Star Trek IV, the Voyage Home Read online

  The adventure continues as Admiral Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise face a courtmartial on Earth for having saved Spock. On their way back to face the consequences, an extraordinary threat to the existence of the planet itself occurs, triggering yet another adventure.

  * * *

  PARAMOUNT PICTURES PRESENTS

  A HARVE BENNETT PRODUCTION

  A LEONARD NIMOY FILM

  STAR TREK® IV: THE VOYAGE HOME

  WILLIAM SHATNER • LEONARD NIMOY

  DEFOREST KELLEY

  C0-STARRING

  JAMES DOOHAN • GEORGE TAKEI • WALIER KOENIG

  NICHELLE NICHOLS AND CATHERINE HICKS

  EXECUTIVE CONSULTANT GENE RODDENBERRY

  MUSIC BY LEONARD ROSENMAN

  DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY DONALD PETERMAN, A.S.C.

  EXECUTIVE PRODUCER RALPH WINTER

  BASED UPON STAR TREK CREATED BY GENE RODDENBERRY

  SCREENPLAY BY STEVE MEERSON & PETER KRIKES AND HARVE BENNETT & NICHOLAS MEYER

  STORY BY LEONARD NIMOY & HARVE BENNETT

  PRODUCED BY HARVE BENNETT

  DIRECTED BY LEONARD NIMOY

  A PARAMOUNT PICTURE

  A WANDERER BOOK

  PUBLISHED BY SIMON & SCHUSTER, INC.

  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.

  Cover Art and Text Copyright © 1986 by Paramount Pictures Corporation.

  All Rights Reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  This Book is Published by Simon & Schuster, Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures Corporation, the trademark owner.

  A Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc. book. Published by WANDERER BOOKS, A Divison of Simon & Schuster; Inc., Simon & Schuster Building, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020.

  STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation. WANDERER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Designed by Alex Jay. Edited by David M. Harris.

  Manufactured in the United States of America.

  ISBN: 0-671-63243-4

  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

  It began with a sound. Nothing very frightening … just a harmless sort of gibberish.

  But because no one could answer it, the future of the planet Earth was doomed.

  The first victim was the Starship Saratoga. As the crew listened to the strange sound, they watched a huge probe float closer and closer. No matter what they tried, they could not figure out how to answer it.

  So the sound became louder—and suddenly the ship began to lose power. The science officer turned to the captain. “All systems have failed. We have reserve power only.”

  “We’re out of control! Rig for collision!” the captain ordered.

  The probe came closer to the ship. The crew gasped when they saw it was miles long. But it just passed by harmlessly into the distance.

  The science officer was stunned. “They finished us,” he said. “And we don’t even know what they want.”

  The place: Starfleet Federation Headquarters, San Francisco, USA, Earth. The time: the twenty-third century. In the Council Chamber, leaders from many planets were gathered. Among them was Sarek, father of Captain Spock. On the screen, a film of grave importance had begun.

  A horrified hush came over the room as they all watched the USS Enterprise exploding to bits in outer space. When the film ended, another one immediately began.

  “There! Hold the image!” The Klingon ambassador pointed at the screen, as a picture of the Enterprise’s Admiral Kirk appeared. “Behold the terrorist James T. Kirk! Not only is he responsible for murdering a Klingon crew and stealing a Klingon vessel. See now the real plot and intentions…

  The film continued—the infamous “Genesis film.” On it, Kirk described the most wondrous—and dangerous—process ever known to the universe. Developed by Kirk’s son, the Genesis energy force could turn dead matter into life.

  During the Enterprise’s battle with the great Khan, a Genesis pod was shot into a dead planet. Soon the planet teemed with jungles and lakes. Khan was beaten, but only after Spock died to save the Enterprise. A saddened crew sent Spock’s corpse to rest on the Genesis planet.

  Before long the Klingons arrived at the planet to steal the secret of Genesis. And as part of their plot, they murdered the son of Admiral Kirk.

