Part XII

Nurse Chapel was practically growling when Mister Spock came up to her, but none of her grumbling was directed as him. She was muttering to McCoy, but the discontent wasn't aimed at the doctor either, but rather toward what had been done to him as she examined his back.

"Just what all have they done to you, Leonard?"

"A great deal more than they had any right to."

As usual, Spock hadn't made much in the way of noise as he approached the scene and Chapel was startled at his voice coming from directly behind her. Spock's eyes narrowed as he took his first look at McCoy's back, but met Chapel's eyes after she relowered the doctor's shirt.

"My apologies. I was not trying to cause any distress, but I have a question that I must have answered. I believe there is a way that you are able to deaden the signals from the brain to the body in such a way that the brain could still be active while the body would be in a state similar to unconsciousness?"

"Yes, we could do that, but why would we need to?"

"I want to consult with Doctor McCoy over the possible nature of the implant in his spinal region, however, the implant is designed to cause the doctor a great deal of pain any time that he regains consciousness if he is not in the colony's underground area."

While some of the estimations Chapel made about how the Vestorians had been conceived did not sound entirely possible, Spock did not interrupt her as she vented her disgust even as her hands moved efficiently in checking her medical bag and preparing what was needed. She rechecked the hypo twice before gently pressing it against the doctor's neck and injecting the necessary drugs into his system.

"Give his body another sixty seconds and then you should be able to wake his mind up without his body being the wiser."

"Thank you, Nurse."

The idea of what was needed to be done was distasteful to Spock, if only because of how much McCoy disliked the idea of being a part of a mind melding, but the options were limited without going back down into the colony. That, in Spock's opinion, would not only be counter-productive, but possibly dangerous since they would be dependant on the Vestorians to return to the surface again.

Finding no other satisfactory alternative, Spock knelt down beside McCoy's body. Gently, Spock laid his fingers along the side of McCoy's face.

~Doctor, my apologies for entering without your permission, but currently that cannot be avoided and still speak with you to obtain your input.~

~Much as I grumbled when your damn buzzing was missing out of the back of my brain, it'd be hypocritical for me to kick you out now. So - what's going on?~

Spock quickly caught the doctor up on everything that had occurred since they had beamed up from the colony.

~Am I correct in my assumption that the only surgeon aboard the Enterprise with the medical background and necessary experience for the type of surgery required is yourself?~

~Afraid so, Spock. We have a cardio-vascular specialist and an orthopedic surgeon, but I'm the only fully qualified neurosurgeon onboard. And as far as the colony here is concerned, I think we can all be in perfect agreement that Havarn's not going to be doing any additional surgeries on me. That quack's already done one more surgery on me than I'm comfortable with. Wait - I can feel that brain of yours churning, Spock. What do you have in mind?~

~I am well aware that such a thing would be highly unorthodox, but would you be willing to perform surgery on yourself if such a thing was possible?~

~Highly unorthodox is rather an extreme understatement. Exactly how do you figure that I might be able to pull something like that off?~

~I can deepen our connection to the point where I allow you to take over the motor skills of my body. Would that suffice?~

~Not without practice, Spock. It's not just having hands, it's knowing those hands intimately. Their strengths and weaknesses. How much pressure is just right to accomplish what you're attempting to do. And just how sure are you that you would be able to stand me being in the driver's seat? Because if there's a problem and your body hesitates at the wrong time, might as well go ahead and make use of your phaser so it's at least over with quickly.~

~Our options at this time are, unfortunately, limited. Unless you can think of an alternative beyond those that I have considered, we have four basic options. One has already been rejected and I concur that allowing Doctor Havarn further access to you would be, as the old Earth saying goes, borrowing trouble. The second option would be to allow one of the other Enterprise surgeons to attempt the removal. The third option would require keeping you unconscious until such time as we could reach a place with appropriate medical assistance available, however, it would be very likely be that Earth is the closest location where a qualified neurosurgeon would be found. The final option would be as I have already noted - you performing the surgery on yourself through me.~

There was a long pause and Spock could feel the undercurrent as the doctor mentally reviewed the options. The second option was rejected rather quickly. While he trusted his staff, he trusted them in their areas of expertise - and this was not any of theirs. The third option was mulled over the longest, but the main concern was loud enough that Spock couldn't help 'overhearing' it - there was the very real chance that McCoy's body would end up remaining in an induced coma until the end of their current five-year mission. It wasn't so much concern for himself, but concern for the rest of the crew (especially, Spock noted, himself and the captain) possibly needing, but not being able to access his medical skills that tipped the scales to rejecting that option. That left only the fourth option.

~Well, Spock - looks like you and me got a whole heap of practicing to do.~