"Well, Captain, apart from some lingering dehydration, all of them appear to be in perfect working order," said Nurse Chapel, smiling politely. Spock suspected that she was less calm than she seemed; never had it been necessary for so many security officers to be posted in sickbay at once. "I would advise you to move slowly around them - every one of them jumped when i tried to give them a vitamin supplement." The Captain nodded at her and she began marking things on her PADD.
As the two of them observed the nurses attending to their patients, the latter group looking extremely uncomfortable, Spock wondered why it had not been Doctor McCoy who had addressed them. It was typical of the doctor to comment on every situation he found interesting, odd, or aggravating, particularly when his opinion was neither necessary nor appreciated, however now he dipped in and out of his office, with seemingly little purpose in doing so. At one point, he caught the eye of Spock's counterpart, who looked as though he wished to ask him something. He froze, and then continued his busywork.
Curious.
After a moment, the Captain cleared his throat, and everyone turned to him. Spock released any extraneous thoughts.
"Greetings," he said to the duplicates. "I am Captain James T. Kirk of this vessel, the U.S.S. Enterprise. I would like to formally welcome you all to our universe, which parallels your own. We shall not harm or torture you in any way; we seek only to collaborate." He paused to gauge their reactions. The security officers, Roberts, and Doctor McCoy seemed unsurprised, if wary. But Commander Spock—Commander, as his arm bands indicated—was at ease.
He stood. "Greetings, Captain. We offer our hailings as well. We have not come here to instigate war with your world, but to request your assistance. Has my counterpart," he nodded to Spock, "relayed my information regarding our situation?"
"Indeed he has." Spock detected the beginnings of a smile on the Captain's face, and knew he was only suppressing it for the sake of solemnity.
"Then you are aware that our ship is in orbit around this planet?"
"I have been told, although our sensors detected no other vessels present in the system."
The other Spock considered this. Then, quietly, "That is logical, for in a theoretical sense, it does not exist."
"Does not exist? Do you mean that it didn't come with you?" He cocked his head to the side.
Spock's counterpart shook his head, then paused to gather his thoughts.
A pregnant pause. "I believe you are under the impression that you are still in your universe. You are not."
The Captain, Spock, and the medical personnel stared at him.
He went on. "You are also not in our universe. Consider your world one side of a coin, and ours the other. The region of spacetime encompassing Acheron V is the edge."
They digested this information. Then, the Captain began hesitantly, "So, we are in a kind of… gray area, between the two worlds?"
"Indeed. What exists here technically exists in both universes simultaneously, as well as neither. Including, it appears, us."
"... And that's why none of our equipment has been functioning properly."
"Correct. The properties of energy are somewhat different than in our universes. It is transmitted incredibly quickly, which is only obvious on a large scale, as with dilithium crystals. Due to this change in physics, no matter can exit the region."
"But it can enter," the Captain noted. "It must be going somewhere, otherwise the equilibrium would become unbalanced."
"Indeed." Spock and his counterpart said it simultaneously. They stared at each other while the Captain valiantly fought the urge to laugh.
Rapid energy drainage, starting with the warp drive...
Spock remembered something. He turned to the open door of Doctor McCoy's office, where he was hunched over his desk.
"Doctor," he called, and McCoy jumped a foot in the air. "I apologize for the prematurity, but have you perchance completed your report on your encounter with the entity during today's mission?"
"I, uh—" The doctor coughed. "I have." He handed the PADD on his desk to Spock, then lingered in the doorway.
Spock addressed his mirror self. "I believe you will find this information relevant." He then began to recite the facts of the doctor's report, including the appearance of the creature and its behavior. When he described how it created noise—
"It spoke to him?" His counterpart took a few steps towards the office. The others shifted and whispered amongst themselves anxiously. "What did it—ah, but as a non-telepathic being, he would have no way to understand it. However, this can be overcome."
At this point Spock noticed that Doctor McCoy's face was white; his grip upon the door frame was iron. The Captain noticed, too.
He stepped between McCoy and the mirror Spock and said, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You said before that you were contacted by a being of great power. Are we to assume that this alien is the same individual?"
"Yes," said the counterpart, a glimmer of initiative in his eye. "It was a creature made of light that spoke in a garbled tongue. As I have told your first officer, it promised to provide us with vital weaponry and defenses."
"For the Empire," he added.
"For the Empire," repeated the Captain. Spock knew he was hiding a smile again.
The other Spock cleared his throat. "More importantly, I believe that whatever it told Doctor McCoy represents a vital clue in solving our current predicament."
The Captain nodded. "That would make sense."
"Of course, there is only one way to know for certain. That is why I propose a mind meld between him and myself."
Everyone heard McCoy's office door slide shut.
"It would take but a moment."
Spock wondered if the temperature regulators had malfunctioned, because the room suddenly felt about five degrees colder. He took it upon himself to end the awkward silence.
"We will, of course, require Doctor McCoy's consent before implementing such a plan," he said, stating the obvious. His counterpart raised an eyebrow.
"Surely a man of integrity like yourself would not object," said the Captain, who looked at Spock and nudged his head towards the office door.
He took the hint and turned away. As he did, he heard his own voice say, "I would not, Captain. However, do not forget that both of our ships will eventually cease function without his compliance."