  As revenge, Kirk destroyed the Enterprise—but only after beaming the Klingon crew aboard, while he and his crew beamed down to Genesis.

  The Klingon ambassador shouted: “Even as the Federation negotiated a peace treaty with us, Kirk was secretly developing Genesis! He created this planet—a base from which to launch the destruction of the Klingon people! We demand justice!”

  The audience murmured as Sarek spoke: “Ambassador, Genesis was the creation of life, not death. It was the Klingons who destroyed the USS Grissom while trying to gain the secret of Genesis. And your men killed Kirk’s son. Do you deny these events?”

  “We have the right to preserve our race!”

  “Do you have the right to murder?” Sarek asked evenly.

  The Council President then turned to the Klingon. “Mr. Ambassador, the Council’s deliberations are over. You have been allowed to put your views on record.”

  “Then Kirk goes unpunished?” the ambassador shouted.

  “Admiral Kirk has been charged with nine violations of Starfleet regulations—”

  “Starfleet regulations?” The ambassador looked furiously at the President. “Remember this well: There will be no peace as long as Kirk lives!” With that, he and his staff stormed out.

  The President turned to the elder Vulcan. “Sarek, we ask you to return Kirk and his crew to answer for their crimes.”

  “With all respect, Mr. President,” Sarek answered, “there is only one crime: denying Kirk and his crew the honors they so richly deserve.”

  “You are welcome to remain and testify,” the President said as he ended the meeting.

  Light-years away, on the planet Vulcan, Kirk and his crew had just finished an important project—creating a new spaceship to replace the destroyed Enterprise. And they had made it out of a captured Klingon vessel. Its new name: the HMS Bounty.

  They were also waiting to find out if Spock was normal again. After Spock’s death, his coffin had landed on the Genesis planet. As the dead planet was brought to life, so too was Spock—as a newborn baby. But Genesis had a flaw—everything aged much too fast, and Spock grew to manhood in less than a day. Kirk and his crew rescued him and brought him to Vulcan in the Klingon ship. But there was a problem: How could Spock possibly regain all the knowledge he had in his first life?

  Spock had thought of that even before he died. Secretly, he had transferred everything in his mind to Doctor McCoy. Getting it back was another story. Only in Vulcan legend had memory ever been transferred back to someone who gave it away. But Spock and McCoy decided to risk their lives to try it. And they weren’t sure it had worked.

  The air was tense around the crew that once rode the Enterprise. Kirk spoke into his recorder:

  “Captain’s log, Stardate 8390. We are in our third month on Vulcan, awaiting the progress of Captain Spock’s memory training. We have voted unanimously to return to Earth to face the consequences of our actions in the rescue of our comrade Spock.” He turned to Mr. Scott. “How soon can we get underway?”

  “Give me one more day, sir. Reading Klingon is hard.”

  Kirk nodded. Then he gazed away toward a tall Vulcan m
ountain. His eyes were filled with hope and fear.

  On that mountain, Spock sat in a chamber, surrounded by three computer screens. His memory test was underway. With lightning speed, he answered all questions correctly—until the final one:

  HOW DO YOU FEEL? flashed onto the screens.

  “I do not understand,” said Spock.

  “Spock,” a voice said. He turned to face his mother, Amanda. “The computer knows you are half human,” she continued. “Your mind is being retrained in the Vulcan way, so you may not understand feelings. But as my son, you have them.”

  Spock knew this. Like his father, Sarek, all Vulcans buried their feelings in logic. But Amanda was an Earthling. And she knew the computer was looking for Spock’s human side.

  “But I cannot wait here to find them,” Spock said. “I must go to Earth to speak at Admiral Kirk’s trial.”

  “You do this … for friendship?” Amanda asked with hope.

  “I do this because I was there.”

  “Spock,” she said, “You are alive because your feeling, human friends risked their lives for you.”

  Spock looked calmly at her. “Humans make illogical decisions.”

