"Insufficient facts always invite danger." - Spock
"Just checking in, Bones, how's it going in there with your replacement? Writing any resignation letters yet?"
McCoy rolled his eyes at the obviously facetious comment. "Jim, haven't you got better things to do than annoy the Starfleet doctor?"
"Just teasing you, you take the bait every time. Insecure, are we?"
Rony cast a small smile in the older man's direction. McCoy was relieved that she understood the humor, after the apparent nervousness she showed during his spat yesterday with Spock.
"And you apparently enjoy torturing me with your insults. Whatever you assume me to be, Jim, I am a heck of a good doctor, and that's enough for me. So, what's happening out there? I am sure you didn't call me up just to make fun of my position."
"No, I didn't. We are picking up an unusual pulse signal from a nearby planet. It is on the space maps as a double moon sphere called Moldan. There's no log in the records that any ship in the fleet has visited them or even mentioned their name for nearly the last two hundred years."
Leonard McCoy tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe they just don't want to be bothered, and they've been so good as to stay out of the Federation's way and not cause trouble, so we had no reason to visit their surface."
Rony closed the last file and nodded at the doctor, indicating her job completion. He gave her a kind smile and shoved the files sitting in front of him across the desk. She nodded in understanding and took them, returning to the file cabinet.
"That may be, Bones," Jim was saying. "Highly unusual not to have at least a mention – hang on a minute, Spock has something."
It was quiet for a few minutes in the med bay, the only sound being the rustling of papers as Rony tucked them into their respective drawers. But she frequently glanced McCoy's direction, as if she too was waiting for a response from the bridge. The doctor thought to himself that it must be highly exciting to her, after long months in the space college listening to lectures, to be able to listen in on ship communication.
A crackling of the communicator brought Jim's voice back to the ears of those in the med bay. "Get this, Spock has translated the pulse signal and they are requesting a medical liaison visit. Perhaps we should send someone down to check it out."
"Well go right ahead, Jim." McCoy chuckled. "You don't need my permission. Are they asking for a doctor?"
"Well, we are now entering the atmosphere of the planet. I was wondering if you could spare your recruit for a short time and take her down there for a quick exploratory mission. They are highly advanced in their treatment of conditions such as arthritis and bone decay and Rony may find them to be quite interesting in their scientific and medical knowledge. Maybe they just want to provide an update on one of their investigations. Perhaps they can send us back some of their work for you and Rony to study. I would send Spock down with you, but the chief education officer from Starfleet is coming in this afternoon to discuss the plans for the continuation of the student intern program and they hope to get our thoughts on the matter."
McCoy nodded interestedly, considering his captain's words. "Understood. Might not be a bad idea to go down there, Jim. Would be, as you say, interesting at least. Rony and I will be down shortly."
He closed the communication and turned to Rony. "Wonder why the Moldans would need medical visitation from the Federation? Well, you heard the captain, Rony. Looks like you get to have a little excitement on your first day. We haven't seen anyone from this planet in quite some time. It could be mysterious and dangerous, or could be nothing at all, just a routine afternoon trip for tea. It's up to you. Would you like to go along with me, or stay here and get some more papercuts?"
Rony's face was aglow with excitement. "Please, Doctor McCoy? May I go along on the mission? I promise I will stay right beside you and not get in trouble and just listen to whatever is going on. I'll be quiet as a mouse. And I will reorganize all the files you want when we get back. I will even categorize them with color coded labels!"
He smiled kindly. "Now that's an offer I can't resist. Sure, you can go, kid. Let's get on down to the bridge and meet up with Jim and then we will take you to the transporter room."
The swishing doors allowed them entrance into the bridge where Spock and Kirk were waiting.
"It makes no logical sense," Spock was saying to Kirk. "A planet as highly advanced medically, according to early exploratory records, asking for medical visitation? There is nothing that our science can give them that would benefit them in any way. Their atmospheric pressure is the same as ours, and they breathe oxygen the same way we do. But biologically, they are an advanced species. Their immune systems and circulatory systems are millennia beyond ours. It makes no logical sense for them to make such a request for assistance of a specie below them."
McCoy laughed. "Is that hard for you, a Vulcan, to fathom, Spock, that a medically advanced planet wouldn't want to dream of showing off their medical marvels and advancements to another intelligent medical mind? Mmm, never mind. I forgot. Pride is a human emotion. You Vulcans wouldn't know anything about that."
