Day 56: Tasty Burger (Noon)

[human_sponge]

Peter didn't know if he and Firo had left on the best terms, if only because the younger man was still so confused about what was going on in this place. The change in time period had a lot to do with it, but it had also sounded like he'd had a lot going on in his life before ending up here. Then again, who hadn't? Peter had just exploded before

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[doneinthree]

"Come on," said Kirk, speeding across the snow-caked sidewalk towards the building down the street. While he hardly minded standing out in the cold with Spock (better than last week's rain, anyway), being outside still left him feeling unnervingly exposed. The quiet little town of a few hours ago had taken a noticeable uptick in traffic, and between all the wary-eyed townies and glowering "nurses", Kirk was in the mood for some discretion, if not greasy fast food. He wasn't that hungry and doubted Tasty Burger was much to Spock's taste, but at this hour, they weren't going to find a busier place. Busy meant noise, noise meant less chance of being overheard, and he knew from his last time here that trying to find an empty place without staff was a near-impossibility. Might as well shoot for the complete opposite

[dual_worlds]

Although the "Tasty Burger" establishment didn't provide the sort of food Spock typically ate, he immediately recognized the benefits of speaking there as opposed to anywhere else. There were several others there, drawing less attention to themselves. Furthermore, even if he didn't give any outward indication of it, the cold weather wasn't comfortable even by human standards

[doneinthree]

"Amnesia. Of course." Kirk leaned back in the booth with a huff of annoyance. "One of these days I'm going to stop being surprised by the complete lack of answers we get." Would it kill them, really, to let their guinea pigs know they intended with all of their random trials? That Aguilar's administration seemed less inclined to make cryptic taunts over the intercom meant nothing when their comments so far basically amounted to some of you were barely sufficient, some of you failed, and we're not going to bother clarifying who gets gold stars and what we even expect, because that's clearly a more efficient way of running things. Not that Kirk would've went along with their games anyway, which probably meant that he was unwittingly playing by their rules right now.

Seriously, it was enough to drive a guy crazy, assuming he hadn't already lost it. That was facetious - honestly, Kirk felt more sanely annoyed than mentally unstable, which probably was weird, considering all they'd done to toy with his head. Spock getting pulled

[dual_worlds]

Spock slightly averted his gaze when he mentioned Nyota. While it was true they needed to inform her even simply from a professional standpoint, he realized it was not good to leave her uncertain about his whereabouts for longer than necessary. Regardless, it sounded as though she was in good health, and Kirk at least had enough restraint not to discuss their personal lives right now

[doneinthree]

Kirk's lips twitched, threatening to smile again, when Spock made his promise. It would be nicer if they had any idea of what criteria their captors used when choosing who to terrorize each night, but he'd take the sentiment for what it was worth. There was a certain reassurance in knowing that, no matter how hellish or random things got in this place, he could rely on Spock to be... Spock. Uhura and Bones would be relieved. Kirk made a mental note to return to the bulletin board in Callahan's after this - they'd went straight from meeting Goku to this conversation, as he'd figured it would've been better to get the story from Spock before he posted any orders.

He listened without interruption, comparing each point of Spock's report to what he'd observed himself. Tense and irritable. So Kirk hadn't been reading too much into it. But... just like then, he couldn't chalk it up to a flat-out dislike of Spock. The word "amiable" might not ever show up on Bones' performance reviews, but Kirk still knew him well enough to tell the

[dual_worlds]

Spock listened to Kirk give his account of what transpired between him and the doctor last night, his dark gaze unwavering as he calmly listened to every detail. Speaking incoherently, loss of strength, and other physical manifestations of his condition -- whatever it was, it sounded as though McCoy's state of mind was deteriorating. Immediately, he began to consider possibilities of why their CMO began exhibiting those sorts of symptoms in the first place

[doneinthree]

Once again proving his worth as a first officer, Spock jumped right into it, and astutely picked up on one of the things which had bothered him the most. "Right? That's what I thought too," Kirk exclaimed. "I mean, I can't be that much of a dick in the alternate reality, no matter how old I am." But Spock might've been on to something when he suggested a combination of factors. He remembered his teasing suggestion that Bones had been afflicted by paranoia - in hindsight, probably one of the many things which made Bones finally snap, but whatever. It might not have fit the pattern of Landel's experiments, insofar as these effects seemed to have been play long before now, but the other night showed their captors were capable of subtly manipulating their thoughts in this way

[dual_worlds]

The captain clearly agreed that there was something more troubling triggering McCoy's behavior. The pieces were slowly beginning to fit together, indicating a larger, ongoing problem that needed to be addressed. Even before Kirk spoke, Spock recognized the way he drew his shoulders back, a sign he'd decided on a course of action

[doneinthree]

Spock didn't waste a second in nailing the key complication in his plan. "I don't suppose you'd also be up for knocking him out first," Kirk mused. He could only imagine how his Bones would react to having a Vulcan dig around in his brain; now age him by a few curmudgeony years, and throw in some natural cross-universe apprehension plus completely irrational paranoia from god knows where, you had a recipe for ugliness. Every line of McCoy's angry tirade was still fresh on his mind.

In spite of having expected that Spock would agree to conducting a mind meld on Bones, Kirk found himself wavering for just a second over the wisdom of it. Was it callous or reckless to be dumping all of this on Spock, considering he'd just had an entire night of...? Okay, nothing, apparently, but just because Spock didn't remember anything didn't mean something hadn't been done to him. But what else could they do now aside from keep an eye on him, and continue dealing with things as captain and first officer? Even Spock would probably agree that an