Fic: Observations, Ch 87
The Enterprise shudders.
“Stay on top of it, Sulu.”
“Doing my best, captain. Helm’s sluggish, I don’t know why. Maybe it’s these waves.”
“Control circuits’re threatenin’ ta overload, Jim.”
“Got it, Scotty. Spock? Is that enough?”
“I believe we will have everything plotted in a few more orbits, captain. Lt. Chekov?”
“Da, sir. We will be orbiting four more times and then we are going to on to next mission.”
“Okay.” The helmsman’s terminal exploded in a shower of sparks. “Sulu!”
“Hikaru!” Lt. Chekov rose to leave his station, but the ship rocked again. He turned his attention back to the navigation panels, rapidly calculating new paths of orbit. Pavel’s eyes darted to the prone form of Sulu, but he pushed aside his personal concerns for his friend. His first duty was to the ship.
“Sulu! Bones, get up here. Scotty, what was that? A major overload?”
“Aye, captain. I’ve got it switched ta manual. Are we going ta maintain this orbit here? It’ll get rough again very fast.”
“Spock?”
“This is of great scientific importance, captain. This is the first time such a phenomenon has been reported in space-we are passing through ripples in time. Any data we may collect and any knowledge we may gain will revolutionize our understanding of space-time.”
“Okay. Maintain orbit as long as you can, Chekov. Lt. Wolfflin, get helm for now. Nyota, open a channel with Command and start broadcasting all our data and the recent log entries and reports, especially the weird readings that brought us here in the first place. Spock, tell your scientists to forward whatever data they get on the instruments to Communications. And I want backups on everything-I don’t want a hard drive wipe setting us back another week again.”
“Aye sir.”
“Any guess as to what’s creating these ripples? Maybe someone, or something?”
“At this point, anything I say is purely speculation, Jim.”
Dr. McCoy entered the bridge.
“Bones, over here,” Jim’s attention was on Lt. Sulu, but he glanced up at me to indicate that I had his attention.
“The raw data seems to indicate that these changes in time are causing turbulent waves of spatial displacement. Theoretical physicists have long predicted this exact relationship, but this is the first time we are witnessing a natural occurence in space. The source of the change, the object or entity generating these waves, is totally unknown.”
Jim nodded, while Leonard assessed Sulu’s condition. He looked at the doctor.
“Some heart flutter, a few burns, nothing serious. Normally I’d just haul him to Sickbay, but you need him at helm, don’t you.”
“Yeah.”
“I guess I’ll risk some drops of cordrazine. He’ll have hell to pay later though.”
“Woah, wait, Bones, cordrazine? That shit’s tricky stuff. Are you sure you wanna risk-?”
Dr. McCoy administered the appropriate dosage through his ubiquitous hypospray. Lt. Sulu opened his eyes, alert and apparently unharmed.
“You were about to make a medical comment, Jim?”
“Who me? No,” Jim grinned.
“Let me see your hands, Sulu and apply somethin’ for that burn there.”
“Later, doc. I’m fine, I can manage,” Lt. Sulu replied as he sat up and went back to his post. The burns on his hands were already becoming an intense red.
“Keptan, we are guiding around many many time ripples sechas,” Lt. Chekov said, alternately looking at his friend’s hands and his own navigation panel.
“Wolfflin, back to your post. Got it, Sulu? We’re operating on manual.”
“Yup, thanks cap’n,” Sulu said as he took the helm again. His hands were, as always, steady.
“Nyota, how’s the communications going? Spock? How are we doing?”
“Everything’s being uploaded, Jim.”
“Science department reports that we have all plotted but one, captain.”
“Coming on it right now, keptan. It is seeming to be wery heawy displacement. Hikaru?”
“On my count, Pasha. Two, one, now.”
Despite the skilled piloting of Lt. Sulu, the displacement still caused significant turbulence. Several crew members struggled to maintain balance and some fell out of their seats. Jim stumbled.
“Bones! Goddamnit,” Jim ran to the doctor, who crumpled to the floor.
When the on duty security personnel lifted the doctor to his feet, a hypo fell out, its dosage capsule empty. I picked up the hypospray to determine the substance he had injected into himself.
“Everyone get back, give him some air.”
“Jim,” I showed him the hypospray and the capsule. “Empty.”
“It was set for cordrazine,” his eyes widened at the implications.
“Nyota, get me an emergency medical team now.”
“On it, Jim, they’re already on their way-“
Leonard suddenly roared to life. Literally.
“Assassins! Killers! I won’t let you! I’ll kill you first, goddamnit! I won’t let you! You won’t get me, devil take ya! Murderers! Killers!”
“Bones, calm down-Spock take him out,” Jim ordered sharply.
“I’ll kill you first! Assassins!”
In the ensuing confusion, Leonard McCoy somehow escaped the grasp of three security officers, the captain, myself, and four other officers. Mr. Scott, Lt. Sulu, Lt. Chekov, and Nyota barely maintained control of the ship as the doctor rampaged and raged. He flung himself into the turbolift and engaged the security lock.
