Khan rarely slept at night, his body not requiring true sleep, but when it was dark and quiet, he could put himself into a light trance to avoid the crushing torture of eternal boredom. There were fewer guards on duty at night and people rarely came through to check on him. The extra straps holding him down were reassurance to the foolish.
Voices brought him to mental attention. Two men were coming and he recognized one of them as one of his guards. The other man was short and reminded him of a weasel.
"So this is the mighty Khan," the short man mused and stripped the sheet off him. "Nice. And you are certain he can raise the dead with his blood?"
"That's what they're doing with that young captain," the guard stated. "Most of the time they take platelets and stuff, but twice they've taken whole blood. He heals faster than any man I've ever seen."
"Why is he wearing that thing?" the man asked and looked closer at the device in Khan's mouth."
"Keeps him real quiet. They say he can persuade you to do whatever he wants."
"Well, we don't want to remove that now, do we?" the man asked rhetorically and set his briefcase on a table beside the gurney. "Let's just see how immortal you are, Mr. Khan."
Strapped down like an animal, Khan could not protect himself from what turned out to be the most horrible pain he had ever experienced in his entire life. Using a laser knife the weasel man literally opened his abdomen and took samples. When he was finished he glued the incision closed with a cellulose product that would dissolve in a few hours.
"So when do I get my money?" the guard asked anxiously.
"When we verify what you've told us," the weasel answered and closed everything up.
The guard looked horrified. "I need that money now. I can't stay here!"
"Not my problem, I'm only a technician." Gazing back down at Khan, he added," You better get him cleaned up. He's bit through his mouth."
The guard looked at the blood on Khan's chin and swore angrily at him. "Fuck him. He murdered hundreds of people No one will care."
"If you say so," the weasel said, now ready to go. "They might be curious though if he doesn't heal as quickly as you say." Smiling weasel said, "Prometheus in chains."
"Who the fuck is Prometheus?"
"A god chained to a mountain for all eternity," the weasel explained while admiring the captive with a feral eye. "I do hope Medtech acquires him. How long do you think he will live?"
"How the fuck do I know. Let's go before someone finds us."
For the first time in his life Khan felt desperately helpless. He strained against the bonds but they were positioned against his strongest points. He couldn't get leverage. Blind cold hate ate at his brain, and if he could have killed himself, he would have.
In the morning when the shift change occurred, the night guards who had be in on this nightmare left without checking on him, leaving the day shift to wonder why his chin and neck were so bloody. No one thought to ask him as they went about their daily routine. And he quite simply closed his eyes and closed the world out of his mind.
Dr. McCoy was notified that Khan was refusing to take nourishment, and while that didn't concern him, the report that he had been found with a bloody chin and neck puzzled him. Why would Khan hurt his mouth that much? Since McCoy needed to collect platelets, he attended to the prisoner early.
Taking a chance, McCoy removed the metal gag. "They tell me you aren't hungry." Khan said nothing. Doc was reluctant to get too close to his mouth; the last man he had bitten was still recovering from the bite. "What's wrong with you?"
Khan opened his eyes and sighed heavily. "When is Cdr, McGiver supposed to arrive?"
"Some time after 1300," McCoy answered and took the blood.
"May I keep that out of my mouth if I promise to behave?" Khan asked. It was a weary request born of what was turning into quiet desperation. "Dr. McCoy, do you see anything on my abdomen?"
McCoy looked at Khan's belly, even running his hand over it. "I don't see anything. Why?"
Khan closed his eyes and didn't answer. Finally he said, "There are more insidious monsters than me." McCoy didn't understand and retreated with the precious blood to the lab to prepare it for Jim Kirk.
Marla McGiver arrived a little after 1300 and found Khan seated and in clothes. "How are you?" she greeted and occupied the other chair.
"I was visited last night by two men, one from Medtech," Khan readily told her. "The man from Medtech took samples and spoke of purchasing me."
Marla mouth dropped open in surprise. "Are you sure?" she asked and opened her briefcase to get out her recorder. "Starfleet doesn't sell people as I understand it."
"Are you being deliberately abstruse, or is this your way of calling me a liar?"
Marla retreated from her comment. "Khan, tell me what happened."
"Two men, one of them a night guard visited me last night. The other man was a technician for Medtech, They took blood and opened me up…"
Marla raised her had to stop him. "They opened you up?"
"With a laser knife. There was a list of organs they wanted pieces of."
"And you were awake?"
"I can not be sedated. They had to beat me senseless to capture me."
"Oh Khan, I am so sorry. I'll see about getting you moved."
His eyes softened, and he said, "Thank-you." Marla could not help but blush.
"Right now I need to resume where we left off yesterday. If that is all right with you."
"Certainly."
At the end of the interview, Marla hurried to sickbay and cornered Dr, McCoy in his lab. "Khan was visited by two men last night who took tissue samples and spoke of buying him."
"Hogwash," McCoy retorted. "Khan is being kept under top secret security. He's feeding you a fanciful story."
"Have you given any thought to what will happen to him if word gets out his blood can raise the dead?"
McCoy didn't care. It was because of Khan that Jim was near dead in the first place. "We'll just have to keep a better eye on him then." Turning to her, he added, "Maybe one of your people saw a way to make a little extra cash."
Marla didn't flinch. "How many people now know you are using Khan to bring Capt. Kirk back from death? How many desperate people are going to want the same opportunity?"
"Not my problem," McCoy retorted. "That man in there is the only person I care about right now." He nodded at the quarantine room where James T. Kirk existed in a semi vegetative state. Everyday he was getting just a little bit better as Khan's blood worked its magic, but any attempt to stop the treatment would mean the end of the man Bones McCoy regarded as his closest friend.
Marla understood this and sympathized with him. But her first duty was to the man she was ordered to defend as best as she could. This meant notifying her senior members of the night visitors.
It didn't go the way she imagined. Cdr. Naz was not interested in finding some place new for Khan to stay. If she didn't trust his guards then she could sit up and baby-sit him.
Khan was not expecting them to return so soon, but the moment he heard the doors open and close he went on mental and physical alert. His surprise was genuine when Cdr. McGiver appeared with several books in her hand. "I'm your extra security," she said and pulled a chair up to the gurney. Looking at the backs of her books, she said, "I can read these to myself or to you. Grunt once if you would like me to read to you." When he responded, she said, "Very good. Let's see, I like this one. It's old but that's not a bad thing really." Opening the book, she read, " The first place I can well remember was a large, pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it." Khan closed his eyes and disappeared into that sunlit meadow. Whenever McGiver stopped reading he would open them and look at her. She read until sleep wrapped her in its warm cloak. Then using an extra blanket, she made a pallet on the floor and went to sleep. Khan watched her sleep.