FIVE

James T. Kirk stared at the space Spock's departure had left for maybe a minute and then made his way through the underbrush and positioned himself to the left and behind the wagon. Once in place he quickly realized that the occupant of the wagon had not been Joe Cartwright, but his wife, Anne. She'd been lifted from its bed and was standing by it now, her cries for her husband's release piercing the air.

Joe was in the mine.

From his vantage point Kirk watched the altered Klingons come and go. The one called Deets, a giant of a Klingon warrior, had completed the task of placing the explosive charges in the mine and was standing about thirty feet away, awaiting the order to set it off. The blond man looked up at the massive pile of rock.

When he did, half the mountain would come down on those inside.

He'd been watching Deets. It was clear the Klingon held Theron in contempt, and that he would rather bury Carter under a ton of rubble than Joe. Kirk had a suspicion that Carter was Klingon Intelligence rather than a part of their vast military organization. The small, sneering man reminded him far too much of Darvin, the small sniveling man who had wrecked so much havoc on Space Station K7.1

The blond man reprimanded himself. None of that mattered now. What mattered was that Joe Cartwright was going to die within minutes if he didn't somehow prevent Deets from triggering that explosion.

The problem was Anne Cartwright. There was no way he could protect her. If he took on Theron, Deets posed a threat and vice versa. He simply couldn't be in two places at once.

It was then Kirk saw Spock again. His wayward first officer appeared briefly, directly to the right of Theron, exposing himself just long enough to let him know he was there. Jim frowned. He wondered why Spock was not attempting to rescue Joe, since that had seemed to be the Vulcan's mission all along. Then he remembered there had been another man with Spock. He made a leap and suddenly knew it was Adam Cartwright. Adam was with Joe in the mine.

Spock, like him, was looking to stop the explosion that would doom them both.

Jim did likewise, exposing himself by stepping out of the shadows for just a moment and then ducking back. Theron seemed unaware of them both. The Albino stood with his back to Spock, holding Joe's wife fast. Theron's lips curled in a sneer as he pivoted, angling the terrified woman toward the mine's gaping maw.

He was going to make her watch.

Outraged, Jim rose up, meaning to go for Theron's throat. As he did Spock shook his head. The Vulcan held his gaze for a heartbeat or two, again asking for his trust, and then disappeared. A moment later a pale hand hovered over Theron's shoulder. The Vulcan applied pressure and the man dropped.

As his first officer stepped out of the trees to take charge of Anne who was silently sobbing, Kirk did the same and headed for Deets. He saw the Klingon rear back in recognition. The massive warrior looked at the detonator in his hand. He hesitated, as if debating whether or not to complete the order he had been given since the one who issued it was lying flat on his face. Whether it was the desire to create a smokescreen for his escape, or simple military training, Kirk would never know.

It didn't really matter, after all.

All that mattered at that moment was the signal passing through the air from the detonator to the explosives in the tunnel.

A signal he could do absolutely nothing to stop.

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"Joe, come on. Trust me. You have to trust me. We're out of time!" Adam pleaded. He couldn't see his little brother, but he could hear him breathing heavily.

"You...can't...be Adam...," he argued. "Adam's...dead."

"I'm not dead, Joe. I'm here. I'm alive." He thought furiously. How could he convince him? "Joe, remember back when you were a kid. That time Lotta Crabtree came to the Ponderosa. Remember what you told me when we were fighting at the house – after I said you could just forget about us being kin?"

Please, Joe, Adam pleaded silently, please remember.

His brother's tone darkened a bit, as if that argument still stung. "Yeah...I...remember."

"You told me that'd be easy because you couldn't see yourself as kin to anything whelped out of a – "

"Thin...blue-blooded...Boston Yankee."

"Yes, Joe. Yes! It's me! How else could I know that?" Adam paused and turned in the direction Brewer had taken. There had been a sound. Whatever it was reverberated along the walls, moving down the tunnel toward them.

Joe was silent for five long unsettling seconds. Then he said, his voice small, strangled, disbelieving.

"Adam..."

There was no time for a reunion. Focused on the sound, which he now recognized as a series of charges going off, Adam struck out with his hand and caught his brother's arm. "Joe, they've done it! We have to get into the shaft." He looked up.

Rock was falling.

"Now, Joe! Move! Now!"

