Chapter XIV - We are almost out of time
It was the first time that Kirk was visting Bones in two months. He felt bad for having ignored his best friend for all this time, turning all his attention to Spock, but he couldn't face the doctor without being invaded by a wave of guilt. All this happened because of him. He left Khan go free, he placed Khan at that planet, he couldn't prevent the ship from suffering the damage that caused the problems in the core, he decided that he wouldn't rest until they rescued Spock and he decided he would risk Bones' life to save Spock. It was all his fault.
And now he had worsened the situation.
Amanda's idea couldn't be more correct. The contact with Kirk was that was causing Spock's recovery. And to think that if he had gone as Sarek suggested it would never have occurred... But it wasn't just his presence that made Spock recover some memories. The way that he treated him was critical, according to what the doctors just informed him. By acting normally, he made his mind struggle to reestablish the link that was violently damaged at the time of Spock's death.
The problem was the way he was "pulling" Spock's katra to join the body was damaging Bones' body. Even in stasis, he was dying. It was predicted that he would have just a few more days before his body collapsed completely, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Even Kirk was at risk because the psychic activity was forcing his brain in a way that even a human brain with the necessary adaptations to the use of psychic force wouldn't be able to stand. And his level of psychic ability was even lower than the human average. That was what was causing his strange migraines and more recently, small seizures. According to the doctors, it was only a matter of time until his intracranial pressure become unbearable, and symptoms that were possible if the processed continued included: aneurysms, seizures, strokes, hemorrhage, increased intracranial pressure, atrophy of the primary portion of the brain, lack of oxygen in the tertiary portion of the brain, cell death in the middle portion of the brain, hydrocephalus, tumor formation, mutation of neurotransmitters, melting of the hemispheres, cut of communications between the hemispheres, dementia, encephalitis, development of neurological disorders, demyelination of the central nervous system, visual agnosia, prosopagnosia, somatoparafria... he stopped paying attention after a while. He had got the idea, if he continued to call Spock through the bond, his brain wouldn't be so good after that.
His time was running out, and no one seemed to know what to do to save the three.