“Captain speaking-Shipwide security alert. Apprehend Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy-he’s been accidentally overdosed with cordrazine, shows signs of paranoia and violent behavior. Detain him, get the medical team, and sedate him, let me know of his condition as soon as possible. Kirk out.
“Spock.”
“I am already running a search on ship databases and running cross references with articles on the nets, Jim.”
“Nyota.”
“Christine just sent me a quick summary of the effects of cordrazine. It doesn’t say very much about high dosages-she says it hasn’t been studied. There’s some record of extreme terror, enough to weaken a person’s heart and overload his brain.”
“Confirmed by library findings, captain. Quote, ‘subjects failed to recongize acquaintances, became hysterically convinced they were in mortal danger, and sought escape any cost.’ Additional comments state that ‘subjects posed a severe danger to themselves and all who sought to assist them.’”
“Is there a cure?”
“Chris says here that there isn’t anything you can do except let the stuff take its course.”
“No counter-substance mentioned in any of the literature, captain.”
“Can it do permanent damage? Or kill him?”
Nyota glanced at me before she straightened into her formal Starfleet posture. She submerged her emotions and her eyes burned with steel. Whatever the consequences, Jim needed her to continue performing her duties. “Yes, captain,” she answered.
Jim frowned and looked into some point inside himself, drawing confidence from that reserve and from the combined strength of his command crew. His eyes glowed with determination as he looked at me.
This is how it’s supposed to be, all of us, together. How it was, and always will be. We built and fought and worked and earned this. I won’t let anything take that away from me.
I nodded. “It is a possibility, Jim.”
“We’ll find a way out of this.”
This is how it’s supposed to be. Spock. You by my side, as if you’ve always been here and always will be.
--
“Captain’s log. Two drops of cordrazine can save a man’s life,” the captain’s gaze fell on Lt. Sulu, who was stilly calmly manning the helm.
“A hundred times that amount’s just been pumped into Dr. McCoy’s body. He’s escaped from the Bridge and is somewhere on the Enterprise, totally paranoid. All decks have been placed on alert,” Jim turned to me. “We have no way of knowing if the madness if permanent or temporary, or in what direction it’ll drive the him. But we’ll find an answer.”
--
“Let me get this straight, Ensign Galloway. You’re on duty here in the transporter room.”
“Yes captain.”
“I put this whole ship on alert status, made a ship-wide announcement that our CMO is dangerous and loose on the ship, willing to take violent action, and you’re telling me that he’s just beamed down, from this transporter room, to the center of those time waves.”
“Uhh-“
“Stand in front of me at attention, Ensign. I want a straight answer now,” Jim ordered, his voice commanding the full authority of his rank.
Ensign Galloway snapped to attention. “Yes, sir.”
“And what the hell were you doing, sleeping at your station? Or do you make it habit to ignore the alerts and my direct orders?”
“No sir, I was browsing the nets, sir.”
“Browsing the nets.”
“Yes sir.”
“You always browse the nets when you’re on duty?”
“No sir.”
“Spock.”
“Your computer terminal records indicate that you have downloaded 49 gigabytes of high definition pornography for the past seven shifts you were on duty.”
Ensign Galloway grinned sheepishly, giving a pleading look at the captain. He found no sympathy.
“That’s interesting. What kind of porn?” Jim’s face was neutral. His eyes blazed. “What, you don’t wanna answer?”
“Captain,” I said. Jim tilted his head towards me.
There are more pressing matters at hand, I conveyed.
I haven’t forgotten, he replied with a look. But I’m not going to tolerate this bullshit on my ship.
Jim stepped towards Ensign Galloway.
“Let me make this clear. I’m all for having a good time. And I like to get to know all my crew. But if that interferes with the operation of this ship, I have no problem writing you up for it. If your fun leads to the fucking inexcusable neglect of your duty as a crewmember of this ship, or ends up endangering another person, like you’ve just endangered Dr. McCoy, you’re not serving under me.
“You’re new here, aren’t you. Part of a round of replacements we picked up from four weeks ago.”
“Yes sir.”
“I though I made all this clear during training rounds.”
“Very clear, sir.”
Jim gave the ensign before him a hard look. “So why are we even talking about this. Actually, tell me this-what made you want to serve on the Enterprise.”
Ensign Galloway gave no answer.
“I asked you a question, Ensign.”
“I wanted to serve on the Enterprise because it’s the best ship in the Federation fleet, sir.”
“And why is it the best ship in the Federation?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“It’s the fucking best ship in the Federation because these men and women give 100% every time they’re on duty. They know how to work hard, they know how to play hard, and more than that, they know when to work hard and play hard. I demand the best they’ve got, and they give it to me. You clearly don’t know what that means.
“I’m demoting you to the Engine room, and the first Starbase we get to, you’re off my ship. Dismissed.”
Jim looked at me with an expression on his face. What? Don’t give me that look. He had it coming.
I nodded. You misunderstand me. I support you in your actions completely, captain.
