…for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for better or worse…on a planet or in space…

Carol Marcus sat straight up in bed from a dream she was having. She had dreamed that she and Jim Kirk were getting married. They had been engaged for four months now. She loved Jim, but she was not sure he was going to want to stay out of space when his five year mission was over. She looked at the ring he had given her. She knew he loved her, but he was a Starfleet captain. Would he really want to give up his ship to sit behind a desk…just so she would be happy? What about his happiness?

Later that day, Jim was sitting in his chair on the Bridge when Carol came onto the Bridge. "Jim, let's have lunch today," she said.

"Sure," Jim replied. "Where have you been all morning?"

"Working. There is work that goes into keeping a star ship functioning properly."

Jim smiled. "I know that. I'll see you at lunch then."

"Okay."

Jim went back to reading. Their next mission…he wondered why Starfleet had to send them missions when they were in deep space to discover whatever they could find out there. However, when these missions were ordered, they had to follow the orders. This one would take them through an uncharted part of space, which meant they would be charting it. Jim supposed that was the reason for it was to discover that part of space.

Spock came onto the Bridge and stood beside Jim. "I have studied our new mission," he said. "Why is this part of space so interesting to Starfleet?"

"I guess because it's uncharted," Jim replied. "I guess they want it to be charted."

"Do they know if there are planets there?"

"I guess we'll find that out too."

"We are once again going into the…temporarily hidden."

Jim smiled. "Exactly. I hope we won't run into any crazed maniacs bent on revenge or dominance."

"It has been quite peaceful since we solved the bounty hunter problem."

"I can definitely do without problems like that."

Just then, the communicator whistled. "Captain," Scotty said.

"Yes, Mister Scott," Jim answered.

"I would like to do some routine maintenance on the warp drive before we go out into the unknown."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"I would like the ship to be stopped. Should take at least one day."

"At least?"

"Yes, sir. This is a long journey, and it takes its toll on a ship this size when the engines are constantly…"

"Okay, Mister Scott. I get the picture. We'll stop as soon as we see a good stopping place."

"Captain, there's just a lot of empty space out here," Sulu said. "It shouldn't matter where we stop."

"Alright then. Let's shut down and give them time to work."

"Yes sir."

The ship was soon stopped. Jim stood up. "Mister Spock, I'm going to have lunch with Carol," he said. "Everything here should be okay for now."

"Yes Captain," Spock replied. "I will inform you if anything unexpected happens."

"Let's hope it won't."

Jim turned and left the Bridge. He was looking forward to sitting and talking to Carol for a while. He thought she must want to talk about something.

As Jim was walking down the corridor toward Carol's quarters, he met Solan. "Are you helping Scotty with that maintenance?" Jim asked.

"I'm the one who always has to crawl down the access tubes," Solan replied. "He's always saying if I have anything to do with the design of the next ship, the access tubes are not going to be crawl spaces."

Jim chuckled at Solan's mockery of Scotty's accent. "That sounds like him."

"Then he goes into this rant about how we all learned to walk when we were two, and it's irrational to think that we want to crawl now."

"I've never understood why they were made that way, but it's probably so the different systems can be accessed from either side."

"So, don't make a ten foot ceiling."

"Anyway, I have to go eat lunch with Carol."

"Oh sure. The captain gets to have lunch with a beautiful woman, and we have to do all the dirty work. Just remember how uncomfortable my knees are when you're sitting in there smooching."

Jim stopped and looked around at Solan as they had started walking on toward their destinations. He shook his head and went on noticing some grins from people he passed by who had heard that. However, they straightened up when he came by. He would have to remind Solan of protocol when he was speaking to the captain.

Jim walked on down to Carol's quarters and rang the door chime. "Come in!" she called from within and the door opened.

Jim went in and could not help but notice the soft piano music that was playing. There was a table with a white table cloth which had candles and everything else, but he did not see Carol. "I'm here!" he called.

"I know, my darling."

Jim was a little surprised at that. He could not remember her ever calling him that. He stood there a moment. "Carol, where are you?"

"I'll be out in a minute. Just have a seat."

Jim thought he would rather stand. He was starting to feel a little nervous. He hoped his captain's uniform was good enough for a formal dinner…or at least, he was beginning to think that was what this was going to be.

Carol soon came from the other room and she was dressed in a "little black dress". Jim just stood there a moment not knowing what to say. "You like it?" she asked as she turned.

"Uh, yes," Jim said. "You look beautiful…as usual."

Carol smiled. "You're quite a charmer."

"I didn't know we were having a formal dinner."

"It's not formal. Besides, your captain's uniform is quite good enough. Shall we sit?"

"Of course." Jim pulled the chair out for Carol and then sat down himself. "The table looks great too."

"Watch this." Carol pressed a button, and they waited.

"What are we waiting for?" Jim asked.

