Karen Krebs

Was That The End?

Lieutenant Christopher Pike stood over the corpse of the man he had just shot to death. Captain Stuart Hoag showed cowardice in the face of the enemy, which meant he had to die, but he had to turn the key first. He hesitated. To Lt. Pike, that meant that his people had to die first--all due to this man's cowardice. The junior officer screamed "Turn the key, sir!" When that failed, he fired a shot that took off a chunk of the senior officer's ear. "One, two, three, turn." Pike ordered, not giving a thought to the millions about to die.