6

Kirk was dreaming. He was sure he was dreaming, because he was having sex with Spock. The Vulcan's lips were slightly parted, breath coming out in short puffs, cheeks flushed green. His chest was slick with sweat and body tense, every muscle drawn up taut. Spock's pupils were dilated, hair mussed, and his Vulcan heart fluttered against Kirk's fingertips. A gasp, a whisper of Kirk's name, then warm fingers wrapped tight around his wrist, tight enough to hurt but just on this side of right. Only... Only Spock must be shielding because Kirk could not feel anything, not the warmth of his mind or the sense of urgency running through his veins, something was lacking... He didn't know what.

Then Kirk looked down and realised it was not sweat that were smeared against Spock's chest. It was blood.

Spock was dying, and as Kirk glanced up, horrified, those amber eyes locked onto his for the last time, imploring, then fluttered close.

"ARRRRRRRRGGGGH —"

Kirk jolted upright at the sound of the terrible scream, panting harshly and looking around in a rush of panic, wild. For a terrifying moment he thought he was the one screaming, then he coughed; a rush of cold air greeted his sleepy limbs as he realised the blanket had been thrown off in a hurry, the other occupant having taken off in alarming speed. There was a huge ruckus going on above, and Spock — Spock —

Spock was swiftly climbing towards the high rock, where McCoy was standing, appearing to be screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Doctor!" Spock ordered sharply, "Calm yourself!"

The whole landing party was awake now; Sulu scrambled up and drew his sword as Chekov moved instinctively into a defensive stance. With a wordless nod, they circled to the back to cover Spock.

"It just never stops!" Scotty exclaimed, wild-eyed. He held out an arm in front of Uhura, who rapidly tied up her hair with one hand, while having her phaser aimed at the scrambling figures with the other. "One minute I was trying to close my eyes for, one bloody minute!"

"Bones!" Kirk shouted, "Spock! What — "

Spock quickly approached McCoy from behind and hovered over the doctor's shoulder, ready to execute the Vulcan nerve pinch. As if on cue, McCoy twisted around and nearly slammed into Spock, whose hand faltered momentarily. Before he could regain balance, however, McCoy launched himself again, and the move was too quick for anyone to intervene.

"GET — OFF — ME — !"

With a great roar, Spock flew down the side of the rock and landed heavily on the edge of the cliff, bouncing twice, before disappearing off the edge.

"Spock!"

Kirk sprinted towards the cliff without a second thought. He had never ran so fast in his life: not even when the indigenous species were chasing him on Nibiru.

"Captain!" Uhura cried behind him, and Kirk barely gave a backward glance. "Sulu, get Dr. McCoy down from there, Uhura, Scotty, back up Sulu, Chekov! Watch my back!"

Kirk skidded to a halt next to the cliff and saw, to his great relief, pale fingers that were trying to hang on by the edge. "Spock," he cried, kneeling down to grab the Vulcan's wrist, "I'm going to hoist you up, okay? Stay calm, I'm going to get you out of this, I got you —"

"Captain — Jim, I am unharmed," Spock said, "There is no need for concern —"

"No need for concern!?" Kirk all but shrieked (which he would vehemently deny later), "There are spiky things with wings nipping at your heels!"

Spock spared a glance down, and widened his eyes. "I retract my previous statement," he said.

Kirk fought the insane urge to laugh as he desperately sought purchase on the ground, something he could lean against. But the stony floor was only littered with pebbles: without purchase, he could easily lose balance and tumble into the lake himself. "If it's any consolation, I won't make any Vulcan diet jokes," he rambled, just to keep himself from freaking out. "I mean, you should see how you — well, the older you — remembered me, the other me, I mean, chubby as fuck as an Admiral, but no, clearly you Vulcans have it easy, because you still look good a hundred years on — or is it two hundred years on? God, I think you guys just stop changing appearances past the age of eighty — "

Suddenly an overwhelming wave of trust and confidence crashed into him from his palm, effectively calming his ramblings. Kirk snapped his mouth shut, and tried to smile in a way that didn't resemble a grimace.

"Jim," Spock said quietly — which was really unfair because how could someone hang off the edge of a cliff and still appear calm and collected? — "It will work."

