Chapter 22

"Mr Koloth---"

"What do you mean this doctor has a death sentence on him?"

Chapel sighed.

"You were the one who rescued him from Devil's Run." Chapel said.

"Of course." Koloth said. "I cannot forget how ill he was then." He sounded disturbed by the memory. "A Klingon never forgets a sight like that."

"He is going to attend a trial for Baron Van Sir. Testify, even. And someone will attempt to kill him." Chapel slid forward the pad. "We are willing to keep this exchange secret, or else, under the table. In exchange that you help us, we would take a blind eye if there were some difficulties between a visitor and the captain."

Koloth raised his gray eyebrow.

"And how do you know of this?" Koloth asked.

Chapel cleared his throat.

"Jumanji." Chapel said.

Koloth stared at Chapel, long and hard.

"You are as much as an idiot as your predecessor." Koloth said.

"It is not like there are reviews for it on the Federation data base." Chapel leaned back into the chair. "Well, there wasn't before Ambassador Picard set one up anyhow." The Klingon had his arms folded. "If Bones dies then you won't get the chance to off the captain yourself." Koloth stiffened. "Mr Spock will die of a broken heart which leads to the captain's death. Uhura follows suit a year later. Mr Scott, fifteen minutes afterwards. Chekov dies two years later. And Sulu, half an hour later. And you leave this building ashamed. You later do something in the honor of the captain's name which, hypothetically, would be destroying the starship that holds McCoy's killer."

"Jumanji was banned for a reason," Koloth spoke up. "And only one in this galaxy at that."

"We don't want our favorite admirals dying of broken hearts, now do we?" Chapel asked.

"Nurse," Koloth said. "What happens to Trelane?"

Chapel sighed.

"I am sorry, but one of his enemies slipped in and we didn't . . ." Chapel said. "It won't happen this time."

Koloth's stare had turned into a glare.

"Trelane has many enemies." Koloth said.

"Human looking?" Chapel asked.

"Plenty." Koloth said.

"But do they age?" Chapel asked.

"That narrows the list," Koloth said. "Tell me, how long do you think without the broken heart would the captain have to live?" Chapel briefly closed his eyes then reopened them. "You would not bring me here during lunch hour for a random meeting in the waiting room."

Chapel looked up with a sad expression on his face.

"Just make sure McCoy doesn't get killed." Chapel said.

"How does he get killed?" Koloth asked.

We see a scene transition showing the core seven at a fair. Jim's hazel eyes are full of wonder. Spock's brown eyes look from side to side observing the stations set up for fun. He had been planning this event for over a month after learning about Fair Point Boat Days via Nurse Rand. And the internet filled Spock in about the rides to ensure they were safe to ride. McCoy is eating cotton candy. Scotty has arms linked with Uhura while the two men interested in Botany were holding hands. Spock wore his usual but stoic expression on his face. There were many people being the residents of the planets and foreigners visiting. There were balloons floating over the heads of several goers.

The group split up except for Spock, Jim, and McCoy. The three men went to a roller coaster line that was short. Uhura and Scotty went to a apple sling slot station. Chekov and Sulu went into a plant contest. McCoy was holding a see through cup in his hand sipping from it. Eventually all the liquid inside went down. McCoy frowned then raised the cup up to see if he had drank it all.

"Damn it!" McCoy said. "I drank it all."

"Doctor," Spock said. "If you did not want to ride the roller coaster then you should have told me earlier."

"Of course I want to," McCoy said. "I just forgot how full this was before we left."

Spock narrowed his eyes at the doctor.

"You were aware of how full it was," Spock and. "And you were drinking it on the way here constantly."

"Spock is right," Jim said. "It is okay to be scared of heights."

"I will get myself a drink and I will prove it to ya'll I am not afraid of heights." McCoy said.

McCoy left the line. The line moved forwards, faster than it had in the past two minute, with the two men getting closer to the ride. The roller coaster down on the platform letting out is occupants. Spock was mentally planning how to get into the roller coaster with Jim. Jim was quite insistent that he got into chairs on his own. Stubborn, at that. Jim did not being like paralyzed. Spock could see it in Jim's eyes.

"Spock, have I ever told you that you are the sweetest Vulcan I met?" Jim asked.

"Negative," Spock said. "But you have just told me."

"But what I did not realize about Vulcans is that they were very romantic writers," Jim said. "I never took your kind for novelists but more as scientists."

"Mestral invented the Velcro." Spock said.

"I know." Jim said.

"He was a Vulcan." Spock said.

"Wait, you mean, the man who invented the Velcro in Dawson Creek was from Vulcan?" Jim asked.

