The Enemy Within - Part Two - Chapter Three
"For your peace of mind, Captain-I'll explain to you how this works," Dr. Dehner says as she begins to round the circle of symbols. "The magnetic polarity of the anomaly overhead is contaminated with the ions needed to create a mildly stable time-rift, which will therefore provide me with the means to retrieve my husband." She continues to circle Jim as she goes on to say, "My obedient little Smokier here, being a native of the Vortex, will use the transport symbols I've carefully positioned to navigate the time-rift in the direction of the Vortex, and you, my dear, are the most essential part of this equation. You see, the Vortex is dead space, and well, I don't know how vast your knowledge of science-magic is, but I'll keep it simple. People who are in a vegetative state often act as doorways to the preternatural realm the human eye is unable to detect. Unfortunately for you, what that means is that you'll have to become brain dead in order for us to sustain the portal long enough to drag my husband through. So, you see, you won't really be dead, but it'll be a close thing. And honestly, if I were you, I would wish to be-because who could suffer in sanity, trapped and bound within the labyrinth of their own minds, forced to relive every single moment of their lives over and over again?"
Jim starts to tremble as tears begin to gather at the edge of her eyes, spilling over and down to her ears. If she wasn't afraid before, she is now. And there isn't much she can do because she feels an invisible weight pinning her down by her bones to the spot where she lays. Her breath stutters as her eyes warm with more tears until she's hiccupping in an attempt to swallow back her sobs. Dr. Dehner is uttering sharp words of nonsense and the Smokier begins to circle over the symbols like a black vortex that expands up to the translucent clouds dipping down from the anomaly above. It penetrates the atmosphere and continues its descent until it joins with the black vortex of the Smokier. Dr. Dehner quickly removes herself from the area and places herself beside Mitchell and the children, and they all stand on the outer edge of the dirt pit, watching.
Jim's breathing picks up until she's practically panting. She's blinking away tears and staring up at the luminescent heart of the anomaly, and the oxygen of this cloudy funnel is getting thinner and thinner until Jim's gasping for air and writhing against her invisible restraints. She's weeping as she gasps and sobs out incoherent apologies. She's scared, so scared-she's not ready to die, not like this. She wants Bones-she wants him so bad. She wants to hear his husky southern drawl telling her it's going to be okay, holding her hand and helping her ride it out. She's crying for him-sobbing and weeping and gasping and writhing. She wants Sarek. She wants the warm gaze of Prime Spock. She wants Spock to take all the fear away so she can sail through this rationally. She wants to be saved. She wants to be saved.
She's so afraid.
Darkness is creeping in her line of vision and she pants out a few more desperate sobs that's drowned out by a crack of thunder and echoing roar that sounds like groaning steel. She feels her consciousness slipping under the tide of the storm and the harsh winds until slowly she's sinking into the dark recesses of her own mind. She cries weakly as the last set of tears fall down to her ears and she tightens her hands around a fistful of dirt until her vision swirls. She prays to whoever and whatever can hear her that she'll just die fully and completely. She'd rather be fully dead than half-alive.
Being dead is better than reliving her childhood over and over again.
Jim whines out a mumbled sob of Bones's name before she goes completely still.
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Gary watches with a twitch of guilt as Captain Kirk goes completely still in the midst of the translucent vortex. He hears the girl sob and from the corner of his eye he sees the boy tighten his fists in anger. Gary hopes that the kid won't do anything stupid. Elizabeth looks to be in an almost gleeful mood as she watches the absolute success of her ritual. She might actually be generous enough to let the kids live, but Mitchell doubts it. Elizabeth's never been rational. He just wants to get this over and done with so he can go home and be with his son, and to not think on all the terrible things he had to do in order for it to be that way.
There's a final crack in the sky and the clouds clear out into a fog. The ritual is complete. The Smokier is dead-and Khan-
Khan is successfully retrieved, but nowhere in sight.
"Where is he?" Gary asks as he sets the unconscious sister at the feet of her brother and sister.
"Oh don't fret, Gary," Elizabeth says with an elated tone. "He's safe. On Earth I presume-at least that's where I had the Smokier send him as a precaution. It may take a year or two for him to thaw out and regain his strength, but it will be well worth it."
