Chapter 10

Friday night, 2066 Derby Drive, Scotty's room.

Scotty stared at the enormous sketchpad sitting in front of him, trying to think through the noise of his older brother's stereo, his older sister talking on the phone, and his younger brothers screeching and bouncing off the walls.

It'd have tae be a pretty long pipe, but I could use air pressure tae launch it…

"Grenade!" shrieked one of his younger brothers from downstairs.

There'd have to be a plunger tae pull it back…

"Oh my God, Etana, no way," said his sister from the next room over.

How on earth would I load it?

"I'm tellin' you it's sabotage!" screamed his older brother's stereo.

Dangit, I canna bloody hear myself think!

Irritably, Scotty picked up the drawings and headed out of his room, down the creaking stairs and into the kitchen where his mother, a cheerful, plump, red-haired woman, was sitting at the stove, making dinner.

"Whatchye doin' Gummy?" she asked him as he made for the door to the garage.

Scotty winced at his mother's pet name for him. "Jes' goin' to the garage," he answered, "it's too loud inside."

"Ye buildin' something?" she asked, smiling.

"Aye…" he said, trailing off and eyeing the pot on the stove his mother was stirring suspiciously. "What're ye making? Not haggis again?"

"I thought ye liked haggis," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"It gets old, mum," Scotty answered.

His mother laughed. "No, not haggis, Gummy, it's leek soup."

Scotty let out a sigh of relief and entered the garage, closing the door behind him, muffling the noise from the rest of the house.

He sat down at the workbench in the corner and flicked on the light, spreading out his drawings.

He looked them over, then picked up a pencil out of the enormous coffee mug on the windowsill, and started making adjustments.

About ten minutes passed before Scotty put the pencil down and professed himself ready to start building. He stood up to start collecting materials.

"Hey, Gum."

Scotty turned to see his father standing in the doorway, just home from the shop, a weary smile on his thin face, running a gloved hand over his balding head.

"Hi, Dad," Scotty answered.

"Ye workin' on somethin'?" he asked, walking over and taking a look at Scotty's plans. "Is this for a spud launcher?"

Scotty shrugged. "More of a dirt launcher, really."

"This some kind of school project?" his father asked.

Scotty hesitated for a moment, and then spoke: "No…jes' somethin' for me an' the boys."

His father smiled. "Ye lookin' for some help?"

Scotty looked up. "Sure," he said.

His father sat down next to him, looking over the drawings.

"What d'ye think?" asked Scotty.

"I like it," his father answered, "I like the design a lot."

Scotty beamed.

"May I make a suggestion?" his father asked.

Scotty nodded.

"If distance is what you're lookin' for, I think that spring-loaded might work better than air-powered," his father said, pointing to Scotty's sketch of the gun barrel.

Scotty stared at the sketch, thinking. His eyes widened. "Dad, that's genius!" he cried, "No wonder you're runnin' the whole garage."

His father looked at him, frowning. "The whole garage?" he asked, "No, Gum, runnin' a garage isn't impressive. Runnin' a shipyard, maybe…but not a garage."

"But you don't run a shipyard, Dad," Scotty said, looking curiously at his father.

"Aye, but that's jes' the thing, right?" his father asked, "If I'd gone tae university, I would be."

"But Dad…I jes' wanna do what you do."

"Gum, no…ye see…" his father hesitated for a moment before continuing, "You've got tae set your sights higher. Think of it this way. What would ye rather be doing? Sittin' here, out in th' middle of nowhere, runnin' a local garage and fixin' people's cars, raisin' a family on practically nothin'…or would you rather be designing your own ships, comin' up with new theories of relativistic physics, say. Maybe workin' for Starfleet." His father smiled slightly. "I could see you as bein' Chief Engineer of a starship someday, Gum. Wouldn't that be somethin'?"

Scotty imagined it, standing on the engineering deck of a starship, proudly smiling at his work on the warp drive.

"Aye," he said, "that'd be really great."

"But in order tae do that, ye have to go to university," his father told him, "get yourself an education."

Scotty nodded. "Okay, Dad," he said.

His father smiled. "There's a good lad," he answered, ruffling Scotty's hair. "Shall we get started, then?"

Saturday afternoon, Arbor Street.

"This is so crazy."

