Matters of the Heart (Part 16)
Title: Matters of the Heart (Part 16)
Author: Luvntrek
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I have no ownership in any of it
A/N: Some things need to be sorted out!
McCoy awoke and at first was unsure of where he was. The memory of the previous night came rushing back to him. He looked around the room. Aura was gone and he noticed that the time was almost 900 hours. Damn! He had overslept. He wondered how she was fairing. What in the hell had gotten into him last night? His whole body ached and he was tired.
He got up and went into the shower hoping that would help. He was supposed to start work on the vaccines today; however, he knew that something must have caused him to be so out of control, but what?
He dressed quickly and heard a knock on the door. He opened it and was surprised to see Spock.
"Dr. we must talk" he said walking into the room. "Did you experience heightened sexual arousal last night?"
"Either that or I had the best damn dream ever." McCoy said "I felt I was totally out of control."
Spock studied him a moment. "I too was affected."
McCoy looked at him surprised at his confession.
They were interrupted by another knock on the door. McCoy opened it and was surprised to see Jim standing there.
"I figured I'd find one of you on this side of the compound. I guess I lucked out." He came in and shut the door. "Since the two of you are together, I gather you both had an unusual night last night?"
He looked from Spock to Bones noting that Bones looked especially tired. "You look like hell, Bones. I hate to see what Aura looks like!"
"I didn't see her this morning" Bones replied sitting down. "She had already gone by the time I woke up."
"Captain," Spock said "I gather from your presence here that you too were affected. I think we should compare our experiences and try to determine the cause. We must also talk to the others and to Bah Nel to be sure that he did not do something deliberately to cause this."
"That sonofabitch!" Bones said as they walked out of Aura's quarters. "I wouldn't put it past him!"
"Hold on, Bones!" Jim said. "We'd better gather all available information before we start accusing anyone. Think a minute. It all adds up. Everything they do appears to come back to satisfying their sexual needs."
"I have reached the same conclusion" Spock said "It may very well be something that is affecting the entire planet and before we can help them solve any of their problems, we must get to the source of this situation."
"All I know is that last night was a night I'll never forget, but I'll be in the grave before my time if I had to go at that pace every night." Bones said laughing. "I'm a doctor, not a marathon runner."
"For once I am in total agreement with the good doctor." Spock said "While I can assure you that vulcan's have more physical stamina in that particular area than humans, I realize that you must also be considerate of your partner as multiple copulations can be tiring."
Kirk looked at him smiling. "Are you bragging, Mr. Spock?"
"I am merely stating facts, Captain."
"How many times, last night?" He looked at Spock bemused.
"Five"
"You Bones?"
"Three"
Kirk grinned at Bones. "Yeah Bones, he's bragging!"
*************************
Nyota was frustrated after Scotty did not show up to meet with her at 800 hours as planned. She wondered if it had anything to do with the 'burning heat' that Spock had described and decided to find Aura.
She walked over to the greenhouse labs that were set up to seek her out. Davis was close behind her. After several inquiries she was directed to a large field where she saw her at a distance standing in what looked to be wheat. She waved at her and Aura returned her greeting.
It was hot and Nyota wished that she had thought to put something on her head. Aura was dressed in loose fitting khaki slacks and a peasant type blouse with a wide straw hat. Her security man Perkins was standing nearby.
"Aura, how in the world can you stand it out here?" she asked watching her collect samples of the grain and the soil.
"I'm used to it" she said laughing. "What's up with you? Why are you out here in no man's land?"
"I need to talk to you." Nyota said "Can we get out of this heat?"
"Sure, it's time for me to take a break anyway." Aura put her tricorder on her shoulders and pointed towards a cinderblock shed. "Let's go in here, it's a lot cooler."
