February, Year 20 of the Anglo-American Alliance
For the next week, the piano music that played in the evenings in the cellar of the 21st Street Mission was lovely – none of the haunting minor chords that had plagued Mary Keeler for so long. It was sweet and pretty, filled with hope and happiness that its player would not show in the open.
Relationships among the people Pike was starting to think of as his “crew” – after all, they would eventually be his crew aboard the starship! – flourished and grew. Upon learning that Spock played the piano and Uhura sang, Kirk, Mitchell and McCoy assailed them with requests ranging from Row, Row, Row Your Boat to Stravinsky’s Firebird. Everyone joined in the former and listened raptly to the latter as Spock’s long fingers danced deftly over the keys. Even Pike gave up telling him to stop, as long as he limited his playing to times when the mission was closed.
He would sit there, swaying, so he believed, in time with the music, and really about half a beat off. But he would sit, in any case, and watch his crew watch other members of his crew.
Gary Mitchell watched Janice Rand, and Janice Rand watched Jim Kirk. Jim Kirk occasionally watched Uhura along with Kevin Riley, but Pike suspected he really liked Edith Keeler, who was back at university and would graduate soon. Uhura had been known to watch both Scotty and Sulu, and Sulu was prone to watching Christine Chapel, who watched Spock constantly. Spock himself watched Number One, though in a controlled, logical sort of way.
And Number One? Well, she didn’t watch anyone, exactly, but Pike often met her clear blue eyes, and she would seem to smile ever-so-slightly. Jemima, he called her in his thoughts, though he knew she would not thank him for saying that out loud. Beautiful Jemima.
The Project itself was going well, according to Scotty and Spock – apparently it would take at least another month, but they were confident of success, and all Pike had to do was find a way to steal and launch a rocket ship, please and thank you. Oh, and they would need to work on the rocket ship itself for a few weeks without the Enforcers seeing to hook up the engine to the controls and sensors, but that shouldn’t be a problem, should it, Mr. Pike, sir?
Still, it was impossible to be angry with his crew; they were truly wonderful, running about finding things and taking things apart and cleaning things and, of course, helping out in the mission itself. Pike had organized a kind of duty roster; every day, two of those who were Anglo-American and therefore safe went upstairs to do whatever Mrs. Keeler needed, while another two went out into the city to get supplies and food. Whoever was left worked on The Project feverishly, barking orders at each other, dashing around in a kind of cautious frenzy. The Project grew larger and cleaner and more complex every day.
It had been four years since he had started this with just Sulu and Scotty. Now, finally, it seemed to be paying off.
So (logically, of course) delighted was Number One that she forgot about not liking cigarette smoke, and Pike happily puffed away in the basement until Scotty objected, saying that the smoke was getting into the Project. Pike obligingly moved outside, followed by Kirk and Mitchell, who borrowed his lighter and sat on the steps with him.
“So how’d you get the idea in the first place?” Mitchell asked.
Pike exhaled thoughtfully. “It was after I met Sulu, after he’d escaped from the XP. He was born an American citizen, you know, before… and I realized just how far we’d sunk, and figured it was time to clear out.”
“Why not steal an airplane and move to a different country?”
“What country? Half of them are oppressed by the Enforcers, and the other half quite rightly don’t trust Anglo-Americans. Besides, we need a permanent solution. With warp speed, we might find a habitable planet… we might find intelligent life to help us…”
“What are the chances?” Kirk asked skeptically.
Pike leaned in very close. “When Zefram Cochrane flew the very first warp-capable starship, his sensors picked up what might well have been another vessel just before a malfunction forced him to go back and land.”
They both stared at him, wide-eyed. There. That little tidbit from the Enforcers’ confidential files he had stolen should fix them for a while. Fortunately, Cochrane’s warp drive had exploded before the Enforcers had been able to figure out how it worked, the signal on the sensors had been too faint for the Enforcers to trace whatever it was, and the man himself had remained close-mouthed – but his log had mentioned it, and said that he thought it was a vessel.
Kirk put out his cigarette first. “If we ever go into space, we won’t be able to smoke,” he said slightly regretfully. Pike grimaced, but followed suit. The boy was right.
Mitchell scowled and stood up. “I don’t know if I want to go into space.”
Pike opened his mouth, but Kirk beat him to it. “Better than staying here.”
