STAR TREK
THE TEARS OF THE SINGERS
BY
MELINDA SNODGRASS
PUBLISHED BY POCKET BOOKS NEW YORK
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
are either the product of the author's imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Another Original publication of POCKET BOOKS.
PO KET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 21230C Avenue of
the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
Copyright 0 1984 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Cover artwork copyright 0 1984 by Boris Vallejo
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or
portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Fbr information address Pocket
Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
This book is Published by Pocket Books, a Division of Simon & Schuster,
Inc., Under Exclusive License from Paramount Piotures Corporation, The
Trademark Owner.
ISBN 0-671-50284-0
Fust Pocket Books Science Rction printing September, 1984
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
STAR TREKO is A Trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation Registered In
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Printed in the U.S.A.
Prologue
An ice green sea lapped softly at the sparkling sands and crystal ch& of the
strange, silver-lit world. Along the length and breadth of the glittering
beach played the junior Singers. Cubs, perhaps, although the adults resting
in their icrystal
grottos showed no parental interest in the small furry youngsters who
tumbled, hummed, chirruped and warbled on the beach below them.
The hunters stepped carefully, yet uninterestedly, through the gamboling
packs of silver white creatures. The little fellows were cute enough, with
their pale blue eyes and ingeniously smiling faces, but the money lay with
the adults. Long and sleek they reclined M*' their grottos, unmoved by the
icy wind that whipped off the whitecapped ocean. Their eyes had darkened to
the profound midnight blue of adulthood, and they seemed to be stanng into
a place beyond time as they blended their strange siren voices into an
intricate and never-ending song.
It behooved a man not to look into those eyes when he fired
7
The Tears of the Singers
the electric current that stilled yet another voice in the mighty chorus.
Those who had, described it as looking into eternity, and they didn't seem
like men who had enjoyed the sight.
So they learned to do their work cleanly and efficiently, concentrating
only on the rewards to be gained when the crystal tears were marketed back
on Earth or Rigel, or any of a hundred other Federation worlds where men
and women adomed themselves.
The creatures made no move to escape or even acimowledge their destroyers.
They merely continued their particular harmony as the humans laboriously
climbed the treacherous cliffs, and placed their shockwands at the base of
a Singees skuEL One of the hunters fired, and a discordant cry pierced
through the perfect harmony of the song. The creature rolled ponderously
onto its side, its eyes secreting a viscous blue substance. The "tears," as
the humans had dubbed them, soon solidified into the gleaming gems so
prized on civilized worlds.
The man swept the seven crystals into a soft leather pouch. Something
caught his attention, and he fished back the last jewel. He held it up to
the diffuse light, and frowned when he noticed a minute flaw in the
crystal. A bit of sand had become embedded in the gem, warping its perfect
symmetry and color. Grumbling, he tossed it down the rock wall, where it
shattered with the sound of a thousand bells. It was an eerie and
melancholy sound in the frigid air.
a
Chapter One
James Kark was bored. Tim was an unusual state for the captain of the U.S.S.
Enterprise, but one which was an too common when he found himself trapped at
a star base for routine maintenance.
He fiddled with Ids desk communicator, and debated about calling that
attractive maintenance engineer he had met yesterday when she had been
poking about the computers, much to Spock's irritation.
He dismissed the notion with a quick shake of his head. He wasift in the
mood for groundside company, however attractive. What he really wanted was
the companionship of his own people, and God alone knew where they had
gotten to. He supposed he could make a circuit of the more exotic sakmxm,
and no doubt stumble across McCoy or Sootty or both, but even bar crawling
had lost its allure.
With a sigh he poured a drink, Ilipped on the reader and tried not to think
about the four days still remaunng before
9
The Tears of the Singers
they could leave. He had barely found his place among Nelson's strategies at
Trafalgar when his door page chimed.
"Come," he called eagerly, and snapped off the reader. In his present mood
it didn't matter who was outside so long as they took him away from his own
company, and the nineteenth century.
"Captain," Uhura said as she stepped through the door. 66 I'm glad we
caught you in." Her slender body was swathed in a wrap of gold material
which left one dark shoulder provocatively bare. Long golden earrings swung
from her lobes, and tinkled softly with each step she took. Spock followed
her through the door, his hands clasped characteristically behind his back.
Uncharacteristically, he was wearing his dress uniform.
Kirk raised an eyebrow in unconcious finitation of his first officer, and
a smile tugged at his lips. "You two are dressed to the nines. What's the
occasion?"