She beckoned to Perkins and Davis and they followed the women into the shed. The shed was one large room with table and chairs. It had what appeared to be an old electrical unit above the door for air conditioning. The room felt great compared to the heat they had just left. Aura walked over to the refrigerated box and retrieved some bottled water. She pointed to the table where she and Nyota sat down while Perkins and Davis stood by the door looking out of the glass window and talking as they drank their water.
"How did Leonard act towards you last night? Was his behavior....normal" she asked searching for the right words.
Aura laughed. "No, he was not his normal self. He began acting strange ever since that dinner."
"Oversexed?" Nyota asked noticing her embarrassment.
"Very....but in a nice way."
"Same here." Nyota said giggling holding up her open hand with her fingers spread for Aura for emphasis.
"You've got to be kidding!" Aura said surprised. "Five times! My god! Are you alright?"
"There's a reason why god made ky jelly!" she whispered laughing.
Aura laughed shaking her head in agreement.
Her brow suddenly furrowed and she looked concerned. "I wonder how the other men made out. She pulled out her communicator. "Maybe I will call Jimmy just to see how he sounds. I certainly can't ask him about it!"
"What about the people here. Did you notice anything strange?"
"The men did not even come out to the fields until almost 1000 this morning and the sun is high in the sky by then. Whatever it is, it must be affecting just the men because the women were out here with me at 700. I can already see why there is a food shortage. Their techniques are outdated as well as their equipment. This place is an agronomists' dream. The soil is rich. I've tested it and it has plenty of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. I am going to recommend some contour plowing and bunding in these fields to help with the run off during rainstorms."
She finished her water and stood up. "The biggest problem I am having right now is with the women. They are fascinated with my braids, always wanting to touch them. I am seriously considering taking them out."
Nyota looked at her in disbelief.
"I am not kidding!" Aura responded. "The women here don't braid their hair and they are facinated by all these small braids! Anyway, we have bigger problems here than my hair, so I am trying to stay focused."
There was a knock on the door and a young lady came in. Nyota recognized her from the party from the night before. "Dr. Aura, my brother wishes to speak to you."
"Alright, Tah-din-nay" she replied. "Tell him I will speak to him momentarily"
Nyota spoke up. "Wait a minute! Won't you at the dinner party last night?"
The girl turned around and smiled. "Yes, I was your server."
"Do you know what causes men to...uh be extra attentive to their women?" Nyota asked searching for the right words. "Is this something common to your people?"
Tah-din-nay laughed. "Oh yes, it is very common. It is called 'amo pyrexia' the love fire. It comes when our moon is full every month."
Aura looked at Nyota and turned back to Tah-din-nay "Every month? How long does it last?"
"It is only one night each month" she said smiling. "It is the night we find love."
Nyota smiled "Have you found love?"
"Oh yes" she said "I have been chosen by Kirk, the one that came with you with eyes like the Terrin sea."
Aura gasped and Tah-din-nay could see that she appeared upset. "Oh, Doctor Aura, he is not your man, no? You are not angry that he chose me are you?"
"He chose you? I am not angry at you and no, he is not my man. I am just surprised that he would take advantage of you like that for one night!"
"He did not take advantage. I wanted to help him with 'amo pyrexia' but he would not let me. He used his hand instead."
Nyota laughed as she saw Aura's mouth drop. "Too much information, Tah-din-nay! I don't think the Captain would be happy with you telling people that."
Tah-din-nay looked confused. "Why not? I thought it was very honorable that he wanted to wait for love."
"He told you that?" Nyota said in total disbelief "James T. Kirk told you that he did not want to have sex with you because he wanted to be in love first?"
Tah-din-nay nodded and Nyota burst out laughing.
"No wonder we had a full moon last night!"
******************************
Nyota forwarded the information she received to Dr. McCoy. The Captain requested that everyone return to the Enterprise immediately for a meeting on the matter and to allow Dr. McCoy to put the information into the ship's computer They too had been questioning the Terrin people.
