Title: Proof of Existence Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Author's note: Well, this should be the last full chapter, though there's going to be a short epilog. Thanks for sticking with me all the way. It's been fun. "Sapper" is a rank in the Engineers that's equivalent to "Private".

Thanks as always to Paper Parcel and to my husband for reading, and thanks to those who have reviewed.

Lt. Uhura watched the blue planet below swim in the viewscreen. It looked so peaceful from this distance that no one could guess that it was wracked by world wide conflict. From up here there was no sign of the flights of bombers, the fleets of warships. No boundaries to show how a madman had made a pretty good job of conquering huge areas of its surface. From this distance, the only violence was natural, the swirls of clouds where storms obscured the surface.

"It's beautiful." Captain Ash breathed. Beside him, Sergeant James made a small noise of agreement.

"There's a little over an hour and a half before you two need to be in position." Kirk said. "We need to find the coordinates to beam you down."

It was a simple but time consuming job that mostly fell to Uhura. Focus in on Europe, and find England. Focus in on England, find London. Now the damage done by the war wasn't hidden any more. Entire sections of the city lay ravaged, swaths of bombed-out rubble.

But there was no time for the history lesson. Focus in on London, locate the right section. Narrow in even further, streets, buildings...

"There. That's it." Ash said at last.

It was an open area, with one smallish building, a shed or something like it. From above it was obvious the roof had been broken in, and clumsily repaired.

"We think someone must have been using the building for illegal purposes, and they didn't dare report the bomb when it first fell. They just patched over the roof, and hoped they'd be lucky. Which they were." Ash sighed. "When they finished with the building they reported the bomb to the authorities anonymously. It hasn't been very high on our list of priorities, you can see how far away from everything it is, but finally we've had time to get to it. We set up the safety point up around the corner of that building there. " He pointed on the screen.

"All right gentlemen. I think you should get ready now." Kirk said. "When we see your earlier selves taken, we'll wait a few minutes to make sure the bomb isn't going to explode, and then send you down. Mr. Kyle, please show them the way to the transporter room."

Kyle nodded. "Yes, sir" He motioned the two to the lift door.

"Captain Ash, Sergeant James." Kirk continued. "It has been our very great privilege to have you visit us."

Ash nodded. "Thank you Captain. It has been... interesting... being here, and we appreciate all you and your people have done for us. " He turned to Spock. "Mr. Spock. Thank you for showing me your family." He paused. "Our family."

Spock raised his hand in the Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper, Captain Ash." He added something Uhuru couldn't catch, in what she assumed was Vulcan.

Ash nodded again, and the three men left the bridge.

As they entered the lift, Kyle asked "You have all your gear, sir?" Ash glanced at the sergeant, who nodded.

They were silent most of the trip to the transporter room, but finally Ash broke the silence. "Thank you for shepherding us around these past days, Mr. Kyle. You've been more than helpful."

Kyle warmed to his praise. "Thank you sir. It was my pleasure."

"You know, I don't think you've ever said what your given name is."

Kyle flushed a little. He'd been hoping they wouldn't ask. "It's Winston, sir." He gave a little laugh. "Winston Churchill Kyle, actually. That's... another reason I've always been interested in the period."

Ash laughed. "Winston Churchill? Any relation?"

Kyle shrugged. "Maybe. Distantly. Family legend says yes, but so many records were lost in the war years of the twenty-first century, there's no way to tell any more."

They arrived at the transporter room, where Mr. Scott was waiting. "We'll do this one together, laddie." He said to Kyle. Kyle nodded, knowing Scott to be his only superior in using the transporter.

Uhura's voice came over the intercom. "Captain Ash's section just arrived. Time to get ready, boys."

Kyle showed them how to stand on the transporter pads.

"It's been an honor having you with us, gentlemen." Mr. Scott said. "Especially you, Sergeant." he added in lower tones.

"Aye." Sergeant James said. "It's been a privilege to meet you, sir."

"Captain Ash and Sergeant James have entered the building. We're tracking their readings on the sensors now." Lt. Uhura's voice came again.

They waited in silence.

"Sensors indicate that the building is now empty. They've been taken. Captain Kirk says to transport only on his order."

Ash turned to James. "Are you ready, Sergeant?"