"I fail to understand what the numeral nine has to do with the lieutenant's
or my choice of attire, Captain."
Kirk swallowed a sigh. "Old Earth phrase, Spock," he explained. Spock
nodded slowly, and seemed to withdraw into that Vulcan space he inhabited
so much of the'time.
"I had a feeling you might be getting itchy, so we came to see if you'd
like to attend a concert with us," Uhura said.
- "Concert," Kirk said somewhat dubiously. Music was not one of his
favorite pastimes although he did enjoy listening to Spock and Uhura's
impromptu performances aboard the Enterprise.
"It is highbrow, Captain, but it's really worth hearing. Guy Maslin is hem
for two days only, and he'll be performing Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Weston,
Turak, and several of his own works as well." She gave him a pleading look.
"The bad boy of classical music, eh?" Kirk asked, tugging at his lower lip.
"He might better b
e described as this century's Mozart or Vurak," Spock
stated.
10
The Tears of the Singers
"However, his interstellar temper tantrums are of more interest to a tin
ear like myself, Mr. Spock," Kirk said with a twinkle in his hazel eyes.
"I managed to beg an extra ticket from Commander Li," Uhura said. "And it
would be nice if you would join us."
"How about you, Spock? I don't want to horn in on you and the lieutenant,"
he said with a teasing glance to the beautiful communications officer.
"Hardly, sir. The lieutenant and I merely share an.interest in classical
music. Your presence would offer no intrusion."
Kirk spread his hands in a gesture of surrender. "What can I say to such a
generous offer but-I accept." He left his friends and offi6ers waking while
he quickly changed into a dress uniform.
Kirk was enjoying the concert. Maslin really was a virtuoso pianist, and
the beauty of the outdoor concert hall, with its surrounding umbrella trees
silhouetted against the night sky, diamond-hard stars and form-contouring
chairs seemed to ease the jitters he had felt earlier in the evening. The
Star Base 24 symphony orchestra wasn't precisely the Terran Philharmonic,
but they were certainly enthusiastic, and Kirk had a feeling that Maslin's
talent and presence could have made a jug band sound good.
The fights dimmed for the second half. Spock slid into a half-meditative
state while Uhura sat bolt upright on the edge of her seat, hands clasped
tightly about the program, eyes riveted on the still-empty piano stool.
Kirk leaned in to her and whispered, "Are you about to develop a crush,
like ten thousand other women on a hundred other worlds?"
Uhura gave him a decidedly insubordinate look, and turned back to the
stage. There was a ripple of applause as Mastin strode into view. He took
his place at the piano and, with an impatient gesture, brushed back his
falling black forelock.
The Tears of the Singers
Kirk had just settled back into his seat when there was a light touch on
his sleeve. He looked up to find a young ensign standing nervously in the
aisle next to him.
"Sir," he whispered under the rising opening chords of the orchestra. "I
have an urgent message from Commander Li. He requests that you report to
his office at once, sir."
Kirk leaned across Uhura to touch Spock on the arm. Instantly he was the
focus of the Vulcan's attention. "We've got a problem upstairs, and I think
I'd like to have you along.19
Spock nodded, and followed the captain into the aisle. Uhura rose to
accompany them, but Kirk pushed her firmly back into her seat. "Stay and
enjoy for us. I'll let you know if I need you."
"Yes, sir," she said gratefully.
Kirk and Spock trailed the ensign out of the hall as Maslin joined the
orchestra with a brilliant allegro run that marked the entrance of the
piano in his Concerto for a Dying World. Spock paused briefly to listen,
then gave a nod of satisfac tion and stepped into the courtyard lobby of the
outdoor concert hall.
Commander Li's office was on the top floor of an immense skyscraper at the
edge of the spaceport. The commander's desk was framed by a
floor-to-ceiling picture window which overlooked the shuttle landing area.
Li rose from behind his desk, hand outstretched; and Kirk wondered, as he
stepped forward, why all base commanders had similarly situated offices. It
was either a bureaucratic mandate from Star Fleet or a way for
now-deskbound captains to get closer to the stars they had lost.
Us office was, however, less austere than most. Several fate Chinese
scrolls hung on the walls, and a celadon bowl rested on the broad desk.
Spock picked up the fragile bowl, turning it almost reverently between his
long fingers.
12
Tim Tears of the Singers
"Tang dynasty,- Li said with a proud smile. "A fine piece, isn't it?"