The shaft Adam had descended was about a hundred feet away. As they ran, the ceiling above them cracked and debris began to strike the cavern floor. A massive cloud of dust rose up from that and then another exploded inward, rushing down the corridor from the surface, stinging their eyes and choking in their throats. Joe was moving too slowly. It pained him to do it, but he forced him to move faster, almost dragging him. A few seconds that's all they had. A few precious seconds in which they could reach the shaft.

They had to reach the shaft...

Suddenly, they were at its base. As rock and stone pounded him, Adam pushed Joe before him and shoved his brother up and into it. He followed as quickly as he could, pulling his legs in just as a large boulder crashed to the floor, partially sealing them in. Once in the shaft Adam reached for his brother, found him and pulled him close, pressing Joe's mouth and nose into his shirt and wrapping his other hand around his head, guarding him from the dust that swirled about them, keeping him safe as he had done for his brother when he was a little boy – as he had so longed to do and so much missed doing over the last twelve years of Joe's life. As he waited for the roar of the explosion to fade, for the rocks to stop falling – waited to see if they would survive – Adam Cartwright couldn't help it. He smiled.

He was home.

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"Jim!" Spock shouted, calling his attention to the woman running toward the dust and debris rolling out of the mine.

Altering his direction, Kirk ran forward and caught Anne Cartwright in his arms even as she bolted for the collapsing rock. He caught her and held her tightly, letting her fight and kick against him, pressing his hand into her hair as she cried out for the man she loved.

The man they had failed to save..

Spock was crouching beside Curran Theron, making certain the Albino was out. The Vulcan rose and walked woodenly over to where they stood. He waited until Anne's shouts had diminished to silent sobs before speaking.

"Mrs. Cartwright. Anne," Spock said, his look and words intense. "There is hope."

Anne stiffened. Her head came up. She looked at him first and then at Spock, her eyes widening with surprise even as she asked, her voice robbed of strength, "There's hope?"

Spock's dark eyes flicked to him and then returned to the grieving woman. "You're husband was not alone. His...brother was with him. They may have made it out. There is another way."

Again they locked gazes. Yes, there was hope in the near-black depths of his first officer's eyes, but it was slim.

Kirk nodded and, taking Anne Cartwright in hand, said, "Lead the way."

Without a word the Vulcan turned and began to walk. He led them to the right of the mine entrance and into the trees. They walked a short distance and then turned and angled back toward the mountain. As they approached it Kirk noted dust swirling in the air. This must be what Spock meant. His first officer must have found an exploratory shaft cut into the side or something of that nature. It was how Joe's brother had gotten to him. If the gods were kind, they would find the pair sitting just outside the mine.

But the gods are capricious. Outside the shaft there was more dust whirling up and into the sky.

Dust...and rock.

The shaft had collapsed on their end.

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Doctor Leonard McCoy was carrying his boots. It was a new pair, created and produced by the Enterprise's replicator for his second journey into the past, but they were just as damned poorly fit to his feet as the first ones!

He knew it. He knew the computer hated him!

At first he'd led Jim's lame horse along the road, intending to return to the Ponderosa as ordered. Then, a few miles out, he'd abandoned it and turned around and begun walking. Oh, he hadn't just left the animal beside the road. He'd waited until he was near a farm and then shooed it into the field toward a boy who was working.

McCoy had no idea how much of a lead Jim had on him. He imagined it was fairly substantial. He'd considered stopping, but somehow that didn't seem right with Jim in danger, Spock out there somewhere, and Joe Cartwright missing as well as half of the Enterprise bridge crew.

"You don't do anything halfway, do you, Spock?" he muttered.

The Georgia doctor considered the road ahead. The night sky was brilliant with stars and the moon shone down, lighting the road before him. If he was going to find Jim, he was going to have to keep walking. Maybe he could find another horse and trade something for it. McCoy looked himself over.

He wondered with a wry smile if there would be any ranch hands who would be interested in a trade that involved a used hypo-spray?

McCoy snorted as he sat on the edge of a large boulder and lifted his foot to put his right boot back on.

Maybe he should use it on the blisters on his feet.

As he placed one boot on the ground, Leonard McCoy heard a noise. It was indistinguishable at first from those of the night, but then he realized it was the sound of horses flying fast –

And coming his way.

After quickly lacing the boot he held, he had caught up the other one and just about finished with it when the first horse and rider appeared. The man shot past him, quickly followed by another and another and...

That one. The woman. It was –

"Uhura!" he shouted. "Lieutenant Uhura! It's McCoy!"

He was concerned at first that she hadn't heard him and then relieved when he realized she had. The beautiful Bantu woman checked her horse and turned back. As she did, the others with her did the same.

