Disclaimer: *Is transformed into a cow* Moooooooooo. *Chews on grass*
Moooooooooo. I don't own Star Trek either. Moooooooooo.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Reviewer Replies
Broken Infinity: Yay. You reviewed. Again. Actually, that makes me very happy. I LOVE reviews! And reviewing does make me write faster. ^_^
Unrealistic: Yeah, Roberts IS lucky. Maybe I'll kill him off when he gets switched back... But probably not. I've become attached to him, I guess. And the walrus people are BACK [Insert the 'Without Me' Back da na na na na na music]. Happy Typing to you too.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
*** Identity Crisis ***
Chapter Eleven - "Not AGAIN..."
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
"WHAT?" Roberts half-yelled half-whispered. Yes, this IS possible.
McCoy sighed. "I told you over the intercom. Weren't you listening?"
"I... didn't realize you meant we would have to sneak around to the transporter and then get the guy away from it and then beam ourselves down and hope no one notices and then hope that the Enterprise comes BACK for us and-"
"Ensign!" Spock said sharply, "We are well aware of the risks of this maneuver. However, the only alternative would be to stay as we are for the rest of our lives." (There's that logical ice cube again.)
Roberts quieted down considerably at that. Somehow, he hadn't been thinking of this as a rest-of-his-life deal. But now... the thought was scary. "So when do we go?" he asked cheerfully.
Chekov and McCoy both rolled their eyes. "We were planning on leaving NOW."
"Okay," Roberts said. "So how do we do it?"
-
A short time and a considerable amount of sneaking later they were in the transporter room. Due to the amazing technology of the twenty-third century, Spock was up and walking again with only a little bit of a limp. This was certainly helpful, as it would have been extremely difficult to get to the transporter room otherwise.
The biggest problem they encountered was Lieutenant Kyle, the transporter operator. Luckily, this problem was easily solved with a conveniently placed metal bar.
They were about to beam down when the intercom whistled. "Kirk to McCoy," it said.
It would have been much simpler if Kirk had just called Sickbay. But he had called McCoy, and the computer had automatically found McCoy.
McCoy gestured to Roberts. "Well, go ahead!" he hissed.
"Uh, McCoy here."
"So, Bones, will I have my navigator back anytime soon?"
"Er, not yet."
"Okay. Well, I'm having Sulu take us out then."
"Okay." Roberts broke the connection. Spock, being Vulcan with his useful Vulcan mind, did not hesitate.
"Get on the transporter!" he ordered. He hit the switch that would beam them all down as soon as he stepped onto the transporter pad. He bounded (do Vulcans bound? Well, I guess he's human now) onto the transporter. He wasn't a second too late.
Just as the four materialized on the ground, the Enterprise warped away.
(A/N: Should I leave it here? I should, except that this chapter is really short so far. SO, I'll keep going.)
"We're stuck here," McCoy pointed out completely unnecessarily. It had been mostly his plan to do this, but...
But what? He asked himself crossly. We're here. There's nothing I can do about that now.
"We should find the natives," Spock said, and the others agreed. They began to follow Spock, as he seemed to have some idea where he was going in the snowy wilderness.
Spock led them to the village of ugly dome-like huts where the walrus people had originally captured them. In an instant, walrus people with long spears surrounded them. Though it was hard to tell the aliens apart, none of them looked like the one that had been about to help them.
They felt the voice in their minds again.
It was a different voice than the one they had heard earlier. The difference was hard to explain. This voice seemed... scarier. Illogical but true.
(A/N: Should I end it here? Nah.)
"Can we have some last words or something?" McCoy asked. But he was just stalling.
the walrus-thing seemed confused.
"Yeah... it's a... tradition. We get to say what we want before we die."
McCoy flipped open his communicator. "Beam us up, Scotty!" But he knew it was hopeless. Scotty was long gone.
The walrus-thing was making a peculiar wheezing sound. After a few moments of this, the humanoids realized that it was laughing. And then it lapsed into more insane laughter.
