"Bridge to Commander Spock, Bridge to Spock, come in please?"
It was Sulu's voice that I heard. I opened my eyes and pressed my comm button. "Spock here."
"The Captain requests that you come up to the bridge, sir."
"Yes, Mr. Sulu. Spock out."
It would be illogical to try to get any more sleep. Four hours after the Alpha shift should be quite sufficient, I reasoned, as I dressed, pulled on my illogical Starfleet boots, and entered the turbolift.
With the swoosh of turbolift doors, I entered the Bridge.
"Mr. Spock." Captain Kirk acknowledged my presence and swiveled around in his chair. "We have received a transmission from the Orions, uh, Planet Orion III."
"Acknowledged." I said, feeling no need to comment further. Surely the captain knew that Uhura would be more competent in translating and assessing what course of action to take.
"It is a distress signal, Mr. Spock." He said, rising from his chair and pacing now. "A space gas has been travelling towards their planet at an alarming rate, and they expect us to find a solution!"
"Are the properties of this gaseous substance known, Captain?" I asked. He could not expect me to find a solution without any facts. Therefore, I must obtain them.
"No…" he said slowly. "I believe that there is only one course of action. We must warp over and investigate."
"I suggest that we raise our shields, Captain." I stated. To enter an unknown substance would be an unnecessary risk.
"Yeah," he said, swiveling around again and taking a bite out of his apple. "Helm, plot a course to Orion three, warp two."
I walked over to my science station and began to bring up gases on the computer banks. I put my forehead against the familiar binoculars and entered the keyword "accelerating space gases". Having no further information, I stood at attention. Irritation is a human emotion, however, it was inconvenient to be called to research a subject and not have sufficient data. Especially when it is one's designated rest period. I raised an eyebrow a fraction of a millimeter, and lowered it. The captain caught on to my expression and beckoned me over. "It is your time to hit the hay, Spock," he said, "You can crash until 0700 which is when we should be at Orion III."
"Captain, I see no logical reason to collide with anything nor to beat upon a form of Terran grass?" I queried, although I knew that these were Terran colloquialisms. The crew thought it was… amusing, and I saw no harm in correcting his illogic.
"Come on, Spock," he said, "just… go back to sleep."
"Affirmative," I said, and entered the turbolift. When I returned to my quarters, I climbed back into my bed and thought about space gases for several minutes. When I came to the belated conclusion that speculation would not aid me to gain rest, I discontinued all of my trains of thought and fell into a deep sleep.
Rising at 0600, I meditated, precisely performed my daily ablutions, and reentered the bridge. We were in viewscreen sight of Orion III, I noted to myself. "Captain," I said, announcing my presence on the bridge and using the word to serve to ask my next question, "Are there specimens of this gaseous substance already collected?"
"Yeah, yeah, the gas," he said, "It's already taken care of. Science Lab III should contain the data."
Internally noting his illogical use of words, I departed for the science lab. Samples of the gas were in the vacuum sealed containers designed for potentially hazardous materials. Using a tricorder, I began to scan the jar. An unanticipated shock wave rocked the ship, presumably as the gas collided with the deflector shields.