9.

Kirk held up the hypo to the light: it was the exact same one that he pushed into McCoy's neck not minutes ago. Upon closer inspection, he found more unsettling clues: nutrient bar crumbs mingled with small pebbles on the floor, scrape marks of phaser fire against the rock surface. Shards from the alcohol vial were lodged into a small boulder, next to a small sweet wrapper Scotty was unusually fond of.

Everything was exactly as they had left it, except —

"Where are they?" Kirk asked, backing away from the camp site. "Where is Bones, Uhura and Scotty?"

"Oiy oiy oiy," Chekov's eyes widened, after examining the cave for himself. He looked nervous, but considerably less tense now that Sulu was with them again. "Zis is not good, keptin."

Sulu rubbed his shoulders and appeared utterly lost. "I thought you said I was taken away from camp?"

"You were," Kirk said firmly, searching the empty stretch of stone ground frantically. "How could this be possible? We swam through a tunnel, for god's sakes!"

"The vortex appears to have closed," Spock declared, walking close and snapping his tricorder shut. "It is no longer safe to enter the water."

"I — so we can't go back," Sulu said. "But that means..."

The four of them exchanged a glance, and turned, unanimously, towards the only other exit.

The corridor.

"Oh no," said Sulu, shaking his head in slow disbelief, "This is a bad idea."

"Okay," said Kirk, pursing his lips into a thin line and making a resistive gesture with his hands. "Let's — let's just think for a moment. I mean — if this is the exact place where we left, then where could the rest of the crew have gone? I really don't think they'd just pack and leave, let alone back that way," he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder.

Sulu raised his head and stared at chasm above. "It's still dark out," he said. "What if we had gone by an entire day again, without us knowing?"

Spock bent down and crushed a piece of nutrient bar crumb between his fingers. "The humidity in the cave is approximately 67%," he said, straightening. "If a significant amount of time had indeed lapsed without our knowledge, then the food piece left behind by the crew would have been more saturated. In this case, I do not think that is likely."

"Well, thank god for small comforts," Kirk mumbled. "So if we are back where we started, then they must've really left soon after we jumped into the lake. But why... and how..."

He trailed off, letting his gaze fall over the ground, then narrowed his eyes. At the edge of a particularly lean rock, there was a small patch of empty space among the pebbles, like someone had ran a foot over them. He ventured closer, and saw faint track marks at the foot of the boulder.

"I think they tried to push this," Kirk concluded, amazed. He looked up and saw a slither of the sky, the moon of the planet peeking out behind clouds and casting a sheen of pale into the centre of the dark lake. "Guys — I think they made a climb for it!"

Sulu came up behind him and followed his gaze. "That's way too high for three people," he said, shaking his head.

"No, I think they tried to get a signal," Kirk said, turning to their navigator. "Chekov! If we aligned ourselves with the sky outside, can you modify our communicators and beam a distress signal back to the ship?"

Chekov widened his eyes, then fished around his pockets excitedly. "A magnifying mod! Yes! I can do zat!"

"Good," Kirk said, beaming. He turned to face his Vulcan First Officer. "Spock! Give me a hand?"

Spock came up wordlessly beside him and they settled their bodies against the lean rock. "On three," Kirk counted, grinning rather maniacally at the thought of freedom. "One, two, three."

The rock made a loud screeching sound against the pebbled ground, and inched away a little.

"Have I told you how much I appreciate you being on my side before?" Kirk said, straightening barely able to contain the excitement, "Spock, you — "

Spock held up a hand sharply, and Kirk snapped his mouth shut. The Vulcan whipped his head towards the lake, expression guarded, then slowly turned back.

"Captain," Spock said calmly, "I believe we have just woken the water creatures."

Kirk stared. Then he heard it: there was a faint buzzing sound, growing louder and more incessant by the second. He narrowed his eyes, peered across the lake, then widened almost immediately — the far wall appeared to be peeling. A particularly large piece fell forwards, then suddenly hovered just above the lake — a steady stream of spiky creatures began to detach from the rock, rising like smoke into the sky.

