Starships were meant to fly [closed]

[james_t]

Following the events on Sarpeidon, he'd been relieved that the next few days had been relatively quiet. Their next assignment had involved checking progress of a new colony station on planet Bilaren. It looks as if the colonists' efforts at growing crops has been successful, which is promising. In the next five years, more people might be able to join the colony, and humanity can spread a little further out into the stars.

At the end of shift, he is smiling as he makes his way back to his quarters.

And then- a lurch. Like an explosion on the ship.

His body slams down hard against the ground. Bright light temporally whites out his vision and he rolls halfway down a hill before he can gain purchase and stop himself. With one hand he reaches out, noting grass. He's been transported somewhere. He pushes himself roughly up and takes a hurried breath- an oxygen rich environment. When he turns, he squints against the harsh sunlight to see tall buildings visible beyond the trees.

He needs to figure out where he is, but first things first. The most important thing to him is establishing that the ship and its crew are safe. He flips open his communicator. "Spock. Come in. Come in, Spock." No response. "Enterprise, come in. Come in, this is Captain Kirk." No response again. He frowns at the device. He's not even sure if it's working. As he replaces the communicator, he finds himself looking up at the sky, as if it might be possible to see the Enterprise circling the planet from here.

Comments

[james_t]

His smiles becomes a little more genuine as he shakes her hand, and then he grins, "Weirder than falling through an interdimensional portal and landing in New York City?"

Something in her face changes and he reevaluates his judgement about how she must be feeling- He'd figured that this is something of a return to status quo for her, but maybe that's not quite it. Maybe her coming back here is the last thing she wanted.

He takes his hand back, and his brow furrows. "Are you alright, Iman?"

[etherthief]

Weirder than that, yeah. She doesn't bother to answer, but it doesn't matter, her expression shifts and he sees it. The question is kind and kindly uttered, but that doesn't make it any easier to bear. She shuts her eyes briefly.

"Not really," she says.

She should probably say more than that. She should explain, or try to, but she doesn't have any idea how, and she seriously doubts she has the wherewithal. And she has no desire to repay his kindness with a huge helping of her personal mess.

"It's fine." She looks at her hands, then at him, forcing a smile. "I mean it's not fine, but I'm going to be okay. I'd rather just leave it at that."

[james_t]

"Alright." He pauses and purses his lips for a moment as he wonders if he should press the issue. Maybe later, if it becomes more of an issue, he decides. Until then, he'll let her keep whatever this is to herself.

He nods, but the concern doesn't completely leave his face.

Probably best to change the subject. "This has happened to me before. A portal. New York City."

He leans back against the seat, trying to go over the similarities in his mind. There aren't many. If he were to take a guess, he'd say that the two situations aren't connected at all. The portal before had been in place, immovable, not something that snatched him up on board his ship, and it had sent him to his own history, not an alternate universe. "We found ourselves in nineteen thirty. I think I like twenty thirteen a little better as a place to be stuck. For one, they hadn't opened the subway system yet."

[etherthief]

Iman perks up slightly when he talks about this having happened before - that's definitely interesting. She wonders if it was the same rift, or a different phenomenon altogether.

"1930?" She whistles and shakes her head. "Yeah, I'll take 2013, thanks. I would not have done well in 1930. Probably would have messed up the timeline if I hadn't been, you know, murdered or something." She sighs. "I mean, granted, Muslim women are kind of an oddity around here, though fuck if I know what everyone's god damn problem is. Wasn't like that in my 2013. If it's this bad now, can you imagine how shit it must be in 1930? To say nothing of the whole bisexuality thing."

That's a lot of personal information she doesn't mind sharing - maybe it'll sate his curiosity about her, since she's not interesting in talking about what's 'wrong'. Small talk is manageable, especially if it affords her the opportunity to complain. There's a guy across the train car who's glancing at them over the top of his book. Probably because they are talking very seriously about time travel. That's fine too. Rifties are common knowledge now, right? She smiles at him and nods, and he quickly redirects his attention back down.

"How'd you get out of 1930?" she asks Kirk, looking back at him. Only then does she notice he's still holding his metrocard. "Oh shit, do you not have pockets? Here, I can hang onto that for you."