"They can't have just disappeared," Uhura declared.

"They did," Sulu replied. "They disappeared from the Bridge."

"Why them?"

"How should I know? I don't even know what happened. We weren't passing through any unusual space phenomena."

"And they just vanished from the Bridge."

As Sulu nodded, Scotty walked onto the Bridge. "What happened?" he asked.

"The captain, Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Doctor Marcus disappeared from the Bridge," Uhura explained.

They were all dumbfounded, not knowing what to say. "You mean they just vanished?" Scotty asked.

"Yes," Sulu answered. "They just vanished."

"I saw it too," Ensign McCoy said. "Where could they be?"

"Nothing unusual happened?" Scotty asked. "No flashes of light or anything like that?"

"Nothing," Sulu said.

Just then, a being appeared in the captain's chair, but it was definitely not Captain Kirk. This being had a very haughty look on his face, although he did not look particularly menacing. He had curly brown hair and green eyes, a long face that looked very confident.

"Security!" Scotty said.

The man sitting in the chair rolled his eyes and waved his hand, and the weapons disappeared from the security officers' hands. "Must you always resort to violence?" the man asked with an English accent.

"Who are you?" Scotty demanded.

"Ah, the Scotsman. Always straightforward. Well, I am Q."

"Q? What's that?"

"Oh, these unlearned humans. That's who I am…Q."

"Okay then, Q, did you have anything to do with the disappearance of our captain?"

"They haven't exactly disappeared. They're simply…somewhere else…or maybe I should say 'some time else'."

Scotty thought this being was a lot like Spock, only much more annoying. "You better get our captain back here!"

"Or what? You're not in charge here. I'm simply doing an experiment. I get awfully bored in the continuum, and I decided to play a little."

"Where is our captain?"

"Such loyalty you have to a man who's so much younger than you."

"He has earned it, Pal."

"Yes, well, I'm afraid he is otherwise occupied trying to figure out where he is and how he got there. You needn't worry. I'll keep a close eye on him."

"Where is he?"

Q leaned forward and looked at Scotty. "He's in a place where you don't exist," he said. "He doesn't have all this technology to help him. I'm simply testing him to see if he is so efficient without it."

"What gives you the right?" Uhura asked.

Q stood up and looked at Uhura. "Feisty," he said. "I have the right simply because I am Q."

"Bring them back!"

"Not yet. Oh, the trouble I've brewed for them. Tata, for now."

Q suddenly vanished. Uhura looked at Scotty. "Who is this?" she asked.

"I don't know," Scotty replied. "But we should get in touch with Starfleet and find out if they know."

"I'll get on that right now."

Scotty turned to Sulu. "Mister Sulu, get us to the nearest Federation planet," he said.

"Yes sir," Sulu replied.

"It looks like the captain and the others are on their own."

Jim West and the others walked into the hotel there in Carson City. They could hear a piano playing somewhere down the street until they closed the door. Jim Kirk gave all the appearance of being a gun slinger, and the hotel clerk looked a little nervous.

"We need five rooms," West said. "You got that many available?"

"Yes," the clerk replied.

"Good. You got any hot food?"

"Yes sir. The dining room is still open, but Martha won't stay late, so you best hurry."

"That's fine. Can we get our rooms, please?"

"If you'll all just sign the register."

West and Gordon signed the register, and then Jim took the pen. He wondered how long it had been since he actually wrote his name. He had learned to write the same time he learned to read, but after that it was mostly technology. And this pen was even a dip pen. He dipped it in the ink and then blew out a breath before he wrote his name. He thought it looked horrible for a captain.

Bones took the pen next. He was not one that turned away from the simpler things of life so he did not have a problem signing his name. The hotel clerk looked surprised. "McCoy?" he asked.

Bones looked at him. "Yeah, Doctor McCoy. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. You're a doctor?"

"Yes."

Carol was next, and she had not neglected her writing skills either. The desk clerk gave them all a key and they went up the stairs. Jim West noticed that the desk clerk had a particular interest in their names. He wondered what that was all about. He had seen people check into the hotel before, so there had to be something else he was interested in.

Jim walked into his room wondering what they would do next. He tossed his hat on the bed. He hardly ever wore hats…at least, in his other life. Would he ever get back there? He wished he could remember how they got here.

Just then, there was a single knock at the door. Jim went to the door, and Bones was there. "So, how's your room?" Bones asked as he walked in.

"It's a room," Jim replied.

"This is unbelievable." Bones looked at Jim. "If we're gonna be here a long time, I'm gonna have to teach you how to write your name better than that. This is not a technical world we're in now."

"We don't exactly write all the time on the Enterprise or anywhere else, Bones."

"I know that, but we're not there. You just have to start writing and build those muscles again."

"I wonder how long we'll be here, and what do the others think?"

"I don't know, but I guess we just have to make the best of it, right?"

"At least you can still be a doctor. What am I supposed to be?"

"You'll find something, Jim. Hey, maybe you can get yourself a ship. They used ships in this day and time."

