Here it is! Thought I'd do something different in this chapter. A complete line break indicates a different character's perceptive.

Special thanks to KickUpSomeDust. I have made some technical changes in this chapter. I may have to refer to you when writing another survival story, which I plan to do when exams are finished.

Glaring error: I realized that I made a big error and I didn't realize it until I was in class...I literally just had time to fix it. So, I'm sorry. Nothing essential changed, just some technicalities.

Trapped

Chapter 9: The line between life and death

It is necessary to increase body temperature. Not the whole body, just the vitals, including the broken one. It needs to be fixed. I cannot fix it unless I increase body temperature. Therefore, increasing body temperature is an absolute necessity.

The broke lung must be fixed. New tissue must be created. That is what I do. I make new tissue and increase body heat. The place before is not acceptable. Though it is a preferable place, I cannot go there. My place for the moment is here. It is not easy to stay here. I keep drifting, but I keep focus.

I make new tissue and increase body heat.

The torn muscle around it is also a concern, but the lung is more important. I need to increase white blood production and soon after antibodies. The heart needs to keep beating, but something helps. Something helps the oxygen intake, but it is not as efficient as a working lung.

I make new tissue and increase body heat.

It is hard to keep focus. It is hard, because there are no adequate energy reserves. Something unnecessary is inside me, so I use my own energy reserves instead. My energy reserves will not suffice for much longer. Soon, I will use muscle mass to make new tissue and increase body heat. I must keep doing this, because I cannot fail. If I fail, I go to that place, the place that is not acceptable. So, I make new tissue and increase body heat.

I am Dr. Silik

I make new tissue and increase body heat.

I am here to help you

Everything may still be inefficient and I will go to that place.

Do you require more energy?

Yes, I do.

The place is suddenly much closer. There is another presence here, a presence that is not my own. I am cold.

The IV is full of glucose and other forms of human energy in a liquid form, but Vulcans have no need for human energy, not even a half Vulcan like yourself. You must create new tissue and increase body heat.

Silik, do you know I am dying?

Create new tissue and increase body heat.

Do you know what it is like, knowing that you are going to die?

If you create new tissue and increase body heat, you will not go to that place.

I am cold. Oxygen levels are dropping, despite the outside force that helps. Dr. Silik? You are a Vulcan doctor.

I come from Vulcan, yes. [An image appears, Vulcan dissolving into a black hole. A memory accompanies, thousands of millions of Vulcans screaming in agony] Keep breathing.

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. I am cold.

I will give you the energy you require.

Sometimes I am hungry. It is a sufficient enough distraction. I cannot eat, but I cannot be hungry. If I am hungry, I will go to that place. I am cold. The other place is still close—I am at the border between these places.

Dr. McCoy surely has some medicine to alleviate the hunger until you are able to eat.

I must make new tissue and increase body heat. I must increase white blood cell production.

You must breathe. Dr. McCoy can help you breathe.

I must make new tissue and increase body heat. I must increase white blood cell production.

You will have more energy soon.

I must make new tissue and increase body heat. I must increase white blood cell production.

()()()()()()

I have more energy. Body heat has increased. So I must make new tissue. If I make new tissue, I can breathe easier. If I breathe more easily, I will have more oxygen.

There is a soft pressure being applied externally. It is accompanied by a soft sound. I must make new tissue and increase white blood cell production.

()()()()()()

Nyota holds my hand.

()()()()()()

The lung is fixed.

Are you ready?

The lung is fixed. I increase antibodies instead of white blood cells. It requires much less concentration. I sense a pressure on my head. Is it Silik? Are you Silik?

Yes. You are ready. You must awaken.

There is a barrier. I must break the barrier before I can move from this place to another place, the place where Silik comes from.

I will help you break the barrier. You will feel pain.

Indeed, I did feel pain.

Uhura and I watched Silik murmur some words in Vulcan during last mind meld. I wasn't too sure about this. Spock was still immobile, only squeezing his already shut eyelids more tightly and relaxing them at seemingly random intervals after we fixed his medicine, about thirty six hours ago. Ever since then, he had been improving swiftly, and Silik suspected that today Spock had probably fixed his lung and the muscle surrounding the organ.

So now, they're performing a mind meld again. And all Uhura and I could do was watch. Jim wanted to be here, but his duties as captain kept him away.

Silik pulled his fingers away just as a haggard gasp escaped from Spock. There was a pause and then suddenly Spock shot straight up in bed, breathing heavily. I watched uncertainly and put my hand in front of Uhura to keep her from approaching Spock. I sensed that he would need his space, because quite frankly, the only thing he was able to keep eye contact with was his sheets.

"I will get some soup," announced Silik after a while. He left us alone. I still kept my hand in front of Uhura and motioned to her to keep quiet.

"Spock," I said softly, "Are you alright?"

Still staring at the sheets, he blinked once. He nodded at them, too, while inhaling deeply.

"Spock?" Uhura spoke up softly despite my warning.