James gave him a wry smile. "As ready as I'm ever likely to be, sir."

The Kirk's voice. "Mr. Scott, are the coordinates laid in?"

"Aye, sir."

"Prepare to transport. Captain Ash, Sergeant James, good luck."

"Thank you, Captain Kirk. Oh, and Captain? I realize this may not be possible, but if it is, when all this is over, when you and your ship are safe, if there were some way you could let us know, I think we would both appreciate it."

"Of course. You have my word, if there's any possible way, we will."

"Thank you, sir."

"Mr. Scott, transport."

Together Kyle and Mr. Scott began to work the controls.

The shimmering lights coalesced into the dark ramshackled shed, and the ominous shape of the bomb. For one brief moment Ash doubted his sanity. Had the past few days actually happened, or were they some bizarre daydream? But a glance at Sergeant James put his mind to rest, for he saw the same momentary fear mirrored in his eyes. Recognizing their identical reactions, the sergeants lips pursed in a brief reassuring smile.

And that meant they had to get busy, quickly. Because Ash thought it was all to likely that Grylock had booby-trapped the bomb. It was his best explanation for why their return to Earth had not been blocked. Grylock was watching and waiting to have the last laugh when the bomb exploded, negating all Kirk's efforts, and giving Grylock his revenge.

And for that same reason Ash didn't dare say anything of his plans out loud. He just trusted that Sergeant James would understand.

"Did any of the men get a close look at that fuse?"

James shrugged. "Mully, maybe, sir. None of the rest of the lads, so far as I know."

That was a stroke of luck, Ash thought. Mully could be trusted to hold his tongue.

"Do you know what major Lackhurst said to me after Ken Machen was killed?" Ash said conversationally, pretending to study the bomb. "He said you could never depend on a bomb to act the way it's supposed to. You never know when one will go up. At least if this one does, it'll only take the liquid discharger. Much easier to replace than the steam sterilizer."

He saw the sergeant start to object. This was a type 17 fuse, and the proper procedure was the clock stopper and then the steam sterilizer. But then he caught himself and nodded agreement. Ash breathed a sigh of relief. The sergeant might or might not know what he was up to, but he was paying attention.

"Another good thing about the liquid defuser, while it's working we can stand someplace safe and I can have a smoke. I can use one by now."

There was dawning understanding on the sergeants face. "Aye sir. It was a piece of luck this bomb landed here, with nothing to be damaged if the bitch goes up. Like the one at the waterworks, when Major Francis got so... disturbed with us."

Ash smiled grimly, knowing now the sergeant had figured it out. He remembered the waterworks bomb as well as the sergeant. The casing had cracked on impact, and rather than defuse it by the book, Ash and the DOBD had simply pulled the fuse casing from the remains, and Ash and the sergeant had exploded the fuse on the site.

And that's what Ash meant to do now. But since this fuse was still in an intact bomb, that meant exploding the entire thing.

"Your memory is excellent, Sergeant. Get everything that we need."

"Aye, sir."

It was a matter of moments until the Sergeant returned. "You got this yourself?" Meaning "No one saw what you were getting, I hope."

"Trust me, sir. And I told the lads this one looked a might touchy, and they should keep their heads down." he added.

Ash nodded as he worked. They set up the liquid discharger, a simple apparatus of glass tubes and rubber hosing, as though it were going to actually be used. But as they hid the bomb with their bodies, they packed blocks of explosive around the fuse casing. The sergeant struck a match and lit it.

"We'd best be going now, sir."

"That's an understatement, Sergeant." Ash agreed . They made their way out as fast as Ash's crippled leg would allow.

"That tree over there should be safe." Ash said. It looked miles away. Time seemed to crawl as Ash, helped by the sergeant, limped towards safety.

"Sir, I think we need to hop it." the sergeant exclaimed, an agony of concern in his voice.

"I am hoping it." Ash gritted between his teeth, and the sergeant winced at the unintended phrasing. "You should run ahead of me. No sense us both getting killed."

"Not without you, sir."

"That's an order."

"No sir."

"That's insubordination, sergeant."

"You can put me up on charges later, sir." The sergeant growled. "Come on, sir." Pushed to the limit, he finally grabbed Ash by the arm and half dragged, half carried him forward.

And then the blast of the bomb took them from behind.

