Through a Wormhole and Among the Stars

Rescued

Kirk, Bones, and Uhura were the ones who opened the small ship once it came on board. They noticed some exterior damage, as if part of it had been blown up. They called out in the mostly empty vessel, hoping for an answer and heard a groan to their right, turning to see Eiffel slumped over in a chair. He looked like a complete wreck. He had gone bald, a few strands of hair that were still frozen were sticking up, and his skin was cracked all over his body. His fingers and toes were like bloody stumps after his nails fell off. His normally dark skin now had a sickening pale blue hue to it, and with his half closed eyes he looked like a frozen corpse. Bones widened his eyes when he saw the man who looked like he was barely clinging on. "Jesus Christ, how is he still alive?" he asked. Bones looked at him before grabbing his tricorder to scan his body, noticing he was somewhat awake. "Hey, I need you to stay awake, no good you fallin' asleep." Eiffel opened his eyes slightly only to shut them immediately. "'M already 'sleep," he mumbled, barely coherent.

Bones looked at the readings and shook his head, "Damn where do I even begin," he said in shock. He took out a hypo spray and inserted it into his neck, noticing how he tried to jerk away from the pain. It was good that he could feel that, it meant he was still responsive. "C'mon, I need you to stay awake for me," his tone was stern, but so much care was behind those words. Jim picked up his limp form and they rushed to sick bay.

After they reached the operating room, Bones set to work and Jim and Uhura were sent back to the bridge. "I'll let you know how he's doin'," Bones told him. He nodded and left his friend to his work, letting Nurse Chapel in through the door as he slid out.

"He's got some sort of virus in his system. It's not like anything I've ever seen, almost as if it was tailored to kill him. But the weird thing is that it seems to be dormant, at least for now. Hand me the regenerator," he said and Chapel complied, handing him the tool. "Thank you. And can you give him some pain killers?" It took a while, but he was finally in a somewhat stable condition. He was still out of it, but Bones knew that was to be expected. He was still hesitant to leave him however, so he decided to stay with him a little bit longer and check up on him throughout the night. He scanned his body once more, frowning when he saw no improvement on the mysterious disease. He needed a second opinion. Damnit, he needed Spock.

They talked for a while, discussing the symptoms and his current condition, hypothesizing about possible cures and treatments. He already looked better after warming up and using the tissue regenerator: his skin wasn't as cracked and his nails were already back, even if they were thin and brittle. As they talked in a loud whisper, Eiffel began to stir, mumbling in his sleep as he tried to shift his body. They stopped talking and Bones walked over to his bed, a warm smile finding its way onto his face as he greeted him gently, "Hey, you're up. How're you feeling?"

Eiffel rubbed his head, grimacing as he tried to sit up. Bones placed a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back into a laying position. He groaned, "Hera, turn down the lights." Bones disregarded the name, sure he was still delirious from passing out for so long, "Unfortunately I have to have the lights on no less than 40% in sick bay, so this is as dim as they can get. I'm Doctor McCoy," he said, holding out his hand. Eiffel stared up at him in awe, "No way." He took his hand and shook it, squeezing it slightly. "Oh man, everything seems so real," he said, looking around the room in amazement.

"It is real," Bones assured, but Eiffel shook his head.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure this is all in my head. I mean, you're all just characters, so this can't be real, right?" Bones blinked in surprise and Spock turned to him, "Perhaps the wormhole we passed through brought us to a parallel universe, one in which we are not real people," he offered.

"We better talk to Jim," Bones said before turning to Eiffel, "Stay here," he ordered. "Sure thing Doc," he said flashing him a thumbs up. He waited for the door to close and checked to see if the coast was clear before he made to stand. He stumbled forth on wobbly legs before catching himself. He stared in shock at his feet that were firmly planted on the ground and stomped once, twice. He grabbed a pen off of a nearby desk and let go, watching it fall to the floor. He wasn't floating. Maybe this was real... Or maybe it was his mind playing a cruel trick on him, trying to convince him that he was somewhere safe when he really wasn't. It wouldn't be the first time. Back on the Hephaestus he often dreamed that he was back on earth, on solid ground, and he had his normal life back. But he also had wild dreams that seemed well beyond the realm of possibility, and he was pretty sure this might be one of them. Maybe this was his version of heaven. He was a big enough nerd for it to be considered heaven.