"Yeah, but not star ships. I don't know how to be in this world, Bones. I had finally achieved what I wanted…and now I've lost it."

"Jim, you can't talk like that. Remember? We always jump in the middle of situations and work our way out?"

Jim looked at Bones and then nodded. "I know I said that."

"It's no different here." Bones sighed. "I just wish I could go back to the year I met my ex-wife and stop myself from marrying her."

"You might never have joined Starfleet. Just think of all the fun you would have missed?"

"Fun? Oh, yeah, it's been a real picnic. Chasing maniacs who wanted to kill us and take over the universe. I mean, if you could go back to the time when your father was killed, wouldn't you try to save him?"

Jim frowned. He wondered how that would change his life. He might not have gone through all the hard times he did…but then again, he might not be the same determined person either.

"Jim?" Bones said.

"It's hard to say what I would do, Bones. I'm sure I would do everything I could to stop him from getting on that ship. My life would have to be better, right?"

"I'm sure it would. Seems like anyone would be better off with their dad around if he's a good father."

"So many times I wish I knew what that would have been like."

"Well, you would have probably had plenty of arguments when you were a teen, and you probably would have stormed out and slammed doors and stayed out too late…and you wouldn't know how to appreciate all that."

"I guess you're right. I just wonder what he would think of me now."

"I think he would be proud of you, Jim…most of the time."

Jim smiled. "Most of the time, huh?"

"Yeah. He probably wouldn't have been too proud of you when you cheated on that test and got shot down by a Vulcan."

"That test was a cheat. I still don't believe in no-win scenarios. You can always find a way."

"You almost didn't find a way when you crawled into the bowels of the ship."

"But you did."

"Yeah."

There was another knock at the door. Bones opened the door to find West and Gordon there. "We'd like to talk to the captain there," West said.

Jim stood up. "Anything you want to talk to me about, you can say in front of Bones," he said.

West looked at McCoy. "Bones, huh?"

"Yeah. So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Have you remembered anything about how you got here yet?"

"No. Not a thing."

"You ever been to a hypnotist?"

"Uh, no."

"Artie here is kinda…"

"I'm not going to let anyone hypnotize me," Jim said. "I would rather not."

"We're just trying to figure out a way to help you. I guess you're stuck here until you can remember something or until whatever brought you here takes you back."

"It's not too bad. If anyone can figure out what happened, Spock can."

"Spock," Gordon said. "What did he say he is?"

"A Vulcan. He's from a planet called Vulcan which was destroyed by a…"

"What did you say? A planet was destroyed?"

"Yeah. It's kinda complicated."

"I'll bet. How did he survive?"

"He was aboard our ship. We tried to evacuate everyone we could but it happened too fast."

"A whole planet full of people?"

Jim nodded. "It's overwhelming. We barely stopped him from destroying…"

"Jim, could I talk to you a moment?" Bones asked.

"About what?"

"Well, we'll see you fellas down in the dining room," West said. "We best get down there if we want to eat."

"We'll be down soon," Jim said.

Gordon and West left. Bones looked at Jim. "What are you doing?" Bones asked.

"What do you mean?" Jim asked.

"You were about to tell him about someone trying to destroy the earth. What are you thinking?"

"I don't guess that was a good idea."

"I know Spock would have stopped you if he were here."

"I'm sure he would."

"Good. Maybe you won't throw me off the ship for stepping on your toes."

"Let's go eat."

Jim went out into the hallway along with Bones, and Carol met them out there. "I'm starving," she said.

"Well, let's get on down to the diner and get some victuals," Bones said, exaggerating his Southern accent.

Jim just stared at him a moment. "Bones, sometimes I think you need help," he said.

Bones chuckled at that as they headed down to the dining room. "Let's not forget our Vulcan friend," he said.

They sat at a table that Jim West had chosen. Martha soon came and poured coffee for all of them. Kirk looked at Bones. "Real coffee," he said.

"Ought to taste good," Bones replied.

When Martha went back to the kitchen, they all leaned on the table and sipped the coffee. Bones smiled at that taste. "Man, if I have to stay here a long time, I'm going to enjoy the coffee," he said.

"So, what kind of coffee do they have in the twenty-third century?" Gordon asked quietly.

"Replicated," Bones and Jim said at the same time.

Bones scowled at that. "You can see we have to spend a lot of time together," he said. "No wide open spaces and a home of your own."

Jim thought Bones sounded rather wistful in that. Carol smiled. "A home of your own…on a planet," she said.

Jim looked at her. "We're gonna have a home of our own," he said. "On a planet…and it may be on this one."

"We'll just have to make the best of it."

Jim frowned. "I feel bad for Spock though. Uhura's not here. And he's not going to have it easy. That's why we have to figure out how to get back to our own time if we can."

"I wish we could help you," West said. "I do think we can trust you folks though. You can stay with us as long as you need to, but we're on our way to Sacramento to investigate some…scientist who intends to genetically engineer people to be superior beings who don't have the normal limitations of human beings."