Spock looked up at her with a blank expression on his face. He closed his eyes, inhaled again, and reopened them. He looked a lot more alert.

"I apologize for worrying you," he said to Uhura.

That was all Uhura needed to hear, and whether Spock liked it or not she jumped in the bed and embraced him tightly. Spock returned the gesture, but with less emotion. The fact that he returned the embrace spoke volumes. "You almost died," whispered Uhura. They broke the embrace, but held hands.

"I did die, Nyota," he murmured back, looking straight at her.

"Don't do it again," she said in the same soft tone.

"I second that," I said, considerably louder than the couple.

Spock looked at me, his eyes scrutinizing me. "I see you are well, Doctor."

"Yeah," I replied, "Thanks to you."

"Doctor, I was merely performing my duty as-"

"Save it, Spock, and just accept the thanks."

"But-"

"Please? For my sake, just accept the thanks." Spock didn't say anything. Uhura tried to stifle a giggle. I decided to ask him again, "Are you alright, Spock?"

Spock considered his answer carefully. "Given the past events, I am 'alright,' Doctor."

Silik returned with the soup and Uhura scooted over to give Spock room to eat. He ate in silence. Silik watched him with a critical eye. I wanted to talk to Spock, without Silik, without Uhura, and before Jim arrived.

"Excuse me," I said. Spock's eyes went to my face, but he continued eating. Everyone else turned to me. "I would like to talk the patient alone. That way we can speak in full confidence." I was really loved the whole entire Doctor-Patient Confidentially.

Uhura's stare turned into a glare, but it was short lived. She glanced back to Spock, briefly made eye contact, and left. Silik raised an eyebrow, muttered something in Vulcan, and left as well.

"Spock, really," I said to Spock, who really never stopped eating, "Are you okay? Nurse Chapel said they shocked your heart back to life."

Spock put the soup on the bedside table next to him. He looked at me. "I did die, Doctor. I was weak, too weak to sustain my trance. It is a weakness that will never occur again."

"Spock. Don't beat yourself up. You died!" I didn't realize my words had become a shout.

"Is death so unnatural?"

"Death is permanent," I said, "Once you really die, you can never come back. It's irreversible."

Spock reflected on that for a while. "You are correct. But even still, death hardly warrants an emotional response."

"I'm a doctor. And as a doctor, watching what you and the others suffered was like going through the nine circles of hell." He didn't say anything, but hunger got the better of him so he picked up his soup and started eating it again. "Spock, wasn't it…difficult to watch us and to be unable to help us in any way?"

He didn't answer immediately. "Indeed. It was difficult, but that was unimportant and still is unimportant. That is the difference between humans and Vulcans, Doctor. We do not allow emotions to affect decision making processes. For humans, it is natural."

"Spock, you can't control everything!"

"If it is necessary, I must."

"But you can't! You died!" My God, Spock was infuriating. But to my surprise, he didn't say anything. He continued eating his soup. At one point, he stopped, looked at the bowl, and put it back on the table.

"I did die." His voice was a whisper. "It was fascinating, almost preferable."

"I'm sorry," I said after a while, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry I let it get this bad. I'm sorry that you became sick and that…"

Spock tilted his head, his eyes studying me. "It is no fault of yours, Dr. McCoy."

I swallowed. I realized that was I needed to hear. Then I realized something else. "Spock?"

"Yes?"

"The crew, in the cave? They're okay. They got out alright."

Spock nodded. He kept his face neutral, but his eyes became softer.

"It wasn't your fault. None of this. The cannibals, the starving thing. None of it. You saved us."

"Thank you." I thought, for a nanosecond, that the smallest, shortest smile flickered across Spock's face.

Whoo! Finished! I thought about adding an epilogue, but decided against it. It doesn't really need one. (If you wanted to know, they all lived happily ever after until the next mission, whatever that is)

In case anyone seriously misunderstood or didn't understand, the beginning was Spock's POV while he's in the healing trance. Also, that was my first try at stream of consciousness (a literary technique that tries to follow a character's consciousness. Some really good examples of this are James Joyce's The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses, and for those more Southern inclined, William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.) You won't believe how weirdly easy and hard it is to write stream of consciousness, especially for a half Vulcan. Anyway, I thought that was only way to really get inside Spock's head whilst in the trance. (I can't bring myself to write in his POV while he's fully conscious and alert. To me logic is overrated.) I apologize for the confusion and my poor stream of consciousness skills. If it's written correctly, it can be an awesome technique. I know Spock's mind didn't sound too logical, but he's trying to rebuild tissue and fight for his life. I don't think he's concerned that his thoughts may be illogical.

Don't ask me what Vulcans use for energy, I have no flipping clue. But if Vulcans are from a different solar system, why should they use ATP just because we do and most life on Earth does? I don't know why alien life should be in any way, shape or form similar to our own. Thus, the Clickers and their cool not eating thing.

Thank you so much for sticking with me to the end! Please review and tell me how you liked it! Please? Please! Thanks again and God bless!