Kirk held up his hands to prevent another disagreement. "Alright. Let's consider all the possibilities. They have given us no indication of wishing harm and have no history of threatening behavior. Rony, glue yourself to McCoy. Do not wander off, stay with him at all costs. This shouldn't be a long mission, but it should be educating, at the least. Here is a communicator. Always keep it with you. We can chart your locations with it if the worst happens and you become separated. Bones, I don't have to remind you to check in frequently. We will be in touch."
"No problem, Jim. Be back soon. Hey, Spock, see if you can get one of those proud scientists on the line and let them know their intelligent-minded liaison who appreciates a good discovery is on the way, huh?"
Spock raised one quizzical eyebrow. "As you wish, doctor. I, too, appreciate a good discovery. That is intellect, not emotion."
McCoy cast the Vulcan a frustrated frown, then followed his intern from the bridge. There was no time to debate the question further.
Leonard McCoy and Rony made their way to the transporter room where Scotty was setting up the coordinates received from the pulse beam, preparing to transport the medical doctor to Moldan's surface.
"You okay?" McCoy asked, noting the way that Rony's hands were clasped tightly against her sides, as if nervous about what lay ahead. He stepped into the circle floor of the transporter.
"I- I think so." she replied quietly, glancing from him to the looming teleporter above them, positioning herself in the circle as he had.
He smiled quizzically. "Come on now, Rony, this is the adventure of a lifetime for you. Imagine the report this will make. Two hundred years after the last reported visit. New planet, new species for you to discover. New scientific breakthroughs. If you become a doctor in the future, you'll have to face much greater challenges than this! Try treating a Horta with concrete. Remind me to tell you about that sometime."
She nodded nervously in response. "Whatever you say, Doctor McCoy."
Scotty nodded their direction, and in a split second, the pair found themselves standing on dusty red earth.
McCoy flipped open his communicator. "McCoy here. Come in Enterprise."
"Enterprise, Captain Jim Kirk speaking. How is it down there, Bones?"
The doctor looked around. Only red desert stretched ahead of them, a sandy copper mist drifting up from the ground. "No landing party, Jim. I hope we arrived at the right coordinates."
"Should have been, sent Scotty the exact transmission from the surface. Let me reply to the pulse signal that you have arrived and see if they are near you. I will call you as soon as we have made contact."
"Thanks, Jim. McCoy, over and out." McCoy snapped the communicator shut and clipped it back on his belt.
"In one piece, Rony?"
She nodded, arms wrapped around herself, looking around nervously. "Doctor McCoy, if these people were asking for us, wouldn't they have been expecting us?"
McCoy began walking toward several jagged rocks nearby, looming up like a cliff face. Perhaps there was a valley below them where the people lived. "Happens sometimes, Rony. The coordinates are a bit off, or they got tired of waiting and moved away. They won't be far."
"What are these – Moldan people like?"
McCoy paused to gaze at the world around them. "According to the last reports, they are said to be a bit like us, actually. They are intelligent, humanoid creatures. In appearance, they look like you and me. But their internal systems are so far advanced, that they have been known to survive some of the harshest weather conditions known in space. They were pioneers in the medical industry and have made amazing advances in treatments. We obtained many of our technology ideas from them. A long time ago."
"But it bothers you," she said softly, picking her way through loose rock, carefully following behind him.
"What does?" he countered, half turning to look at her, brow wrinkled in concentration.
"It bothers you that they have asked us to come down here. It bothered Spock too."
Yes, I suppose it does." He replied, nodding once. "Nothing we can do about it till we make contact. Come on, let's go."
They walked for what felt like an hour. The scenery did not seem to change. They climbed over what felt like the same rocks over and over. The red dust still billowed up like a breathing creature lay beneath them. The air was dry as sandpaper, and soon their skin felt like dust was permanently etched into their pores. It was the driest desert Rony had ever seen.
"Another thing, it is said that the sun never sets here," Leonard McCoy told Rony, as they climbed what felt like the hundredth hillside. "There are old antidotes about visitors going mad from lack of sleep. You must be careful not to exhaust yourself. It messes with your mind eventually. Hey, here comes someone."
