During the night, Jim Kirk opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling and looked around him but he did not know where he was. He felt as though he did not know anything at the moment. He sat up on the bed and looked at the IV's in his arms. He pulled them out and then stood up. His legs felt shaky but he stayed up…and then he noticed Carol lying on the other bed asleep. He walked slowly over to that bed and looked at her. He thought he was supposed to know her, but he could not remember.

Jim walked out of the medical bay and turned to his left in the corridor. After he walked a few minutes, he passed by Ensign Lee in the corridor. "Admiral?" she said. He looked at her with a confused look. "You're not supposed to be up, are you?" Jim just kept on walking. "Wait, Admiral!" She went after him. "Does Doctor McCoy know you're up?" She thought he looked awfully confused and he had not said a word. "You better come back to the medical bay."

Ensign Lee tried to take his arm and lead him back to the medical bay, but he pulled his arm away from her. "Admiral, you shouldn't be up," she insisted.

Jim walked away from her. She hurried to a communication station and pressed the button for the captain of the ship…

Spock was lying in bed when his communicator chirped. He opened it. "Captain Spock here," he answered.

"Captain, I just saw Admiral Kirk walking down the corridor," Ensign Lee said.

Spock sat up. "Where?"

"Not far from the medical bay. He's not supposed to be up, is he?"

"No."

"I tried to take him back but he wouldn't go with me."

"Follow him. I will be there shortly."

"Yes, Sir."

The transmission ended. Ensign Lee hurried down the corridor but she did not see Admiral Kirk anywhere. She hurried to her right searching frantically for him.

Spock sent a transmission to Doctor McCoy. "What?" Bones asked as he answered his communicator.

"Jim has left the medical bay," Spock said.

Bones sat up in bed. "What?! How?"

"He simply walked out. He is wandering down the corridor. We must find him."

"I'm getting up."

"Spock out."

Bones got out of bed as quickly as he could and got dressed. He also called Solan who was out of his quarters in a few minutes. He and Bones met in the hallway. "Where did he go?" Solan asked.

"I don't know," Bones replied. "We have to find Spock. He said Jim was wandering down the corridor."

"Doesn't everyone know he's not supposed to be up?"

They hurried to Deck 9 where the medical bay was and went from there since they did not see anyone before they arrived there. As they hurried down the corridor, they met up with Spock who was coming the other way. "I guess you didn't find him," Bones said.

"No," Spock answered. "And I assume you did not find him."

They all headed in the opposite direction from where Spock came. "Someone will have to see him," Solan declared.

"Yes," Spock agreed. "I have sent out an alert to all personnel. He cannot escape detection for long."

"How did he get out without anyone seeing him?" Bones asked.

"Carol was exhausted. I assume she was sleeping and did not realize he had left the medical bay."

"That doesn't excuse the staff."

"I will have words with them once this situation is resolved."

"Surely he wouldn't try to get off the ship," Solan declared. "Who saw him leave the medical bay?"

"Ensign Lee saw him wandering down the corridor," Spock said.

"Why didn't she stop him?" Bones asked.

"She tried."

Soon, everyone aboard the Enterprise was aware that Admiral Kirk had wandered from the medical bay and needed to be found. However, no one was seeing him where they were. "How could no one be seeing him?" Bones asked. "Where could he go that nobody sees him?"

They stopped a moment to contemplate that. "There are many places that he could be on this ship where no one would be seeing him," Spock said. "If he wandered into empty quarters."

"Yeah, but the computer should know where he is."

"It does not. For some unexplained reason, it cannot track him. Perhaps it is because he is no longer in this system and has not been re-entered."

"Or maybe this stuff he's been affected by has changed his biology in some way."

"Perhaps his brainwaves are different and the computer cannot distinguish that phenomenon."

"So, we're going to have to go to every empty compartment on this ship?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "It is possible," he said.

"Well, so much for resting."

"I'm going to check the shuttle bay," Solan announced. "I don't want him to get off the ship."

"I do not believe he could get off the ship," Spock replied.

Just then, Carol came around into that corridor. "How could Jim walk out of there and I didn't even know it?" she asked.

"You were dead tired," Bones replied in his blunt way. "The big question is how did he get out without the staff seeing him."

"You don't have any clue where he is?"

"No. And before you ask, no the computer cannot track him for some reason. No one has seen him."

"Where do we start looking?"