"I can't believe all this is happening in Riverside. I mean, for cryin' out loud, it's the middle of nowhere!"

"Ny, are you sure this isn't some insane scheme the boys have done to pull a prank on us?"

Nyota looked at her chattering friends as they headed down Arbor Street toward the junkyard where they'd been instructed to meet the boys.

"A prank?" Nyota asked, frowning.

Janice, who had suggested the idea, shrugged. "You know boys," she said, reasonably.

"No," Nyota answered, "I don't think so. Spock wouldn't do that sort of thing. Besides—he came to talk to me on Monday about it—it'd have to be pretty elaborate."

"Leonard wouldn't do that either," Christine piped up.

"With Jim Kirk as a friend?" Gaila snorted, "Bet he would."

"But Spock wouldn't," Nyota answered.

"How do you know?" Gaila questioned.

Nyota shrugged. "I just know," she answered. "He's different. Spock's trustworthy."

"I dunno, gals," Janice said, cautiously, "I still think it's a little far fetched that Romulan assassins are here in Riverside trying to mess up negotiations between Earth and Vulcan."

"Why would the negotiations be in Riverside, anyway?" Gaila asked, frowning, "It's not like there's any big, crazy Starfleet operation going on. Not like San Francisco, anyways."

"Because it's secret," replied Nyota, "And we've been through this already—Spock told us on Thursday."

"Yeah, but where's the proof?" Janice asked.

"Well, I'm sure whatever it is, they'll show us," Nyota answered.

The girls then rounded the corner past Farmer Barrett's house and found themselves at the playground.

"Where are they?" asked Hikaru impatiently, checking his watch. "It's three thirty-seven. They're late."

"Hikaru, your watch is fast, remember?" Len asked from his place leaning against the antique car.

"And anyways, we weren't early, lad," Scotty added.

"How's the dirt launcher coming, Scotty?" asked Jim, who was sitting on top of the antique car, looking up at the could-patched sky.

"Pretty good," Scotty answered, "I've jes' got tae attach the barrel an' test it."

Jim nodded. "Good," he said. "Spock, anything on the negotiations?"

"I have not found any information on the time or location of the negotiations," Spock answered.

"Okay, seriously, guys?" Hikaru interrupted, "Now my watch says it's three-forty."

"Jeez, lad, your watch is really fast," Scotty remarked.

"They have arrived," Spock said.

Sure enough, Nyota, Gaila, Janice and Christine had appeared from around the corner and were approaching the playground.

Jim, Len, Hikaru and Scotty stared in confusion at Spock and Pavel as they both immediately stood.

The boys, still seated, exchanged confused glances, and then, with expressions of dawning realization, all sprang to their feet.

The girls stopped just before the red antique car.

Spock took a step forward, but said nothing.

Nyota did the same.

A long, awkward silence followed.

Finally, Christine, with an enormous smile on her face, squeaked, "Hi, Leonard!"

Len let out a resigned sigh. "Hi, Christine," he muttered, staring up at the clouds.

"Hi," Nyota finally said, giving Spock a small smile.

"Hello," Spock replied. The corners of his mouth twitched. He hesitated a moment, and then turned to Jim.

Jim stepped forward, nodding once to the girls.

"Right," he said, "Let's get started."

He sat down on an old tire next to the antique car, and the others followed suit, taking seats on other old tires, empty gasoline barrels, and plastic crates, settling into a circle.

" 'Kay," Jim began, scanning the circle, "I assume everyone knows everyone here. Am I right?"

There were nods throughout the group.

"Good," Jim said. He turned his gaze toward the girls. "Spock tells me that you guys are all up to speed on the situation. You guys have any questions?"

Nyota exchanged glances with Gaila, Janice and Christine. All three shook their heads.

"No," Nyota said.

"But one concern," Gaila spoke up, holding up a finger, "Prove it."

"Gaila," Nyota hissed.

Jim raised his eyebrows at Gaila.

Gaila looked Jim in the eye. "Yeah," she repeated, "Prove it. Listen, Kirk, not all of us are just gonna take it for granted that there are Romulans in Riverside trying to mess up negotiations. I wanna know what makes you think that. Prove it."

"Prove it?" Hikaru repeated, outraged, "You think we'd lie about this sort of thing?"

