Leonard McCoy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

[dctr_mccoy]

It was almost time for them to go.

Starfleet was arriving soon to deal with the Romulans, and the Enterprise would be leaving Agura's orbit and heading out on its new mission

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[cso_spock]

Spock stared down at the communicator, and simply replied, "Contain them in the transporter room," before setting off immediately from the bridge.

Anatomical replacements and now this. De-aged...how many years? In what state? Had they been changed through the act of transporting or was that caused by some force on the planet?

Spock strode into the room. Impossible."They are children." In case it had escaped anyone in the room that these bite-sized humanoids were anything but. Spock briefly reviewed his duties: acting captain, science officer, paperwork beast of burden. These duties did not include babysitting a bunch of instinct-driven, motor-skilled-challenged, hyperactive organisms

[dilithiumwanted]

"Of course, they'll stay here." Scotty said. "As for the last thing, Do I look happy about that, Mr. Spock? This only makes my job harder, you know. Aside from the fact that now I have twice the variables to check, I have to keep them away from all the dangerous bits in Engineering."

[cso_spock]

The kids were making weird expressions at him, with the predictable exception of the young Spock. Curious, though, perhaps a little frightened, but without scorn. He could ignore it easily.

"I assure you that they will be prohibited from Engineering. Your access lifts and Jefferies tubes should already be secure, but I suggest another inspection from your department. Unless your ensigns are more willing to govern children than the Enterprise." It was more a tease than a rebuke, accompanied by a little twitch at the corner of his mouth that was almost, almost loss in his mask of professional displeasure.

[dilithiumwanted]

Scotty, being unfamiliar with Spock, of course started to panicking about his job security. Quietly, of course.

"Aye, sir."

[dctr_mccoy]

Lenny looked around.

Something was wrong. One minute he was hiding sitting in his closet at home, being quiet as he could so his nanny couldn't find him.

It was his favorite game.

But... this wasn't his closet. There were other kids around him, kids he didn't know, and he was in some room that looked like something from Daddy's hospital, but there weren't any sick people, just... more kids. And shiny metal. And some old guy staring at them.

"Wha-" Lenny looked down to see his hand linked with some other little kid's hand, some blond boy who looked just as confused as he was. He tightened his grip on the hand. "What happen'd?" he whispered.

[kirktastic]

Jim blinked, eyes half narrowed against the light. He looked around the strange place, all shiny and white, and then to a bunch of other kids he didn't know. They didn't look like anyone from school. In his hands was clutched another boy's hand, and he looked at the other kid in confusion.

Where was he? Who was this?

Then, something entered the room.

He thought it was a grown-up (there was another grown up staring at them with an open mouth), but... it had weird eyebrows and pointy ears like the elves on the front of one of his favorite books. It was glaring at him.

His lower lip wibbled, eyes huge.

[dctr_mccoy]

Lenny watched as they talked, pointing at them, looking at them, like they were some animals at a zoo. The others were starting to talk quietly, and he thought he heard someone sniffle a bit. He wasn't gonna cry - though when that grown-up with the ears turned and looked at them, his heart did race a little with worry.

But... he was wearing a shirt like the one Lenny had one, it was blue, and way too big. It would have fit Daddy, maybe. "Don't be scared," he said, to the other kid, and to himself.

[kirktastic]

Too late. Jim rubbed under his nose with his free hand, looking down at the huge shirt he was wearing. He had seen something like it before, on the shirts in Momma's room. "...Starfleet." He whispered, very quietly, but he didn't take his eyes off the elf-man. When Frank had that look, it meant he was very angry and something bad was going to happen.

[science_blues]

Spock stared.

This was not the Academy Substructure A. Those were not her teachers. She did not recognize their uniforms, if, in fact, they were uniforms and not an eccentric mode of fashion, and all of them appeared to be human. Almost.

In an emergency situation, wherein heat, hunger, and thirst were not applicable factors, it was paramount that she remain in a location where a family member could find her.

Spock remained very still.

At least one of the adults was Vulcan.

[letspunchit]

Chris had just been in his house. He thought. He'd put his boots on, opened the door to go outside, and -

This wasn't outside. He'd never seen a place like this, all shiny and metal and full of lights and machines he could hear humming all around. He was wearing weird giant clothes, too, and when he moved a little bit he could feel he was sitting on something, like long pieces of metal.

