Peak of Fools

Chapter 6 - Hopes and Fears

Hopes and Fears

Just as Spock and McCoy were taking a moment to digest the FO's groundbreaking discovery, a very excited Lieutenant Uhura called from the bridge. She was working the Gamma shift with Sulu when they detected the energy field as well. Unable to raise Mr Spock in his quarters, Uhura finally managed to track him down in the conference room, only to find that the first officer was already aware that the mysterious energy field had reappeared. Spock ordered her to call Captain Kirk and all key personnel to an emergency meeting. He had to inform them of his discovery immediately and they urgently needed to discuss how next steps.

As Spock briefly summed up his discovery for Uhura, the communications officer didn't attempt to hide her joy and reinvigorated hope.

"Mr Spock, if the probe has really been transported to another galaxy through a wormhole, it could take longer for the probe's signal to reach us. Scotty... and the landing party..." Uhura's voice broke, strained by her mixed emotions.

"Yes, Uhura, Scotty and his men might still be alive after all", McCoy joined the conversation from his seat next to Spock, his gentle Southern drawl soothing Uhura and Sulu's worries. Just as the doctor was following the conversation next to Spock, so did the helmsman who was standing next to the communications officer's station. Sulu exchanged a worried look with his friend – could they dare to hope?

"Even if we do receive a signal from Lieutenant Commander Scott, Lieutenant Brown and Lieutenant Monet, which would confirm that they are still alive, it doesn't mean that we will ever be able to retrieve them."

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Bones' knowledge of astro-physics was rudimental, but the implications of Spock's baffling discovery were obvious even to him. The doctor was on his way to Kirk's quarters to pick him up for the emergency meeting which the first officer had scheduled at 0500 hours. Carrying a flask of freshly brewed coffee for himself and the captain, Bones hurried towards the turbo-lift that would carry him up to deck 5.

On his way to Jim's quarters, the doctor recalled what he knew about wormholes. Granted, his knowledge on the subject was limited. However he was very familiar with one of the most striking Starfleet tales known, which happened to concern this mysterious phenomena.

In 300 years of humanoid space exploration only one apparent encounter between an observer and a wormhole had been recorded on file. But the story of this strange occurrence was more of a Starfleet fairy-tale than proven scientific fact.

70 years ago Captain Amir Azar was transporting provisions between Earth and Vulcan with his freighter, the Mercury. The crew consisted only of himself, a pilot and an engineer. The two Federation control outposts on Vulcan and on Earth registered the Mercury's sudden disappearance halfway into the journey. But no attack had been detected and no wreckage was ever found. Furthermore, there had only been seemingly insignificant abnormalities in the space-time continuum in the vicinity where the freighter had disappeared. At the time, those abnormalities had been attributed to a recent solar flare.

Wild conspiracy theories followed the Mercury's mysterious disappearance, including tales about abduction by Vulcan dissidents, a Romulan act of terrorism and Klingon pirates. None of those theories were ever proven. After two years of reviewing the case over and over again, Starfleet finally stored the incident in their 'unresolved' file and ended their enquiry.

Shortly after, Azar reappeared on Rigel 7, literally out of nowhere.

Bones knew this famous piece of Federation folklore so well because one of his tutors at the Medical Academy had been a trainee doctor on Rigel 7 at the time and had encountered Captain Azar personally. This popular tutor, a man already well into his 80's, often shared his personal memories of Azar's incredible story with his students.