"Look at this!" Scotty said, furiously thrusting forward his bruised wrist, "I got attacked by a Romulan jes' a week ago!"

"How'd ya know he was a Romulan?" Gaila retorted.

"He had green blood, for cryin' out loud!" Len said, exasperated.

"Jeez, if you didn't believe us in the first place, why'd you even come?" Hikaru snapped.

Gaila shot Hikaru a glare that could've singed off his eyebrows.

"Guys, it's ok," Jim said, calmly, taking advantage of the break in conversation, looking around the circle. His eyes fell on Gaila. "If Gaila wants us to prove it, we will. Come on."

He stood and started walking toward Farmer Barrett's cornfield.

The others exchanged glances and then stood to follow.

As Gaila started to walk toward the cornfield, Nyota came up beside her.

"What is wrong with you?" Nyota demanded, sharply.

"I want them to prove it," Gaila answered.

"Yeah, I can see that!" Nyota hissed, "You didn't have to be so blunt about it! You could've asked nicely, you know."

"I would've sounded like a sissy," Gaila retorted, "If you're gonna disagree with somebody, you should at least be up front about it."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to be a jerk, Gaila."

Gaila smirked. "You've never had to deal with three older brothers," she replied.

Nyota looked up at the sky and sighed. "Whatever."

As the kids approached the cornfield, Jim stopped and turned, waiting for the others.

Gaila and Nyota were the first to get there.

Jim smiled at Gaila as she shot him an expectant look.

"Ladies first," he said, gesturing to the wall of corn.

Gaila raised her eyebrows at him suspiciously, and then parted the corn stalks and entered.

Nyota waited for Spock to catch up to her before following Gaila into the corn.

Moving between the tall stalks, they were silent for a moment.

Then Nyota spoke: "Gaila doesn't believe you guys."

"Indeed," Spock replied, nodding.

"But it's not her fault," Nyota added, "She's got three older brothers who like to play pranks on people, so she's just kind of suspicious that way. Although I think she was a little over-the-top with her demands."

"Perhaps," Spock said.

Nyota looked at him between the stalks of corn.

"I believe you, though," she told him.

Their eyes met. The corners of Spock's mouth twitched again.

"I know," he said.

They emerged out of the corn.

Gaila and Jim were the first ones to make it to the first ring of the crop circle.

Upon stepping out onto the path of flattened corn, Gaila stopped, looking all around her, almost straight-faced…but not quite.

Jim, watching her, allowed himself a ghost of a wry smile as he saw the surprise in her eyes.

After a moment, Gaila asked: "So…you think the Romulans did this?"

Nyota and Spock emerged from the corn.

"Wow," Nyota said, turning in a circle.

"Yes," Jim answered Gaila.

"Hmm." Gaila looked thoughtfully at her surroundings for a moment more as the others appeared from within the corn.

"So, are you in?" Jim asked, waiting for her answer.

Gaila turned to him, meeting his eyes, giving him a wry smile of her own. "For now."

The kids then returned to the playground, having shown the girls' the crop circle, and if not completely then at least partially lessened Gaila's doubt.

"All right," Jim said, as he and the others retook their seats in the circle, "Now that that's all done, I think we should talk about what we have to do next about the whole thing. We already have Scotty working on a dirt launcher in case that Romulan guy comes back. Spock is trying to find information on when and where the Earth-Vulcan negotiations are." He turned to Spock.

Spock nodded and continued. "I am currently using my father's access code to Starfleet radio transmissions, but Starfleet operates over the entire planet and uses many different languages, of which I speak only two: English and Vulcan." He turned to Nyota. "Nyota, since you are fluent in three Earth languages and familiar with four more, counting Vulcan, I believe your talents would be essential in assisting to gather information on the negotiations. We can use my father's access code to Starfleet transmissions." He gave her a significant look.

Hidden in Nyota's smile was a silent thank-you. "Sounds good," she said, meeting Spock's eyes again.

A beat passed as they stared at one another, and Jim and Len shared a bewildered glance.

" 'Kay," Jim said, breaking the spell between Nyota and Spock, who quickly looked away from one another, "So now that we've got that settled, I have an idea."

The kids turned their attention toward Jim, and he spoke. "I think we need to sneak into the shipyard."

At first, there was silence.

