SEVEN
Adam sat by Joe's bed, holding his brother's hand. Outside the night was falling. He could hear the rush of the wind and see the stars twinkling in the sky, but all the same, he knew something was wrong. His suspicions had been roused when, despite his questions, neither their pa or Hoss could be found. Pa was certain to have been on the road. Even if he thought he could take care of himself, he still thought of Joe as a boy who needed looking after.
Nothing short of death would have kept their father from his youngest son's side.
The sense of something amiss had been compounded by the fact that the door to Joe's room had been locked behind him. Earlier when he had stepped out of his own room and into the corridor it had been dim and, even though the proper things were there – the pictures on the wall and Pa's elegant wood table with the vase of flowers, there was something...
Wrong.
He looked now around Joe's room. Everything was there. The washstand. Joe's dresser. The picture of the Indian chief and his favorite blue and white glass bottle of Bay Rum. But something was also missing. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
The closest he could come to it was that this simply was not home.
With a sigh, Adam reached out to touch his brother's burning hot forehead. They were in the eye of the storm. Only a few minutes before Joe had been raving. Doctor McCoy had been with him then. He had pronounced that he had done all he could do and the rest was up to Joe. Joe, the little brother whom he had held minutes after he had been born, proud as if he had been his own son. Joe, whose snotty nose he'd wiped and skinned knees he'd bandaged time and again when, as a toddler, they began to understand the stuff the boy was made of. Tears and grit. That was Joseph Francis Cartwright.
The brother he loved and now faced losing.
Adam heard a sound behind him and turned to find Spock had entered the room. He had shed his long black coat and wore only a black shirt and trousers. For a long time he said nothing. He just stood to the side with his eyes shut. When he opened them there was something new in them. It matched the fierce determination he had seen in their father's eyes when it had become clear that day that Sam Walton was pursuing little Joe with the intent to torture and kill him. Nothing short of God himself could have stopped the older man from going after him.
"Adam Cartwright," he said, "what are you willing to endure in order for your brother to live?"
Adam frowned. He opened his mouth to protest, but then said, "Anything. Everything."
"I imagine you have deduced that you are not in your home."
Adam looked again. If he wasn't home, then where was he? "Yes..."
Spock approached and stood down looking at Joe. "The infection was rampant when your brother was brought aboard the ship. His system was weakened by the transporter. Joseph has retreated beyond Doctor McCoy's reach. He does not expect him to live."
Adam could feel the fire in Joe and it scared him. That fear was almost enough to block out Spock's words. Almost.
Ship. Transporter.
"Where are we?" he asked, breathless.
Spock moved to the window. He stood for a moment looking out and then he touched the wall next to the windblown curtains. A second later the images behind them disappeared and in their place was a portal that showed a sea of stars.
Spock turned toward him. "I would have spared you this if I could, but circumstances must dictate our actions. Your brother does not trust me, nor does he have any cause to. I need you to speak with him." The tall lean man drew closer. "I am asking you to join with me in order to save him. While I have the ability to shield one mind, I cannot shield two. What you will see within the link...it will contain images that could affect your mind and your ability to reason."
He loosed Joe's hand and rose to his feet. "What do you mean 'link'?"
"It is a common practice among my people, the joining of minds for pleasure and for the sharing of information." He looked at Joe. "As well as for healing."
Adam frowned. "Your 'people'?"
Spock cocked his head as he lifted a hand. Tapering fingers caught hold of a thick lock of his ebon hair and pushed it back, revealing an elegantly pointed ear.
"I am not human."
Adam sat back down. Hard. "Not...human?"
"Your world is limited, Mister Cartwright, though you have seen great changes within your lifetime, have you not? Trains, the combustion engine...airships. Is it possible for you to conceive that one day man will fly?"
He nodded. Major Cayley's air balloon had shown him that.
"And that even farther into the future, he will sail the stars?"