"You'll see. So what kind of maintenance is Scotty doing?"

"The usual stuff. He doesn't want us to be stranded out there in unknown space, although I don't see how that's different than being stranded anywhere else, unless we were on a planet."

"Jim…I love you."

"I love you too. It gets easier to say that all the time."

"I had a strange dream this morning."

"Uh oh. Was it about me?"

"You were definitely in it."

"What? Did I fall out of my chair?"

"No. I dreamed we were getting married…and I said on a planet or in space for one of my lines in my vows."

Jim just stared at her a moment. "I knew there was a purpose for all this. Why did you dream that? Are you still worried about that?"

"I wouldn't say I'm worried…and what do you mean you knew there was a purpose for this?"

"Uh, I mean…well…" Jim knew he had said the wrong thing now. "Well, it's unusual for us to have lunch like this…" He felt like he was in one of his negotiations which never turned out quite right.

"Jim, just stop. I wanted to talk, and yes, I still think of it sometimes. You said you would stay on a planet so that I would be happy. But what about your happiness? Are you going to truly be happy not being in space?"

"Carol, I don't want to go into this again."

Carol leaned on the table. "I've changed my mind," she said.

The surprise on Jim's face was painfully clear, and she knew what he thought. "No, let me explain," she said.

"You don't mean that you have changed your mind about getting married, do you?" Jim asked. "I don't want you to change your mind…"

"Wait. That is not what I meant. I meant that it is quite selfish of me to expect you to give up space travel for good."

"What are you saying?"

"That if you take a mission in space, I'll simply have to go with you."

Jim was dumbfounded for a moment as he could see that she meant what she was saying. "I think that I might become quite bored myself if we never traveled anymore," she said. "But I do want us to have a permanent home that we call home, and that we go back to once we are done with our mission."

"Oh. Yeah…but you do realize that if I become an admiral, I won't have a ship anymore."

Carol smiled. "Jim, if there's one thing that you do, it's change things from the normal."

"Well, I'm not sure they're going to change that rule for me."

"You'll find a way. Besides, you don't have to be on an Enterprise to do anything."

Just then, the door chime rang. Carol smiled. "Come in," she said and the door opened.

Derenda came in with a table which had several covered dishes on it. Jim could definitely smell the food already, and it did not smell like anything replicated. Derenda was the on-ship chef and she did not replicate everything. She cooked since they were in space all the time. They loaded up on stores when they had to and she had kept everything going well.

"Lunch is served," she said and uncovered the food. She fixed a plate for each of them and then left the room. "If you need anything else, just ask."

"I take it this is not replicated," Jim said.

"No, it's not," Carol replied. "After lunch, I want us to go to the holodeck. I have something special planned."

"Oh, so we're going to play in there too, huh?"

"Yes. I want to show you my novel, and you can be part of it."

"Me?"

"Wouldn't you like to help me write it?"

"I don't think I consider myself much of a writer. You should hear my captain's log."

"You don't have to be a writer. You can just make suggestions and if I like it, we'll go with it."

"So you're writing a holo-novel. Isn't that kinda weird?"

"It takes some getting used to but Beverly over in engineering said that it's quite fun once you get the hang of it."

"Oh. Okay. Well, I'm willing to try anything."

"Jim…" Carol was not sure what she wanted to say next. "I think we're going to be very happy together."

"I agree," Jim said. "Is there a such thing as too happy?"

"I don't think so."

When they were done eating, Carol changed into jeans and a t-shirt. "This is going to be a very informal novel," she said.

"So, I should change too?" Jim asked.

"I'll meet you there."

"Right."

Jim went to his quarters and changed, and when he walked out, Bones was about to ring the door chime. "Bones, do you always have to startle me like that?" Jim asked.

"Well, I guess so," Bones replied. He looked at how Jim was dressed. "You going casual today?"

"I'm on my way to the holodeck to meet Carol."

"Oh. What is Scotty doing to the ship?"

"He's doing maintenance," Jim said as they began walking.

"Is that all? There's not something you're keeping from the rest of us, is there?"

Jim stopped and looked at Bones. "You know if there was something wrong you would be one of the first to know."

"Right. I just wanta make sure we're not experiencing some cataclysmic warp melt down that's going to kill us all before we know what's happening."

Jim shook his head. He thought he should have known that was coming. "Bones, as far as I know, we're not going to die from what he doing," he said.

"So, is this a private holodeck thing, or can I join you guys?"

"You'll have to ask Carol that, but I think we were kinda wanting to be alone. Why?"

"I'm bored out of my gourd. I think I'm getting too used to these dangerous missions we go on."

"You're just an adventurous soul."

"I must be crazy. I've been around you too long. Even Spock is suffering from this syndrome."

"Spock? He doesn't get bored."

"He likes jumping into the middle of a situation."

"That's the only way to solve a problem…from the middle. You just work your way out."

