- 7 -
As we made our way to wherever Kate Shaw was taking me, I thought about turning and wrestling the phaser from her. I just as quickly dismissed the idea. Kate was younger, stronger, and faster than me. In my prime I might have been able to take her, but not now. Sadly even if I'd still been a man, been Jim Kirk rather than Janice Lester, my clock just had too many years on it.
When we arrived at the room that was our destination, Kate pressed the door buzzer. The door whooshed open, and there he stood - Spock, *my* Spock, craggy-faced and beardless.
"Spock?" I said, not quite believing my eyes.
"Ms Lester," said Spock. "You have much to explain. That will be all, Ms Shaw, You can leave the prisoner with me."
"Are you sure, sir?" she replied, sounding uncertain.
"Quite sure. Or do you believe Ms Lester capable of overpowering me?"
"No sir, I do not."
"Then that will be all, Lieutenant Commander."
"Very good, sir."
When she had gone, I turned to my old friend.
"Spock! It's good to see you again, but you need to contact Starfleet Command. I don't know how, but agents of the Empire have somehow crossed from the mirror universe and infiltrated this facility."
Spock frowned.
"How is it you know about the mirror universe, and the Empire? Information about them is classified and not public knowledge. I might assume you had learned of them during the time you appropriated Captain Kirk's body, but it was my understanding those memories had been overwritten. There is also the matter of how you came to be in possession of fake credentials entered into the system by Jim Kirk during his time as an admiral. They are why I tasked Lieutenant Commander Shaw with watching you."
I let out a long sigh. We didn't have time for this.
"We can't go any further until you mind meld with me," I said.
"Indeed?" said Spock, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, because it's the only way you're going to believe me and not question everything I tell you, just like you did following my last visit to Camus II."
Spock thought about this for a moment, nodded, then raised a hand and gently placed his fingers on the side of my face, adjusting them slightly until he could make the meld. I offered no resistance, opening my mind fully to his. After a minute or so, Spock broke contact and lowered his hand.
"Jim?" he said. "How is this possible?"
"It's possible because though we believed I had forced my mind back into my own body on the Enterprise by sheer force of will and wrested control from Janice Lester, I had done no such thing. Janice let me do it. She never intended my return to my own body to be anything other than temporary. The link between us remained and could only be undone by the machine here on Camus II. Later, when she was strapped into Khan's brainwashing device, her original personality about to be overwritten by a more docile, more feminine one she had created, Janice forced the switch again and I was the one who got brainwashed instead of her. For most of the past three decades I believed I was Janice Lester, and always had been, while she took my place."
"Fascinating," said Spock. "At no point during that time did I suspect she was not you."
"As captain of the Enterprise she acquitted herself well. I've read the mission reports and could find nothing in them I would have done differently. But then, I think she took more of me than just my body."
"Explain."
"Our understanding of Khan Noonien Singh's brainwashing device is that when it overwrites the existing personality of anyone subjected to it, that personality is then gone forever."
"That is correct."
"So how then have my own memories and so many of my original personality traits returned? Where were they in the meantime? The answer has to lie with the alien bodyswapping device. Janice told me we were still connected, and proved as much when she switched me back into her body. Is it possible our minds remained permanently 'quantum entangled', that rather than being overwritten my original memories were sent down the link between us in some fashion? Also, while we were still entangled like that, could she have fooled even a mind-meld?"
"Unknown, but it is an intriguing idea."
"It's also possible that exposure to the strange energy ribbon that killed her then triggered a cascade of memories back down the link and into my mind, because somehow or other I got them back."
"Who else have you told about this, Jim? Does Janice Rand know?"
"No, she doesn't. No one does but you. And it's not Jim, not any more."
"With the alien device on this world you could have a male body. Jim Kirk could live again."
"Thank you, but no. Too much water has flowed under the bridge since then. Those who love me love the woman they've known all these years In the case of my children, the only person they've ever known me as. I'm their mother and I will stay their mother. More importantly, Jim Kirk still has enemies who wouldn't hesitate to strike at him through his family. That's why David was killed, and I refuse to risk losing Janice, Grace, or Grant and his family because of who I used to be. Jim Kirk is dead, and he has to stay dead. But enough about me, we have to tell Starfleet Command what the Empire is doing here."
"The Empire is doing nothing here," said Spock. "I am the director of this facility, and I am in charge of brainwashing Starfleet personnel."