"Right," Gary says simply and clears his throat as he straightens the line of his shoulders. He avoids looking at Captain Kirk's body lying motionless at the middle of the pit. "Well, I've fulfilled my side of the bargain."
"Yes, I'm aware, Gary," Elizabeth drawls as she lifts a finely arched eyebrow in his direction. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
"My son," Gary grits out. "You promised you would-"
"That was never a promise," Elizabeth interjects calmly. "I said that I would see what I could do for him. And right now, he's not my main focus."
"He is mine," Gary retorts. "And I want what you promised. You know that I can't do it myself. Giving him my blood would just be redundant and it wouldn't render the disease null. I had to find that out the hard way, because instead of stalling it, the process was just sped along."
Elizabeth snorts as she eyes the children. "I told you not to attempt anything. I warned you, and now it's your own fault." She turns with every intention of heading to the escape pod. "My priority is my husband, first and foremost. If he happens to recover before your son dies, then I'll see what I can do. Until then you can return home and wait."
"No."
"Oh relax, Gary. Take the little scamp to Disney or something, for god sakes, just stop whining to me about it," Elizabeth snaps as she levels him with a glare.
"No," Gary insists. "We're not leaving," he warns as the ground starts to quake. "Until you give me what I worked for."
Elizabeth's eyes flash silver as her mouth sets into a grim line. "Don't test me, Gary. I've been like a second mother to you. You know better than to push me," she warns as the sky begins to rumble with storm clouds.
Gary just stares at her as his own eyes bleed silver. "I should have never listened to you. I should have never helped you with any of this."
"But you did and it's too late," Elizabeth chirps mockingly. "So don't think for a second that you'll come out of this okay-because if you do anything to me-he will find you. And he will rip you apart."
"Not if I do it myself," Gary says flatly, and the ground begins to freeze over with snow and ice. "I'm asking one last time. Give me what I was promised."
Elizabeth just smiles darkly as the sky begins pouring thick batches of snow.
"So be it," Gary decides and concentrates on the steel blade in the pit. He aims it for Elizabeth's wrists and he uses the sharp blade to decapitate her left hand from her arm.
Elizabeth screams and falls to her knees as blood spurts from her wrist.
Gary summons the severed hand with a grim face. "Getting a little old are we, Elizabeth? I was sure you'd see that coming. I was almost looking forward to working for it. What a disappoint this is."
Elizabeth just continues to yell out in pain as she clings to her injured arm. "I will rip you apart!"
"Oh please try. I'll do my best to return the courtesy," Gary simply says and tosses her severed hand over to Jasel. "Take that back with you. Give it to the Doctor, and tell him to keep it fresh long enough to have it transported to my son's hospital. Wallace Mitchell. East Bay Children's hospital. Repeat that back."
"Wallace M-Mitchell. East B-Bay Children's H-Hospital," Jasel chatters as he shakes against the cold and icy wind. "K-keep it f-fresh."
"Can your sister drag her twin to the escape pod?"
"Y-yes-I think."
"Be sure, because you'll need all the strength you can gather to drag the Captain's body out of that pit. Can you do that?"
Jasel trembled but nodded his head hastily. He gives his conscious sister the severed hand to take.
"I know you're still developing your powers-but for the Captain's sake, try really hard to get her to that pod as fast as you can. I'll do the rest. I'll send you back to the ship, put it back online." Gary exhales and his breath appears on the wind as his silver eyes gleam like liquid metal. "The Captain can be saved. Her Vulcan can see to that. But if she should ask you about my change of heart, tell her-" Gary pulls up an image of his smiling son in his mind. "I don't know. It's just one of those things."
Elizabeth stumbles to her feet, her face paling by the second because of the heavy blood loss. "You-will not-go anywhere," she hisses at the children as she staggers in their direction.
"I think they can," Gary retorts calmly and sends a wall off snow her way that she manages to deflect but barely. "How about we die together, ey, mother?"
Elizabeth glares daggers in his directions as her eyes blaze with silver.