Adam looked at the portal again. "Is that what this is – a star ship?"
Spock nodded and then looked toward the bed. "Your brother is weakening. We must act now."
He looked at Joe. To him, nothing had changed. He was still lying there, unresponsive, murmuring words only he could understand. "How do you know?"
"We are...already linked. It is a part of what I was talking about before." Spock paused. "Your brother's life is inextricably tied to the fate of your planet. We must save him, you and I, and then he must return to your father's home and grow to be a man."
Adam sensed something unspoken. "Joe must return. What about me?"
Spock came to stand beside him. "First, we must call your brother back to the land of the living and then, I will explain."
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Roy Coffee squinted one eye, eager to fight off the headache that was forming behind it. It came from watching Ben Cartwright pace like a caged lion from one end of the great room in his ranch house to the other. It didn't help when Ben stopped to ram his fist into his hand with a slap!
"Where are they, Roy? How can two young men simply disappear?"
"Now, Ben, you just calm down. I've got two dozen men out there scourin' them hills, lookin' for Adam and Little Joe. They're sure to –"
"Calm down! Calm down? How can I calm down when half my family is missing!" Ben threw his hands in the air. "For God's sake, Roy. It's been a week!"
"I know. I know. And Ben, I cain't blame you for bein' worried. But those boys of your'n are grown men. Sometimes you forget they can look out for their selves."
"Joe was injured, and Adam simply disappears in the middle of the night while looking for him? Roy, they didn't just head into town for a poker game and forget to come home. Something is terribly wrong." His old friend moved to the blue velvet chair that had become a staple in the Cartwright home and was nearly as old as Adam. Dropping wearily into it, Ben leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Roy, for the first time, I'm afraid neither one of them is ever coming back."
He felt it too. Something in the air that smacked of change.
Hoss was in the room too. Since his brothers had disappeared, Hoss had grown quiet. Real quiet. At first he was ready to tear into the world to find them brothers of his, but then, when there weren't no more world to tear into, it seemed the stuffin' had been pulled out of him.
In the end, Ben might lose all three boys.
"Pa," he said, speaking up at last.
Ben opened his eyes and looked. "Yes, son."
"You don't figure they're...well, they're both dead, do you?"
It was the first time it had been put into words so far as he knew and the sound of those words made Ben Cartwright – the strongest man he knew - crumble. A single tear trailed the length of his cheek.
"God willing, son," he said, "no."
"But Pa, God let His own son die."
"That was different, Hoss," Ben replied, his words quiet. "That was for all of us."
"I reckon that's what I'm gettin' at, Pa." The big man rose and came to his father's side. "What if there's some purpose – somethin' we cain't see – somethin' so important God's gotta take them both away?"
Roy watched Ben closely. He could see the man's faith battling his fear.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord," the older man quoted, speaking words written on his heart, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you...hope..."
The room fell uncomfortably silent and remained that way until someone banged on the door. When no one moved, the banging continued. The second time it was accompanied by a voice.
"Pa! Pa, it's Adam. Open up!"
Dumbfounded, the three men stared at each other, all of them riveted to the spot.
"Pa?"
The spell over Ben broke the soonest. Seconds later he was on his feet and racing to the door that had been bolted for the night. Roy moved in behind him and watched as it opened to reveal not only Adam, but Joe.
Ben's eldest held his brother in his arms. Joe looked pert near spent, but he was breathin'.
"Adam!" the older man declared. "How? Where?"
"It doesn't matter, Pa. We need to get Joe to his bed. Hoss?"
Roy had been watching Hoss. He looked like he weren't sure any of this was real.
"Hoss?"
The big man said nothing. He moved forward slowly and when he got to Adam's side, reached out tentatively to touch both of his brothers.
Then the tears flowed.
"I need you to ride into town," Adam said. "Joe's not completely out of danger yet. We need medicine and a doctor."
"Where have you been, Adam?" Hoss asked.
