Chapter 1

Strange. Beyond strange, in fact, heading into abnormal. I was lying on my back staring up at this lid. I don't remember this happening. It must have happened after I fell asleep. That was at the hospital, after I was told that I was dying of blood poisoning, and gangrene. The doctor said that it was down to the cloth that they used to stop the bleeding after I broke my leg. They said that it had been a very complicated break, because the bones were poking out and the head mechanic had used the first cloth to hand. Unfortunately for me, that was a dirty rag.

I heard things now. A mixture of different voices, and mechanical bleeping. A very loud hiss made me jump, but I realised that the noise was only someone letting me out. As I looked around, a man in a blue t-shirt, hunkered next to me, said "Take it easy, kid. You've been asleep for over two hundred and fifty years."

"Well done, Bones. Tell her that she's been asleep for a quarter of a millennia, before we even know when she's from," a younger man, in yellow, scolded. "What's your name, pet? What was the last date you can remember?"

"Isabella Evans and July thirtieth twenty-nineteen. Where am I?" I replied.

"This is the Starship Enterprise. The year is twenty-two sixty-nine. And from the date given, you have been asleep for precisely two hundred and fifty years." A man with weird eyebrows and pointy ears told me.

"Eeeek," was the only intelligent thing that I could think of to say.

The man in yellow said, "Nice one, Spock. You've just given her brain freeze even before Bones has made her better. 'Sides, Bones, what's wrong with her?"

'Bones' had been scanning me with a strange contraption said, "Ummm, weird combination of blood poisoning and gangrene. She's gonna have to spend some time in Sickbay, just until I'm sure that it's been treated."

"Why does he call you 'Bones'?" I asked, curious.

"'Cause all I've got left is me bones. I'm really Leonard McCoy. CMO of this blasted bucket of bolts."

"Nice to meet you," I addressed the man in yellow. "Who are you?"

"Jim Kirk, I'm the captain of this here tub. That's Spock, and Sulu's over there." He said, jerking his thumb at the pointy-ear guy and pointing to another man in yellow

"Fair enough. Can you treat whatever's wrong with me?" I asked McCoy.

"Yes, easily. Now, speaking of treating you, young lady, we need to get you to Sickbay. Can you walk?"

"No, I lost most of my right leg to the gangrene. I don't suppose that you've brought any crutches?"

"'Fraid not. You can hop, or get carried. Mind you Sickbay's a long way to hop."

"I'll get carried then. Who's going to be doing the carrying?"

As he thought about the answer, Spock said, "I will carry Miss Evans, Doctor. I am the strongest here."

"Alright, don't drop her, mind."

I lifted my arms, only for him to pull me into a reverse fireman's carry. As he straightened up, all the blood rushed to my head, and I addressed his knees, "Alright, then. I hadn't seen that one coming." I could hear laughter, which evidently meant that they thought I was being funny, even though I hadn't intended to be.

A while later, we swished through anther set of doors; there was a lot more people here, mostly wearing blue. After depositing me on a bed, Spock told McCoy, "I must leave now, Doctor. My duties are on the bridge."

McCoy scowled, and muttered, "Pointy-eared hobgoblin," at Spock's back, as he left.

Eventually he realised that I needed treating as he started rushing around Sickbay, to find the things that he needed. The next week or so passed in a blur of people and a variety of 'hyposprays', but when two men came in, carrying an unconscious girl between them, things started to perk up. One was wearing red, and the other was in the smoking remains of a yellow shirt.

"What have you done?!" McCoy bellowed, rushing over to the trio.

"Vell, zhe panel vas on fire. Vhen it started to spit fire at us, I pushed her avay and she fell and hit her head. It vas an honest mistake!" The one in yellow exclaimed.

"Aye, doc, it was a simple mistake. He was trying to protect the lass; she just got hurt in the process."

I recognise his accent immediately. "'Scuse me, mister. Are you from Edinburgh?"

The man in red looked at me, "Aye, lass, I am. How can ye tell?"

"Accent. I spent four years at the university there."

He helped lift the girl onto the bed and came over, "What did ye do there, then, lass?"

"Mechanical engineering. Almost graduated, too. Died two sodding days before the graduation." I then realised that I was so far away from home, I almost broke down.

"Do nae cry, lass. The University's still there. They'll prolly let ye graduate easy. Although, we're three years away from home." He thought, "Wait a dang minute, lass. What century ye from?"

"Twenty-first, why?"