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Jasel sniffs as he slides down the steep incline of the pit and hastily makes his way over to Jim. She's lying motionless on her back, face and lips pale, blue eyes dulled to a powder blue like crushed chalk. She looks like a corpse. Her lips are as grey and as white as the rest of her skin. Her gaze is dead and set on the sky.
Jasel hates it.
He hates it with all his heart. He'd give anything to see those bright blues brim to the rim with life again-with energy and cunning cleverness and kindly warmth.
He misses her.
He's angry with her.
Why does she have to be such a martyr? Why must she try to save others before she even thinks about saving herself?
Jasel shakes off his emotions to concentrate on alleviating Jim's weight so he can carry her to the escape pod. He flinches as he hears an array of booms and zaps that must be the minion Mitchell and his Great Aunt Elizabeth battling it out. He closes his eyes and exhales as his irises warm and shifts into a bright honey-gold color. He then tacks his golden eyes on the body of Jim and focuses really hard until she begins to levitate off the ground. He grabs her and puts her over his shoulder while keeping his attention on maintaining her weight to be equal to that of a feather. It works, but his concentration fizzles now and again, causing him to stumble as he treks through rising snow, and icy wind that nearly tips them over.
Jasel wishes that he would hit puberty already. If he'd hit it ages ago, this wouldn't be a problem. But he's always been late bloomer-something the other pre-teens in his court loved to tease him about. As if he didn't have enough trouble proving himself and his claim to the throne. If he'd been stronger, better-he could have protected his sisters, and Jim, and everyone she loved.
"Jasel, hurry!" Leona yells from the mouth of the escape pod. "Riesa's starting to wake up and the ground is cracking open!"
Jasel looks down to see that she's right. There are a jagged crevices opening up randomly all across the ground. He knows he can't maintain this weight shift much longer, and he tries to move as fast as he can. When he reaches the escape pod, Leona helps him pull Jim in, and she's set by a groggy Riesa who's slowly coming to. He climbs in and snaps the door shut.
Mitchell. We're all here.
Right. Sending you back. Good luck.
Jasel hesitates as the pod shakes and rises from the ground before he thinks: Thank you.
Mitchell does not reply.
Jasel isn't surprised. He wasn't expecting one.
"Oh Lady Jim," Leona whispers into Jim's temple woefully. "Please come back to us."
"She can't hear you," Jasel mumbles. "She's too deep inside herself. I know you feel it too."
Leona nods as hot tears spill out over her cheeks.
Riesa groans and calls for them. Jasel wiggles over to her-the space in the pod is very limited. He sits beside her and lets Riesa curl into him as she mumbles nonsense-still dazed by the day's events. He lifts his gaze to the window just as the pod ascends past the white clouds of the planet to see rivers of lava peaking through the ever crumbling and widening cracks. He knows without knowing that Mitchell will not survive the core surge-but he must have known that.
"Should we pray to the Everlasting for him?" Leona asks with a hoarse voice.
"He was a terrible man like Mudd," Jasel replies stiffly.
"Yes. But it is not for us to condemn the wicked," Leona counters.
Jasel doesn't say anything for a while, but then, "Save your prayers for Lady Jim. She's the one that needs it. She is the one that deserves it."
"My prayers are not a supply. I will pray for both," Leona decides as she closes her eyes while she strokes her fingers through Jim's blood-soaked blonde tress.
Jasel scowls, even though he knows she can't see, and looks at Jim for a moment. Her eyes are still wide and dull. He can't stand it. "Leona-her eyes…"
Leona blinks and glances down. "I know," she says. "I think it helps. She hates the dark-I can feel it."
Jasel tears his gaze away and he doesn't argue. He strokes his fingers through Riesa's hair and gently shushes her as she trembles. It'll be a long while before she'll be able to sleep, Jasel knows this. She's the most vulnerable and sensitive one out of all of them. It's most likely the reason the Smokier choose her as a vessel.
It takes a whole hour before they reach the ship. Once or twice the pod would stutter and putter along. Jasel tries not to think about what it means. He can see the gleaming planet-its almost completely covered in lava now. He doesn't want to think about the amount of pain Mitchell must have been in before he died. He doesn't want to think about how long Mitchell must have held on in order to get them safely boarded back onto the ship.
