A/N: It's done! Here's the epilogue! Thanks for waiting, guys, and for all those reviews! Forgot to cite 'Court Martial' for the last chapter, so I'm putting it here because I'm lazy. :P Once again, I own nothing related to Star Trek. If you find any loose ends to the story please let me know; I abhor loose ends and I shall try to tie them all up in a nice little bow :) Thanks once again, my lovely fellow readers! And enjoy this final installment!

Epilogue

Incident report, Agent John Carney, u.i. Doug Watson

Operation Project Memory

Admiral Kesselring, Alpha Office Section 31

Starfleet

Concerning the condition of target Lieutenant-Commander Leonard H. McCoy, M.D. and the cohesion of Sigma-Draconis VII databank entity identified as 'the Teacher' a mental separation was apparent for the months preceding and weeks following the insurgency. A conscious barrier existed between Lieutenant-Commander McCoy's mind and the information stored within the Teacher. Scientific tests and neuroscans revealed the Teacher's presence in subconscious activities, both written and vocal, whenever attention lapsed. Irregular sleep patterns developed in the subject's lifestyle and cases of memory lapses occurred, during which the knowledge of the Teacher leaked. To contain the knowledge, a recording was set up for each night in the subject's quarters, and the Teacher "talked" until some activity awoke McCoy and halted the stream of information.

On the second night, cover was blown during the recording, and McCoy and the Teacher seemed to either merge, or switch places (something to either of those effects occurred, seemingly due to the subject's reliance on the latter's abilities, thus opening a way for the Teacher to emerge to the conscious forefront) before the agent was removed from the scene. Reports of negative health effects streamed in, and depending on the outcome of this change, Project Memory may either be terminated, or reinstituted for the sake of the security of the Federation.

Kirk frowned as he read the report. Sickbay was quiet, and he scrolled through the document Spock sent him on the PADD. He felt tired, but alert. His concentration didn't waver as he considered the implications of the report.

And the fact that the entire issue was now moot.

He sighed and dragged a hand across his face. Weary- that was a good word for it. He felt weary.

The door slid open and Spock stepped in. He looked as weary as Kirk felt, though carried it honorably with his Vulcan countenance.

"Hey, Spock," he said gravelly. He tried to clear his throat, but his tongue got stuck.

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Captain, have you had anything to drink?"

Kirk shrugged. "Can't remember." He stretched and grimaced. "What with everything going on… and McCoy…" he broke off.

"Jim," Spock said quietly. "The matter is over now."

Kirk nodded. "I know."

"And thank God for that."

They looked up to where McCoy leaned in the doorway of his office. He glared at Kirk. "And drink something before you pass out. Don't need you dying of dehydration in the middle of your own ship, not to mention my Sickbay."

Kirk grinned weakly. "Sure, Bones."

McCoy rolled his eyes and withdrew the cup of water from behind his back. "Sure, he says. In an hour or two sure."

Kirk accepted the cup and drank as Spock stepped forward. "Status, Doctor?" he inquired.

"Still fine," McCoy shrugged. "I feel like I can breathe easier, too. Didn't realize I'd had a low-grade headache for the past couple months."

Kirk frowned. "You need to take care of yourself, Bones," he admonished.

McCoy huffed. "I didn't notice, that's what. Not with everything else going on."

True. Kirk granted him that. The first thing the doctor had reported upon waking up was a clearer mind- which was odd considering the hectic brain signals he had been emitting only moments earlier. "But you are fine now, right?"

"Never better." McCoy leaned comfortably against the wall.

"The Teacher possesses a peculiar sense of duty and survival," Spock observed. "It is not a former mind of a member of the race, as I previously hypothesized, but rather a consciousness resulting from the massive accumulation of knowledge and culture. It has the awareness of a sentient being, and yet the reactions of a computer."

McCoy cringed. "Do not put it that way, Spock, I do not want to think of it as a computer messing with my mind!"

