S&S&ST Chapter Fourteen: Another test of Faith
Outline
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Jim was enjoying himself immensely, which surprised him because he had sworn never to be happy again. No doubt his good cheer had something to do with the large number of beautiful women at the party. His smile grew as he saw that one of them was coming towards him. Then he recognized her as Carol Marcus, one of his grade-school sweethearts. Those had been magical times, he remembered fondly. But now Carol was head of a science research department, and all business.
“Why are you taking Genesis away from us?” were the first words she said.
“Genesis? What do you mean? Who’s taking Genesis?”
“Jim, did you give the order to marry the Genesis Project with the Kobayashi Maru? You know Genesis is top secret. And it’s never been tested before. It would be impossible to predict what would happen if it were launched in a fighting scenario.”
Jim stared intently at her. “The Kobayashi?” he gasped, “But - it was discontinued months ago! Don’t tell me they’ve brought it back? Why did he not contact me? I would have been overjoyed to see him again.”
She nodded “I just got the memo a couple days ago. They said it was impossible for the test to function without the added challenge. But why does it matter?”
“Because if it’s back, I need to go take that test. I’m going to pass it this time, I can feel it in my bones!” he yelled as he ran out of the crowded dance hall.
“Jim! No, wait! You don’t understand what it does!” Carol called. “Oh now I suppose I’ve got to go save his life,” she muttered. And she ran after him.
* * * *
The young technician could not believe his eyes, but he alerted his superiors anyway. “Sir, someone has broken into and initiated the Kobayashi Maru. But this is rather odd - he hasn’t got anyone with him. No crew, no friends, nothing. I think he’s trying to fly the simulation all by himself.”
Carol ran into the programming station. “Where’s Jim? Have you seen him?” They pointed to the screen and she clapped a hand to her cheek in horror. “Look, I don’t know how realistic this simulation of yours is, but if he launches the Genesis Device, there’s a good chance it’ll try to kill him. So please do whatever you need to do to make sure that’s not the only option he has.”
The two technicians looked at one another uncertainly. “We’ll certainly do our best. But of course, it also depends on the choices he makes in the simulation.”
And the delicate dance of strategy began. The ships - Kirke’s, the Kobayashi Maru, and the dozens of Klingon warbirds - swooped around each other as they all performed their respective tasks. But Kirke was also dancing inside the simulation room as he performed all of the tasks necessary to keep the ship running. Luckily the Engineering and Medical sections were always simulated and he didn’t need to run down there half the time.
Communications was the first to fail. He was receiving a signal from the other ship and suddenly it cut out. He tried to restart it, but his best efforts accomplished nothing. “Oh, solitude, how I have missed you!” he proclaimed to the empty simulation room. He continued on to the science station and ran a probability test of how long he had before he lost.
Kirke was a genius, but he finally had to admit that he wasn’t quite good enough to control a ship by himself. He’d been over-extending himself and decided that he might as well go out with a bang. So he followed the protocol to set off the Genesis Device inside the ship.
“No!” yelled the programmer. “He’s done it! The count down’s on!”
“We’ve got to get him out of there! He has so much potential. I won’t lose one of my best officers to a stupid simulation.”
“But the machine’s malfunctioning - it won’t open the doors to let him out. There’s go to be another way to stop the simulation.”
Chekov, who just happened to be there, spoke up “Vell, ve could teleport him out.” Everyone looked at him. “It vas just an idea,” he mumbled, embarrassed.
“No, it’s a great idea. Only problem is, who here knows how to work a teleport?”
“I could try.” Chekov answered, already doing calculations in his head. “Yes! That vould vork,” he said “I can do zat! I can do zat!” he ran down the hallway to the teleportation room and entered the coordinates.
Meanwhile Kirke looked grimly at the Genesis Device. It was only at the laboratory stage so far, and not the planet stage, but it should still be enough to rescue the Kobayashi Maru. Then it went off. It tore apart the structural matrix of the control room and replaced it with its own. “Wow. There’s water and birds in the simulation room.” Then he realized that the device would also rewrite his own structural matrix and he began backing away slowly from the miracle of new life. “This is bad. This is really, really bad. How did things get this bad, anyway?” He tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. “Well,” he thought, “At least I’ll die in the arms of my first and only love.” He lost consciousness just as the teleporter beam scattered his atoms.
“Quickly! Get him to sick bay! There’s only one man who can save him now!”
“Oh? And who’s that?”
“Doctor Leonard McCoy.”
Chapter Fifteen