We're here now, he thinks at Mitchell. He doesn't know if it does any good.
He helps his sisters exit the pod first and they help him pull Jim out. In a matter of seconds the ship begins to light up and whirr to life with the busy hum of machinery. Their technology is a bit dated; Jasel had noticed it upon first arrival. It was a bit amusing the way Jim had treated them like idiots. Well, perhaps not like idiots-more like children who couldn't comprehend much. It's part of the reason why he'd been so hostile with her in the first place-he doesn't hold that against her now. She doesn't know about the world they come from.
They set her gently on the floor, and Leona goes to find an active interface screen so as to flag down some help. She returns moments later, and says, "I got someone."
"What do you mean you got someone?" Jasel says, albeit a bit tetchily.
Leona rolls her eyes at her brother. "Settle down, Jasel. It's someone good."
"May I have your attention, please?" a thick Russian voice says over the PA as Leona grins happily. "This is Ensign Chekov calling Doctor McCoy to main shuttle bay for medical emergency. We have located the Keptin!"
"See?" Leona says with an endearing grin that's neither smug nor arrogant.
Jasel nods and fights back an answering smile. His little sisters have a peculiar affect on his attitude. "How long do you think they've been awake?"
"Not sure," Leona says honestly as she hugs a drowsy Riesa close. "Maybe the same moment Mitchell activated our pod for us." She looks over at Jim, who's lying face-up on her back and staring blankly at the ceiling. "They must have gone crazy over themselves looking for her."
"It should've proven to be a challenge, since their power hadn't activated until we were reattached to the ship," Jasel supposes and sees a unit of security officers trudging behind Doctor McCoy and a few nurses. He moves out of the way when Doctor McCoy reaches them and falls on his knees beside Jim, looking absolutely devastated.
"She's still alive," Leona reassures quickly, before the Doctor has a chance to weep in sorrow. "But there are-complications."
"She sacrificed her sanity, and her cognitive functioning," Jasel goes on to explain. "For all of us. For the safety of everyone."
"Damn fool," Doctor McCoy grumps, but there is a fond edge to it. "She's always doin' this. I swear it'd do my weak heart some good to just bind her up in bubble wrap and lock her in a padded room."
"Oh I don't think Lady Jim would go for it, Doctor," Leona reasons in that childlike way of hers.
Doctor McCoy finally lifts his red-rimmed hazel eyes from Jim to look at Leona with a chuckle laced in irony. "Yeah-I suppose that's true." He takes a moment to sigh and nods to his male nurses. "Get her up on a gurney. I can't do anything for her here."
A group of three male nurses gently situate her on a gurney and began walking her to sickbay.
Jasel scrambles to follow as Doctor McCoy carefully lifts Riesa in his arms and treks on. He is relieved when the Doctor spares his time for Riesa first. He assures him and Leona that Riesa is just fine, only tired, and mildly dehydrated. He gives her a gentle sedative that will help her rest and a combatant to cure the dehydration. As he does so, Jasel recites the events as detailed and as best as he can. He leaves out the part about his Great Uncle Khan, trusting that Jim will explain things better than he could ever hope to.
Doctor McCoy takes it all in with a furrowed brow and an incredulous scowl. He even takes the severed hand places in a sustaining capsule and places it in his office. Although he is very reluctant about it, he still does it nonetheless.
Leona sits at the head of Riesa's biobed with Riesa's head in her lap as she sleeps.
Jasel takes a seat on the right side of the bed so he can keep both his sisters and Jim in view, but once Doctor McCoy gets to work on the vivacious Captain, he conceals the area in a blue medical curtain. Jasel frowns.
"It'll be alright, Jasel," Leona assures. She strokes her fingers through her sister's hair gently and turns her head to the other side of the room when she notices Commander Spock's timely entrance. "Hm, the Doctor must have called and told him what Mitchell said."
