“Which creates a problem for us now,” Uhura said. “Because whatever it was I did on those shore leaves—whatever I might have done that triggered or attracted these vacuum flares—I have no way of remembering or reconstructing it. Whatever it was, I forgot about it after Nomad and haven’t done it since. Which must be why the earliest event was at Argelius. That was the last leave I took before Maluria.”

Spock furrowed his brow. “If we presume you engaged in a consistent, repeated activity that connects in some way to the flares, then it follows that you were pursuing some project over a considerable span of time—at least two point four standard years. In that time, you must have spoken to someone about it.”

“But if I’d told any of my crewmates, Captain Spock, they surely would have reminded me long ago. For some reason, I kept it secret for all that time.” She kneaded her hands. “Which, admittedly, does not look good for me. I can’t blame Starfleet Security for wanting to question me. I just wish I had something to tell them.”

“Perhaps,” Spock said, rising, “we will be able to formulate a hypothesis by the time we return to Earth. For now, Captain Blake, I hereby request permission to transfer Commander Uhura to the Enterprise.”

Blake shrugged. “It’s Starfleet Security’s orders, Captain Spock. Of course I have to grant your request.”

Scott rose as well. “Captain… Captains… request permission to accompany Uhura to Earth.”

Uhura turned to him in surprise. “Scotty, that’s not necessary. You have nothing to do with this.”

“Yes,” Blake said, “and it’s bad enough I have to give up my science officer without losing my chief engineer too.”

“I’m sorry, Captain, but…” Scott turned to Uhura. “Lass… I never knew you carried so much pain—so much loss from what that metal monstrosity did to you. You bounced back from it so well. You seemed so strong, so content.”

She gave him a wistful smile. “I was—so long as I focused on the present, instead of what I’d lost.”

“Still, I should’ve realized. If I’d paid more attention… I mean, we were the only two survivors of Nomad. I thought we were both the lucky ones—we got to be put back together, not like the Malurians or the four good security men it vaporized without a thought. But I was wrong. I got back everything I lost, but you… Oh, lass, I just didn’t think about it. I was too caught up in my own nightmares about that dark day, my own stubborn pride pretending I was fine.”

She clasped his hand again. “I can’t blame you for trying to put it behind you, Scotty. I did the same.”