Riding as if she had been born to it, Uhura came to his side.

McCoy stuck out a thumb in the universally recognized code for hitchhiking.

"Ma'am," he drawled, his face breaking with a smile. "I'd be obliged if I could trouble you for a ride."

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When he removed his hand and shifted Joe, Adam discovered his brother was unconscious. They'd managed to work their way up the shaft to the point where it widened before narrowing as it left the mountainside. They were in a pocket about four feet high and as many feet wide, blocked on both ends by fallen rocks. He could see sunlight, so there were small openings feeding them air. Leaving Joe, Adam crawled forward to see if he could move any of the rocks, but found all too quickly that were wedged in tightly and wouldn't budge. Returning to where his brother sat propped up against the wall, Adam crawled over him and checked the other end as well.

It was worse.

By the time he took his place at Joe's side, he found he was exhausted. The air was thick with dust and growing stagnant. The shaft's walls were damp and cold. The light piercing the rocks at the end of it was meager. Still, it was enough to let him see his brother. Joe was pale – even paler than the rock dust. And he was breathing hard. Joe had obviously been beaten. Reaching out, Adam ran his fingers through the matted curls to the left side of his brother's face.

He was right. It was blood.

Moving his fingers to his brother's cheek, Adam licked his lips and then called him. "Joe. Joe, can you hear me?"

For a moment there was nothing. Then Joe's eyelids fluttered. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked around like a man waking from a dream.

"Adam?"

The black-haired man drew in a sigh of relief that fought for escape. He knew Joe would balk if he perceived he thought he was showing any hint of weakness.

"How are you, little brother?"

Joe's hand moved. It reached for him. "Adam?"

He clutched it, as reassured by the touch as he hoped Joe was. "Yes, it's me. I'm here."

Joe licked his lips and coughed. "...how?"

He snorted. "It's a long story. I'll tell you, Joe, the next time we're sitting in the great room in front of the fire. But first, I have to get us out of here."

His brother looked at him sideways. "Where's...here?"

Adam shifted so he was sitting against the rock wall like Joe was. He leaned his head back and sighed. "'Here' is a pocket of air in the middle of a ton of rock."

A slow smile crept across his brother's face. "Same old Adam. Always encouraging."

"How are you, Joe?"

The curly-haired man drew in a breath, coughed, and then shifted, moaning as he did. "I've been better."

"Your ribs?"

"Hurt. My head hurts more."

The blood. There had to be a wound there. Adam hesitated and then said, "I'm sorry, Joe."

Those green eyes rolled over to look at him. Joe did that funny thing with his lips. The one where they pursed them and smiled at the same time. "Oh? 'Bout what?"

"I..didn't make it in time. I should have moved faster, gotten to you before the blast went off."

"Because you're...perfect."

Adam blinked. "What?"

"You always...thought you...were perfect. Or...had to be." Joe coughed again. "You're just...a man, brother. No more...no less."

He smiled. "When did you get to be so wise?"

Joe's energy was fading. His words slurred as he spoke. "When...had to take care...myself."

His brother's words stabbed him. "God, Joe. I couldn't... I..." It was so hard to say. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when Hoss died. When your wife, your child... I know there was nothing I could have done about Hoss, but I might have been able to prevent..."

Still fading, Joe let out a little sigh before speaking. "You know, I...thought I couldn't survive when Alice..." He drew a pain-filled breath against the memory. "When Alice...and the baby died. Pa...told me something..."

"Yes, Joe?" He needed to hear it. He'd been so long without their father's wisdom to guide him.

"It was after...I tried...Well, after...Ithought about...ending it. Pa came...to my room. Sat by me. 'Never regret...anything from your past...son', he said. 'One day you'll...look back and thank it.'"

"Thank it?" Adam asked. "Whatever for?"

Joe laughed. "For...hurting you. Pa...said you'd thank it...for...hurting you so much...that you decided to be...stronger."

Adam reached out and squeezed his brother's arm and then slipped his own in behind Little Joe and pulled him close. Joe's head fell to his shoulder as they sat there in the dark, breathing in dust and debris, waiting to suffocate or for the shaft to cave-in and bury them.

Together.

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Dawn broke as Kirk and Spock surveyed the damage the Klingons' explosives had caused. They'd collapsed the main entry to the mine and partially caved-in the shaft. This was it, Kirk thought, shaking his head and not even slightly amused. The 'freak' accident in the historical record that revealed the gold vein and turned Bodie into a prosperous town.