"Yes. Quite," Jasel murmurs as he watches Commander Spock disappear behind the curtain. "I don't think it'll be enough, though. Even with Lord Spock's help, it may take years to retrieve her. If we could just go home, our Healers could aid him in speeding the process along."
Leona thoughtfully nods in agreement before she pulls her gaze back down to her sister. "It would be nice," she quietly says. "And I am so ready to go home."
Jasel chews on his bottom lip as he watches the motionless curtain uncertainly. He curls his fingers over the arms of his chair until he comes to a firm decision. He exhales carefully and stands to his feet. "We're going home."
Leona gives a smile brighter than the sun.
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Spock rarely is overtaken with concern. But as he casts his gaze upon Jim, it is unavoidable. She lays rigid upon the biobed as though some type of paralysis afflicted her. Her normally sun-kissed skin is now an ashen white. Her water blue eyes are dull and dilated, staring up at the bulkheads and into nothing. It is a most upsetting sight, and he feels wholly responsible for it. After all, it is his job to provide his captain with a means of protection-yet in this instance he was unable to do so. The tidal wave that was Lieutenant Mitchell's psionic attack on the ship was both unexpected and unalterable.
There is not much he can recall during his enforced refractory period. The most troublesome effect of all was the fact that Jim's end of the link had waxed cold. It is an odd thing because ever since he opened himself to the bond, her fluctuating emotions are all he can sense in the coming days. He has finally found an acceptable medium in which to navigate and attune himself to her mood patterns, which in turn has improved their work relationship by almost seventy-three percent. She has no doubt noticed, but has been reluctant to broach the subject. The bond has given Spock an understanding about Jim, and in turn, he is able to maintain his patience during their verbal exchanges. His sense of her has become a habit, and now that he can no longer feel her there, it's nearly disrupting to his equilibrium.
Spock provides Doctor McCoy with his full attention as he recants Jasel's personal narrative concerning the events that occurred on Delta Vega between Jim, Mitchell and Dr. Dehner. A small sensation comparable to ire and fury manifests within him before he can properly regulate the sentiments. It is unavoidable, however.
"Well at least the problem with Mitchell and Dehner has resolved itself. Never was too keen on those two anyway-and this just proved my gut feeling true," Doctor McCoy grumbles as he continues to wave his medical tricorder up and down Jim's motionless body, studying the results on the large flat screen of the biofunction monitor.
"Indeed," Spock concurs. "And your thoughts on the Captain's condition?"
Doctor McCoy doesn't answer right away. He goes on examining the results across the biofunction screen until he sighs. "Well. It's not good. Not good at all, I'm afraid. Her vitals are dangerously below the norm, and sinking."
"She's trapped inside herself," Jasel explains. He's standing at the mouth of the curtain, and his eyes are focused on Jim. He swallows and forcibly turns his gaze to Spock. "Mitchell said that you could help. And I believe you can as well. My sisters and everyone else may not be able to sense the link between you two, but I can. Just as Mitchell did. And if you can keep her from slipping away long enough for us to travel and reach my home world, she can be saved. We have Healers that are trained in advanced medicine that is at least over a dozen centuries later than yours. They can help-but you have to take us home. I can show you the way."
Spock shares a small glance with Doctor McCoy.
"Might be worth a shot, Commander," Doctor McCoy says with a shrug as he looks down at Jim's wide unresponsive blue eyes. "Hell, I'll try anything at this point, because I can't do a thing for her as is. It's like voodoo. Or a strange kind of coma." He looks to Spock for an answer.
"Very well," Spock decides as he gives Doctor McCoy a measured look. He then turns his focus onto Jasel. "You will find Ensign Chekov and Chief Engineer Scott on the bridge. If you provide them with the coordinates, they may be able to direct the ship in that due course."
Jasel smiles and drops it just as quickly to take on a more subdued expression. "I won't let her down, Lord Spock. Please assure me that you will do the same."
Spock is vaguely amused by Jasel's protectiveness over Jim. He nearly reminds him of his own self in his youth with his mother. But the sentiment that Jasel is displaying is much more complex. Though he hides it well, he is evidently enamored with Jim, and though it may be bold for Spock to assume, he imagines that if Jasel were older, he would certainly petition for Jim's hand in marriage. It is a curious response that Jim often inspires and invokes in many species it seems.