Roy watched Ben's oldest closely, waitin' to hear just the same thing. "Was it them outlaws what took ya?" he asked.
Adam nodded. "We just got away. I'll explain everything later. First, I need to see to Joe."
Roy watched as Adam, followed close behind by his pa, headed up the stairs. Joe seemed a light burden, like the boy'd lost weight. The lawman watched until they disappeared and then turned back to find Hoss doin' the same thing.
"I'm headin' back to town. You want to ride with me, son?" Roy offered.
Hoss was shakin' his head. "I just cain't believe it's real, Roy. Not after all this time." The stunned look the big man had worn for nigh on seven days suddenly disappeared, only to be replaced by the biggest, brightest smile the sheriff had ever seen. "I got my brothers back!"
"That you do, son. That you do. Now come on. We gotta get on the road so you can get back with that doctor."
Hoss nodded. "You go ahead, Roy. I'll be there in a minute. I gotta let Hop Sing know."
He'd seen the Chinese cook. He was mournin' as hard as Joe and Adam's blood kin.
"You do that. I'll be outside."
Roy walked to the door and opened it. Night was upon them, but the ride into Virginia City from the Ponderosa was one he had done so many times, he knew he could navigate it blindfolded. On top of that, the lightness in his heart might just be enough to light up their way.
The lawman crossed to the Cartwright's barn where he'd stabled his horse. He'd intended to spend the night and then head out again at first light. He'd never been so happy as to have a need disappear like that one. Too many times the end of a search like this had been bad, ending with a corpse instead of a comin' home. Yep, this just might make bein' a lawman worth it, seein' a lovin' father reunited with his missin' sons.
Roy paused. Noting the hand workin' at the back of the stable, he called out. "Son, can you give me hand saddlin' up my horse?"
The young man pivoted, startling him at first, until he remembered it was that odd young'un about Joe's age. The one with the funny name whose hair and skin were white as snow.
Theron Vance approached him with a smile.
"I'll be happy to, Sheriff."
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Spock sat in his darkened room aboard the Enterprise relishing the heat he was soon to abandon. It had been a risk, telling Adam Cartwright the entire truth. Still, in the end it was his world and his brother who were threatened. He had suspected Adam was a man of unusual mettle. This had been confirmed when they joined in the link. He had made contact with the black-haired man before turning his attention to his young brother, revealing a part of himself so that the shock would not overwhelm him when his attention needed to be focused on saving Joseph's life. At first the nineteenth century man had reacted with terror, his mind unable to grasp what it was seeing. Then slowly, but quicker than he had expected, that terror had transmuted into wonder. When he released his grip on Adam Cartwright's face and opened his eyes he had expected see a sense of displacement, as if everything the man had ever known was altered, changed.
Instead, Adam had been smiling.
Moving to the bed, he had taken a seat to the right of Joseph and indicated Adam should do the same on the left. He'd placed the tips of his fingers on the elder Cartwright's face and they had both reached for Joe.
And the battle had been joined.
What passed as a smile lit the Vulcan's usually stoic face, touching his near-black eyes and crinkling them at the edges. He'd fought them. Though small in stature Adam Cartwright's young brother's mind was a force to be reckoned with, his strength drawn from an invigorating mix of chaos and order. There was a strong sense of his father there – it almost overwhelmed his own personality in much the same way Sarek's had done to him when he had been young. It was this that provided balance and order. Joseph was like him in another way. The element of chaos came from his vibrant emotive mother. She even looked like Amanda. Spock saw her with Joseph as a child – laughing and dancing with delight, pouting and scolding his father to get her way; her love radiating as a beacon, surrounding the young man, protecting him heart, soul, and mind.
It was this he wished to surrender to.
Spock shifted in his chair and steepled his fingers. Each time he entered a meld with a human he learned something about himself. Joseph's desire to join with his mother had been echoed before in his own life, when another incident involving time had transported him, along with Jim and McCoy, even further into Earth's past history. He had been dying and the closeness of death had brought him to a place of peace. A place of running water filled with his mother's laughter.