“We’re gonna have to run more emergency sims to get the replacements into shape.”
--
“Where is he?”
“On the planet, as far as we can calculate, Jim,” Engineer Scott said.
“We can be saying better than that, keptan. He is wery certainly in the middle of time disturbance.”
“How the hell does Bones even know how to operate a transporter? He’s never taken a class or bothered to learn how to do it. Self
transport’s not exactly a walk in the park.”
“He is not likely to be in a rational state of mind, captain. It has been reported that humans acting solely under the influence of their subconscious are capable of acting or reproducing actions they are not able to perform while fully conscious.”
“Giotto to Kirk.”
“Kirk here.”
“I’ve got two search parties ready, sir. They’re on the way to the transporter room. Standard procedures, sir?”
“Yeah. You briefed them on everything we know about the time waves?”
“Yes sir. They’ll report anything to you immediately.”
“Okay. I’ll be beaming down shortly, send them ahead with orders to survey the area, scout the region. We don’t know anything about this place and all our readings are messed up by these space-time distortions, so tell them to be on their guard.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Good. Kirk out.” He turned his attention back to the crew. “Sulu, you’ve got the conn, Chekov acts as your First. If anything happens, get the hell out. Nyota, Scotty, you guys come with us.”
“What about Spock?” Nyota asked, puzzled.
“I said ‘us,’ didn’t I? Who else could I be talking about?”
--
“Security, report.”
“No sign of Dr. McCoy yet, sir, though tricorder readings register positive for his frequencies. All of these ruins here provide perfect cover and nice dark hiding places for him, so it may be a while before we’re able to flush him out.”
“What about the surroundings? Did you get a radius on how far these ruins spread?”
“They seem to go on forever, sir. Which is impossible, since the planet is finite, but the readings we register, it’s as though we’re on a plane that just spreads infinitely in all directions. Hard to get an orientation, sir, in a setting like this.”
“The yeomen have been getting all these recordings?”
“We have, sir.”
“How old is this place?”
“Carbon dating puts it within a few thousand years of our closest estimate to the age of the universe, captain.”
“What?”
“Fascinating.”
“You’re telling me that this was here before the Milky Way galaxy was born?”
“Yes sir.”
“Spock? Explain this to me?”
“As Lt. Namor pointed out, the space of this planet does not coincide with the space that we observed from the ship. I postulate that the physical planet, which is much younger than the age of our galaxy, and this space we are in right now are two different spaces which, at this particular moment, happen to overlap.”
“We’re in another dimension?”
“We are in the intersection of several dimensions.”
“Damnit, I must be cursed. Why the hell do we keep getting this ‘lets mess with space-time’ missions? And don’t say it’s Kirk-force.”
“If you so desire, when we return to the ship I will look into the matter, captain.”
“What, so you can discover Kirk-force prime or something? No thanks. I’m actually beginning to think this is all related to you.”
I raised my eyebrow.
Jim began warming up to the idea. “Yeah. It makes so much more sense that way! When we get back to the ship, I’ll go and investigate this with Chekov and when we get results, you can bet your ass we’re naming the new force after you.”
“Jim,” Nyota said. “Focus. Ensign Arapaho, did you gather any other information we need to know about? Where’s the source of the time displacement?”
“We found a series of strange metal objects, like giant beat-up steel donuts. Most of them are dormant, but we think one or two are producing all the effects we’ve been experiencing. It’s definitely pulsating with some kind of power.”
“Well, let’s head over there. We’ll check out the first site. Arapaho, you take Scotty and Nyota to the second site. Security, you keep tracking Bones. Let us know as soon as possible when you’ve got him.”
“Aye sir,” various personnel replied and saluted.
“Let’s go, Spock.”
--
“Unbelievable, captain.”
“Funny, Spock. Explain.”
“I cannot. For this to do what it does is impossible by any science I understand. The security teams were correct in their hypothesis-this is the single source of all the space-time displacement. It is operating even now, putting out waves and waves which we picked up lightyears away by our sensors.”
“A-team to Kirk, we’ve got a trail on Dr. McCoy. Search progressing. Sent for B-team to rendezvous with us to obtain the objective.”
“When you get him, just try and knock him unconscious. No sedatives, no sprays-they might mess with his system.”
“Understood, sir.”
While Jim communicated with the security teams, I walked around the structure, taking tricorder readings. The object truly was like nothing we had ever encountered before.
“Incredible. It can’t be a machine as we understand mechanics.”
Jim frowned. “Then what the hell is it?”
The structure suddenly lit up and spoke in an echoing voice. “A question. The same question as the last time, as it has been and always will be. Since before your sun burned hot in space and before time split, I have awaited this question.”
“You’ve met us before.”
“I am the Guardian of Forever. We met in another time, another displacement.”
“Definitely your fault,” Jim mumbled to me under his breath. He then raised his voice. “What are you? Obviously you have mechanical parts, but you do have any organic parts?”
“I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.”
“A remarkably vague answer with little substantive meaning. I see no reason why your replies to our queries should be couched in riddles.”
