We're not in Kansas any more
McCoy opened his eyes to let in a sliver of light. That hurt his head, so he closed them again. He groaned, he hadn't felt this bad since the day after he signed the final divorce papers with Jocelyn. That particular drinking session had ended with him enlisting in Starfleet. He hadn't been completely sober until two days after arriving at the Academy. He didn't remember drinking anything this time though - last thing he remembered was going down to the planet Sumaris, which lay within the Thessalian cloud, an area of space the Enterprise had been tasked with plotting.
Something prodded him in his side and a familiar voice hissed "Wake up, you fool!"
McCoy opened his eyes again, and found that he was looking at himself.
"Am I dead?" he asked his reflection.
"No," his reflection hissed, "But you soon will be if the Captain finds you. Who the hell are you?"
McCoy pondered the many possible answers to that question, given that he himself had asked it, but then got distracted by something new. "You have a beard," he exclaimed in surprise.
"Be quiet!" his reflection whispered fiercely. "Yes, I have a beard. They're fashionable. Now get up, I need to keep you hidden. The diagnostic scanner shows you're not injured, once I convinced it to stop thinking you were me!"
McCoy sat up, "I'm not where I used to be, am I?"
His reflection shook his head, "I... I don't think so. There's a gateway, I think you fell through it. That's where I found you, I brought you back here to sickbay."
"Dammit man, I'm a doctor not Alice in Wonderland!" McCoy spluttered, "Are you saying I fell through the looking glass?"
His reflection smiled, "I think so." He pulled McCoy off the bed he'd been lying on, leading him through to the back of sickbay, "I've had a lot of spare time for studying since joining this ship's crew, so I've been reading up on current universe theory. I think you came from an alternate universe."
McCoy groaned, "Not again."
It was his reflection's turn to raise his eyebrow, "Again? This happen to you a lot?"
"No. Just the once. Mad Romulans and worm-holes, I don't understand it. Unfortunately, I'm a cranky medic who's divorced and doesn't get to see his daughter in both versions of the universe that I know of. What about you?"
The smile his reflection gave was warm and full, an odd sight on his scarred face, "I'm still married. Jocelyn and Joanna live safely on a planet far away from Empire control. I see them when I can. In a few more years, I'll have completed my conscripted term and I'll be able to go home."
McCoy's heart ached.
His reflection saw him struggling with the emotion and patted him gently on his shoulder. "Now that you're conscious, we'd better get you back to your universe. Wait here, I want to get you a set of scrubs."
McCoy nodded and while he waited, he looked around. His face grew blank with horror as he saw shelves of torture equipment where there should have been medicines, even the diagnostic beds looked designed for prisoners rather than patients.
"You're no doctor," he whispered, "You're a goddamned butcher!"
His reflection winced, "I can see it looks that way. But I promise you, I am no butcher. This is the Imperial Starfleet. They have little need for doctors, what they need are interrogators, people who can keep prisoners alive through prolonged torture. I do what I can to save people who the Captain decides are... no longer of use, but to do that I have to appear beyond reproach - and that means this," he waved his arm around the room, "this hideous twisted approach to medicine." He rubbed roughly at his chin, "And this beard too! A lot the hard-liners wear them, I hate it, but I must look like them. Just three more years and I'm done."
McCoy shivered, "You might have Jocelyn and Joanna, but I do not like your world."
His reflection smiled sadly, "Neither do I." He thrust a set of scrubs into McCoy's hands. "Here put these on. I'm going to get some surgical tape, cover your face a bit."
McCoy slipped quickly into the scrubs, and stood patiently while his reflection covered the lower half of his face with tape. "I can't keep thinking of you as me, it's confusing." he commented, "What should I call you?"
"My friends call me Len, I'll include you in that list," the other McCoy replied, while adding tape to cover McCoy's eyebrows.
"Hmph, thanks! Call me Bones."
Len chuckled, "Bones?"
McCoy groaned, "A joke I made to Jim before joining Starfleet. Don't ask."
