Section 3: The Enterprise
Chapter 3c: Use Me (Up)
Many days have passed, several missions accomplished. It's the perfect moment to remember why we should pray not to live in interesting times. A communication signal interrupts the serenity of the bridge.
Lieutenant Uhura completes the connection and listens. "Distress call from Base Station Philsox VI."
"On screen." The screen displays complete chaos. Many bodies are strewn, contorted in impossible positions, the faces on the bodies discolored and tortured. A man staggers into view on the screen. He is hunched over, and his eyes are wide and darting.
Kirk demands, "Who's the commander of this base?"
The Philsox crewman cries out, "She's dead, sir. She should never have called you. She's dead and I'm next, there's one dying and I'm next. Don't come down here, for God's sake! Get out of here!"
"Pull yourself together, man. What has happened?"
Mister Philsox speaks his last words. "Some sort of creatures, sir. They came in, no warning, no ship even. Just moving from man to man. Killing. Everybody screaming. Hurts. Can't protect ourselves. Can't stop them! Oh God!"
A wave of golden lights approaches and envelopes the man. He stiffens, hits his head with his fists, falls and screams. His face turns blue, purple, white, red.
"What the hell," Kirk swore. "Set a course for Philsox VI, Mr. Sulu. Recommendations, Mr. Spock? What are we looking at?"
"Unknown, Captain," Spock replied. "Insufficient data. Recommend a Security Away team to assess the situation and rescue any survivors."
"Make it so," ordered Kirk. "Transport any survivors directly to the Shuttle Bay. Keep whatever it was away from the rest of my crew. Dr. McCoy can meet them there and evaluate their condition. You too, Spock."
"Yes, Captain."
#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#
The Enterprise shortly reaches Philsox VI. The glow of the transporter indicates the Away team of yellow shirts has arrived, led by Security Chief Victorino, and including the Vulcan Kevintek. (In some other story, he would be Crewman Number 6, and we all know what that means, but fortunately he has a name. That may save him.) The team fans out, phasers at ready, move to check each body. Victorino and Kevintek approach the man who was seen on the bridge. He is still alive and still writhing.
"Try to get his face out of the dirt," Victorino ordered. "Flip him over."
"Yes, sir." Kevintek grasps the man's shoulders, and is propelled backward several meters, landing hard.
"You all right, Kevintek?" Victorino runs to his crewman. "What happened?"
"Unknown, Commander. An attack of some kind? Or a defense mechanism. Possibly electro-magnetic." Kevintek rubs his hands and arms, trying to restore feeling and function.
The Commander opens a communication channel. "Victorino to Bridge."
"Go ahead, Vicco." It's Kirk.
"We've found one survivor so far, Captain. We can't touch him; Kevintek thinks he's surrounded by EMF. Can you send an isolation gurney? If we can't load him into it, maybe we can put it around him instead."
"Good. Wait for it." Victorino closes the channel, as Kevintek calls him over.
"Commander, look at this."
Victorino turns to see the Philsox VI man is now still and is no longer face down in the dirt. His face continues to dance with colors. His mouth opens and shuts, his lips grimace. Sounds are being produced, but there are no words, just random noise from air being forced through his vocal cords. (Spoiler alert: the next two sentences are gruesome, so try not to read them.) His body is so pretzeled that although his face is blindly staring at the sky, so are his buttocks. Blood runs out of every orifice of the Philsox VI crewman. The colors in his face stop changing. He is dead. The gurney materializes. Victorino opens his communicator.
"Victorino to Bridge."
"Go ahead, Vicco."
"The gurney arrived. It's too late. Our victim has died. Do you have further …"
The sparkling gold lights the bridge crew had seen on-screen now rise in beautiful waves out of the corpse, hold steady a moment, and enter Kevintek.
"Goddam it to hell!" VIctorino has aimed his phaser, but cannot shoot his own man. Kevintek is writhing and spiraling, beating at his face and arms.
"Vicco, report!" Kirk commands.