He walked around the empty med bay and soon became bored. He knew he was told to stay put, but it was too tempting to slip out the door. If he were back on the Hephaestus, Hilbert would've just strapped him to the bed or have Minkowski or Hera track him down for him. But he wasn't on the Hephaestus, and probably never would be again... A little walk outside wouldn't hurt. Just down the hall.

He peaked out the door, checking both ways to see if anyone was coming before he stepped out. He pulled his iv stand through the door and started shuffling down the long corridor. Man, the Enterprise was a lot bigger than it looked on tv. He was half way down the hall when suddenly four people rounded the corner and they all stopped dead in their tracks. Bones was the first to recover from his shock and his expression quickly morphed into one of anger.

"What the hell did I say?" he yelled and rushed up to his patient, using his arm to help support him. It was clear that he was not happy with him, and it was honestly a little scarier than Eiffel thought it would be.

"To stay put..."

"That's right, so what are you doing out here?"

"I was bored! And c'mon, I'm on the freaking Starship Enterprise how can I not be expected to wander around?" Bones rolled his eyes, helping him back to sick bay and mumbling to himself, "Damn kid's just as bad as Kirk." Eiffel couldn't help but notice the quick smile that flashed on Kirk's face at those words and felt his heart flutter a bit.

Bones laid him back down on his bed and helped him get comfortable before taking a seat in front of him. "How're you feeling? You must be feeling pretty well considering the field trip you just took." Eiffel laughed briefly, "Yeah, I feel better than I did earlier."

Jim adjusted himself before he spoke, "I know this might be hard to talk about, but how long were you on that ship?"

Eiffel reached up to run a hand through his hair, but stopped when his fingers touched his scalp, remembering that his hair was still gone. He brought his arm back down with a dejected look that he quickly tried to mask as neutral. "Uh it's hard to say cause I went in the cryo so many times, but I think a couple hundred at least? I was several thousand light years away from this base and my boosters could blast once every three days, so I'd put myself under, wake up, try the boosters, send out a distress message and repeat. I did that until I ran out of water," he explained. I'm still not convinced I'm off that fucking thing, he wanted to add.

"The state that we found you in was alarming, but I'm glad you're feeling better, just don't get up and go wandering around damnit!" Bones scolded, wanting to make his point clear. "Not only are you still weak and sick, but you could also infect other people since I don't know what the hell is wrong with you." Eiffel met his eyes, "The Decima virus..."

Everyone was very interested, but also very confused. He knew about this? And knew what it was? Bones decided he needed to get all the answers he could. "You obviously know more about this than me, so what is it, and how did you get it?" Eiffel snorted; he couldn't believe he was having to explain his disease to Doctor Leonard McCoy himself.

"Apparently I was the lab rat for a virus that's supposed to save humanity and make them stronger, but also slowly kills you since it's not perfected yet, or at least that's what I gathered from Dr. Frankenstein's fucked up excuse for injecting me with the modern black plague," Eiffel spat out and crossed his arms over his chest. He hated Hilbert for what he had done to him and betraying the whole crew, but after everything, he still missed him. The fact that knowing you'll never get the chance to see someone again, even if you can't stand them, makes you miss them. He was frustrated with himself for the fact he would give anything to see Hilbert again, because that would mean he was back with his crew. Still, he felt the bitterness rise as he spoke, "That bastard injected me with the virus after he already tested and killed Lovelace's crew, all while pretending to be my friend." He wasn't talking to them anymore, instead addressing himself out loud. "And now I'm stuck with it, and without him to keep it in check, I'll die." He stared straight ahead, refusing to look at any of them. He knew he was slowly going insane, he could feel it. His grip on reality slowly loosened and he just knew he was going to wake up on that tiny space ship surrounded by nothing but stars. He was brought out of his thoughts by two strong hands gripping his shoulders, "You're not gonna die because I won't let you." Eiffel blinked a few times and found himself staring straight into Bones' eyes, and it made him feel a little bit safer. And he believed him.