"Well, Solan's on his way to the shuttle bay."

Carol was rather alarmed at that. "You don't think he would try to get off the ship!"

"We don't know," Bones said. "But we're wasting time standing here. We have to split up."

"A better choice would be for everyone aboard the Enterprise to look in any empty compartments near them," Spock said. "That way, we do not have to try and search the whole ship ourselves."

"Good idea. But I'm going on down this corridor. You take care of that."

Carol followed Doctor McCoy and they rounded the next corner, both hoping they would see Jim by chance, but they did not. "Where would he go?" Carol asked.

Bones thought about that. "I don't know," he said. "I don't know what he would be thinking."

Solan arrived at the shuttle bay which was rather dark since the ship was still on night cycle. "Admiral Kirk!" he called. "Anyone in here?"

"I'm here," someone answered.

Ensign Franks came from a shuttle. "I've been looking for Admiral Kirk here," he said. "I didn't see him come in here."

Solan blew out a breath. "Where would he go?" he asked, talking more to himself. "You keep searching. I'm going somewhere else."

"Yes, Sir."

Solan left the shuttle bay and stood in the corridor a moment. He thought about where Jim might be wanting to go. He decided to check the observation deck, and almost ran into Ajah on the way. "I'm checking the observation deck," they both said at the same time.

"Let's go," Solan replied.

They hurried to the observation deck at the lower part of the ship. They were both relieved to see Jim standing at the window looking out at the planet. Solan walked slowly over to him. "Admiral," he said.

Jim was startled and backed up a few steps. "Hey, take it easy," Solan said. "We've been looking for you. You remember me, don't you? I've saved your life about a hundred times."

Jim just stared at him with a blank stare and did not say a word. "What are you doing down here?" Solan asked. He looked out the window at the planet. Jim looked out and pointed at the planet with a shaky hand. Solan realized Jim was trembling all over. "Why don't you come with me? I want to take you back to the doctor." Jim backed up. "He's your friend. You call him Bones. You're the only person in the whole galaxy who does. I'm your friend too. Remember when I rescued you from a Klingon prison?"

Jim rubbed his eyes and shook his head. Ajah was calling Spock on the communicator to let them know they had found Jim while Solan was trying to get him to calm down. "Do you know your name?" Solan asked. "Your name is Jim. Don't you remember your wife, Carol?" Jim looked at him when he said that. "You remember Carol? She's really worried about you."

Jim ran toward the portal and hit the glass with his hands. Solan ran over to him and grabbed him. Jim struggled but did not make a sound. "Jim, calm down," Solan said. He could not hold onto him, and Jim finally punched him.

Just then, Spock, Carol, and Bones arrived. "He's panicking," Solan said.

"Jim, stop!" Carol exclaimed.

Jim stopped and looked at her. Carol walked slowly over to him. "Jim, I know you haven't forgotten me," she said as she approached him.

Jim just stared at her a moment and then he passed out. Bones ran over to him. "Jim?" He scanned him with the medical tricorder. "He just passed out," he said. "Let's get him back to the medical bay."

When Jim was back in the medical bay, Spock made sure someone was monitoring him at all times, although Bones wanted to reprimand someone. "Carol, you should go and see about Alex and get some rest," Bones suggested.

Carol rubbed her forehead. "I know he knew me," she said.

"I think he did too. He's just not well."

"Doctor McCoy, I want to go with you to find the flowers."

"It won't take us long."

"You should let me and some of the other women go on this mission, and I'm going to tell Spock the same. It would be safer."

Carol left the medical bay and went to the Bridge where Spock was only because he was checking readings. "Spock, I want to talk with you," Carol said.

"Is there a problem with Jim?" Spock asked.

"No. He's fine. I think that you should let me lead a team of women down to the planet to find the flowers. Since we don't have to be worried about being taken hostage."

Spock considered that. "You may be right."

"I told Doctor McCoy, and he doesn't want to step aside. Solan could pilot us down to the planet since he knows the way."

"We will discuss this more in the conference room."

"Good."

Spock called Doctor McCoy and Solan to the conference room. "You mean you're taking this mission from me?" Bones asked.

"That is not what I am saying," Spock replied. "I am saying that Carol has a point."

Bones could not deny that. "I know you're right, but this was my mission."

"It's not that I don't think you can do it," Carol said. "It's that I don't want anyone else to end up like Jim. We need you to help him."

