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“Okay. Looks like everything is fixed according to the schematics. All double checked, all triple checked. All we have to do is power up the station. Spock?” Una reported, gesturing to Spock to stand at the opposite console. “Turn the levers on my mark.”
Spock nodded.
“Three. Two. One. Mark.”
The two turned the levers, each of which let off a spark. A strange pulse of energy came from the large containment field which was behind glass in front of them and moved out, through everyone and everything, like a shockwave. Everyone could feel the hair on their necks stand up.
Uhura raised an eyebrow. “What was that?” She asked. She turned to La’an, who pulled out a tricorder and began taking readings.
La’an shook her head. “No idea.”
Spock and Una tapped through the various panels on their consoles to try finding more information.
“It would appear to be an anomalous energy spike, origin unknown,” Spock reported in a higher-pitched voice than his usual tone. He cleared his throat. “Apologies. It would appear that my voice is-”
Una turned slowly. “Spock, you sound a lot like-”
Simultaneously, Spock and Una turned and faced each other, both realizing something was definitely amiss.
They had switched bodies.
**********
Una touched her ears. “Pointy. Going to have to get used to that.” She tilted her head slightly. “Going to have to get used to the voice, too.”
Spock nodded in agreement, folding his arms behind his- or, Una’s back. “Indeed. What are we going to do?”
“We can not tell Chris,” Una said. “On top of the negotiations he’s part of right now, we do not need to add this to his plate.” Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Perhaps Commander Pelia may be of some assistance,” Spock offered. He held a strand of long, chestnut hair in his fingers. “Peculiar,” he observed quietly to himself.
“What’s so peculiar about my hair?” Una asked defensively. A Vulcan eyebrow raised as she spoke.
Spock tilted his head. “It is… very soft. ”
Una smiled triumphantly. “It's conditioner,” she said. “Special ordered from–”
“We might want to figure this out before we swap hair tips like sorority sisters,” La’an interrupted. “Or we’re all going to have to get used to… this,” she said, gesturing at Una and Spock.
Spock furrowed his, well, Una’s brow, and nodded in urgent agreement. “What is our plan?”
“Honestly… I have no idea.” La'an sighed. “The only solution I can think of would also be… Pelia.”
“Could there be someone else?” Una asked. “She will never let me live this one down.”
“It is possible she's worked with this kind of thing before,” Uhura offered. “She is a lanthanite, after all.”
Una sighed a long sigh.
Spock gave Una–or rather, himself– a look of pity. “I… do not believe we have a choice.”
**********
Everyone was standing in a circle around La’an and her communicator, hoping that Chris would give them Pelia without argument. They all knew he would try to ask questions, but hopefully some quick thinking would help them get Pelia unscathed. La’an had been nominated by Una and Uhura.
“Clearly it can’t be either of us,” Una had said, motioning to Spock and herself.
“And I am terrible at lying,” Uhura had contributed.
The communicator bleeped indicating a connection being made. “This is Captain Pike.”
“Captain, we have a uh… Uh- a situation down here,” La’an began slowly, speaking into her communicator. “Could we get Commander Pelia down here?”
“What kind of situation?” Chris responded, appropriately concerned.
“Nothing major, just… some engineering things. Won’t bore you with the details.” La’an hoped the fibbing wasn’t obvious. She could tell Chris was probably raising an eyebrow. “We could use her as soon as possible, sir.”
“Is Number One handy?” he asked.
Una gulped audibly, but not so loudly that it was heard through the communicator. She swatted Spock on his– or, technically her– arm. “That’s all you,” she whispered.
“Yes, sir,” Spock spoke into the communicator. His– rather Una’s– voice wavered slightly, as he was still not used to it.
“Maybe you’ll give me a straight answer. What’s going on down there?” Chris asked with concern and amusement in his voice.
“Everything is fine, sir. The situation is–.” He paused. “We could-” Spock cleared his throat. He felt everyone’s eyes on him. He needed to sound more human. More Una. “We simply have questions Pelia is most equipped to answer.”
“I’ll send her down shortly,” Chris asked. “So long as you’re sure everything is okay. Our readings say the power is operational.”
“Everything is fine. We are okay. Nothing is… out of the ordinary.” That was unconvincing, he thought to himself. He could feel La’an’s eyes burning holes into him. Another moment Chris was surely raising his eyebrow at.
“Are you sure, Number One?”
“Yessir. La’an out,” La’an interjected quickly, snapping her communicator shut. “Well, if that didn’t convince him, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
**********
Pelia appeared via transporter a few minutes later. She looked jolly as ever, with her ever present spring in her step. “What can I do for you?” She was clearly enjoying being needed by everyone.
“You have to swear that you will not tell the Captain,” the Vulcan science officer said to her in a very not Vulcan way.
Pelia raised an eyebrow at who she thought was Spock. “An odd request from a Vulcan. But, that I can do. So, what’s up?” She walked herself over to the panel Spock had been using before while waiting for someone to give her a straight answer.
“Don’t touch that!” La’an called to her, almost scolding. “It may be… unsafe.”
Pelia raised her hands in the air. “Okay… So are you going to tell me what’s going on, then?”
The crew all straightened their posture and looked as if they each took a collective nervous breath. Spock and Una stepped forward.
They said in unison, “We switched bodies.”
Pelia laughed. And laughed. In fact, she couldn't stop laughing for approximately two minutes.
