Osmond Jasso beamed to the main facility before planet daybreak. The common area was deserted. The FID were mostly deployed at the lab, and the majority of the scientists were at the ancillary sites preparing materials to be transported. The future of the Aminta project was in peril, thanks to the new sentient species. If the project was discontinued, the entourage would have to leave the planet.

Jasso didn't care about the translation project. He had spent his adult life on backwater planets, mired in low level bureaucracy, watching others profit from his work. The value on Aminta was not in the dusty tomes or dialects from thousands of years past. Neither was it in the drug the Orions were so interested in duplicating. Aminta was a planet filled with secrets. Although they were spilling forth, there lay more yet hidden.

He unlocked his office. Apparently nothing had been disturbed. He opened a hidden compartment in the wall and took a small bag, slipping it into his coat pocket. He took a phaser from his locked desk, and the key to one of the flyers. He didn't see anyone at all as he quietly exited through a side entrance. He noticed one of the flying creatures perched on the courtyard wall. He put his hand on the phaser in his pocket, but didn't want to risk attracting attention from anyone who might be inside. He hurried to the vehicle shelter. The sky was just beginning to lighten into dawn when he left. He flew toward Site Two until he was out of Compound range, then headed south.

The lone bird took wing behind him, following until Jasso changed course. He trailed the flyer a bit longer, until he was sure where the machine was headed. Then he returned to the compound, resuming his quiet watch.

O o O o

McCoy woke up early, showered, pulling on jeans, a thick black shirt and his worn and comfortable cowboy boots. He had a cup of coffee, but his stomach was too knotted for food. He briefly contemplated the meld the evening before, wondering if it was indeed effective, but he didn't want to chance the old memory welling up with strength, so he thought about what he might say to Little Birdy and Piasa.

His coat was not in the closet. He guessed it had been left in the lab. He commed the quartermaster, who sent a replacement in a few minutes. His medikit was also missing. He frowned. He had carried the same pouch for years, a modern version of a doctor's bag. He hoped someone had found it in the lab and returned it to the Enterprise. He had a few minutes before time to meet Spock in the transporter room, so he stopped by Sickbay on the way.

McCoy was a little relieved to see Sanchez at the desk. He stood, extending his hand.

"Good to see you up and about, Doctor. How do you feel? Your last labs indicate you need some more vitamin and nutritional support. Can we start that now?" Sanchez had an unrelentingly cheerful demeanor, he could make a case of Cancrian Plague sound like a minor inconvenience. McCoy shook his hand.

"Not now, Bill. I don't have time. I'm looking for my medikit. I had it when I was captured."

Sanchez hesitated just a bit before answering.

"Yes, it was returned, but the FID kept your tricorder."

"My tricorder?"

"It contained information about the birds."

"Oh." McCoy waved his hand. "That doesn't matter, any tricorder will do. But I do want my own medikit."

"Doctor McCoy, you're officially on medical leave. You shouldn't be treating patients until you're cleared for duty again."

McCoy's temper flared, but Sanchez's open and sorrowful expression stopped his retort. He sighed.

"I am not plannin' on treatin' any patients. I'm beaming down in a few minutes, with permission, by the way. I'm a doctor, on duty or not. I won't beam down without a kit."

"You'll find it in your office."

The kit was on his desk. He checked it, then went to the med room, replenishing the tri-ox and adding his Spock set to the contents. He stopped at Sanchez's desk on his way out.

"Thank you, Bill. I'll stop by for the vitamin therapy when I get back."

Sanchez nodded. "Be careful down there."

O o O o

McCoy and Spock arrived at the same time to the transporter room. Kyle was on duty and beamed them down at exactly eight hundred hours ship time. On Aminta, McCoy guessed it was about two.

Once again McCoy was struck by the lack of color, both inside and out. The morning seemed particularly dreary, like the Amintian dawn had not yet vanquished the night. He stopped to look out the window. The clouds hung low and heavy. He could barely make out fine snowflakes or ice crystals floating in the air. He saw no sign of a bird.

"They are meeting us at nine hundred hours," Spock said to his unasked question.

"Is everyone gone?" McCoy looked around. "This place was creepy enough with people around."

Spock raised an eyebrow without comment. "Jasso beamed down over two hours ago. I think we should check on his progress."

Jasso's office door was closed. Spock tapped quietly on the door. There was no answer.