Chekov caught Roberts' eye and shrugged. Of course he was worried; but he wasn't dead yet, and that seemed like a good thing. Anyway, this was funny.
The walrus-thing suddenly broke off his laughing and in a most serious thought voice he commanded,
Not so funny anymore.
"Wait!" McCoy yelled, causing the aliens to pause.
the walrus-person screamed mentally, causing the others to raise their spears even higher.
"Wait! You didn't give my friends their last words!" McCoy shouted.
the walrus-thing said reasonably.
"How meny vords do ve get?" Chekov asked.
"Vhat?!"
The walrus thing pointed its stubby finger at Roberts.
"Uh, you can't kill us."
"It's tradition." This alien seemed to hold tradition in very high respect. Maybe this would work.
"Er..."
"A life taken Is a bad omen Preserve all you can From Human to Vulcan to hen."
McCoy stared at Spock in shock. Had the Vulcan lost his marbles? But the walrus-thing did not seem shocked in the least.
Spock nodded solemnly.
They Enterprise four were lead to a small cave. It seemed that the walrus things didn't want to chance leaving them in a cell again. The cave was then blocked with a large boulder that the aliens rolled across the exit. They were left in darkness. Then there was silence. No one had anything to say. They had failed.
Finally Chekov broke the silence. "Not AGAIN..."
"Yes, again, Ensign," Spock said. "Perhaps now we should attempt to escape."
McCoy bit back a sarcastic remark. Fighting would only make the situation worse. "So what do we do?"
"Perhaps we should attempt to move that rock," Spock suggested, logical as ever.
The other three agreed, though none of them particularly thought it would work. So they were all surprised when the boulder rolled easily out of it's place blocking the exit.
"Er..." McCoy said in shock. The walrus-things had overlooked a pretty importat detail.
"Vell? Vhat are ve vaiting for?" Chekov asked. "Let's go find thet valrus creature."
"After you," McCoy said with exaggerated politeness to Spock.
One of the Eyebrows began to creep upwards. Spock, however, did not comment beyond that.
"So are we looking for the blue ice or whatever?" Roberts asked.
"That would be the logical course of action," the logical one said.
They walked for a little longer in silence. The landscape looked all the same to McCoy; he couldn't imagine how Spock knew which direction to go. Then again, maybe he didn't. That thought was unsettling, and McCoy squashed it with all his mental might.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
"Bones? Spock?" Kirk said into the intercom. Again. Where could they be? Why were they not responding? Could something have happened to them?
"Computer," Kirk said, an idea (A/N: Yes! An idea. This should be a national holiday! National Kirk Actually Had an Idea Day!) popping into his head suddenly. "Locate Mister Spock and Doctor McCoy."
"Scanning," the computer said in its monotone female voice.
Kirk tapped his foot impatiently as the computer completed its scan of the ship.
"Complete," the computer finally informed Kirk, "Personnel not on board."
"What?! Well, are they?"
"Unknown."
"Er, where were they last?"
"Transporter room." The computer had already done its initial scan. It did not need to do so over again.
Kirk swore. (A/N: I won't write down EXACTLY what he said simply because this is a G-rated story. So there.) "Where did they go?" The bridge crew looked at him somewhat strangely. If Spock had been there he would have raised an Eyebrow.
"Planet Seti Olan Two."
Kirk cursed again. More strange looks. Kirk ignored them. "Sulu, take us back to..." Kirk paused. "That planet," he finished.
"Aye sir."
At this point there would be a cheesy view of the Enterprise turning around in space. But inside of the ship the crew felt nothing.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Surprisingly, they found the blue ice. Granted, they were all shivering and uncomfortable, but at least they were on the right track. If only they could be shivering and uncomfortable in their own bodies.
Apparently the walrus-people did not get out much, for they saw no one as they followed the blue ice. And they had been following it for a while.
Suddenly Spock stopped walking.