"Nevertheless, it made a remarkable logical decision to ensure your, and its, survival. Erasing-"

"That's no different from an animal biting off its leg to free itself from a trap, Spock, which is a living, creative response-"

"However the means, gentlemen, I'm just thankful for the results," Kirk broke in.

McCoy huffed.

"Do you know how much information was destroyed, Doctor?" Spock changed the subject.

McCoy blinked. "Information is neither created nor destroyed."

Spock raised an eyebrow.

"It's all just there. Things still operate somehow and it's just a matter if we figure it out and/or forget it. None of that changes the fact that the information is always out there."

"Fascinating," Spock said absently, almost under his breath. "So what exactly did the Teacher accomplish?"

"You know how induced amnesia wasn't good for this situation?" McCoy began.

"Yes."

"The Teacher has other ways to accomplish repression. Well, not repression, but forgetting. I'm not entirely sure how it worked, other than a systematic forgetting of information. Chunks of data were just suddenly gone."

"Can you access anything?" Kirk asked.

"No. I'm just aware that there's less of it than there was. I don't know exactly what was erased, nor what remains." He took a deep breath and sighed. "But there aren't any more lapses, or other such leaks."

"So it's locked away for good," Kirk said quietly.

McCoy shrugged. "Looks like it. At most my insights will probably be sharper, but I don't expect much more than that." He finally noticed the PADD in Kirk's hand. "That our spy's report to Boss Kesselring?"

"Yes," Kirk replied. "They're not sure what to do about 'Project Memory'."

McCoy snorted. "Tell 'em to forget it. Anything concrete's sealed tight."

Spock narrowed his eyebrows. "It may be prudent, however, given Section 31's previous persistence, to imply that all, instead of some, of the information was erased from the doctor's mind."

Kirk faintly grinned. "A lie, Spock?"

Spock blinked. "An exaggeration."

"Call it what you will," McCoy shambled away from the wall. "I'm going to bed."

"Sleep tight, Bones," Kirk called.

"Right, right," McCoy waved him off. "And don't let the data, the spies, or the recorders bite… blasted project…" He disappeared out of view.

Kirk tapped the PADD thoughtfully. Spock waited in silence.

"You're right," he said at last. "We should just say that the Teacher destroyed everything."

"Indeed."

"A noble sacrifice," Kirk rose. "It could have extinguished McCoy instead of part of itself."

"Captain, I do not believe it would have done so," Spock said. "Even with the doctor's mind gone, there may still have not been enough room within a human brain to sustain everything. Also, based on what you and the recording of the Teacher say, the Teacher could have fled into the vast unconscious, but did not because the information would have interfered with processes such as heartbeat and other unconscious regulations. This indicates a concern for other life forms, particularly hosts, and a wise enough understanding that total or partial self-destruction was the only logical conclusion to such a scenario. It was remarkably-" Spock halted abruptly.

"Human, Spock?" Kirk finished for him.

Spock tilted his head. "The doctor does not need to know of this," he stated bluntly.

Kirk chuckled. "Well, we'll pass the word on to Starfleet that the information has been destroyed, at least from McCoy's mind." He stretched again and grunted as his back worked the kinks out. "It's late, and we reach Starbase 4 tomorrow to drop off the spy."

"This time would be best spent resting, Captain."

Kirk nodded. "Yeah, true. Good night, Mr. Spock."

"Good night."

Kirk exited, and Sickbay was quiet. Spock stayed for a moment, his eyes lingering on the spot of the wall McCoy had leaned against.

Information is neither created nor destroyed, Spock. It's all just there.

That statement was… remarkably true. Spock could not tell if the insight came from the remnants of the Teacher, or from McCoy's own observations.

Regardless, it changed nothing. The matter was settled. Section 31 would face charges of invasion of privacy on Starbase 4. The collective Teacher was disbanded. Whatever information remained was nestled comfortably in McCoy's subconscious.

And if the doctor did wake up one morning suddenly with the answer on how to build a nerve-grafter, well, it was contributed to the own man's genius- and any alien nudging was forgotten.