"Then you will accept this with my deep feeling," he said, pressing a similar bundle into her hands. "I have no child to give it to and it would give me great pleasure to think of you as my child who leaps from world to world."
Uhura took the knife and usefuls in one hand; with the other, she slipped her earrings from her ears. These she held out to him. "Because you like them so. We say"- she smiled brilliantly- "I suppose because our memories are not as good as yours- 'I would like you to have something to remember me by."' She took his hand and closed his fingers gently over the two gold rings. "I shall never forget you, Rushlight."
He looped his tail almost mischievously. "I'll see that you don't. You'll sing my songs yet, Lieutenant Uhura. Come, we still have much to discuss." He led her away.
Jinx said, "Spears."
Kirk nodded and said, "Spears. You and Mr. Chekov will see to that. Mr. Spock, I'd like a word with you in private."
The groups went their separate ways. Kirk waited until the others were well out of earshot, then turned off his universal translator as well. "Spock, I don't like traveling without the communicators. Any suggestions, short of canceling the whole trip?"
"One."
Spock was being exasperatingly literal again. Kirk said, "Then what is it, Mr. Spock?"
"With your permission, Captain, I shall modify one of Dr. Wilson's medical sensors. As they are tied to the ship's computers, Mr. Scott would be able to monitor our position on the surface of the planet."
"But we wouldn't be able to speak to Scotty -"
"It should be possible to devise a code to cover most circumstances, Captain, but Mr. Scott would be unable to reply."
"I'll take what I can get, Spock. See to it. And if Wilson gives you any trouble about it, tell her it's her sensor or no trip. No, cancel that: I'll tell her myself."
Kirk and Spock did not find Wilson for almost an hour, when she and Brightspot emerged from the forest. Kirk readied himself for battle. "Better the weapon you know," she said, by way of greeting, and brandished a length of stout wood. "Captain, you look positively grim." She pointed Brightspot toward Jinx and Chekov and nudged. "I'll be along in a minute, Brightspot."
Wilson held up a slim finger. "One minute, Captain," she said, turning off her translator, "before I forget- Mr. Spock, I'm not sure of the ethics of this, but I'd personally feel better if Scotty could find our remains." She opened her medical kit and handed him one of the sensors. "You can jury-rig this, can't you, so it'll at least transmit an S.O.S?" She turned to Kirk. "It's up to you, Captain, but medically speaking I'd prefer it, even if Scotty can't talk back."
"But your sensor...?"
"Captain, there are very few medical problems that can't be diagnosed by eye, ear, finger and occasionally nose- and none of those are the kind that would be emergencies in the middle of a five-day trip on foot. I didn't give Spock the sensor that tells me the severity of a concussion, or lets me distinguish between a bruised and a broken rib." She gave him a fierce look and added, "I wouldn't."
"Thank you, Dr. Wilson," said Spock. "With your permission, Captain, I shall see to it." Only when Spock was gone did Jim Kirk realize he was not anxious to be left alone with Wilson.
"Captain," she said, "is something wrong?"
"I thought you played by the rules, Evan."
She chuckled. "I do: your rules, since you chose to impose them, not Leonard's, and not Stiff Tail's. Look, I know it's a technical violation, but neither of us wants to see anybody dead because of Stiff Tail's stubbornness."
He shook his head. "It's your damn talent for being one step ahead of everybody else."
"Captain?" A small, worried frown spread across her face.
He laughed, mainly at himself. "Spock had thought of it," he explained, "and I was gearing up to fight you for your sensor."
For once he seemed to have surprised her. She rammed the end of her staff into the ground and leaned her cheek against it, still looking up at him. At last, she said, "Sorry to have disappointed you, Captain. I'll try to live up to your expectations in the future."
He laughed aloud.
As they started over to join the others, he found himself saying, "One other thing, Evan. I'd be pleased if you'd call me Jim from time to time, as the occasion suits."
"Seems unmilitary of me," she said. "Suppose I get the wrong occasion? You may have noticed that I don't deal with all this red tape and rank terribly well."
