THE NIGHT OF THE TREK AMONG THE STARS

By Andamogirl

WWW

ACT TWO

Later

In Dr McCoy's quarters

McCoy poured a blue-colored liquor into a glass and pushed it across the table toward Jim. "Premium vintage Romulan ale," was all he said.

Kirk gave Bones a scolding glare. "It's illegal, Bones, you know that, right?"

Leonard smiled innocently. "Really? Oh come on, it's for medicinal purposes only… You need to relax, Jim. You're a bit tense and that's not good for a starship captain. And you're not going to tell this to anyone, are you, Jim?"

Kirk shook his head. "Of course not. I like this stuff too," he said. He added, "But I don't like the following hangover. That stuff makes you an instant drunk."

Leonard poured a second glass of the highly intoxicating alcoholic beverage for himself, then sat at the table across from his best friend. "So, how are we going to help our guests?"

Pensively running a fingertip around the rim of his glass for a few seconds, Jim finally said, "It's not a simple matter, Bones." He drank more than half the strong ale in one go, grimacing as the fiery liquid hit the back of his throat and left a trail of fire from there to his stomach. "Woah!"

McCoy chuckled mockingly, refilled Jim's glass as full as before and then took a cautious sip. "Beware Jim, it's not Saurian brandy. It's quite a bit stronger and it's a little harsh on the throat." He paused, appreciating the taste and added, "Remember that time warp accident? What about trying the same method we used to leave 1960's Earth, you know, 'slingshotting' around the Sun to break away and return to our time?"

Kirk nodded. "That maneuver is very risky and even a small miscalculation could destroy the ship; or make us miss our own time period. We were extremely lucky the first time we did that, and I don't want to take those risks again, Bones."

Bones nodded. "Then we could go back to the planet of the 'Guardian of Forever'… that thing functions like a time travel portal." He shivered remembering his cordrazine-induced madness and his brief stay in 1930's Earth, and the death of Edith Keeler, with whom Jim had fallen in love…

Kirk nodded his face darkening, swirling the dark midnight blue ale around in his glass nervously. "I know, you could have saved her… " He said, guessing Bones' thought. "But I had no other choice. In order to save our future, I had to allow her to die. It was… one of the most difficult things I ever had to do in my life… and it was the mission I hated the most." He took a swallow of the alcoholic beverage.

McCoy heaved a long sigh. "Yeah, same here…"

The Captain nodded. "That's good thinking Bones, the Guardian offers a chance to travel through time, yes… but it brings all the travelers back again. It won't let people stay behind… It's programmed that way."

Bones nodded. "Yeah. So, what do you plan to do?"

Rubbing his tired eyes, Jim replied, "I'm going to keep our guests in sickbay until they are okay and post two security guards to keep an eye on them. Then, when they feel better, I will confine them to guest quarters. I don't want to give them the opportunity to learn more they already know about this ship and our time period in general. They know far too many things already for my taste… but fortunately it's nothing too damaging. They've already seen an alien starship and met an alien and didn't say anything… I think that we can trust them and let them go back home eventually."

Upset, Bones glared at Kirk. "Good God, Jim! You wanted to keep them prisoners, here?"

Kirk took a cautious sip and responded, "Yes, I do, in order to prevent them from altering the course of history, as I wanted to do with Captain Christopher of the USAF." He frowned. "Why are you disagreeing with that idea, now Bones? If I remember correctly, you weren't against the idea. You even wanted to retrain him and re-educate him to fit into our world."

Feeling bad, Leonard cringed. "I know… It was a bad idea, I regret it now, but in my defense I wanted to help Captain Christopher."

Kirk smirked. "You sounded like Spock when you said that."

Bones gave Jim a black look. "If you're gonna get nasty, I'm gonna leave…"

Jim chuckled and he continued. "I dismissed that thought after James West told us that he and his partner wouldn't tell anyone about their stay here. They are men of honor who will keep their promise. After all they work for the President of the United States and are accustomed to handling secrets and to work in secret… I'm sure they will keep what they learned secret… like President Grant's date of death…"

Bones cringed. "I'm sorry about that, Jim. It was a reflex."

Kirk nodded. "I understand, Bones. You were very surprised… and it escaped you." He sighed. "But we have to find a way to send them back…"

McCoy nodded. "I think you should let them interact with us then and not keep them confined to the guest quarters."

