Time Trek, Chapter 10

Kirk had ordered Masters to escort Keenan back to her assigned guest quarters and begged her to stay this time. She told him she wasn't planning on any more excursions. Mintak's group had been beamed down to their new planet and they were now on course to Romulus to drop off the others. Before dematerializing, Mintak had apologized to the captain for scaring Yeoman Rand so badly. He didn't realize he was that scary-looking. Of course, the universal translator had been confiscated, but Spock was there and interpreted his words.

Masters and Keenan went down the corridor quietly.

"I suppose my space adventure is over now." Keenan said pensively.

"Don't feel too badly, Astrid. At least you got to meet the crew. Isn't that supposed to be every science fiction fan's fantasy—to meet the fictional characters they have loved for years?"

"You're very perceptive, Charlene. That's exactly right."

They paused at the entrance to her assigned quarters. Suddenly, there was a whizzing sound, akin to a Capellan Kligat slicing through the air. It was Rihan's sharp dagger. To Master's horror, she realized a moment later that it was the same one that had killed the security man near the cargo bay. It sliced deeply into Keenan's arm. The girl screamed and sank to her knees. Swiftly, Masters whipped out her sidearm, quickly set it to kill, and fired at the Romulan woman. She hit the alien's chest dead center. The Romulan fell in a heap. Masters quickly assessed Keenan's wound. It was a very deep cut, almost to the bone, with a lot of blood. The knife must have severed a vein or an artery. Quickly, the woman engineer took off her gun belt and used it as a tourniquet. By now, her twenty-first century friend was barely conscious and was going into shock. Masters ran to a wall communicator and flipped the switch with a bloody hand.

"Masters to sickbay! Medical emergency at Keenan's quarters! Hurry!"

***

Astrid came to consciousness quickly after Doctor McCoy repaired her injury. She had not dreamed this time. At least, she did not remember dreaming. In a way, she was relieved. She had detested that other life she had left behind. On the other hand, the fact that she had not dreamed at all since that day they were all placed in the brig left her a little concerned and wondering why. She could not fathom a possible reason, but, after a while, she made up her mind that somehow she was being integrated into this universe. She liked that idea, and stuck with it, in hopes that she was right.

She found herself lying in a bed next to Rand's. The poor yeoman still looked as if she had been run over by a truck. Astrid could see an ugly bruise on her forehead, which was partially hidden by a fresh bandage. Other than that injury, the rest of her looked as if the cloud creature from "Obsession" had drained all the hemoglobin from her body. Astrid felt sorry for her, but then realized from Master's worried expression that she must not look too great herself. McCoy was also there, taking readings from her overhead panel.

"Well, it's about time." He said gently. "How do you feel?"

It took some effort to turn her head to look at him. It felt like it was going to float right off her shoulders.

"Are you all right?" Masters asked anxiously.

Keenan nodded. The movement made the room tilt and spin. She was glad she was lying down.

"For a gal who just gave blood the hard way…" Astrid rasped, her eyes focusing on the woman engineer. "What happened? How did she escape? Did you get her?"

"She escaped through that hole we made in the air duct." McCoy answered instead. "Masters almost killed her. M'Benga is working on her now."

"Any more of them escape?"

"No. Everyone else was too beefy." Masters answered.

McCoy and Keenan both smiled with relief. The doctor looked at the engineer.

"Speaking of beefs, Charlene, the captain might get a little miffed if you don't return to duty soon. Don't worry about your friend, here. She'll be back to normal by tomorrow morning. If you hadn't had been there…"

"I know, Doctor. She'd be pushing up daisies."

"Thanks, you two." Astrid said gratefully.

"What are friends for? Besides, you saved my life, so now we're even."

Keenan suddenly grinned devilishly.

"M'Benga, hah? Boy is he going to have fun!"

"What do you mean?"

"The Vulcan form of self-healing, of course." McCoy stared at her in puzzlement. Masters grinned back at her. "Doctor, don't tell me you don't know about it. I know this is only first season, but, jee…."

***

"Captain's log, screw the star date." He paused, noticing the bridge crew was stifling giggles. They knew that star dates were meaningless five thousand years in the past, but their captain rarely said anything so off-the-wall when recording his log. He smiled and continued. "Things are slowly returning to normal and we are now heading to Romulus to drop off our…guests. The Vulcan pilot of the deportation vessel, Sarnel, had elected to be dropped off on Mintaka III after we deposit the Romulans on their new home world. We now have to figure out a way back to our own time and space. My only hope at this point in time is that we don't run into any more alien trouble."