"What did you do that for?" McCoy asked irritably. He had narrowly missed crashing into the Vulcan/Russian.
"This is not where the blue ice led originally," Spock said.
"So?" Chekov asked thickly. The cold was effecting him the most. They had spent a lot of time walking and his Vulcan body was not acclimated to the cold.
"I do not know what this means. However, I find it rather... unsettling."
"So, Spock," McCoy said in his best arguing voice, "You're unsettled. A once in a lifetime thing, I suppose. Anyway, are you sure you simply didn't THINK it went a different way when we were here before? Maybe you got it wrong. You're not perfect, no matter what you might say."
"That is possible," Spock said slowly, thinking it over. Finally he began walking again. Apparently he had made up his mind. The others followed wordlessly.
The blue ice twined its way around the igloo-like huts. The wind had started up again, harder than before. The sky above them seemed to be darkening, leaving the four in an eerie gloom.
Then the hail started. It was nothing like the relatively tame Earth hail. These were sharp, marble-sized chunks of ice that were hurtling down from the skies with tremendous speeds.
Chekov was the first to be hit, and he stared for a moment at the unfamiliar green blood that was blossoming out of the cut on his shoulder.
"Run!" McCoy yelled, having just taken a hailstone in the center of his chest.
"To the nearest shelter!" Spock added, pointing at an igloo hut that was about fifty yards away.
In fact, the hailstorm had hit at the worst possible time. For most of the walk along the blue ice, they had been fairly close to some of the igloo huts. But now they were in an open stretch of land.
The hailstones were getting larger now. Most of them were about the size of shooting marbles, and some were bigger. A few were plum-sized. Roberts was hit full in the face by one of these large ones, and he saw stars for a moment. Luckily, his vision cleared up enough to keep running. To stop would mean certain death.
The wind was absolutely howling now, and the hail was being driven around the Enterprise four with such strength that a hit like Roberts had received earlier would prove very dangerous.
It did.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
[Insert Twilight Zone music.] Dun dun dun....
As always, review. ---\==/
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Reviewer Replies
Broken Infinity: Yay. You reviewed. Again. Actually, that makes me very happy. I LOVE reviews! And reviewing does make me write faster. ^_^
Unrealistic: Yeah, Roberts IS lucky. Maybe I'll kill him off when he gets switched back... But probably not. I've become attached to him, I guess. And the walrus people are BACK [Insert the 'Without Me' Back da na na na na na music]. Happy Typing to you too.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
*** Identity Crisis ***
Chapter Eleven - "Not AGAIN..."
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
"WHAT?" Roberts half-yelled half-whispered. Yes, this IS possible.
McCoy sighed. "I told you over the intercom. Weren't you listening?"
"I... didn't realize you meant we would have to sneak around to the transporter and then get the guy away from it and then beam ourselves down and hope no one notices and then hope that the Enterprise comes BACK for us and-"
"Ensign!" Spock said sharply, "We are well aware of the risks of this maneuver. However, the only alternative would be to stay as we are for the rest of our lives." (There's that logical ice cube again.)
Roberts quieted down considerably at that. Somehow, he hadn't been thinking of this as a rest-of-his-life deal. But now... the thought was scary. "So when do we go?" he asked cheerfully.
Chekov and McCoy both rolled their eyes. "We were planning on leaving NOW."
"Okay," Roberts said. "So how do we do it?"
-
A short time and a considerable amount of sneaking later they were in the transporter room. Due to the amazing technology of the twenty-third century, Spock was up and walking again with only a little bit of a limp. This was certainly helpful, as it would have been extremely difficult to get to the transporter room otherwise.
The biggest problem they encountered was Lieutenant Kyle, the transporter operator. Luckily, this problem was easily solved with a conveniently placed metal bar.
They were about to beam down when the intercom whistled. "Kirk to McCoy," it said.
It would have been much simpler if Kirk had just called Sickbay. But he had called McCoy, and the computer had automatically found McCoy.
