The Guardian of Forever

The Guardian of Forever

James Tiberius Kirk lay sprawled over his bed reading an engaging novel from the ship's libraries, sipping at a steaming mug of rich hazelnut coffee. Light from the lamp on his desk cast a small pool of shimmering gold over him and accented the clock on the edge of the little table, which read, "11:51 PM".

Although any other crewman would have loved to be relaxing in the comfort of their own quarters, Captain Kirk did not find these times enjoyable. Ship's sensors had recently detected bizarre readings emanating from the Guardian Planet, home to the legendary Guardian of Forever. This strange news stirred most unpleasant memories long since embedded deep within Kirk's soul, memories that brought tears to his eyes every time the subject was brought up.

Nearly three years ago, he and his scientific officer, Mr. Spock, had come across the strange talking archway who claimed to control the time zones of the entire galaxy. This life form, as they had deemed it was, took them into the past, for ancient Earth history needed to be corrected. At the time period the Guardian took them to, Kirk fell in love with a young woman, Edith Keeler. Unfortunately, she had to be killed by an accident, or the peace advocate would begin a petition some years later to stop war and strife that would infuriate other countries and cause tragedy and, much later, disaster to run amok. She was, of course, killed.

Now, years later, the Enterprise had crossed the Guardian's path again-and Kirk was all but enthusiastic to discover what the problem was this time. Would another loved one have to be killed?

"Uhura to Captain."

The transmission roused Kirk from his disturbed thoughts. He groaned, stood, sauntered over to the wall, and punched the speaker button. "Kirk here."

"Captain, we're picking up strange readings from the Guardian. We think it may be attempting communication."

Communication? What would a talking arch want?

"I'm on my way, Uhura. Kirk out." he let go of the push button and crossed the room to close his book and grapple with his chemise.

Svooshhhhh. The doors to his quarters yawned open in front of him. As the captain stepped out into the corridor, he nearly collided with Lieutenant Sulu. His officer's shirt was scrunched, hair spiked, and his reading spectacles warped. Apparently they had both been called to the bridge on account of "communication."

"Good evening, Sir," Sulu greeted his captain with a lopsided smile.

"More like good night." Kirk grunted, rubbing his chin. "As soon as this ordeal is concluded, I'm going back to bed and sleeping 'till noon."

Sulu grinned in agreement. "If this ordeal ever blows over."

"Oh, I'm sure it will." the captain assured, "They always seem to."

They had arrived at the turbo lift. The doors slid open, and Kirk followed Sulu inside. "Bridge." he barked. A soft buzzing sound signaled that the turbo had lurched upward.

Moments later, they found themselves standing at the threshold of the Enterprise Bridge. Dazzling sounds and brilliant lights greeted them, while an image of the Guardian Planet around which they were orbiting glared on the view screen. Uhura monitored communications on the upper deck, while Pavel Chekov manned navigation and Yeomand Rand and Spock stood and saluted the captain at the heart of the bridge.

"Good evening, Sir." Spock said, gesturing toward the captain's chair and seating himself and Rand on either side.

Kirk yawned, nodded, and took his place in the center as Sulu grabbed tactical command.

"Incoming transmission," Uhura announced suddenly, adjusting her headset. "It's the Guardian."

Kirk thought nothing could be more obvious. "Can you put it on the viewer?" he asked.

There was a moment of silence as Uhura fiddled with the commands, then, "No, Sir. Audio only."

Kirk indicated his assent as the transmission buzzed. At first nothing could be distinguished but faint crackling sounds, and then Kirk caught a few words in the guardian's deep voice: "...cannot…you will…."

"Can you clear it up a bit, lieutenant?"

"I'm trying, sir."

Finally more of the crinkling was filtered out, leaving mostly words.

"Kirk…help me…going…why…come fix…." then a click sounded the end of the transmission.

The crew sat in silence for a minute, contemplating the distressed plea.

"The guardian sounded almost desperate, did it not?" Rand commented slowly.

"Spock, what do you make of it?" Kirk asked, glaring at the screen as if it were hiding the answers they needed.