Prologue

"Dorian, are you sure about this?"

He nodded. He couldn't say anything, the sadness he felt preventing him from speaking. He felt -although he knew it wasn't technically possible- tired. Weary. Heartbroken. His mechanical brain kept supplying him with synonyms. Right now though, he didn't feel like a machine whose feelings were a product of manufactured parts. This felt entirely too painful to be anything but real.

Rudy let out a sigh and threaded his fingers through his messy brown hair. "Loss makes you do all sort of stupid things, so I have to be 100 % sure that you want this."

This time Dorian answered. "I'm sure."

He lay down to the work bench. Rudy sighed again, but seemed to realize that nothing could make the android change his mind. He picked up the necessary instrument and looked at Dorian straight in the eyes. "It wasn't your fault, Dorian. It really wasn't."

Immediately horrible pictures flashed to the front of his memory banks. He tucked them quickly away and avoided Rudy's knowing gaze. When the mechanic didn't make a move to proceed, Dorian sighed and started tapping his fingers against the work bench. "Just get on with it."

Rudy moved slowly next to where his head rested. He hesitated before saying, "This is probably a goodbye then."

The android sifted his gaze back towards him and smiled slightly. "Yes. Thank you." -for everything. The mechanic smiled faintly back at him before moving his hand towards his head to turn him off.

And then Dorian knew no more.

~o~

202 years later

Dorian blinked, his newly awoken sensors adjusting to the brightness of his surroundings.

"Tis in a working order now, Captain."

Dorian blinked again, adjusting his sensors and scanning the room he was in. It was a large room, with numerous beds in it, and equipment that made him assume that he was in a some kind of hospital room. He detected four human life-forms, although one of them was somewhat different than others.

Next, he focused his gaze to the man in a red shirt, standing next to the bed he was laying upon. The man was maybe on his forties and of a Scottish descent, if the accent was anything to go by. He also seemed to be a some kind of a mechanic, although he couldn't recognise the tools he was holding. The most curious thing about him was the fact that he couldn't find anything about him on his files. He sifted his gaze when one of the life-forms he had detected while scanning the room moved to his line of sight. This man was handsome, younger than the man who had awoken him, maybe around thirty years old, and he had a brilliantly golden hair and bluest eyes Dorian had ever seen - including his own electrically blue eyes. He was wearing a golden shirt and had a demeanour about him which led Dorian to believe that this was the 'Captain' the Scott had addressed earlier. He scanned his face quickly. No, not a mention of him either. Most curious.

"Good job, Scotty. You've earned your pay of the week," the younger man said with a teasing glint on his eyes. The older man, Scotty, smiled at him and stepped aside when the Captain advanced the side of his bed. Soon Dorian found himself to be the focus of his intense scrutiny. It was quite unsettling. He had, despite his young age, a very strong presence about him. Dorian felt a most odd desire to sit up straight and be at attention. The feeling didn't disappear even when he gave him a brilliant, reassuring smile.

"Hello there. Can you understand me?" Dorian nodded, not trusting his vocal cords just yet. It seemed that he had been out of service for quite a while. The man flashed another brilliant smile.

"That's good. We almost thought that you were a goner," at this point his smile turned teasing, "Do you have a name?"

Now assured that his vocal cords were in a working order Dorian replied, "Dorian."

The man looked at him for a while.

"Just Dorian?" He nodded again.

"I believe that usually at this point you'll tell me your name." The man let out a surprised laugh at that.

"Yes, I believe that you're right." He extended his hand for Dorian to shake. "Captain James T. Kirk."

Dorian looked at the offered limp for a second before taking it and shaking it firmly. Captain Kirk matched the handshake accordingly.

"You can call me Jim or Kirk, whichever you prefer."

"Thank you, Jim." He flashed him yet another smile and motioned someone behind him to step forward.

Dorian felt a flash of surprise. This was definitely not a human. He had strong, upturned eyebrows, pointed ears and a slightly green-tinted skin. He also had other physiological differences that weren't outwardly noticeable. For example his heart seemed to be located where his other kidney was supposed to be, if Dorian's sensors hadn't went totally out of control. If he had been human, Dorian would've been inclined to think that he was dreaming.

Captain Kirk was looking at the being - humanoid? -softly, with a hint of teasing smile on his lips. He looked back at Dorian's dumbstruck expression, suppressed a chuckle and introduced the newcomer to him.

"This is my first officer, Mister Spock." he said, smiling proudly. Then he added, like it would explain everything, "He's a Vulcan."

Dorian blinked.

"I do not mean to sound rude, but- you're an alien?" Someone on the corner of the room snickered. And this time the captain really did chuckle when mister Spock raised one of his eyebrows and answered, "From an Earth perspective, essentially yes."

Dorian shifted his gaze between the young captain and the alien, a perplexed look on his face. "And this is totally normal for you, I suppose?"

The captain smiled, though this time it had a sad tinge to it. "You have been out for a long time, Dorian."

The same person who had snickered earlier cleared his throat suddenly. Jim shifted his gaze to the direction of the voice and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Bones, we'll be out of your hair soon. I just need to ask couple of questions," he made a motion beckoning 'Bones' to step forward, "Come here so I can introduce you."

The last person in the room Dorian hadn't yet seen muttered something intangible but he could heard soft footsteps hesitantly approaching. Dorian turned his head to see him and let out a small gasp.

No, it couldn't be. But there right in front of his eyes was...

John