A dust cloud ahead of them billowed up from the surface of the desert. As if a phantom of the night, it came to a halt before them, covering the surroundings in the plentiful crimson particles. As the air cleared, their eyes adjusted to the visibility, and they discovered, towering above them, what looked like a human. It appears to be about seven feet tall, with pale skin and green eyes. But there was a peculiar glint to the eyes that clearly indicated it was not human.
"You have come," it said in monotone. The unblinking eyes flicked between McCoy and Rony, as if assessing the threat that they presented.
"Greetings, my name is Doctor Leonard McCoy, from the Starfleet ship the Enterprise. This is my intern, Rony. We received word to our ship that the people of this planet were requesting a medical liaison to visit. How may we be of service?"
"You already have," the creature replied flatly. It withdrew a phaser style weapon from its hip belt and aimed the glinting metal weapon at the two visitors. "Welcome to Moldan, Doctor."
The visitors barely had time to think as the weapon was pointed at them, the sinister welcome was given, and the trigger was pulled. However, it did not shoot a beam of burning light at them, like their own phasers would have. Instead, their surroundings faded away.
The air around them became dark and still. Instead of a red desert, McCoy and Rony found themselves standing in a concrete courtyard. All around them wandered human like creatures, their faces void of all emotions. They wandered aimlessly, sometimes bumping into each other or the courtyard pillars, with no response to the incident. Smoke drifted up from blackened rubble outside the concrete circle.
"Somethings happened," McCoy spoke disbelievingly. "We were under a perception field. That isn't Moldan technology at all. What is the matter with these people? What have you done to them! What have you done with the people who lived on this planet!?"
Rony glanced from the fascinatingly hideous creature to McCoy's taut face, red and lined with concern, anger, and something else – fear. He was afraid. That was bad.
"You will find out in good time," the creature responded, with an annoyingly calm demeanor. "I have lifted the perception field that brought you here. This, my good visitors, is the reality in which you now live. Get used to it, the rest of your life will be spent here. Give me your weapons."
McCoy glanced down at the stun phaser that hung at his side. His finger twitched barely perceptively in that direction. Maybe he could stun this creature for just a moment, and they could get a help call in to the Enterprise. The stun wouldn't hurt the creature, merely buy them some valuable time.
The creature, as if reading his mind, swung his phaser toward Rony, firing a blast that knocked her off of her feet, wrapping her in an amber thread of electricity. "Doctor!" She called to him, the pain and terror cutting through him as if he had been physically stabbed.
"Okay, stop, stop, stop!" He held up a hand, tossing the stun phaser toward the creature. "Here, take it, just let her go!"
"As you wish, Doctor," the creature spoke slowly, its voice carrying a taunting tone that sent a chill up McCoy's spine.
He moved as if to go to Rony, but the creature spoke again. "All of your weapons, Doctor."
They only had their communicators left. Without those, they would be lost to the fleet. Their coordinates could not be determined without them. Slowly, he swallowed the bitterness of fear that hovered in his throat and tugged his communicator from his belt and tossed it furiously at the creature's feet. They were being taken prisoner, one moment at a time.
"Now hers," the creature prodded, nodding in the direction his intern had been thrown.
McCoy moved to Rony's side, wincing at the streaks of burned cloth that the electrical rope had left behind. She was breathing hard, and he laid a hand on her shoulder.
"You okay, kid?"
"Doctor," the creature growled behind him. "Now."
"I'll be okay, Doctor McCoy," she replied, barely above a whisper, very clearly putting on a face that was braver than her eyes showed that she felt. "Just - just got to get my breath back."
"Sorry, Rony," Doctor McCoy spoke softly, one hand patting her shoulder, and the other carefully removing her communicator from her belt, its outer surface charred from the attack. "I will get us back to the ship eventually. I will find a way, I promise."
His practiced fingers moved to her neck to feel for her pulse, as the creature picked up their devices and laughed cruelly.
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Doctor."
He did not have to look to know that the crunching sound that followed the evil voice was the destruction of their link to safety beneath the creature's boot.
"You asked for a medical liaison," the doctor spoke angrily, turning from Rony, satisfied that her pulse was steady again. "We came here in peace. We came here because you asked us to."
The creature considered him for a moment, one eyebrow raised. "We asked for a medical visit, Doctor, that is true. But this was not a meeting. This is a house call, and these," the creature stepped back, swinging an arm toward the walking, lifeless aliens. "These are your patients."