"It's Kevintek, Captain. He … he's infected."
"Get him in that gurney and lock it down, Vicco. Scotty, as soon as they're ready, send him to Shuttle Bay. McCoy, Spock, figure out what the hell is happening."
Victorino hesitates. "He's … Captain, in my judgment he may not survive transport."
"Got a better idea, Vicco? No? Then just do it."
#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#
Spock is waiting in Shuttle Bay, tricorder at the ready. McCoy and Chapel run down the corridor towards Shuttle Bay, portable med kit across McCoy's shoulders. They arrive in Shuttle Bay, and McCoy is soon tap dancing in nervous anticipation, Chapel laying out the contents of his pack. Spock remains placid. The glow of materialization announces the arrival of the gurney. No sooner does it take shape than it bounces across the bay from the violent motion of Kevintek inside. Spock and McCoy aim their tricorders as one.
Spock remarks, "I'm detecting energy levels far above those of a Vulcan. Possibly another life form."
"Chapel, tell Rollins to prepare for transfusion, all the Vulcan plasma we have," McCoy orders, eyes still on his tricorder. "And to start growing liver, kidneys, marrow for transplant. And get an O2 pack set up. What the hell? I'm getting two EEGs. That's impossible."
The gurney abruptly quiets; Kevintek has stopped writhing. Spock and McCoy cautiously approach the gurney, then leap back as the golden lights burst through the "isolation" cover of the gurney. The lights coalesce above their heads, swoop down the corridor in waves, then rise through the ceiling and are gone. Spock and McCoy look at each other, then descend upon Kevintek. Chapel rushes to join them, fumbling with the O2 pack and talking with Rollins on her communicator.
McCoy unzips the gurney as Spock flips open his communicator. "Captain, the beings are loose on the ship. The isolation gurney failed to contain them."
They hear Kirk's voice, "Red Alert." Flashing red lights and wailing alarms add to the bedlam.
"Kevintek," McCoy shouts over the alarms. "Kevintek, are you with us?"
Spock speaks calmly. "Mr. Kevintek. Report." McCoy glares at him, but says nothing and holds out his hand for the O2 pack. Chapel gives it to him, and he clips it to Kevintek's collar.
Kevintek opens his eyes. "Mr. Spock. Lights of Cokindt. Incorporeal. Looking for suitable body. Found a better candidate. Left to inhabit. Hurts." His eyes squeeze closed, his jaw is clenched.
Spock speaks more urgently. "Who is the better candidate, Mr. Kevintek?"
#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#
In the Geo/Hydro Lab, the scientists are scattered about at their various stations, turning off burners and closing vials of chemicals in reaction to the Red Alert. The golden wave rises through the floor, surrounds Anon, and enters her body.
"OH!" The nictating membrane immediately clouds over her eyes. Her arms spasm outward, knocking over her vials and materials. Shouting in Ktak, Anon slaps at her arms, her head, her torso, stamps her feet. She switches to Federation Standard. "Get out, get out!" Back to cursing in Ktak. She doubles over. Her fingers dislocate.
Andersen slaps the communication console. "Geo/Hydro Lab to Sickbay. Crewman in distress. We need help right now!" She runs to Anon. "Soli! What's the matter!"
#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#
In Shuttle Bay, McCoy has increased the O2 level generated by the pack. "Kevintek, I'm just going to blow some oxygen by you. Good? Take it in. Come on back, Kevinteck. Come on. We're not going to lose a Vulcan on my watch, dammit. Come on. Chapel, I need the co-ag."
Kevintek opens his eyes, and looks past McCoy to Spock. "They hate gravity. They hate the atmosphere." His face is twisted in pain. "They hate my blood. That is illogical. They ..." He is silent again.
McCoy has grabbed his tricorder and is scanning the yellow shirt. "Only getting the one EEG now." Chapel hands McCoy an injector, which McCoy uses on Kevintek's torso. "Chapel, let's get this man to Sickbay. I'll get him to the lift. Tell Rollins he's on the way." McCoy pushes the gurney toward the elevator at a run. Chapel gathers the gear, stuffs it back in the kit, starts to follow while on her communicator.
