((ADDENDUM: I changed the last name of the CMO of the space station to Rasul. I don't normally do that, never have before, but in this case I had a good enough reason to do it.

Chapter heading? Well, at least it makes sense. I have no idea around which corner this was lurking, but it ambushed me, and now it's clinging to my neck and I can't for the life of me think of something else. Oh, hell with it, there it goes.))

Analysing blood samples of the command personnel took longer than one would expect. The problem wasn't so much that the procedure was complicated. What made things difficult was the fact that it wasn't something that was routinely done. Therefore, there was no standard procedure. At first, Leonard had looked for infections, anaemia, and mutations. Then he had found unusual antibodies in one sample and had gone back to those he had looked at before to see if they were there as well. The result, of course, was negative. And this had happened more than once. It was a way to spend a month, though.

T'Kray's task was little better. Responsibility had an effect on everyone, and it wasn't always to bring out the best in people. In other words, almost every higher ranking officer had something to contend with. None of them had shown murderous tendencies, but T'Kray was aware that this didn't necessarily have to mean anything.

Jim hadn't told Vral what the small capsule they had unearthed was, so neither he nor Kresar knew. As much as Leonard disliked secrets – especially unnecessary ones – he understood the need. They knew each other well enough, but the Caitians were perfect strangers, even if Jim and Vral did work well together. Spock didn't say much about Kresar, but that wasn't too unexpected. Vulcans didn't gossip.

Come to think of it, Leonard had no idea what the science department was on about at all. Their primary suspicion that the research they did in Sickbay was related to the problems in engineering had been confirmed by Jim and Vral's find in the shuttlepods. The science department seemed to have nothing to do with either.

After a particularly tiring shift, one of those where he went back to samples he had already tested thrice over, Leonard was so exhausted he fell asleep the moment his head touched the pillow. When he was woken up what felt like three minutes later, he was therefore understandably confused. At first, he had thought someone calling him was part of a dream, but then there was someone shaking him. He swatted at the hand, but it persisted, and he opened his eyes by a fraction.

The constant low light showed him Jim, fully dressed, and grinning down at him. 'What on earth do you want?' he growled.

'Get up. Come.' Leonard sat up and glared.

'What time is it?'

'Witching hour.'

'Are you insane?'

'Spock wants to show us something. He's fetching T'Kray.'

'They're Vulcans, they can go a week without sleeping. You and I, not so. Now get lost.'

'Come on, Bones.' He watched Jim leave his room. For a moment, he considered lying back down. Then he cursed, got up and changed, angry at himself for being way too predictable.

Outside, he found the two Vulcans and Jim. 'Now what?'

'To the transporter, of course,' Jim said.

'Now? Are we even allowed to go now?'

'Who should forbid us to go, and why?' Spock asked. 'The transporter room is manned at all times with occasional exceptions. Some researchers prefer to work late in the evening. We are perfectly entitled to go to the planet whenever we wish to.'

'Figures. But we're not entitled to sleep through the lectures tomorrow.'

'You'll stop complaining soon enough, Bones.'

'Am I the only one without a clue what you're on about?' T'Kray had her arms folded.

'No, I'm a little confused myself.' Jim smiled vaguely.

'You'll see.' The young man in the transporter room looked mildly surprised when Jim asked they be beamed to the science centre, but he obliged without question.

On the planet, all was quiet. Normally there were sounds from machines in the next room, or muffled talking, but now, at the dead of night, there was nothing. 'Are we the only ones in here?'

'Quite possibly,' Spock told him. 'We are heading outside.' He opened the door to the courtyard, and Leonard's jaw dropped.

'Heavens above.' Leonard had been on more planets than he could count. He had seen all sorts of places at all times of day and night. But this … this was unique. The darkness was far from complete, much rather, the light was a deep purplish blue. The trees beyond the courtyard towered before them like a black wall, impenetrable and forbidding. They had never before left the premises, but now, he knew, they would. He also knew where they would go. A cloud, swirling as if created by a myriad of little creatures, hovered above the trees, further into the wood. It emitted a pale emerald glow that made him think of legends of a spiritual host chasing the living. 'What is that, Spock?' The Vulcan seemed spellbound as well. His reply was very quiet and sounded distinctly awed.

'I shall show you. When we reach the place, you will see.'

It was the strangest forest Leonard had ever seen. It was dark inside, the trees casting almost solid looking shadows. They were like nothing he had seen before. There were a few familiar looking ones that might be oaks. But others were very strange, with huge, opalescent leaves, some with smooth bark like plane trees only jet black, some twisted and crooked like mountain pines. There were also mushrooms of all conceivable forms and then some.