"I will do what is in my power to do," Spock assures.
Jasel nods in satisfaction. He exits a moment later and leaves Spock with the Doctor.
"So," Doctor McCoy injects, breaking the silence. "I think you oughta get to it, Spock. Do the whole mind-meld thing."
Spock quirks an eyebrow. "Doctor, I do not believe you understand what you are proposing. To ask me to physically join with the Captain's mind in open view is the human equivalent of public intercourse."
Doctor McCoy flushes in mortification.
"I presume that we both would agree that would be inexplicably forward of me, seeing as how I am already in a committed relationship," Spock continues, silently enjoying the Doctor's flabbergasted response, all the while keeping both a neutral face and tone. "I will able to unite our minds in a less intimate manner through meditation within the privacy of my own quarters. I trust this amendable."
Doctor McCoy mutters a set of expletives that Spock finds disagreeable, but the Doctor silently nods nonetheless.
Spock exits the infirmary promptly after, and heads for his living quarters. Once inside, he is understandably surprised to see Nyota sitting on his bed and waiting for him.
"How is she?" Nyota asks carefully. "That's where you went first isn't it? To check on her?"
"Yes," Spock says cautiously. He cannot read much from her expression, nor her eyes, and this causes him to be unsure of where he stands.
Nyota snorts bitterly and shakes her head. "Right," she says quietly. "You know, I was here too. Just like everyone else." She shrugs. "I woke up on the ground, and felt so disoriented. And in the few moments after that, even more confused-even as I participated in the ship-wide search for Captain Kirk. Because here I am, waiting and waiting. Thinking to myself, any moment now, he'll come. He'll come and find me and reassure himself that I'm okay. But it never happened, and I realized something." She strokes her thumb across her bottom lip as she goes on to say, "I could have died. All of us could have died. There won't always be a second-chance for me or my life, so I have to make the most of the time I'm blessed with now. And that means I have to start making the tough decisions that, in the long haul, will benefit me. And I'm sorry to say, what we have isn't." She gives another mild shrug. "I'm fine, by the way. In case you're wondering."
Spock stiffens and feels an onslaught of guilt. "Nyota-of course. I apologize. I intended to-"
"No, it's okay," Nyota says with a sad smile. "I completely understand. I wasn't the first on your mind and that kind of hurts. But I understand. So with that being said, I'm going to do both of us a favor, and call it a wrap on this relationship."
"Nyota, I confess to some confusion," Spock states truthfully as his brow furrows. "You claim to understand, yet you have decided to terminate our relationship without verifying my opinion on the matter."
Nyota just chuckles and stands, shortening the distance between them in three steps and gently patting his cheek. She softly swipes her thumb across his cheek and says, "One day, I think you'll thank me. And honestly, I think I'll even thank myself. Just please, Spock, if you hold any affection for me, you'll let me end this, and you'll give me space. I will always be your friend, but I need time."
Spock studies her face and gives a subtle nod.
Nyota's eyes water and she leans up to hug his shoulders. When they separate, she kisses him on the corner of his mouth and smiles. She squeezes his shoulders one final time before she takes a step back. "Good luck, Spock-in everything in your life. And if you ever want to talk, my ears are all yours. I love you, and hope only happiness for you-especially with Jim." She smiles briefly and exits the room before he can counter her remarks.
Spock is left to his thoughts.
Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.
Spock glances over and notes the flat panel monitor atop his desk is illuminated with a notification. Upon further inspection, he discovers that it is his father hailing him. When he accepts the transmission, his father does not even bother with formal greetings.
"James has a depraved habit of placing herself in unsavory situations," Sarek perplexedly complains. "She has, once again, disrupted my mental facilities in the most disquieting manner. I am almost reluctant to ascertain what she has done this time."
Spock outlines the situation as quickly and as concisely as possible. He will not admit to being antsy-the time he is using to explain things to his father is time that could have been put to better use in regards to Jim.
"I apologize, I am keeping you," Sarek realizes. "You will contact me-you will both contact me when she is made well again. I dislike of her methods of gallantry, and I wish to confer this."