  Meanwhile, the space probe was reaching its destination—Earth.

  Starfleet Command was in an uproar. Five of their vessels had been put out of order, and they could not get any others out of spacedock.

  A frantic voice came over the intercom: “We have lost all internal power. Repeat, we have lost all power!”

  At that moment, the space probe sent its strange sound into the Earth’s oceans. And at Starfleet Command, all personnel stared helplessly at the view on their screens—the sound was turning the ocean water into huge clouds!

  On Vulcan, everything was ready to go with the HMS Bounty. Scotty had even fixed the cloaking device, which the Klingons used to make the ship invisible.

  As Kirk took his place on the bridge, Spock entered, wearing his Vulcan robe. “Permission to come aboard, Admiral,” he said.

  “Permission granted,” Kirk answered. “And it’s Jim, Spock, remember?”

  “It would be improper to refer to you as Jim while you are in command, Admiral. Also, I must apologize. I seem to have misplaced my uniform.”

  “Well, you’ve been through a lot. Station, please.”

  As Spock walked to his station, both Kirk and McCoy noticed he looked stiff.

  “You sure this is such a bright idea?” McCoy asked. “Spock isn’t exactly working on all thrusters.”

  “It’ll come back to him,” Kirk answered—but even he wasn’t so sure of that.

  Soon the Bounty was ready. “Mr. Sulu, take us home,” Kirk commanded.

  Little did they know how important their trip was. At that moment, Earth was slowly being covered by clouds. With the sun being blocked and all land being drenched with rain, the world would not be able to survive long.

  As they got nearer to Earth, Uhura started to pick up an unknown distress signal. Spock listened in as Doctor McCoy approached him, smiling.

  “Spock,” McCoy said, “I just wanted to say it’s nice to have your thoughts back in your head, not mine.” Spock just stared back. “I mean, I may have carried your soul, but I sure couldn’t fill your shoes.”

  “My shoes?”

  “Forget it…” It was useless to make him feel anything, McCoy thought.

  As McCoy Walked away frustrated, Kirk ordered the distress signals put on screen. Most of What they saw was static, until the faint image of the Starfleet President appeared. It was hard to tell what he was saying:

  Warning: Do not approach Earth … orbiting probe … signals on energy wave unknown to us … wave directed at our oceans … all power sources have failed … starships powerless…

  At that point the message began to clear. A cloud envelope has covered the planet. Heavy rain and flooding. Temperatures dropping to critical level. Probe’s signal has knocked out all channels. Communications may be impossible…. Save yourselves. Avoid the planet Earth…. Farewell.

  Shocked, Kirk had the probe’s signal put on the speakers.

  “Spock, what do you make of it?” Kirk asked.

  “Most unusual. An unknown energy form of great intelligence and power. I find it illogical that it is hostile.”

  “Really?” McCoy interrupted, still sore at Spock. “You think it’s just saying, ‘Hi there’ to the people on Earth?”

  “There are other intelligent life forms on Earth, Doctor.”

  “You’re suggesting it may be calling a life form other than man?” Kirk asked.

  “A possibility. The President did say it was directed at the Earth’s oceans.”

  The three men headed for the computer room to analyze the sound. Quickly, the computer came up with a picture of what the sound matched. Kirk’s and McCoy’s eyes widened when they saw it.

  “As suspected,” Spock said without emotion, “the probe’s signals are the songs sung by whales. Specifically, humpback whales.”

  “That’s crazy!” McCoy said. “Who would send a probe hundreds of light-years to talk to a whale?”

  Kirk was deep in thought. “It’s possible,” he said. “Whales were on Earth far earlier than man.”

  “Ten million years earlier,” Spock added. “Humpbacks were heavily hunted by man. They have been extinct since the twenty-first century. It is possible that aliens sent the probe to find out why they lost contact.”

  “Spock, could we imitate the humpback’s answer to the call?”

  “The sounds, but not the language.”

  “Then we must destroy the probe.”