“I answer as simply as your level of makes possible.”
I grew rather irritated. “A time portal, captain. A gateway to other times and dimensions, which supports my hypothesis that this space is the intersection of multiple, perhaps infinite, universes.”
“That answer is as correct as possible for you. Your science knowledge is obviously primitive.”
“Really,” I deadpanned.
“Annoyed, Spock?”
“Behold. A gateway to your own past, if you wish.”
Suddenly in the hole of the structure appeared images of Vulcan’s past, beginning at the birth of the planet. I stood before the machine-being, fascinated by everything that I saw. It then occurred to me that I ought record all of this with my tricorder-millions of geologic years had already passed and went unrecorded. I watched and recorded as aliens visited Vulcan and deposited colonists, the ancestors of our species.
“Killers! Killers! I won’t let you get me! I’ll kill you first! I won’t let you get me! Assassins! Murderers! Killers!”
Dr. McCoy spat furiously and roared as he struggled against the hands that reached out to grab him. The two security teams created a ring around him. Nyota, Scotty, and Ensign Arapaho came running from another direction. Three security team members finally got a hold of him and I delivered a neck pinch.
“Good work, teams. I guess that means we’re beaming up soon? What were your findings, Nyota, Scotty?”
“We weren’t able to do much, because Leonard suddenly came out of nowhere and tried to jump through one of these portals. Thanks goodness the other one wasn’t active. We’ve been chasing him this whole time.”
“The whole time?”
“Aye sir. Space dinnae work here like it normal does-it felt like forever tryin’ ta catch him. Sometimes he was so near, but other times it was like he was an eternity away.”
“Weird. And all this is because of the space displacement.”
“We think so.”
“Behold. A gateway to your own past, if you wish.”
The machine began to go through Terran history.
“Spock-if that thing’s a doorway back through time, we could somehow go back and stop Nero. Prevent the destruction of Vulcan.”
“Relive the incidents, this time ensure that Nero never obtains the Red Matter. What of yourself, Jim. You might prevent the death of your father.”
“Do you think-?”
“No. What is done is done, captain. Our objective here was to retrieve Dr. McCoy and gather information. Those two objectives have been accomplished. As tempting as it is to change the course of the events which have defined our lives, our time is as it is.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get outta here before something else happens.”
“McCoy!” Scotty shouted in alarm.
“Bones, no!”
The doctor leapt through the Guardian and disappeared.
“Where is he?” Jim demanded.
“He has passed into what was.”
“Fuck it, don’t tell me ‘what was,’ I’m not an idiot. Give me a goddamn time!”
“Captain,” Nyota said urgently. “Jim, something’s wrong. I’ve lost contact with the ship. I was talking to them about beam up, then it suddenly went dead. No static, no noise. Just, nothing.”
“Interference? Kirk to Enterprise. Come in. Scotty, what’s up?”
“Nothing wrong with the communicator, sir.”
“Your vessel, your beginning, all that you knew is gone,” the Guardian’s voice boomed.
Several crewmembers looked up to the strange, distorted sky above. It no longer looked like a sky, but a ceiling.
“Dr. McCoy has somehow changed history.”
“You mean we’re stranded down here?” Lt. Kunst asked, bewildered.
“With no past, and no future,” Jim said to himself. “We’re totally alone.”
--
“Captain's log, no stardate. For us, time doesn’t exist. Dr. McCoy, back somewhere in Earth’s past, has effected a change in the course of time. All history has been changed. There’s no starship Enterprise. We've only got one chance. We’ve asked the Guardian to show us Earth's history again. Spock and I are going to back in time ourselves and attempt to set right whatever it was that the CMO changed.”
--
“You were still recording, right?”
“Affirmative, captain. I believe I can approximate just when to jump, though my precision is likely to vary by one or two years. Six months, if we are fortunate.”
“Just make sure we get there before Bones. We have to stop him before he does whatever it was that changed the timeline. But how the hell do we get back? Guardian, if we’re successful-“
“Then you will be returned. It will be as though none of you had gone.”
“Jim, it seems impossible,” Nyota said. “And really dangerous. Even if you could pin down the right time-“
“Findin’ the good doctor would be a miracle.”
“There is no alternative, Nyota,” I said quietly.
“Scotty, Nyota, when you think you’ve waited long enough-all of you-you’ll have to try it. Then, even if you fail, at least you’ll be alive in some past world somewhere. Got that? Those are orders.”
“Aye.”
“Captain, we are nearing the time. Stand by.”
“Good luck, Mr. Spock. Captain,” Scotty nodded.
“And happiness,” Nyota’s eyes glinted with tears. This may be the last time we see each other. She gave me a quick hug and said “Take care of yourself.”
“I will return to you, ndugu. I promise this to you.”
The time was upon us.
We jumped.
--
“Where are we?” the unspoken question passes between us.
As we materialize in the new world, this alien era, sounds rush over me, a tide of vehicles, individuals, foosteps, voices.
We are living in a legend.