Len stopped and looked closely at Bones, "Jim? You're friends with your Captain?"
Bones nodded, "He's my closest friend, even if he is annoyingly cocky at times."
Len shook his head, "Yours is a very different world." He stepped back and looked critically at his work, "That'll do. Come with me. If we meet anyone, keep your head down. No-one will think it odd, it's how people are here."
Len took Bones by the arm and led him out of sickbay and down a corridor. Bones kept his head down, but stole glances from side to side, the ship seemed so very like his own Enterprise, but everything was darker, and doors had locks on them and security guards. He noticed that those security guards studiously avoided looking at him and Len, the doctor on this ship was a feared man it seemed.
When they got to the transporter room, Len tapped in a security code to open the doors. Bones had to work hard not to show his surprise when he saw Scotty working at the transporter controls. This was definitely not his Scotty though, there was none of the engineer's cheerful energy about this man.
"Doctor McCoy," this Scotty said quietly, "how can I help you sir?"
"Beam us both down to the surface." Len ordered curtly, and stepped up to the transporter pad, pulling Bones with him. Len roughly pushed Bones on to one platform and stood on another. "Now." he ordered.
Bones felt the familiar tingling as the transporter beam took them, and then they re-emerged on the planet's surface. Bones looked around him, and saw that they had landed next to a cliff-face that was familiar. "This is where I came with Jim this morning." he said quietly to Len, "I went exploring in some caves."
Len nodded, "That's where the gateway is. We need to hurry. I've got to get you back there before anyone else finds it. Luckily no-one will ask questions about what I am doing. Quick, over here!"
Len pulled Bones by the arm and they ran over to the entrance to a cave. Once inside the cave, Len pulled out a flashlight and switched it on. "This way," he said and ran down to the back of the cave, Bones followed him. Deep inside the cave, it split into two tunnels, Len ran down the one on the left. They ran another hundred metres before the tunnel came to a dead end. Recessed into the wall at the end was what looked like a shimmering mirror.
"This is the gateway," Len said. "I found you here, you must have stepped through or fallen."
Bones nodded, "I remember now. I was looking at the gateway and I felt dizzy. I must have fallen through." He stepped closer to the gateway, "Yes, look" he pointed at the image, "there's my medical bag. I must have dropped it as I fell."
He turned to Len and held out his hand, Len shook it with a smile. "I'm glad it was you who found me." Bones commented. "Come with me!" he said impulsively. "We can give you asylum."
Len shook his head, "I can't. I can't leave Jocelyn and Joanna. And what I do here might not make much difference, but I know I have saved some lives. The man you saw in the transporter room, Scott, he's only alive because I was able to convince the Captain that we needed him to keep the ship working. I have to stay, help those who I can."
Bones nodded, "I understand. Well, if it all gets unbearable, at least you know this gateway's here."
Len shook his head again, "No. I can't risk the Captain finding it. If he were to know about a link to another universe, I dread to think what he would do." Len swallowed, "We have to destroy it."
Bones tried to argue, but Len stopped him, "We have no choice. And we must do it now, before we are found."
Bones simply nodded, "How?" he asked.
"Do you have a phaser?"
"Yes, in my bag." Bones gestured towards the gateway.
"My original scans lead me to believe that a wide area dispersal beam set at the highest power should disrupt the gateway surface enough to destroy it. If we both shoot at an angle, we won't be hit by the other's phaser beam."
Bones put his hand on Len's shoulder, "You're a good man." he said softly, "I'm glad to have met you."
Len smiled, "And I you."
Bones turned and stepped through the gateway. Arriving at the other side, he picked up his medical bag and pulled out his phaser. Setting the control to the highest level wide area dispersal, he stood over to one side and started to fire. He watched Len do the same. After several seconds of constant firing, the gateway's surface began to freeze and crack. As he watched the surface grow dark and dead, he raised his hand in a final farewell.