  “Impossible. It would neutralize us easily.”

  “Is there no alternative?”

  “Yes, but I cannot guarantee its success. We could attempt to find some humpback whales.”

  McCoy thought Spock was crazy. “You said there aren’t any except on Earth of the past! So how…?” Then he realized what Spock meant.

  Time travel.

  “Now wait a minute…” But McCoy was too late to argue.

  “Spock, get the ship ready for a time warp,” Kirk ordered.

  Next stop—the cargo bay, where Kirk met Mr. Scott.

  “Scotty, would we be able to fill this room with water?”

  “I suppose so, sir. Are you planning to take a swim?”

  “No, but we are going to find some humpback whales!”

  “Whales? Admiral, how am I going to handle all that weight?”

  “You’ll work it out, Scotty. And remember—two of them!”

  At Starfleet Command, workers ran about in a panic. Lightning and rain threatened to break through the room’s huge window. But Admiral Cartwright and Sarek’s attention was on the screen. A faint signal from Kirk was coming through.

  Opinion … probe call … extinct species, humpback whale … Starfleet—we are going to attempt time travel.

  That was the last they heard, as the power went out. Cartwright and Sarek stared silently at the blank screen.

  “Good luck, Kirk,” Sarek whispered. “And all who go with you.”

  Suddenly there was a deafening crash. The entire great window had blown inward, and the room was instantly filled with flying objects, cries, and howling wind.

  Kirk turned to Spock as he prepared the ship. “What is our target in time?”

  “The late twentieth century.”

  The Bounty exploded into warp speed. They sped toward the sun, with heat shields at full power. Time travel was possible only if they could slingshot around the sun at Warp ten.

  As they got nearer the sun, the bridge began to vibrate wildly.

  “I don’t think she’ll hold together, Admiral!” Scotty shouted.

  “No choice now, Scotty! Mr. Sulu, we need breakaway speed!”

  “Warp nine point seven … point eight … breakaway speed…”

  “Now, Sulu!”

  Just as it seemed the ship would be swallowed by the sun, it blasted around like a white bullet.<
br />
  Soon an image of the Earth filled the Bounty’s screen. “Judging by the air pollution, I believe we have arrived in the late twentieth century,” Spock reported. They had done it!

  To make the ship invisible, Commander Chekov turned on the ship’s cloaking device.

  “Admiral,” Uhura called out, “I am receiving whale songs from straight ahead—San Francisco!”

  Kirk was puzzled. “From a city? That doesn’t make sense.”

  Just then, Scotty’s voice boomed over the speakers: “Admiral, you and Spock better get down here!”

  Kirk and Spock rushed to the engine room. The ship’s fuel, dilithium crystals, had become weak.

  “We’ve got about twenty-four hours,” said Scotty. “After that we’ll be visible. And there’ll be no way to get back home.”

  “Scotty, is there any way the dilithium can be recrystallized?” Kirk asked.

  “Sorry, sir. We can’t even do that in the twenty-third century.”

  Spock had an idea. “There is a twentieth-century possibility. But we need to collect photons from one of their nuclear reactors.”

  “Where would we find these reactors?” asked Kirk.

  “Nuclear power was widely used in naval ships….”

  Kirk thought about this as they returned to the bridge. There, a nighttime view of San Francisco filled the viewing screen.

  “Mr. Sulu, set us down in Golden Gate Park,” Kirk ordered. “We’ll divide into teams. Chekov and Uhura are assigned to find the nuclear reactor. McCoy—you, Scotty, and Sulu will convert the cargo bay into a whale tank. Spock and I will try to trace these whale songs to their source.”

  They all agreed. But Kirk had one warning: “Be very careful. Try to fit in—many customs may take us by surprise. Remember, this is three hundred years in the past. These people have never seen an extraterrestrial before.”

  In response, Spock took a strip of lining out of his Vulcan robe. When he tied it around his head to cover up his pointed ears, he looked like a Japanese gentleman in samurai clothing.