Annotations
“Stay on top of it, Sulu.”
“Doing my best, captain. Helm’s sluggish, I don’t know why. Maybe it’s these waves.”
“Control circuits’re threatenin’ ta overload, Jim.”
“Got it, Scotty. Spock? Is that enough?”
“I believe we will have everything plotted in a few more orbits, captain. Lt. Chekov?”
“Da, sir. We will be orbiting four more times and then we are going to on to next mission.”
“Okay.” The helmsman’s terminal exploded in a shower of sparks. “Sulu!”
“Hikaru!” Lt. Chekov rose to leave his station, but the ship rocked again. He turned his attention back to the navigation panels, rapidly calculating new paths of orbit. Pavel’s eyes darted to the prone form of Sulu, but he pushed aside his personal concerns for his friend. His first duty was to the ship.
“Sulu! Bones, get up here. Scotty, what was that? A major overload?”
“Aye, captain. I’ve got it switched ta manual. Are we going ta maintain this orbit here? It’ll get rough again very fast.”
“Spock?”
“This is of great scientific importance, captain. This is the first time such a phenomenon has been reported in space-we are passing through ripples in time. Any data we may collect and any knowledge we may gain will revolutionize our understanding of space-time.”
“Okay. Maintain orbit as long as you can, Chekov. Lt. Wolfflin, get helm for now. Nyota, open a channel with Command and start broadcasting all our data and the recent log entries and reports, especially the weird readings that brought us here in the first place. Spock, tell your scientists to forward whatever data they get on the instruments to Communications. And I want backups on everything-I don’t want a hard drive wipe setting us back another week again.”
“Aye sir.”
“Any guess as to what’s creating these ripples? Maybe someone, or something?”
“At this point, anything I say is purely speculation, Jim.”
Dr. McCoy entered the bridge.
“Bones, over here,” Jim’s attention was on Lt. Sulu, but he glanced up at me to indicate that I had his attention.
“The raw data seems to indicate that these changes in time are causing turbulent waves of spatial displacement. Theoretical physicists have long predicted this exact relationship, but this is the first time we are witnessing a natural occurence in space. The source of the change, the object or entity generating these waves, is totally unknown.”
Jim nodded, while Leonard assessed Sulu’s condition. He looked at the doctor.
“Some heart flutter, a few burns, nothing serious. Normally I’d just haul him to Sickbay, but you need him at helm, don’t you.”
“Yeah.”
“I guess I’ll risk some drops of cordrazine. He’ll have hell to pay later though.”
“Woah, wait, Bones, cordrazine? That shit’s tricky stuff. Are you sure you wanna risk-?”
Dr. McCoy administered the appropriate dosage through his ubiquitous hypospray. Lt. Sulu opened his eyes, alert and apparently unharmed.
“You were about to make a medical comment, Jim?”
“Who me? No,” Jim grinned.
“Let me see your hands, Sulu and apply somethin’ for that burn there.”
“Later, doc. I’m fine, I can manage,” Lt. Sulu replied as he sat up and went back to his post. The burns on his hands were already becoming an intense red.
“Keptan, we are guiding around many many time ripples sechas,” Lt. Chekov said, alternately looking at his friend’s hands and his own navigation panel.
“Wolfflin, back to your post. Got it, Sulu? We’re operating on manual.”
“Yup, thanks cap’n,” Sulu said as he took the helm again. His hands were, as always, steady.
“Nyota, how’s the communications going? Spock? How are we doing?”
“Everything’s being uploaded, Jim.”
“Science department reports that we have all plotted but one, captain.”
“Coming on it right now, keptan. It is seeming to be wery heawy displacement. Hikaru?”
“On my count, Pasha. Two, one, now.”
Despite the skilled piloting of Lt. Sulu, the displacement still caused significant turbulence. Several crew members struggled to maintain balance and some fell out of their seats. Jim stumbled.
“Bones! Goddamnit,” Jim ran to the doctor, who crumpled to the floor.
When the on duty security personnel lifted the doctor to his feet, a hypo fell out, its dosage capsule empty. I picked up the hypospray to determine the substance he had injected into himself.
“Everyone get back, give him some air.”
“Jim,” I showed him the hypospray and the capsule. “Empty.”
“It was set for cordrazine,” his eyes widened at the implications.
“Nyota, get me an emergency medical team now.”
“On it, Jim, they’re already on their way-“
Leonard suddenly roared to life. Literally.
“Assassins! Killers! I won’t let you! I’ll kill you first, goddamnit! I won’t let you! You won’t get me, devil take ya! Murderers! Killers!”
“Bones, calm down-Spock take him out,” Jim ordered sharply.
“I’ll kill you first! Assassins!”
In the ensuing confusion, Leonard McCoy somehow escaped the grasp of three security officers, the captain, myself, and four other officers. Mr. Scott, Lt. Sulu, Lt. Chekov, and Nyota barely maintained control of the ship as the doctor rampaged and raged. He flung himself into the turbolift and engaged the security lock.