"Indeed. It is a very well known Vulcan fact in the archives." Spock said.

"That is. . . fascinating." Jim said. "But why did he do that?"

"To send a boy, a explorer of the stars, into college. He became one of the highly known astrological professors in his time." Spock explained, as the line grew shorter. "And he was one of the few people who actively part in the show Galaxy Quest. Eighteen years later, Vulcans met Thermians and . . . well, that is another story itself. They are the octopi beings who use appearance generators to make them look human."

"I never met them." Jim said.

"For good reason. They are idiots." Spock said.

"Spock!" Jim said, alarmed, head turned.

"It is true." Spock said. "They are like children. They know what lies are but they believe everything is true."

"What happened to them?" Jim asked.

"We do not know. Only that they went through a wormhole and was never seen from again. Some say the Thermians are still around to this day but have blended in better than they did over three hundred years ago." Spock said, as right behind him were a pair of wide eyed pale being who had Vulcan hair cuts and soft rounded ears. "But it was fascinating how Galaxy Quest gave them hope and courage to fight against their enemy at the cost of their home planet."

"What if they are on this planet?" Jim said. "And hearing this from a Vulcan? That has to hurt."

"Then they have learned and adapted to todays society." Spock said.

"They are not idiots." Jim said, with a smile.

"Who says a bit of idiot-icy does not leave? We all have those but the Thermians, I read, were the very definition of them. Very gullible." Spock said. "That is the complete honest truth about them."

"That is brutal." Jim said.

"But honest." Spock said.

"I'll give you that." Jim said.

"Do you need help getting into the cart?" Spock asked. "I am willing to lift you into it."

"Not like you are superhuman." Jim said, head turned away.

"You forget that Vulcans are twice stronger than humans." Spock said.

Jim did a double take.

"Really?" Jim asked, with a raised eyebrow.

Spock nodded.

"Affirmative." Spock said.

Jim shifted himself back forward into his seat.

"I would like to see that." Jim said.

The smallest of all smirks appeared on the Vulcan's face.

"Have you had dreams of the Enterprise?" Spock asked.

"Many times." Jim said, briefly closing his eyes painfully at the mention of her.

"But have they been changing as of late?" Spock asked.

Jim looked back for a moment there.

"You mean with different people, why yes, it has." Jim said.

"I had a dream of greeting the inhabitants of Betazed. You were quite flirty with the members of the first contact party." Spock said. "But not verbally, it was mentally as all the members were blushing upon the introduction of the rest of the landing party. We were younger then. In Star Fleet uniform. Felt a lot like lounging attire."

". . . Did Bones say 'Jim, stop flirtin' with the poor woman'?" Jim asked.

"As I recall, he did." Spock said.

"That is odd." Jim said. "Why are we having the same dreams?"

"That is a interesting question." Spock said.

"Spock, I get a feeling you know why." Jim said.

"Theoretically, we are T'hy'las. This is a very rare occurrence between Vulcans and non-human. It appears I have T'hy'lara's. Which means more than one member to the katra." Jim was startled hearing this from Spock. "The third member of this union would be Doctor McCoy. T'hy'lara's never change in any course of life. They are always there."

"I find it hard to believe when we met four weeks and two days ago." Jim said.

"In some way or another we may have crossed paths but never known the other was there." Spock said.

"Did you visit Fleet Captain Pike before his departure from Starbase 11?" Jim said.

"Affirmative." Spock said.

"Wait a second . . . You were that Vulcan who kidnapped the Fleet Captain!" Jim said.

"It was more of a required mission than a kidnapping at the time." Spock said.

"Carol told me about you. I never knew you were a saxophone player." Jim said.

"It was a one time event." Spock said.

"Oh? Then what about the time you sang for a fake holiday that she made up?" Jim said.

"Of course I can sing." Spock said.

"So her stories are true!" Jim said.

"Not all of them." Spock said.

"My son told me how you were dressed up as Dracula on Halloween." Jim said.

"I was dressed up as Sherlock. And it was logical then because we were on Hallovine." Spock said.

"But without his Watson." Jim said.

"Are you telling me that David Marcus is your son?" Spock asked.

"Why he is." Jim said.

"No wonder you looked familiar in the beginning." Spock said.

Our scene backtracked to show the wheelchair's wheels detracted going to the bottom of the wheelchair forming the shape of a circle and rounded pipes came out applying anti-gravity. It gave the impression that Jim's chair itself was a levitating wheelchair that operated entirely on anti-gravity. The wheels had the shape of the Star Fleet symbol in the middle. Spock slid the levitating wheelchair onto the platform. Jim pressed a button. The pipes vanished into the wheels that returned to their usual position.

