Uhura giggled.
She couldn't help it. It was just ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. She giggled louder just to make sure Cheiko could hear her.
Chieko heard her and growled almost dejectedly.
Spock walked over to the two girls, Cheiko and Hannah, who were both unfortunately tangled by their hair to an open machine. "Are either of you in pain?" Spock asked emotionlessly. This was pretty ridiculous and improbable, but after teaching for three years Spock's tolerance for cadet stupidity had increased almost exponentially.
Cheiko tried to turn her head to face Spock but ended up just ripping out a couple strands of hair. She yelped. "Yes!"
"Not really." Hannah said. "I think someone should take Fritz to the infirmary though. We haven't eaten since breakfast and I think he just passed out from hunger." She was about to shrug but she didn't want to pull out any more hair by moving.
Uhura walked over to her friend Fritz. He was sprawled out on the floor behind a counter; his body was not visible until standing right above it. She held her fingers under his nose. "Fritz is still breathing normally. I think Hannah is right. I can take him to the infirmary." She didn't move to help him up though, she wanted to make sure her other friend Hannah was okay as well.
The earlier cadet walked over and stopped standing behind Uhura. "He passed out when Tanaka started screaming bloody murder. I thought he was just scared, I made sure he was alright before I went looking for an officer."
"Do I know yo-" Uhura's whispered question was interrupted by Spock's more authoritative tone.
"What happened?"
Chieko spoke up before Hannah could. "Hannah attacked me, sir!"
The cadet held out his hand to Uhura. She took it hesitantly but his friendly smile put her at ease. He helped her stand up so they could both watch Cheiko freak out.
"Is this true Cadet Ritter?"
Hannah sighed. "Absolutely not Lieutenant Spock. Everyone knows that Cadet Tanaka's fantastical tendencies and her... 'hallucinations'." She cupped her mouth, pretending like she was trying to keep Cheiko from hearing.
They were both his students, and though they were freshman he was sure he had a general gist of their personalities after a semester. Then again... what did he know of humans? Spock forced himself to snap back to the situation at hand. He remembered that the two girls were constantly bickering in and out of class over the slightest differences in opinion.
He did not believe Cheiko Tanaka, but he did not approve of Hannah Ritter's obvious taunting. He wanted to know what had happened, and he wanted to fix it immediately. Why did they have to ask me to fix an emotional feud?
Spock remembered the boy who had sent for him. He saw him standing close to Uhura, too close. Did they know each other? Why does that matter? I need to focus! "Cadet, state your name." He noticed too late that his question had come out as an order, a curt almost hostile order.
"Sinclair, sir. Byron Sinclair." Byron didn't like the way Spock was looking at him. Sure his face was as calm and stony as usual, but he didn't like what was going on in the man's dark eyes. Byron just didn't trust the unearthly alien.
"Were you present when these two cadets were caught in this machine?" Spock tried to modulate his voice; he wasn't as successful as he hoped.
Byron remained calm. In response to the Lieutenant's cold manner he began to speak with a lilt of a pretentious drawl. This grated on Spock's nerves more than anything. Uhura found his accent charming. "Yes, sir I was. Would you like me to relay the events to you, sir?"
"Promptly, Cadet Sinclair."
Uhura wondered why she suddenly remembered the two dogs that use to circle each other growling in her old neighborhood. She waved it from her thoughts to focus on Byron's explanation.
"We, that is the Ritter twins, Cadet Tanaka, and I were working in here in the phaser lab room to finish a physics lab-"
"Are you a freshman?" Spock interrupted, it was an irrelevant question but he wanted to know more about Sinclair, he didn't trust the boy.
"No, sir. I am a sophomore."
"Then why are you taking a lab with freshmen?" Spock didn't understand what he was feeling at the moment, but he liked it. He felt smug.
"I wasn't, sir. I am in the class ahead of them, I just wanted to help out some underclassmen because I am the Physics Teacher's Assistant and I had some free time. Sir."
"Commendable." Spock didn't feel smug anymore. "What is this machine they are stuck in? And how did they manage to get tangled in its gears?"
"It's a really old computing machine. Unlike the new technologies which communicate mainly through electrical impulses it actually has several moving parts and gears. It's basically a relic; I'm surprised you don't know about it."