“Captain speaking-Shipwide security alert. Apprehend Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy-he’s been accidentally overdosed with cordrazine, shows signs of paranoia and violent behavior. Detain him, get the medical team, and sedate him, let me know of his condition as soon as possible. Kirk out.
“Spock.”
“I am already running a search on ship databases and running cross references with articles on the nets, Jim.”
“Nyota.”
“Christine just sent me a quick summary of the effects of cordrazine. It doesn’t say very much about high dosages-she says it hasn’t been studied. There’s some record of extreme terror, enough to weaken a person’s heart and overload his brain.”
“Confirmed by library findings, captain. Quote, ‘subjects failed to recongize acquaintances, became hysterically convinced they were in mortal danger, and sought escape any cost.’ Additional comments state that ‘subjects posed a severe danger to themselves and all who sought to assist them.’”
“Is there a cure?”
“Chris says here that there isn’t anything you can do except let the stuff take its course.”
“No counter-substance mentioned in any of the literature, captain.”
“Can it do permanent damage? Or kill him?”
Nyota glanced at me before she straightened into her formal Starfleet posture. She submerged her emotions and her eyes burned with steel. Whatever the consequences, Jim needed her to continue performing her duties. “Yes, captain,” she answered.
Jim frowned and looked into some point inside himself, drawing confidence from that reserve and from the combined strength of his command crew. His eyes glowed with determination as he looked at me.
This is how it’s supposed to be, all of us, together. How it was, and always will be. We built and fought and worked and earned this. I won’t let anything take that away from me.
I nodded. “It is a possibility, Jim.”
“We’ll find a way out of this.”
This is how it’s supposed to be. Spock. You by my side, as if you’ve always been here and always will be.
--
“Captain’s log. Two drops of cordrazine can save a man’s life,” the captain’s gaze fell on Lt. Sulu, who was stilly calmly manning the helm.
“A hundred times that amount’s just been pumped into Dr. McCoy’s body. He’s escaped from the Bridge and is somewhere on the Enterprise, totally paranoid. All decks have been placed on alert,” Jim turned to me. “We have no way of knowing if the madness if permanent or temporary, or in what direction it’ll drive the him. But we’ll find an answer.”
--
“Let me get this straight, Ensign Galloway. You’re on duty here in the transporter room.”
“Yes captain.”
“I put this whole ship on alert status, made a ship-wide announcement that our CMO is dangerous and loose on the ship, willing to take violent action, and you’re telling me that he’s just beamed down, from this transporter room, to the center of those time waves.”
“Uhh-“
“Stand in front of me at attention, Ensign. I want a straight answer now,” Jim ordered, his voice commanding the full authority of his rank.
Ensign Galloway snapped to attention. “Yes, sir.”
“And what the hell were you doing, sleeping at your station? Or do you make it habit to ignore the alerts and my direct orders?”
“No sir, I was browsing the nets, sir.”
“Browsing the nets.”
“Yes sir.”
“You always browse the nets when you’re on duty?”
“No sir.”
“Spock.”
“Your computer terminal records indicate that you have downloaded 49 gigabytes of high definition pornography for the past seven shifts you were on duty.”
Ensign Galloway grinned sheepishly, giving a pleading look at the captain. He found no sympathy.
“That’s interesting. What kind of porn?” Jim’s face was neutral. His eyes blazed. “What, you don’t wanna answer?”
“Captain,” I said. Jim tilted his head towards me.
There are more pressing matters at hand, I conveyed.
I haven’t forgotten, he replied with a look. But I’m not going to tolerate this bullshit on my ship.
Jim stepped towards Ensign Galloway.
“Let me make this clear. I’m all for having a good time. And I like to get to know all my crew. But if that interferes with the operation of this ship, I have no problem writing you up for it. If your fun leads to the fucking inexcusable neglect of your duty as a crewmember of this ship, or ends up endangering another person, like you’ve just endangered Dr. McCoy, you’re not serving under me.
“You’re new here, aren’t you. Part of a round of replacements we picked up from four weeks ago.”
“Yes sir.”
“I though I made all this clear during training rounds.”
“Very clear, sir.”
Jim gave the ensign before him a hard look. “So why are we even talking about this. Actually, tell me this-what made you want to serve on the Enterprise.”
Ensign Galloway gave no answer.
“I asked you a question, Ensign.”
“I wanted to serve on the Enterprise because it’s the best ship in the Federation fleet, sir.”
“And why is it the best ship in the Federation?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“It’s the fucking best ship in the Federation because these men and women give 100% every time they’re on duty. They know how to work hard, they know how to play hard, and more than that, they know when to work hard and play hard. I demand the best they’ve got, and they give it to me. You clearly don’t know what that means.
“I’m demoting you to the Engine room, and the first Starbase we get to, you’re off my ship. Dismissed.”
Jim looked at me with an expression on his face. What? Don’t give me that look. He had it coming.
I nodded. You misunderstand me. I support you in your actions completely, captain.
“We’re gonna have to run more emergency sims to get the replacements into shape.”
