
inside. Kirk went to the nearest computer console. "Computer. Last
known location of Commander Spock".

"In his quarters. Three minutes ago".

That would be the last time Spock accessed the computer; highly
unlikely he'd left his quarters since then. Kirk would have seen him.

Returning to the Vulcan's door, Kirk prepared himself for some serious
knocking, but stopped himself just in time. He realised that Spock had
not been quite himself that day, even after the spirit was vanquished;
the quiet self-assurance of a Vulcan who knows what he's doing had
been utterly unlike Spock's usual tortured control. It had been his
last ditch effort at maintaining his superiority over those emotional
humans. If Kirk forced himself upon the Vulcan now, if he asked him
now whether he really needed the barriers he now re-erected around
himself, anything was possible. Spock, permanently robbed of his
defences, would be over the edge in a matter of days. Kirk turned,
left the Vulcan to his presumable meditation, and went to discuss the
long term implications on the crew with Dr. McCoy.

---

The classification turned out to be level one after all. For decades
the reports mouldered in disused data banks; none of the top brass
granted access to them ever read the files. In stellar charts Beta
Antinoi 55 was marked with a very obvious "hands off"; no similar
incidents ever occurred. But still; Starfleet personnel told each
other the legend of the demon of Beta 55 for at least a hundred years,
the legend of Enterprise's only defeat turned to victory by accepting.
But this legend would be told only after several drinks, and only in
whispers, and only to one's very best friend.

---

The End