-----
This story was inspired by a picture and a comment in the Karl Urban thread in the Trek XI forum:
McCoy opened his eyes to let in a sliver of light. That hurt his head, so he closed them again. He groaned, he hadn't felt this bad since the day after he signed the final divorce papers with Jocelyn. That particular drinking session had ended with him enlisting in Starfleet. He hadn't been completely sober until two days after arriving at the Academy. He didn't remember drinking anything this time though - last thing he remembered was going down to the planet Sumaris, which lay within the Thessalian cloud, an area of space the Enterprise had been tasked with plotting.
Something prodded him in his side and a familiar voice hissed "Wake up, you fool!"
McCoy opened his eyes again, and found that he was looking at himself.
"Am I dead?" he asked his reflection.
"No," his reflection hissed, "But you soon will be if the Captain finds you. Who the hell are you?"
McCoy pondered the many possible answers to that question, given that he himself had asked it, but then got distracted by something new. "You have a beard," he exclaimed in surprise.
"Be quiet!" his reflection whispered fiercely. "Yes, I have a beard. They're fashionable. Now get up, I need to keep you hidden. The diagnostic scanner shows you're not injured, once I convinced it to stop thinking you were me!"
McCoy sat up, "I'm not where I used to be, am I?"
His reflection shook his head, "I... I don't think so. There's a gateway, I think you fell through it. That's where I found you, I brought you back here to sickbay."
"Dammit man, I'm a doctor not Alice in Wonderland!" McCoy spluttered, "Are you saying I fell through the looking glass?"
His reflection smiled, "I think so." He pulled McCoy off the bed he'd been lying on, leading him through to the back of sickbay, "I've had a lot of spare time for studying since joining this ship's crew, so I've been reading up on current universe theory. I think you came from an alternate universe."
McCoy groaned, "Not again."
It was his reflection's turn to raise his eyebrow, "Again? This happen to you a lot?"
"No. Just the once. Mad Romulans and worm-holes, I don't understand it. Unfortunately, I'm a cranky medic who's divorced and doesn't get to see his daughter in both versions of the universe that I know of. What about you?"
The smile his reflection gave was warm and full, an odd sight on his scarred face, "I'm still married. Jocelyn and Joanna live safely on a planet far away from Empire control. I see them when I can. In a few more years, I'll have completed my conscripted term and I'll be able to go home."
McCoy's heart ached.
His reflection saw him struggling with the emotion and patted him gently on his shoulder. "Now that you're conscious, we'd better get you back to your universe. Wait here, I want to get you a set of scrubs."
McCoy nodded and while he waited, he looked around. His face grew blank with horror as he saw shelves of torture equipment where there should have been medicines, even the diagnostic beds looked designed for prisoners rather than patients.
"You're no doctor," he whispered, "You're a goddamned butcher!"
His reflection winced, "I can see it looks that way. But I promise you, I am no butcher. This is the Imperial Starfleet. They have little need for doctors, what they need are interrogators, people who can keep prisoners alive through prolonged torture. I do what I can to save people who the Captain decides are... no longer of use, but to do that I have to appear beyond reproach - and that means this," he waved his arm around the room, "this hideous twisted approach to medicine." He rubbed roughly at his chin, "And this beard too! A lot the hard-liners wear them, I hate it, but I must look like them. Just three more years and I'm done."
McCoy shivered, "You might have Jocelyn and Joanna, but I do not like your world."
His reflection smiled sadly, "Neither do I." He thrust a set of scrubs into McCoy's hands. "Here put these on. I'm going to get some surgical tape, cover your face a bit."
McCoy slipped quickly into the scrubs, and stood patiently while his reflection covered the lower half of his face with tape. "I can't keep thinking of you as me, it's confusing." he commented, "What should I call you?"
"My friends call me Len, I'll include you in that list," the other McCoy replied, while adding tape to cover McCoy's eyebrows.
"Hmph, thanks! Call me Bones."
Len chuckled, "Bones?"
McCoy groaned, "A joke I made to Jim before joining Starfleet. Don't ask."
Len stopped and looked closely at Bones, "Jim? You're friends with your Captain?"
Bones nodded, "He's my closest friend, even if he is annoyingly cocky at times."
