Chapter Two

Identifying the Midas Touch

Leonard McCoy squinted at the screen of the medical scanner he'd pointed at Jim, grunted, scowled, then nodded at a biobed and said, "We're busy. Sit. I'll get to you when I can."

"I could come back later," Jim suggested, but McCoy was already gone, hurrying back to whatever he'd left when the ship's captain had appeared in sickbay.

Sighing, Jim dumped his pack on the floor then peeled off his sodden shirt and dropped it too. He stepped in front of a blonde nurse, smiling good-naturedly. Gesturing to his wet clothes, he said, "Could you please order me a new uniform? I'm sorry to take you from your other work."

"No trouble," she replied, although her tone implied it was. "There's one in the supply cabinet. I'll grab it."

When the nurse returned, Jim asked, "You keep spare uniforms for the entire crew?"

She gave a choked laugh and tossed a crisply folded uniform on his bed. "Just yours. Dr. McCoy's big on efficiency. He says you inevitably need one and it's better to keep one available."

"I'll have to let the doctor know how much I appreciate his concern," Jim muttered. He shook out the shirt. "Thank you, Miss?"

Her expression hardened. "Chapel," she replied through clenched teeth. "My name is Christine Chapel."

"Jim Kirk," he replied, holding out his hand. Her jaw dropped. She shook her head, turned, and stomped off without looking back.

What was that about, he wondered. I can't know everyone's name. There's hundreds of them and one of me. He pulled on the uniform; dry clothes improved his mood quickly. He lay on the bed and watched the activity around him. It occurred to him that he hadn't experienced any strange thoughts or emotions since arriving in sickbay. I feel fine now. Maybe it was nothing, he thought. Maybe it was my imagination.

McCoy and Uhura entered the ward, deep in conversation. The doctor had his head down, listening carefully to Uhura, who gestured as she spoke. Look at the muscles in her arms, Jim thought. I love it when she wears her short-sleeved uniform. McCoy nodded gravely and glanced his direction. Stop worrying, Bones, Jim thought. I'm fine. He grinned cockily and waved.

Doctor McCoy glanced at the biobed monitor and said, "Uhura says you were acting weird. I told her that's just another day in space for you."

"Very funny, Bones," he said.

"So, why don't you describe what you experienced?" McCoy asked, still staring up at the readout on his bed.

"It was probably nothing," he began.

"Oh, it was something," Uhura said, popping out from behind McCoy and frowning at him.

McCoy interrupted, "I'm the doctor. If it's alright with you two, I'll decide. Start at the beginning; tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened at the beginning," Jim said. "I had a perfectly normal morning. I beamed down to check on the security provisions for the survey team we're leaving on MC688. When I finished, I swung by the base camp to pick up Uhura."

"Nothing happened," Bones repeated, making a note on his PADD.

His friend's serious face made Jim want to laugh, but he controlled himself and continued, "Nothing. I found Uhura; we transported up.

He paused, and wished he could stop, but knew it was useless to hope Bones would let anything drop. He cleared his throat. "Then, on the way to my quarters, I started hearing other people's thoughts in my head."

"Other people's voices?" asked McCoy.

"No, my voice, but I wasn't saying what I think. I was saying things other people, well, specifically Uhura, think."

Uhura frowned. "How did you know it was me? What did I say?"

He shrugged, "You said I should eventually learn no one gets to tease me back."

She gasped, "I did think that! What else?"

"It's hard to remember exactly. Something about killing me if I was teasing you."

Her face closed off, "Okay, yeah, that too."

McCoy asked, "But it wasn't Uhura?"

"No, it was my voice, but I would never say something like that." He raised an eyebrow at Uhura and said, "I happen to know I tease exactly the right amount."

"And nothing else?" asked McCoy.

"I had," he paused, trying to think of how to describe it, "A fluttery feeling."

"A fluttery feeling," Bones repeated, making another note on his PADD.

"Yeah, Uhura brushed up against me, and I don't know, my joints felt watery, unattached."

"Jim," Bones said, with a glance at Uhura.

