Star Trek: The Original Series: The Rings of Time

Twenty-eight

2020

Gravity hit Kirk like a ton of thermoconcrete. He staggered on the transporter platform, and McCoy rushed forward to prop him up. “Easy, Jim. Give yourself time to adjust.”

“Thanks, Bones.” He let the doctor help him off the platform. His bones and muscles, debilitated by weeks of zero gravity, felt like overcooked pasta. “Guess I’ve got some physical therapy in my future… if I don’t get my own body back.”

“Count on it,” McCoy said. “And don’t expect me to go easy on you.”

Kirk chuckled. It was good to be home.

“Welcome back, Captain.” Spock greeted Kirk. “I apologize for the delay, but as you know, we had other matters to attend to, and time travel is hardly an exact science.”

“Understood, Mr. Spock.” Kirk stood as straight as he could manage; it wouldn’t do for the captain to appear too weak, even before friends. “I remember how tricky that slingshot maneuver can be. I’m just glad you made it to the right year.”

Close to five days had passed for him since he had first arrived in this era; he wondered how much time had passed for the Enterprise. The Klondike system was months from Saturn, so clearly, he had missed a good deal of time. “The situation on Skagway?”

“Resolved, Captain, successfully.”

“Good to hear it. I knew I could count on you, Mr. Spock. I look forward to getting a full report, after we take care of a few other pressing matters.”

The Enterprise was keeping a low profile in this century, using Saturn’s moons and the ship’s own deflectors to reduce its chances of being detected by Earth. Kirk took a moment to appreciate the comforting familiarity of the transporter room. His welcoming party included Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and one other familiar face: his own.

Even though he had been expecting it, it still came as a jolt to see what appeared to be James T. Kirk standing beside Spock and Scotty. He had to remind himself that, this time around, he wasn’t faced with an android double, a duplicitous shape-changer, or his own evil half. This was his actual body, which currently housed another man’s mind.

“Colonel Shaun Geoffrey Christopher, I presume?”

“Pleased to finally meet you, Captain Kirk.” The stranger with his face stepped forward and offered Kirk his hand. “I must say, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“The feeling is mutual.” Kirk shook his own hand. “Sorry if I’ve been a bit rough on your body.” He rubbed his sore jaw; cuts and bruises on his face served as painful reminders of his battle with O’Herlihy. “I’m afraid you’re missing a tooth.”

Shaun looked Kirk over. “Has there been trouble on my ship? Is everyone all right?”

“They’re fine, more or less,” Kirk said. “It’s been an… eventful mission, but the situation was under control when I left. I can give you all of the details later.”

“What about Alice?” he asked. “I mean, Fontana.”

Kirk caught the urgency in his voice. It seemed that Fontana’s deep affection for her copilot had not been one-sided. He decided not to mention his brief encounter with Zoe.

“Anxious to see you again,” he assured Shaun. In fact, Fontana had wanted to beam over with him, until he’d pointed out that this would entail leaving Zoe in charge of the Lewis & Clark. Fontana had quickly relented, which was just as well; the fewer twenty-first-century astronauts to visit the Enterprise, the better. “I believe she’s missed you.”

“No more than I’ve missed her,” Shaun said with obvious emotion. Kirk recalled that the displaced astronaut had not seen his own crew for months, by his reckoning. “Funny how getting zapped hundreds of years into a strange future and nearly dying on the other side of the galaxy makes you realize just what — and who — is really important to you. Alice and I have our own future to get on with.”

Kirk believed him. He made a mental note to look both astronauts up when he got a chance. He was curious to find out what the future held for them, assuming that he and Shaun could straighten out their current situation.

“You’ll see her soon,” he promised, before glancing down at his borrowed body. “But first, there’s the little matter of putting both of our minds back where they belong.”

“Well, don’t look at me,” McCoy said. “I’m out of the brain-transplant business.” He looked pointedly at Spock. “Once was enough.”

Kirk wasn’t particularly keen on swapping brains, either. He preferred to keep their gray matter in place, if possible.

“What about that infernal contraption that daft lassie used to switch places with the captain a few years ago?” Scotty asked, referring to Janice Lester and her foiled attempt to steal Kirk’s body. “Camus II is a fair ways from here, but those alien machines should be just sitting there in this century, waiting for us.”

“Not an option.” Kirk had already considered that. “The effect wasn’t permanent, remember? Our minds began to shift back of their own accord, and Janice theorized that the only way to make the switch stick was to kill me while my mind was still in her body.” He looked at Shaun Christopher. “Obviously, that’s not an option.”

“Good to know,” Shaun said. “What else can we try?”

Kirk turned to his first officer. “Spock?”