Sapper Gordon Mully was the first to react when the shock of the explosion hit. In a frenzy of horror, half sobbing, he ran from the safety point. The sergeant was far more of a father figure to him than his own, drunken, mostly absent father had been, and as to Ash, he was his commanding officer, and his loyalty to him was absolute. The thought of losing them both at once was unbearable.

The rest of the men followed him as he dashed around the corner of the building they had sheltered behind.

And there they found the sergeant and captain pulling each other up from the ground, laughing. Mully even saw them exchange the same formal triumphant handshake they normally reserved for when they had successfully detonated a defused bomb in the marshes.

Up in the Enterprise, there had been a gasp of collective horror when the explosion had hit. Dust and debris obscured both the visuals and the sensor readings. It seemed like an eternity until they were able to see the two men, alive and well, surrounded by a group of other uniformed men.

Ensign Chekov let out a cheer. "They're alright sir!"

"Yes, Ensign, I think we can all see that ourselves." Kirk said, relief flooding him.

But before they had time to enjoy the relief, the ship lurched as though it had struck something.

"Cheaters! Cheaters!" The petulant voice of Grylock, raised to a shriek, filled the bridge.

"Sir!" Mr. Sulu gasped. "Our course has been changed! We're heading directly towards the Sun!"

"You think your so smart, I'll show you!" Grylock screamed.

"Hard astern" Kirk snapped. The ship veered.

"Sir! We're coming around on the sun again!"

"I'll burn you up!" Grylock screeched. "Burn! Burn!"

"Is there any physical object to lock the phasers on?"

"Negative, Captain."

"Hard astern again, and take evasive action."

The ship slammed backwards again.

"Sir!" It was Mr. Scott's voice of the intercom. "The engines canna' take this much longer." The bridge was filled now with the clamor of warning klaxons.

"The hull can't take much more of it either, Captain!" Mr. Sulu added.

"As long as we can, people." Kirk growled.

"Die! Die! Die!" Grylock cackled.

"I didn't think I was going to die at the hands of some psycho with dialog out of a grade B vid." Sulu grumbled, hands frantically flying over the consol.

The fiery image of the Sun centered in the viewscreen again. Closer now, far to close.

"Hull temperature climbing dangerously" Spock announced grimly.

"Hard astern again."

Again the ship slammed backwards.

"It's no good, sir, we're almost right back where we started."

Then, suddenly, another voice broke into the din. "Mother! Father! I found them!"

"Trelane?" Kirk gasped.

"What are you doing here, baby?" Grylock snarled.

"Let go of them, Grylock." Trelane cried. There was another slam to the ship.

"Hull pressure is reaching dangerous levels, Captain. It's as though we're being grabbed and pulled in two directions simultaneously." Spock called.

"Hurry up! I can't hold on much longer!" Trelane's voice gasped.

"We can't sustain this much longer. The hull will rupture."

"Grylock. Let go now." A different voice, older, commanding.

There was a final wrenching shudder, then suddenly they were free. The klaxon's cut off.

"Damage report, Lt. Uhura?"

"No serious injuries reported. Minor damage to the hull, nothing serious." Uhura reported in relief.

"Captain, I think we have company." Spock said quietly.

There were two glowing blobs of light on the bridge, one bigger, one smaller.

"Captain Kirk." A feminine voice this time. "I'm sorry my son's former friend caused you this trouble."

"Madam. Thank you for your very timely rescue." Kirk said gallantly.

"I'm sorry I had to grab your ship, Captain." Trelane's voice this time, but unlike any other time they had heard it, he sounded contrite. "He was trying to throw you into the sun."

"There was no serious harm done to the ship." Kirk reassured him.

"Captain Kirk." Trelane's mother put in, "We owe you a debt of thanks. We had suspected for some time that Grylock was tampering with the past, in contravention of our strictest laws, but we had no proof until we caught him here. Now we can make sure he is properly taken care of. Maybe helped, but at the very least confined so he can never be a threat again."

"We appreciate that, ma'm" Kirk said gratefully.

"We'll restore you to your own time and the place Grylock took you from. You have nothing left on your ship that's out of time, except this." There was a "clink", and a comb fell out of thin air onto the deck.

"One of our guests must have left it behind."