"I hold no uncertainty that she will welcome such an exchange," Spock remarks with a subtle twitch of his lips.
Sarek levels him with a stare. "I do not find you humorous," he simply states.
"That was not my intention," Spock counters innocently.
"Peace and long live, my son," Sarek says, holding up his hand in a parting gesture. "I trust you will be successful in retrieving James."
Spock inclines his head in silent thanks.
After the screen goes blank, he rises from his seat and begins to light a few sticks of incense and dims the lights. He sends a notification to the bridge that he will be unavailable until they have reached their destination, and requests not to be disturbed. He also sends a quick notification to Doctor McCoy, encouraging the Doctor to continue monitoring Jim and to keep him updated on her condition. He also adds in the message that he will try to periodically alleviate himself from Jim's mind to study her condition progress in order to deviate what methods are working best.
After he takes the precaution of locking his quarters from any outside access, he sits above a floor mat and folds his legs under him, placing his hands palms-down over his knees. He concentrates on his breathing as he lowers every barrier carefully. His lids lower as he sinks into the recesses of his mind and seeks out the bond. When he finds it, he notices that it has grown thicker since the last time he observed it. He briefly wonders over it before he presses on until he's caught in the funnel of shimmering gold. It sucks him in invitingly, almost like a siren's call, and spits him out on the other side. He falls into her mind like a cool breeze, and when he opens his eyes, he notices that he's sitting on top of a slanted roof under a vastly starry sky beside a thirteen-year-old Jim.
Jim's hugging her left knee as her long blonde hair pours over her shoulder and down to her knee like a corn yellow waterfall. Her ocean blue eyes are tacked to the stars in a gaze of wonder and longing. She's wearing faded overall shorts with a red tank-top underneath and some worn sneakers with her initials on the sole.
"Johnny-Boy don't know nothin' about the constellations," she says suddenly as she keeps her gaze lifted to the sea of stars frozen in equilibrium in the murky swamp of a sky. "He's says that he knows all there is to know about every one of them. But I think he just said that because Mrs. Talbot embarrassed him in front of the entire class. I mean, all she asked him to do was to name Orion the Hunter's two brightest stars." She pauses to scratch the side of the nose. "So I felt bad, because he just stood there like a block of ice and all the kids started laughing at him." She shrugs and picks at the hem of her overall shorts as she listlessly searches the sky. "I stood up. Looked Mrs. Talbot right in the eye. And I said Orion the Hunter's brightest stars are Betelgeuse and Rigel. She didn't really like that I said that-though she's never liked me ever since I corrected her methods of problem solving with Geometry. She really is no good at it." She finally looks at Spock. "What's your favorite constellation?"
"I have no preference," Spock states.
Jim rolls her eyes. "Oh don't be boring. Of course you do," she insists. She sits up on her knees and cocks her head. "Hey, are you a Vulcan?"
"Yes."
"Wow. That's like majorly wicked cool," Jim gushes as she bounces in excitement. "I've always wanted to meet one. Though this girl at my school caught me reading up on you guys at recess and called me stupid and said I was wasting my time because you're all just boring unemotional elves, and I may have punched her as a way of showing that I had a differing opinion. Okay. I totally punched her. But she deserved it because she was wrong. I mean look at you! Your ears are amazing. I'm almost jealous."
"Jealousy over another's biology is illogical. You are designed as you were meant to be," Spock remarks and doesn't miss the way Jim rolls her eyes but flushes slightly.
"It was a compliment. Geez. Don't be so stiff. I mean, I like you, but you're like all-" Jim takes a moment to stick out her tongue and cross her eyes as she waves her arms ridiculously. She stops with a huff and says, "You know?"
"I do not," Spock replies and shifts his body so that his line of focus is on the rows and rows of cornfield. He surmises that he's fallen into a memory of her hometown, and clearly this is where her consciousness is currently residing. "Jim-what is your current age?"
"What do you mean?" Jim retorts, giving him a look that says what she thinks of his intelligence. "I'm thirteen and a half. And how do you know my name?"