“I can attempt to facilitate some manner of psychic reintegration, Captain, but there are no guarantees. This would go beyond a simple mind-meld, not that there is ever anything simple about the joining of two or more minds.” His somber tone conveyed the gravity of the challenge. “However, the only alternative is to condemn you and Colonel Christopher to reside in each other’s body for the rest of your natural lives.”

“Forget it,” Shaun said. “I want my old body back, no matter the risk. No offense, Captain.”

“None taken,” Kirk said. “I feel the same.”

“Hold on a minute!” McCoy blurted, clearly unconvinced. “Let’s not rush into anything. Do you really think you can do this, Spock? Transfer minds from one body to another?”

“Ordinarily not, Doctor,” Spock admitted. “You are quite correct that such a feat is most likely beyond my abilities or those of any other Vulcan. But I am relying on the fact that these two minds will want to return to their proper locations, just as the captain’s and Dr. Lester’s minds did on that previous occasion. In theory, I will simply be the conduit by which their respective psyches are able to restore their natural states.”

“Like water flowing back to the sea,” Kirk said, grasping the concept.

“Or a displaced electron returning to its previous quantum state,” Spock said. “Extraordinary energy was no doubt required to trade your minds, but it is possible that less effort will be required to put them back where they belong. Think of your brains as planets, exerting a gravitational pull on your thoughts.”

“I don’t know,” McCoy grumbled. “It still sounds like a hell of a gamble to me. At least you’re both still sound in body and mind. What if this stunt does more harm than good? You could end up brain-damaged or insane… or worse.”

Kirk shrugged. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take, Bones.”

“Hell, yes,” Shaun agreed. “Let’s do this.”

“Think back,” Spock said. “Recall the precise moment you encountered the probe, the last moment your minds were where they belonged.”

He stood between the men, who reclined on adjacent beds in sickbay. His fingers were splayed across their brows. Diagnostic monitors reported on their vital signs, with particular attention paid to their brain waves. Dr. McCoy and Nurse Chapel looked on anxiously. Spock closed his eyelids, both sets, to block out the distractions of the physical world. He cleared his mind, making it an empty conduit.

“Relive that moment,” he urged the patients. “Reclaim it.”

He reached out through his fingertips for the other men’s thoughts. Neural connections formed, linking them. Three minds became one.

“Reclaim yourselves… through me…”

Thoughts and sensations flowed into him from both sides, converging on his brain. Waves of clashing memories collided inside him.

Floating above Saturn, jetting toward the gleaming alien probe. Beaming the decrepit wreck aboard the Enterprise. Staring in shock and wonder as the probe fires brilliant pulses of light at the hexagon far below. Marveling at the oddly familiar hieroglyphics etched on the charred bronze casing. Fontana, pleading for him to get away from the probe. Miramanee surfacing from his past. Curiosity overcoming caution. Poignant memories drawing him nearer.

Reaching out to touch the probe…

Contact.

A blinding flash of light exploded in Spock’s mind. “The rings!” he shouted, without knowing why. “The endless rings!”

He collapsed between the beds.

“Spock!” McCoy shouted.

Dazed, Shaun sat up in the bed. It took him a second to orient himself; for a moment, he wasn’t sure who or where he was. Right, he remembered. The Enterprise. Sickbay. His hands explored his face, rediscovering crags and wrinkles he hadn’t felt in months. Glancing down at himself, he saw that he was wearing a blue NASA jumpsuit again, not a gold-and-black Starfleet uniform. His limbs felt weak and rubbery, as if they weren’t used to gravity anymore. His heart leaped in excitement.

“Is this for real? Did it work?”

To his right, Captain Kirk looked back at him. He looked equally thrilled to be back in his own body. “So it appears, Colonel. We’re us again.”

But what about Spock? The Vulcan was sprawled on the floor between them, looking distinctly out of it. McCoy crouched over the fallen officer, scanning Spock with one of his futuristic medical gizmos. Spock groaned weakly. He clutched his head.

“How is he, Bones?” Kirk demanded, sounding every bit the captain of a starship, despite the profoundly unsettling experience they had just shared. “Will he be all right?”

“I think so,” McCoy said cautiously. “His vital signs are normal, by his half-human standards, and he seems to be coming to. I think he’s just in shock.” He called out to Chapel. “A stabilizer, stat!”

“That will not be necessary, Doctor.” Spock’s eyes flicked open. He sat up with as much stoic dignity as he could muster. His face was pale, but the green was already coming back to it. “The experience was… unique, I admit, but Vulcans are not easily shocked.”

“In a pig’s eye,” McCoy muttered. “You’re not going anywhere until I give you a thorough checkup.” He swept his gaze over the three patients. “And that goes for all of you.”

