When a rather tall gentleman with pointed ears entered the transporter room, Tony started entertaining the idea that Jeannie had nothing to do with this. Not that he would put it past her to zap him into a UFO, but she would be here in on the joke.
"This is my first officer, Mr. Spock of the planet Vulcan." Kirk announced. Tony thought that for an alien, this Captain Kirk was awfully full of himself.
Tony asked Kirk calmly, "What planet are you from?"
Kirk's answer surprised him, "Me, I'm from Iowa. Actually we are part of a multi-planetary alliance from your future. We were accidentally transported back to your time by a black hole. I assure you we had nothing to do with the failure of your aircraft's engines and egress systems. We used a matter-energy transporter to bring you aboard our ship when it was apparent you would not survive."
Tony was genuine when he said, "Well, we definitely appreciate that."
Spock gave Kirk a glance that obviously meant you are telling them far too much.
Roger was clearly astonished, inquired, "Time travel, matter-energy transporter, which other of Einstein's laws are you bending?"
Kirk chuckled, "All in time, Major. Let's get you gentlemen in fresh clothes, and a rack to relax in."
Roger's question distressed Spock even more.
When they entered the corridor, Tony and Roger saw even more of the ship. Roger especially liked the mini-skirt/go-go boot uniform of the female crew members. Kirk showed Tony and Roger a stateroom. To minimize even more introduction of 23rd century technology, the Captain had the Majors' meals and uniforms brought to them a-la room service.
Roger was given a uniform with a red tunic while Tony's was gold. Tony figured the colors had something to do with the tasks the crew had. The one problem he had with that theory was that the Captain's tunic was gold while the First Officer's was blue. In the long run, it didn't really matter what color the tunics were, as he had no intention on staying long.
"Tony, why do you suppose Jeannie hasn't found us yet? It's not like her to leave you out of her sight for so long." Roger asked.
Tony thought for a moment and replied, "Maybe she doesn't have a choice. I'm sure we have both been reported as victims of a training accident by now. If I'm dead, she goes back into the bottle."
That disturbed Roger. Tony was being stoic, as usual, but it also really bothered him. The thought of poor Jeannie bottled up, thinking he was dead.
There was a beeping at the hatch, followed by two tall muscular men in red shirts entering the room. Roger and Tony had been in the military long enough to know muscle when they saw it.
"Captain Kirk would like you gentlemen to accompany us to the briefing room." The red shirt with a stripe on his cuff said.
Tony and Roger complied with the "request." They really wanted to know what the captain had to say. Besides they didn't think they had much of a choice. When they entered the room they saw Kirk, Spock, and two 40ish men.
"Majors, thank you for coming," Kirk said amicably. He introduced the crewman wearing the same style tunic as Spock as the ship's physician, Dr. McCoy, and the man in red as chief engineer Mr. Scott.
Kirk went on, "Since this directly affects you, I'll share some more information about our situation. As I said before, we are from your future. Unfortunately, since we don't precisely know how we got here, we are stuck. The bad news is, you are stuck also. There is no way we can let you back knowing what you know now."
Roger was the first to object, "We can keep a secret. You have no idea the type of secrets we keep."
Kirk said patronizingly, "I think I have an idea of the secrets a 20th century astronaut would be keeping."
Tony thought buddy you have no idea.
"For example," Kirk continued, "we know you took pictures of our ship."
Seeing Tony's puzzled look, Roger explained, "I used the PR camera up front to take a few shots before everything went haywire."
"Good thinking, Rog," Tony commended.
Spock reported to the group, "The camera was found in the wreckage of the plane, with film intact. Crash team leader Colonel Alfred Bellows took the film to NASA's image laboratory in Houston."
The engineer looked concern, "Captain, a trained engineer of this time period could alter the space-time continuum by reverse engineering those photos."
Kirk acknowledged his engineer, "Exactly Mr. Scott. That's why Spock and I are going down to Houston to retrieve those photos."
Unexpectedly, Roger started laughing, "You're going down to meet Dr. Bellows?"
Tony, choking back the guffaws, added, "And introducing him to Mr. Ears?"
McCoy interrupted, "Damn it Jim, I'm no psychiatrist, but these men seem to be going in to hysterics!"
At that both men laughed heartily. Tony, close to tears, told Kirk, "But don't worry, Dr. Bellows is a psychiatrist."
On that, Kirk and Spock went to the transporter room; Scotty went to the bridge; and McCoy took the still chuckling 20th century astronauts to sick-bay for a full work up. Nelson and Healey, of course, were in better health than most of the crew members of the Enterprise.