"Mister Jasso?" He tried the handle, finding it to be locked.

"Maybe he's in the lab," McCoy said.

"Perhaps. Let us search the premises."

They split with McCoy checking Long Hall and the resident and guest wings, while Spock searched the labs and commons. There were two Rigelian scientists in the lab. Neither had seen Jasso.

"Maybe someone came to finish the job," McCoy said.

"I would like to see his office," Spock said. They walked back. McCoy tried the handle.

"Still locked."

"Indeed." Spock unshouldered his tricorder, taking a reading of the lock mechanism. He made an adjustment or two, aiming a small beam of light at the lock. With a quiet snick, the door opened.

McCoy stared at Spock in admiration. "This is breaking and entering, you know."

"Nothing has been broken," Spock replied. "We are merely checking on Mister Jasso's well being." McCoy followed him through the door.

Jasso's office was small and cluttered, just as McCoy remembered. He looked out the window, but nothing was stirring and there were no birds to be seen. Spock stood over the desk, looking at the untidy paperwork scattered there without touching it.

"What are you looking for?"

"I do not know. Jasso has been adamant about returning to his office and the project. It is odd that he is nowhere to be found. Perhaps office work was a ruse to get here and conduct whatever clandestine activity he had planned." Spock turned attention to the shelves and their load of books and artifacts.

"Did something cause your suspicion, Spock?"

"He has been evasive since his first interview, claiming to remember nothing in the hours leading up to his poisoning. Nor will he name any suspect."

"Well, Arnette and he didn't like each other. Isn't it likely she did it?"

"Arnette denies involvement. She has been cooperative since her capture. Of course, her credentials were falsified. There are incredible amounts of subterfuge, deception, and hidden agendas spread between at least two factions on Aminta. It is difficult to sort who is in league with whom. I expect .." Spock broke off abruptly, his attention riveted on a small object almost hidden behind a stack of books. He moved the books aside, carefully lifting the piece and turning it in his hand.

"What is that?"

"This," Spock said almost reverently, "is a fragment of Vulcan history. And it may be the pivotal finding that could solve an on-going investigation." He looked at McCoy. "It is time to meet with Piasa and Little Birdy. Then, we must locate Osmond Jasso."

O o O o

McCoy injected himself with tri-ox and tazocap, and fastened his coat. His heart rate accelerated, from the tri-ox or anticipation he couldn't say. He and Spock exited the building and walked a short distance up the drive into the open. It was cold with a scant breeze. Ice crystals danced in the air. McCoy expected them to be perched and waiting, but the wall was empty. Then Spock pointed to the west where two bird shapes approached beneath the low clouds. In less than a minute, Piasa landed several meters away, followed by Little Birdy.

McCoy took a step forward, inexplicably feeling shy and uncertain of protocol. Piasa also took a step, lowering his head and began to hum Blackbird. McCoy hummed a few bars through his suddenly clogged throat, but Little Birdy hopped forward.

{Uncalennie!} The joyful cry rang clearly inside his head. He opened his arms in invitation and they were filled with the youngster. McCoy turned his face into his mantle, hiding his tears. Little Birdy gently groomed his hair with his teeth filled beak, trilling low and soft. When McCoy regained his composure, he drew back a little to see Little Birdy's face. His eyes were now more garnet than gold and seemed deeper, more thoughtful.

{I am happy to see you, Little Birdy. I was afraid you had been hurt by the bad machine. You saved my life. Thank you.}

{I told to you with rightness we would both leave the dark Salortog place. I told MeesterSpok where you hid. He heard with rightness. Here you are no longer hiding.}

Little Birdy tilted his head, considering McCoy closely as his pupil constricted and dilated. {A shade has fallen on your Essense. It is not darkness, it is something different. Did the Bad Machine do this? Are you- sadness- without your mate?}

{She is not exactly my mate. She is on the ship. The shade, sometimes it comes. It will go away eventually, with time.} He glanced at Piasa sitting quietly. He looked at Little Birdy. {Can Piasa talk to me like this?}

{He feels rightness without talking inside. I am the lone speaker in this way. Eldest gave me permission to do this before her Essence joined the One.}

{I am sorry she died.}

{?}

{Her body stopped functioning. She ceased activity of living. We call that death.}

