((I admit that this chapter heading is obscure at best. It's a line from the song Curtains by Peter Gabriel. That song is the background music of a very weird and psychedelic and beautiful sequence in Myst IV: Revelation. My love for the series is an open secret. For the second time, I castrated a longer quote: We watch it float away With all the memories of the day.))

Chapter 7

All the Memories of the Day

When Leonard and Spock had slunk away into the recesses of the Academy to start examining the individual they had brought back from the desert and the other three Vulcans had decided to put their heads together and find a strategy similar to Vires's to keep the insanity under a lid, Jim was left to explore the area. He decided to go outside and see if he could find Stal. Chances were he was hiding somewhere before he set off into the desert.

Instead of Stal, he found Charika, busy at the generator with who he knew was the head of the Academy. Smiling, he approached to listen. Charika was obviously impressed with the technology. Catching sight of him, the young man pulled himself up to a more formal stance. 'Captain,' he said by means of greeting. Jim waved him away.

'At ease. I'm on leave.'

'Oh.' He looked a little disappointed, and Jim laughed.

'What do you need, Charika?'

'Permission to stay here while we're in orbit. I don't think that Lieutenant Blanik would let me.'

'I doubt he'll need all hands on the ship right now. I'll send him a message.' He remembered something Spock had mentioned in passing. 'You're invited to stay on the planet. Apparently Sinek offered us rooms.' Again, Charika looked unenthusiastic, but this time he spoke up.

'I'd rather return to the ship at night.'

'Not to work, I hope.' He thought he sounded stern, but Charika probably knew him too well to buy it.

'No. I promised.' Charika looked very uncomfortable, but Jim had no intention to let him off the hook like that.

'Whom exactly?'

'Sereli. Lieutenant Zh'Rane, I mean.' By now his face was crimson. Blinking his surprise away, Jim laughed.

'Well, if you promised, you must go back up.' Still smiling, he looked over at the Vulcan. 'You must be Terik.' The Vulcan turned his attention from a display on the generator to Jim and inclined his head. 'Live long and prosper,' he said, managing to force his fingers into the Vulcan salute.

'Peace and long life, Captain Kirk. And thank you for allowing your crewmember to visit. It may turn out most beneficial for us as well as him.' That was surprising.

'Well, I hoped that you'd be kind enough to let him look over your shoulders, so to speak, and that he'd learn something.'

'We learn, too, Captain. Everything else is stagnation. I hear that Charika has developed a rather unique item of technology. With your permission, I would like to study it.' Jim shrugged.

'It's Charika's permission you need, not mine. He's the genius. It's his property. Incidentally, is there anything I can do to help?'

'You can help security, if you wish. The fact that we even require it is disconcerting, to say the least. We never did.'

'No, I guess you didn't,' Jim said thoughtfully. 'Do you allow humans to study at the Academy?' Jim wondered aloud.

'Certainly. Any member of the Federation is welcome. However, our demands are quite high.'

'Could Charika take a taster course, if he wants to?' Out of the corner of his eye, Jim saw Charika freeze and stare at Terik.

'Of course. We have translators for Students of non-Vulcan origin and some lectures are held in Standard. I can show you the curriculum, if you like, and discuss which of the courses are likely to be beneficial even if you are here only for a short time.'

'I'd love that,' Charika said, looking rather stricken. Jim chuckled.

'Well, I'll go see what I can do for security.' Terik nodded.

'Our systems are good enough, our strategies are probably wanting. Perhaps you could offer some input. I am certain you have more experience in the matter than any of us.'

Ϡ

'Do you have any idea what caused the illness you are suffering from?' T'Kray asked. The tests she had brought were completed. There was no reason to evaluate them. The results were exemplary. The only thing that insisted anything was wrong with the woman was her own word.

'I do not know,' Vires said. 'All I can tell you with any certainty is that I first noticed it today. Before you came to see me, I had a strange apparition. I felt resentment that I had to go so far out to the embassy after I had only recently been to the Academy for a lecture I wished to hear. I filed it away, but it required a conscious effort to do so. I found it strange that I experienced the emotion at all. I never disliked travelling to remote places, especially not those of historic value.' T'Kray nodded. T'Lin was taking notes on various tricorder readings and passing them to Sinek to look through.

'You are the first female to be affected. Do you have any idea why whatever this is occurs mainly in unbonded males? Is there an intricate difference between the minds of males and females?'

'Perhaps females are less vulnerable,' Vires said at once. 'They do not lose control on a regular basis. They are not used to it and fight harder.'