His safe place.1
It had taken Adam Cartwright's stubbornness to draw his brother back to a world of pain.
At one point, he thought they had lost him. He could sense the young man weakening, felt his spirit sigh and wish to depart. It was then Adam had taken over, his ebbing strength growing taller and stronger than the Ponderosa pines that populated the land surrounding his Nevada home. Adam had refused to relinquish Joseph to Marie. She was there, waiting. Spock could see her. She stood with her arms extended.
Thanks to Adam, she waited still.
In the end, when he had broken the link, it was to find Adam Cartwright spent, his body splayed out across his brother's as though he would protect him until the end of time.
The smile faded.
Which was precisely what he had asked Adam to do.
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Ben Cartwright closed the door of the ranch house behind him. He looked around, finally spotting Adam sitting on the table on the porch, his face turned toward the sky. A week had passed since he and Joe had returned and he could sense that something was wrong. Well, maybe not wrong, but different. Adam was not himself, or at least not the Adam he had come to know. There was a distance between them, as if Adam was withdrawing, preparing himself for...
What?
"Son, we missed you at supper."
His eldest gave him that shy smile he loved so much, the one that quirked the ends of both lips. "Sorry, Pa. I have a lot on my mind."
"Joe's going to be fine, you know," he said as he rested his hip on the table. "Doc Martin checked him out and said all he needs is time."
Adam's hazel eyes flicked to his face. "Time."
Ben reached out and covered his hand with his own. "Adam, is something wrong?"
He ducked his head. "I don't know how to say it, Pa. Nothing is wrong exactly..."
"But nothing is right."
He shrugged. "I guess."
"You're thinking of leaving." There. It was out.
His son's black brows danced. "How did you know?"
"Oh, I was young once. Of course, I hadn't seen all of this yet." He indicated the pines and the land. "But I thought there had to be more, so I went off to find it."
"There is more, Pa. So much more."
His intensity surprised him. "Does this have to do with what happened while you and Joe were being held?" His sons had not been the same since then – neither of them. Joe was slowly coming back to himself, but Adam... Well, Adam it seemed, had left the day they returned.
"In a way. I guess looking death in the face made me think." He smiled this time, creating dimples in his cheeks. "I'm not all that young myself, Pa. If I want to see the world, I had better do it now."
"Your brothers will miss you."
He hadn't meant it to hurt him, but it did.
"I know. I'll...miss them too. But I'll come back, Pa. I won't be gone all that long." He looked at the pines, the earth, the sky above. "How could I stay away?"
Ben drew a deep breath. He could argue with him, but it would be pointless. He could remind Adam of his responsibilities as oldest, make him feel guilty for thinking of himself. But Joe and Hoss were men now. While they would miss their older brother, they did not need him in the same way they had before.
"When will you tell them?"
He looked down. "I've talked to Joe already. I'll tell Hoss tonight."
Ben fought back tears as he slapped him on the leg. "The least we can do is give you a send off party. We'll invite – "
"No, Pa. I don't want any party. I just want to enjoy the time I have left with you and Joe and Hoss."
Ben frowned. "The time you have left?"
Adam's smile broadened. "Poor choice of words, Pa. Sorry."
It was with a heavy heart that Adam saddled Sport for the last time in his father's barn. Another week had passed and he was leaving. They'd all been home together the night before. Joe had been permitted to leave his bed behind for the settee and Joe, along with Hoss and Pa, had listened while he played his guitar and sang cheerful tunes.
They had done nothing to dispel the almost funereal atmosphere.
He'd risen early unwilling and unable to say another goodbye. His heart was heavy in his chest, but he was determined to follow the course that had been charted for him. He had to go away to save them – to save Joe. He'd been asked not all that long before what he would be willing to do to protect them. Anything, he had answered, everything.