"No," Jim said. "I'm not thirteen." The doctor raised an eyebrow skeptically. He added firmly, "It wasn't anything like that."

"Like what?" asked Uhura.

"The doctor is implying," he paused and then said, "that I was feeling your loveliness."

"What?" she asked.

"You know," he said, "in a man kind of way."

Her jaw tightened. "Any chance you can guess what I am thinking right now, captain?" she hissed.

McCoy said quickly, "This is a discussion of physiology, Uhura."

"Which means it's not something you need to bother being offended about," Jim added. "Anyway, as I said, it wasn't that."

"Why don't you tell me what it was then," McCoy asked.

"It's hard to describe," Jim said thoughtfully. "I wasn't dizzy or anything, I didn't feel weak, but out of nowhere I felt mad, and I didn't want me to tease Chekov."

"What's Chekov got to do with this?"

"Nothing," he said. McCoy looked unconvinced, so he added, "He's who Uhura thinks I tease too much."

"Hmm," Bones said. "You didn't need a disembodied voice to tell you that. I'd of done it for free."

Uhura nodded approvingly.

Jim rolled his eyes. "So, can I go?" he asked.

The doctor tapped his PADD. "Did the voices tell you to do anything that made you feel uncomfortable or worried?"

"No."

"Hurt yourself?"

"No."

"Hurt anyone else?"

"No."

"Run the ship into a nearby star?"

"No, as I said, I suddenly started reflecting on me not realizing anyone can tease me back. That's it."

"He was weird in the transport bay," Uhura added.

"Oh, that's right," he agreed. He looked up at McCoy, "I didn't pay attention at the time, but I was thinking some odd things there too."

"Very pro-transporter," Uhura said.

Jim nodded. "Uhura's right. In retrospect, the transporter working never made me happy before, but it sure did today. I guess it's possible, I mean, that's the kind of thing Scotty might think."

McCoy frowned. "I'm not sure if that's worth noting. Being able to know what Scotty's thinking wouldn't be considered unusual; anybody can do it from across the room. That guy is not subtle. But you aren't hearing or feeling anything now?"

"Nothing," Jim said.

"It's plenty crowded here," McCoy mused. "If you were suddenly going to become psionic you'd think you'd be having a field day."

Jim said, "Whatever it was, I'm pretty sure it's gone. I just had a painful conversation with some nurse. I'd have loved to know what she was thinking, and I got nothing."

"What nurse?" McCoy asked, looking around.

"Christina, something, I don't know," Jim said, "tall, blonde, mad?"

"Christine Chapel?" the doctor asked. "You were talking to Christine Chapel?"

"Yeah, that sounds right. I introduced myself, and she got mad. I'd have loved to know what she was thinking 'cause it made no sense to me."

"Jim," McCoy said. "You know her. You two dated at the academy."

"We did?" Jim said, uncertainly.

"Yes, you did," Uhura said.

"I'll apologize," Jim sighed. I can't believe I did that again, he thought.

"You're unbelievable," Uhura muttered. "I'm guessing, Captain Kirk, that you should be glad you couldn't hear her thoughts."

"Just to clarify," Jim said, "I am not hearing other people's thoughts, I'm having other people's thoughts."

McCoy scribbled some notes. "You're probably fine," he said slowly, "but I am going to order a scan, just to be sure."

"I don't have time for that," Jim said.

McCoy was already writing an order. "I will decide what you have time for, captain," he said, then leaned forward to adjust a setting on the biobed. When McCoy's hand got within ten inches of his chest, Jim felt an odd fluttering in his joints, and then from deep within his chest, concern began to radiate forth, and he heard himself think, {Most people, I'd say this is nothing. But Jim doesn't get weird little fancies, just pretty much everything else. Jim cheated death, and it keeps reaching out for him. Jim's my responsibility. I need to make sure about this.}

"I am not your responsibility, and anyway, I don't think hearing things will kill me," he said. "Everything's fine, Bones."

The doctor looked up, shocked. Jim realized what he had heard and said, "Oh, wait, maybe it's not."