Chapter 4- The Improbability of Unicorns
This time it was Peter's turn to double over with nausea when he rematerialized on the pad with Jim. Jim looked over at him and smirked before giving him a knowing pat on the back. Hiro had gone back for more while it was agreed that Spock would wait on the surface and order them beamed up as they came in an effort to ease at least some of the strain all the popping in and out of existence would place on him.
"Mr. Scott," Jim called when Peter was again able to stand upright on his own, "standby for Spock's instructions. When our guests arrive, have Chekov or someone escort them to 10 forward until we know how many there are and can prep quarters for them."
Scotty nodded trying not to stare too much at Peter's odd appearance, but it would have been nice if someone would have given him a heads up that the ship was having a costume party. It was close to Halloween and he knew how much the Captain enjoyed the holiday. Any excuse to dress in drag and get drunk was all good with him. He had to admit though, the man was authentic down to the most minute detail in looking like a military medic. There was almost nothing a replicator couldn't do these days.
"Peter, follow me." Jim instructed heading for what looked like an elevator. "There is someone I want you to meet." Peter did as he was asked and smiled when in their travels they came upon a frosted pane of glass with the familiar caduceus. "Bones!" Jim yelled as soon as he crossed the threshold.
"He is in his office." A blonde woman replied while she gave Peter the once over with a meaningful smirk. Peter chuckled both at the woman's not-so-subtle flirting and Jim's stunned reaction to it.
"Don't you have some cells to look at or something, Nurse Chapel?" He asked with mock indignity. She rolled her eyes at him and with her body language clearly told him to get over it while she led them to a door that read, " CMO." Jim paused and whispered to Peter, "Hang out here for a minute…this may take a little doing. Ignore any profanities or loud noises you may hear, we are friends I swear."
Peter nodded but wondered what he had gotten himself into. As a paramedic he was around doctors all the time, so he knew that some could have God complexes and he was starting to rethink the advisability of letting someone like that near Sylar. As far as he knew, nothing in the universe was bigger than his ego and what made him especially dangerous was he could back it up 6 ways until Sunday and he would no doubt enjoy every minute of it. He casually leaned against the wall and smiled nervously when he noticed the nurse still peeking at him from across the room.
"Bones!" Jim declared leaning on the doctor's desk with a broad smile.
McCoy didn't even look up from his PADD. "I heard you screaming like a lunatic when you came in. You didn't need to come in here to announce your presence."
Ordinarily Jim would have had some kind of witty comeback for his cranky friend, but he was bubbling over with excitement and he just wanted to cut to the chase. "You will never guess what happened down there."
"Knowing you, probably not." McCoy agreed.
"I found them, Bones. They are real." He almost whispered earning himself a harsh scowl. McCoy wasn't really one for theatrics. "Evolved humans." He smiled.
McCoy didn't even flinch. "Did you get hit in the head or something? Where is Spock?" He demanded. "I know that hobgoblin wouldn't have the stones to lie to me, unlike you."
"I'm not lying, Bones." Jim laughed. He couldn't blame his friend, he knew he sounded crazy. "And I am fine. Really, they exist and Spock is having them beamed up as we speak."
McCoy sighed deeply. He had known Jim for a long time now, long enough to know that he was telling the truth which only meant he had suffered some kind of psychotic break. He should have seen it coming, what with the whole Nero thing and a half dozen other near death experiences he had racked up, that kind of stress would get to a man sooner or later. And it looked like for Jim it was magical people from the past when it just as easily could have been fairies or leprechauns. To each his own. "Look, Jim…" McCoy began slowly putting his PADD on his desk, "I don't know what happened down there, but evolved humans are a myth- like unicorns or something. They didn't exist then and they can't be here now."
Jim smiled so wide McCoy could almost count all of his teeth. "I thought you would say that. I want you to meet Peter."
McCoy watched as Jim opened the door and pulled a young man inside. He couldn't say much for his choice in clothing, but the doctor in him immediately recognized the stethoscope that hung around his neck. He had seen pictures of them before, but never an actual one since it was a crude way to gather diagnostic data. They hadn't been used for centuries.
"Bones, Peter Petrelli. Peter, Dr. Leonard McCoy, the ship's CMO." Peter and McCoy nodded tensely at each other.
Whatever delusion Jim was having, he had roped someone else into it, McCoy thought grimly. One crazy person was bad enough without a party of them running loose on the ship. "So, you are an evolved human?" He asked completely unconvinced. He was never any good at the psychology bit of medicine, but he did know that you were supposed to play along with the fantasies of crazy people least you upset them even more and he had two of them in a very confined space.
Before Peter could answer, Jim broke in excitedly. "Do the floaty thing for him!"
