Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Captain Kirk tossed and turned in bed. He dreamed some shapeless dark thing chased him through the deserted hallways of the Enterprise. Just when he thought he had managed to escape from it, the thing popped up in front of him. Kirk waved his arms about and muttered in his sleep. "Ship in danger. Got to save my ship."

With a sharp jerk, Kirk woke up. He pulled the twisted blanket off his legs and ran a hand through his sweat damp hair. He climbed out of bed and tossed his damp night shirt into the recycler. He glanced at the chronometer and saw it was almost time to get up anyway, so he headed for the shower, a few minutes later he emerged refreshed but with a troubled mind. The dream had him spooked, as every time it the past such a dream had proven to be a bad omen. Kirk had learned long ago to pay attention to such dreams, as they often proved to be right. The wall intercom chirped and Kirk moved to answer it.

"McCoy to Kirk. We got a problem here in the Microbiology Lab. You better come down here. McCoy out."

Kirk jammed his feet into his boots and pulled on a fresh duty shirt before he headed out the door. He jogged down the ships corridor and wondered what had gone wrong. A hunch told him this problem, whatever it was, was connected to the mystery on the planet below. He rounded a corner and spotted several red shirted security officers standing outside the lab. He hurried toward the room and pushed his way past the clump of security men. One of the security men gripped his arm as he tried to enter the room.

"Careful, Captain. The floor is gone." Lt. Dave Johnson told him. "You don't want to fall down there."

Kirk stared in shock at the gaping hole where the floor had once been. In fact, everything that had been in the room was gone, too. Kirk gulped as he realized he had almost walked right into the hole. He peered into the room below the lab and saw several people down there. Dr. McCoy was bending over an injured crewmember. One of the person's legs was twisted the wrong way, obviously broken. From the blue tunic, Kirk could guess the unlucky crew person was in the science department and probably worked in the lab. McCoy supervised the nurses as they carefully moved the injured man onto a gurney and headed towards sickbay. Besides the medical personnel, there were also more red shirted security personnel and Scotty. Kirk heard Scotty's angry voice drift up to his ears. "What in the bloody blazes were ye scientist doing? Pouring acid on the floor? It'll take us weeks to fix this!"

Kirk turned to face Lt. Johnson. Johnson had short brown hair and was well built. He had accompanied Kirk on many landing parties and Kirk knew he could trust him in a tough situation. "Report, Lieutenant. What happened here?"

"Ensign Andrew Scaefer was coming on duty, Sir. He works here in the lab. Apparently he just walked in and fell to the room below because the floor was gone. After entering the room several thousand times, you don't check to see if it's there. You just presume it is." Johnson said.

Know Kirk knew who the injured crewman was. The name Scaefer didn't ring any bells in Kirk's head. Spock was probably more familiar with him, as he worked in his department. Kirk tried to know all of his crew, but just didn't have the time to meet everyone. He would be sure to visit him later in Sickbay. "But this floor is gone. What happened to it? And what about the stuff that had been in the room, the computers, furniture, lab equipment? I don't see it down there."

"We examined the edge of the floor here and think a powerful acid was used. It apparently ate the floor and everything in the room. Everything is just gone, Captain. We're not sure where the acid came from, as nothing that powerful was stored here. Mr. Scott said he would get a repair team working here as soon as he can."

Kirk knelt down and carefully examined the edge of the floor. Where the floor stopped, the metal was twisted and deformed. It appeared as if it had partly melted and then rehardened. What should have been shiny silver was now charred black. When Kirk peered even closer at the edge, he saw dozens of tiny holes in the metal. Whatever had done this was powerful and now it was loose on his ship. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He smelled something in the air that shouldn't be there, a chemical type smell.

The captain rose to his feet and faced Lt. Johnson again. "I want answers. I want to know how acid got all over this floor. Seal off the area and do a thorough examine. If we brought up some virus or bacteria from the planet below, I want it quarantined. I can't afford having this stuff spread to other parts of the ship. And if a scientist had an accident, I want to know about that, too. Account for all the personnel on the ship, especially ones that might work in this lab. Find out if they know anything about this."

"Yes, Sir! We'll start on it right away!" Johnson replied.

Satisfied that he had done everything he could, Captain Kirk headed towards Sickbay to see how Ensign Scaefer was doing. He had questions he wanted to ask.