Then came a flurry of voices:

"The shipyard?"

"What's at the shipyard? Why would we even go there?"

"How are we gonna get there?"

"When would we go?"

"How would we get in, anyways?"

"Guys—guys, listen!" Jim shouted over the din.

The chatter died down, and Jim resumed talking.

"Listen," he said, "Most of the grown-ups have been talking about some weird thing that happened at the shipyard, and with everything that's been going on, I think it'd be worth it to go check it out."

"When would we go?" Nyota asked.

Jim shrugged. "As soon as possible. With good planning, I'd say next week is doable, if everybody can come."

Around the circle, the kids exchanged looks, nodding, confirming their availability.

"But how would we get in?" Scotty questioned, frowning, "I mean…if it's got top security an' all that…"

"Scotty is correct," Spock said, "Starfleet is not an organization that takes security matters lightly. It would be difficult to get in undetected."

"Never mind how we're gonna get in, how the heck are we gonna get there in the first place?" Len demanded, "Jim, the shipyard's ten miles away. I dunno about you, but I don't plan on walking."

"We could take the bus," suggested Janice.

"Yeah, ten kids without an adult taking a bus to a shipyard," Gaila snorted, "That'll fly."

"I'll cover transportation," Jim said.

Len sent Jim a serious look. "It's not worth it, Jim," he said, flatly.

"What's not worth it?" Pavel asked.

"Don't worry about it," Jim brushed him off, easily, "But I can't take more than four apart from myself."

Len glared at Jim, but said nothing.

"My mom can take the rest of us," piped up Christine, "She takes me wherever I want."

"Good," Jim said. "Let's do that."

"I'm coming with you," Gaila announced to Jim.

"That means…" Hikaru began, slowly, "…two of the boys'll have to go in the other car."

"Are you volunteering?" asked Gaila.

"Leonard can come with us!" Christine said, brightly, adding as an afterthought, "And Hikaru."

Len froze, looking frantically between Jim and Christine, making a strangled, choking noise, while Hikaru merely gaped at Gaila, speechless.

"Done," Jim proclaimed, glancing at Len and trying not to laugh.

"At what time should we meet to leave for the shipyard?" Spock asked.

"Well," Jim began, "We should plan on being back before sundown, so our parents don't get suspicious. How 'bout we meet here to leave around two, so—"

"Can't," Janice interrupted.

Jim blinked. "How come?" he asked her.

"Ny, Chris, Gaila and I have dance," she replied, "From two to four. Every other Saturday."

"Oh, yeah…I'd forgotten about that," Nyota realized, her lips tightening.

"Oh, c'mon, you guys can skip it for once," Gaila said, placing a stick of gum in her mouth and crossing her arms impatiently.

"Not me," Janice answered, darkly, "My mom wouldn't let me miss dance if my brains were leaking out my ears."

"What about in the morning?" Jim prompted.

"My mom can't drive us then," Christine told him, "she's teaching first aid to a bunch of high schoolers."

"So we'll leave at four fifteen—" Jim began, but all four of the girls cut him off with a din of protest.

"Four fifteen, are you crazy?"

"No, no, no, no, no, that's not gonna work."

"At least four thirty."

"But…I thought you said your dance practice ended at four," Jim said, confused.

"Well, yeah," Gaila said, playing with a lock of her curly red hair, "but we gotta have time to get home."

"To put our stuff away," Janice added.

"To pick out what we're gonna wear," Christine said.

"To clean up," Nyota shrugged.

"And to get back here," Gaila finished.

The boys stared at the girls, then shared glances, completely bewildered.

"That is so weird…" Jim said, "…okay. Guys, it looks like we're gonna have to fake a sleepover." He turned his attention back to the girls. "Four thirty," he said, "No later."

The girls looked at one another.

"I think we can swing that," said Janice.

" 'Kay," Jim said, nodding, "Everyone coming with me, meet here by four thirty. Christine, do you have anywhere specific you want everyone else to meet you?"

"Nope," she replied, cheerfully, "My mom can pick up everybody up. Although I need Hikaru's address."

Len, at this, finally found his voice. "What about my address?" he spluttered.

"Oh, I don't need it," Christine replied, smiling, "I know where you live."