McCoy gestured to Roberts. "Well, go ahead!" he hissed.
"Uh, McCoy here."
"So, Bones, will I have my navigator back anytime soon?"
"Er, not yet."
"Okay. Well, I'm having Sulu take us out then."
"Okay." Roberts broke the connection. Spock, being Vulcan with his useful Vulcan mind, did not hesitate.
"Get on the transporter!" he ordered. He hit the switch that would beam them all down as soon as he stepped onto the transporter pad. He bounded (do Vulcans bound? Well, I guess he's human now) onto the transporter. He wasn't a second too late.
Just as the four materialized on the ground, the Enterprise warped away.
(A/N: Should I leave it here? I should, except that this chapter is really short so far. SO, I'll keep going.)
"We're stuck here," McCoy pointed out completely unnecessarily. It had been mostly his plan to do this, but...
But what? He asked himself crossly. We're here. There's nothing I can do about that now.
"We should find the natives," Spock said, and the others agreed. They began to follow Spock, as he seemed to have some idea where he was going in the snowy wilderness.
Spock led them to the village of ugly dome-like huts where the walrus people had originally captured them. In an instant, walrus people with long spears surrounded them. Though it was hard to tell the aliens apart, none of them looked like the one that had been about to help them.
They felt the voice in their minds again.
It was a different voice than the one they had heard earlier. The difference was hard to explain. This voice seemed... scarier. Illogical but true.
(A/N: Should I end it here? Nah.)
"Can we have some last words or something?" McCoy asked. But he was just stalling.
the walrus-thing seemed confused.
"Yeah... it's a... tradition. We get to say what we want before we die."
McCoy flipped open his communicator. "Beam us up, Scotty!" But he knew it was hopeless. Scotty was long gone.
The walrus-thing was making a peculiar wheezing sound. After a few moments of this, the humanoids realized that it was laughing. And then it lapsed into more insane laughter.
Chekov caught Roberts' eye and shrugged. Of course he was worried; but he wasn't dead yet, and that seemed like a good thing. Anyway, this was funny.
The walrus-thing suddenly broke off his laughing and in a most serious thought voice he commanded,
Not so funny anymore.
"Wait!" McCoy yelled, causing the aliens to pause.
the walrus-person screamed mentally, causing the others to raise their spears even higher.
"Wait! You didn't give my friends their last words!" McCoy shouted.
the walrus-thing said reasonably.
"How meny vords do ve get?" Chekov asked.
"Vhat?!"
The walrus thing pointed its stubby finger at Roberts.
"Uh, you can't kill us."
"It's tradition." This alien seemed to hold tradition in very high respect. Maybe this would work.
"Er..."
"A life taken Is a bad omen Preserve all you can From Human to Vulcan to hen."
McCoy stared at Spock in shock. Had the Vulcan lost his marbles? But the walrus-thing did not seem shocked in the least.
Spock nodded solemnly.
They Enterprise four were lead to a small cave. It seemed that the walrus things didn't want to chance leaving them in a cell again. The cave was then blocked with a large boulder that the aliens rolled across the exit. They were left in darkness. Then there was silence. No one had anything to say. They had failed.
Finally Chekov broke the silence. "Not AGAIN..."
"Yes, again, Ensign," Spock said. "Perhaps now we should attempt to escape."
McCoy bit back a sarcastic remark. Fighting would only make the situation worse. "So what do we do?"
"Perhaps we should attempt to move that rock," Spock suggested, logical as ever.
The other three agreed, though none of them particularly thought it would work. So they were all surprised when the boulder rolled easily out of it's place blocking the exit.
"Er..." McCoy said in shock. The walrus-things had overlooked a pretty importat detail.
"Vell? Vhat are ve vaiting for?" Chekov asked. "Let's go find thet valrus creature."
"After you," McCoy said with exaggerated politeness to Spock.