"Holy — " Kirk took a slow step backwards, then another, until the wisp of smoke became a thunderous cloud, and began charging their way. Abandoning their rock, Kirk yelled, "Into the corridor! Now now now now NOW!"

They took off across the cave in record speed, not even bothering to look back. "Link hands! Do not break contact!" Kirk ordered, wrapping his fingers tightly around Spock's, adrenaline overpowering anything else. "Sulu, behind me and grab Chekov!"

It was like jumping into a dark and insulated room. The buzzing began to fade as soon as they entered the corridor, until all that was left was a muffled, hazy feeling of cutting through empty space. Kirk held on as tight as he could, warm, dry palm in one hand and cold, sweaty one in another, twisting his arm behind his back so that Sulu won't collide with him repeatedly in the frantic scramble. Spock remained a few paces ahead, leading them expertly down the winding passageway, his presence a steady reminder through the familiar trickle of reassurance that seeped through their interlinked fingers.

Gradually their mad race slowed down to a fast jog, then a quickened walk, until Kirk's fatigued mind began to wander in the pitter-patter of their footsteps. He wondered whether Spock was currently able to garner his feelings through their interlaced fingers — he was beginning to feel a little heady from the warmth that pooled in his chest. He thought back to the meld that they shared underwater, the same recognised warmth, gliding smooth over his mind. It was similar yet different to Delta Vega; there was no transferred pain, no subtle pang of nostalgia, only a vague sense of contentment and curiosity...

Kirk was entirely wrapped up in his own head when Spock suddenly stopped, making him crash bodily into the Vulcan's back.

"Ow! What is it?" he asked, fighting an insane urge to rub his nose against Spock's shoulder, because Vulcans have crazy muscle density, and it really hurts.

"Is it a good idea to stop, people?" Sulu's voice called over his shoulder, sounding close and far at the same time. "Captain?"

Spock half-turned, the outlines of his face almost indistinguishable in the darkness. "I believe we are no longer alone," he said.

All three humans fell quiet at once. Blood pounding furiously in his ears, Kirk focused intently over their own laboured breathing, until the muffled, distant scuffle became unmistakable —

Footsteps.

"Something — someone's running away from us," Kirk whispered, hushed.

"I estimate a party of three," Spock said, his voice low.

"What — you think it's them?" Kirk asked, breathless.

"I do not know," Spock replied. "Should we pursue?"

Kirk opened his mouth and was cut off by Chekov's yelp, which sounded oddly disjointed and wavy from behind. "Keptinnn — Somethiinnnng's grabbinnng at me — ee — yyy — back — "

"I guess that's your answer," Kirk said hurriedly, tugging Sulu closer and nudging Spock's shoulder with urgency. "Go go go!"

They took off again, Kirk's imagination running wild and sending goosebumps down his spine. The disturbed darkness seemed to hide many impossible secrets: disembodied hands, echoes of footsteps that remained at a constant distance, and the never ending corridor...

Then Kirk saw it. A small halo, shimmering at the centre of his vision, the light at the end of the tunnel. As soon as they took notice, the whole party slowed down, and Kirk felt a tentative tendril of hope — maybe this is it.

"Are we finally going up outside?" Sulu asked behind him, voice strained but clear.

"I — " Kirk began, but immediately trailed off. Something didn't feel right: he still felt like he was being propelled forward, when they couldn't be moving faster than a walk.

Kirk blinked. Despite their deceleration, the light was still widening in their vision, and approaching them at an alarming fast pace.

"Is that — "

To his left, Spock tightened his grip. "It will hit us in approximately four seconds," he said, stepping sharply aside.

"What — " Sulu started.

"BRACE!" Kirk shouted, flattening himself against the wall.

The white light crashed onto their bodies and rolled over them, sending a curious, breathless sensation not dissimilar to being hit with an electromagnetic wave.

"Is everyone okay?" Kirk asked, tearing up uncontrollably and squeezing his eyes shut. He blinked forcefully until his surroundings came blearily into view, the burn on his retina fading slowly among colourful bursts and stars.