Kirk sighed. "You have valid arguments there, Bones. Okay… I'll think about it – later." He yawned and added, "For now, I'm going to head for my quarters to hit my bed." He downed the rest of the Romulan ale in one go and grimaced again. "That stuff is going to make holes in my stomach…" He stood up, feeling lightheaded. "Thanks Bones, have a goodnight."

McCoy smiled. "Goodnight, Jim." He watched Kirk leave as he swallowed the remaining liquor. He yawned. "Time to go to bed, old man."

WWW

Later in sickbay

It was hours later that James West woke up with an urgent need to pee. He looked at Artie, now lying on his right side, facing him, sleeping and not peacefully.

He was mumbling again in his sleep, but the words were unintelligible, garbled… and Jim wondered if he was speaking Cheyenne again.

But Artie wasn't. His arrival on board the Enterprise and his meeting with Spock had triggered his memory about his meeting with the green woman from space…

Artie's dream:

Eyes wide open with both stupefaction and fear – but mostly with fear, and not hiding the fact, because he never hid his emotions, Artemus Gordon pointed with a trembling finger (the rest of his body trembling too) at the flying pie plate that had landed in the middle of the mesa. It was glowing bright blue and emitting a strange whirring sound, the same sound they had heard in the Wanderer while they had watched the very big ball of blue light falling down from the sky an hour ago. "It's… it's not a meteorite like we thought, Jim."

Using his spyglass James West, kneeling hidden behind a bush, was surveying the flying machine. It was made of silvery metal, with no visible openings. It had a large hexagonal, dome-shaped form in the middle with a white blinking light on the top and on the side of the 'plate'. It was held up on black metallic, articulated "legs", like gigantic insect legs. "Like you thought, Artie," he corrected. "As for myself, I thought it was something else entirely… I thought it could be a real flying machine from space." He grinned. "And I was right. That's why we came here, following the blue light, to investigate. It's so exciting! So thrilling!" He exulted.

Standing behind the trunk of a tree, the older man shook his head. "You came here and I followed, and I don't find this exciting and thrilling, as you do, but scary!" He specified. "You're a magnet for trouble, Jim. I couldn't let you come here without me to help you in case something happened – and I'm sure that something will happen now, because I have just jinxed us by saying that." He gestured toward the extraterrestrial machine. "It's a real flying pie plate, Jim – not a phony one, this time. It could be very, very dangerous."

Jim chuckled. "Because the other one wasn't dangerous perhaps? It exploded and left a crater the size of a house in the countryside, remember."

Furrowing his brow Artie sighed. "You know what I mean. That flying pie plate could be loaded with weaponry we can't even imagine and we could be killed!"

Jim nodded. "I think that we should stop calling such a wondrous machine that: flying pie plate! It's such a ridiculous name, don't you think?"

Artemus rolled his eyes. "Okay. As it looks more like a saucer than a pie plate I suggest 'flying saucer'. What do you think?" It was a joke.

Glancing at Artie, Jim smiled. "It's still a ridiculous name, but it has a nice ring to it. I like it. You named one thing, it's my turn next. I'm wondering why that flying saucer came here. Maybe it has some technical problems, or maybe it's a first contact, they want to meet humans …"

Artie blanched. "Before an invasion of Earth! They're maybe scouts!"

Jim spotted a long pipe coming out from one 'leg' of the flying saucer. It was running along the thick grass to end a little further on in a pond. "They're pumping water… They came here to refill with water! I wonder why they need water…"

Looking gloomy Artie deadpanned, "Probably to boil their prisoners before eating them." Then he blanched realizing it could happen. His vivid imagination kicked in and he started imagining horrible ways to die, such as being cut into pieces before being boiled or… "They could do a vivisection on us. Oh dear God!" he breathed, horrified.

Jim put his spyglass back in the inner pocket of his jacket and said, "They will probably start with you as you are more 'fleshy' than me…" Earning a black look from his best friend he chuckled. "Just joking. Come on, Artie; let's have a closer look at this flying saucer. With a little luck we'll see the crew, maybe lovely girls from outer space…"

Shaking his head Artemus just said, "No." He crossed his arms on his chest. "Let's go back to the train before something very bad happens – like you and I being killed by the creatures piloting that machine. They could be monsters, you know, human eaters…"

Patting his partner's arm reassuringly Jim said, "Nothing's going to happen, Artie. Come on buddy. What happened to your scientific curiosity?"

