"Orbit has been established, Captain," Sulu announced to the transporter room.
"Excellent, Mr. Sulu," Kirk answered. Whatever the energy field was, it had not interfered with the ship or the crew. Now it didn't appear to exist at all. There was no way that the scanners could have made it up; it had existed, but now there was nothing. The captain felt relaxed since there was no apparent danger, but thoughts churned in the back of his mind. An oasis could appear in a desert, but far more common was a mirage. Perhaps there would be some explanation when they arrived on the planet. The Enterprise had seen a whole population controlled by a robot "god." Considering the underdevelopment of the humanoids on the planet, it wasn't impossible that a similar situation was happening here.
He adjusted the bottom of his ivory waistcoat and smoothed down the pocket of his light brown morning suit where he concealed his phaser. Their outfits were especially chosen to match the dress of the inhabitants. It resembled Earth in the 1940s. It was strange how many societies resembled old-fashioned Earth. Kirk appreciated that there were skilled anthropologists among the crew and that one would join them on the planet.
McCoy was less focused on his own appearance and more intent on teasing Spock about how he was lucky that his hat was big enough to cover his pointed ears. Spock stood there rather... emotionlessly.
Spock asked the crewmen at the transporter console, "Did you receive coordinates from Uhura?"
"Yes, sir," a young crewman answered. "We're ready to beam down when Sasha gets here—I mean Crewman Helms!" He stood very stiffly.
Both Spock and the captain gave sternly quizzical looks to the red-faced crewman. "Will we beam into a concealed area?" Kirk asked firmly, letting the young man know that he was choosing to forgive that breach of protocol this time.
"Yes, sir." The embarrassed crewman seemed to release a breath he had been holding. He regained composure. "A small forest on the edge of a populated area."
Kirk gave a nod, and turned towards the sound of the opening door. A small young woman entered quickly, wearing a calf length brown dress and a floppy black hat.
"I apologize for being a little bit tardy," she announced in a surprisingly strong voice, walking towards the transporter plates. She had short black hair and large blue eyes—Kirk could see why the crewmen looked after her so intently.
"It's alright," replied McCoy. "You did have to pick clothes for four other people."
They all stepped onto the transporter—Spock and McCoy stood on opposite sides of the machine. Kirk quickly sized up his landing party: Spock, McCoy, Helms, and a security officer, just in case.
"Energize."
"That made me feel a little woozy, Jim," McCoy lulled when they appeared on the planet surface.
"It isn't just you, Bones," frustration, and the feeling of severe indigestion, evident in his voice. If that crewman was so enraptured by Miss Helms that he poorly executed transporter functions, Kirk was going to relieve him right then. Kirk flipped open his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise," he called firmly. Radio noise. "Kirk to Enterprise," he repeated. He threw out his arms and turned sharply to face the crew. "No answer!"
Spock was also trying his communicator. "It appears that there is some sort of interference preventing communication with the ship, not a human error," Spock determined, taking Kirk's unspoken assumptions to mind. "It could have also interfered with transporter functions."
"Jim, you knew something was off about this planet, didn't you," McCoy assumed.
Kirk began to reply, but they suddenly heard a low beating sound overhead. "Dive!" They quickly took cover among the trees surrounding them, anticipating a threat. A white pod with spinning rotors flew hundreds of meters over them and passed by without slowing down. Kirk couldn't get over the feeling that it had been watching them.
"Well! Isn't that a sight!" McCoy exclaimed while pulling Helms to her feet.
"I fail to see what appeals to you about primitive hovering technology, Doctor McCoy," said Spock.
"Well Spock, I fail to see what appeals to you, except your own logic," McCoy smirked.
Captain Kirk and the other officers were already standing in the clearing again. "Since we can't connect to the Enterprise, we might as well go to the population center and do what we came here for." He led them through the trees in the direction of civilization. He and the crew looked very out of place wearing nice suits in the thick of a pine forest. They had to keep a hand on their hats so they wouldn't be pushed off by wild green needles. Kirk felt the familiar pressure of responsibility upon him; his actions on this planet determined whether his crew would safely return to the Enterprise.
At the sound of a long whistle that cut through the trees, McCoy's face brightened and then turned into a haughty grin. "And Spock can learn to appreciate some of this primitive technology!"
The Vulcan did not turn around. He indeed felt something inside when he and the doctor shared comments, but he was not going to let it influence anything of himself, including his countenance. Since Dr. McCoy was an illogical human, such a response would only encourage him to continue his behavior. Then again, a nonresponse would also encourage him.
Eventually the forest of uneventful Earthlike plants ended at a tall brick wall, about four meters high. The security officer scaled a nearby tree to see what was beyond it.
"It's a large locomotive station, Captain!" he called. "There are hundreds of people!"
