The Man Out of Time

Chapter 10

When Jim and I walk out of the room, Jim makes a call to Scotty.

"Oh, well now! If it isn't Captain James Tiberius Perfect Hair? Did you hear that? I called him 'perfect hair', yeah."

I stifled a laugh at the name Scotty had just called him.

"A-are you drunk?"

"Of course he's drunk, he just called you James Tiberius Perfect Hair." I said to Jim.

"What I do in my private time is my business Jimbo." Scotty answered over the communicator.

"I need you to help me with something, take these coordinates down. 23, 17, 46, 11." He pauses. "Are you writing?"

"What? You don't think I can remember four numbers?" Scotty replies, then starts chuckling, "You have little faith." He pauses. "What was the third one?"

"46." Jim says carefully, enunciating every syllable. "Don't know exactly what you're looking for, but I have a feeling you'll know it when you see it." He pauses. "You may have been right about those torpedoes."

"I'll consider that an apology and I'll consider that apology."

"You are the one who quit."

"You made me quit!" Scotty hangs up.

"Mr. Scott? Scotty-agh!" Jim puts away his communicator.

"Come on, let's go to the bridge, 'Perfect Hair.'"

"Oh shut up." Jim says, and nudges me with his elbow.

"You know I'm never going to let you forget that."

"Fantastic." Jim says with no emotion.

"Yep." I smile to myself.

"Are you out of your corn fed mind?" Bones starts to Jim on the bridge after Jim tells Spock and Bones about what Harrison said to us.

"Probably." I comment.

"You're not gonna actually listen to this guy. He killed Pike, he almost killed you and now you think it's a good idea to pop open a torpedo because he dared you to?" Bones says.

"Why did he save our lives, Bones?" Jim asks.

"The doctor does have a point, Captains."

"Don't agree with me Spock, that makes me very uncomfortable." Bones says.

"Perhaps you too should learn to govern your emotions, doctor. In this situation, logic dictates that we have-"

"Logic! My God! There's a maniac trying to blow up our damn ship, and you're talking about-"

"Stop it! I don't know why he surrendered, but that's not it. So if we're gonna open a torpedo, the question is, how?"

"But Jim, Natasha, without Mr. Scott on board, who exactly is qualified to just pop open a four-ton stick of dynamite?"

"The Admiral's daughter appeared to be interested in the torpedoes, and she is a weapons specialist. Perhaps she could be of some use."

"What Admiral's daughter?" Jim and I both ask Spock at the same time, looking confused.

"Carol Marcus. Your new Science Officer concealed her identity to board the ship."

"When were you going to tell us that?" I ask.

"When it became relevant, as it just did." Spock answers.

Jim leaves to meet up with Carol, and in a few minutes he calls me on my communicator.