"Ow, is just like having one too many vodkas," Chekov said, squinting around. "Keptin, vere are we?"

Kirk slowly released Spock's hand and felt the pull against his finger keenly, one stiff knuckle after another. "Where are we indeed," he muttered, wiping his brow against his sleeve.

"Are these 'Fleet issue light sticks?" Sulu asked, kicking one aside from the floor.

Kirk paused, turned, then stared at the discarded light sticks on the ground. "Oh for —," he exhaled, shaking his head in sheer frustration. "Please tell me we are not back where I think we are," he said, darting a desperate look at Spock.

"This place does bear remarkable resemblance to the one we encountered before," Spock confirmed, coming up behind Kirk's shoulder.

"Wait, you mean this is the creepy place you guys ended up in last time?" Sulu asked, incredulous. "How do you know?"

Kirk scanned around and promptly located the small piece of paper propped against the wall. "One way to find out," he said.

Bending down, Spock unfolded the piece of paper and examined it. There was a brief, anxious pause, then Spock looked up, the expression on his face inscrutable.

"Well?" Kirk asked, nervous, "What is it?"

Wordlessly Spock handed the paper over, and Kirk unfolded it for himself, swallowing. One part of his mind expected the triangular symbol of the Vulcan Science Academy, another hoped for the Starfleet insignia, yet a small part of him dreaded that it would be neither —

He blinked.

Then blinked again.

The explosive light must have damaged his eyes, because the paper was shimmering. The shape drawn on the paper was unmistakably a triangle, but it stretched and shrank as he tried to make sense of it — one second it flattened itself out to become the logo of VSA, and the next curved to be a insignia of Starfleet.

"How — " Kirk began, then shook his head vigorously, trying to shake the blurred shimmer out of his eyes. "Sulu! Chekov! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

They huddled together, took a good long look, then raised their heads to stare at Kirk at the same time. Neither of them said anything, but the look on their faces told Kirk all he needed to know.

"What. The. Hell." Kirk breathed. "Spock, tell me this isn't just some elaborate hallucination, and we are not actually just inside a torture chamber on some random planet, please."

Spock eyed him with a level gaze. "The statistical likelihood of the entire Enterprise crew experiencing a collective bout of hysteria is less than 1.6%," he said.

"One point six," Kirk repeated slowly, peeved. "Why does that sound far more probable than it should?"

"We've beaten vorse odds," said Chekov, shrugging.

Sulu groaned. "It's because we've had cases of mass hysteria before, isn't it," he said, eyeing Spock.

Spock inclined his head. "Previous incidents are, of course, factored into my calculations. However, I do not believe we are currently experiencing — " he stopped abruptly, and raised a sharp look over Kirk's shoulder.

Kirk had seen far too many of those looks on Spock's face to ask questions. Twisting around on pure reflex, Kirk whipped out his phasers, and —

— and stared Uhura's face down the barrel.

"O—kay," Kirk said slowly, not daring to move a single muscle. "In light of recent events, Lieutenant Uhura, please do forgive me for not greeting you with unreserved enthusiasm, simply because you are holding a gun to my face."

"Likewise, Captain," Uhura said sweetly.

"There must be some kind of code we can exchange, you and I," Kirk said, narrowing his eyes vaguely and taking a slow step backward.

"We do," Uhura cocked her head to the side. "How are the farm animals doing, Captain?"

Kirk barked out a laugh and relaxed. "Not just the farm animals, Lieutenant," he said, lowering his phaser, "Never just the farm animals."

Chekov exchanged a bewildered look with Sulu, then yelped in excitement as McCoy and Scotty's face came into view.

"Doctor! Mr. Scott! We vere worried!"

"Sulu! Laddie! Y're okay!" Scotty exclaimed happily, arms wide. "The prodigal samurai returns!"

"Oh, it's you again," McCoy's grunted, coming up to Kirk and rolling his eyes. He kicked aside a light stick and glanced around, scowling furiously. "This the place you and Spock came upon last time? Oh, great. Not even a change of scenery. It's like we are stuck in a goddamn holovid show with nothing but seventeen credits for budget!" he said gruffly, crossing his arms.

