The next morning, Jim woke up when he heard chatter and footsteps in the hallway. Then he remembered where they were. He sat up and looked at the window. It was not even daylight yet. How long had it been since he saw a sunrise? He put his boots back on since he had not even taken his clothes off.

Carol raised up looking very sleepy, and Jim smiled at her tousled hair. "Jim, what are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm going to see the sunrise."

Carol was surprised by that. She looked at the window. "It's still dark."

"Carol."

"Okay."

Carol got her own shoes on. "Well, I'm going with you," she said.

When they were ready, they went out into the hallway, after Jim made sure no one was looking. They went downstairs and were surprised to see the dining room full of people. "I guess people really do get up with the chickens," Jim remarked.

"Sir, will you be checking out?" the hotel clerk asked.

"Not yet. We want to watch the sunrise. Which way is East?"

"That way," he said and pointed.

"Thanks."

Jim and Carol went outside and found that they could stand out beside the train to watch that sunrise, and it was about to happen when they got there. "We never see this on the ship," Jim said.

"I used to watch sunrises when I was at the academy, and the sunset. There's just nothing like it," Carol replied.

"I used to watch the sun come up in Iowa and hope my mother was coming home. She was gone a lot."

"Jim, if you change history, you might save your father's life."

"I know that, Carol."

"You can't ignore that. Your life would be so different."

Jim watched as the first ray of the sun came over the horizon and began to turn the mountains orange. Just then, Artemus Gordon came from the train. "Morning," he said when he saw them.

"Morning," Jim replied.

Gordon looked out at the sunrise himself and took a deep breath. "Nothing like getting up with the sun."

"Nope."

"You ready for breakfast?"

"Sure."

They all went back to the hotel for breakfast, and Bones, Jim West, and Spock were already there. They sat at a back table, and Spock sat with his back to the rest of the room, hoping that no one would be staring at him and wondering why he looked the way he did.

"So, have you figured anything out yet?" West asked.

"No," Jim said. "We certainly don't know how to get out of here…but we can fix something in history, I'm hoping."

West leaned on the table. "You think this genetic research is a bad idea?"

"A very bad idea. I can't even explain to you how bad it really is."

"Well, I, for one, can understand it," Gordon said. "Haven't we seen enough in history to know that when someone thinks they are superior to others, it goes to their head, and they go berserk and think they can rule the world?"

"That's a good point," Bones said. "Or the universe."

Jim could not argue with that. "Question is: how do we stop it?" he asked.

"In order to stop the process and assure ourselves that no one else can take it up later, we would have to destroy all the information," Spock said. "However, there is no guarantee that some other scientist would not figure out the formula and try to take it to the next level."

"You're right there too." Jim sipped his coffee. "I think we'll know more of what we need to do when we get to Sacramento and actually see what's going on."

"Jim, you know it has to be Khan," Carol said. "There's nothing else it could be. We could even prevent the massacre of thousands of people."

"I know that."

Bones looked at Jim. "What's eating at you?" he asked.

"I don't want to talk about it here at this table."

"I thought we discussed everything last night." Bones was silent a moment as he thought. "You don't have any guarantee that your life will be any different. And if you do change history and we go back where we came from, you probably won't even remember what happened before."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"Why? Wouldn't that be better than remembering something that was erased?"

"I don't want to forget some things, Bones."

"Like what?"

Jim looked at Bones and realized he had not talked to him about the fact that Carol might not be there. "We'll talk about it later, Bones."

After breakfast, they checked out of the hotel and went out onto the boardwalk. "I hope we're going to stay in the next town for a while," Bones said. "I kinda like this town. I want to explore it more. Can't I get at least one drink in the saloon?"

"Bones…" Jim began.

"I'll go with you," Gordon said. He looked at West. "We'll be at the train before departure."

"You better be," West replied.

Jim was not sure he wanted to go on to the train and leave Bones out there. "Spock, I'm going to hang around outside the saloon to make sure he doesn't get into trouble," Jim said quietly as Bones and Gordon walked away.

"I will go with you, Jim," Spock replied.

"You don't have to."

"If I am to live in this time, I cannot hide out forever."

