Day 60: Courtyard (Third Shift)

[believein0]

Free range shift, huh? Landel really was the opposite of Aguilar...if 'free range' were true, that is. As it was, 'free range' was merely an illusion of choice in Zero's eyes. Making the prisoners think they had more leniency granted to them than they really did. What did a 'free range shift' do for them? They still couldn't leave, and the only

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[doneinthree]

Sacked lunch, like they were headed out on another Doyleton field trip. Like they were small children puffed twice their size in winter coats, spilling out onto the schoolyard with a paper bags packed lovingly by their mothers. Kirk wasn't sure what it suggested that his mind immediately jumped to another Landel's comparison before something normal, except of course that he'd been here for too damn long and hadn't done anything "normal" for even longer. He didn't count their daytime prison as normal - even less so after the soldiers had half done away with the illusion Dr. Landel had worked so hard to maintain. Of course he'd always known this was a lie, but it seemed somehow wronger now, watching it fall back into place like nothing had happened.

Even though it was winter (probably), snow no longer coated the ground when Kirk stepped out of the building. Still a little chilly - definitely chillier than San Francisco - but he imagined Uhura's face when she assessed the weather this morning and precisely calculated how many inches she could lose on her skirt now that it wasn't raining or snowing. At least one, he thought. Hopefully two.

Maybe she actually got to choose what she wore now, instead of these depressing grey sweats. Could that be considered a silver lining when your other basic freedoms had already been stripped away?

"Quit it," said Kirk. They were the first words he'd spoken today, since asking a nurse this morning about Nicole Juza's whereabouts. Guilt threatened to creep in, but guilt was marginally better than despair, so he didn't fight it so hard. Fine. He had to see his crew. It wasn't that he'd been avoiding Spock and McCoy, exactly - he'd made sure of their status too, just enough to be sure that no one had lost an arm or whatever. He'd just needed time to think.

Half the day had passed and he still didn't know what he was thinking. Honestly, at this point, he would welcome an awkward conversation with Spock just so he didn't have to think any more.

Kirk dropped the bag lunch on an empty bench and settled in to wait.

[Spock]