Fic: Observations, Ch 216
“Aw hell.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Sulu said.
“I honestly don’t know how it happened, Spock,” Christine said.
Scotty and Nyota entered the Sickbay.
“We came as soon as we heard,” he said.
“Is security on it? Are there feeds?’ Nyota asked.
“Commander has already looked through ewerything. There is nothing.”
“Nothing? What do you mean, lad, nothing?”
“Blank. Screen is blank for sewen minutes.”
“We were here the whole time, Doc was taking scans to see how my latest surgery went. How does this happen?”
“He was waiting at my desk, last time I checked. He was goddamn here last time I checked.”
“Sir,” Giotto’s voice through the terminal. “We’ve finished our preliminary search of the ship. There’s no trace of him.”
“Follow protocol,” Sulu answered. “Start search phase two.”
“Already done, sir. Giotto out.”
“Spock? Spock say something, you’re scaring me.”
Silence.
“What do you wish me to say, ndugu?”
This is the last known location of the captain before he disappeared. There is no trace of him.
“We’ll find him,” Scotty put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
I nodded absently.
“We are not knowing where to start.”
“This had better not be Trelane. Or the fucking Taxidermist,” Sulu ran his hand through his hair.
Then, a body appeared, back flayed open, shaking and bloody.
The Sickbay erupted with chaos. Tricorders, monitors, Leonard shouting, Christine running to gather supplies, stepping forward to see, to identify-
“Get out of the way! Chapel where the hell are you!”
Hair dirty, back flayed, crisscrossed with the marks of whips-
“Back up! Now! Jim-” he flashed a penlight in Jim’s eyes. “Goddamnit. Goddamnit Chapel get over here!”
Backing away, allow the the medical staff do their jobs hand competent faces calm Leonard yelling-
Then-
“You may have your captain back.”
“We must admit, we were extremely disappointed. He is not half so powerful or stimulating as all the hype makes him out to be.”
“And we have no use for broken goods.”
“That is all.”
“Podozhditye!”
Silence.
“Well, what do you want?”
“Are you omniscient, omnipotent, and eternal?”
Scoffing.
“The answer to that is self evident.”
“Of all the stupid things to ask. Of course we are, you silly little creature.”
“We could break your ship if we wanted to.”
“It’s fortunate for you that we don’t want to. Breaking things is so juvenile.”
“But fun, if you’re in the mood for it.”
“Don’t start with that again Three.”
“Just because you never had the taste for it.”
“Quiet, Two, Three. I think the little creatures are angry.”
“How droll.”
“And not so much as a ‘thank you’. Whatever.”
“Four, let’s go find someone more interesting to torment.”
“Honestly. I don’t see why they think he’s so special. Give me Jack the Ripper over Kirk any day.”
“They have their silly morals.”
Voices fading.
“I don’t know why you’re complaining so much.”
“I hate it when we get broken goods.”
“He performed well enough to convince us to return him.”
“The gall of him, thinking he could intellectually manipulate us.”
“I thought it was rather funny.”
“Come along, Four. Things to do, you know. Galaxies to harvest.”
“Go ahead, I’ll catch up.”
Silence.
“I’m-” voice halting. “He’s not broken.”
Silence.
“He’s not.”
Silence.
And then
Jim screams.