"Professional hazard," he said, thinking of Bones. "What's gross insubordination in Engineering is SOP in the medical ranks. And you did say you liked to call people what they wished to be called."
"I did. That's the problem." She smiled slightly and did not elucidate.
A strange tapping sound distracted them both before he could bring himself to question her. They turned to see Chekov, surrounded by an audience of assorted Sivaoans, banging rocks together. At least, that seemed to be what he was doing. Wilson hurried on ahead for a closer look.
By the time Kirk worked his way through the crowd, Wilson was standing behind Chekov, devoting her full attention to his project. Deftly, and with great determination, Chekov chipped away at the stone in his palm with a second stone. Finally he stopped and made meticulous scratches; and, grinning boyishly, he held up the finished object for Wilson's inspection.
"Mr. Chekov," she said, "you can be in my lifeboat anytime! Why did you add your initials? I'll grant them out of justified pride, but it doesn't seem likely your work would be mistaken for anyone else's on this world. They've obviously never seen the like!"
"Hebit," said Chekov, flushing. "Et home, if I didn't scretch my initials on them, they turned up in collections- once in a museum!"
Wilson laughed delightedly. She tossed the object to Kirk. "Have a look, Captain. There's something you don't often see- a brand-new, Freshly chipped neolithic point. What kind is it?" The last was directed at Chekov.
"Ectually," he said, looking somewhat embarrassed, "it's a Chekov point. I could make you some other kind, if you prefer?"
"A Chekov point?"
"Yes, sair. We held a contest to see if we could improve the technology...." He trailed off and concentrated again on his work.
The object Jim Kirk held in his hand was a flint spearhead, something he'd only seen in museums. Jinx took it from him, considered it from all angles with awe and proudly fixed it to the end of her stick. Wilson went on, "No preference, Mr. Chekov. You're the expert, and I'd just as soon take your recommendation." She searched behind her, found another stool and pulled it up. "Show me," she said, "if it won't interfere with your work."
He shook his head and picked through the pile of stones at his feet to find several more suitable ones. When he looked up, he said, "Jinx says they're legal, Keptain. Enything we make with our hends and our knives is ecceptable technology."
"That anthropology teacher of yours ought to be teaching a course at Starfleet Academy. Remind me to put in a recommendation to that effect when we return to the Enterprise," said Kirk.
Chekov looked enormously pleased. "Thenk you, sair. I will." He began to chip away at a new stone.
Wilson watched him carefully and copied the procedure with fierce determination. Soon Jinx had also taken up stones, and the air rang with the sound of their industry. But before Kirk could try his hand at stone knapping, a dark hand touched his elbow. "Captain," said Lieutenant Uhura, "Rushlight would like to speak with you. I don't know what it's about, but I- think you should listen."
"Lead on, Lieutenant. Our weapons officer seems to have things well in hand. Carry on, Mr. Chekov." Chekov scarcely nodded.
Kirk followed Uhura to Rushlight's tent, well outside the main encampment. Rushlight greeted Uhura with a curl of his tail. To Kirk, he said, "Lieutenant Uhura tells me you make decisions for your group, Captain Kirk. I'd like to offer you some further assistance. I too leave for Sretalles tomorrow. If you wish, I will carry that equipment you are not permitted with me; that way, your devices will be waiting for you when you arrive."
Kirk had planned to have Scotty beam the extraneous equipment back to the Enterprise, but this would be a better solution. If- he didn't like to think of the possibility but he had to be prepared for every contingency- if they did not reach Sretalles, Scotty would have a fix on the location of the camp in order to beam down a search party. As friendly as Rushlight seemed, Kirk was not about to entrust him with phasers. He compromised: the phasers would go back to the Enterprise; the rest would travel to Sretalles with Rushlight.
"We'd be grateful for the helping hand, Rushlight," he said, "and I know the Lieutenant would be glad to see you again." Uhura smiled and nodded.