Len shook his head, "Yours is a very different world." He stepped back and looked critically at his work, "That'll do. Come with me. If we meet anyone, keep your head down. No-one will think it odd, it's how people are here."
Len took Bones by the arm and led him out of sickbay and down a corridor. Bones kept his head down, but stole glances from side to side, the ship seemed so very like his own Enterprise, but everything was darker, and doors had locks on them and security guards. He noticed that those security guards studiously avoided looking at him and Len, the doctor on this ship was a feared man it seemed.
When they got to the transporter room, Len tapped in a security code to open the doors. Bones had to work hard not to show his surprise when he saw Scotty working at the transporter controls. This was definitely not his Scotty though, there was none of the engineer's cheerful energy about this man.
"Doctor McCoy," this Scotty said quietly, "how can I help you sir?"
"Beam us both down to the surface." Len ordered curtly, and stepped up to the transporter pad, pulling Bones with him. Len roughly pushed Bones on to one platform and stood on another. "Now." he ordered.
Bones felt the familiar tingling as the transporter beam took them, and then they re-emerged on the planet's surface. Bones looked around him, and saw that they had landed next to a cliff-face that was familiar. "This is where I came with Jim this morning." he said quietly to Len, "I went exploring in some caves."
Len nodded, "That's where the gateway is. We need to hurry. I've got to get you back there before anyone else finds it. Luckily no-one will ask questions about what I am doing. Quick, over here!"
Len pulled Bones by the arm and they ran over to the entrance to a cave. Once inside the cave, Len pulled out a flashlight and switched it on. "This way," he said and ran down to the back of the cave, Bones followed him. Deep inside the cave, it split into two tunnels, Len ran down the one on the left. They ran another hundred metres before the tunnel came to a dead end. Recessed into the wall at the end was what looked like a shimmering mirror.
"This is the gateway," Len said. "I found you here, you must have stepped through or fallen."
Bones nodded, "I remember now. I was looking at the gateway and I felt dizzy. I must have fallen through." He stepped closer to the gateway, "Yes, look" he pointed at the image, "there's my medical bag. I must have dropped it as I fell."
He turned to Len and held out his hand, Len shook it with a smile. "I'm glad it was you who found me." Bones commented. "Come with me!" he said impulsively. "We can give you asylum."
Len shook his head, "I can't. I can't leave Jocelyn and Joanna. And what I do here might not make much difference, but I know I have saved some lives. The man you saw in the transporter room, Scott, he's only alive because I was able to convince the Captain that we needed him to keep the ship working. I have to stay, help those who I can."
Bones nodded, "I understand. Well, if it all gets unbearable, at least you know this gateway's here."
Len shook his head again, "No. I can't risk the Captain finding it. If he were to know about a link to another universe, I dread to think what he would do." Len swallowed, "We have to destroy it."
Bones tried to argue, but Len stopped him, "We have no choice. And we must do it now, before we are found."
Bones simply nodded, "How?" he asked.
"Do you have a phaser?"
"Yes, in my bag." Bones gestured towards the gateway.
"My original scans lead me to believe that a wide area dispersal beam set at the highest power should disrupt the gateway surface enough to destroy it. If we both shoot at an angle, we won't be hit by the other's phaser beam."
Bones put his hand on Len's shoulder, "You're a good man." he said softly, "I'm glad to have met you."
Len smiled, "And I you."
Bones turned and stepped through the gateway. Arriving at the other side, he picked up his medical bag and pulled out his phaser. Setting the control to the highest level wide area dispersal, he stood over to one side and started to fire. He watched Len do the same. After several seconds of constant firing, the gateway's surface began to freeze and crack. As he watched the surface grow dark and dead, he raised his hand in a final farewell.
-----
This story was inspired by a picture and a comment in the Karl Urban thread in the Trek XI forum:
Here we go!
SalvorHardin's mirror McCoy.
Isn't it awesome?
Hey, you still got the original of this pic?
I like to think that in the MU Mc Coy is just this happy go lucky person who gives people hugs.