All the blood drained from Len's face, and Jim put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Okay," he said, smiling widely, "it's settled, then. Scotty, bring the dirt launcher, just in case. Oh, and Gaila…" He turned to Gaila, his smile turning into a grin: "…tag! You're it!" And he tagged her on the shoulder and ran.

"Oh, you're dead!" Gaila shrieked, jumping to her feet and tearing after Jim across the playground.

Tag lasted for a good half hour, and then the kids switched to Spaceship, which, to the boys' surprise, the girls were remarkably good at.

At around six, the girls left for home, and Spock's mother came to pick him up.

Shortly after that, Scotty was called home by his mother. Hikaru and Pavel parted a few minutes later. Only Jim and Len were left.

The two boys sat, staring up at the dimming sky, pointing out shapes in the clouds.

"That's a chupacabra right there," Jim said, pointing to a large cloud overhead.

"Yeah, right," Len answered, grinning, "You don't even know what a chupacabra looks like."

"Fine, it's a giant, fanged cricket," Jim amended.

"Nuh-uh!" Len snorted, shaking his head.

"Well what do you think it looks like?" Jim demanded, laughing slightly.

Len thoughtfully regarded the cloud in question.

"I think…" he began, slowly, "…it looks kind of like a starship."

Jim tilted his head to one side to get a better angle. "Yeah," he nodded, "I can see that."

They fell silent for a moment, staring up into the sky.

Then Jim burst out laughing.

"What?" Len demanded. "What?"

"Nothing," Jim snorted, "it's just…I'm remembering the look on your face when Christine said she knew where you lived!"

"Oh, that," Len said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, about that, Jim…you just sentenced me to my imminent doom."

"Well, I couldn't very well have said no!" Jim protested, still laughing slightly, "C'mon, you'll have Hikaru to talk to. How bad could it be?"

"Famous last words, those," Len muttered.

"Seriously, though, it can't be that bad," Jim said, looking over at Len.

"Have you ever had a little girl walk up to you and squeal, 'Hi, Jimmy!'" Len asked, raising his eyebrows.

Jim winced at the name 'Jimmy'. "…Point taken," he said, looking back up at the cloud. A grin spread across his face. "…Leonard."

"Jimmy," Len responded.

"Leonard," Jim teased.

"Jimmy."

"Leonard."

"Jimmy."

"Bones."

Len stopped and stared at Jim, a bemused expression on his face. Then he shrugged and looked back up at the sky.

The two boys fell silent once more.

After another minute or so, Len spoke again: "It's not worth it, you know. What you're gonna do."

Jim was silent.

Len looked over at his friend, no longer smiling. "He's just gonna beat you up again."

No answer.

"Jim?"

Jim took a deep breath. "He's going to beat me up anyways," he answered.

"What makes you think getting the crap beat out of you is worth it?" Len asked, a warning in his tone. "We might not even find anything."

Jim sat up, meeting Len's eyes, a small smile on his face. "But we might. That's what makes it worth it." His smile widened. "…Leonard."

Len couldn't hide his own smile. "Jimmy."

The week following the meeting was spent in preparation for the trip to the shipyard.

Scotty finished building and successfully tested the dirt launcher, and declared it ready for action on Tuesday morning.

The girls, all of whom were fluent in Morse code, courtesy of Nyota, made several futile attempts to teach the boys the ancient communication system. Predictably, Spock was the only one who made any progress. He and Nyota began using Morse code to communicate through their radios while searching for information on the negotiations in the evenings.

Lastly, the kids set up a system of beacons between their houses to contact one another in case they couldn't use phones. It was partially based on a system the girls had set up, where Nyota would signal Gaila, Gaila would signal Christine, and Christine would signal Janice. The way it ran now was that Nyota would signal Gaila and contact Spock on her radio, Gaila would signal Christine, Christine would signal Len, Janice and Pavel, Janice would signal Hikaru, Len would call Scotty, and Scotty would signal Jim.

Janice had organized the order of signals. The kids successfully tested it on Thursday night, albeit with a little difficulty when the signal reached Scotty, who had had to give Len his brother's cell phone number in addition to his house number.

By Friday, everything was in place. Christine's mother had agreed to drive Christine's group to the shipyard, and all of the boys' parents thought they were camping out at the playground.

…And then came Saturday.