--
“Where is he?”
“On the planet, as far as we can calculate, Jim,” Engineer Scott said.
“We can be saying better than that, keptan. He is wery certainly in the middle of time disturbance.”
“How the hell does Bones even know how to operate a transporter? He’s never taken a class or bothered to learn how to do it. Self
transport’s not exactly a walk in the park.”
“He is not likely to be in a rational state of mind, captain. It has been reported that humans acting solely under the influence of their subconscious are capable of acting or reproducing actions they are not able to perform while fully conscious.”
“Giotto to Kirk.”
“Kirk here.”
“I’ve got two search parties ready, sir. They’re on the way to the transporter room. Standard procedures, sir?”
“Yeah. You briefed them on everything we know about the time waves?”
“Yes sir. They’ll report anything to you immediately.”
“Okay. I’ll be beaming down shortly, send them ahead with orders to survey the area, scout the region. We don’t know anything about this place and all our readings are messed up by these space-time distortions, so tell them to be on their guard.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Good. Kirk out.” He turned his attention back to the crew. “Sulu, you’ve got the conn, Chekov acts as your First. If anything happens, get the hell out. Nyota, Scotty, you guys come with us.”
“What about Spock?” Nyota asked, puzzled.
“I said ‘us,’ didn’t I? Who else could I be talking about?”
--
“Security, report.”
“No sign of Dr. McCoy yet, sir, though tricorder readings register positive for his frequencies. All of these ruins here provide perfect cover and nice dark hiding places for him, so it may be a while before we’re able to flush him out.”
“What about the surroundings? Did you get a radius on how far these ruins spread?”
“They seem to go on forever, sir. Which is impossible, since the planet is finite, but the readings we register, it’s as though we’re on a plane that just spreads infinitely in all directions. Hard to get an orientation, sir, in a setting like this.”
“The yeomen have been getting all these recordings?”
“We have, sir.”
“How old is this place?”
“Carbon dating puts it within a few thousand years of our closest estimate to the age of the universe, captain.”
“What?”
“Fascinating.”
“You’re telling me that this was here before the Milky Way galaxy was born?”
“Yes sir.”
“Spock? Explain this to me?”
“As Lt. Namor pointed out, the space of this planet does not coincide with the space that we observed from the ship. I postulate that the physical planet, which is much younger than the age of our galaxy, and this space we are in right now are two different spaces which, at this particular moment, happen to overlap.”
“We’re in another dimension?”
“We are in the intersection of several dimensions.”
“Damnit, I must be cursed. Why the hell do we keep getting this ‘lets mess with space-time’ missions? And don’t say it’s Kirk-force.”
“If you so desire, when we return to the ship I will look into the matter, captain.”
“What, so you can discover Kirk-force prime or something? No thanks. I’m actually beginning to think this is all related to you.”
I raised my eyebrow.
Jim began warming up to the idea. “Yeah. It makes so much more sense that way! When we get back to the ship, I’ll go and investigate this with Chekov and when we get results, you can bet your ass we’re naming the new force after you.”
“Jim,” Nyota said. “Focus. Ensign Arapaho, did you gather any other information we need to know about? Where’s the source of the time displacement?”
“We found a series of strange metal objects, like giant beat-up steel donuts. Most of them are dormant, but we think one or two are producing all the effects we’ve been experiencing. It’s definitely pulsating with some kind of power.”
“Well, let’s head over there. We’ll check out the first site. Arapaho, you take Scotty and Nyota to the second site. Security, you keep tracking Bones. Let us know as soon as possible when you’ve got him.”
“Aye sir,” various personnel replied and saluted.
“Let’s go, Spock.”
--
“Unbelievable, captain.”
“Funny, Spock. Explain.”
“I cannot. For this to do what it does is impossible by any science I understand. The security teams were correct in their hypothesis-this is the single source of all the space-time displacement. It is operating even now, putting out waves and waves which we picked up lightyears away by our sensors.”
“A-team to Kirk, we’ve got a trail on Dr. McCoy. Search progressing. Sent for B-team to rendezvous with us to obtain the objective.”
“When you get him, just try and knock him unconscious. No sedatives, no sprays-they might mess with his system.”
“Understood, sir.”
While Jim communicated with the security teams, I walked around the structure, taking tricorder readings. The object truly was like nothing we had ever encountered before.
“Incredible. It can’t be a machine as we understand mechanics.”
Jim frowned. “Then what the hell is it?”
The structure suddenly lit up and spoke in an echoing voice. “A question. The same question as the last time, as it has been and always will be. Since before your sun burned hot in space and before time split, I have awaited this question.”
“You’ve met us before.”
“I am the Guardian of Forever. We met in another time, another displacement.”
“Definitely your fault,” Jim mumbled to me under his breath. He then raised his voice. “What are you? Obviously you have mechanical parts, but you do have any organic parts?”
“I am both and neither. I am my own beginning, my own ending.”
“A remarkably vague answer with little substantive meaning. I see no reason why your replies to our queries should be couched in riddles.”