Bones frowned. "Alright, I know when I'm licked."

"Not licked. Just needed."

"Are you getting mushy with me?"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"You can save all the mush for Jim when he's well."

"I have to get a team together," Carol said. "We'll be ready by morning."

When morning came, Carol Marcus Kirk was ready and in the shuttle bay before anyone. Solan came in next. "I've made a map and chart of where the mountains are," he said. "I've also asked the Enterprise pilot to position the ship as close to it as possible, so we should be there in no time."

"Thank you, Solan," Carol replied.

"I hope you don't have any trouble with the natives."

"Perhaps we won't."

Soon, Uhura was there, along with Lieutenant Jarvis, who was the pilot of the Enterprise now. "Like Doctor McCoy said, we'll have to pick with one hand and have a weapon in the other," Carol said.

Just then, Ajah came onto the ship. "I'm going in case you need help," he said. "Helek's coming too. We'll stay on the ship unless you need us to deter some natives."

"They're very good at doing that," Solan declared.

"Hey, it's just my electrifying personality," Helek said as he walked in.

"You love that line too much," Ajah replied. He sat down and buckled in.

"This is actually better than being cooped up in that building working."

"I happen to like my job, thank you."

"Yeah, but you sit at a desk all day."

"Oh, well. Are you telling me that you don't enjoy drawing all that power every day and playing around with it?"

"That's the good part."

"Uh huh."

When everyone was aboard and the ship was ready, Solan took the ship out of the shuttle bay. As he looked at the planet in the viewport, he thought it was quite a beautiful world if it were not for the hostile beings there. He wondered if they could be convinced to change, but he was not sure he thought they could.

Bones sat in the medical bay beside Jim's bed where they had to restrain him so he could not get up again. Jim was barely awake so Bones was reading a book to him. "Don't get in a habit of this," he said as he looked down into is friend's eyes, not seeing that knowledge and wit that he was used to seeing. "Don't worry, we're going to get you back to normal." Bones leaned closer to him. "Aren't you just dying to say something to me? Insult me? Yell at me?" He so wished Jim would say something. He had not said a word or made a sound since he had been on the ship. "Don't you remember this old bucket? The Enterprise? You remember fighting Klingons and barely making it out of places alive?" Bones had thought about bringing Alex in there but he was afraid it would upset the child too much to see his father like that. Then he thought of the next best thing. "I'll be right back."

Bones left the medical bay and went to Andrea's quarters where she was keeping Alex. "Uncle Bones," Alex said.

Bones still tried not to roll his eyes at that but Jim had taught Alex to call him that. He squatted in front of Alex. "Hey, I want you to do something for me," he said.

"Where's Daddy?"

"He's okay. He's just sick right now and you can't see him, but I want you to record a message for him so he can see you, and I think it will make him feel so much better. Can you do that?"

Alex nodded. "Yes."

"Okay, you do that with Andrea, and I'll come back later to get it." Bones looked at Andrea. "Can you get that done in a little while?"

"Sure," Andrea replied. "How is Admiral Kirk?"

"Like I said, he's okay."

Andrea nodded. "We'll have it done soon."

"Call me." Bones kissed her and then went back to the medical bay. "Well, I'll continue this book now," he said as he went back to Jim's bed. "Too bad you can't tell me what you'd really like me to read to you."

While Bones was reading, Spock came in. "Doctor, how is Jim?" he asked.

"Still not talking to me," Bones replied. "But I'm reading to him."

Spock moved closer to the bed. "Jim, I am pleased to see you awake," he said. "A team has gone down to the planet to retrieve the flowers that will help you." Spock paused a moment as Jim just stared at him. "You are unusually quiet today."

"He's downright creepy because he's so silent," Bones declared. "Have you forgotten how to talk? That might be a relief to everyone who has to listen to you all the time."

"I am certain it is not a relief to Carol."

Jim scowled slightly at that. Spock and Bones were certain that Jim knew who Carol was. "She'd like for you to whisper sweet nothings in her ear again," Bones said.

"Doctor, do you believe that is appropriate?" Spock asked.

"Why wouldn't it be? He's my best friend."

"Maybe he feels like we are staring at him."

"I guess we are."

They both thought of the times that they had stood and talked to Jim about what to do in situations…but this time, he was not talking. All they could do was wait and see if Misha was right about that flower. If she was not, they would have to search for a cure somewhere else.