Chapter 4: Invincible
Down the Hall from Engine Room 2
"They're dead, Dr. McCoy."
"Bones!" I'm too overjoyed at the prospect of finding Bones that I hardly process what Scotty says. By this point, Spock is sagging greatly and doesn't seem able to support himself without me. With that in mind, I carefully lead Spock down the hall with him leaning heavily on my shoulder and with his arm draped across the back of my neck.
He seems really out of it, which I always thought was impossible for a Vulcan.
Just as I reach the force field I freeze in place, my mind halted by the transformation on Bones' face. His worry morphs seamlessly into shock and then transfigures into a mix of grief and disbelief.
"Who's dead?" Chekov asks innocently from behind him. I can feel my heart racing. No one has noticed me and my mind covertly knows the reason why. I just don't want to believe it.
"Dead?" I question, perplexed by the statement.
As if to confirm this innate knowledge, one of the crewmembers dressed in an orange suit suddenly comes up from behind Spock and me and… walks right through us and through the force field to the conversation in front of us. My eyes widen as the weight of reality crashes down me.
No one can see us.
I glance over at Spock to find his expression relatively unchanged as if he is concentrating really hard to comprehend what is going on around him. I'm not sure he even believes this is real right now. I'm pretty sure I don't. Suddenly I notice the color drain from his face, which is an incredible feat considering how pale the man is to begin with. I'm not sure whether it is from the blood loss or from finding out that we're ghosts. Either way, I can tell that his knees are threatening to buckle beneath him, so before that can happen I cautiously shift him towards the nearest wall where he releases me in favor of leaning on the wall.
My attention is pulled back to Bones as the man finally formulates a response.
"Oh my god… no." Bones comments quietly. Normally when given bad news, Bones is prone to anger, but this time, he just seems shocked. "No," he whispers, his gaze drifting down to the floor as if he can find some comfort there. I carefully move through the force field, unaffected by the shield. I glance back at Spock who is watching me curiously, his body nearly slipping onto the floor.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Uhura asks fearfully, her beautiful eyes begging either of them for answers. No one besides Bones seems to understand the gravity of what Scotty has said. It's as if the two senior officers are having an unspoken conversation merely with their crest-fallen expressions.
"Both of them?" Bones manages to ask, lifting his dark, misty gaze to focus on Scotty. Scotty nods and throws his hand up in morbid defeat.
"Spock tried to save him." Scotty explains and that's when I can't deny the truth any longer.
They think we're dead.
We might even be dead.
"I'm right here, Bones!" I exclaim as I move to stand right in front of my best friend, but I'm invisible to him. He looks through me like I'm a pane of glass.
"No…no, I don't believe it." Bones mutters, his anger beginning to surface, not only in his tone but also in the dangerous glint in his eyes. "I always thought… if they were going to die, it would be on some mission. They'd beam em' aboard and I'd haul em' off to sickbay." His voice is starting to break and I find that everyone in the hall is staring now, shocked by the truth spilling from Bone's lips. "Considering how many times I patched them up… I always thought…" I shake my head. I can't take this. I'm right here! "Not-not like this." He mutters, brushing his hand through his hair. "Not for no reason." He adds in the faintest whisper.
I'm breaking him apart and I can't stop it! I look back at Spock to find him watching me quietly, his eyes betraying an undertone of sadness. I can't remember feeling this scared and this frustrated all in one mixed, overpowering emotion. It hurts like hell.
Uhura and Sulu stare quietly, while Chekov continues to cling to the belief that I'm invincible.
"You mean dat da keptin… da commander… dey're dead?" He asks, his voice wavering in disbelief. That's when Bones' finally snaps.
"Yes, they're dead! Don't you get it?" He growls, his eyes brimming with fury. I can't believe this is happening.
"Dead?" I whisper incredulously, my mind still refusing to wrap around the word. "Bones, I'm not dead." I say with determined resolve. I then turn back to Spock again.
"Spock," I begin uncertainly, "am I dead?" Spock stares at me, clearly at a loss for an answer.
"I am not sure, Jim."
"I want to see their bodies," Bones demands suddenly.
"I think it's unwise-" Sulu breaks in, trying to put a hand on the doctor's shoulder. Bones quickly shrugs him off.
"I need to see it for myself!" He continues, determined to have proof.
"That's going to be a problem," says the man who had walked through Spock and me just moments ago. I believe his name is Ensign Keller. Everyone looks at him confusedly, including Scotty. "We can't find their bodies." He confesses, shirking away from their intense looks.
"What do you mean you 'can't find their bodies?'" Bones snaps, his tone verging on murderous.
"We found blood, but not much though." Ensign Keller explains nervously. "Human blood." He clarifies. I pause, wondering why they would only find my blood there. Then I remember bleeding after the turbine fell on me. They must not be able to see any of the blood that spilled after the explosion. "But there is no trace of their bodies." Interesting. If we really were dead then surely they would be able to find our bodies. This alights in me the faintest glimmer of hope.
"That's impossible," Scotty remarks.
"That means they might not be dead." Bones states, clearly heartened by the knowledge that we could still be alive. "Maybe they were beamed off the ship somehow." He theorizes.
"I'm right here in front of you!" I exclaim with frustration, absolutely hating being transparent.
"No. Our sensors would have noticed." Scotty reasons despondently. "They were in the room when the reactor exploded. There is no way they could have survived." He reminds everyone, his words honest and dismal.
"I never figured you for a pessimist, Scotty." I remark.
"Jim, they cannot hear you," Spock announces from behind me. I look back at him to find that he's sitting on the floor now with his jaw clenched to brace himself for some invisible pain. I solemnly turn back to Bones.
"I-I need to process this," Bones accepts listlessly, deciding it's best to be alone for a while. Bones turns to leave.
"Spock, what's going on?" I ask cheerlessly as melancholy wells up inside of me.
"I do not know." Spock answers simply, seemingly more aware than he had been before. That being said, the man is still sitting on the floor with a probable concussion and a thick trail of green blood seeping down the left side of his face. He's also still an unsettling shade of white; paler than I ever thought was possible for anyone.
"You don't look so good." I remark worriedly. Spock doesn't manage a response. I move towards him and offer him my arm. "Let's follow McCoy to sickbay. We need to bandage you up." Spock stares at my arm, clearly hesitating before grabbing it and allowing me to support him again. I can tell he doesn't like the physical contact, but he seems to suppress this reaction.
"I do not believe that is physically possible," Spock reasons.
"We need to try," I comment, determined to cling to what little hope I have left.
That hope is Spock.
So, some people have noticed that this story is similar to that mosquito episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (I can't remember the title) and also similar to an episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Well, I've seen both episodes actually. I thought the mosquito episode was awesome, but I actually didn't get the idea for this story from that. I also vaguely remember an episode of the Next Generation where Forgi and the counselor somehow disappeared and got to attend their own funerals, but I was actually too young to remember much else about the episode. With that being said, I guess those episodes inspired this fic, but overall this will be very different due to unexpected twists, a murder plot, and K/S romance!
I will try to post an update sooner rather than later.