“Whatever you say, Doc.” Shaun lay back down, succumbing to gravity. “But don’t think you can keep me here forever.” The trip from Klondike VI to Saturn had been a long one, even by twenty-third-century standards. “I have a ship — and a mission — to get back to.”

“You needn’t worry about that,” the doctor said. “I doubt we’re sticking around.” He turned toward Kirk, the real Kirk. “You probably ought to know, Jim, that Starfleet hasn’t actually sanctioned this little jaunt into yesterday. We figured it might be easier to find you first and ask for permission later.”

“Probably a good call,” Kirk said. “You know how the brass is frowning on time travel these days. They don’t want to risk changing history, not after some of the close calls we’ve had in the last few years. We’ll probably have some explaining to do to that new temporal investigation agency when we get back. They seem to think we’ve been abusing the privilege lately.”

“Imagine that,” McCoy said wryly. “So, when are we heading home?”

“Soon,” Kirk said. “But I have a few promises to keep first.”

“Where is he? What’s taking so long?”

Fontana was climbing the walls, waiting for she didn’t know what. Hours had passed since Shaun — or was it “Captain Kirk”?—had vanished from the cockpit in a sparkling column of light. Supposedly, there was another spacecraft nearby, just out of sight, but for all she knew, Shaun’s body had just disintegrated right before her eyes.

“He should have been back by now, shouldn’t he? If he was coming back?”

“Relax,” Zoe said, floating cross-legged above the flight deck. “It will be okay. He seemed to know what he was doing.”

Fontana couldn’t believe how calmly the other woman was taking this. “Don’t you get it? We don’t even know who this ‘Kirk’ is, where he came from, what he was doing here, and, oh, yeah, what the hell happened to the real Shaun?” She stared anxiously out the cockpit windows, looking for answers somewhere beyond Saturn’s glittering rings. “This whole thing is insane!”

“I know,” Zoe sympathized. “But look, just a few hours ago, we were all booked for a kamikaze cruise to oblivion, but hey, we’re still here. The way I see it, everything from now on is gravy.”

“Maybe.” Fontana almost envied Zoe’s pathologically breezy attitude. “But what are we supposed to do in the meantime?”

“Make out?”

Fontana’s jaw dropped. She bumped into a bulk-head.

“Geez, Fontana! It was a joke.” Zoe rolled her eyes. “To lighten the mood, you know? No offense, but you’re not my type.”

“I’m crushed,” Fontana said, recovering. “Truly.”

She wondered if Zoe was actually more freaked out than she was letting on. Hadn’t she said something once about cracking jokes whenever she was scared? In that case, it could be Open Mike Night on the Lewis & Clark.

Get back here, Shaun, she thought. Soon.

As if in answer to her prayers, an unearthly hum suddenly filled the flight deck. A coruscating pillar of sparks, about the size and width of an adult human being, manifested in the middle of the compartment, only a few yards away from the two women, then coalesced into a figure of flesh and blood. A familiar face looked around in wonder, as though amazed to find himself back on the ship.

“Shaun?” Fontana asked. “I mean, Kirk?”

“Right the first time.” His face lit up at the sight of her. “It’s really me, Alice. I’m back.”

He rushed forward to embrace her. One kiss, and all of her doubts evaporated. She didn’t need to quiz or interrogate him. She could tell at once that this was no impostor. This was the real Shaun, come home to her at last. Her heart gave her all the proof she needed.

“Whoa there,” Zoe interrupted. “Get a room.”

Fontana shot her a warning glance. “If you ever mention one word of this on your stupid blog, I will make you wish you had been flushed out of that airlock.”

“Got it,” Zoe said, gulping. “My lips are sealed. As you were.”

Pausing for breath, Fontana gazed into Shaun’s warm blue eyes. Questions swirled inside her. “Where have you been all this time?”

His eyes devoured her, as though he hadn’t seen her in weeks.

“That will have to be our little secret,” he said. “I made a promise to some new friends to keep quiet about certain things, for all our sakes. But don’t worry. I promise to give you the full story soon.” He hugged her tightly. “It’s taken me a long time to get back to you — months, in fact — but now we have all the time in the world.”

“Months?” she echoed. “But it’s been a week at most since that probe zapped you.”

“For you, maybe, but for me… I’ve had a lot of time to think about us.”

She took his word for it. Right now, it was enough that they were together again.

“What about me?” Zoe asked. “Don’t I get a scoop?”

“Hang on,” Shaun said, smirking. “You’re in for a surprise.”

The eerie hum returned. A shower of sparks enveloped Zoe, then whisked her away, leaving the two astronauts alone on the flight deck.

Fontana gaped in shock. “What the—? Where did she go?”

“Remember those new friends I mentioned?” Shaun seemed not at all taken aback by Zoe’s abrupt disappearance. “Well, they need her help with something important.”