He meant it.
Adam paused in what he was doing and turned toward the house. Hop Sing would be up, preparing breakfast. Joe was no doubt sound asleep. Hoss was probably snoring. And Pa? He looked up. Though he couldn't see him, he suspected Pa was standing in the window looking out.
"Adam?"
He closed his eyes. He had been wrong on one account. It was Joe.
"What are you doing out of bed?" Adam asked, his tone sharp. Was this one last attempt to make him change his mind? "You'll make yourself sick."
"I had to know," his kid brother started. "Are you leaving because of me?"
Adam pulled on the saddle strap to make sure it was secure. "Whatever would make you think that?"
Joe's young face was screwed up. His limber brows dipped down in the center while his full lips twisted up to one side. "I don't know. I just think you are."
"It's not because of you, Joe," he lied.
"Is it because of what's...out there?"
He looked over Sport's back at his younger brother. What did Joe remember? "Out there?"
Joe was frowning so hard it made his head hurt. "I can almost see it, that...place. The one with the colors I don't have a name for. Is that where you're going?"
Adam moved around Sport to lay his hand on Joe's shoulder – the good one. "I'm going to sail an ebon sea with swells that glint like diamonds," he said, forcing a smile. "But just for a while. I'll be back."
"I..." Joe hesitated. Whatever it was, it was hard for him to say. "I need you, Adam."
He shook his head. "No, you don't. You're a man now, Joe. You don't need a big brother looking over your shoulder all the time."
His brother wobbled. "I wish I was as sure as you."
"Joseph!"
So Pa had been looking out that window. "Uh oh," he said.
As their father approached, Joe reached out and grasped his arm, so hard it hurt. "Don't go, Adam."
His eyes grew moist, not from Joe's grip but with another kind of pain. He placed his hand over his brother's. It was trembling.
"I have to go, Joe. It's...something I have to do. But I promise I'll be back. You hear me? You look for me every year, in the autumn, in October just as the leaves are turning." A tear escaped to trail down his cheek. "One day you'll see me."
"Joseph," their father said more softly as he came alongside them. "Come back to bed."
Joe's shoulders slumped. Their father took him in hand and began to direct him back to the house. Uncharacteristically, Joe surrendered without a fight. By the time they reached the door, he had mounted Sport and had his nose turned toward Virginia City. His father paused to look at him one last time and then disappeared inside.
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Adam didn't go to Virginia City. He wasn't bound for the stage coach as he had told his father, nor did he intend to sail Earth's seas. He had returned to the place where he and Joe – along with five other beings, three of which were not human – had been transformed into starlight and taken up to ride the waves of Heaven. A lone figure awaited him; a tall lean man who was also something other than human. A man with almond-shaped eyes dark as his father's and long black hair that hid his ink-slash eyebrows and the tips of his pointed ears.
"You understand that what we are undertaking is a crime," he said without preamble.
"So you said."
"And that the punishment, should we be caught, will be harsh."
Adam nodded. "Let's get on with it."
Spock hesitated only a moment longer. Then he stepped forward and held out his hand. In it was an odd metal bracelet that shone like the finely polished barrel of gun. He took it from the other man and stared at it. "What is this?"
"It is a method of transportation far more sophisticated than your mount."
"I see," Adam said as he snapped the bracelet around his wrist. "Where will it take us?"
The Vulcan's eyes shone with a kind of frenzied determination.
"Into time."
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As the two men disappeared, a shadow stirred within the trees. Seconds later a man appeared. A smile lit his pale face as he watched the manipulator's energy swirl around the pair, and then consume them. The Vulcan was living dangerously. This was his third use of the Originators' 'magick'. Soon that logical mind would begin to shatter.
Theron Vance's lip curled in a sneer.
He wondered if Adam Cartwright had any idea what he was in for.
End of Part One
1 The Shadow that Passeth Away, Marla Fair