Spock runs after the med team. "Who's the better candidate? Kevintek!"
McCoy's communicator goes off, and he hears Rollins's voice. "Problem in the Geo/Hydro Lab, Doctor. Crewman in acute distress."
McCoy rolls the gurney into the lift. "You're about to get your answer, Spock."
#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#==#
In the Geo/Hydro Lab, the science teams are trying to figure out how to approach the thrashing Anon.
Manniar moves forward, then jumps back. "Is she having a seizure? What's that noise?"
"It's Ktak." Andersen edges towards her friend. "She's speaking Ktak. Why … Soli!" Andersen seizes Anon's shoulders, and is thrown violently away. She flaps her hands in pain. "What the hell?"
With an obviously massive effort, Anon straightens up. She coughs and spits. Two golden lights fly out with blood and spittle, and she stomps on them. Then she is wracked again with spasms, spins, slams her arms on the counter, spins again, bangs her head on the doorway repeatedly. She shouts again in Ktak, curses that even Andersen doesn't recognize.
Spock and McCoy arrive. McCoy aims his tricorder at Anon. Spock observes, reflects, glances out the door whence they came, at the Atmos lab across the corridor.
Spock gives the order. "Teams, evacuate the lab." The Hydros obey at full speed.
Andersen is defiant. "I'm not leaving my sister!" She ignores her tingling hands and seeks another approach.
"Only getting one EEG, Spock," McCoy announces. "She may be lucid. Good Lord!" Anon's elbows dislocate, then return to normal; now it's her shoulders, her arms flung into impossible positions, now her fingers again.
Spock raises his voice. "Ensign Anon. Are you able to get to the HBC across the corridor?"
"Are you insane, Spock?" McCoy is livid.
Spock ignores the doctor. "Ensign?"
"Yes. Dammit dammit dammit." More Ktak. Anon regards the door, lurches toward it, then is struck again. "You're not getting in my brain you bastards! Not!" She staggers through the door, but again is frozen in place.
Andersen mutters, "I'm so sorry, Soli. So sorry." She charges hard at Anon, and successfully knocks her across the hall towards the Atmos Lab. Andersen is thrown aside by the force field, and lands on her back. McCoy approaches in confusion to assist, but she waves him off, regains her feet, and limps after Anon.
Anon has made it to the door to the Atmos Lab, which contains the Hyperbaric Chamber to which Spock referred. She takes several more steps, stops, more steps, but again is frozen, an agonizing meter from the HBC.
"I apologize, Ensign." Spock follows the example of Andersen and runs at Anon, this time shoving her to the HBC. She hits the floor with the power of the collision and crawls the rest of the way into the chamber. Spock too is thrown back, but makes his way to the HBC control panel, seals the chamber, then raises both local gravity and atmospheric pressure. McCoy has followed them into the Atmos Lab, and continues to record the incident on his tricorder.
On her hands and knees, Anon coughs and spits repeatedly, producing golden sparks that she smashes with her hands. Suddenly, still on her knees, she is rigid. The lights exit her body, but as she slashes at them with her arms and hands, they seem unable to form the traveling wave previously observed. Despite the increased local gravity, she gets her feet under her and lunges at the lights repeatedly, falling, thrashing, chopping up their every attempt to coalesce.
McCoy's attention is no longer on his tricorder. "What the hell is she doing?"
Even in their dispersed state, there are clearly fewer of the lights; suddenly, there are none. Anon drags herself to the bench in the chamber, hauls herself onto it, but then gravity wins, and she quietly concedes. McCoy is still scanning her. Spock is scanning the area, aiming his tricorder in all directions.
Without looking up, Spock acknowledges Andersen. "Thank you for your quick thinking and actions, Andersen. Evacuate the unit now." The red alert continues its deafening shrieks and disruptive flashing. "Where did they go?"