In better spirits, Kirk led the way to the high shelter for the evening. His body had become number and that was an improvement. He watched Spock settle in his spot for the local star-set. The Vulcan was getting shaky. Kirk looked away assuming Spock would loathe to be observed in a less than perfect state.

Kirk said, "We may have to risk turning on the beacon on the escape pod."

Spock stood and did that. "It is not subspace," Spock said. "It will could take days or weeks to reach a receiver on a spaceway."

Kirk nodded.

That night was the longest yet. Kirk couldn't sleep. He paced around their rise, stopping sometimes to enjoy the moons. It was the last pleasure left and he was going to make the most of it despite the risk of falling from weakness.

When he returned, he found Spock standing outside the shelter, monitoring him. He put the scanner away in a large pocket of his robe and stood with his hands behind his back.

Spock said, "Come daybreak, I should scout westward. There is a different vegetation zone there."

"We can send the pod to scan," Kirk said. "Separating is not wise."

Kirk sat outside the shelter, but out of the wind. The moons seemed just overhead. He might hit his head on them if he stood quickly. He hoped Spock would join him as he had the night before.

Eventually, Spock did. Sitting almost as close.

The silence went from enveloping to oppressive. "I'm really glad you're here. I'd hate to be alone."

"I assume that is the reason for your kindness."

Kirk felt that cut him in half. "No," he whispered. "It isn't. I can both be glad I'm not alone and like you too."

Kirk barreled on, "You're a beautiful being, Spock."

Spock's head jerked toward him and Kirk thought he could feel him growing antsy and uncomfortable.

Kirk went on, "I wish that you were assigned to me. You'd be the most valuable crewmember on whatever ship you were on. And that isn't exaggerating. If you are falling short on Vulcan, then Vulcans must be unbelievably intelligent. "

Spock looked away.

Kirk lifted his hand, let it hover over Spock's arm. Spock turned to him, looked at his hand. Kirk withdrew it.

Spock looked over the plain again. "We need a better plan."

"Smoothly done," Kirk said. "Yes, we do. Run a lot more scans from aloft tomorrow, while we are still strong enough to move camp if it'll be worth it."

Morning came. The sky made Kirk's vision see blue in large patches as he tried to move around. He didn't see it as sherbet anymore but as a harbinger. So much warning color couldn't bring anything good.

The pod returned. Spock studied the scanner, sitting directly in the hot light. Kirk suspected he was getting extra susceptible to cold. Kirk stripped off his shirt and sat next to him, as close as Spock sometimes sat to him. It gave him an odd comfort which he was more than willing to relish in his current state.

Spock shook his head. "It is grasslands. Possibly a few tubers that would require processing to be made edible. It is many local days distant by foot."

"Can the pod carry someone?"

"Its power circuits are almost burned out. I made an aggressive landing."

"I heard it when you came in."

Spock's face showed expression, regret perhaps, then returned to normal. He continued paging through the scanner data.

Spock said, "This is reminiscent of ancient epic poetry. To survive the undefeatable army and succumb to hunger."

"Ancient Vulcan poetry must be pretty depressing."

Kirk was certain Spock almost smiled. "Yes, it is."

Spock put the scanner aside, somewhat forcefully. Kirk put his hand out, held it over Spock's forearm.

Spock looked down. He didn't move his arm out of reach.

Kirk took this as acceptance and let his hand rest there on Spock's sleeve, relaxed. "You reacted badly when I touched you last time."

"You startled me. I did not have my mind shielded. No one has ever touched me unexpectedly before."

"Never in your entire life?"

"I do not believe so."

"That's a sheltered existence." Kirk looked around. He took firm hold of Spock's arm. It felt like the only real thing on this planet. "Look at this place. Spock, when you decide to leave your comfort zone you don't mess around."

"I didn't believe there was any choice. If it works to destroy the rebel colonists, I am satisfied with the sacrifice. Although I have encumbered you with my actions."

"Although I'm not as sanguine about this virus, my life is yours. I shouldn't be here to debate you over it."

Spock looked at him, his eyes went over Kirk's features, over his bare shoulders. With reluctance, he said, "I am weakening and seeing things in a more human way."

"That might be irksome, but it's a good learning experience."

"I will borrow your phrase, and say that I am not myself."

"You are an adult, by Vulcan terms, right?"

"Yes."

"So you could leave Vulcan anytime you wanted."

"I would lose a great deal."

Kirk held his arm tighter. "You have to lose something, often, to gain something. And look at where you are right now. You were willing to lose your life. Can you lose more than that?"

Spock sighed. Kirk had not witnessed that before.

"Being disowned by my family would be. Difficult. Perhaps more difficult than death. I would have to meditate on that."

"Do so."

Kirk let go and stood up. He wanted to pace, but he needed to preserve energy until it was time to move shelters and perhaps eat a few mushrooms. His stomach, which had given up on growling, did so.

Somewhere, up in the sky, was the Sanchez, and the rest of Starfleet. To never return, to never move between the stars, to just see the moons at night, it would be more empty than starving to death.

Kirk shaded his eyes. Heat waves made the scrub plain waver.

Spock looked up at him. "Are you an unusual human?"