There were other kids around him, who mostly looked scared or confused, and a few grownups were there, staring at them and not talking. Chris crawled off the uncomfortable metal things, which brought him closer to a girl with very long hair and funny pointy eyebrows who was sitting still as a statue. Maybe one of those grownups had told her to...oh, maybe it was the one with the black hair and pointy eyebrows like hers. They kind of looked the same. Maybe that was her dad. If it was, maybe Chris's own dad was around here somewhere, and he'd come and get him and tell him what was happening. He decided to find out

[science_blues]

Spock looked at the boy beside her.

He was unfamiliar.

"No," Spock answered back, quietly. She wasn't sure why they were being quiet, but it seemed imperative. "Are they yours?"

Spock pointed at the human adults.

[letspunchit]

Chris got up on his knees, but didn't stand up yet, to look closer at the people in red shirts sitting behind the glass window thing. He didn't know them.

"No," he told the girl. Then he sat back down and tried to cross his legs. His pants were really, really long, and his shirt was like a dress. Something weird was happening, but Chris was trying to be brave like his dad always told him, and not be scared. It was kind of hard, though.

"Where are we?"

[mr_chekov]

Pasha had been fast asleep before being jolted awake. She rubbed at her eyes, why was her room so bright and why were there all of these odd people in it? Peering about the blindingly bright transporter room she frowned, this couldn’t be her bedroom it was too big and her pictures that she has drawn were gone.

Her attention was drawn to the other children whispering quietly to each other in standard, a language the young girl had much difficulty with. Pasha stared up at the tall man standing in front of them, he looked sort of scary, like a monster-man who ate little children like Mama had told her about in the stories. She furtively looked for an escape route. Pasha did not want to get eaten.

[dctr_mccoy]

Lenny and Jim stepped over to where she was. "Hey," Len said. "What's your name?"

She had a mess of curls on her head. Looked like Mrs. Rubio's damned poodle.

Lenny hated that poodle.

[mr_chekov]

Oh no, the one of the boys was talking to her and not in Russian. She only understood one word - ‘name’.

Placing a hand on her chest to indicate she was talking about herself she replied “Name. Pasha. Name?” She pointed at the boys.

[kirktastic]

Jim looked at the girl, then said softly, "...She doesn't speak Standard." He concluded, from the heavy accent and her confusion.

His brows came together, and he thought. He liked to learn a lot, and didn't know a lot in other languages, but he knew a few words in some. So he put his hand on his chest, "Jim."

"Italian? French? German? Polish? Russian? Spanish?" He asked softly to her, trying to figure out which language it was.

[rn_chapel]

Tina hadn't bothered to reply to Commander Spock's message. Assuming he was reporting the situation accurately (and why wouldn't he?), delay would only make things more hectic.

When she entered the transporter room to see a crowd of children speaking in nervous, quiet voices to one another while the adults in the room looked on in horror, she was glad she hadn't waited. The kids obviously didn't remember their adult selves. They must be scared.

"Hi, guys," she said, addressing herself to the children. "My name is Tina. I'm here to help you out, okay?"

She crouched down, and then knelt on the floor, trying to mitigate the height difference a little bit. "Do you want to come over here and introduce yourselves?"

[science_blues]

Spock regarded the blonde woman carefully, with keen, wide eyes. She made no move to approach. In fact, she made no motion at all. Just watched.

[headnursechapel]

Christine had stared at the message on her PADD with some disbelief.

She would have thought it was a joke, if it hadn't been from Spock. And if she hadn't seen even stranger things happen in the very recent past.

She went to the replicator and ordered children's clothes in a variety of sizes. She'd have to put in a request for more replicator credits, if this kept up. Pretty soon and she'd be clothing the whole crew.

Christine gathered up the clothes and made her way down to the transporter room, ignoring the strange looks she garnered from all sides as she walked.

She walked in just as Tina knelt on the floor and invited the children to introduce themselves. Christine set the clothing aside, smiling reassuringly at the children as she joined Tina on the floor.

"Hello, everyone," she said. "My name is Christine. I'm here to help, too."

[rn_chapel]

Tina looked at her counterpart, frowning a little with her concern. "No takers," she said, quietly. "I'm not sure how we can get them to trust us a little... I'm thinking calling them by their names would be a bad plan."

She looked at the clothes Christine had brought, and raised her voice to carry across the room when she spoke again. "Would any of you like some clothes that fit a little better? I promise you don't have to do anything that would make you uncomfortable, but if you want to change, one of us can take you to a bathroom, or you could do it here."