Elle was running through the corridors of the Enterprise. Behind her were two giant dogs at her heels, snarling and snapping. She threw herself forward frantically, but there were no doors and no one to help her. "Help me!" she screamed, panting for breath. "Help me!"

The dogs leapt upon her, snarling. Elle screamed-and was suddenly somewhere else. It was a planet, a city, she didn't recognize. People were streaming around her, oblivious to her distress. "Excuse me," Elle tried.

The man looked at her and spoke in a language she didn't know. He shrugged her off and walked away.

"Anyone speak English?" Elle asked. No one looked up. She tried, "Habla español?"

No one answered. No one looked at her. Elle was alone.

-/\-

Elle jolted awake, tearing herself out of bed with a stifled scream. "Computer?" she panted, holding a hand to her pounding heart. "Time?"

"The time is 0140," the computer replied.

Elle plopped back down onto the bed, shaken. What if something like that happened and she wasn't ready and she died and left to a strange universe? What if coming to Star Trek was a fluke? What if she got sent to, like, Planet of the Apes or something? Or, I am Legend? Or A Quiet Place? Or something she hadn't even heard of?

Sleep was the last thing Elle wanted to do. She grabbed the laptop and the data disks and took them out to the sofa. After a few seconds, she grabbed the top cover of the bed, too, and wrapped it around her shoulders.

She was still there, curled into a marathon-ing burrito, when Spock came by her quarters the next morning. "Good morning," he said gravely.

"Good morning," Elle said, attempting to get out of her nest of blankets. She stood up and ran her fingers through her hair self-consciously. "Sorry, I'm totally greñuda right now. I don't have a comb."

"I do not know the meaning of that word," he said.

"Uh, it means like, have messy hair that's all over the place," she said. She pulled the hair tie from her wrist and put her hair in a messy ponytail. Good enough.

Spock handed her a PADD. "This is a test to determine your educational level and what curriculum you will need."

"Like an IQ test?" Elle asked, taking the PADD.

"It measures not only your intelligence but your areas of interest," he replied.

"I like every subject," she informed him.

"Noted."

"Is this timed?" she asked, frowning.

"No. Time will be a factor but do not feel pressured to complete it within a certain time. There is a pause feature as well."

"Okay, cool."

He hesitated at the door. "How are you?" he asked after a second.

Elle looked down at the PADD, not wanting to freak him out with excessive emotion. "I'm okay," she said finally.

He viewed her bedraggled appearance (hey, three hours of sleep was a respectable amount!) and raised an eyebrow. "On my behalf, I thank you for your actions."

Elle gave him a little smile. "To prevent the death of a person and save others from injury, it was, logical."

Spock's mouth twitched at the corner, and she knew he was basically smiling. He inclined his head and went out.

Elle didn't want to put off the test. She showered, dressed in clean sweats and a T-shirt, and had some oatmeal though, before she started the test. It looked like any other standardized test from her Earth, OAKS or whatever they were calling it, or like, worse. It looked like a PSAT. "Ugh." She knew the educational system of the twenty-third century was far superior to twenty-first century 'Murica, but she wasn't dumb, right? Right?

She was there for a solid five hours, slowly working her way through the test. Once she got past the math, and who in the world put trigonometry in a placement test, it was things more like science questions, brain games and logic puzzles, and even a few 3D spatial puzzles that were really cool. Some of the questions had to be psychological too, because there were a few things like, 'draw this' or 'if you had a choice then', and so on. The last quarter of it though was reading and comprehension. Elle, having been homeschooled, was really good at that part.

The PADD let out a soft chime when she finished the test and then it said, 'results sent.'

"Sent where?" Elle asked the PADD.

It did not reply.

Elle put on a movie while she waited for someone to come tell her she needed to be in like third grade or something.

The doorbell rang exactly two hours later.

"Come in," she called.

The door slid open to admit Kirk and Spock.

Elle stood hastily. "Captain?"