One of the Eyebrows began to creep upwards. Spock, however, did not comment beyond that.
"So are we looking for the blue ice or whatever?" Roberts asked.
"That would be the logical course of action," the logical one said.
They walked for a little longer in silence. The landscape looked all the same to McCoy; he couldn't imagine how Spock knew which direction to go. Then again, maybe he didn't. That thought was unsettling, and McCoy squashed it with all his mental might.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
"Bones? Spock?" Kirk said into the intercom. Again. Where could they be? Why were they not responding? Could something have happened to them?
"Computer," Kirk said, an idea (A/N: Yes! An idea. This should be a national holiday! National Kirk Actually Had an Idea Day!) popping into his head suddenly. "Locate Mister Spock and Doctor McCoy."
"Scanning," the computer said in its monotone female voice.
Kirk tapped his foot impatiently as the computer completed its scan of the ship.
"Complete," the computer finally informed Kirk, "Personnel not on board."
"What?! Well, are they?"
"Unknown."
"Er, where were they last?"
"Transporter room." The computer had already done its initial scan. It did not need to do so over again.
Kirk swore. (A/N: I won't write down EXACTLY what he said simply because this is a G-rated story. So there.) "Where did they go?" The bridge crew looked at him somewhat strangely. If Spock had been there he would have raised an Eyebrow.
"Planet Seti Olan Two."
Kirk cursed again. More strange looks. Kirk ignored them. "Sulu, take us back to..." Kirk paused. "That planet," he finished.
"Aye sir."
At this point there would be a cheesy view of the Enterprise turning around in space. But inside of the ship the crew felt nothing.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Surprisingly, they found the blue ice. Granted, they were all shivering and uncomfortable, but at least they were on the right track. If only they could be shivering and uncomfortable in their own bodies.
Apparently the walrus-people did not get out much, for they saw no one as they followed the blue ice. And they had been following it for a while.
Suddenly Spock stopped walking.
"What did you do that for?" McCoy asked irritably. He had narrowly missed crashing into the Vulcan/Russian.
"This is not where the blue ice led originally," Spock said.
"So?" Chekov asked thickly. The cold was effecting him the most. They had spent a lot of time walking and his Vulcan body was not acclimated to the cold.
"I do not know what this means. However, I find it rather... unsettling."
"So, Spock," McCoy said in his best arguing voice, "You're unsettled. A once in a lifetime thing, I suppose. Anyway, are you sure you simply didn't THINK it went a different way when we were here before? Maybe you got it wrong. You're not perfect, no matter what you might say."
"That is possible," Spock said slowly, thinking it over. Finally he began walking again. Apparently he had made up his mind. The others followed wordlessly.
The blue ice twined its way around the igloo-like huts. The wind had started up again, harder than before. The sky above them seemed to be darkening, leaving the four in an eerie gloom.
Then the hail started. It was nothing like the relatively tame Earth hail. These were sharp, marble-sized chunks of ice that were hurtling down from the skies with tremendous speeds.
Chekov was the first to be hit, and he stared for a moment at the unfamiliar green blood that was blossoming out of the cut on his shoulder.
"Run!" McCoy yelled, having just taken a hailstone in the center of his chest.
"To the nearest shelter!" Spock added, pointing at an igloo hut that was about fifty yards away.
In fact, the hailstorm had hit at the worst possible time. For most of the walk along the blue ice, they had been fairly close to some of the igloo huts. But now they were in an open stretch of land.
The hailstones were getting larger now. Most of them were about the size of shooting marbles, and some were bigger. A few were plum-sized. Roberts was hit full in the face by one of these large ones, and he saw stars for a moment. Luckily, his vision cleared up enough to keep running. To stop would mean certain death.
The wind was absolutely howling now, and the hail was being driven around the Enterprise four with such strength that a hit like Roberts had received earlier would prove very dangerous.
It did.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
[Insert Twilight Zone music.] Dun dun dun....
As always, review. ---\==/