'That could explain why you resist. It doesn't explain why no females were affected so far.'

'They were,' T'Lin said suddenly. 'McCoy went into their hideout and found an injured woman there. We couldn't get her identity from patient seven.'

'That is undignified name for a living, thinking being,' the Reldai told her.

'Well, he's not offering a name.'

'If that woman was a loner, no-one would report her departure.' T'Kray offered and Vires nodded.

'I cannot answer if there is something that immunises some females, T'Kray,' she said. 'And I do believe that it is possible to resist for a time for any Vulcan with a shred of focus.'

'Knowing it is possible might be helpful,' T'Kray said quietly. 'Vires, would you tell us what you do to keep yourself sane?'

'I meditate. I focus on what the illness makes me feel and file it away. It is increasingly difficult, although the process is slow. So far, I have more success than at the very beginning because I have learned how to be more effective. I doubt, however, that I will be able to withstand forever.'

'How do you tell the emotions caused by the illness apart from your own?' Vires weighed the question for a while.

'They are difficult to focus on. At this moment, I experience mild discomfort at the fact that I am locked in. This is my own feeling and I can handle it easily, in part because I am aware that I am more helpful here than there. However, I also resent the sounds of the tricorder. If I try to investigate why, I cannot. There is no reason. If I were to focus on the feeling, it would pass and be replaced by something else.'

'Of course that makes it difficult to control the emotion, if it changes the moment you try to concentrate on it. How do you do it, then?'

'I focus on its source. In this case, the tricorder. While I do that, I prepare a part of my mind to receive and hold the emotion. The process of pulling that part of my mind over the emotion to keep it there must be very fast.'

'Mental partitioning,' T'Kray said. 'I could do it once, a long time ago. But I have not done it for decades.'

'Mental partitioning?' T'Kray looked at T'Lin.

'Please multiply 346 by 489.' T'Lin raised an eyebrow. 'That is the most basic of mental partitioning. There are even some humans that can do it. You multiply the hundreds, then the tens, then the unit places. Then you add the three. You have to use a partition of your mind to remember the first result while you calculate the second and so forth. And multi-digit multiplication is the easiest example.' T'Kray looked back at Vires. 'Would this basic partitioning be enough?'

'It might be.'

'All right. We should all try to do two or three digit calculations and observe what you do. Perhaps if we fall ill, we can apply that practice. Vires, is there anything we can do for you?'

'Yes,' the Reldai said. 'You can leave me. I require meditation. And I recommend you to do the same on a regular basis. You have one advantage: You are bonded. I believe that can be helpful.' That thought had also occurred to T'Kray. Somehow she doubted that this little detail could prevent them from getting ill, but since the effects were mostly on the mind, the existence of another presence could help. On the other hand, if or when the bonded Vulcan finally gave, the other would suffer severely.

'Of course,' she said. 'We shall return tomorrow.' She raised her arms at the other two. 'I think we should have dinner. I'll find Charika from wherever he went and get the rest. Could you two get a plate for both of us, too, please? That would save some time.'

Ϡ

The only reason why patient seven was cooperative was the heavy sedative he had been given. Even so, readings indicated that he would wake soon. Leonard couldn't sedate him again without risking to harm him. Already the dose he had received was the maximum he dared give at the best of times. Normally, the man should be out cold for the next nine or ten hours.

'Well, I can tell you one thing,' he said briskly. 'There's nothing wrong with the structure of his brain. There are some flares of activity in areas that should not be active while he's out cold. His language centre's going haywire, for some reason. And he seems to experience hallucinations.' Spock glanced at the monitor over his shoulders.

'Can you determine the reason?'

'No. But I can tell you that he'll die if we can't stop this. He must already have difficulties processing any input. His brain is firing stimuli at him without any outside source, and that enough is nearly overwhelming. When the stimuli start overwriting basic functions, there'll be little that can be done for him.' Their patient stirred, sat up abruptly and let out a high-pitched wail that chilled Leonard to the core. Spock was there in an instant, put his hand to his neck and squeezed. The poor soul slumped forwards and a few orderlies carried him away. Leonard sighed and ran a hand down his face. 'The worst part is, I think this is happening because we brought him here. Over in the desert, he was … strange, a bit like an over-zealous religious guy or maybe more like a dropout. But not like this. He seemed controlled, Spock. How can just a change of location do this to him?'

'Perhaps you should ask T'Kray that.' He nodded.