Mopping sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve Artemus said, "It stayed safely in the lab – where I should be right now."

Grabbing Artie's arm Jim stood up, "Let's go!"

Zigzagging from a bush to a tree, from a tree to a big rock, from a big rock to a boulder, they moved closer to the flying saucer. Un-holstering his Colt Jim, curiosity-driven, forgot any caution and headed toward one of the 'insect-like' legs of the huge machine.

Muttering under his breath, Artie grabbed his gun too. "Damnit Jim! You're impossible!" he whispered. He was on his way to join his adventurous and reckless partner when he froze on the spot – seeing an oval opening materialize on the hull where nothing was visible before. He blinked as he was blinded by a powerful white light emanating from inside the vehicle.

Squinting, he saw a human-shaped form moving down a ramp that had appeared just as mysteriously as the opening. He noticed a movement and something resembling a gun… and immediately reacted, aiming at the dark silhouette heading in his direction. He was suddenly hit by a green beam of energy, square in his chest and collapsed, with a grunt, to the ground, grimacing in pain. He tried to move, but discovered that he was completely paralyzed. He couldn't even speak. He started to panic. He heard, "Artie!" coming from a worried Jim. 'It's too dangerous! Stay where you are Jim!' he thought. But it was no use. His throat felt closed up and no sound came out. He couldn't even groan in frustration.

James immediately rushed toward his fallen best friend to help him and shot at a… at a beautiful bright-red-haired and pale-green-skinned woman, with cat-like ears, wearing a golden tight-fitting suit and an orange gun belt. He stopped dead in his tracks, totally stunned – and totally smitten. She was smiling, her left hand rose, level with her breasts – the bullet floating in the air, suspended an inch away from her palm.

He blinked twice. "What?"

She held a kind of gun in her other hand, he finally noticed. But too late. She fired. Jim too was hit by a green beam of energy coming from the woman's gun; which he immediately named ray-gun, before crumpling to the ground in his turn, beside his partner, wincing. He tried to move, but couldn't. He tried to say 'Ow!' but nothing came out from his throat. Even his vocal cords were immobilized.

Moving toward Artemus, the green alien woman ignored Jim, only interested by the green Artie, lying on the grass, spread-eagled, defenseless. She surveyed his body with visible appreciation, then straddled his hips. Artie was suddenly very relieved to be paralyzed… everywhere. She tilted her head, and observed Artie's green face with curiosity, running a hand over his chest. She touched his face with unnaturally warm hands, and stroked the wavy dark hair away from the human's brow. "Nice color. If you were an Altaran male, I would kidnap you here and now and I would add you to my vre'ed'anj and make my favorite of you. But having non-Altaran males as sex-slaves is forbidden by the law, that's too bad, you would have been perfect." She said. She leaned toward him and Artie could see that she had beautiful too-green sparkling eyes. Panic was replaced by intense curiosity and pleasure. She kissed his lips, and then traced them with a fingertip. "You're a very handsome male… you shouldn't wear so many clothes… and let people see how perfect you are, but it doesn't matter, I can see through them…" She licked her darker green lips, purring loudly. "Mrrrmmm…"

She let out a soft laugh, licked Artie's nose playfully, stood and headed back to her ship.

Shortly after, the pipe retracted inside one of the 'legs,' and the flying saucer took off. It rose rapidly into the night sky, where it hovered for a moment and suddenly accelerated at an incredible speed, to vanish a split second later.

The two men regained control of their bodies at the same time, half an hour later, feeling pins and needles everywhere. Jim helped Artie to move into a sitting position and patted his shoulder. "I told you that you look good in green buddy." Then he chuckled.

Jim finally stood up and Artemus copied him. "I think so…," Artie said. "Did you see that? She had cat-like ears! Did she have a tail too? And she purred! Really purred." Rubbing his chest, where the ray of paralyzing light had hit him, Artemus nodded. "A sex slave. Me? I'm torn between pride and fear." He frowned, his brain boiling with questions. "Altaran? Where is it? She was speaking English, how is it possible? She's not from Earth. But maybe she came here before as a scout. What was that gun? What kind of energy does it use? How is it possible that…?" He stopped, blinking twice, finally realizing something. "She could see through my clothes?" He blushed crimson. "Then she saw me naked? But how? How is it possible to see through someone's clothes? And…"

Smiling Jim rolled his eyes. Artemus had started babbling. He would theorize for hours, if not days. The walk back to the Wanderer would be long. Very long, he mused.