"You do not remember me," Spock states rather than asks.
"Should I have?" Jim counters and begins to braid her long hair. "What's your name anyway?"
"I am called Spock."
"Spock," Jim echoes as she combs the braid out of her hair with her fingers. Spock notes that she has a hard time remaining still, nor does she seem able to make up her mind about what she desires to do with her hands. This habit, he perceives, has followed her into adulthood. "Odd name, but it's leveled with mine. Hm. James, you know? Weird for a girl, but maybe my folks knew how I'd be. Or maybe they didn't know I'd be girl." She shrugs again. "I just don't like the thought of being named after men I barely knew, you know?"
Spock says nothing.
"So what's your favorite constellation, Spock?" Jim says as she leans back on her elbows and snaps the tops of her sneakers together like a handclap. "Mine is Camelopardalis. Only because the inspiration was a giraffe. Now what's yours?"
"I have stated before that I hold no preference."
"Well, pretend that you do," Jim says with a snarky tone and gives him a grin that's all teeth.
"That would be highly illogical."
"So?" Jim says, raising an eyebrow with a careless shrug. "It's the-"
Crash.
"…you hiding at you little shit? Come out here!"
Thump. Thump. Crash.
Spock watches the way Jim sits up and curls into herself, hugging her legs close and pressing her lips to her bare knees as she begins to tremble. He turns his head in the direction of the sound-it appears to be coming from underneath them from the inside of the house. It's easy for him to make out the heavy and stumbling footfalls of an adult male Spock deduces to be in his late forties and, judging by the staggering trajectory of his steps, he is heavily intoxicated.
CRASH.
"…little bitch. I'll sell that piece of junk car, you just wait. Daddy's not here to stop me now is? Sell it, make a nice penny. Hm? What do you say Jimbo? How much do you think I can get for a legend's pretty little corvette?"
CRASH.
"Is he a relative?" Spock asks quietly.
Jim nods against her knees silently.
"You have no other relative that would be willing to take you in?"
Jim shakes her head.
CRASH.
The sky begins to darken and clouds that were not there before appear in an ominous overcast of lightening and echoing thunder. Spock knows that its Jim's emotions that are affecting the environment of her memory. Though he wishes he could, he knows it will be of no use if he tries to remind or persuade her of who she truly is. The human brain is both complex and resolute in nature. This memory has already occurred, so therefore it is set in stone in Jim's mind. There will be nothing Spock can do besides ride it out with Jim, and offer his presence as support.
The one thing he cannot allow is for Jim to give up as a means of escape from the labyrinth that is her mind. If she forfeits-she will surely slip away and die. That cannot be an option.
Spock turns to Jim, and says, "You must remember that you are strong, James. You can always endure."
Jim stares at him with unseeing blue eyes. The storm overhead settles but does not completely lift.
THUMPTHUMPCRASH
"Got a good little deal for it, did I mention? Got a guy who's coming in the morning, Jimmy. Gonna come and get it. Maybe I oughta buy you a nice little doll? Give you a percentage of what I get. Was your dad's car after all, you should get something shouldn't ya, Jimmy?"
THUMPCRASHCRASH
"He's in my room now," Jim says faintly, almost drowsy with her sadness. "Uncle Frank likes to do that. Trash it." She rubs her lips against her knobby knees as she goes on to say, "Took me a while to learn. But it's fine. I never keep anything important in my room anymore-not in this house."
CRASH. THUMP. THUMP.
"Fucking bitch-little daddy's whore. I'll fucking find you."
THUMPTHUMPCRASH
Spock watches as Jim's eyes lower, and as the sky clears, her outline fades away until she becomes no more than shadow, and then, nothing at all.
The space is empty where she sat, and Spock knows that he will have to find her again.
Chapter 4
Author's Note: Mkay-so you should know that I estimate like another chapter or two left. You all might want to prepare yourselves-there are some major dark themes headed your way as we travel along with Spock to relive Jim's dark past. Tell me what you think if you want. I welcome feedback. Sorry if this chapter was sucky or if the situation with Mitchell was anti-climatic. I wasn't sure how to tackle it, but I did my best