"I don't know. I try to be."

"I think you are far outside the norm. It is a factor."

"Down here, we're all the same."

Kirk checked that the weapons cache was still intact where he had stored it. He was tempted to not move it, but that was a weakened, fuzzy headed notion. He put on his shirt, and his pads and systematically put everything together. It looked like a very heavy pile and he was in no hurry to carry it, so he remained standing there, staring at it.

Spock raised his head and turned it with precision in an animal-like motion as if detecting something. Without hesitating, Kirk snatched the hand phaser out of the pile at his feet. He unlocked the stun setting and shoved the power to high.

Kirk held the phaser pointed at the ground. "What is it?"

Spock pushed to his feet, turning his head again. "A ship." He took up the scanner but lowered it again immediately.

Why wasn't he scanning? "Spock?"

"The engines are modified with a triple coil that at low power causes a peculiar oscillation."

Kirk heard it then too. The rumbling whirr of impulse engines at low power.

Spock said, "It is my family's ship."

Kirk put the phaser back on stun and hooked it on his belt. The ship became a dot and sank into view and landed down on the plain. It was a swept-back design with oversized boxy engines on each side. Thick welds showed where it had been assembled.

Spock moved downhill over the rocks with alien agility. Kirk followed, falling far behind. The ship's ramp opened. Spock stood at the base of it, arms at his sides.

Spock was arguing with someone inside, an elderly Vulcan, who looked up sharply at Kirk when he approached. Kirk stood at the opposite corner of the ramp than Spock, not wanting to intrude, or appear too familiar with Spock.

"Your father said nothing about passengers," the old Vulcan said, in Vulcan. Kirk's tourist Vulcan lessons supplied the translation.

Spock's reply wasn't comprehensible, but he looked stubborn, and suddenly much younger.

The old Vulcan went away inside.

"I am refusing to depart without you," Spock said.

"I appreciate that." Kirk found this funny. "Rules of the spaceways still apply," he said happily.

"Indeed, they do. But he is the kind of servant who performs tasks precisely as they are given. One must be careful how one gives them."

Time passed. Now that rescue had so unexpectedly arrived, Kirk felt too weak to hurry. Spock steered the escape pod down and settled it inside the ramp area, strapping it down to the ramp so it would be raised inside as it closed.

"Getting rid of the evidence?" Kirk teased.

"The few remains of my ship will be difficult to identify since Vulcan does not share its registry with the Federation."

Kirk decided to leave the weapon's cache to avoid any difficulties with his already grumpy host. He had everything that mattered on his back. He sat in the shade of the ship and waited.

Spock said, "I would get us something to eat, but I do not wish to go inside and risk appearing to relent without assurances."

The old Vulcan teetered to the top of the ramp and gestured for them to enter.

Spock worked the ramp controls and gestured for Kirk to take a jumpseat. When the hatch closed the darkness closed in completely. An red image of the open hatch was burned onto Kirk's retinas, making his vision worst right where he needed it most. He took one step towards what had looked like a cargo strap in daylight and the ship surged upward. Kirk went to his knees, his stomach felt like it sank even lower. The normal thrill he felt at this was muted by what felt like further bullying by machinery.

The acceleration leveled off. But was still about three gs. Kirk failed to push himself up. A hand grabbed his uniform shirt and slid him toward the bulkhead. The ship began to vibrate as it hit atmospheric turbulence. With lots of help, Kirk climbed up onto the lowered jumpseat he found by hitting his head on it.

Kirk managed the straps, managed the chest clasp and pulled the straps taught. The seat swung outward, so the force was on his back. That was much better. The lighting came on, better revealing how much they were vibrating.

"Hell of a ship," Kirk said.

"It is a rebuild of two other ships, keeping the engines of the much larger one, so it is rather overpowered on impulse."

"I would say."

"He did that to make a point." Spock said, still upright. "He knows you are fragile."

Kirk turned sharply. Spock appeared to rethink his words.

"You perhaps do not consider yourself fragile," Spock said.

"No. I don't."

"I see."

The impression of gravity eased to something reasonable.

Spock unhooked the straps from his shoulders. "I will run some scans to look for your comrades."

"I'll come."

Spock pushed Kirk's jumpseat back level with his foot as Kirk unhooked. He led the way to the deck above, which was just as stark as the cargo area, no padding on corners and only basic panel plates. Extra reinforcing came up through the deck in inconvenient places and continued up through the overheads.

Spock pulled a panel down from the ceiling. Using one hand, he worked the display with familiar ease. Gravity continued to fade. Kirk followed Spock's example and also grabbed hold of a strap and hooked his toe on a floor strap to keep himself in place. Spock rotated the monitor so Kirk could see the scan as well.

"At the approximate coordinates you indicated there is evidence of a firefight, recent glassified rock, burn marks." He pointed. "One body."

The elderly Vulcan turned in his seat to look back at Spock.

"No life signs?" Kirk asked.

"None. I've programmed a scan reflection off the cliff-face here." He scrolled the display to a flurry of closely spaced lines. "So I do not believe sensor blocking is the explanation."

"What happened to them?"