Kirk couldn't help but breathe a chuckle at that. "Touché, Mr. Spock." He arranged his knees into a sprinter's position and dug his boots into the ground, before tightening his grip. "Can you —"

Spock nodded before he even finished the question.

"Okay, we got this," Kirk breathed, baring his teeth in his effort. "On three. One, two, three."

Spock kicked against the cliff wall and swung himself upwards; the full weight of his body falling momentarily on Kirk's arms. Kirk locked onto Spock's hands with all his might and fought against the momentum, baring his teeth with effort. He held on until Spock could use the leverage to hoist himself up, and for the first five seconds, Kirk could do no more than stare at his First Officer, and pant.

"What, how — when has Bones been able to overcome you in combat?" Kirk asked at last, indignant.

Spock closed his eyes in an obvious effort to re-muster his control. "Dr. McCoy did not throw me off the rock," he replied. "Something else did."

Kirk's eyes grew wide. Whipping around, he realised that McCoy did seem to be battling against some unseen enemy: the doctor's legs were twitching in an obvious effort to initiate a kick, and his hands were enclosed against his throat. Circling around him was Sulu, sword in hand and ready to pounce, but there was no opening for him to interject — same with Uhura, Scotty and Chekov, whose phasers waved from one point to another, completely blind.

"I can't see it!" Sulu bellowed. "I don't know what he's fighting against!"

"He's going to choke himself," Uhura declared grimly, steadying her phaser just above McCoy's arm.

Kirk stared. McCoy's hands were tightening against his own throat, but the grip was unusual: it looked more like he was trying to hold off a phantom hand from grabbing his throat, while he clawed at the air in front of him. It was clear that McCoy saw something when no one else could — no matter what direction Kirk moved in, he could find nothing else, only the thin moonlight that illuminated McCoy's face in an eerie shade of pale.

"He's barking mad!" Scotty yelled, gesturing wildly. "There's clearly nothing there!"

Beside him, Spock made a sudden move, but Kirk knew exactly what the Vulcan had in mind: he dashed out a hand and grabbed Spock's arm, aborting the movement. "Don't," Kirk said lowly. "I'd really rather not see you hang off the cliff edge again."

"The statistical probability of a successful nerve pinch, after the last time, is 2.4%," Spock said. "However, I feel compelled to try — "

"No, not before we know what we are dealing with," Kirk said, pursing his lips. Then, in a sharp glance, "Are you sure there was — ?"

"Affirmative," Spock said, narrowing his gaze at, and around, the struggling doctor. Kirk studied his First Officer's face for a few moments and realised that in incidences like these, he trusted Spock's judgement more than his own eyes; no matter how impossible it seemed otherwise.

Turning, Kirk saw McCoy stumble over himself and made a snap decision. "Aim ten centimetres away from his body and set phasers to stun," he ordered.

A stroke of red light went straight through the empty space and ricocheted off the far wall. "No impact," Uhura said, a slight tremor in her voice.

McCoy made a feeble kick with his feet and gagged visibly from above, his face contorted in agony.

"What we do? What we do?" Chekov asked, eyes wide and on the verge of panic.

Kirk narrowed his eyes: McCoy's hands were making a curious, jerky movement, as if he wanted them to curl inwards, exerting pressure only on the windpipe... That made no sense, unless...

McCoy was purposefully avoid pressure on his sinus nodes, the artery.

"Are we just gonna let him drop?!" Scotty exclaimed, darting his eyes between McCoy and Kirk. Above them, Sulu made a swinging gesture with his sword and took a deep breath, readying to jump in at the blind.

Spock cast a quick glance at Kirk and stepped forward. "Lieutenant, do not engage the Doctor," he ordered.

"But — sir, he's going to — "

"It is physically impossible for humans to strangle themselves," Spock said, his tone urgent yet controlled, "Dr. McCoy will pass out, but he will not come to mortal harm. It is best for us to wait rather than engage with a force we do not understand and cannot see. Captain?"

Focusing intently on McCoy, Kirk was vaguely glad that his First Officer once again caught onto his intentions correctly, and gave a curt nod. The Doctor's face was turning an alarming shade of purple already, and his nose flared; it could not be long now. Murmuring softly to himself, Kirk fought the rising panic in his chest:

"Come on Bones... you can't strangle yourself, you even told me so once... come on..."