They arrived at the holodeck, and Jim looked at Bones who was waiting for him to open the door. Jim just rolled his eyes and opened the door. They were looking into what looked like a countryside. "Good grief," Bones said. "If I didn't know better, I would think I was in Kentucky."

"Or Iowa," Jim said. "Hey, Carol!"

"I'm over here, Jim!" Carol called sounding rather far away.

Jim and Bones were on what looked like a dirt road in the middle of fields of corn. "Carol, I don't think I like this story already!" Jim said. "I saw all the corn fields I wanted to see while I was growing up!"

"That goes for both of us!" Bones added.

"Shut up. You're not supposed to be here yet."

"Excuse me."

They walked on down the dirt road. Jim looked around them and was amazed at how it actually looked real. He had not gotten used to holodecks yet. "Can we actually touch the corn?" he asked.

Bones moved over to the side and touched the stalk of corn. "Yeah, we can touch it," he said. He rubbed the corn leaf between his fingers. "Feels real too."

Jim went over and touched the corn himself. "This is just kinda eerie."

"I don't know if I'll ever get used to this technology. I mean, how does it…how do you feel something like that?"

"Don't ask me. Why would she want a story in a corn field?"

"Hey, a lot of interesting stuff can happen in a corn field," Bones said.

Jim looked at him. "You would know that, wouldn't you?"

"Of course."

"Carol!" Jim called again.

"Over here, Jim!" Carol replied. "I'm at the big, white house."

"What…" Jim looked at Bones. "I guess we just keep walking till we can spot it over this corn."

"Definitely like the real thing," Bones declared.

They walked down the dirt road until they finally saw a mailbox and could see the top of a house. "I think we've had our walking today," Bones said.

"On a dirt road," Jim replied.

They turned onto the small driveway where there was definitely a big white house sitting that looked like something from the 1800's. They stood and looked at it a moment. "I sure never lived in anything like that in Iowa," Jim said.

"There were a lot of those houses in Kentucky," Bones replied. "Ranches with horses…even when I was growing up."

"We just lived on a…"

Just then, Carol came from the house. "What do you think?" she asked.

"About what?" Jim asked.

"The house."

"Nice. What's this story about? A cornfield?"

"Jim, don't be so sarcastic."

"I'm not being sarcastic. This looks like Iowa."

"It is Iowa."

"Why are we in Iowa?"

"It's a love story, Jim."

"In Iowa."

"Yes. I always wondered what it would have been like to meet you when you were in Iowa."

Bones snickered at that. Jim narrowed his eyes at him. "It's just funny," Bones said. "You haven't told her how you were then?"

"Maybe his life would have been different if I had been around," Carol said.

"Well, you could be right."

"Bones came along to be a nuisance," Jim said.

Carol smiled at the reaction Bones had to that. "You two are hilarious," she said. "I've done quite a bit of work on this novel so far. We can either play the main characters and see where it goes, or we can just be extra ones."

"So you're creating this as we go?"

"That's how it works, Jim."

"This ought to be fun," Bones said.

Jim pointed to Bones. "I hope you don't mind that he tagged along."

"No, that's fine," Carol said. "He can be an extra character. The antagonist."

"Antagonist?" Bones asked. "Do I get to aggravate him?"

"Of course."

"Then I'm in."

Jim thought he should have expected that. "You would be."

"What do we do first?" Bones asked.

"You can…"

Just then, everything went dark and then came back on…but they were not in the Iowa cornfield anymore. "What just happened?" Jim asked. "Is that supposed to happen?"

"No," Carol said as she was pressing buttons on her controller. "We're not even in my holo-novel anymore."

They were in what looked like a cave, and it was lit with red lighting. "So just change it back," Bones said.

"I'm trying to, but it's not responding."

"What do you mean, it's not responding?" Jim asked. "You mean this thing is out of control?"

"I wouldn't say that. It just switched to another program."

"Like what?"

"Maybe one of the original programs…I suppose it was to just get us started."

"This is some start," Bones declared. "A dark cave."

"It's only one of them."

"Where is this supposed to be?" Jim asked.

Carol looked at him. "It's some sort of training program for combat with Klingons," she said.

Jim and Bones were both visibly disturbed by that fact. "Change it back," they both said at the same time. They thought the corn field was starting to look better all the time.

"I can't…and there's a warning too that the safety protocols are off."

"Jim, when I get out of here, remind me how dangerous holodecks are the next time I think of going into one," Bones said.

"Look, let's just not panic," Jim said. "Let's just get out of the holodeck. There's supposed to be a way out." He looked up. "Computer, end this program."

"Unable to comply."

"What? Why?"

"Program parameters are not clear."

They noticed there was a slight glitch in the computer's voice that time. "Jim, I think we're in trouble," Bones said.

Jim grabbed his communicator. "Spock…"