Chapter 3

Bones had already dressed and disappeared by the time Jim woke up the next day. He had left Jim a list of items that he would need from the Enterprise and coordinates for where to send them.

Jim shook his head. He could tell the problem fascinated and frustrated Bones. Bones was as much a researcher as he was a healer. It had been a while since they had visited a planet that required Bones to find a cure for some alien illness much to everyone's relief. Especially since when if any medical emergencies did occur which required Bones' expertise, it always involved an incredibly short time frame that divided life and death.

He flipped open his communicator. From the height of the sun in the distance, it looked like it was already deep into alpha shift. He was surprised how long he had been asleep. Normally he rose with the 'sun', which in deep space didn't really make much sense.

"Kirk to Enterprise."

"Spock here." Spock was always prompt. Jim had long learned that Vulcans needed less sleep than humans. Even though Spock was only half human, it seemed his Vulcan genetics gave him many of the Vulcan perks. It was damn useful sometimes when Jim required someone with experience on the bridge, and Bones was demanding that he sleep since he had been awake for too many hours.

"Dr. McCoy and I will be on the planet for longer than planned."

"Noted Captain. Should I send down more personnel?"

"Negative, Mr. Spock. S'ara is hesitant to expose more of our crew to the disease."

"Logical."

"However Dr. McCoy has a list of equipment he would like beamed down." Kirk twisted a couple of buttons on his communicator. "I have sent Dr. McCoy's list to the Enterprise along with the beam down coordinates."

Seconds later Spock responded. "Mr. Scott has received them. The medical staff will assemble the items and send them down. What should I tell the crew of our… delay?"

Jim furrowed his brow as he thought of their remaining assignment and return to Earth. "Even if delay a while longer, we should still be on schedule if we push our engines."

"Noted, Captain. "

Jim bit his lips. He knew his crew hated feeling idle. It was one of the reasons he had the best crew in the Federation, and that wasn't because he was biased. "I also have some initial flora and fauna data in my tricorder from yesterday that I will send up for analysis. Have engineering start detailing all the repair work that the Enterprise requires in addition to her overhaul." Jim paused for a moment. He knew his next orders were highly non regulatory. "The stellar cartography group mentioned that the star clusters nearby were interesting. Take the Enterprise out of orbit and map out some of the stars systems."

"Captain?"

"The people here don't seem hostile. They have subspace communication capability. I'll contact the Enterprise when Dr. McCoy has discovered the cure."

"Very well, Captain."

"Kirk out." Jim snapped shut his communicator.

And that was that…

Somehow Jim's life became N'irtha. During the day, he spent it with S'ara or one of her sons. Even after just a day with these people, Jim knew that the Federation would be excited about just trading with S'ara's people. Their technology was highly advanced despite being so secluded from the rest of the quadrant. It was a wonder how they hadn't cured the illness themselves.

It seemed the N'irthans also used replication technology except their replicators reminded Jim of the replicators he had seen from those flashes during his mind meld with Old Spock seven years ago. They could replicate clothes, building blocks, and daily necessities.

Their cities ran on nuclear power which surprised Jim. "We haven't used nuclear power in hundreds of years."

"Why? It's very clean and efficient." F'almer, one of S'ara's sons, asked. He was S'ara's youngest and the one that Jim got along with the best.

Jim wished he had held his tongue. Nuclear fallout had not been a pleasant part of Earth's history. "Too many dangers."

"Oh," F'almer laughed. "We have learned to contain it. Maybe if your kind spent more time on your home world such improvements would be easier?"

Jim laughed. "It's hard to abandon space travel now that we have it. My people have been racing for the stars for hundreds of years. It fascinates us."

He saw F'almer bite his lip. "Look." He pointed at a tree. Jim blinked. "Up there." F'almer pointed to the top. Jim drew back a breath. At the top was a beautiful pink flower. It was the only flower for such a large tree. It glistened in the sunlight. "This tree only blooms once every one hundred years. If we chased the stars, we would miss the tree's once a lifetime bloom."

Jim chuckled. "But if I didn't, I wouldn't know such a beauty exists in this world."

F'almer laughed. He laughed loudly. It was pleasant, jovial laugh. "Fair enough Captain Kirk, fair enough. I think our people would benefit from learning and trading together. I will tell my mother I will support the union."

Jim's eyes widened. He felt like a fish out of water. It just caused F'almer to laugh harder. Damn. He couldn't wait until the Federation's leaders met these people.