The display changed, showing orbital projection, which updated multiple times a second. "I have no theories."

Outside the ship's portals the sky grew dark and stars appeared. Light gravity came on, supplementing the acceleration. It felt like one third earth normal.

"Can you scan-" Kirk began.

Spock said, "Sten, take us on one complete orbit outside the fifth moon."

The ship changed course and the planet's face slid across the portholes. Kirk held tightly to the strap as his body swung out. He wished he felt well enough to truly enjoy this ride.

Kirk watched the screen, starting to get a better sense of the display's coding. They reached orbit and Sten put them under full power. Each moon passed by out the portholes. Some barely filled one, others took minutes to pass the ship.

Eventually, they came back around to the bluish moon where they'd started. Kirk relaxed his hold on the strap to better see the display as Spock stored and reviewed the data.

"Orbital debris is quite old, indicated by the randomness of its movement," Spock said. "No ionizing or signs of recent energy bursts."

They hit warp without warning. The wave of it went through the ship's subframe and Kirk's relaxed hand ripped from the strap. He was caught hard by Spock's arm across his chest and his hooked foot. The pressure increased. Even half starved, Spock was this strong. How strong was he normally?

The wave force released them. The ship settled to smooth with a low engine hum. Spock still had an arm around him.

Sten turned his head around and said something in spitting anger. Kirk caught 'corruption' 'alien' 'offworld' but the diatribe went on from there. Spock's face transformed into stone. Kirk could feel Spock's defiance building from a seething energy. That energy had hold of Kirk, was tapping into someplace deep within him to shield out Spock's own uncertainties. This was what telepathy felt like. Kirk could feel Spock's mind working and he seemed to be working toward disobedience stemming from injured raging pride.

Kirk silently projected at him, "Don't overdo it."

Spock's mind calmed, gave the impression of something sinking into viscous liquid, sending ripples out that attenuated immediately.

Kirk now felt only offense from him, and some disquiet at sensing another in his thoughts. But still he held onto Kirk.

In Standard, Spock said to their pilot, "Don't throw the human around the ship if you don't want me to catch him."

After a pause, he let go of Kirk and pointed at a seat that could be folded down. Kirk did so and sat back with the full relief of his tired body. He rubbed his arms to ease something like chill, but the ship's air was warm.

Spock descended a ladder and returned minutes later. He sat in an adjacent seat and pulled a table out from the wall.

He peeled open two containers of white paste and handed Kirk a spoon. He seemed to be avoiding Kirk's eyes.

"These are the foods my mother finds most palatable."

"I'll eat anything."

"Taste it before you say that," Spock said.

Kirk laughed. Stress poured out of him, making him laugh more. Sten turned and spoke loudly over the engine hum.

Kirk tried to read his face. "He doesn't like laughter."

"He speaks Standard just fine." Spock spoke to his own food packages.

"He was speaking to me?"

"Yes. I do not wish to repeat it."

Kirk sobered. "He is at helm. That gives him the right to have the bridge as he sees fit."

Sten grunted.

Kirk dipped the spoon and licked it off. It tasted like bitter passionfruit and unripe artichoke along with the mulch underfoot in a pine forest. Despite his body demanding he swallow, he had to work hard to do so.

"Drink this. It is not as palatable but it will ease your system into food better than the manirgt paste."

Kirk took the glass which contained a puree. It smelled like carrot and paint thinner. "Less palatable." Kirk wanted to laugh again. To be so hungry and have so much difficulty eating. "I miss your mushrooms."

Kirk ate more paste and washed it down with the puree. Either he grew accustomed to it, or his body's instinct for survival overrode his palate, because he ate everything in front of him.

Sten spoke. Spock translated, finally meeting Kirk's gaze after an entire meal of looking down. "My father sent a message asking for your personnel id so that he can inform Starfleet that you are aboard."

Kirk licked the spoon, even though it was clean, and put it down. He gave Sten his number. "I also need to file a report."

"There is a cubby that my father uses as an office. I will show you."

Kirk stood and looked across the controls, and out the portals. "How fast are we going?"

Spock looked over Sten's shoulder. "Nine point oh two."

"Warp nine?" Kirk stared again out the portals and swallowed his surprise. The two of them seemed to think nothing special of it. Kirk had never personally gone faster than six point three, and that had been exceptional.

The 'cubby' was a closed off space between one of the reinforcing struts and the outer skin. It was the size of Kirk's shared quarters and had its own large view portal. The desk was designed for zero g. Kirk slid his foot under the strap just in case Sten tried anything. Spock powered up the monitors and brought up an interface where he could select a subspace communications protocol.

Kirk asked, "How did your family get to us so fast?"

"The ship entering atmosphere sent a standard radio signal back to its owner that was picked up by a relay on a navigational buoy. Then it was sent on by subspace."

"You owe someone a ship." He gave Spock a sympathetic smile.

Spock nodded. "I will leave you to your report."

Kirk called him back at the door. "Spock, don't burn bridges if you can help it. I couldn't help but notice that you are trying to get your footing with regard to your family. But it's not an all or nothing process."

Spock stood there, considering his words, or considering him, Kirk couldn't tell which.

"I see." And he departed.