"That was my reason as well," said Rushlight. "There is one other thing, Captain. If you will teach me the use of your communicator, I will report your progress to your companions on your starship. We would do no less for the relatives of our own children on a Walk."
"You keep watch on children during their Walk?" said Kirk. Neither Brightspot nor Jinx had mentioned that- perhaps they didn't know!
"I did not say that, Captain." Rushlight's tail curled around Uhura. "I would not give such information to children on the eve of their departure."
"Of course," said Kirk, "I understand." So they watched, he thought, but he doubted they'd intervene. Jinx had Walked the last two days alone after the rest of her party had been wiped out by the flash flood. The watch seemed purely for the benefit of the relatives back home.
"Any help will be cheerfully accepted," Kirk said. He flipped open his communicator to show Rushlight how it worked. Minutes later, he was introducing the bard to his chief engineer. Scotty made an immediate hit; as he and Uhura left Rushlight's tent, Kirk could hear Rushlight speaking quietly to himself in a rhythm and intonation that was unmistakably Scotty's. Something of that brogue had made it through the universal translator, Kirk knew. "I have a feeling, Lieutenant," he said with a smile, "that your friend is going to call Scotty just to hear him talk."
"Yes," she said, smiling back, "you heard too, Captain?"
"How could I not? Before you know it, you'll be singing a song that will make you sound exactly like Scotty. And I thought the import limit on that accent was one to a ship!"
By the time they all sat down to the last meal of the evening, once more at Stiff Tail's invitation, the party was thoroughly equipped. Evan Wilson ceremoniously traded Spock a spear in return for her sensor. "Your weapon, sir," she said and was clearly delighted at his reaction to the point. Chekov looked at his feet as she explained the origin of the innovation over burnt and sharpened sticks.
While Spock examined the blade, Wilson turned to Kirk. "Don't worry, Captain," she said. "Everybody's spear is equipped with the top-of-the-line Chekov point." She grinned. "Mine don't come out nearly as sharp." She pulled a sample from her medical kit to show him. "That takes a lot of practice and not a little talent. Believe it or not, Mr. Spock, Mr. Chekov can chip out one of those in fifteen minutes flat."
Spock examined hers as well. She said, "I ruined three before I got the hang of it. Jinx and Brightspot caught on a lot faster, and theirs are almost as good as Chekov's."
"Fascinating, Mr. Chekov," said Spock. "I should like to observe the process at some future time."
"Wait a day or two, sair," Chekov said. "I'll be heppy to show you when the cremp is out of my fingers. I em out of prectice, I suppose."
"Out of practice," said Wilson with mock disgust. "I can't stand it, Captain. Tell him to stop bragging."
"You heard the lady, Mr. Chekov."
"Aye, sair," said Chekov, happily embarrassed by it all.
Brightspot confided to Jinx, in a tone just loud enough to be overheard by everyone around the fire, "Captain Kirk just pulled Mr. Chekov's tail." Jinx looked startled and Brightspot immediately added, "Don't worry- he does that to people he likes!"
"Pull the captain's tail a little, Brightspot," Wilson suggested. "Ask him if he plans to sleep in a tree with us."
Kirk said, "A tree? Me?" He overplayed his reaction considerably, and Brightspot, charmed, looped her tail into a tight spiral. "No, Brightspot," he said, "you'll have to teach me how to throw together a ground tent. I don't mind a tree with a lot of branches, but these..." He gestured vaguely into the forest and finished, "I never was much at climbing the greased pole at the county fair." And that required enough explanation to keep him talking through dinner.
After dinner, it was Brightspot and Jinx who did the talking and the demonstrating. Wilson, who had already had the course (both on the ground and in the air, Kirk learned), settled down to finish her quarterstaff to her liking. Within the hour, the rest of them had learned to put up and strike a tent using two usefuls, a handful of broad, sashlike ties and any convenient tree. Satisfied they would have no trouble with shelter, Kirk stood and scanned the area where he had last seen his acting chief medical officer.