“I answer as simply as your level of makes possible.”
I grew rather irritated. “A time portal, captain. A gateway to other times and dimensions, which supports my hypothesis that this space is the intersection of multiple, perhaps infinite, universes.”
“That answer is as correct as possible for you. Your science knowledge is obviously primitive.”
“Really,” I deadpanned.
“Annoyed, Spock?”
“Behold. A gateway to your own past, if you wish.”
Suddenly in the hole of the structure appeared images of Vulcan’s past, beginning at the birth of the planet. I stood before the machine-being, fascinated by everything that I saw. It then occurred to me that I ought record all of this with my tricorder-millions of geologic years had already passed and went unrecorded. I watched and recorded as aliens visited Vulcan and deposited colonists, the ancestors of our species.
“Killers! Killers! I won’t let you get me! I’ll kill you first! I won’t let you get me! Assassins! Murderers! Killers!”
Dr. McCoy spat furiously and roared as he struggled against the hands that reached out to grab him. The two security teams created a ring around him. Nyota, Scotty, and Ensign Arapaho came running from another direction. Three security team members finally got a hold of him and I delivered a neck pinch.
“Good work, teams. I guess that means we’re beaming up soon? What were your findings, Nyota, Scotty?”
“We weren’t able to do much, because Leonard suddenly came out of nowhere and tried to jump through one of these portals. Thanks goodness the other one wasn’t active. We’ve been chasing him this whole time.”
“The whole time?”
“Aye sir. Space dinnae work here like it normal does-it felt like forever tryin’ ta catch him. Sometimes he was so near, but other times it was like he was an eternity away.”
“Weird. And all this is because of the space displacement.”
“We think so.”
“Behold. A gateway to your own past, if you wish.”
The machine began to go through Terran history.
“Spock-if that thing’s a doorway back through time, we could somehow go back and stop Nero. Prevent the destruction of Vulcan.”
“Relive the incidents, this time ensure that Nero never obtains the Red Matter. What of yourself, Jim. You might prevent the death of your father.”
“Do you think-?”
“No. What is done is done, captain. Our objective here was to retrieve Dr. McCoy and gather information. Those two objectives have been accomplished. As tempting as it is to change the course of the events which have defined our lives, our time is as it is.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s get outta here before something else happens.”
“McCoy!” Scotty shouted in alarm.
“Bones, no!”
The doctor leapt through the Guardian and disappeared.
“Where is he?” Jim demanded.
“He has passed into what was.”
“Fuck it, don’t tell me ‘what was,’ I’m not an idiot. Give me a goddamn time!”
“Captain,” Nyota said urgently. “Jim, something’s wrong. I’ve lost contact with the ship. I was talking to them about beam up, then it suddenly went dead. No static, no noise. Just, nothing.”
“Interference? Kirk to Enterprise. Come in. Scotty, what’s up?”
“Nothing wrong with the communicator, sir.”
“Your vessel, your beginning, all that you knew is gone,” the Guardian’s voice boomed.
Several crewmembers looked up to the strange, distorted sky above. It no longer looked like a sky, but a ceiling.
“Dr. McCoy has somehow changed history.”
“You mean we’re stranded down here?” Lt. Kunst asked, bewildered.
“With no past, and no future,” Jim said to himself. “We’re totally alone.”
--
“Captain's log, no stardate. For us, time doesn’t exist. Dr. McCoy, back somewhere in Earth’s past, has effected a change in the course of time. All history has been changed. There’s no starship Enterprise. We've only got one chance. We’ve asked the Guardian to show us Earth's history again. Spock and I are going to back in time ourselves and attempt to set right whatever it was that the CMO changed.”
--
“You were still recording, right?”
“Affirmative, captain. I believe I can approximate just when to jump, though my precision is likely to vary by one or two years. Six months, if we are fortunate.”
“Just make sure we get there before Bones. We have to stop him before he does whatever it was that changed the timeline. But how the hell do we get back? Guardian, if we’re successful-“
“Then you will be returned. It will be as though none of you had gone.”
“Jim, it seems impossible,” Nyota said. “And really dangerous. Even if you could pin down the right time-“
“Findin’ the good doctor would be a miracle.”
“There is no alternative, Nyota,” I said quietly.
“Scotty, Nyota, when you think you’ve waited long enough-all of you-you’ll have to try it. Then, even if you fail, at least you’ll be alive in some past world somewhere. Got that? Those are orders.”
“Aye.”
“Captain, we are nearing the time. Stand by.”
“Good luck, Mr. Spock. Captain,” Scotty nodded.
“And happiness,” Nyota’s eyes glinted with tears. This may be the last time we see each other. She gave me a quick hug and said “Take care of yourself.”
“I will return to you, ndugu. I promise this to you.”
The time was upon us.
We jumped.
--
“Where are we?” the unspoken question passes between us.
As we materialize in the new world, this alien era, sounds rush over me, a tide of vehicles, individuals, foosteps, voices.
We are living in a legend.
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