Chapter 51 - Charades
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"You should also return to the ship, Captain." Spock advised. "There is no reason Cmdr. Giotto cannot handle the remaining operational details." Nor had there been any reason Giotto could not have handled all of the details period. But the Vulcan left that unsaid.
"Soon." Kirk replied. "Stone is breathing down my neck for the records of Sorenson's interrogation. Once we extract those and I get them sent off, I'll come back."
"Jim," Selina placed a hand on his arm. "There are no such records."
"What do you mean?"
"No such records will be found." she said slowly.
"Look, I know you want to protect him. And God knows I wouldn't want my superiors watching a record of me being in the state we found him in. But they know it was from the overdose. No one is going to hold it against him. And if he really did resist that well, they'll probably give him a medal. Stone all but ordered me to find out how he did it, if he did."
Spock and Selina exchanged a look. "That information will depend on what Cmdr. Sorenson is capable of recalling once he recovers." Spock said. "Any such records are likely to be heavily encrypted. I should remain to aid in extracting them."
"No, Spock. He's your friend." Jim said. "You should go back to the ship."
"And as my friend, he will understand that the logical course of action is to apply myself where I can be of use rather than to stand ineffectually at his bedside." Spock tilted his head fractionally. "He will certainly forgive me if I postpone attending to him again in a state of delirium."
"He will understand, but we should rescue the staff in sickbay." Selina said. "It took even Faf a full day to break into Maldi's private records after much searching to find them. These may not even exist. We will have time."
"You might as well go, Spock. Right now we're still trying to find the records. If what you say is true, Selina, Stone is not going to be happy. Sorenson said he'd been given permission to use SI codes to access the base's and our computers." Jim said. "Even if we have Maldi, there's a danger if he got those."
"He did not." Selina said with a slight lift of her chin. "Stone knows somewhat of my abilities. As you yourself witnessed, I touched Faf's mind periodically during his interrogation. You may inform the Commodore that he has my assurance that nothing of consequence was revealed."
"I think he may want harder evidence than that. It would be so karmically satisfying if I could use verasitol to pull the information out of Maldi. But I have to play this straight." Jim made an exasperated sound. "And I doubt he's going to willingly tell us anything."
"I intend to see Faf now, but if you will wait I believe I can be of assistance in interrogating Maldi." Selina offered. "Few can hide the truth from me if I chose to see it."
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When Nyota looked in, McCoy was sitting in the outer office with his head in his hands and someone in the main sickbay was singing 'Green Grow the Lilacs'.
...I once had a sweetheart, but now I have none
She's gone and she's left me, I care not for one
Since she's gone and left me, contented I'll be,
For she loves another one better than me...
"How is he Len?" she asked.
McCoy looked up through bloodshot eyes. "He's beginning to rival Spock for most difficult patient, but for entirely different reasons. A little while ago he thought he was six years old and I was the Easter bunny and he wanted to play tag. A minute later he was yelling something about the Musashi and it took me and Christine both to hold him down. Then all of a sudden he turned into the galaxy's tallest leprechaun and started singing Irish ballads. I should be grateful he's at least lying still, but this is the sixth one."
Nyota pursed her lips. "Well, since you're grousing about him, I'll take that as a sign you think he's going to be okay."
"Yeah," the Doctor said with a crooked smile. "As long as the crazy goes away when the drugs wear off and I don't smother him with a pillow first. You know, he was singing when we broke him outta Maldi's sickbay. I'm beginning to think it's some sort of sneaky strategy to force doctors to let him go. Just don't you let Spock know that it's close to working."
"Here, Grumpy, have something to eat." Christine said, carrying in a tray of coffee and creamy grits. "I don't know what you're complaining about anyway. His voice isn't all that bad."
McCoy glared up at her balefully. "God knows I wouldn't subject my worst enemy to what he's been through, but I'd love to strap the so-called doctor who did it to him to the next bed, because being forced to listen is the only just punishment."
Nyota smiled. "I let Kirk know that he'd come to and he said he'd let Spock and Selina know as soon as it looked like Selina was okay. I think it'll help once they're here."
"In the meantime, IV fluids only go so far. Maybe we should offer him something to eat?" Christine suggested.
"Seizures seem to be under control, so it should be alright." McCoy sighed. "And it'll keep his mouth busy."
As Nyota and Christine walked into the main sickbay, Sorenson stopped singing and Nyota, trained in reading subtle body language, noticed a change come over him. "Is that tall blonde blur you Liz? Who's with you?"
Nyota looked a question at Christine. "I think she was a nurse on the Armstrong." Chapel whispered. "Based on the last time, it may be easier to just go with it." She smiled at him. "This is Nyota. She's new. I just came in to see if you wanted any breakfast."
"What? No joke about 'danishes'? Maybe you should lie down in the other bed. Or this one." He gave her a cartoonishly hopeful grin.
The suggestion had clearly been in jest, but the degree of familiarity made Christine wonder if playing along was really going to be easier. "You be good." Christine scolded. "You're going to give Nyota the wrong impression."
He laughed. "Provided she can see better than I can, she'll take one look at me and know I must be joking or out of my mind to even suggest it - which, considering that the only thing I'm seeing clearly right now is two Mugato playing chess on the ceiling, is probably not far from the truth."
