Out of the woods

Take a hand and hold on tight

"Jim!" Spock shouted.

A hand caught Jim's wrist.

"I am not letting go of your hand." Spock said.

Jim looked up to see the man who had saved his life in the nick of time. He couldn't see their face as it was a blurr. He noticed the hair was dark and was finely cut. The hand had flat youthful skin that felt soft. Jim was dangling out of a hole that was sucking in everything in. Jim could see there were a pair of pointy ears. Spock. That is who it is. But why could he not necessarily see his face? Jim could feel a odd sense of comfort from seeing the Vulcan.

The Vulcan had grabbed onto a root sticking out of the ground.

Jim looked over his shoulder to see the blue inside of the hole showing a thin layer of a event going on. It was a transporter room of some kind that wasn't the one he was familiar to. A chair tumbled through landing straight on the ground on its side. The interior of the transporter room was dark and not as bright. There were six circles that were glowing a unique shade of white.

"Spock, I think this is a location portal." Jim said.

"Captain, with all the evidence we have compiled of this phenomena anything that goes in is burned and destroyed beyond recognition," Spock said. "Burned to the crisp."

"But the portal didn't have a location in those instances," Jim said. "It could be safe."

"Captain, there are sixty-six point twenty-three chances that you will die." Spock said.

"I will be okay, you can trust me."

Spock's grip on Jim's wrist was loosening mostly because of the sheer force the hole was drawing upon and his grip on the branch was making it break apart slowly and gradually. Jim had his classic smile for reassurance. He couldn't see the look on the Vulcan's face. He could feel the hand wrapped around his hand was trembling. The Vulcan was afraid of losing him. The Vulcan cleared his throat.

"As it is customary before one's dearly beloved leaves . . ." Spock said. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Jim replied.

Spock let go of Jim's hand. Jim felt the pull of the portal bringing him towards it. The massive force that was nearly breaking the root had stopped and Jim fell into the hole where he saw the flickering edges of blue flames. He heard a scream, "Captain!" that sounded frightened, concerned, and scared. Of course he had felt a burning sensation briefly. The next he felt was pain upon landing on his side on his shoulder. Damn, that might of broken his shoulder. Yep, he broke it.

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Jim awoke from the dream.

It was 2233.

Jim wasn't a young man anymore. He was a older man. Age, sixty-three. He didn't look as young as he used to be. His blonde hair had changed to brown over the few decades that passed after he commanded his first ship. It was a momentous day when he was given the ship, his entire family was there for the ceremony. Jim could remember their proud faces, their happy smiles, and how the three boys of his brothers congratulated him. Second boy in the family to command a starship. The first five years he had commanding a starship was the greatest years he had in his life.

His golden years so to speak.

He looked at the mirror to the bathroom.

If he were younger, he wouldn't have recognized his older self at first. The lights were dim inside the apartment. He was on a starbase that he did not bother to think about. It just reminded him how screwed up his life had become and how he had began a journey to discover his identity once more. It was five thirty-two AM. Everything was so different between this era and the one he had lived in prior. Warp one was considered slow while warp eight was considered the normal warp. It was so strange. He got dressed into his typical every-day civilian attire that still fit.