[video]

[captaincocksure]

[Jim knows something's gone wrong the moment the whizzing incandescent sparks of the transporter beam fade from his vision.

Since when does a farming community have an ornate library?

He turns to his right to demand a report from Spock... but Spock's not there. To his left, to find McCoy's not there either.

He reaches for his communicator but its heft is unfamiliar in his hand. It's not his. But it's obviously a communication device of some sort. He fiddles with it, manages to turn on the voice broadcasting.]

Kirk to Enterprise, come in. Enterprise, are you receiving me?

[A pause as he waits for an answer and gets none. He tries a different tack.]

Cassiopeia 3 Colony, this is Captain Kirk, do you copy?

[That clearly doesn't get him what he wants, either. There's a faint sigh, the sort that comes when someone's preparing themselves to speak, and then the video comes on. Jim is perfectly in frame, looking directly into the device, shoulders straight, and he speaks with confidence and authority that almost don't seem to fit with his obvious youth. Clearly he's done this before.]

This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. I respectfully request an audience, whether via this communication device or in person, with a member of the governing body, ruler, or other authority of this location, or their designated representative.

This place was not my intended destination. If I've arrived here in error, I will need some information to help me figure out how to correct it. If I was purposefully brought here, please accept my gratitude for arriving unharmed, but I obviously have questions about the conditions surrounding my transport and I would like to negotiate the terms of my return.

[He pauses again, and his expression softens. This is clearly less Official Command Officer Business, and more a casual, polite request.]

...I appear to be in a library. If someone could tell me how to get out, and where to find the people I need to talk to, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Comments

[camebefore]

[For his part, Hannibal continues to study Jim with a patient brand of interest.]

Any sort of unusual food or medication you may have taken lately?

[Some patients simply don't know when they're sick and needing help. Or study as the case may be.]

[captaincocksure]

[Jim can't help the good-natured smile that spreads across his lips.]

I'm not on any medication, and I haven't eaten anything strange. I'm very sure, sir, that I'm neither injured nor having some reaction.

Why do you ask?

[camebefore]

[A small huff greets Jim from Hannibal's end as he straightens his spine and exchanges the kindness for a glare.]

I'm a doctor, that's why. You are displaying all the signs of a head injury or simple delusion. You need to have that checked.

[Have a bullying stare, Jim.]

There is no such thing as space travel or any way to reach there. Something is causing this. Maybe a fear of entrapment or being limited?

[captaincocksure]

[Man, oh man, the way his doctor shifts from I'm genuinely concerned about you to were you dropped on your head, you sure act like it, withering glare and all, he half-expects that "I'm a doctor" to lead into "not a (insert some profession related to their current predicament here, look, McCoy's the actual witty one)".

Jim shakes his head, smiling.]

I don't have either of those fears. I'm not delusional, I didn't crack my head open getting here. I came here from space.

I'm not from space, I just work there. I'm from Iowa, on Earth. Space travel exists; it has for almost a century and a half now. Well before I was born.

[And then a lightbulb goes off. If this place is powerful enough to drag people here from all over space--why not time, too?]

I was born on Stardate-- uh. [Quick mental calculation, bear with him.] In the year. 2233. What about you, Doctor?

[camebefore]

[The look on Hannibal's face says he is surely not buying the load of fecal material you're trying to shovel there, Jim.]

Space. From Iowa. I am assuming you mean 'Iowa' in the United States of America. From there into outer space.

[A brow rises that the mention of a 'stardate' but he looks willing to play along. For now. Best to indulge the madman spaceman.]

2233? As in 2233 Anno Domini? I was born in 1933 AD. In my world, it was 1951 AD when I left. [A small frown comes as if he were remembering something at that. The gaze on Kirk's face sharpens as if Hannibal were grappling with a problem he didn't know how to define yet. He had already been told of timelines being different, centuries ahead or behind.] You really have been to outer space? Truly? Seen the stars?