WWW

Reality:

James slid off the strange-looking 'biobed' that was actually a piece of very sophisticated medical equipment, touching bare feet to the cold floor and took his best friend's relaxed hand in his. "We'll get back home Artie…" Then glancing around him, he added, "But first I need to find the water closet."

He froze noticing only now the low and constant humming of the Enterprise's engines… almost covered by the quiet sensor beeps above Artemus's biobed, and by the light snores of the other man who had just shifted onto his back.

He headed toward the door of the Recovery Ward plunged in a dim light (artificial night) and entered the next room (the examination area).

He found Christine Chapel there, lit by a lamp, the only source of light in the sickbay. She was sitting at a desk (nurse's station) reading something on a box, a 'monitor'. "Hi!" he said with a smile.

Christine stood, frowning in alarm. "Something wrong, Mr. West?"

Moving forward, James shook his head. "No, I'm fine and Artemus is sleeping but is having a bad dream I think. No, I just need you to tell me where the water closet is, please."

She smiled, relieved. "Follow me, please," she said and led James to a single door. "It's the bathroom. It has a toilet, but there's a sink and shower with real water too." She chuckled. "Dr. McCoy hates sonic showers, so he had it replaced with a 'real' one. You will find toiletries inside and towels, in the cupboard."

Jim grinned. "Thank you, Christine."

Christine blushed finding James West very attractive. "If you need me, I'll be at my work station…" and then she left.

WWW

Later

Half an hour later James regained his bed, feeling a lot better. His bladder was empty, he was showered and stubble-less.

He found Artie awake, hands crossed on his chest, half-sitting, half-lying on the medical bed. "Hi Artie, how do you feel buddy?"

Smiling Artie murmured, "I'm fine. I just dreamt about our meeting with that green woman from space… Speaking of woman, I heard you talking to a female a moment ago."

Fluffing his pillow Jim nodded. "Yes, she's Christine Chapel, she's a nurse. You haven't met her yet. She's very kind and gentle."

Artie chuckled. "Oh, and she's pretty, I'm sure. I hope to meet her soon. I love nurses…"

James nodded. "I know that. I sometimes wonder if you don't purposely end up in the hospital at the end of almost all our assignments so that the nurses can pamper you… giving you the occasion to flirt with them – all, at the same time."

Moving his hand to his heart, Artie whispered, "Me?"

Running a finger across his now smooth jawline and in his fluffy hair, James added, "There's a fantastic bathroom over there, Artie. It makes ours in the Wanderer look… antique."

Hurt, Artemus said, "Antique? I built it, and for our time period, it"s a must. You can't find anything like it – anywhere else, even in the White House. Don't compare it with a bathroom of the 23rd century, Jim."

Feeling bad, James said, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to offend you, Artie. Your bathroom is remarkable… very ahead of its time. Speaking of time… I spent five minutes just working out how to use the shaver. It's a very strange device… There's no blade, just a blue light and it removed all my hairs. There's another fantastic device I would call a hair-dryer. My hair was dried in two seconds, top."

Lifting a weak hand Artie brushed his unshaven cheeks. "I'll see to that later." He paused and asked, "Do you think they're gonna keep us here?"

Even through the dim light, Jim could see that his best friend's face was strained with worry. "Keep us here? You mean like prisoners? Why they would do that? They seem to be good people. They saved us, Artie. Without them you and I would be frozen to death right now, on that remote planet…"

Moving onto his side, Artie faced Jim. "They saved us, yes, but they didn't know who we were. Now they know we are from the 19th century, they will want to keep us here to prevent us from telling what we about what we've seen and heard here and thus change the future, disrupt the timeline…"

Frowning Jim said, "I see what you mean, but I already told the Captain that, once back, we won't say anything about what happened here."

Shaking his head, Artie said, "They won't take that risk… that's why Kirk posted armed guards in the corridor. I saw two of them check on me before you came back… Then, they took their post outside the sickbay. We won't get back home, Jim. Never. Kirk is going to keep us here, I mean in this time period, not necessarily on board this ship."