With a final grunt, McCoy's head drooped to the side and his eyes rolled back, body going limp.

"McCoy down," Sulu said, breathing heavily.

"Wh — what do we do now?" Scotty asked, face scrunched together in concern. "Is he gonna be alright?"

Kirk held up a hand. A watchful beat, then two, and Sulu yelled, "Look!"

Kirk could not believe his eyes: McCoy's knee jerked as he rose once again in an impossible position against gravity, hand still wrapped around his throat, despite the obvious fact that he had already passed out. In a mad rush of adrenaline, Kirk pulled out his own phaser, aimed at McCoy's wrist, and fired.

"Captain!" All of them yelled at once, but Kirk had his eyes fixed on McCoy: the doctor's hand finally fell away, and McCoy collapsed at last onto the rock surface, unmoving.

Nobody spoke for a full three seconds.

"What the hell just happened," Kirk asked finally, breathless.

"Did ye — did ye all see that?" Scotty exclaimed, "That was gravity defying, that was! What's got into him!?"

"Spock," Uhura said, "Why did he attack you?"

"I do not know," Spock said lowly. "Furthermore, I do not believe it was the doctor who attacked me at all."

"Then who?" Sulu asked, incredulous. "There was no one there!"

"Was he possessed?" Scotty asked, scowling furiously, "Even when piss-drunk on Risa III I've never seen him act like this! Never!"

"The force that propelled me off the cliff was strong even by Vulcan standards. It could not have been the doctor's prerogative," Spock said. "I do not believe the human musculature is physically capable of orchestrating such an attack."

Despite himself, Kirk barked out a dry laugh. "If Bones was conscious, he'd give you shit for that," he said, giving Spock a fond pat on the back. "Speaking of, is the doctor okay?" Kirk asked, raising his voice to Sulu.

"I think so," Sulu said, sheathing his retractable sword and venturing close. "His eyes are open, though, it's kinda creepy."

Sulu knelt down next to McCoy and stretched out a hand, trying to take a pulse. Kirk blinked; for a moment the air seemed to glimmer around his wrist, not unlike a hot summer day, and Sulu frowned.

"I think there's something there," Sulu said, making a grab for McCoy's collar.

Kirk snapped up his phaser. "Don't!"

But it was too late; Sulu suddenly rose ten feet into the air, hands around his throat, just the way McCoy's did minutes ago. Without hesitation, Kirk opened fire, but Sulu jerked away; he did an impossible flip flop in the air and hovered, swaying, over the gaping lake.

"Oh my — "

" — Hold on! "

Rapid phaser fire; but something was yanking Sulu's body easily away from the heat. "Captain!" Uhura called, desperate, "It's moving too fast! We could hit Sulu if we keep this up!"

"Cease fire!" Kirk yelled, "Sulu — "

Spock dropped his phaser and raised his voice. "Lieutenant, your sword!"

Sulu struggled violently against the invisible bonds, his body twisting left and right at impossible angles. He made a forceful grab against his shoulder, but it was futile; he arched backwards and cried out in pain, as if something crushed against his spine.

"We have to stun him," Kirk breathed, aiming away from the major organs, "Sulu, we are going to — "

He didn't finish the sentence. Sulu glanced downwards and choked, his eyes uncharacteristically afraid of whatever he was seeing. Kirk followed his gaze and saw the air rippling underneath; he fired.

"What is it, Sulu?" Kirk yelled, "I can't get it — "

The energy beam merely went through the air and hit the water, sending curls of steam up at Sulu's feet. Sulu opened his mouth, but the words were choked at his throat. "Ch- ch-"

Desperate, Kirk raised his phaser again. "Hold still!"

But it was pointless. As if on cue, Sulu jerked once more to the side, his arms suddenly flinging outwards at an awkward angle, like a broken puppet. A split second's pause, and Uhura gasped loudly, then Sulu was swung upside down: his feet hang suspended in the air, while he struggled to send one last look of plea towards his friends.

The air around his ankle glimmered; Kirk's heart went for his throat.

"Sulu!"

"Lieutenant!"

"— Hikaru!"

With Chekov's startled cry, Sulu crashed face first into the water and disappeared into the darkness.