Author's Note:

Good morning/afternoon/evening/whatever everyone and here is yet another chapter making it the fortieth one for this fic. It once again has Spock and everyone's favourite super-tribble Bloodcarver. Thank you for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I do not own any aspect of Star Trek.

A Great Mystery

It was a slightly odd sight to walk in on and Jim wasn't entirely sure what to make of it.

He'd just finished up a double shift on the bridge and had come down to one of the rec. rooms to relax. It was largely empty except for Spock who was staring intently at the tribble Bloodcarver. The tribble was sat on one of the couches purring away while Spock sat opposite it and even though Jim was certain his First Officer had heard him come in the Vulcan continued his intense scrutiny of Bloodcarver. Jim made his way over to his friend and stood beside him as Spock continued to ignore him in favour of the tribble.

"Spock, what are doing?"

"I am waiting for the tribble to move Captain." Spock's matter of fact reply didn't make things much clearer.

"Why?"

"Because I am curious to discover how tribbles move from one place to the next. They have no legs that I can find nor do they have any other form of appendage to assist in locomotion. As such I am trying to observe a tribble in motion to see if I can discover any indication of how they move. My current theory is that they can somehow use their fur to push themselves forward but I am also looking at the possibility that they have minor telekinetic abilities and can use fixed objects such as walls or boulders to pull themselves along the ground." Spock said all of this without taking his eyes off Bloodcarver who was still sitting on the couch purring.

"So are you just going to stay here and stare at Bloodcarver till he moves?"

"Indeed Captain."

"Okay… I'll just leave you to it then…see you later?"

"I shall see you when my observations are complete Captain."

Jim quickly left the rec. room as Spock remained and continued his patient wait for Bloodcarver to move.

It was much later and Jim was down in the Mess Hall with Bones and Scotty when Spock walked in. The Captain instantly waved his First Officer over, "Hey Spock."

The other man came towards the table and as he got closer Jim spoke again, "How did your study go? Have you solved the great mystery yet?"

Spock sat down heavily and he looked as irritated as a Vulcan could look, "Regrettably I was unable to complete my study."

Jim looked surprised, "Why?"

The man fixed him with a look, "During my observations my attention was called away by one of the labs because one of our scientific instruments was apparently malfunctioning. It was a relatively simple fault to rectify but in the minute and twenty-two seconds it took me to instruct my staff on how to fix it the tribble moved away and left the room without my knowledge."

Jim smirked at his friend, "How long ago did that happen?"

"Five minutes and forty-nine seconds."

"So you missed the very thing you wanted to see after staring at Bloodcarver for over six hours?"

"Eight hours, twenty-four minutes and nineteen seconds to be precise Captain."

There was a brief pause and then Jim exploded with laughter.

PS-So there we go and if anyone has any theories on how tribbles move around I would really like to know them. If anyone has any actual answer to how tribbles move then please tell me because I'd really like to know the answer.