Sometime S'ara and his people took him riding on tempoks. They reminded Jim of Earth's horses. The only difference was they were purple and taller. She showed him her kingdom. N'irtha was a peaceful country. It reminded Jim of Earth's old past and when he mentioned that to S'ara she looked at him strangely.

Jim laughed. "Space travel doesn't always involve traveling through space."

"You've been to the past," S'ara stated.

Jim nodded. "A couple of times."

"Don't you ever worry about affecting the time line? Our ancestors used to travel to the past before we learned better."

"No, we have never affected the timeline enough although temporal investigations would beg to differ."

"Temporal investigations?"

"The Federation is very bureaucratic, not at all like here. It is simpler here." Jim said easily. He was starting to enjoy living on N'irtha. He wondered if this would be what his life would be like once he returned to Earth.

"We are located at the edge of the galaxy as you say, Captain. We don't get many visitors, so our people have fewer influences. The last visitors we had were over fifty years ago."

"That's a long time ago."

"Yes, it was. At the time my grandmother was ruling, and my mother was a young girl." S'ara smiled. "But, maybe things will change soon."

"Yes, maybe," Jim returned the smile. By then Jim knew that everything depended on Bones pulling out a medical breakthrough. More and more of S'ara's people were becoming sick with the illness. Just yesterday, Jim heard that S'ara's daughter, the one that was expected to take her place, had fallen ill. He was surprised that S'ara hadn't cancelled their meeting.

"Come," S'ara tugged on the reigns of her tempok. Her tempok made a sharp turn in a direction they had never gone before. Jim followed. She took him into the forest. The trees in the forest had a strange blue and pink tone unlike the other trees that Jim had seem on this planet. He swore when they dismounted, the trees were pulsating. The air felt electric.

S'ara glided him further along. If he hadn't been spending so many days with her and knew she and her people weren't hostile, he probably would have been worried that he walking into a trap. They eventually reached a cave. The entrance was hidden behind two very large and opposing pink and blue trees.

She glided him inside. Jim was surprised there was a trail of glowing lights leading the way. However, they didn't seem to be manmade. In fact, it seemed like the lights were part of the cave wall. The walls themselves seemed to sparkle and glisten. He could almost touch them if S'ara hadn't reached for his hand. She shook her head. She didn't look upset though.

Jim's eyes widened then they finally exited. There was a waterfall that emptied into a large lake. There were many N'irthans in different states of undress. It reminded Jim of natural spa like on Earth or even on Risa.

"This is the lake of t'pouk."

"T'pouk, like that dish?" Jim asked. The dish that S'ara's people had been serving him since the first night he arrived. He was starting to get tired of t'pouk. The strange thing was it never looked or tasted the same. Sometime it was solid, and other times it was liquid. It didn't help that his universal translator failed to translate the word into standard, so he had come to assume t'pouk probably didn't mean 'chicken' or 'fish' or anything that simple.

S'ara laughed. "No, we call anything that comes from this lake t'pouk. All those dishes that contain something from this lake, we call t'pouk."

"Oh." Jim nodded. It was strange, but he had seen and heard stranger.

"Would you like to soak your feet in it?" S'ara asked. "Bathe?"

"Err." He knew if Bones were here he would probably state a thousand reasons why he shouldn't: unhygienic, strange alien concoction, or some other reason that would lead to his eyeballs bleeding out or something. He had been on N'irtha for a while now, and he hadn't had any severe allergic reactions. His stomach hadn't betrayed him.

Besides he was here to forge bonds. They were spending more time on N'irtha than Starfleet or Jim had wanted or planned. The longer he stayed, the less likely Starfleet would accept a failed mission. "Okay."

S'ara smiled.

He pulled off his Starfleet issued boots and socks. He rolled up his pant legs before sinking his feet into the water. The water was cool. It felt surprisingly good. He looked up and saw S'ara hovering overhead. She had a pleased look on her face.

"How is it?"

The water seemed to lap at his ankles. It surrounded every inch of his bare skin that he had exposed to the water. It almost seemed to be almost alive. "Nice," he managed to say.

In hindsight at that moment, when Jim Kirk saw the twinkle in S'ara's eyes, he really should have been more wary. "How about a bath? Isn't it a little warm today?"

Jim blinked. It was a little warm. The water was alluring. He found himself stripping out of his Starfleet issued uniform and slipping into the water as naked as on his name day. The water lapped further and further around him. It felt like it was encasing him. He felt a strange tingly sensation.