"'Man of integrity.' Pff. I think I've heard that one before."
The door opened, and the alternate Spock entered his office. McCoy leapt from his chair, overtaken by fright, and pressed his back against the wall—only to realize he was mistaken. Their Spock, the one he knew, cocked his head at him, obviously fascinated by his reaction.
"—Doctor?"
"What."
"I asked if you might consent to a mind meld between yourself and my counterpart."
He nearly laughed in his face. The sheer audacity of Spock to ask him for a mind meld twice in the same day, especially considering how he'd reacted to the first suggestion, was overwhelming . And this time—this time with—McCoy couldn't think about it.
A few seconds went by. It seemed that Spock required more than stunned silence as an answer this time. "...No, that's not happening," said McCoy.
He got stunned silence in return. McCoy swore he saw a muscle in Spock's eye twitch.
A great sigh. "Doctor, your lack of cooperation has been most difficult today, I hope you are aware. I fail to understand your total loathing towards the suggestion of kash-nohv , an attitude i believe to be rooted in ignora—"
"'Lack of cooperation'? You call me not wanting to be rummaged through like a filing cabinet a 'lack of cooperation'?!"
Spock breathed through his nose, steeling himself. "Simply put, I have never met a being more inherently opposed to the concept than yourself, which is particularly perplexing given that you have never experienced it firsthand. I intend to find out why that is."
"Oh, I bet you do," McCoy snarled. He disregarded the untruth in the second part of Spock's statement. "I bet I'm just a perfect little puzzle for your hyper-logical mind to solve. And I wouldn't necessarily mind that treatment, if you weren't doing it because you literally want to get inside my head!" He felt his breathing becoming labored again, but he was too riled up to mind his composure.
"... it is not I who wishes to do so at this time, it is my counterpart," Spock reminded him. As if he needed it. His eyes were on McCoy again, desperate to understand. He despised that.
"I told you to stop looking at me like that."
"Like what, Doctor?"
"Like you're trying to know every little thing that I'm thinking!"
Spock crossed his arms. "Surely I need not remind you that Vulcans are touch -telepaths." McCoy had no response. He knew that no matter how endlessly he explained that he could just feel it, Spock would never understand what he meant, or how he hated it. It was hopeless.
Before McCoy could say something snarky, Spock strode forward and placed his hands on McCoy's desk. "Doctor, have you ever considered that your selfishness and irrationality will cost the lives of everyone aboard this ship?"
There it was. The culmination of every cold shoulder, every sarcastic eyebrow, every snide comment in his direction today was this, barely concealed frustration. Spock blamed him.
Well, he could blame him all he wanted; McCoy wasn't budging. "For God's sake, Spock." He would never understand. "I heard what the man said. He wants the weapons the alien promised him because he's hoping to stage a little coup on his dear Captain Kirk." Someone like Spock could never understand. "Well, Jim might be delighted, but I am not keen on being instrumental to the pursuit of violence."
"Your speculation on my counterpart's true motives is not appreciated at this time. What is prudent is the fact that in a matter of weeks, possibly days, every system on this ship will be drained of energy, including life support, and we are trapped here with no means of calling for help. We will all die." Spock paused to let it sink in; McCoy looked at the floor.
"I—"
"Do you understand? Gathering any information we can is crucial; it may be our only means of survival."
"Spock—"
"You are the only person who has encountered the entity since it made first contact with the Terrans…"
"Be that as it may, Spock," McCoy began. He wavered. Why must he always be right? The situation was just as dire as Spock made it seem; they needed to know what the entity told him, even if the information turned out to be unhelpful. McCoy had chosen to ignore the fact that there was much more than just his sanity at stake because he wanted to be comfortable .
Maybe he was being selfish. His face heated with shame.
He sat in his chair. Spock looked down at him knowingly. It made McCoy want to punch something.
Before he could, Jim walked into his office with a strained look on his face. "My five-minute small-talk limit is just about up," he said. "And the commander is becoming, shall we say, impatient. Mr. Spock, you are not a pleasant man when you're impatient." He gave him a jovial smile.
It died as he sensed the icy atmosphere. He coughed.
"Bones, has Spock talked about the mind meld with you yet?"
"He has." McCoy's tone was neutral.
"Great! Then I can arrange it with Sp—"
"Doctor McCoy has yet to actually agree to the ritual," Spock informed him.
"Oh." A beat. "What's the hold-up, then?"
McCoy was suddenly very tired. Neither of them understood, or were capable of even an ounce of sympathy. He couldn't blame them, really. He wasn't exactly forthcoming. He'd just hoped for—for something more. McCoy didn't know what.
"I have been trying to determine that myself."
He let out a shivering sigh, trying to banish the hysteria he felt encroaching upon his consciousness. The mirror Spock. In his presence, in his sickbay, now in his head, too? Not for the first time today, McCoy wondered why any of this had to happen to him. But there was no why. It was just the cruelty of the universe at work.
"You're going to agree to it, right, Bones? The whole ship's at stake."
"Indeed."
He knew he would have to say yes. But he wanted a few more seconds. Just a few more seconds before he had to say yes.
(Did they see his hands were shaking?)
Jim and Spock loomed over him, waiting for the answer they wanted.