“I guess.”
The door opened, and Janice Rand came out, holding a sheaf of paper. “They need you, Mr. Pike.”
Pike sighed and took the paper from Rand. Never a moment’s peace – that was the price he paid. As he nodded briefly to Kirk and Mitchell and went back inside, he thought he heard Mitchell greet Rand warmly.
Pike shook his head, then put it out of his mind and went over to Spock, who was leaning over Sulu’s shoulder and talking quickly in his ear. He straightened at once on seeing Pike, his hands moving from the surface of the table to their customary position behind his back.
“Care to explain this, Spock?” Pike said, shoving the papers at him. Spock flipped through them, his eyes scanning them with inhuman speed, and then looked up at Pike, his eyebrows raised.
“It is quite self-explanatory, sir. To ensure the safety of the warp engine, Mr. Scott requires these supplies.”
Pike passed a hand over his eyes, collapsing into a chair. “Spock – copper wire, fine. The filaments from five electric lightbulbs, fine. Wires from a high-end computer, difficult, but fine. But platinum, Spock? Really?”
Spock closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as if preparing to shout, then letting it out slowly.
“Chris,” he said quietly, opening his eyes and locking them with Pike’s. “We need this.”
Pike was quite unable to look away. Of course, of course they needed the platinum. They couldn’t succeed without it.
“We need the platinum. There is no other way.”
“I’ll get you your platinum,” Pike found himself saying.
“Thank you.” Spock broke the eye contact and turned back to Sulu, and Pike blinked, left with the strangest feeling that he had agreed to something he hadn’t meant to agree to. But the sensation passed quickly, and Pike moved on.
--
“So how do you like it here so far?”
“It’s good. I feel useful for once.” Kirk glanced up at Rand, who was staring at him, her green eyes wide and rapt with attention. His gaze flicked to Gary, who was watching Rand with equal intensity.
“Gary, don’t you like it?” he asked pointedly, and Rand turned politely to Gary, who took the cigarette out of his mouth and put on his most charming smile.
“Yeah. It’s great. I mean, we’re making a difference and everything – I can’t wait to actually get into space.”
Kirk went to sit down on the steps next to his friend, propping his chin in his hands and trying to stifle a smirk. That was a different tune than Gary had been singing earlier.
But Rand was not interested in Gary. She turned back to Kirk. “You are really helping, you know. We never dreamed we’d get anyone who had seen a real warp drive. We wouldn’t have gotten here without you.”
“I don’t know. Scotty is really good – and so is everyone else. Number One, Spock…”
Gary seized on that topic of conversation at once. “Miss Rand – Janice – you know Number One and Spock, they’re both so…”
“Cold? Yes, well, I haven’t been able to puzzle Spock out, but Number One keeps making disparaging remarks about the human race. I’m pretty sure she thinks emotion led to the Alliance.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” Kirk cried. “Negative emotion maybe, but what about good emotions? Friendship? Joy? Love?”
He felt Gary’s hand on his shoulder and shut his mouth. “Calm down, Jim. Jim gets overexcited,” he added to Rand.
“But he’s right,” Rand said quickly. “Those are the things we need more of. I can’t understand Number One or Spock at all.”
Kirk exchanged a glance with Gary, then they both looked back at Rand, who was standing before them, still watching Kirk. After a moment, Rand sighed.
“You know, sometimes I wonder if it’s really possible.”
“What – getting into space?” Gary said. “I wonder that too. I wonder if it’s worth it. I mean, I know the Enforcers are terrible, but…” He shrugged and tossed his cigarette butt on the ground, stamping on it with his heel. “I just wonder.”
Rand wrapped her arms around herself, looking down. “Everyone wonders when they first join us. I’m worried because I still wonder.”
“Hey, don’t be. Don’t worry, Janice,” Gary said hastily. “I mean, it’ll work, of course, but it is a pretty out-there idea. I mean – you know what I mean.”
She smiled noncommittally and turned back to Kirk, who was tugging on the collar of his shirt uncomfortably. It wasn’t that Rand wasn’t pretty, but… thoughts of Edith, of Edith’s lovely smile, of her sleek dark hair and wide eyes came to mind, and he looked down, not meeting Rand’s eyes.
“I’ve got to go,” he said automatically, and stood up, hurrying back into the basement.