Jim was dumbfounded for a moment, and was not sure what to say. "Wait a minute," Bones said. He was not one who could stay silent when he was astounded. "Are you telling me that people are already playing around with genetics?"

"It's a new theory, and the president wants to know what this scientist intends to do. His theories are based on Mendel's principals of genetics, and this scientist believes it can be taken to the next level with humans just as it has been with animals like dogs."

"How far along is he in this discovery?" Jim asked.

"We don't know yet. We're going to find out though, and the government may want to fund his research."

"I don't think that's something you should do…"

"Jim," Bones interrupted.

Jim looked at him. "Do you really think we can obey the prime directive and let them do this when we know what will happen?" Jim whispered.

"You can't alter history like that. You never know what else might happen."

"He's right, Jim," Carol added.

Jim looked at both of them with surprised. "Are you telling me that you don't care about what Khan did in our time?" he asked. "And you don't care that we might be able to stop that from happening?"

"No!" Bones whispered. "That's not what we're saying, and you know it!"

"Then what are you saying?"

"Jim, we're saying that we can't alter history this way," Carol said. "You don't know the consequences."

"We might never be there to see any differences."

They were silent a moment and realized that Gordon and West were just watching and listening to them. "You guys can fill us in any time you want," West said.

"We can't," Jim replied.

"Why not? Is there some catastrophe in the future? Come on, if we can prevent something bad from happening, don't you think we should?"

Jim thought he could not agree more, but he looked at Bones and Carol who were waiting to see what he would say. He thought about Christopher Pike and how he had died, and all the evil that Khan had unleashed on them, all the lives he had taken. Bones could see that Jim was struggling with this.

"We would owe it to our government to inform them of the dangers involved if we have the information to do so," Gordon said.

"How would you explain something like this?" Jim asked.

"Trust me, we've seen a lot stranger stuff than this," West replied. "Strange stuff happens all the time. We've put several mad scientists out of business."

"We should probably have some time to discuss all this."

"After supper. Right now, let's enjoy this meal."

Jim sipped his coffee again. "So, you guys work for the government," he said. "Secret agents? Or with the Secret Service?"

"Both," West replied. "Whatever we need to do."

"How did you find out about this scientist?"

"Informants. There's always someone who wants to talk about something."

"Ah. Yeah, that's right. So you've been spying on him?"

"For a while now. We don't come in until they see something significant that needs to be investigated. That's why we're on our way to Sacramento now. But then, we came across you." West set his cup down and leaned on the table. "I might think that you could be some creation of this mad scientist, but I believe you're telling us the truth."

"Why?" Bones asked.

"Well, your captain there looks us in the eye when he talks to us and you've all cooperated. Trust me, we've seen enough people with something to hide or something to lose to know when someone is being honest."

Bones thought that was a nice compliment, but he supposed Jim was honest most of the time now. He knew he would lie to save his crew.

"Since you believe us," Jim said. "You must know that we can't reveal too much to you. We don't have any idea how it could affect the future."

"If you stop some horrible incident from happening, how could that be a bad thing?"

"I don't know."

"We have rules that govern our actions no matter what situation we're in," Bones said.

"Bones, you have to know that being brought back in time like this has already changed something," Jim said.

"We don't even know how we got here. I don't get why we can't remember."

"Maybe just the time travel itself," West said. "You were unconscious when we found you."

"You think it can have an effect like that?"

"We haven't had that much experience with it but I can see how that could be possible. After all, you're going through some time warp…or something."

Martha came back with their meals. Bones leaned over to Jim. "Well, at least you don't have to worry about it being foreign, alien food," he said. "Maybe you won't have to have a stomach adjustment after this meal."

"Thank you, Bones," Jim replied sarcastically.

Carol was on the other side of Jim. She found Jim's friendships fascinating. They were always bickering and Bones was always pointing out everything that could possibly happen. And Spock seemed to bring balance to the trio. "We mustn't forget to take something to Spock," she said.

"I won't," Jim replied.

They ate in silence a few minutes. Jim thought Bones must really like the food because he was definitely eating. He had to admit it was good though. However, his thoughts drifted to the possibility of stopping someone from ever creating Khan. He knew it had to all start here. Khan was three-hundred years old when they had first encountered him, and that would put him in the twentieth century. But where they were now was just the beginning…the beginning of a huge mistake. Why did he care about the prime directive out here where he was? It did not even exist, and he might never get back to the time when it did exist. He might even have a chance to warn them about Nero. He could change his entire life…but did he dare? Who would know it? Would he ever meet Bones? Carol? He was sure he would meet Spock, because he was sure he would be in Starfleet, but if he stopped the creation of Khan…Carol would never sneak aboard the Enterprise to find out about those torpedoes.

"Jim Kirk, I believe you are not on this planet," Carol said.

Jim looked at her and realized he was zoned out. "I'm just thinking," he replied.

"Thinking very deeply."

He paused looking at Carol a moment. "Yes, I am."