'Brilliant,' Leonard said, running his hand over the smooth bark of one of the planelike trees. 'Just brilliant. Why have we never gone out here?'

'Because whenever we are on the planet, we're working. And once we are done, we go back up.' Leonard glanced at T'Kray looking around her, her lips parted slightly and her expression smitten. He felt a sudden impulse to take her hand but caught himself in time. He had no idea how much he could allow himself. T'Kray was very patient with him and his qualms about telepathy, but if he wanted to gain momentum, he had to give her some as well. He decided it was high time for that.

After a short march they reached a small pond. Leonard had known it was there because it was on a map, but he hadn't given the thing much thought. The surface of the water was completely still in the warm air. Spock looked at it for a moment, then took a flat stone and let it jump on the surface. Leonard was going to make a comment, but whatever he'd had in mind got stuck in his throat. The concentric circles where the water had been disturbed danced with the same green shimmer they had seen above the forest. He approached and knelt beside the pond, not caring for a second that his clothes were getting wet. Running his hand over the surface, he marvelled at the effect. 'What on earth is that?' Spock's eyes were fixed on the water.

'Microorgansims. A similar phenomenon exists on earth, but only in oceans. And on earth, the bacteria responsible for what is called milky seas exist only in the water. Here, the organisms are in the air as well.'

'Then why is that water … I mean if they just fell in the water when they die, they wouldn't glow any more, assuming this is bioluminescence we're talking about. Can they live in both? Do they reproduce in the water?' Spock shook his head.

'I do not know. I intend to take a sample of the water and find out.' Leonard nodded.

'You do that.' He looked up at the Vulcan, his hand still absently disturbing the water. 'Thank you for waking me. This is beautiful.'

'Absolutely.' Jim's voice was laden with emotion. 'More than I imagined.' Leonard rose and glanced at him sideways. Spock stood half a step behind Jim now, the hint of a smile on his lips.

'I believed you would like to see this.' Jim merely nodded. For a moment, Spock seemed to be bracing himself, then he stepped forwards, placed his hands on Jim's shoulders and pulled him against him. There was a second of surprise on Jim's face, then a wide, happy smile, and he leaned into the other man. Leonard decided to look away discreetly, just to catch T'Kray watching them. 'This effect, on Mavenow, has never been described before it was found by the scientists three nights ago. They have determined that the organisms are vegetational and apparently harmless.' Spock pulled away from Jim with a visible mental effort, walked over to a log and sat down on it. 'Strange things are happening on this planet. There is plant life developing at a very fast rate, and there are flowers, herbs, and even shrubs no-one has seen before. Now this. I would really appreciate the opportunity to discuss anything you might have detected, even if we think it is irrelevant. I also believe that we should not do this in a place that is likely to be overheard.' Jim walked over to Spock and sat next to him.

'In other words, now and here would be ideal.'

ϡ

Brainstorming usually worked well for Jim. He'd always done that – bounce a question off Spock or sometimes Bones and see what they thought about it. But this time, it didn't help. He had the impression they were all struggling to prove that two plus two did, in fact, equal five, and no matter how hard they tried, they had to fail. 'This isn't getting us anywhere.' He hadn't spoken loudly, but Bones stopped speaking (quite emphatically) in mid-sentence and looked at him. 'We believe there's a saboteur. We believe that our senior officers think so, too. We believe that they're uncertain if there's a psychological or a physical reason. But we know … we know nothing.' Spock looked at him.

'Captain, I have to disagree with you. We know for certain that people died in the transporter and that two scientists vanished on the planet without a trace. According to the computer, this lake was searched very thoroughly, but nothing was found.'

'It can't have anything to do with those algae or whatever they are?' Bones asked with a gesture towards the pond.

'I do not believe so.' Jim shook his head.

'We aren't going to answer any of those questions now. I wonder if we're going to answer anything at all.'

'I wish to say something.' They all looked at T'Kray, who had been standing silently with her back to them for a couple of minutes. Now she turned and took them all in. 'On this station there is as much personnel as is required, they are by no means understaffed. The people I had a chance to talk to were all showing signs of being overworked, however. The reason for that weren't the hours. They were weary, irritable, some on the verge of being self-destructive. Some borderline depressive. None unaffected by whatever it is that is getting to them.' Her eyes rested on Jim. 'I am to talk to every higher ranking officer, including yourselves. I'll leave Spock out because he's a Vulcan. You, Len, I've had enough contact with during our work to tell that you show no symptoms.' He smiled slightly at that, somewhat enigmatically, and Jim wondered for a moment how far their relationship had actually gone by now. If anything major had happened, he trusted he would know. 'James … you concern me. You aren't one to talk about failure.' Jim shook himself.