"You seem remarkably calm about that." Nyota said, involuntarily glancing upward.
"I once read that insanity is knowing that what you're doing is completely idiotic, but still, somehow, you just can't stop it. On that basis, I have been crazy for years." He looked back up at the ceiling. "Right now, the hallucinations are just making it considerably more interesting."
"Is there anything that would help?" Nyota asked.
He raised his eyebrows at 'Liz' and failed miserably at trying to keep a straight face, giving in to a silly smile and barely suppressed laughter.
Now that the game was clear, Chapel laughed too. "Breakfast is all I'm offering, mister. And in your current condition the only thing I'll be doing by that bed is helping to feed you."
"Not even that, I think. Whatever is doing this to my brain is also unsettling my stomach." He sighed. "Maybe you help take my mind off it by singing with me?"
"Alright." Christine offered. "Just pick something where you can stick to baritone, okay?"
"I'd suggest 'The Scotsman Won First Prize'," he said with a mischievous grin, "but I can't sing that without cracking up even when I'm sober. Although it's always fun to hear you try, Ms. McKenzie." He raised his eyebrows hopefully, but Christine shook her head. "No? Not even for practice at keeping up appearances?"
"Appearances?" Nyota said.
Fafhrd grinned. "Since you're new, you don't know yet about our little charade. Liz and I pretend to be a couple when David's girlfriend is around. She keeps trying to fix me up with someone and she's really not good at it. I mean, I've had a Vulcan do better - although that sort of started the whole thing." His grin went sideways. "Anyway, Liz here has been kind enough to agree to run interference because the ship's the computer sort of mysteriously gives her preference on shore leave rotations and somehow only ever registers half of her liquor quota no matter how much she purchases."
Nyota laughed despite herself. She could almost see the roster of single guys in computational sciences scrolling through Christine's head. "You are devious."
There was no response. Fafhrd's eyes had glazed over and he'd fallen into a spacey smile.
"Damn." Christine said. "And this was just starting to get interesting."
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McCoy was waiting when Spock and Selina arrived. She looked too pale to his liking. "How are you, darlin'?" he said, putting an arm around her and trying covertly to evaluate her under the guise of gentlemanly concern. "I'm not entirely sure what happened with you over there, but shock is nothing to fool around with."
"The shock was not physical. It is only that when I thought Faf was dead I allowed my control to slip and had to reign in too quickly. How is he?"
Bones glanced up at Spock. The cant of his eyebrow indicated that her explanation might well be the understatement of the century. Either that, or he was thinking 'Any you time you'd like to take your hands off my sister would be fine with me'. Possibly both. McCoy was still trying to get a handle on reading someone with an expressionless expression. He turned his attention back to Selina's question. "Physically, he's weak, but if we can keep him resting until the worst of it is out of his system, he should be able to avoid another crisis. Mentally, he seems to be jumping between random memories and hallucinations, which is making that a bit of a challenge." He looked pointedly at Spock. "Are all your friends difficult patients, or do they just pick it up after getting to know you?"
"Cmdr. Sorenson has always had a reputation as most agreeable patient." Spock replied, eyebrows slanting upward. "I can only conclude that the fault lies with your bedside manner."
"My bedside manner?! Why you green-blooded hobgoblin, up until a few minutes ago I was actually feeling some sympathy for you seeing as he'd gone a singing jag." McCoy growled. "The worst of it is, I was actually grateful when it started since at least he was staying still. I really don't want to have to tie him down since I do not want to trigger that memory, but he needs to stay calm and in bed."
The Doctor looked completely exhausted, but also wore a look that Selina remembered well: the one that said 'I'll take of myself when I can stop worrying about my patient'. She smoothed his hair and brushed his lips with a soft kiss. "I am so grateful to you for saving him, Len. Tell us how we can best help."
Len brightened instantly. "You already have, m'dear."
Spock looked mildly ill. "Perhaps you could suggest something that might more directly affect Cmdr. Sorenson's well-being?" He said dryly.
"So far, Chapel and Uhura have managed to keep him halfway pacified by playing along. You two probably know him well enough to do a lot better job of that."
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AN: Bones saved Faf and gets a kiss (even if having to see it nauseates Spock, at least he doesn't have to experience it too).
The middle piece is fluff, written primarily because I felt like Uhura and Chapel needed a scene, although it shows one reason Faf might lie to Selina. A Mugato is from TOS and looks like a blondish ape with fangs and horns.
I figure songs that have been around for better than a century now will make it into the 23rd. 'Green Grow the Lilacs' is an old Irish tune so popular in the army (which had a healthy % of Irish) during the Mexican-American war (1846-1848) that some say the term 'gringo' comes from hearing US troops singing 'green grow'. 'The Scotsman Won First Prize' is one of those bawdy drinking songs that will surely stand the test of time (I'll bet Scotty knows it by heart).
Given his complexion, Sorenson has probably been mistaken for Irish a few times, which is not far off. Scandinavians brought that red hair to Ireland. And the Norsemen who settled Iceland reputedly raided the coasts of Ireland and Scotland for women.
