They reached Star City by early morning. The space station looked like a big rusty bucket, sitting in space. It didn't look like anything Kirk had ever seen before. What culture would build such a strange structure? A crunchy sound filled the ship as they connected with their designated docking station. Seeing Kirk's horrified expression, Scotty laughed. "That's normal. Don't ya worry."
The ship's exit was positioned on the crew quarter's ceiling. Scotty pulled down a latter that was mounted right next to it. Excited beyond measurement, Peter stepped on it. "Wait.", Scotty called. The boy stopped. "You can't go out there like that.", Scotty told both of them. "What do you mean?", Kirk asked. Scotty pointed at Kirk's chest. "That yellow shirt just screams trouble. You can't wear that." "Oh.", Kirk understood. "Do you have any clothing laying around?", he added, but Scotty had already opened some cabinet in one of the bulkheads. It was filled with clothes. "You like to wear something like that.", the engineer said and picked an outfit for both Kirk and Peter to wear.
Either his other self or Scotty had no taste in fashion, Kirk pondered while they were walking through the space station. He was wearing a lilac jacket, black trousers and boots made out of a bright-yellow material. Peter had been given a dark-green coverall, which made him look like an early-day colonist.
The station was filled with all different kinds of species. Kirk saw some Tellarites, Ferengis and even some Betazoids and Caitians. But the bulk of people were Human or Orion. Once, they even saw a few Klingons clearing a ship. "Klingons!", Kirk exclaimed in apprehension. "Yes.", Scotty agreed, "What about them?" "Are you not at war with them?", Peter asked. Scotty laughed. "No, why would we?" Both Kirks looked at him in disbelief.
Finally, they arrived at their destination. To his surprise, Kirk found that there was a giant neon sign over the entrance that said 'Dr Bones' Office'. "Why doesn't he go by his real name?", he asked Scotty. "Nobody knows his real name. He keeps it a damn good secret." Kirk sniggered. "That does sound like Bones."
They went inside the doctor's office. Several people were already waiting in the lobby. The three of them sat down on some free chairs. Almost immediately, Bones entered the lobby through another door, a Human patient right before him. "Next.", he said. The doctor looked around the room. He stopped when he saw Kirk. "What are you doing here?", he shouted angrily. Kirk opened his mouth to answer. Bones was faster. Kirk could feel a hypo being pressed against his neck. "Didn't I tell you to never come back?", Bones asked lowly. "Look, I don't know what the other Jim did to you. But I am not him." The hypo was stabbed even deeper into his neck. "Leonard, please.", Kirk urged. The hypo fell out of the doctor's hand.
"Why do you know my first name?", Bones asked incredulously. "Because I am not who you think I am." At that point, the last waiting patient had fled the lobby. "I know even more about you. Your name is Leonard Henry McCoy. You were born in 2227 in Georgia, Earth." McCoy crossed his arms. "And where do you suppose to come from?", he asked, somewhat taken aback. "Some parallel dimension where we are good friends." McCoy grunted. "Sure.", he laughed. "It is true.", Peter chimed in. McCoy stopped laughing and looked at them.
"I have to say, you poked my curiosity there.", Bones said, folding his arms. "It's fascinating, isn't it?", Scotty said to him. "Yeah. But hard to prove." McCoy put away his hypo. "Unless you still have both your kidneys or something.", he half-joked. Kirk blinked. "Why wouldn't I?", he asked. McCoy stared at him in disbelief. "You mean you do?", he asked incredulously. Kirk nodded. Bones grabbed Kirk's arms and pulled him after him, further into his office.
Bones ordered him to lay down on what Jim could only fathom was supposed to be a bio-bed. The thing blinked and beeped for a bit, while the other three anxiously waited for the result. Finally, the beeping stopped. Bones stepped nearer and read the display. Without making a sound, he let himself drop into a nearby chair. "I'll be damned.", he murmured. He turned to Scotty. "What he says is true. But I don't understand why." "Some kind of transporter malfunction.", Scotty shrugged. "I couldn't figure it out either."
Kirk sat up. "I guess you would like to get mine and Peter's counterparts back?", he asked Scotty, who looked rather shaken. "Aye. Don't get me wrong, you're as pleasant as they come, but you're not the guy I know." "I would like to go home too.", Peter said, stepped a bit nearer to his uncle. Kirk nodded. "I know somebody who will probably be able to help us with this." "And who will that be?", Bones wanted to know. "His name is Spock. In the other universe, he is my second in command." "Spock?", Scotty asked. "That sounds mighty Vulcan to me." "His father is a Vulcan, but his mother is from Earth.", Kirk explained. He saw both Scotty's and Bones' eyes widen. "And I guess we will find that guy on Vulcan?", Bones asked. Kirk nodded again. "And I bet he is affiliated with the Vulcan Science Academy in some way."