"Exquisite would be more accurate, Commander."
"Tbank you, Mr. Spock." Kirk took a chair, and declined one of the thin,
maroon-colored Beleteguese cigars that the tall Chinese commander affected,
to the ruination of the atmosphere in any room.
"sorry to pull you out of the concert. I would be there myself if this
problem hadn't arisen. My wife is still there, and probably cursing me with
every breath for deserting her." He paused to puff the cigar to life.
"I take it from your call to Captain Kirk that this represents an off-world
problem requiring a starship's assistance?"
"Correct." U pressed a button on his desk, and a large viewing screen slid
over the window. "A week ago the freighter Wanderlust sighted a strange
spatial effect near the Thygeta V system. The freighter was returning to
pick up some hunters which it had dropped on Thygeta, which is the only
planet of any interest in the entire system. It was then that it noticed
the phenomenon.
"Ibey radioed us for instructions, and we requested they take a closer
look. Apparently something happened to the Wanderlust during that
investigation, for all that remained to be found by one of our patrol
scouts was their jettisoned communications buoy."
"No debris?" Kirk asked.
"None. It's as if Captain Ridly realized he was in trouble, jettisoned the
buoy, and then vanished--he and his ship with him.99
"This phenomenon?" Spock prodded gently.
"Oh yes." The commander ffipped another switch on the desk console. The
room darkened, and the holograms taken by the Wanderlust in its last
moments Bowed across the screen. Captain Ridly's voice maintained a running
commentary under the swirling images.
13
The Tears of On Singers
"It's like nothing I've ever seen before. It's almost as if the granddaddy
of all aurorae boreales had been rolled up and moved to this remote comer
of the galaxy. We're coming in
for some buffeting now, and wait Ridly gave a
nervous laugh. "An insane sensation ... I just tasted
music." There was a long pause while the incandescent lights
played and rippled across the screen. "We're all beghming to
experience strange sensory hallucinations. People are feeling
colors, tasting and smelling sounds. It's weird-no, wait!
Something's beginning to happen to the ship!" A babble of
voices rose over Ridly's rapidly hysterical commentary.
"Thrul" they heard him shout. "Tam! Jettison buoy! Jettison
buoyl"
The screen went dark.
Kirk felt the air gust from his straining lungs, and he realized he had
been holding his breath during the death throes of the Wanderlust. There
was an almost subliminal shivering along his nerve endings, and he felt
suddenly cold even though the room was a comfortable seventy-two degrees.
He realized that he could have dealt with the loss of the freighter more
easily if there had been a blast of destructive force that had left debris
and rubble in its wake. This sense of nothingness, of a ship and her crew
helpless in the face of something they could not understand, filled turn
with disquiet.
That could have been his ship. The emotion passed as Kirk
pushed away his foreboding.
"So you want the Enterprise to check out this phenomenon?"
"I'm afraid we have no other choice. Computer analysis by the scout ship
indicated that the space/time distortion is spreading outward from the
Thygeta system. I know it pulls you off your assigned course toward the
Romulan neutral zone, but I've cleared it with Star Fleet. They agree this
should take precedence over brandishing the big stick."
14
The Tears of the Singers
Kirk smiled at Li's sally, and cocked an inquiring eyebrow at Spock. "Any
questions, Mr. Spock?"
The Vulcan shifted in his seat, and steepled his hands before his face. "I
would question whether there is anything peculiar to this area of space,
the local star or surrounding planets which might account for this effect."
1A shook his head. "We've had computer analyses of the star and the
surrounding area drawn from the data banks of the survey craft which listed
the system. As for the planets, aside from Thygeta they are lifeless balls
of rock or gas giants."
",And Uygeta?"
"The area has only recently been opened to exploration, and the only point
of interest would be to exDbiologisft or zoologists. Unfortunately there
hasn't been enough money to mount an expedition to Thygeta."
"And what's on Thygeta that the Federation would want to?" Kirk asked.
"The planet is inhabited by a strange mammalian species."
"Intelligent?"
"One hopes not, since the planet has become a mecca for fortune hunters."
Kirk looked puzzled, and Li enunciated two words. "Crystal tears."
"Oh," Kirk said. "I see."
Spock broke in. "Forgive me, Captain, but I do not see. What are crystal,
tears?"
"The galaxy's newest and most costly craze," Li explained. "My daughters
are all hounding me for a tear. So far I've been holding them at bay since
the cost is astronomical."