A/N: Thank you, everyone, for those awesome reviews! I would say I regret leaving y'all in such dire straits, but quite frankly the rest of this is going to keep doing that. Fair warning!
To clear a couple things up: this takes place in the 4th year of the Enterprise's mission, basically after all the episodes in the original show. The 'cold start' engine doo-dads reference the events in "The Naked Time". Other episode references are buried in this- try to spot them all! ;)
Any Vulcan information I learned from the Memory Alpha Wiki and the online Vulcan-English dictionary. Places are from a map of Vulcan I found on the internet. I, obviously, do not own Star Trek.
There is a quote from Robert Oppenheimer in this chapter.
Thank you, and reviews are appreciated!
T'naehm- war (Old Vulcan)
They stumbled onward. The rubble was left behind but the rocks were just as difficult. The evening had deepened into night. Part of Spock's mind rang that that fact was greatly notable, yet exhaustion and weariness drowned it out.
Up ahead, McCoy tripped and cursed half-heartedly. They had both fallen into a morose silence, spurned on only by the threat of sickness befalling them despite the emptiness inside. The doctor was breathing hard in the thinner air, but stubbornly refused to use one of the tri-ox compounds in his medkit. Spock couldn't fathom what he was saving them for, but couldn't find it within him to care much beyond that. He shambled after McCoy in a daze.
The last rays of Vulcan's sun disappeared and only a red glow from the embers of Da'Kum'Ulcha guided them. Spock tried not to look back at it. How could this have happened? Who did it? Was it really their fault? Did he make a mistake somewhere in the calculations? Could cold-starting the test reactor really have caused this?
He nearly bumped into McCoy who had paused and looked up towards the stars. Spock examined him, hoping he wasn't falling ill. "What is it, Doctor?"
McCoy's face was in shadow but he looked worried, brow creasing. "Somebody should have come by now."
It took Spock a moment longer than he would have liked to catch what the doctor was referring to. "You speak of the rescue crews."
"Yeah." McCoy rubbed the back of his neck. "We should have seen shuttles, or transports, or something flying overhead to investigate. But there's been nothing."
Once again, it unnerved Spock how he had not reached these same conclusions. Something must truly be wrong with his mental functions. He feared radiation sickness was setting in. Pushing it aside, he strove for a logical explanation. "Perhaps the radiation is affecting their sensors. They may not be able to come this close."
"Perhaps…" McCoy trailed. His eyes flicked back to the glowing slag. "I have become the destroyer of worlds," he mumbled.
Spock did not comment.
They resumed walking through the desert, coughing or stumbling occasionally. Spock lapsed back into his stupor. The rescue crews would come. All they had to do was get out of range from the fallout. They could do it on foot. Certainly. Absolutely. They had to. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Sarcasm was not like him. Why-
"Well, about time!" McCoy declared.
Spock looked up to see a few lights coming towards them. Ah, yes. It had to be rescuers from Shi'Kahr. McCoy, revitalized by the hope, started jumping up and down and waving his arms.
"Here!" he shouted across the desert. "We're over here! And we're ALIVE!"
The lights veered towards them, and the surge of hope and relief Spock felt overruled his quip about McCoy's illogical "we're alive" statement.
The doctor stopped jumping but continued to wave his arms. Spock walked up alongside him as the first of the vehicles- with wheels, oddly- came to a halt.
The door to the first car opened and a Vulcan stepped out with heavy boots onto the rocky terrain.
And leveled a gun at them.
McCoy froze, his arms still up in what was now a gesture of surrender. Spock stiffened as other Vulcans hopped out and pointed various firearms in their direction. For several heartbeats nobody moved.
Then the first Vulcan did something unnatural. He smiled. That sent more chills down their spines than long-muzzled gun.
"Ra ki'etwel la?" he said languidly. What have we here?
Spock's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. This was very, very wrong. The dialect was different. The dress, the vehicles, and the guns were like nothing out of Shi'Kahr. Or at least, the Shi'Kahr they knew.
"Survivors!" McCoy answered, if warily. Spock gave the doctor's collar a once-over and assumed that he was still wearing his universal translator from shore leave. At least that was one less problem they would have to worry about.
"I know that," the Vulcan answered, still in that old dialect. Spock struggled to place it. The group chuckled. "I'll admit, I'm surprised anyone walked out of Shi'al."
Suddenly it all fell into place.
"We are the only survivors," Spock answered shortly. "It would please your superiors to retain us as legal collateral."
"Spock…" Spock ignored McCoy's shocked look. "We are all that's left."
The Vulcan before them mulled it over, before finally shrugging. "Alright." Grumbles erupted from the other Vulcans which he silenced with a snarl. Glaring at the two of them, he barked out "Names!"
"I am Spock, son of Sarek, and this is… McCoy, son of… David."
"Then let it be known that Varteth, son of Khol-" Spock closed his eyes. "Has taken Spock and MkKoi of Shi'al prisoner-" "What!?" McCoy exclaimed. "-for the glory of Shi'Kahr! Zhit-bal!"
The Vulcans promptly surrounded them and forced them into the back of one of the cars. The raucous chatter, shoving, and even discontent rolled almost physically over everyone present as the convoy moved out. Spock kept McCoy quiet until the door closed, leaving them trapped inside. The engine started up and they roared away, bouncing wildly over the rough rocks.
"Spock! There had better be a damn good reason for all of this," McCoy hissed to him.
"Doctor, let me be clear: my actions were extremely necessary to ensure our survival."
"Sure they were!" McCoy butted in. "Getting us taken prisoner is a fine way to stay alive! What if they're the ones who bombed Da'Kum'Ulcha?"