'I will. I just don't get it. It's as if when he got here, he was … unable to return to where he felt he must be. And that scared him and set of an avalanche in his mind that is going to suffocate him.' Leonard was getting tired and needed to rest, he knew that much, and there was very little he could do. And yet, if he slept through the rapidly approaching night, patient seven might be dead in the morning, and then they would move on to Vires only to watch her go down that path, too. There was a soft knock at the door, and Leonard made up his mind. Rather than calling out, he walked over and opened. 'Charika,' he said with mild surprise.

'I assume you're both hungry?' A weary smile formed on Leonard's face.

'I for one am.'

'The dining room is down that hall, to the mezzanine, and there into the room with the glass doors. I'll bring you food.' Leonard waved him away.

'That's not necessary, we'll get it. How would you carry three plates?'

'One of the others is bringing some back for me. It's no problem. You look like you need to sit down.' Snorting, Leonard decided to take up on the offer.

'Well, that's a typical Charika-compliment. You'll find us with the rest, then.'

Ϡ

When Jim reached the dining room, the rest were already seated, but he didn't mind. He'd grabbed food on the way there and was now walking with a spring in his step. They had, at last, found Stal and brought him back. He was severely distressed, but Vires had asked to touch his mind, and afterwards he had been much calmer. He still wanted to leave and walk into the desert, but at least he was aware that this impulse wasn't natural.

Finding him hadn't been so much a matter of searching as it was of ambushing him. Somehow Jim had doubted from the start that Stal had set off at once. From what he knew, this impulse came after a short while, not instantly. So all they had to do was guard as many paths as they could that led in the general direction of the desert. He had relied on Stal to be so driven that he forgot he was being looked for, and he had been right. If Stal had circumvented them, he would have evaded. They didn't have enough people to surround the entire settlement that had grown around the VSA.

The others were almost finished with their foods and beginning to exchange their findings. Jim listened intently. Apparently, they were making at least some progress. There was a way to slow the insanity, there were a few theories why everyone returned to the VSA went wild, and there was Vires, who was helping enormously with her cooperation. Jim hoped sincerely that they found a cure for this before the old woman could no longer control herself. It would be horrible for her to be stripped of her dignity like that. After a while, Bones leaned back, looking absent and troubled. Jim nudged him. 'Hey, what's wrong? There's some success, isn't there?' When he received no answer, he sat up straighter. 'Bones?' Turning to look at T'Kray, he found that the Vulcan closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she reopened them, she glanced at him for a moment before staring at Bones.

'Leonard. Len, say something.'

'Something.' A chill ran down Jim's spine. That kind of humour wasn't beneath Bones, but now his face was blank, his tone flat. Looking desperately to T'Kray, he tried to read her. Perhaps her eyes were a little wide, but he wasn't sure. She stood and walked around the table with determination, her eyes never leaving Bones.

'Look at me, Len.' The physician's impassive stare went to her. She cringed slightly. 'Stand.' He obeyed the gentle order without question. 'Tap the table three times with your left hand.' When he did, Jim couldn't stop himself anymore.

'What's wrong with him, T'Kray? What the hell is this?' Still calm, she looked at him.

'I am uncertain. All I know is that while Leonard is still himself, he cannot act without an order.'

'Why?' Jim asked more loudly than he had wanted to. Not that it mattered. Everyone who had been in the room before was staring at McCoy with detached interest. It was certainly better than a group of humans would have been. He could just imagine everyone getting out of their chairs and gathering around to get a better look. T'Kray took a few moments before she answered.

'First, I am, certain that this is temporary and reversible, James. I cannot say what caused it, and neither can he. I could calm him down, but he needs attention.'

'Yes, I can see that. But why calm him down? He's too calm, if anything.' T'Kray shook her head.

'Not on the inside. You see, he senses his own mental paralysis and cannot control it.' She frowned for a moment. 'Although the researchers of the VSA are more than capable, I'd rather bring him back up to the ship.' Jim gave a dismissive gesture.

'Whatever you think is best. We'll come up, too, in a moment.' T'Kray shook her head.

'No, James. Please stay here. We need to keep observing the patients we have here, and we need someone with experience on security. I'll inform you immediately when I know more.'

'At any hour?'

'Yes, Captain.' He noticed the way she shifted in the way she addressed him, from the informal plea to a friend to the confirmation that she would report to her superior officer. 'I'll also report any changes and tell you if you are needed. But as I said, I am very certain that he will be better soon.' When Jim shot her a questioning look, she gestured between her and Bones. 'Bond, telepathy. Trust me.' She took a deep breath, the first sign of any distress she allowed herself. 'T'Kray to Covenant … two to beam up.'