The Rings of Tautee by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch Page B

tremble ran through Prescott. Kirk could feel it underneath his palm. Spock made her uncomfortable, but she gave no outward sign of it.
    Instead she met his gaze like an equal. "We created a fusion reaction in the center of the moon, contained by a magnetic shield and the moon's natural crust."
    Spock glanced at Kirk and then back at Prescott. Kirk knew exactly what he was thinking. Such an idea had been tried successfully in hundreds of systems throughout known space. It would not have had the power to break apart the moon, let alone the entire system.
    KerDaq snorted in disgust and then said, "We tried such things a thousand years ago and we did not destroy our system."
    THE RINGS OF TAUTEE "Yes," Spock said, ignoring KerDaq.
    "Fusion power is a tried and reliable power source for many pre-warp cultures."
    "Pre-warp?" Prescott's friend, Folle, asked.
    "It's a term for cultures at your level of advancement," McCoy said. Then he raised his head slightly, giving the Klingon a sideways glance, of a kind that always made Kirk wary. "So you think, Prescott, that your experiments had something to do with this destruction."
    She shook her head. "I don't think it, Dr.
    Leonard McCoy. I know it."
    "A runaway fusion reaction could not cause this kind of destruction." KerDaq said.
    "Any child knows that is not possible."
    "Let her finish, KerDaq," Kirk snapped.
    Prescott moved out from under Kirk's hand. She moved into the center of the upper deck, as far from the others as she could get. It was as if this subject was so painful, she could not take in anyone else's presence, anyone else's warmth.
    Kirk let her move away. "Prescott," he said softly, carefully, unwilling to let the moment pass. "A runaway fusion reaction might have destroyed the moon, but nothing more. There was no method that could have spread a fusion reaction through space."
    Prescott wrapped her arms around herself as if she didn't hear him. Folle walked up behind her.
    She stepped away from him. "Prescott," he said, "we didn't do it. Just like I told you."
    She shook her head.
    Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch Spock's attention hadn't wavered from her. "The destruction is, however, centered on the location of the ninth planet. We rescued you from a base inside the moon of the fifth planet. What were you doing there?"
    "Our base was the control central," Prescott said. "The first energy was to be projected to our moon.
    From there it would have been distributed throughout the system."
    "Projected?" Kirk repeated. Suddenly he knew what had happened. He glanced at Spock, who looked almost visibly shaken. Spock knew too.
    KerDaq took a step toward Prescott. "You pros jected it?" Even KerDaq had guessed what was coming next.
    Kirk put up a hand for KerDaq to stop and he did.
    Prescott held her ground, even though her eyes looked like those of a stunned deer. Color rose in her cheeks. Folle stood behind her like a pillar, giving her support.
    Kirk swallowed. "What method," he asked slowly, "were you planning to use to project the energy?"
    Prescott turned to Folle, who stepped forward. Kirk knew instantly that it had been Prescott who was behind the fusion power idea. But it was Folle who championed the method of transportation to get the energy to the inner planets.
    "A form of microwave transmission," he said.
    He held his head high and there was no evidence of shame in his posture. He still didn't understand what had gone wrong. Nor did he accept the blame. 122 THE RINGS OF TAUTEE What had he said a moment ago? Prescott, we didn't do it. Just like I told you.
    Just like I told you.
    She had known all along and believed she had caused the death of all her people.
    Kirk felt a wave of compassion run through him, despite all the destruction. She had lived for weeks with the knowledge that she had destroyed her people, and everyone around her had denied it. Denied it all.
    "Microwave transmissions cannot carry or contain the power you would have received from