Sitting on his biobed, still whispering, Jim replied, "He just wants us not to wander around his ship… I can understand that. We could be hurt somehow… We don't know anything about this ship of his. We could end up in space by opening a wrong door…"

Sitting on his biobed in his turn Artie said, "There are armed guards in the corridor Jim. Armed. If Kirk wants us to stay here for our protection, why order his men to have guns? Unarmed guards would suffice to tell us to stay inside sickbay for our safety… No. I maintain my belief. They're going to keep us here, in this century and probably put us in solitary confinement somewhere and even separate us…" his face darkened. "They could kill us too. That is the easiest way to get rid of us."

Deeply alarmed, Jim still hesitated. "They look like good people… "

His gaze steady and resolute Artie said, "I'm right. We're prisoners, and we have to find a way to escape from this ship and go back home."

Now fully agreeing with his partner's opinion, Jim said, "You're right. We have to get off of this ship, and find an Altaran woman like the one we met after you were turned green. Spock told me they possess ships that have… a time-travel core drive that permits them to travel through space and time."

Furrowing his brow, Artie looked around him to be sure they were alone in the room, and leaning toward Jim he murmured, "You want to take the ship? How? We don't know how big she is, where the bridge is and we don't have any guns."

Sure of himself, Jim murmured, "But the guards have guns, and they will lead us to the bridge – against their will, of course. Then, once on the bridge, we'll take the crew there hostage and we'll force them to find Altarans ships for us."

Rubbing his stubbled chin nervously, Artie said, "You know there's a simpler solution to the problem of going back home… I just have to die."

Upset, James shook his head. "No, not this time. When I see you dying, a part of me dies too. It's awful… I can literally feel a part of my heart break and die. I can't stand seeing you die anymore." Feeling tears welling to his eyes, he let out a strangled sob. "Don't die again… please."

Moving toward James, Artie wrapped his arms around him and held him in a bear hug. "I'll do my best, and I promise you I won't kill myself."

Feeling reassured, Jim touched his forehead with Artie's, "Thank you…" He parted and said, "Are you ready to take this ship?"

Grinning, Artemus nodded. "Whenever you are, Jim. But first we have to get rid of that girlfriend of yours, Christine."

James chuckled. "No problem. Do you remember how I rendered Miss Sheila 'Vixen' Shaugnessy unconscious, using pressure points?" He saw Artie smile, cleared his throat and called, "Christine! My friend is feeling bad, it's his heart…"

Chuckling softly Artie lay down on his biobed and grasped his chest, grimacing in pain, writhing on the mattress, panting.

Soon after that, Christine entered the Recovery Ward. "What is it?" She asked, running toward Artemus who was moaning in pain.

She looked at the monitor and frowned, puzzled. The readouts indicated that Artemus was okay. "Why…?" She said – but never finished her sentence.

Moving behind her, James had applied pressure near the base of the nurse's neck, at the shoulder, and she had instantly lost consciousness.

Catching Christine in his arms, Artie gently placed her on his biobed. "Good work, Jim. You've really mastered that martial art technique." He took Christine's hand in his. "I'm sorry." He smiled. "I was right, she's pretty… and I love her short uniform… and high boots."

Smiling Jim said, "You can flirt later, back home. Let's go."

Approaching the door, he said, "Do your best to attract them inside…" Then he flattened against the bulkhead on the right side of the double door.

Placing his hand on his chest, Artie faked having a heart attack coming again and moved toward the door which swooshed open.

Immediately the two guards turned around, hands on top of their phasers. Artemus sank to his knees, grimacing, breathing out, "Help… me!"

Entering the sickbay together, they didn't see Jim and didn't have time to react when he punched the guard closest to him on his temple, knocking him out.

In a flash, Artemus grabbed the guard's 'gun' and pointed it upward toward his partner whom James disarmed in a split second.

Finding a scroll wheel on the side of the weapon, Jim turned it on the right… and read fear in the guard's eyes. "I bet this setting is deadly," he said.

The 'red shirt' nodded. "It's set on kill."

Placing the phaser against the 'red shirt', Jim said, "Good! One must always follow one's instinct. Lead us to the bridge, or I'll kill you where you stand."

Tbc.