"Bones!" Kirk called gleefully, pulling the doctor into a bear hug, "It is you!"

"Yeah, and here's my haiku of the day — I'm too old for this shit. Jim. Let go. Don't get your snot on my clothes, I mean it. God dammit, Jim, let me go before Spock pinches me."

Spock pointedly clasped his hands behind his back raised an eyebrow. Kirk gave McCoy another hearty slap on the back and released him, laughing merrily. "I thought we were being chased by disembodied aliens!"

"So did we," McCoy replied. "I spent the last fifteen minutes running and hacking up my other lung. Did I ever tell you I'm too old for this kinda shit?"

"Once or twice," Kirk said pleasantly, feeling warmed over from head to toe. Even Spock was looking remotely pleased: his shoulder was the most relaxed Kirk had seen in the past hour.

"I need a breather," Scotty declared, flopping on the ground. "I've had enough exercise to last me a whole year! I'm ne'er beaming down without a bottle of scotch again," he said remorsefully, eyeing his water flask.

"So what happened?" Kirk asked, sitting down and arranging himself in a relatively comfortable position against the wall. "We could use a break. Tell me everything."

McCoy made an elaborate 'please' gesture and began to run a quick medical scan over the crew, while Scotty took over the conversation. "Well, after ye guys left, I was starin' at the sky, right? Couldn't get a good look at it, the crack in the ceiling was so thin, right? So I thought, hey, what if we aligned ourselves with that crack, and boosted our signal? There could be a good chance the ship could pick it up, and we could work from there!"

Kirk exchanged a meaningful look with Spock, who had just folded himself down neatly at the opposite, then nodded. "Go on."

Uhura picked up. "We tried to move that boulder, and it did — just barely. Then — "

"Then all hell broke loose," McCoy stalked back, evidently satisfied with the scans. "Those spiky things? Scary when they are alone, down right terrifying when they form an army."

"We were driven back in here," Uhura continued, shaking her head. "Those things stopped chasing us soon afterwards, but we kept hearing footsteps somewhere close by — so we kept running."

"Oh and I thought I saw something in front of me," Scotty said, flexing his hand. "I made a grab for it. Slipped right through me finger, though, a pity."

"What about you?" Uhura asked, raising her chin inquisitively.

Spock tipped his head sideways. "Our experiences were remarkably similar," he said, and proceeded to explain the events on their end.

When he finished, they were utterly perplexed.

"Wait," Scotty said, "You mean after we left, Sulu somehow miraculously appeared on the ground, then you guys came out o' the water, right where ye jumped off, and basically did everythin' we did, until you were also herded into this corridor?" He scanned the group, wide-eyed, then exhaled a humourless chuckle when no one contradicted him. "That's bonkers."

"Except, I think vat you grabbed, Mr. Scott, was my shirt," Chekov said, stretching the hem of his uniform and making a face. "I think you ripped it."

"Better the shirt than ye arm, laddie," said Scotty sagely. "Does anyone else feel cold in 'ere?"

"So we were basically chasing each other's tail all this time?" Sulu asked, frowning, "That's crazy."

"Great, so we are back at square one," McCoy concluded, just as Scotty let out a loud sneeze.

"Sorry," Scotty said, rubbing his nose and shaking his head. "Must be all that sweat coolin' down. Brrr. Hoo! Yeah, this is creepy."

"I think I've filled my creep quota for the year," Kirk said, running a weary hand down his face. "Nothing can shock me anymore. I can't wait to file the report for this one — just thinking about the stardates alone is giving me a headache..."

He trailed off when he realised everyone was suddenly staring at him with an odd look. "What, you don't think paperwork is the hardest part of the Captain's job?" Kirk joked, "How about one of you volunteer to help, then?"

No one even cracked a smile. Instead, their gaze shifted slowly upwards, then fixated at a point just above his hair.

Kirk stared back, confused, then groaned.

"Oh my god," He said, unable to believe his luck, "There's something behind me, isn't there."