What Next?

There is a mass cry of "Yes!" in response to my question, but then Kirk holds up his hand. "Wait just a moment," he says. "Just who are these people with you, Uhura? What is going on here?"

"I don't think we have time for a full explanation, Captain," a familiar voice says. Spock steps forward, and Kirk evidently notices him for the first time. "Spock!" he says joyfully. "You've recovered! If you and Uhura are vouching for these people, then that's all the reassurance I need."

We have the brig open by now and, apart from a few injured crewmen and those looking after them, everyone pours out. "This was only the first stage," I point out, in case any crewman should think that now everyone is free the job is all but done. "There are a lot of women on this ship, all opposed to us. They will all have phasers, whilst we only have a handful between us. And I'm sure they will have the weapons lockers well guarded. We have a further disadvantage. They will have no compunction about killing us, if it comes to that, whereas we do not want to be forced to kill them."

Spock:

Listening to Uhura, I think that if only we could get one of those anti-possession necklaces around the neck of every woman, all would be well. But that would need a lot of necklaces, which I assume that my new friends don't have. I wonder for a moment whether the Enterprise's replicators could be used to produce more. But though that would duplicate them physically, I'm sure that it wouldn't be possible to duplicate the magic that the originals are apparently imbued with. And even if we could solve that problem, how could we get the necklaces around the neck of each woman?

1. Then I have an idea.

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