At what a cost.

He'd looked and there were chinks between the rocks so, if the brothers had managed to make it into the narrow shaft, they were getting at least a minimal amount of oxygen. Even with Spock's Vulcan strength they'd been unable to move any of the fallen rock, it was so tightly wedged in. They'd tried calling out to the pair but, so far, there had been no reply. That didn't necessarily mean either or both men were dead, but if they were unconscious from lack of air, that did mean time was running out.

What he wouldn't have given to be able to use a phaser!

Running his hand over his face, Kirk considered the fall of rock before him and then turned to Joe Cartwright's pregnant wife who sat on top of a low boulder nearby. The dawn was breaking and it set her amber hair on fire. She was a strong woman and, once the shock of what happened had worn off, had done all she could to help them. The problem was, now, there was nothing left to do.

Nothing but wait for the inevitable.

"Anne?" he asked as he came to stand beside her. "Do you need anything?"

She looked up. He read the unspoken answer in her eyes. She needed her husband and the father of her baby, alive and whole.

"No," she said quietly. "No, thank you."

Kirk sat beside her and took her hand in his. "Don't give up hope. Not yet."

Anne's eyes flicked to the wagon next to which Curran Theron lay, trussed like a pig awaiting the spit. Her voice was small. "How can a man hate so much?"

It was Spock who answered. He hadn't realized the Vulcan had joined them. "Curran Theron does not hate. His crime is worse than that. He feels no ill will, nor acts from any desire other than to spread chaos throughout the universe. You, your husband, the Captain and I, to him, we are nothing but expendable pieces in a galactic game."

Kirk looked at his friend. Was that a tremor of emotion in his voice?

"Spock, are you –"

Kirk stopped. There were horses – many horses thundering toward them. Rising to his feet, he placed himself between whoever it was that would arrive any second and the grieving woman. Seconds later he heard her sharp intact of breath.

"Ben!" Anne breathed.

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Ben Cartwright was exhausted. He'd ridden through the night without sleep. He was also entirely awake and primed to take action the second it appeared it was necessary. He didn't know what he had expected to find when he rounded the bend and saw the Bodie mine, but it had not been two bedraggled men and the very dusty and dirty, tear-streaked face of his daughter-in-law.

He was off the horse before it stopped.

"Anne!"

The older man saw Jim Kirk step aside as Anne recognized him and rose to her feet. A heartbeat later she was running toward him. As she caught hold of him, clenching him so tightly he stumbled back, his daughter-in-law's composure failed and she began to sob.

"Pa," she breathed. "Oh...Pa..."

As the others in his party arrived, Ben placed his hand on her head and soothed her quietly, even as he looked over it to meet the blond man's eyes. He read no despair in them, but there was also little hope.

"Joe?" he asked.

Kirk joined him. Ben knew the expression on his face. It was one a soldier gave their general when forced to acknowledge they had failed. "Alive, sir, we believe, but..." Kirk drew a breath. "You son is trapped in a shaft leading to the surface. I am afraid, Ben," the young man's eyes flicked to Anne, "that both his air and time are running out."

His daughter-in-law drew in a breath and let it out in a strangled cry.

"Is he alone?"

Kirk started to respond, but then another man moved forward. One Ben had not seen before. He was dressed all in black as Adam had often been. "He is not, sir," the newcomer said.

"Who's with him?"

The two men exchanged glances. Ben saw something pass between them. Almost as if they had come to a joint decision – as if both felt the need to hold something back. It was Kirk who finally answered.

"We don't know."

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Spock glanced at his friend, grateful Jim had agreed that this was not the time to tell Ben Cartwright his oldest son still lived - and was trapped with his brother in the mine. He then headed for the others who had ridden in with the older man. The first he encountered was Montgomery Scott. Beside him was an older man whose wry eyes and determined look reminded him of their head of security.

"Mister Spock," the Scotsman sighed. "Do ye hae any idea how long we've been lookin' for ye?"

One ebon eyebrow peaked. "Assuming you began the moment I left the Enterprise for the second time, I would calculate it to be six-point-two-four months and – "

"He didn't really want an answer, Spock. That's the human way to say 'we missed you'."

The Vulcan turned to find Leonard McCoy coming toward him. He was limping.

"Doctor, are you injured?"

The doctor grimaced. "Tortured. That's what I've been – tortured by a bad pair of boots."

He really had no reply to that.

The older man who had come with the crew of the Enterprise had been eyeing the elder Cartwright and Joe's wife. He turned to him and asked, "You gonna tell us what happened, son?"

