The setting seemed familiar, though he could not quite place it. He peered cautiously out from behind the column to the rest of the room. At its center, five chairs encircled a small table, its surface covered with dishes of fruit and meat, golden goblets, and a gold-accented glass vessel containing a dark red liquid. The skins of animals spread across the floor, and artwork and plush red drapes provided additional ornamentation. A brace of columns had been erected at the center of each of the room’s other three walls; those to the left and right bordered double doors, while those on the far side led into a sleeping alcove.
But while Kirk’s location had changed, the presence of the other Kirk had not. He no longer rode Tom Telegraph, but instead sat on the bed in the alcove, still wearing his jacketless Starfleet uniform. Kirk decided to step out from behind the column and attempt to speak with his alternate self in an effort to determine the full nature of his-of their-circumstances. Before he could, though, he saw another person across the room. A woman with long blonde hair emerged from the alcove, wearing a gleaming gold outfit that covered only select portions of her anatomy.
Drusilla, Kirk recalled. She had been a slave on the fourth world of planetary system 892, where an industrialized version of the Roman Empire existed in a stunning instance of Hodgkins’s Law of Parallel Planet Development. Kirk and the Enterprise crew had tracked the debris of the long-missing survey vessel Beagle back to that world. There, Kirk had led Spock and McCoy on a landing party to the surface, where they had discovered that the ship’s captain, R. M. Merrick, had transported down his entire crew of forty-seven, where many of them had died in forced gladiatorial combat. In further violation of the Prime Directive, Merrick had also become a significant part of the planet’s pre-warp society, taking the position of first citizen.
While the other Kirk lay back on the bed, Drusilla crossed the room to one set of doors and exited the room. The moment she had gone, the other Kirk bolted up and began searching his surroundings. Kirk remembered that once Drusilla had left, he’d hunted through the room for anything that might be of use to him. He, Spock, and McCoy had been taken captive by the Romans and sentenced to die by their leader.
As Kirk watched, though, he noticed that the alternate Kirk appeared very focused in his search, as though he sought not simply anything that could help him, but something specific. After a short time, he seemed to find what he’d been looking for: a writing implement and a paper tablet. This had not happened during Kirk’s actual visit to planet 892-IV.
The other Kirk began writing at once, and Kirk speculated that he outlined directions for Merrick. Looking back on the entire incident now, Kirk recalled that the traitorous captain had stolen back from the Romans one of the Enterprise landing party’s communicators, indicating his change of heart about what he had done. Later, in fact, he had helped Kirk, Spock, and McCoy escape the despotic civilization, though at the cost of his own life. Kirk regretted that he hadn’t been able to bring Merrick back to the Federation to stand trial, not just for violating the Prime Directive, but also for his betrayal of the Beagle crew and his hand in their deaths. If Kirk could relive those events, knowing how they had ultimately transpired, he thought he would do what he supposed the other Kirk did now, namely detail a plan for Merrick that would see him leave this world with the landing party.
When the other Kirk finished writing, he tore a small piece of paper from the tablet. After replacing the writing implement and tablet back where he’d found them, he folded the note into a small square, then tucked it into the fleshy crook at the base of his thumb. He then returned to the sleeping alcove and lay back on the bed.
Minutes passed, and Kirk tried to recollect how long he had pretended to sleep. While he hadn’t written a note to Merrick, he had searched the room and looked for a means of escape. He remembered now that he had eventually heard somebody approaching, which had driven him back into bed, where he had feigned slumber.
Now, Kirk heard a set of doors open, and he carefully peered from behind the column to see two armed guards step into the room and take up positions there. A moment later, the Roman leader entered. Heavyset and garbed in a glittery green tunic, Proconsul Claudius Marcus moved and acted with the confidence of an egocentric dictator. A coat of arms emblazoned the front of his left shoulder. Once in the room, he gazed around, then crossed to the sleeping alcove, where he lifted a boot onto the bench at the foot of the bed. “Captain,” he said.
The other Kirk started and looked up, as though just roused from sleep. He quickly sat up on the edge of the bed, but he said nothing.
“I’m sorry I was detained,” said Claudius Marcus. “Shall we have our little talk now?” He swung his foot to the floor and walked toward the table at the center of the room, and the other Kirk followed. “So far on this planet we’ve kept you rather busy. I don’t wonder you slept through the afternoon.” Kirk recalled the proconsul’s curious attempt at discretion, considering that the Roman leader had known that Kirk could’ve dozed for only a few minutes, after Drusilla had left.
Claudius Marcus sat down and poured red wine into a goblet. He offered it to the other Kirk, who shook his head. “Uh, by the way, one of the communicators we took from you is missing,” the proconsul said. “Was it my pretty Drusilla by any chance?” As he spoke, First Citizen Merikus-the erstwhile Captain Merrick-entered and approached the table. “See if he has it,” the proconsul ordered. While the slight-of-stature Merrick patted the other Kirk down, performing a cursory search for the device, Claudius Marcus added about Drusilla, “Not that I would have punished her.” With a laugh, he said, “I would blame you. You’re a Roman, Kirk, or you should’ve been.” He then asked Merrick, “It’s not on his person?”
“No, Proconsul,” Merrick said.
With an expansive wave of his arms, Claudius Marcus said to the other Kirk, “I am sorry I was detained. I trust there was nothing further you required.”
Behind the column, Kirk remembered how Drusilla had wanted to pass the time with him, claiming that she had been told to act as his slave. The sensitivity the proconsul tried to project seemed overdone and even juvenile.
As Kirk had all those years ago, the other Kirk said, “Nothing, except perhaps an explanation.”
“Because you’re a man, I owe you that,” the proconsul said. “You must die shortly, and because you are a man.” He peered up at the first citizen and said, “Would you leave us, Merrick? The thoughts of one man to another cannot possibly interest you.” Although Claudius Marcus had evidently received help from Merrick during the former Federation captain’s six years on the planet, the proconsul’s words clearly indicated his contempt for him.
As Merrick turned to go, the other Kirk shifted his weight and seemed to accidentally brush against him. The Enterprise captain appeared to reach up automatically to steady himself, his hands briefly touching the first citizen. Though from his vantage behind the column, Kirk could not see it, he had no doubt that his alter ego had just passed his note to Merrick.
As the old Beagle captain departed, the other Kirk looked after him. “Because you are a man, I gave you some last hours as a man,” Claudius Marcus said, obviously explaining the rationale for Drusilla’s presence during Kirk’s detention here.
“I appreciate that,” the other Kirk said.
“Unfortunately, we must demonstrate defiance is intolerable,” the proconsul said.
“Of course,” the other Kirk said.
“But I’ve learned to respect you,” Claudius Marcus told him. “I promise you, you will die easily, quickly.”
“I thank you,” the other Kirk said. “And my friends?” Kirk recalled that Spock and McCoy had been taken back to a jail cell after surviving a turn in the gladiatorial arena.