Kirk stopped the recorder and looked at the passing stars on the view screen. No matter how they decided to do it, they were in for a mighty rough ride. Going back a paltry three hundred years via the slingshot effect and the black star had been child's play. Returning to the twenty-third century from some five thousand years in the past was another matter. He saw only two options, both equally dangerous. The slingshot effect would have to be attempted several times, and Kirk did not relish the thought of the Enterprise being roughed up like that. The other option was a controlled implosion of the engines—a reverse application of what they had done after pulling away from PSI 2000. That idea seemed slightly less hazardous, but the crew had already been through too much stress in the last couple of days. There had to be a better way. He decided to go to sickbay and consult their mysterious passenger. Maybe she had some knowledge on how to get them back home. It was worth a try. She seemed to know everything else about them.

"Mr. Riley, I'm headed for sickbay to have a talk with Miss Keenan. You have the conn. ETA to Romulus?"

"Five point eight light days at current speed, sir."

"Increase speed to warp six, Lieutenant. I want to get rid of those bums as soon as possible."

"Aye, Captain." Riley answered, a little amused, although he was still clearly worried about Janice. McCoy had assured both him and Scott that she was going to be fine, but neither man knew whether to believe him or not. Riley did not dare ask permission to accompany the captain to see for himself, for he and Scott were needed very badly on the bridge at the moment.

Kirk had confined Ensign Finney to her quarters for the duration of the flight home. She had recovered quickly from Riley's phaser stun, but her career in Starfleet was probably over. She had made a request to apologize to the crew for her nasty little trick with the ship's computers, and for scaring Yeoman Rand half to death. The captain could see that Jame was filled with remorse, but that didn't change the fact that she was going to be court-martialled, since even striking a fellow crewmember was grounds for such an action.

Kirk's thoughts then shifted back to their guest from the twenty-first century as he went into the turbo lift. What was he going to do about her? She had made it clear to him in the brig that she had no intention of returning to the totalitarian world she had left behind. He didn't blame her one bit, but it disturbed him to know that she knew absolutely everything about the crew and this universe. What would she do if she was to be returned to her Earth? Surely, no harm would come to her if she were to tell of her adventures on the Enterprise. Who would believe her? After all, she did say that his crew and he, himself were all just fictional characters from an old science fiction television show. If she did tell anybody anything, she would most likely be hauled off to a mental institution somewhere.

***

The first thing that Janice Rand became aware of was the gentle warbling sound of a medical scanner above her aching head. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. She was greatly relieved to see Nurse Chapel holding the little device and taking readings.

"Finally!" Christine said softly. Happily, she turned and called to McCoy, who was tending to another patient.

Bones came up from behind Christine and studied the panel above Rand's head. He noticed that the K-3 indicator was well above normal. Janice was in a great deal of pain, which came as no surprise to either of them. She had suffered at least three hard blows to her cranium and had screamed so loudly she had temporarily damaged her vocal chords. Janice attempted to speak, but soon found out for herself that her voice was gone. The effort brought more pain and tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry…" She mouthed weakly.

"Sorry?" McCoy echoed in puzzlement. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"Ch…Chekov…" She managed to whisper. "Couldn't…protect him. Is he…?"

"Chekov is fine." McCoy assured her. "In fact, he's now in better shape than you are."

***

Astrid had gone back to sleep, and was not awake to witness Rand's recovery. This time, when she opened her eyes, she saw Captain Kirk standing at her bedside. McCoy and Chapel were apparently off treating other patients. McCoy requested that Jim not stay very long, for Keenan was still pretty weak from loss of blood.

"Captain…?" She addressed him groggily.

"How are you doing, Miss Keenan?"

"All right, I guess, sir. Thanks. To what do I owe this honor, Captain?"

"I have come to ask you if you know of a way we can get back to our century without too much danger to the ship."

Astrid considered his question thoughtfully for a moment. They were not yet due to know about Gary Seven's transporter or the Actavacron, so she decided not to mention them.

"Slingshot effect? Controlled implosion?"

"Very dangerous, both. I need something else."

She then thought of the Q and Trelane. The crew wasn't due to know about the Q yet, either. She also thought that Kirk would quite probably prefer to dine on "Conspiracy" grubs than to ask for Trelane's help. There was only one alternative left.

"How about returning to the Guardian planet? The worst thing that could happen would be if it said no."