“When you're done,” Una began, “we would really like to switch back. Right, Spock?” Una turned to look at him.
He didn't answer because he was once again fascinated with Una's hair.
She cleared her throat. “Spock.”
Spock snapped to attention. “Indeed. It is imperative we switch back.”
Pelia chuckled once again and was looking at the control panels Una and Spock were using. “You two have never worked with these kinds of particles, have you?”
Una and Spock exchanged confused glances.
“Care to explain?” Una requested.
“These particles,” Pelia began, waving at the containment field, “they have a special kind of radiation which bounces around them. They’re tiny with lots of extra space. Like star noodles in soup.”
“Star noodles?” Spock, perplexed, questioned.
“I forget–that was before your time. Anyway, the radiation which moves around them like soup, you have to be careful with. It can make weird things happen.” Pelia shrugged. “But I guess you figured that part out already.”
“But do you know how to change them back?” La’an asked.
“Maybe. The particles are giving off a unique electromagnetic energy, and if you check those two, they should be covered in it.”
Uhura used a tricorder to scan Spock and Una. “You’re right. They’re full of it.”
Pelia nodded. “So, we just have to… switcheroo.” She waved her hands back and forth in ovals.
“Switcheroo?” Spock asked with Una's voice, thoroughly unconvinced.
“Yes. The human body has natural electromagnetic fields. The field around those two right now is those different particles. We can’t collect an electromagnetic field, but we can move it. When I worked with these particles many years ago… we had a similar situation. It didn’t work out so well. A man died.” Pelia made a glum face.
Una and Spock each felt their eyes grow wide.
“No, I’m just kidding. But what we did was a bit old school.”
“Old school?” Una asked. A Vulcan eyebrow shot up again.
“How?” La’an asked. Uhura was listening eagerly beside her.
“Did anything odd happen when you turned the machine on?” Pelia asked Una and Spock.
“I felt a shock from the lever,” Una told her.
“As did I,” Spock concurred.
Una offered, “Like when you touch a doorknob after wearing wool socks. But bigger.”
Pelia nodded and grinned. “Exactly! So, go turn the machine off.”
“Are you going to tell us to turn it off, and back on again?” Una asked skeptically.
Pelia shrugged and smiled. “Not everything has to be a big, fancy, scientific solution. With these particles, you should have insulated the brackets and couplings better. At least we are having fun learning from this. Come on now, get to it before you get stuck.”
Spock and Una looked at Pelia unconvinced. They counted down together. “Three. Two. One. Off.”
The station made low, humming noises to indicate the power was slowing down. After a moment, everything was silent.
Pelia tapped her foot. “Give it a few.”
The crew stood in awkward silence, waiting for Pelia to give word to do something, anything.
“Do we have a defibrillator?” Pelia asked, breaking the silence.
“What would we need that for?” La’an asked.
“Well, if the electromagnetic field is too strong, it could interfere with their heartbeats. We might have to shock them back to normal,” Pelia said with a very casual tone, seemingly downplaying the severity of the situation.
“What?” Una snapped.
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll be fine. He’s Vulcan… Or, you’re Vulcan. One of you is Vulcan. One of you is Illyrian. So, it probably won’t be a problem.”
Uhura ran out into the hallway and returned quickly. “Here’s one we can use.”
“Okay, ready?”
Spock and Una inhaled sharply, each of them nervous.
“Turn the levers together!” Pelia instructed excitedly.
In unison, they counted. “Three. Two. One. Go.”
A larger shock struck each of them as the station powered up, coming back to life. They each stood still for a moment. Another wave of energy passed out from the containment chambers, raising the hair on everyone's necks again.
Una looked at her hand. “I feel…”
Spock finished her sentence. “Strange.” He fell to the ground.
“Check his pulse!” Pelia shouted to La’an, who made a beeline for Spock.
Uhura followed just behind and scanned Spock with the tricorder. “He seems… back to normal,” she relayed, almost in disbelief.
La’an had checked his pulse. “It seems okay, just fast. What does the tricorder say?”
“It’s fast, but appears to be a normal rhythm,” Uhura reported. She got up to scan Una and with an affirmative nod, informed everyone, “Also normal.”
“Am I… Me?” Spock asked. His voice was once again that deep, mellow tone he knew so well. He raised a hand to his ears. “Pointed. A good sign.”
Una raised her hand up and touched her head, moving to her ears. “Yup. Not pointy. Thank goodness.”
“Looks like my work here is done,” Pelia huffed in an accomplished, proud manner. She began to walk away, almost bragging, “Glad to be of service.”
**********
The transporter activated and brought Pelia, Spock, La’an, Uhura, and Una back to Enterprise. Chris was waiting for them, standing beside the console.
“Welcome back, everyone,” he began, “Now, is anyone going to tell me what happened down there?” He made eye contact with everyone, but mostly his first officer. He noted that both she and Spock looked embarrassed.
Everyone started stepping off the transporter pads one by one, inching toward the door. Una decided to speak for everyone. “Uh, you know what? Maybe I can tell you later. I need to go… wash my hair.”
Spock bowed his head, but his expression was awkward. “As do I.”
Chris remained confused as ever, the look worn all across his face. Pelia laughed. “Pelia, are you going to tell me what happened down there? Why are Spock and Una acting… weird?”
Pelia, walking away, replied with a smile, “They just weren’t really feeling like themselves today.”