[captaincocksure]

[Jim's nodding, a smile curving his mouth.]

Yeah. 2233 Anno Domini. That's what they called it before the stardate system was adopted. --It's really not that different, they just did away with months and gave each day of the year a numerical designation. I was born on Stardate 2233.04, .04 is the fourth day of the year 2233. Under the old system it's January 4, 2233.

...So you're three hundred years my senior. 1951, um...

[Insert the universal face for they taught me that in school and I forgot already, damn, try to remember.]

I've forgotten a lot of my early space history but if memory serves we launch the first space probes in that decade? Men in orbit the following one, we land on the moon at the end of that decade, then there's a space station... But First Contact was 2064.94. That's the first time people from two different planets met.

[His smile grows wider, almost proud.]

Almost two centuries on, I command a starship. We're on a five-year exploratory mission in deep space. I really have seen the stars.

[camebefore]

I'm eighteen, I'll have you know. [Huff. Senior. That's the older version of himself. That Hannibal is almost ancient. Distraction comes soon enough with Jim's numerical lesson. Hannibal can't stop the sterner look that comes at Jim's expression of forgetfulness. It's a bad habit of his.]

An interesting way to date. A bit confusing if you have to count out days, but it would make sense. [It doesn't help his attempt at being stern when he gets off track trying to remember any talk of space in his era. Nothing comes yet, but he hadn't been pay that much attention. A wistfulness comes at knowing he's going to miss this 'first contact' by more than a century.]

A shame it will not come in my time. I should like to see stars and Saturn for myself. You command a starship? You? You don't look old enough. [Or smart enough forgetting history like that, but Hannibal keeps that to himself for now.]

[captaincocksure]

[Jim smiles the well-practiced sort of smile that says he's fielded that observation before.]

I'm twenty-seven. I am the youngest captain in the fleet. They gave me the Enterprise two years ago--

[When he was twenty-five, many people find that alarming. They were right; he proved he wasn't ready and temporarily lost the ship a year later.]

Initially in a battlefield promotion but then on the merits of my service. I've earned it.

[Earned it back. With his very life, in the end; thank goodness McCoy is the most resourceful doctor in the fleet.]

[camebefore]

[Hannibal lack of a smile says he's still feeling that Jim is trying to feed him a line of bullshit.]

[He is quiet for a minute in thought before asking his question quite seriously.]

If it was a battlefield promotion, were you the only one left alive?

[captaincocksure]

[Jim falls silent a long moment, before shaking his head, grim.]

I was not the only one left alive. I was on the only one of six starships sent to rescue a planet under attack. The other five, and all their crews, perished.

I was made First Officer of my ship shortly before undertaking what wound up being an unsuccessful mission to stop the planet's destruction. The Acting Captain was a native of that planet and its loss deeply affected him; he resigned commission the next morning and I advanced to Captain.

A similar attack was launched on Earth within a day; we were able to stop it and destroy the attacking ship with our single ship.

[camebefore]

[Another of those seconds of quiet pass on Hannibal's part this time. He watches Jim's face, his own staying as blank as a statue's. There is no pity shown for what Jim describes or the shifting tone of their conversation.]

I would apologize for calling up old memories, but I imagine you've been told 'I'm sorry' by now by too many people who don't mean it or can't grasp how insignificant those two little words are.

[He doesn't add aloud the qualifier of 'if what you say is true'. There is a limit to rudeness he'll display.]

I am sorry to tell you, Captain Kirk, that I've never heard of your 'Enterprise'. Perhaps others will be able to help you.

[captaincocksure]

[Jim nods, impressed by that.]

I'm sure people mean well but I've had enough empty platitudes to last me a lifetime.

Thank you, Doctor. I hope so too.

[camebefore]

I had thought you might.

[That much he could guess and understand with his own experiences.]

Luck be with you, Captain.

[With that, the feed ends with a soft click.]