Jim looked at Carol. "Just go back to the train. We'll be there soon."

"Don't get into anymore gun fights," Carol said.

Jim smiled. "I'll try not to."

Jim and Spock headed toward the saloon. They saw Bones and Gordon go into the saloon. "Jim, do you intend to go inside?" Spock asked.

"No," Jim said. "You know I don't care about drinking anymore."

"I do not believe it has any benefits."

They stopped and leaned on the wall beside the saloon door. "I hope Bones will only have one drink," Jim said.

"Have you ever known him to only have one drink?" Spock asked.

Jim considered that a moment. "Occasionally."

"Mister Gordon is with him this time."

"Maybe I should just go in there, and you stay out here."

"I will be here, Captain."

"Spock, remember, you're supposed to call me Jim."

"Yes. I shall have to break the habit."

Jim went into the saloon, which was the same one he had had the trouble in the day before. Bones and Gordon were at the bar. The barkeep swallowed hard as he saw Jim walk in. "Howdy," he said. "You want a drink?"

"No thanks," Jim replied. "I take it my friends here are being courteous."

"Oh. Yes."

Jim leaned back on the bar. "Don't drink too much, Bones," he said quietly.

"Don't worry," Bones replied. "Is that what you came in here for?"

"Yes."

Just then, a man walked into the bar who was carrying a rifle. He was tall, and had a thick, grizzled beard, but his blue eyes looked like ice above that mess of hair. He wore a hat that looked like it had seen plenty of weather, and his hair was long to his shoulders. "I hear there's a McCoy in this here town," he said with a strong Southern accent.

Bones stopped still as he was lifting his glass to his mouth again. He set it back down slowly. "Jim, who is that?" he whispered.

"I don't know, but I think we should depart the premises," Jim said.

Gordon looked around Bones at the newcomer. "Oh, yes, I believe this would be a good time for us to get on that train and get out of this town," he said.

"How do we get out without stirring up his suspicion?"

"If everyone else starts running, we just run along with them."

Jim thought that would be a good idea. Everything in the bar was silent…so quiet in fact, that Jim heard Bones swallow hard.

The newcomer looked around the room at everyone. "My name is Hatfield!" he said. "If there's a McCoy around here, I wanta see him!"

Bones thought he wanted to run out the door now. "Looks like you came to the wrong place," Jim said.

Hatfield looked at Jim, seeming to be able to see right through him. "And who might you be?"

"James Kirk."

"I ain't never seen you around these parts."

"I'm just passing through this town, along with my friends."

"You know this McCoy?"

"Now, you know I don't know the people around this town. Besides, even if someone has that last name, they may not be part of the McCoys you're talking about."

"If they're a McCoy, they're an enemy of mine!"

"Well, if you don't mind, my friends and I will be leaving."

Jim looked at Bones and Gordon and they followed him as he started for the door. Hatfield was eyeing Bones, who tried not to look at him at all. "Wait a minute!" Hatfield said as he grabbed Bones by the arm. "They said this McCoy called himself a doctor." He looked at how Bones was dressed. "Who might you be?"

"Let go of my arm!" Bones demanded.

Just then, Spock walked through the swinging doors. He grabbed Hatfield in a Vulcan pinch…which worked in any time frame…and Hatfield fell to the floor. Gordon looked at Hatfield lying on the floor and then looked at Spock. "How'd you do that?" he asked.

"I suggest we vacate these premises, and discuss this later," Spock said.

"I agree," Jim added. "Let's go."

They got out of that saloon and hurried for the train. When they were aboard, West told the engineer to take them out of that town, and they were soon rolling down the track.

Bones sat on a seat in the fancy train car that was decorated like a bachelor pad, he thought. "I have to thank you, Spock," he said. "For a minute there, I thought I was going to be killed in the Hatfield/McCoy feud."

"Since he would not listen to reason, I decided it was time to take forceful action," Spock replied.

"Whatever that means," Gordon said. "How did you do that?"

"It's a Vulcan pinch," Jim explained. "It's something he and his people know how to do. Trust me, you don't want to be on the other end of a Vulcan pinch."