Peter smiled lightly and corrected, "It is called telekinesis." He dutifully stretched out his hand toward the PADD and gently lifted it from a distance of at least 5 feet- far enough away not to be accused of it being an optical illusion or some kind of magic trick.
McCoy sat stunned watching the PADD hover at eye level above his desk. All he could think was how it was just like Jim to have a unicorn sneak up behind him and kick him in the ass with a golden hoof.
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Matt Parkman paced nervously across Peter's living room floor while Ando and Mohinder looked on from the kitchen. "I just…I just can't friggin' believe it!" He exclaimed exasperated. "I mean what the hell! He is one of us too, has he forgotten he can friggin' fly?!" He asked no one in particular.
"He always has a plan." Mohinder mused in his British accent. "There is always some behind the scenes power play. The question is, what does he have to gain from all this?"
"You never can tell with him." Noah answered darkly. "All we know is that he is out for blood…even his own."
Ando looked at Noah as he sat tensely in his chair with his elbows resting on his knees. He never remembered seeing him quite like that. No matter what the situation was, Bennet was always calm, cool, and collected but now it was all he could do to keep from falling apart. "Have you been able to contact Claire yet?" He asked quietly.
Noah shook his head slowly and a desperate smile crossed his face. "You know how college life is. Probably too busy to call her old man back."
"She will." Matt declared calmly. "She's ok, Noah. You have to believe that." Noah nodded, but he knew the odds. All he could do was hold out hope that she was ok, and if Nathan did have her already, he prayed that the father in him would keep him from killing his own child no matter his agenda. Nathan had spared her once, hopefully he could find it in himself to do it again. And if he couldn't, his days were numbered and no amount of power or privilege would save him from Noah's wrath. Nathan may have been her biological father, but he was the one who tucked her in and changed her diapers and kept her safe from those that would harm her for all those years.
Hiro returned and everyone looked at him expectantly. "Hiro!" Ando greeted with a smile and then addressed him in Japanese so the others wouldn't understand. "How are you, my friend?" The concern in his voice was evident, but Hiro smiled bravely even though he felt drained.
"Hiro," Noah said standing up slowly "can you take more than two at a time?" The small Japanese man bowed slightly with determination although he feared his powers were failing. He just had to concentrate harder, he told himself. "Good. Then I want you to take Ando, Matt, and Mohinder. When you get back, we have one last mission."
Mohinder looked alarmed. "Why am I going? I have no special abilities."
"Two reasons." Noah stated. "One- Nathan will find you too because you know them, you are a witness to their existence and that makes you dangerous. I am sure he can put you to work in a lab somewhere slicing and dicing them to find out what makes them tick. And two- you might be more useful where they are going."
He looked apprehensive, but he put on a brave face as he joined the others in a circle around Hiro. "I have never seen the future." He admitted with a dry laugh. "Is it at least a nice place?" Hiro beamed and pushed up his glasses after a vigorous nod. "Alright then." He reached out and placed his hand on Hiro's arm.
Hiro leaned in close to Ando and whispered in Japanese, "Could you give me a little push?"
Ando's eyes widened slightly because that was as close as his friend had ever come to admitting he needed help and it worried him to think that they all might end up elsewhere than they intended. But he said nothing and discretely fired up the pink energy in his right hand that hovered behind his friend's back so no one else would know- unless Parkman was eavesdropping in which case he would have to think in Japanese.
Noah waited until they were gone to pull out his cell phone and once again dial Claire's number. He knew he would get her voicemail again and he had already left two messages, but he felt compelled to keep trying. He had to.
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Spock was starting to get used to people just appearing out of nowhere. He justified it by thinking that it was much like a transporter, only Hiro was able to move across the time space continuum while a traditional transporter could only transverse distance on a lateral plane. In either event the result was the same: people vanishing and reappearing elsewhere. Of course he would require more detail to fully flesh out the mechanics of it all, but that would have to do for now.
As he waited quietly for the next batch to arrive, he reflected on the improbability of this entire venture. He had been serving aboard the Enterprise for 3 years with Jim Kirk and if there was anything that he had learned during that time it was that events- especially those involving humans and doubly so if Jim was in on it- were aggravatingly unpredictable and prone to mind boggling statistical anomalies. This was not the way the universe was supposed to work, yet it was almost his daily experience.
How could he have known when he got up that morning that by nightfall he would be waiting outside an establishment of questionable repute in the middle of a cornfield to serve as an ambassador to evolved humans from the long past? In some ways he resented the whole affair. The powers that be could have given him some kind of hint or tip off that strange things were afoot, but no. Once more, fate saw fit to bitch slap him and all of his logic. And so he waited, trying desperately to salvage some kind of rationale for it all because to not have some plausible theory for the night's events was simply intolerable to him. The universe could not run on chaos alone, even if Jim Kirk was involved.