A bad feeling rested into Mallard's gut when he couldn't feel the doctors feelings anymore.

They had to go.

"Mr Sybok!" Mallard called, arriving into sick bay.

Sybok had completed a mind meld, looking over in the direction of the panicked Andorian. The young Romulan woman was in a pair of matching attire, one gray shirt, one gray pair of pants, and gray socks that reached to her ankle. The turtle neck aspect was high just as it was for many of the colonists. The attire was chosen due to it being culturally neutral. But also because it had Vulcanian calligraphy on it reading "survive" labeled on the backside. None of the Romulans could read it save for the Vulcans. Romulan calligraphy was different, considerably, as it had deviated and changed over the course of years into a mess but unique writing system. The men in the attire had Vulcan calligraphy on the front. T'Tumak wore a shirt that had a writing system made of circles and lines placed on the front. It was a extra pair of attire that Sybok picked up as a bonus. Rumored to be Gallifrayian, a long lost civilization that meddled in time, a rare language to come by.

"Yes, Mallard?" Sybok said.

"I can't sense the doc," Mallard said.

Sybok's eyes landed on the large collection of balls laid on the table then grazed over toward the Andorian with panic in his eyes.

"Get the others," Sybok said, picking up a blackball and clicking on the center button. "you need to evacuate."

Mallard rushed out of sick bay nearly slipping onto his knees. He came into the living room with his heart pounding against his chest. The children and adults were watching holovids when he skidded in. He grabbed onto the back of the couch and fell onto the floor landing on his back. The men and women looked over in the direction of the fallen Andorian to notice something was amiss, his facial expression practically screamed it. The children were focused on the educational programming blaring off the screen.

"Get to sick bay," Mallard said. "we are going to evacuate." The colonists got up. T'Tumak turned the holovid off. "Go, quickly!"

"What about Doctor T'Hinek?" One of the adults asked.

"The doc can't come right now," Mallard said. "he will be with us, afterwards."

"I want Doctor T'Hinek!" The shortest child, Mika, said.

"Where is Doctor T'Hinek?" The second tallest preteen, Taren, said.

"He is at the bad place," T'Tumak said.

"Not him," Taren said.

"I like him," the second shortest, Survik, said.

"As do I," T'Tumak admitted.

The large group returned into sick bay where Sybok had activated the large balls, all of them, only forty of them.

"You will be coming with me," Sybok said, handing the balls to the adults.

"I will stay behind," Mallard said.

"That is illogical of you," Sybok said. "I am not leaving without you."

"But I can be a dead end for them," Mallard said, as T'Tumak pressed the center tossing it into the air.

T'Tumak vanished in a red shade of energy going into the ball.

Sybok caught the ball into his hand placing it into the bag.

"That is still illogical of you," Sybok said. "and a death wish. They will not be as lenient on you than they are on the doctor." He met the man's eyes. "and they will likely use a forbidden form of mind meld to find out the other accomplice."

"When they do find out, I will be dead," Mallard said.

"You don't need to stay," Sybok said while Mallard helped placing the balls into the bag. "logically, when we leave this facility, they will be at a dead end and then they will kill. . ." Sybok paused, briefly, staring back at the young man. "You are buying time for Star Fleet to save him."

Mallard nodded.

"I rather die saving another life than nothing at all," Mallard said.

Sybok nodded.

"Understood," Sybok said.

"Are we going to see Doctor T'Hinek again?" Mika asked.

"I am sure we will, Mika," Mika's adopted mother figure, T'Syal, said, one hand on the black girls shoulder.

"I am scared," Mika said.

"Don't be," T'Syal said. "I am not scared." Sybok handed T'Syal the pokeball.

Mallard knelt down to the child's level.

"I am pretty sure you will," Mallard took a small ball with a label on it that appeared to be a butterfly.

In a red flash of light the child vanished. Eventually, after a flood of red light, the only people left in the lab were Sybok and Mallard. A part of Sybok was tempted to nerve pinch Mallard and used a spare ball left on the table. He liked the young man but he respected the man's sacrifice. The Romulans would be too busy trying to pry information out of the Andorian that continuing what they were doing on the doctor would be on the side burner. Mallard flipped a switch along the wall. Sybok heard the sounds of electrical fireworks and metal being bend, struck, and removed. The door to sick bay closed behind the two men. Sybok was in the robes that he came in to the building in the first place.

"The storm has died down since this morning," Mallard said.

"An excellent time to escape," Sybok said. "a part of me doubts the sand has not buried my ship."

"It won't," Mallard said, taking out a lawn chair. He placed it across from the doorway. "Vulcan air craft are built for this kind of event. Remember the story about the Vulcan craft discovered in the Sahara? The sand fell off it instead of keeping it down. Sand is not a cube pit."

"What is a cube pit?" Sybok asked.

"Squishy, soft hell," Mallard said. "used to be in gymnastics. Loved 'em."

"It sounds comfortable," Sybok said, going to the door.

"It isn't for people with claustrophobia," Mallard said. The Vulcan turned toward the young man. He gave the ta'al sign. "Live long and prosper."

"Peace and long life," Sybok replied.

The door to the shelter opened, and out Sybok went. Mallard lowered his hand to his side then came over to a panel hooked into the wall. He opened the door to the panel, carefully. He pressed a few buttons. They were not going to leave any trace of the survivors. Not one. That had been decided while Mallard was doing the editing when McCoy was away. It was Mallard's idea to chose the name T'Hinek. McCoy liked it even though he had no idea what it meant. He closed the panel door once he hit the buttons. The shelter shook and trembled. Mallard came over to the lawn chair then sat down into it. The room where McCoy once slept in, often times surrounded by children who couldn't fall asleep on their own. The pink quarters the Andorian slept in usually was burned to the crisp, burned, and torn apart. The pink fabric was covered shoot, dust, and burn marks. The quarters Sybok slept in was given the same treatment. The young Andorian whistled to himself while taking a book out from the dark and proceeded to read.