"Captain, we will be reaching the starbase in approximately an hour," Sulu announced.

"There really is a God," McCoy said, looking up at the sky.

"Yes," Captain Kirk said, looking over at the doctor. "Do you think you can possibly keep that thing under control for another hour?"

"It's in the cage, and I intend to keep it there."

"Good."

The turbolift doors opened, and Sid stepped onto the bridge.

"What the--" Captain Kirk cried. "I thought you said it was in the cage!"

"It was."

"Hello, kidnapper-people," Sid said.

"Sid," the Captain said to the sloth. "Who let you out of the cage?"

"I did," Sid answered. "With my stick." Sid held up the stick and waved it around. "But don't worry. Ever since I was freed from the box of doom, I've been fixing things."

"Jim, send out a distress signal," McCoy suggested.

"Fixing things?" the Captain repeated, ignoring the doctor. "What kind of things?"

"All kinds of things. There was this box thingy that was grayish-shiny color, and it needed to be fixed."

"And how did you go about... fixing... it?"

"I pushed the buttons. They were shiny and sparkly. They looked like magic."

"It will be magic if we get to the starbase alive," McCoy commented.

"Oh, don't worry. I know I fixed it right. It started shooting out fireworks, like a party!"

"Jim," McCoy said. "Whenever any of our grayish-shiny color box thingies start shooting fireworks, there is bound to be trouble."

"I don't notice anything--"

At that moment, a computerized voice came on. "Artificial gravity has been de-activated."

McCoy felt himself start to rise off the floor. "Notice anything now, Jim?" he demanded, glaring at the Captain.

Captain Kirk floated out of his chair. "Uh..."

Sid also floated off the ground. "Wheeeeeeee!" he cried happily. "I'm flying!"

Captain Kirk grabbed the arm of his chair and somehow managed to reach the com link. "Scotty!" he shouted. "I assume you have noticed the problem."

"Yes, Captain!" Scotty replied.

"Can you fix it?"

"I don't know! The parts are floating all over the engine room!"

"Well, anchor them down somehow! I want the gravity back!"

"Aye, sir," Scotty said. "I'll try, sir."

Captain Kirk turned the com link off and looked up at the floating sloth. Sid was standing upside-down on the ceiling, doing some sort of tap-dancing imitation.

"I swear, Jim, if I ever find out who ordered us to pick up that thing, I'll declare him mentally unstable so fast he won't know what hit him!" McCoy said.

"I won't stop you," the Captain said. "Spock!" he called.

"Yes, Captain?" the Vulcan replied, making his way over to where the Captain floated.

"Go down to engineering and see if you can help Scotty fix the problem."

"Yes, Captain." Spock turned and went into the turbolift. A moment later he came back out. "Captain, the turbolift seems to be malfunctioning."

"What do you mean? Won't it move?"

"No."

"So we're all stuck here until Scotty can get it fixed?"

"That seems to be the situation, Captain."

Captain Kirk groaned and looked up at Sid, who was literally bouncing off the walls. "Wheeeee! Wheeee! WaHOOOOOO!" the sloth cried, rocketing past the Captain's head.

"And there's no way to get rid of Sid, either, is there?"

"Not at present," Spock said.

Sid zoomed past again, but this time, the Captain reached up and caught him by the foot. "Stop that!" he shouted at the sloth. "You've done enough damage already! I don't need you to break something else!"

"Or someone," McCoy added.

Sid struggled to free himself from the Captain's grasp. Captain Kirk finally let go of the sloth's leg. "I'm freeeeee!" Sid cheered.

"Don't touch anything!" Captain Kirk ordered.

Sid stuck out his tongue. "Mister Bossy."

Thebridge officers were finding the zero-gravity condition very annoying as they tried to stay at their posts. Well, most of them. Chekov had abandoned his attempt at guarding the weapons console and was now turning backflips in midair. "Keptin, you have to edmit, this is kind of fun!" he said.

Captain Kirk rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Jim?" McCoy said. "Do you ever wonder what happens if you throw up in zero gravity?"

The Captain glared at him. "I'd rather not find out!"

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Sid rocketed past again. "I'm flying! Yahoooo!" He slowed to a stop and floated upside-downnext to Spock's head. "Hey, Mister Ears, you should try this! It's a lot of fun!" Sid began flipping himself around.

Spock raised an eyebrow.

Sid stopped spinning. "Hey... That's pretty tricky. How do you do that?" The sloth screwed up his face and tried to raise one eyebrow at a time. Finally he gave up, panting. "It's too hard. Even for the Almighty Sid."

"Captain!" Uhura said. "I think we are receiving a transmission."

"From who?" the Captain asked.

"The starbase, I think. Should I put it on screen?"

"Uhh..." Captain Kirk glanced around the bridge. Chekov was still turning backflips.

"Yes," McCoy said. "When they ask what the heck is going on, we can tell them all about their stupid specimen!"

"All right, on screen," the Captain said.

An image of a starfleet Admiral appeared on the screen. "Captain Kirk?" he said.

"Yes, hello, Admiral," Captain Kirk replied.

The Admiral frowned. "What is going on over there?"

"Uh... We are having some difficulty with our ship. The, uh, specimen got into the artificial gravity. But it's being repaired as we speak."

The Admiral nodded slowly, still frowning slightly and giving Captain Kirk an odd look.

"We should be arriving in just a few minutes," Capatain Kirk said. "With the specimen ready to be turned over to you and your team."

The frown left the Admiral's face. "Good," he said, and the screen went dark.

"Oooh..." Sid said, staring at the darkened screen in awe. "Where did the goofy man go?"

"Don't worry, you'll see him again real soon," McCoy said.

Just then, the gravity came back on without warning. Everyone on the bridge fell to the floor in a very undignified way. Captain Kirk banged his head on the railing as he came down. Sid, on the other hand, landed gracefully in the Captain's chair.

Captain Kirk stood up carefully, rubbing the back of his head, and kicked the sloth out of his chair. Then he hit the com link. "Scotty," he said, his tone slightly threatening. "Some warning would have been nice."

"Sorry, sir," Scotty said. "At least you've got your gravity back."

The Captain detected a smile in the engineer's voice, but decided to let it slide. "Yes. Next time, remember that we would like some notice before we begin a very ungraceful plumet to the floor of the bridge."

"Aye, sir. I'll remember that."

"Kirk out." The Captain turned the com link off and spoke to Sulu. "How long until we reach the starbase?" he asked desparately.

"About forty minutes, sir," Sulu replied.

Captain Kirk turned to McCoy. "Do you think that you can possibly keep that sloth locked up and carefully guarded for a mere forty minutes?"

"I'll lock the cage personally, Jim."