Chieko gasped. The tension was growing by the second and Byron's direct taunt felt like it was going to start an eruption.
Thankfully Spock refused to react and Byron continued with his explanation. "After I had shown Fritz how to compute some of the equations using the new software I opened the machine up to look at the gears. I wanted to see if I could figure out how they worked. Once Cadet Tanaka finished her lab she came over and began asking some questions. Cadet Ritter finished soon after and wanted to learn about the machine as well. They got into a fight-"
Chieko interrupted shrilly. "She started it!"
Byron ignored her. "They got into a fight. I stepped back. It got physical. They started pulling each other's hair. One of them tripped and dragged the other with them into the gears. I hadn't turned off the machine while they were fighting so their hair got caught before I could turn it off. So yeah, they've been in there for around twenty minutes now. I don't know why but there were no other officers around when I went looking."
"Yeah, it's getting late." Uhura said to herself. "And dark."
"So when is someone going to do something and get us out of here? My scalp hurts." Hannah asked exasperatedly.
"Yeah! And she smells funny."
"Get over yourself. I smell fine you little cretin." Hannah wanted to punch Chieko in the face but she didn't want to get suspended with Spock standing right there.
"The only way to set you girls free is to cut the hair."
"Nooo!" Chieko cried. "My beautiful black hair that would be blasphemy! I'm going to sue you Ritter; I'm going to sue your pants off. I'm going to get you expelled for this. I hate you..." She dwindled off into incoherent sobs.
"Whatever. I wanted a hair cut anyway." Hannah shrugged. She was prepared to pay for her stupidity, she was just happy that Cheiko had to suffer as well. She could always grow her hair out, it wasn't that long anyway. Cheiko would be crying about this for months, the sacrifice would be worth it. "I just hope that people can still tell me apart from Fritz once we both have short hair."
"Cadet Sinclair, do you know where scissors would be located?"
"...This is a phaser lab. Why don't you use a phaser, sir." Uhura laughed at Byron's response.
"Because it would be dangerous. They could get hurt."
"Not if you use one of these." Byron opened a drawer and pulled out a little thing that looked like a pen with a button. He pressed the button and a thin red beam three inches long shot out from the end. "It's still experimental. But it gets the job done. I fine piece of work I should say."
"I do not want that near my head! Mommy!" Cheiko screamed.
"Shut up Tanaka!" Byron yelled in Cheiko's face. She quieted immediately. Her screams stifled in her frozen throat. "I trust it. I did help design it. It won't hurt you, as long as Lieutenant Spock isn't a butterfingers." He let go of the button and handed it to Spock. "Try to keep it at least two inches away from their scalp and it shouldn't burn them. Also don't hold the laser on their hair for too long or they might combust, if you use quick slicing motions it should do the trick. It's not powerful enough to damage the machine just strong enough to cut hair or paper. Just put it away when you're done with it."
"If you are so familiar with the tool why do you not free the girls?"
"I don't want to be liable." Byron stated matter of factly. "I'm sorry Hannah, I would love to free you but I really don't have the financial security to deal with a Tanaka driven lawsuit. You understand right?"
Hannah smiled weakly. "Coward, but yeah, I understand. It's ok, thanks for helping us with our lab though."
"Great. I'm sure you'll be fine. Just don't attack Tanaka while the teacher is looking ok, wait till he turns around." He winked playfully. "I'll go get your brother to the infirmary now; I don't think the cold tile floor is helping him much."
Spock held the laser pen then pressed the button. He twitched as the laser blade shot out.
Byron walked back over to Uhura and Fritz. He slid his arms under Fritz's torso and knees and lifted him up. He began walking out of the lab with the unconscious boy in his arms.
"Wait, let me help you." Uhura stopped when she made eye contact with Byron.
"Sure, grab his bag." He jutted his chin out at the bag's direction
Uhura was a little offended. She wasn't weak and she didn't like being treated as such. Fritz was her friend and she wanted to help him. She swallowed her pride though and picked up the bag, she wasn't about to demand to carry a body she might drop half way there.
Without a second word to Spock the two walked out towards the infirmary.
Spock barely noticed them as they left, or so he wished.
His chest burned with frighteningly aggressive emotions.