Spock's eyes narrowed. It was the closest he could come to showing his disappointment. "We arrived too late. The men who took Mrs. Cartwright delivered her husband into the mine and then...detonated the explosives, causing a cave-in."

"And just how come you were late?" the older man demanded.

"This is Sheriff Roy Coffee, Spock," Scott explained.

He inclined his head toward the lawman. One black eyebrow lifted. It seemed simple enough. "We were too late because we did not make it in time."

His statement unexpectedly raised the sheriff 's ire. "Now, you listen here..."

Suddenly Kirk was at his side. "Sheriff? Sheriff Coffee, you'll have to forgive my friend." Kirk shot him a look. "English is his second language."

"Actually, Captain, it was my fourth..."

This time the look said, 'shut up."

He did so.

"Captain?" Roy Coffee asked them both suspiciously. "You two soldiers – or sailors?"

Kirk nodded. "Sort of. Sheriff, I hate to tell you what to do, but now that we have more man-power, might it not be wise to see if we can move any of that rock?"

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Adam shifted his brother's weight. Joe's head fell to his lap as he did. When he touched his skin, he felt the fever rising.

He'd also come away with fingers thick with blood.

"Joe? Joe, wake up!" he demanded, gently slapping his brother's face. Doc Martin always said not to let a man with a concussion sleep. He might never wake up again. "Joe!"

The only answer he got was a vague sort of grunt.

Adam felt like a heel for doing it, but he sucked it up and said, "Joe. Anne needs you. So does your child. Joe, you have to fight – you have to stay with me so you can return to them!" When his brother didn't stir, he pressed him. "Joe!"

This time he groaned and his eyes opened, sort of. "Anne..."

"She's waiting, Joe. Outside this hellhole. She's waiting for you. You have to stay awake so you can get back to her!"

His brother blinked. His eyes opened wider, this time with some amount of clarity. He looked around. "We're...still trapped?"

"Yes. But I think I heard something, just a moment ago. Joe, I think someone is trying to reach us."

It had been faint, but he was sure he had heard the sound of rocks being pulled away and of men grunting as they labored to move them. He'd definitely heard voices. At first he thought they were in a dream, but the longer he'd listened the more certain he'd become they were real.

Theywere real.

"Pa," Joe breathed. "That'll...be pa. He'd never...give up."

Adam wondered idly if his father had given up on him. It sounded like Joe had. But then he couldn't blame him – couldn't blame either of them, really – not after what had happened with Hoss.

"That's right, Joe. Pa wouldn't give up. You can't give up either. You hear me?"

His brother's head moved. He thought it was an affirmative.

A second later a cloud of dust covered them as a series of rocks tumbled from the pile blocking their exit to the top of the shaft. The light increased. It appeared to be the rosy light of dawn. Adam laid his brother down and then crawled over him, moving toward it.

"Here!" he shouted. "We're here!"

A muffled cheer went up. Someone asked a question. He couldn't understand it, but he could anticipate it.

"Joe's alive," he called back. "Do you hear me? Tell Anne! Joe's alive!"

Someone went running and then even more rocks fell.

A second later a hand reached through a small opening the rock-fall had created.

Adam gripped it and held on for all he was worth.

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"I have him!" Ben cried. "Get the rest of this rock out of the way."

He knew it was difficult. Jim Kirk's people had formed a line through which they'd passed stone after stone. Montgomery Scott was an engineer and it hadn't taken him long to find the needed tools in one of the empty shacks and then use them to begin to remove the rocks blocking the shaft in an ordered fashion so as not to cause any more damage.

He was in the way and he knew it, but there was no way on God's green earth that he was going to let go of his son's hand!

"Joe!" he called. "I have you!"

Nyota Uhura bent beside him. She used a wet cloth to clear his eyes. Then she smiled. "It won't be long, sir," she said, packing all of his hopes and fears into that one phrase.

But would it be soon enough?

"If you will, sir," the young Chinese man said. "Push aside as best you can. We need to get this large rock out."

Ben did as he was told, but he didn't let go. He couldn't let go.

The man named Spock moved in next. He'd seen it before, for his size the odd black-haired man was a mountain of strength. Spock took hold of the boulder and pulled – hard. A second later it came away and a dusty and dirty figure tumbled out into his arms. Ben had expected Joe. It wasn't Joe.

Ben's heart skipped a beat.

It was Adam.

1 The Trouble With Tribbles