CHAPTER FOUR
Captain Kirk walked into sickbay and immediately headed
towards Dr. McCoy. The doctor stood next to the biobed occupied by the injured
ensign, When Kirk got closer, he could see that Ensign Scaefer was awake and
talking to McCoy. Kirk smiled, as he knew that was a good sign. It meant no
serious head injury from the high fall. "How is he Bones?"
"Well, he has a broken arm, leg and ankle plus a slight
concussion. I already fixed him up, but I want him to stay here in Sickbay for
a few days of observation. Head wounds are tricky, but it looks like he'll be
fine." Dr. McCoy grinned. It made him happy when he was able to help
injured crewmembers.
Ensign Scaefer gazed up at Kirk, hero worship clear in his
blue eyes. An expression of awe formed on his face and he tried to comb his
tossled hair with his fingers. He tried to sit up but Bones pushed him back
down. Scaefer had never meet his Captain before and he was obviously excited.
"At ease, Ensign. Can you tell me what happened?"
Kirk asked.
"I was going to the lab to start my duty shift."
Ensign Scaefer told Kirk. "I needed to read more information disks. I was
so excited when the landing party found that new type of protoplasm! I reached
the lab a bit early, as I was really eager to start working! I could hardly
sleep last night at all. I couldn't believe I'm the first person in the whole
galaxy to study that new protoplasm! And it was different than other ones; it
had a unique chemical arrangement inside itself that I had never seen before.
That's why I needed to read all of those disks, although I'm sure if I had read
about that arrangement before I would have remembered it. I just LOVE
protoplasms!"
"Ensign!" Kirk interrupted Scaefer. "I'm glad
you love your work here on the Enterprise, but this is a serious matter. Just
tell me what happened."
Scaefer's face grew red in embarrassment. "Oh, I'm
sorry Captain! It's just that when I get talking about protoplasms I get
carried away. And that gray one was so large! This morning I came to work and
walked into the lab. But I fell because the floor was gone! I was so scared
when I started to fall and it really hurt a lot when I landed. I never felt
such terrible pain before. I guess I'm lucky I fell only one floor, I mean it
could have been five floors or all the way to Engineering! Who really knows?
But it's so odd, don't you think? The floor vanishing like that? Say, do you
know where it went because if you do you could put it back. That would be
really nice because then I can resume my duties, once I get released that is.
Dr. McCoy here is worried about head injuries and I totally agree. Why, did you
know that..."
Kirk and Bones backed away from the biobed and headed into
McCoy's office. Once they were safely inside and the door closed, Kirk spoke.
"Are you sure his head is OK?"
"I'm sure. In fact, that proves it." McCoy sat
down behind his desk and turned on his computer. "He always talks like
that whenever he can corner someone. Apparently he spends too much time alone
in the science lab and not enough time socializing. So I guess he goes a bit
overboard. It's just his personality, Jim." McCoy grew more serious as his
pale blue eyes focused on the captain. "Exactly what DID happen in that
lab, Jim? Because crewmembers falling distances like that is not funny! We're
just lucky he wasn't killed!"
Kirk paced up and back in the small office. He stopped to
stare at a pile of computer disks on McCoy's desk. "I wish I knew, Bones.
Scotty said it's acid damage. My gut tells me we brought something up from
Vierna Four. A microbe, a virus, something...and now its loose on my ship! It
might even be Scaefer's protoplasm. But we won't know until we learn more.
Until then, you better keep Sickbay ready for more injured crew members. This
thing might strike again before we can stop it."
"All right. But you be careful, Jim." Bones told
him as the captain headed out the door. Dr. McCoy sat in his office by himself
and shook his head. "Of all of the stupid things he had to bring a
floor-eating thing aboard!"
As Kirk stepped out of Bone's office back into Sickbay,
Ensign Scaefer called him. Kirk walked over to him. "Yes, Ensign?"
"I just wanted to ask if Sam survived." Scaefer
said.
"Sam?" Kirk asked in confusion. Was there someone
else in the lab?
"The gray protoplasm." Scaefer explained.
"I don't know, Ensign." Kirk replied. He patted
the ensign on his shoulder and headed out the door. As he headed towards the
turbolift that would take him to the Bridge, Kirk thought of Sam the
Protoplasm. He realized that it might be possible for the missing floor. It
was, after all, from the planet. Kirk entered the turbolift and pounded his
fist on the wall. He had been so stupid! He never should have allowed Spock to
bring the gray slime onto his ship! Kirk hit the intercom and called the
Bridge. "Spock, I want you to do an internal senser sweep of the entire
ship. Look for that gray protoplasm. I think it may be responsible for the
disaster in the lab."
"Right away, Captain." Spock replied.
"Kirk out." Kirk said "Bridge". and the
turbolift began to move. The square little window flashed white as the
turbolift hummed. The lift moved into the vertical track as it continued
towards the bridge. Kirk was thrown against one of the walls as the entire lift
tilted sideways. A loud groaning filled the air.
Kirk tried to crawl towards the intercom on the wall. Just
as his fingers were about to brush over it, the car tilted the other way. Kirk
slid across the floor and smashed into the opposite wall. He reached up and
tightly gripped the metal railing inside the turbolift. Just then the car
started to drop rapidly down the shaft in free fall and Kirk's body was thrown
upward. His feet left the floor as all gravity vanished from the plunging lift
car. Still clinging to the railing, Kirk traveled hand over hand until he
reached the intercomm. "Emergency stop! Computer, stop this turbolift
now!"
"Computer unable to stop this turbolift at this
time." The computer calmy told him.
"Spock! The turbolift is falling! The computer can't stop it. Do something!" Kirk screamed.
Author's note: I'll try to post a new part everyday but I'm working on 2 other stories, too. I hope you can understand that. And I rarely write on Saturday, as that's my day to relax and watch my fav shows. Be assured I'll get all the chapters up on this story – but don't panic if I don't post every day. I can't always stay up to 2 or 3 AM writing my fics.