Bones looked at Scotty. "That guy wants to go to Vulcan.", he stated like it was a big deal. "Kid, are you crazy?", he shouted at Kirk next. "What's the matter?", Kirk asked, not sure what this was all about. Bones sighed. "I guess you really aren't from around here. You can't go to Vulcan. They only let a hand-picked amount of people come to their planet, and the rest is immediately shot down. They have a giant fleet, you understand? A giant fleet that is constantly patrolling their space! You. Can't. Go. There." "We will find a way.", Kirk simply stated. Bones just looked at him furiously, having lost all words. "Just get out of my life.", he finally said, completely defeated.
They left Bones where he was and returned to the Dandelion. "I guess you don't want to accompany me either?", he asked Scotty. "The Scotsman laughed. "I never say no to a wee bit of adventure. Besides, there's no way you can get there without my help." Kirk smiled. "Thank you, Scotty."
They had spent the rest of the day clearing most of their load, selling it to other freight ships. Kirk was frankly quite amazed at the efficiency with which the engineer fulfilled the task. He had never known that Scotty was such a good negotiator. He, on the other hand, was not used to mercantile business and simply watched, trying not to botch Scotty's successes. They had left Peter back on the ship, as Scotty had remarked that Star City was maybe not the kind of place one wanted to bring a naïve colonist to if not immediately necessary.
Now, they were back inside the Dandelion again. Kirk plotted a course on which they would reach Vulcan the soonest, and Peter watched him. Scotty was in the crew quarters making their dinner. They would leave in about half an hour, right after eating. Suddenly, they heard someone or something bang against their ship's entrance. Kirk wanted to open it, but Scotty held him back. "Let us see first who it is." He pressed a button and a display turned on. It showed a ruffled Doctor McCoy, banging against their shot in panic. He carried a duffle bag over his shoulder. "I guess we can let him in.", Peter decided. Wordless, Scotty pressed another button and the door opened.
McCoy jumped inside the Dandelion, forgetting or not knowing that the ship's gravity was aligned to the station's in a ninety-degree angle. He plopped on the floor with an ugly sound. "Are you alright?", Kirk asked and offered him a hand. The doctor grumbled and stood up by himself. "What brings you here?", Kirk asked next. "Guess I gave it a second thought. I want to come to your crazy adventure. I have to admit that the Orion guy I owe some money to helped, and I can't miss to see you fail spectacularly." Kirk shrugged. "Welcome to the crew, I guess." Just then, they heard another bang against their door. "That's him, that's Reno. I thought I lost him. Damn Orions.", Bones swore. And indeed, the display showed a very angry-looking Orion man, armed to his teeth. Like all Orions, he was a bit over two meters tall.
"Maybe we should leave a bit early.", Kirk told Scotty. "Aye.", the Scotsman replied and sped to the bridge. Kirk followed him. He sat behind the navigator's console while Scotty pressed quite a number of buttons, while still upholding his frantic speed. "Do you know that guy?", Peter asked from the hallway behind the bridge. "Sadly, yes.", was the short reply. A few more buttons pressed, and the Dandelion broke free from the station's grip. Kirk activated his pre-programmed course, and they took off, with full impulse at first, to escape the station's gravity well.
They sat around the table, finally eating their dinner. "This Reno guy, do we own him too?", Kirk asked, still very curious about his other self. Bones sputtered. "Not directly.", Scotty said. "Oh. How's that?" Scotty took a bite of his cubes before answering. "You freed his ware." "Freed his ware?", Peter asked, seeming confused. "I guess he is a slave trader?", Kirk asked with a sigh. "Aye. You managed to take that pup's cuffs off while he wasn't looking. She actually joined us for a few months. We left her on Seti III."
"What's her name?", Kirk wanted to know while staking the plates. "She didn't want us call her by the name given to her by her owners. So, she decided that we should call her Ariadne." "That's a nice name.", Kirk remarked a bit dreamy.
As it turned out, McCoy had brought his own hammock, which he hung in the crew quarter's kitchen. The other three left to sleep in the way they had yesterday. While Scotty fell asleep almost immediately, neither Kirk nor Peter found any rest. "We will get home, won't we?", Peter whispered. "I'm scared.", he added. "I thought you wanted an adventure.", Kirk replied. "Yes. But not like this." Kirk sighed. "Sleep, Peter. We will find a way, I promise. But until then, we must remain calm. Know what, I'm a little scared too." Kirk heard how his nephew curled himself into a ball. "Okay. Good night, uncle Jim." Kirk smiled at that. "Good night, Peter."