S&S&ST Chapter Fifteen: Why Bones Left
Outline
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Spock stayed at his brother’s bedside. Logic told him that Jim would not survive the close encounter with the Genesis Project, but if there was one lesson he had kept from living with Jim, it was that nothing was impossible. He was startled by a knock on the infirmary. “It is fortunate that you have come, Doctor McCoy.”
“I only hope that I’m not too late,” was all he answered as he passed his medical tricorder over Jim’s body. “Fractured rib, sprained ankle, high fever, slight trauma to the head,” he concluded. “He’ll live, but it’ll be a while before he wakes up. But that is fortunate, because I have a delicate matter to discuss with you. As you know, I was divorced not too long ago.”
“Yes, I was aware of this circumstance. However, I do not understand what this has to do with Jim or myself.”
“Well my wife took everything, so I had no way to go but up. She was gracious enough to give me joint custody of our ward. Gaila’s a lot like Jim - headstrong, impatient, bossy - you know the type. And she’s incredible and beautiful, and I was so glad that I was allowed to spend time with her. But about a year ago she just disappeared. She left no trace, hadn’t said anything to her roommates, just stopped coming to any of her classes one day. Well, a few months ago, I finally got a message from her. You remember, of course, that day I left so suddenly?”
“Jim mentioned something about it,” said Spock.
“That was to go to her. And as soon as I saw her, I could tell she was with child. It seems she had become … romantically attached, and she still felt she owed something to that low-down scoundrel so she wouldn’t tell me the name of the father. I said that there was no point in keeping it from me, since I’d be able to do a paternity test as soon as the child was born. You can guess who it was, I imagine.”
“Not the Kobayashi Maru!” exclaimed Spock, in tones of great surprise. “A machine cannot impregnate a human female. They’d be too sexually incompatible.”
“Now listen here, Spock,” the doctor interrupted, “you may think you’re cleverer, what with your Vulcan training. But I’ve seen more of the world than you, and believe me when I say you have no idea what it’s like. Space is Disease and Danger. A crack in the hull is enough to boil your blood in thirteen seconds flat, and that’s not the worst you can face,” he continued bitterly. “Life is also Dark. And Silence. You can only end up lonely because of wives who take the whole damn planet out from under your feet, and men who leave little girls with nothing but their bones, and-and-” he broke off suddenly, breathing quickly. “Forgive me,” he said in a more subdued voice, “I should not have told you all that. I hope I have not upset you too much.”
Spock was actually quite distressed by McCoy’s revelation, and he showed his sympathy in the only way he knew how, “You must learn to govern your passions,” he rebuked gently, “They will be your undoing.” Bones nodded, accepting the comment in the spirit it had been intended. “I will leave you now. And take good care of my brother. He deserves someone like you.”
Chapter Sixteen