"They most certainly are," Spock replied gravely. "Our situation is far more dire than we previously thought. Doctor, is your translator undamaged?"
Confused, McCoy felt along the thin collar under his shirt for the pendant the translator rested in. "I think so," he answered. "It seemed to be working fine when they were talking. Couldn't understand the last couple words, though."
Spock nodded. "There will likely be moments like that to come. They are speaking an older dialect of Vulcan." Spock took a deep breath as he tried to ground his thoughts. They were being annoyingly flighty. "Doctor, I believe we have been transported into Vulcan's past."
McCoy stared at Spock for a long time, only being jostled by the ride. "Okay, Spock. Pull the other one."
"I am serious, Doctor." Spock finally pulled together his observations. He must be more tired than he realized. "In the time period Surak rose up in, Vulcan was at war. Violence and emotions were tearing us apart. Even worse, we had developed technologically. We were rapidly approaching atomic annihilation before Surak intervened." Spock leaned forward, making sure McCoy was still paying close attention. "Da'Kum'Ulcha, formerly known as Shi'al, was wiped out. Shi'Kahr launched a merciless attack against its neighbor and everything in the city was destroyed, as we saw. It remained ruins for millennia. In fact, it was only restored to an operational city in fairly recent Vulcan history. It was renamed Da'Kum'Ulcha specifically from this disaster: the City of Shadows."
McCoy gulped, suddenly remembering how in atomic explosions on Earth people's shadows were seared into buildings even as they themselves were incinerated. The name was haunting. "And you think that's what we just witnessed?" he asked.
Spock nodded. "There can be no other explanation. Vulcan has not had atomic weapons for ages. These Vulcans do not behave in accordance to Surak, in behavior, style, and more. The technology is wrong." His brow furrowed. "Fascinating. The cold start test has sent us back in time yet again. But the difference in distance is remarkable. I suppose somehow the energy from the test bonded with the energy from the destruction of Shi'al, which is the largest explosion Vulcan has experienced to date-"
"Spock," McCoy interrupted. He looked tiredly at him. "When are we?"
"I do not understand."
"How long ago," McCoy spelled it out for him. "Are we now? When did Da'Kum'- um, Shi'al get destroyed?"
"Ah," Spock said. Yet another case of mental inhibitions. It was quite annoying. "We are shortly before the Time of Awakening. In Earth terms, I believe that places us around your 4th century."
"4th century?" McCoy repeated dully.
"Indeed."
McCoy leaned back against the truck, resting his head despite the bumpy ride. His eyes fixed unfocused on a spot towards Spock's right. "That's… fall of Rome. Advent of the Dark Ages. It's…" he shuddered deeply. "We're screwed."
"Not yet, Doctor," Spock said. "We will simply wait and see what opportunities develop." He paused and tilted his head, thinking. "One fortunate outcome of the atomic wars was that Vulcans had the opportunity to develop suitable treatments for radiation sickness. If one was exposed for too long, then nothing could be done, but I believe we will be able to escape the worst effects."
"Thank God," McCoy murmured. "I may have to make some adjustments to those treatments for my physiology-" he broke off as his eyes widened. "Spock, my ears!"
Spock considered the situation. "We could say they are a deformity," he suggested, before dismissing it in his mind. "No- it may incite them to kill you." McCoy made a strangled noise. "We'll say that another Vulcan cut off the tips during tal'oth- a 4 month desert survival ritual where the participants are armed only with a ritual knife."
McCoy shook his head. "You guys are crazy."
"But dangerous."
"Yeah," McCoy glanced towards the cab where their captors drove. "So that covers the ears, I guess. What else? I have red blood."
"That would be harder to explain," Spock conceded. "Try not to bleed."
"Thanks."
"And be sure not to lose the universal translator."
"Any Vulcan you can teach me in case I do?"
They traded important phrases back and forth for a while before finally succumbing to a nervous, exhausted silence. McCoy nodded off in his seat, while Spock took the time to try and meditate on their troubling scenario.
It certainly explained the bomb (which was a great relief, cold as that sounded). The time travel also answered what had puzzled Spock earlier about the setting sun- it was already Vulcan night when he had performed the test. On a darker note, he feared that the time travel was also responsible for his lapses in his usual mental prowess. Granted, when they had traveled backwards in time on Sarpeidon it was to a date 3,000 years earlier than this, but still, it was pre-reformed Vulcan. Pre-awakened Vulcan, actually. It was deeply unsettling.
Well. Emotions are a thing of the mind and the mind can be controlled. Spock would not lose himself this time. He would meditate and follow the course logic would lay.
Spock must have dozed off at one point because he snapped awake to a lurch and a screech. The back doors opened and he and McCoy were hauled out. The night was especially dark as the tall buildings blocked the starlight. No artificial lights were used, and they were quickly ushered into a stone bunker.
They had reached Shi'Kahr.
The bunker appeared to be some kind of jail, and he and McCoy were fortunate to be tossed into the same one. The procedure was quick and the Vulcans swiftly moved on to other tasks. Doubtless the lateness of the hour had something to do with their easy dismissal.
McCoy felt his way along the floor until he reached Spock. "What happens now?" he asked quietly.
"I believe we wait until morning," Spock answered. "We should use this time to rest- undoubtedly tomorrow will bring new developments."
McCoy nodded in the darkness. "And we'll find a way back home?"
Spock didn't look at him. He hoped the doctor could not see that. "We shall determine that once we see what we're dealing with tomorrow."
There was a moment of silence, then McCoy finally replied. "Alright." He shuffled away to a corner of the cell. "Good night, Spock."
"Good night, Doctor."