"I can return it to it's proper place." Trelane's mother assured him.

"Can you include something with it?" Kirk asked. "I promised to let them know if we survived."

"That can be arranged. As long as the message says nothing about the manner of your deliverance."

Kirk nodded. "I understand."

"And now, Captain, my son has something to say to you. Trelane?"

The smaller blob of light shimmered, and condensed into the stocky form of the Squire of Gothos. Instead of the peacock-like self assurance they had known before, however, this was a Trelane who seemed embarrassed, even humble. He hung his head and looked down at the deck.

"Trelane!" his mother said again, more sharply.

"I'm very sorry for being mean the first time I met you, and for scaring you." Trelane mumbled. "It was wrong of me to bully you just 'cause I'm stronger."

Kirk was taken aback. "Thank you, Trelane." He said as graciously as he could muster. "I'm sure we all appreciate that."

"Trelane had been spending far to much of his time with Grylock." His mother said. "We didn't appreciate what a bad influence he was until the incident with your ship. It has taken quite some time to undo the damage that he caused."

"I'm glad that you've been able to... take care of the situation."

"Children are a great worry." Trelane's mother sighed. "If you have any of your own, I'm sure you understand. However, that's enough of this. If you will prepare a message, I will return this misplaced item."

It took only moments for a suitable message to be prepared, and then Trelane's mother was gone from the bridge.

Trelane remained. "Captain Kirk?"

"Yes, Trelane?"

Trelane scuffed the deck with the toe of his boot. "I was just wondering. If I promised to be good, and not mean or scary, could we play together again some time?"

For a moment Kirk just stared. Then he gathered himself together. "Well, if your parents say it's alright, and if we can make some reasonable rules that you promise to obey, then I suppose we could. Have your mother and father speak to me about it."

Trelane looked up, joy written all over his face. "Yes! I promise I'll be good! Thank you, Captain!" And then he was gone.

"Captain." Mr. Sulu said. "Our location and the chronometer reading correspond to where and when we were at the point we encountered Grylock."

"It seems Trelane's mother keeps her word." Spock said.

"Indeed so, Mr. Spock. So that leaves us with only one disagreeable task before us."

"What's that, Captain?"

"Finding some way to explain all this in the Quarterly Reports." Kirk sighed. There was a spate of laughter around the bridge. "All right people, let's get back to business."

The reports took the rest of the day, just as Kirk had feared, but eventually they were done, signed, copied, and passed on to Lt. Uhura to send. Captain Kirk took himself and Mr. Spock off duty, and left the ship to Lt. Leslie as the day shift turned into night. He and Spock boarded the lift together.

"Well, this has been an interesting one for the records." Kirk said, yawning.

"Indeed, Captain. But a most satisfactory resolution. There is only one thing I do not understand."

"What's that, Mr. Spock?"

"Why you agreed to Trelane's request. It seems as though it could be dangerous."

Kirk shrugged. "I could say something about the logic of making such powerful beings as Trelane and his parent's happy."

"True, that is logical."

"But you don't believe that was my motive?"

Spock shook his head. "No, sir."

Kirk sighed. "Then I have to admit that it's something of a compliment to know that despite my age, a little boy still thinks it would be fun to knock on my door and ask if I can come out and play."

"Ah. Middle aged crisis." Spock said wisely.

Kirk was just about to object, when the look in Spock's eye told him that he'd been caught by one of his first officer's deadpan jokes, jokes that he would never admit he made. He simply grinned. "You may be right, Mr. Spock. Good night, and I'll see you in the morning."

Gordon Mully was puzzled. Something did not add up. He was certain that he had seen a 17 on that bomb's fuse, not a 50, but the sergeant had brought the liquid defuser, not the clockstopper. Mully had thought he must have been wrong, but then the bomb had exploded, almost as if the wrong procedure had been used on it. Yet, if that were the case, both the sergeant and the captain would have had to have made the same mistake, and he couldn't imagine either of them making a mistake so basic. So if something had been done, it had been done deliberately. But why? At least there would be no trouble with the Major over it, everyone knew that the Captain and Major Rogers were close friends, so that was alright. He shook his head. It was to much for a simple Sapper to worry about. If Captain Ash and Sergeant James were both in agreement with whatever had happened, then Mully was too.