McCoy felt a mental shrug. {I am sorry if this happens to your Tribe. Eldest Mother is not gone. Her stream flows. Her song rings true. Many cycles from this day, she will still be here. That is how Third Son found Endilinti.}

{Little Birdy...You must understand with rightness. I am not Endilinti. I am a Human man, a Salortog. That's all. Just a man.}

{You are Doktor. And Uncalennie. Not Endilinti? Maybe you are not. Maybe you could be. Eldest sang my call name. I am now Liddleburdie. Piasa is Third Son. Maybe with rightness we can be more than only one.}

Little Birdy paused, looking at Piasa, who warbled in reply. McCoy felt a wave of warm concern as Little Birdy turned back to him.

{You have a place in the Great Song. Not as Endilinti. You are Doktor. It is how the Song will remember you. Doktor. For myself, you are Uncalennie. You will return to your sky Tribe. I will return to the Den. But you will be with me, you call it memory. For us, memory is always here, it is living and not death. I hope you have rightness wth memory of our world.}

McCoy's eyes stung. {Yes, always rightness.}

Little Birdy laid his head on McCoy's shoulder for a moment. McCoy stroked his gleaming neck, the scales smooth against his hand. A last wave of warmth, and Little Birdy left his mind.

Spock stepped forward.

"Little Birdy, may we speak?"

{Yes. Third Son has a message for you. Before light, a dark Salortog took a flying machine to a secret place. He thinks you do not know this place, none from your Tribe have been that way.}

Spock received a mental image of Jasso, distorted with the interpretation of dark, but recognizable.

"It is important to find this man. Can Third Son show us the way?"

{Can you memory a picture, Meesterspok?}

"Yes."

{I will send it as we would fly.}

The image Spock received was remarkably detailed, leaving the compound and flying over terrain with landmarks clearly accented. The flight ended at a series of fissures that led to an overhanging rockface.

{The secret place is under that. We speak for our Tribe. Take the Dark Salortog and the Salortog things with you away from our home. The Tribe has rightness before the Salortog came. They are disturbing to our world. Even the not-dark are are very different from rightness. None belong here. Take whatever cycles you need to finish your tasks. Take the darkness away. And leave our world, we ask with rightness and no- angry? We do not have angry amongst Tribe. But your Tribe should leave.}

"I am sorry that our Tribes cannot continue a relationship that could be beneficial to both," Spock said. "But we respect your wishes. Another sky Tribe will arrive later to help with clearing out. When they are finished, everyone will leave, and your home will be your own. The United Federation of Planets will make your world as safe as we can, to make sure your Tribe is not disturbed by outside visitors. We are grateful for the help you have rendered. Please thank your Tribe on our behalf."

{I hear with rightness, Meesterspok.}

Little Birdy turned away and launched into the air, flying to the wall. He picked up an object with his beak and flew back to McCoy, who held his hand out. Little Birdy dropped what appeared to be a white stone but it was lightweight and very smooth and shiny. It sparkled with tiny bits of glass.

{This is a crystal tear from Irhid-Ohmefrai. It does not happen often, and is rare to find. It will help memory for you.}

"Thank you." McCoy spoke aloud. He felt Little Birdy's smile, and smiled back. Piasa stepped close, trilling. McCoy reached out, touching his breast for a moment with his fingerrtips. Piasa hummed a farewell Blackbird. Then both backed away and took off. McCoy watched them until they were out of sight. Then he and Spock went back into the building. McCoy sat at a table, turning the sap over in his hand.

Spock observed him for a moment. "I trust this has not been too draining on your strength, Doctor. It is time you returned to the ship. I must get a security team and accompany them to find Osmond Jasso. Little Birdy sent the coordinates to where he is hiding. I shall contact the FID and Giotto. It seems Aminta is not done giving up secrets."

"I'll go with you."

"No." Spock's reply was short and firm. "You are not cleared for duty. You are not yet strong enough, and would be a liability. You must return to the Enterprise."

McCoy knew he was right, and capitulated gracefully. "Don't underestimate him, Spock. Be careful, he's more dangerous than he seems. Cornered, he will be ruthless.."

"I shall take every precaution."

Spock opened his communicator. "Spock here. Beam Doctor McCoy aboard, then patch me through to Captain Kirk on a coded channel. I shall need an encrypted subspace channel to Ambassador Sarek at the Embassy on Vulcan.