"Need two people to sit in the cart." The rides mechanic said, gesturing toward the safety regulations.

Spock wheeled Jim over to the cart with several rows of seats occupied except for two that was at the top. The carts were all red with green stripes on the underside with fins at the sides. The top cart had a muzzle and the end of the long ride was a tail apparently. Spock brought the wheelchair to the top. Spock held his hand out in offering. Jim's hand took Spock's forearm and Spock's hand wrapped itself around Jim's forearm. This lead to Spock placing Jim into the seat and let the man buckle himself up. Spock joined into the ride where he applied the seatbelt.

"Ever rode a roller coaster?" Jim asked.

"Negative." Spock said.

"So this is your first." Jim said.

"Affirmative." Spock said.

"Same here." Jim said.

"I would have thought otherwise for you." Spock said, head turned with a raised eyebrow.

"You are just riding to make sure I have fun." Jim said.

"That is the idea of this exercise." Spock said.

"I was too busy for the fair when I was a kid," Jim said. Spock lowered his eyebrow. "My parents had plenty of chores for me. Being a straight arrow comes with its disadvantages."

Spock and Jim lowered the bar over their chests while the mechanic (or whoever he was) was making sure the passengers were buckled up with his padd on the seat.

"It is a logical form of entertainment and to get one's adrenaline running after being down for so long." Spock explained. "People used these to get over their fear of heights, historically, and to have fun. This was also a source of death in the 20th and 21st century before the rails became magnetized to the cart."

"Thanks, Wikipedia." Jim said, bemused.

"Wikipedia is similar to a Pokedex." Spock said.

"Spock, you are a walking version of the Wikipedia." Jim said.

"I have been told by the doctor that I sound like a Pokedex. Much as entertaining the game is that I am not." Spock looked up to the ride's assigned man. "We are safe and secure, Mr Justice."

Jim noticed the man wore a black shade of glasses, a pink shirt, light brown curly hair, and a pink hat that had the Star Fleet symbol on it. The man left the two alone. Jim's fingers wrapped around the handle, well actually, his arms were wrapped around it. The wheelchair was latched around a rail thanks to the metal attraction setting that was installed for various occasions. Mr Justice selected a button on the screen to the large arcade device. The ride slowly started to begin its usual path heading forwards.

"Relax," Spock said. "It will not be as terrifying as it was in the 21st century."

"Even with the Eugenic Wars they still had roller coasters?" Jim asked.

Spock nodded.

"I have learned through my research that one is not to mess with Terran's entertainment." Spock said.

"There's a funny story behind that, isn't there?" Jim asked.

"Later, Jim." Spock said.

They got to the top where they could see everywhere. All over the large sprawling fair grounds. Jim pointed at the distant nursing home overlooked by several tree, and the presence of air-cars in the sky above them but high enough that they didn't make a difference to crashing into the rides. Jim could see the air cars settling down into parking lots and some of them flying off into the air heading back into the city. The Nursing Home was way out of the city just outside of town. Spock saw McCoy, his scrawny figure was prominent, and he was sipping a cup that had the shape of a teddy bear through a green straw. At least Spock's eyesight was going. Unbeknownst to either of them, behind the counter, was a Cardassian assassin. His eyes was glistening at the unsuspecting man. He was about to take out the blade when a gruff brown hand snatched him into the back and he was replaced by the terrified station manager. McCoy was leaned back against the counter enjoying to be on the ground rather than in the air. Height was never his strong suits.

Then the roller coaster flew, quickly down, followed by what most people never see. A Vulcan smiling while a human, who was right beside him, was apparently terrified. Screams of mixed types came out. In the back end of the snack station we can see the Cardassian assassin is locked in the arms of two Klingons being interrogated. The noise outside prevented McCoy from hearing the scream of the Cardassian. A land based vehicle came to the back end of the station that was blocked by a long fabric. The Cardassian is tossed into the trunk then the Klingons disappear into the vehicle and drive off. McCoy doesn't know, but there are later more charges put against Baron. Besides, Spock brings McCoy into the fun sometime later in the same day at the fair. It was one of the happiest days McCoy ever had on Aura.

But what wasn't the happiest moment in his life was Spock speeding to the fair and Jim requesting he go faster.

Not the brightest when McCoy demanded he slow down.

The others, however, were more than happy to feel the wind brush against their faces.

Chekov even said, "RUSSIA INVENTED SPEED BUGGIES!" while flailing his arms in the wind as Sulu,Scotty, and Uhura laughed.

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