'No. But I can't grasp what's going on. We're using the transporter on a daily basis, and given the practically non-existent fluctuation of personnel on the station, whoever damaged one and killed three men is still up there. If I just think about one of you not arriving with me …' He swallowed. 'Right. I'll admit it, Lieutenant. I am afraid. Afraid to … to lose one of you. Any of you.' His eyes fell on Spock and for a moment and he struggled with emotion. 'And if I imagine …' The Vulcan shook his head marginally.

'You are not doing yourself a favour, Jim.' He rose. 'We have to find those answers. I shall start with this.' He shook the glass jar he had filled with water at one point slightly. 'We all have to do our best, but we also have to communicate. This is made difficult by our hours as well as the presence of Vral and Kresar.'

'Why not let them in on this debate?' Bones asked. T'Kray took a deep breath.

'Although I cannot rule out that something is influencing James, I am far from convinced that it is. I am convinced about Kresar, from what Spock has told me.' Bones's eyebrows shot up.

'Good to know you talk to someone, Spock.'

'I decided to communicate my concern to the person most likely to provide an adequate answer.' Jim saw Bones flare and raised his hands quickly.

'No, don't even get started. She is a psychologist, for crying out loud. Don't tell me you're jealous because Spock didn't ask you.' The doctor deflated visibly.

'No. I'm not.'

'Good. T'Kray, what about him?'

'I haven't talked to him myself. But from what Spock tells me, he is highly impatient with their project, and he wasn't in the beginning. Intellectually, he is not overchallenged, so that cannot be the reason. Whatever is happening to the officers is likely happening to Kresar.' Bones frowned.

'If this is somehow epidemic, I should find it.' T'Kray looked at him.

'I doubt it is so substantial, or something would have been found. I think it is an actual psychological condition, not a physical one. That makes it all the stranger, of course.' Jim walked over to the water, cupped his hands, and scooped some up. He watched it run down, the emerald light illuminating his hands as if they themselves were glowing.

'We … should go back up. And I agree. We have to repeat this. Soon.' They had hardly left the transporter on the space station before Jim had all but fled back to his room.

ϡ

The next morning, Leonard was still concerned, apart from royally tired. Jim's departure the evening before was very likely a sign of fatigue, but what T'Kray had said made him think. He was going to talk to her about this. He entered the transporter room with a sense of foreboding that had nothing to do with beaming and found Jim already inside. He looked young, younger than he had any right to, leaning casually against the wall and grinning at Bones. He decided he didn't buy it. 'You're either pretending to be so damn cheerful, or you're drugged. Or you managed to get into a time loop and get a reasonable amount of sleep. I doubt that last.' Jim let out a guffaw of laughter.

'No, none of them.' He pushed himself of the wall. 'Where are they?'

'It's early morning, Jim. No-one's supposed to be that happy at this time. You least of all. Spill it.' If anything, Jim's grin grew wider, and Leonard glared at him. 'You did take something, didn't you? What the hell was it?' Jim was about to answer, when the door opened, revealing the two Vulcans.

'There they are.' He grinned at Spock. 'What kept you?' Leonard turned his glare towards Spock.

'Spock, I think he's drugged.' The obligatory eyebrow rose.

'What gives you that idea?' Leonard gestured at Jim who was still smiling his head off when he stepped onto the transporter platform.

'Just look at him,' he said once they were down. They took their usual seats, waiting for the two Caitians.

'I assure you that he did not ingest any suspicious substances.'

'I'm not saying that would be like him, but how the hell would you know that this once he didn't? It's not like you were there all ni...' He felt heat creeping into his face and was very glad there were no reflecting surfaces around. At least he didn't see himself flush. 'Don't answer that.' He looked away, his eyes finding T'Kray who shot him a cool glance.

'Have you ever built a wall?' He blinked at her.

'Yes. Why in blazes are you asking that?' She broke into a small grin.

'Because you tend to drop bricks, Len.'

((If you're of age and actually like this sort of thing, there's an M-rated text on my profile that fills the gap between the last two segments of this chapter. Consider if M-rated slash is something you want to read before you go there. If you do, it's called All You Need and More.))