I hope everyone enjoyed meeting the birds. Thank you for staying with us this far. I will be away from my computer for a few days, so this is the last update for a bit. I hope to illustrate while I am off electronics, it should soothe my withdrawal! Review and CC is welcome. This story has not been beta-ed, so if you see typos or other problems, please mention them!


He stood on a high place. Above him stars fell from the firmament like flaming tears.

{Fire lights.}

He watched until the sky turned grey with clouds and the meteors lay hidden once again.

He looked down. Beneath his feet a path glowed, almost imperceptibly.

A Tap line, but not as he had imagined. His eyes tried to follow the path, but as it led away from his feet the way turned dark. He felt the wind stir, colder, with misting rain. The woods seemed closer. He smelled the dampness like malignancy, heard the branches scraping together like arthritic bones.

{Bones.}

The path led to the wood. He knew he must take that direction, but he stood silent and still, refusing that first step to meet the darkness. He peered into the gloom, looking for reassurance that the way continued beyond his sight.

{Search with your Eye.}

The wind changed, bringing the familiar dry and bitter odor to his nostrils. He felt compelled to move and his feet started walking almost without his bidding. Ahead he could discern a faint glow that disappeared if he looked at it directly. He averted his eyes to get the most from his scotopic vision. In the blackness to either side he could see nothing, but he heard rustling and footfall dogging his steps. He resisted the urge to run.

Ahead the glow was stronger but still in the distance. He was certain something was following and getting closer. He felt the hair on his neck prickle. He had no phaser or weapon of any kind, not even his tricorder, but reaching into his pocket he felt a medical scanner, a key, and a third object he couldn't identify. He started to remove it when a cold hand clamped around the back of his neck. He punched back with his elbow as hard as he could, throwing his weight into the blow, and connected with something solid. They both fell backward as he twisted viciously, tearing loose from the icy grasp. He hit the ground hard, light flashing at the edge of consciousness, and heard the other scrabbling, coming to finish him. He realized he was holding an object in his hand.

{Tribe.}

He gripped hard and swung blindly in a wide arc toward his assailant, felt the blow land and heard a whispering scream. Suddenly he was alone, shivering in the dark as cold drizzle fell on his face and into his eyes.

{You are Endilinti.}

'No,' he whispered. 'I'm a Doctor.'


McCoy came to with a gasp, sprawled in his bed and gripping a handful of his pillow. The blankets were strewn on the floor and he was cold and clammy. He sat up, swallowing against the hot saliva flooding his mouth and waited for his heart rate to calm. When no one came rushing into his room, he assumed he had not made enough noise to awaken the others. He went to the bathroom, standing over the bowl, spitting until the nausea passed. He checked briefly on Giotto before returning to his room. The Aminta clock read twenty-three. He collected the bed covers and bunched them around him in a cocoon until only his eyes and nose were visible, turning his back to the window. He did not want to see the night or anything that might be a part of it. He did not want to think of the birds or the woods or shooting stars or Endilinti.

He was mentally tracing and reciting the nerve pathways of his fifth species when he finally fell asleep again.