"We got your test results," he said, "and wanted to discuss your schedule."

Elle sighed. "I knew it. I'm gonna be in make-up classes till I die, right? I don't know anything about anything in this century."

"Through no fault of your own," Spock reminded her. "Which is why the crew has agreed to take over your education, to help you."

"The crew?" Elle asked. "I thought, like, you had online schooling or stuff."

"Oh there are programs," Kirk said, nodding, "but..." He gave her a shrug and a grin. "It's not that you need a minder, but-"

"I need a minder," Elle finished, "because-"

"Because you are-"

"-I am-"

"-a minor," they both chorused, and grinned at each other in delight.

Spock, his expression otherwise deadpan, rolled his eyes. "Regulations do not permit a minor," he paused when they both snickered, "to be unsupervised in a high-security environment such as an operating starship," he said. "Therefore, with your input, we would like to devise your schedule and your safety training."

Elle blinked. "Safety training?" she echoed.

"What to do in case of a red alert, an intruder alert, a battle, a medical emergency, things like that," Kirk said. "Trust me, not as scary as it sounds."

Elle, who had just been stabbed a few days ago, gulped. "Sounds fun," she said weakly. She gestured to the sofa and scooped up the blankets. "Sorry. You wanna sit?"

They both sat, and Kirk consulted his own PADD. "Of course, this all depends on availability and the state of the mission, but several people have volunteered to oversee different subjects. Spock, of course, as Science Officer, will be taking over your science classes."

Elle turned to stare at the Vulcan, starting to blush. "But don't you already work two shifts and oversee like, two hundred people?" she asked.

"I have deduced that you are an intelligent, self-motivated individual," he replied, "and I do not foresee a single aspect of your education becoming a hindrance."

"Thanks," Elle said, her face on fire at this high praise from one of her favorite people ever.

"Bones has volunteered to take over your health and biology classes," Kirk continued, scrolling through segments on his PADD. "Uhura volunteered herself and her comm department to teach you computer programming and languages. Mr. Chekov is in charge of Mathematics. Sulu has offered to take over your electives, in case you want to do botany, fencing, or anything really. Scotty, of course, won't hear of anyone else teaching you engineering besides himself, or one of his people. And I'm taking your literature and your history classes. Well, one of the commanders in A&A will be in charge of your actual lessons, but I want to discuss assigned reading with you."

Elle gaped at them. Brain-tired, sleep-deprived, she couldn't think of how to react, so she started to cry.

Both officers shifted uneasily. "I knew we should've brought Uhura with us," Kirk muttered to Spock.

Elle heard him, and that made her laugh. She choked back a giggle and wiped her eyes. "No, I'm fine, it's just," she sniffed, "I'm just some random kid, you don't need to worry about me yourselves, you guys are the best crew in the Fleet, you have more important things to do."

Kirk met her gaze, his hazel eyes kind but firm. "Out of all the possible universes for you to have ended up in, you ended up here," he said. "We as members of Star Fleet are out here to serve. You've already shown your own dedication to this ship and its crew. That makes you a part of it. And as such, you're our responsibility, and it is our privilege, to help you. Understand?"

She couldn't help it. She started to cry again.

This time, Kirk was prepared, and he let her cry into his shoulder. "You're going to be okay," he promised.

Elle finally pulled herself together and pulled away, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "Thank you," she said, and cleared her throat. "Um, anyway. You guys don't actually have a classroom right? So where am I going to stay to be supervised?"

"The yeomen and the maintenance departments have offered to supervise you," Kirk said. "And as a backup, the operations department."

Elle nodded slowly. "I really need to learn the layout of this ship."

Kirk smiled. "That's your first assignment, then. Chief Giotto,"

"Head of security," Elle supplied.

"Yes," Kirk said, "has agreed to oversee your safety training, and based on that he will recommend how much of the ship will be off-limits to you."

Elle nodded seriously. "I understand. I'm going to take it seriously, I promise."

"I know you will."