"Know a fair bit of that century engineering. Gonna be able to teach ye on the way back. Chekov knows a fair bit too, don't ye lad?" He said, raising his voice so that the curly-haired man heard

'Chekov' hopped off the bed that he had been pushed onto by the doctor and made his way over. "Da. Meester Scott, vhy hawen't you had your head seen to?"

"Good point, lad. I'll catch Christine on me way out. Anyways, get to know the lass, will ye, Chekov? Speaking of you, lass, what's ye name?"

"Isabella Evans."

"Nice to meet ye, Missy. Montgomery Scott. Scotty to most. Is Bella okay with ye, lass?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

As Scotty left, I turned my attention to the guy standing next to me. He was kinda cute, with gently defined muscles under the palest skin I'd seen on someone with brown hair. I looked up into his face and realised that his eyes were the same colour as the eyes of my first boyfriend, Liam. I noticed that his ears had gone pink and he wouldn't meet my eyes.

"So, you're Russian then?" I asked. because it was getting kinda awkward.

"Da. My name is Pavel Andreievich Chekov. It is wery nice to meet you, Miss Ewans." His eyes flickered to my face as he said this. She is very pretty, his face seemed to say, but such a shame about what happened.

"Bella, please," I said, with a glare that would've killed a weaker man. "When do you think that McCoy will let me out?"

"It depends. Your... conditions vere wery sewere. Doctor McCoy vill probably let you out in a few days."

"Fair enough. What's up with you then? It looked like second-degree burns."

"Da, it vas. One of zhe engineering panels vas on fire and I got in zhe vay, vhen it started spitting."

"Ouch! That must have hurt. Who's that girl you carried in? Is she a friend of yours?"

"Oh, her? She is Joanna McCoy, and ve are friends, yes."

"That's nice. She really looks like him, doesn't she?"

"Hmm, da," he seemed distracted.

McCoy walked over to us and said, "I told you to sit down twice already."

"Извините!" Chekov climbed back onto the bed, looking sheepish.

McCoy looked vacant, "Come again?"

"Sorry! Sorry!" He replied, with a shy grin.

McCoy turned to me, "You should be able to leave tomorrow, but for now I'm going to put you over there. Just so you won't get in the way." In the bed next to Joanna. He managed to pick me up and carried me to the bed next to her. He then left to carry on his work.

When she came around she said, "Hi! I'm Jo McCoy. Who are you?" She looked at where Chekov was sitting and gawped.

"Bella Evans. Why are you staring him?"

"'Cause he's cute and I've never seen him with his shirt off."

I laughed, "He is quite fit, so fair enough. You're American, right?"

"Yeah. South Georgia. You sound like Scotty. Are you Scottish?"

"Nah, I went to Uni there. Grew up not far from London. Last time I saw home was nearly two hundred and fifty-five years ago."

"Last time I was at home was almost two years ago. You're looking good on two hundred plonk."

"Two hundred and seventy-two last birthday."

"Really?"

"No, I was twenty-two. Got put in cryonics."

"Dad says there are two types. What type were you?"

"Dead type. Gangrene and blood poisoning. Extreme cases of both. Died within the week."

Her eyes went wide, "What happened?"

"Badly broke my leg. Badly as in bones poking out. Dirty cloth to try to prevent severe blood loss. Gave me blood poisoning instead."

"Nasty! Makes being knocked out seem pretty mild."

I noticed that Jim Kirk had entered and was coming over.

"Hello ladies."

"Hiya, Jim."

"Why you here then?"

"Knocked out."

He looked at me "Know why you're here. Why's there a half-naked Chekov over there?"

"Second-degree burns." I replied.

"How do you know?" He asked, puzzled.

"Had a fair few myself. 'Sides second-degree burns blister."

"Ah. When you get released, I'll get Uhura to find you a room. And some clothes."

I frowned and looked down at myself. I found that I was only wearing my nightie and my slipper. I didn't have much use for the other one as I didn't have a right foot to put it on, but it was wedged on my stump anyhow. I also realised that I had been clutching my old teddy-bear, a comforting reminder of my past.

Kirk looked at my bear, "What on earth is that scruffy thing?"

"That 'scruffy thing' is a teddy-bear, you moron." Bones said coming over. "Don't you remember that tatty old giraffe that Jo had when she was smaller?"

"Oh yeah! That bear is in a better state than your giraffe, Jojo, and it's way older than yours."

"Yeah, but as I remember you pulled his head off! I cried for a week until Daddy mended him." Jo said, scowling at the captain.

"My Uncle kept stealing mine whenever we met. I always cried until he gave him back. Luckily for me, my sister was his next victim." Everyone laughed.