Star Trek: TOS: Troublesome Minds by Dave Galanter

Author:Dave Galanter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

FOURTEEN

How is she, Bones?” Kirk had paced anxiously outside the guest quarters waiting for McCoy. McCoy and Spock had both attended Meshu, so the captain didn’t want to get in the way even if it meant waiting outside.

“More relaxed now, but still a bit frantic,” the doctor said as the door slid closed behind him. “Spock’s still in there. I’m not sure how he is.”

The captain considered replying but decided against it. The truth was that he wasn’t sure about Spock himself. He’d insisted to McCoy that he’d know if Berlis had control of the Vulcan again, but would he? Kirk thought he would—especially after the mind-meld—but what about Meshu? She had been so agitated, so despondent, that she’d managed to push her emotion through not only to a group of non-telepaths, but also to Spock despite his extensive mental defenses. If she was still in his head—perhaps even unaware that she was, and if Spock was oblivious…how could Kirk begin to know?

After too long a look at the cabin door, wondering how both Spock and the Isitri woman were doing, Kirk finally turned to face McCoy. “Do you have a medical opinion to convey, Doctor?”

“I do.” He straightened with formality, yet managed to keep his skeptical expression. “I’ll admit I’m surprised we even found Meshu, but I don’t think she’s up to pulling Berlis off the top of the totem pole.”

Kirk allowed himself a sigh. “She’s the only option we have. With Spock’s help—”

“And who’s going to help him?”

The captain leveled his best hard stare at McCoy, but as usual that garnered no result other than somewhat softening the doctor’s tone.

“Jim, what’s the one thing we’ve always been able to count on with Spock? His stability. His skill at slicing through the emotion of a matter to give us the raw logic.” Was that admiration in McCoy’s voice? “I’m not sure that’s possible right now. I’ve never seen him this unsteady.” McCoy’s worry was evident. “He’s struggling to maintain his inner balance.”

Few people knew Spock as well as Kirk and McCoy, yet so much about him was still mysterious even to them. They’d each seen the emotions the science officer kept veiled from others—perhaps even from himself. Spock was well trained at keeping those feelings in check, but being half human meant he was used to having to do so more than a full Vulcan. What remained unclear was how he could control emotions that were not his own.

“How do we help him, Bones?”

McCoy opened his mouth to speak but Kirk cut him off.

“I don’t want to hear ‘I don’t know,’ Doctor.”

Annoyed but tight-lipped, McCoy looked away as Kirk turned toward the cabin and pushed the chime. The door slid open, he entered, and as it closed again behind him he heard McCoy’s faint grumble, “Well, I don’t.”

Sitting at opposite sides of the small desk, Spock and Meshu were having a discussion in the Isitri sign language. He noticed that both of them didn’t really watch each other’s gestures, but instead seemed to look into each other’s eyes.

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