Nyota and Aura beamed back up to the Enterprise and found everyone in the conference room awaiting them. McCoy stood up before the group. "It appears from the information that we have been able to obtain thanks in part to Lieutenant Uhura and Dr. Vanderleigh, that this 'amo pyrexia' or 'love fire' as it is called occurs on the first day of each full moon which just happened to be last night. I have interviewed everyone here as well as some of the inhabitants of the planet. It appears to cause an overactive libido with the males and does not appear to affect the females. Now I have learned from the physicians on the planet that the symptoms are exacerbated by alcohol. I wish I had known that ahead of time."
Laughter broke out among the group.
The Captain stood up. "Thank you, doctor. The next full moon will occur on this planet in 31 days. Now even though we are in orbit around the planet, the crew here on the Enterprise were not affected. Therefore it stands to reason that there is another element which causes the phenomenon other than just the moon. While we will continue to work on the projects that are a part of our mission, this is of the utmost importance as we need to discover what the other element is before the next full moon if possible."
Spock stood up. "I have interviewed Bah Nel and asked him why he did not bring this matter to our attention. He was....evasive. He felt that it was a private matter and hoped that as aliens to his planet we would not be affected. Even though they are somewhat obsessed with sexual matters,they do not like losing full control followed by several days of feeling drained and weakened and were too embarrassed to discuss the subject with us. However now that it is all 'out in the open' so to speak, we will all be working together to reach a satisfactory resolution of this problem. It appears to be affecting a great deal of progress here as their men are weak and drained following the 'amo pyrexia' and are unable to function at their normal capacity for several days even without consuming alcohol. I believe from my observation that the affect on us is not as bad as what they experience."
"I have informed Starfleet of the situation" the Ambassador said. "They still want us to work hard on taking control of the mines. They want us to try to resolve this issue as quickly as possible."
"Of course they do!" Kirk said his voice dripping sarcasm. "However, if the workers are weak and can't function, how will they be able to work in the mines? We have got to get to the bottom of this. Right now this is top priority!"
McCoy looked at the Captain. "Jim one thing I did discover after examining all of you when you returned to the ship, each one of our testosterone levels was higher than they were when we first departed. We will analyze everything we ate and drank when we arrived at Terrin to try to determine what could cause this. I feel that this is part of the puzzle."
Nichols spoke up. "Captain, I will continue the analysis on the dilythium we have already collected and have reports each day for Starfleet. More than likely this will keep them happy for a while."
"Very good, Nichols." he said. "Well people, we have 31 days to resolve this issue. Spock, I know the crew is anxious for shore leave. Now that the danger is over, and the crew has been thoroughly briefed, I will allow shore leave during the day, but they must return each evening by 1900. I still don't trust these people. Make sure those that are granted leave understand the situation."
"Yes Captain."
Kirk looked around the room. "Alright, dismissed."
He sat back down feeling tired. He had slept very little. Maybe he would just stay in his quarters here on the Enterprise for the evening. He did not wish to face Tah-din-nay. He did not know what he was going to do about that situation.
He looked up and saw Aura sitting there. Everyone else had left.
"I think you need to return to your quarters Jimmy and get some rest." she said walking over to him. She put her arms around him and kissed him on the forehead.
"What was that for?"
"For being such a sweetheart. Your new friend Tah-din-nay was the one who gave us information on the 'amo pyrexia'. The men didn't seem to want to discuss it." She noticed that he looked uncomfortable and decided to change the subject. "Come on. I'll give you that foot rub that I promised. You'll feel a lot better."
He laughed. "What about Bones? Will he allow you to be away from him long enough for you to spend some time with me?"
Aura slapped him on the arm. "Leonard has a full plate right now. Most likely it will be days before I see him again anyway and after last night, I am sure he wants a break!"
Kirk got up and led her to the door. "You are right. I am sure you both will need time to recover. I just hope you have enough energy left to deliver on your promise to me! I will be disappointed if I only get a half done job because Bones wore you out!"
"Jimmy, you are such a baby!" Aura said laughing.