"Have you been?"

"I have, by that guy there too."

"And you're not enemies?"

"No. It's kinda complicated."

"We were basically being very childish and fighting over control of the Enterprise instead of working together," Spock admitted.

"I was? No, no, no. I was trying to tell you that it wasn't the right thing to just let Nero go ahead with his plans while we ran back to Starfleet."

Spock was silent a moment. "That is correct."

"That's not the only time you pinched me. Remember?"

"Yes, Captain. I remember."

"So, will that guy be okay when he wakes up?" Gordon asked.

"Sure," Jim replied. "He will probably have a headache and a sore shoulder."

"So, what have you not told us?" West asked.

"There are just some things we can't tell, but I know we have to stop them from genetically engineering these superior beings."

"I'm not sure we can. Like it was said before, someone else will most likely take it up. Where money is involved, people are going to flock."

"We have to let the government know how dangerous it is."

"If the government thinks it's getting a leg up on something, it's going to go forward with it regardless of what you and I say, or the consequences of the actions."

"There has to be a way."

"We can try to destroy the lab and all the notes, but that's not to say that someone else won't figure it out again. I mean, it's not against the law to have children."

"Forced breeding is though, right?"

"Forced? Are you saying that they're forcing these people into this?"

"I'm not sure, but they may be paying them."

West leaned back on the seat and considered that. "I'm not sure that's illegal if it's not human trafficking. They would call it a scientific experiment that they are participating in."

"We should stop them because we know what's going to happen in the future."

"You haven't told us that, and how do you know whether your being here right now hasn't altered history in some way?"

"It couldn't have altered this!"

"Then tell us exactly why we need to stop this research."

Jim frowned and looked at Spock. "I fear we have no choice, Captain," Spock said. "If we intend to go along this path, we must let our companions know what dangers we face."

"Spock, you've been around Bones so long, you're starting to talk in metaphors," Jim replied.

"I find them to be useful at times."

Jim returned his attention to West and Gordon who were waiting for him to answer their questions. "This experiment they're working on will lead to a genetically superior breed of people and their leader's name is Khan," he said. "As a matter of fact, they take over and rule a large portion of the world after a devastating war where millions die. However, his form of…control…or peace keeping is to destroy anyone who doesn't agree with his outlook. He and his people are exiled but he manages to escape by encasing himself and seventy-two of his followers into cryotubes on a ship called the Botany Bay. In our century, after three hundred years in stasis, Khan was awakened by the head of Starfleet, Admiral Marcus, who wanted to use him for his own bidding, but Khan managed to get away from the admiral and launch his own personal war against the Federation." Jim sighed. "My crew and I got caught in the middle, but Khan killed thousands of people before we could stop him."

"And he almost killed you too," Bones added. "Don't forget that."

Gordon and West looked at each other. "I think they're telling us the truth," West said.

"I agree," Gordon replied. "But how do we go about stopping this from happening?"

"I suppose it will take careful planning."

"Whatever you want us to do, we're in," Jim said. "Whether we ever get back to our century or not, at least maybe we can make a difference."

"We have to locate the laboratory first."

"I thought you said you were sent here to find out what he was doing."

"We were, but when we're sent somewhere, we don't always know exactly where we're going, nor what we're going to be doing."

"So you don't have any rules or guidelines to go by?"

West scowled at that a moment. "Not exactly. As long as we don't violate the Constitution, we can do whatever it takes."

"The Constitution," Jim said thoughtfully. "We the People."

"Yes." West leaned on his knees. "Are you telling me that in the future, you have nothing that protects the rights of the people?"

"Of course."

"But you're not going to tell us anything about it, right?"

"We operate in space, not totally on the planet. There are several planets, and it's called the United Federation of Planets."

"Ah. Okay. So, you don't live in the United States."

"I did. I grew up in Iowa."

"And I grew up in Kentucky," Bones put in.

"Well," West said. "All we have to do now is figure out how to stop this villain from rising in the future."

Jim hoped they could do that, and he hoped that Q, whoever he was, would not interfere. He wondered who he was exactly and how he came to be there now. He thought perhaps they would find out soon…