"A week?" there was a laugh Spock recognized as one humans used to emphasise a point, "Every four hours, every day for, wait, I'll check,"there was silence and Spock saw McCoy had his eyes closed and was shaking his head, "Every day since the day after he was admitted, just as I thought. I had thought they had started the day he arrived but they waited a whole day. The day he went missing they had just given it to him and they were on a break. They were giving him steadily increased doses and studying his reactions. Clearly they had left the door open and must have thought that one of the others had him secured. In the end he was on massive doses, nearly twice the recommended daily dose, every four to six hours to test their theories and see his reactions." There was a silence then the man calmly said, "May I ask if he really did suffer from irrational delusions of infallibility? When he first came I saw no sign to indicate that but it has been pointed out to me I am no specialist in that field. All I saw was a very tired man who just needed some sleep and maybe some time alone to regroup his thoughts. There is no way he should have been committed."
"I," McCoy looked at Spock, "I think a terrible error of judgement was made not only in the wording but in actually sending him there. I saw no indications of irrational delusions of infallibility. If anything he was, perhaps, just overly dedicated to his position as a search and rescue officer."
It is my firm belief that if Kirk, or any member of the Enterprise for that matter, had gone missing those first few days he was here he would somehow have made an effort to help. I do not want to think he was cognizant enough to know Kirk is missing although he was clearly aware of getting out and away from here. I just hope he finds peace out there as he got none here."
"Thanks and thanks for letting me, us know."
For a long time he just stood looking at the speaker then he looked at Spock and the Vulcan saw the anger and frustration in the blue eyes, "The bastards! The damned bastards! They've had him on Createatan all the time they've had him. They knew he was just exhausted and they've been pumping him full of it all this time. There was no reason for them to use that on him. Even a first year medical student could tell he just exhausted and needed rest. Hell, an exoskeletal specialist saw it. Damn them! Damn them!"
"You believe it could be Hannet?"
"No, Spock. No, I do not believe it could be him. It is him. He's trying to save Jim. He's doing what nature, nurture, pure instinct and training are making him do. On a few occasions I saw him fight against medication to help save another's life but those had been only for short periods. I do not want to think what he is putting his whole body through fighting Createatan this long."
Over the years Spock had seen the Doctor so certain only a few times before and each of those times had been when reason and logic had said what he believed was not possible yet it had been as the Doctor believed. He wanted to confront the Doctor on his line of thinking but saw he was too emotional to deal with any more. It was in how the Doctor stood with his arms crossed tightly across his chest and his eyes shut with his head bowed. Barely controlled rage radiated from him.
Spock turned from McCoy and looked at Uhura, "You said you know where they are, Lieutenant."
"I do not know where they are but I think I know where they will be. It's just a thing Colin, I mean Hannet taught me, something we would occasionally use. An old fashioned way the deaf used to communicate, a one-handed alphabet. When I saw how he first so dramatically shook his left hand I knew what he was going to do so I watched his left hand. I know to others it would appear he was just shaking his hand clear of the sleeve to examine the Captain, but it was our signal, our signal to each other."
"Uhura, that is a wild leap of logic for you. How would he know to do it?"
"If he thought there was even the most remotest of remote possibilities of us seeing it, he would do it. It was obvious that the sale was broadcast for outside bidders and he knew we were somewhere around." she looked at Spock, "I know it is not logical, but after seeing him there, after his signing, I know he will have the Captain alive and be waiting at the co-ordinates he gave for us but I am not sure if I got the co-ordinates right as I am not sure if one sign was as I read it."
Quickly Spock had the screen on, "Show me."
This time the three of them ignored all but the man's left hand. To most it would just seem he was flexing his fingers but there was a pattern to them. "It's coming up. There, that one."
The shot was replayed four times till Spock and Uhura agreed on the sign.
"Doctor, you have been unusually reticent. Do you not agree with what we have?"
"Oh, I agree with that. I was seeing what the blasted Createaten is doing to him. For now he is holding it all together but," he scrolled the tape back and stilled in on a frame where Hannet had his hands clinched into tight fists and his stance seemed extremely strained, "it is taking a toll" he turned away and Spock could tell he was seething with rage and fury, "Damn them! He just needed a week, ten days at the most, on his own. Couldn't they tell that? The vultures saw Jim's report as a way to experiment on him. Jim did write that damning report. Because of their meddling, his body has built up a dependence on it. Jim didn't listen. They clearly saw him as an ideal patient to test it on and Jim's report gave them a reason. What was it Jim stated, 'extremely delusional'. Hell, he did the only thing he could and was only exhausted. Damn them! Damn them!"
For a moment the Vulcan wanted to do nothing more than reassure his friend that he understood but he was aware of Lieutenant Uhura's presence, "Thank you for this, Miss Uhura, please return to the Bridge and have that area scanned for all small craft."
There was just a flicker in her eyes towards where McCoy stood with his hands gripping the back of the chair and his eyes closed, then understanding in them when she looked back at the First Officer, "Yes, Sir."
Slowly Vulcan walked over to stand behind the doctor, carefully placed his hands on McCoy's shoulders and felt the rage in his friend that he had expected, "Jim letting the authorities remove him also surprised me, Doctor, but, at the time, he was not thinking logically and I could see attempting to make him see logic would only serve to worsen his condition. You know Jim regretted it when he fully realized the reasoning behind Hannet's actions, but it was done, he had given them the authority. For him to get that authority rescinded would have taken at least twenty-three point seven standard days. We may still get them both back."
"But in what condition? Jim's clearly been drugged and abused and Hannet," the Doctor let out a sigh and took a deep breath,"If he is alive, I won't treat him if I know that they are going to get him back. I," the First Officer felt the Doctor pull himself together before he turned and looked at him very levelly, "Spock, I am quite sane and I know and fully understand what I am saying and I will let him die. No, I will assist him to die rather than let them have him again. How they have kept him is worse than a living death. If he somehow makes it to this ship alive I will kill him any way I have to before I let anybody take him and put him back there or in any medical research facility. With Jim, depending on how they were implanted and how long they have been implanted, it will take time to know how to locate and remove the controlling devices and, if there is no problem there, our only problem will be keeping him in SickBay long enough for him to fully recover."
The Vulcan helped the Doctor sit in the chair, "I understand this may be not be what you want to tell me, Doctor, but I need to know what condition you believe we will find the Captain in."
"We have to be ready for any one of four states: he could be fine despite the controlling devices, he could be severely traumatised and have injuries that were not apparent, the controlling devices may not be able to be removed, or he could be," for only a moment the Doctor hesitated, "dead."
"And what about Hannet? "
"Dammit, Spock, that stuff is killing him. Createaten works well on those with intermittent but severe delusional or emotional problems and is not meant to be used longer than three standard days nor on those who are merely fatigued. He's developed a dependence because they keep pumping it into him in massive doses. If he is not dead then he will either be in or entering a irreversible catatonic state, be in or entering a deep form of paranoia, or, and I doubt if even you could calculate the odds of it, he could somehow still be clinging to dear life by a gossamer thread of reality. The bastards! Createanten is a drug that has drastic reactions with other medications - can enhance to a lethal dosage the potency of another drug. I'll be able to do little for him apart from monitor him."
The intercom on his desk beeped, "Spock here."
"There is a small craft at those co-ordinates with a Romulan scout ship along side it. A Klingon ship has just left the area."