"Let's ride a train, Jim!" beamed the doctor. He seemed to be enjoying the scenery more than the anthropologist. The captain gave a half smile and attempted to communicate with the ship again with no success—louder static, but no success. They moved on and found a way around the wall and immediately blended into the hustle and bustle of an afternoon train depot.
"All these beings appear to be perfectly human, Captain," Spock noted.
Kirk nodded back at Spock, but did a double take and smiled. "You need to fix your hat."
"I do apologize, Captain." The pine trees must have moved Spock's hat so that one of his ears stuck out from under the rim. Spock quickly pushed it inside.
It was true. Men, women, and children in all manners of old fashioned dress. They were loading and unloading locomotive cars, purchasing tickets, carting luggage, eating lunch. They had no idea there was a spacecraft orbiting their planet and that aliens were in their midst—and they would hopefully never find out. Everyone looked cordial and chipper, and they spoke like proper Englishmen. The crew looked like they fit in, but their lack of an accent would give them away. Helms told them that it would be better for them to not fake an accent.
"Let's split up for now," Kirk muttered over his shoulder after they had walked around a while, and the crew wordlessly walked their own way.
Walking around by themselves, it was easier to go unnoticed and look closely at things. The scene did not appear dangerous, and their communicators still worked on a local level just in case there was a problem. It didn't seem like there could be a problem here though. As the planet had appeared from the ship, the surface and society seemed ideal. Could it truly be a Utopian society? When they returned to the ship, not if, Kirk looked forward to learning the truth about this place.
While he was browsing a newspaper stand, a few giggling ladies wearing calico dresses caught the captain's eye, but he soon set his sights on a woman in a ticket booth. She smiled at everyone who walked by, and especially at the captain. A map or other location information would be very useful, so he approached the ticket booth.
"Good afternoon," the woman warmly greeted.
Kirk tipped his hat—it was considered good manners to do that in this century, wasn't it? "Good afternoon," he returned with a signature smile. "You wouldn't happen to have a map of the island for me, would you?"
The woman grinned, "Of course, sir."
Leaning against the booth, Kirk couldn't help watching her as she turned around to get the map. Certainly the calf-length, dark blue uniform dress she wore was not as... intriguing as a Starfleet uniform, but the woman wore it well.
"Here is a map of town, and here is a map with all the railways."
Kirk took both maps, but preferred the railway map over the local map. There were many railway depots and lines that covered the island like a web. The Island of Sodor.
"You aren't from around here, are you?" she asked with a charming smile. There was a note of curiosity in her voice, and Kirk wondered how foreign his accent must seem to her.
"No, I'm here traveling on special business." Kirk let the words flow out. It definitely wasn't a lie.
"What special business?" she blurted out. Her excitement broke through her cordial work persona and manifested in her wide green eyes.
Oh, if you only knew, Kirk thought. "I'm afraid," he began glumly—it was not an act, "I can't tell you that."
"Oh, but even the most stuffy old businessmen tell me their stories!" she encouraged in her chipper accent. "It's almost like traveling, myself." She tucked a piece of short blonde hair behind her ear as her thoughts returned to her collections of learned adventures. She truly wanted to go on one herself.
Kirk sighed and studied her face for a few seconds, seeing his own enthusiasm in her eyes. She would never believe where he had been able to travel, and he was not at liberty to tell her. "Oh, but you can travel anywhere you wish, Millie," he mused. She blushed at the use of her name, and Kirk knew he had sufficiently distracted her from his own travels. "Just catch the next train out of here." He quickly held up his map of the island, "Kirk Ronan looks like a lovely place!" (It was the first place he had seen on the map because it shared his name.)
She laughed even though she did not know the depth of the joke. "I can't just get on a train and leave here, stranger," she challenged. "I have to keep working!"
He chuckled, peering into her green eyes. "Call me Jim," he said handsomely. He removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair.
Millie blushed again. "Jim," she quietly repeated to herself. Snapping out of it, she put her hands on her hips in playful boldness, "Well, tell me, Jim, why do you think I can go off and travel the world even though there is so much work to be done?" She batted her lashes and pursed her red lips.
"Because," Jim crooned, absently playing with the rim of his hat. His hazel eyes smoldered as they locked with Millie's again, and he cocked his head to deliver his final remark. "Because you're the ticket lady—"
"Captain!" Crewman Helms touched him on the shoulder.
Kirk quickly turned around with a glare; he did not get to deliver his line properly. "Yes, Crewman?" he asked sternly. He shouldn't be upset with Helms for the interruption, but what horrible timing!
Helms raised her eyebrow at him, but she continued in a quieter voice, "Captain, I overheard some train conductors talking, and it was about the Enterprise."
Kirk's eyes widened and his countenance became instantly professional. "Is it trying to communicate with us?"
"I left to find you before I could find out."
Kirk quickly put on his hat. All he could offer Millie, who was obviously upset, was a gentle, "thank you for the map."