For me when it comes to stress management running is very effective. I filled a backpack with large iron bars created in the replicator, and set out for my fifty mile jog in the simulator. For about a week I went down to the lower levels of the ship and let loose.

After I crashed into a crew member carrying a delicate piece of machinery, Jim told me to keep my exercise to the gym or simulator. The simulator did have the advantage of being able to look like anywhere. Plus programming it was easy; after being shown ten times by a very patient Scotty anyway. I created several programs, my neighborhood back in Boston, the college campus, and even a California beach I'd spent a few days at as a teenager.

Today I'd chosen the desert from which I'd come. I was jogging a rectangle around the three most famous pyramids. It felt real, the heat, the shimmering sand, that sand sticking to my sweaty bare arms, neck, and face. If you're not a genetically modified person I wouldn't recommend my current track for jogging. For one thing it's long, two the heat is brutal, and three you probably wouldn't be permitted to do this on Earth anyway and will face the wrath of tourists.

The illusion of the Egyptian desert was shattered by someone entering the space.

"Am I late again? We didn't have a meditation session scheduled. We didn't did we?"

"No," Spock assured me. "I finished my duty shift and have no other work. I have not used the simulator since the upgrades. The timer outside indicated you have been in for almost two hours." Spock wasn't dressed in his Starfleet uniform. Instead he sported that sleeveless black vest and many pocketed pants he wore for our sparing sessions.

"You're right. I didn't mean to hog the thing. End simulation." With my words we were once again back in a plain circular room.

"I did not mean that I would prefer you leave."

"Oh. Well I still need another seven miles if you want to join me."

"May I pick the course?"

"Go ahead." I retied my damp hair and shrugged off the pack. If I wanted to keep up with Spock it wouldn't do me any favors.

"Computer, First Officer Spock program three, please." The world shimmered and a gust of wind pulled at my hair. I felt slightly heavier than normal but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. We were now standing on the flat top of a rock structure in the middle of a desert, but I didn't know which one. The sand was a burnt orange instead of the beige I normally associated with it. It was sunset in this simulation and the low clouds in the west captured bright amethysts, oranges and pinks. What was even more interesting was that there were three stars beginning to set instead of just one. Clearly this wasn't Earth.

"Wow."

"It is my home world. Humans were unaware there were any planets in this system at the time you were transported to us. It is 16.5 light years away from Earth. You may know it as 40 Eridani system if you studied astronomy of your time."

"It's beautiful, Spock." I turned to get another view and nearly fell. We were on top of a huge rock formation at least seventy feet in the air. "Whoa."

Paying more attention I looked around to see that the rock structure was like a road but high up in the air and with no branching off points as far as I could see that would be natural on a road. If my eyes didn't deceive me I saw at least two breaks in the 'road' about five feet in length . I could jump that easily.

"It continues for exactly seven miles in that direction. A natural rock formation that many ancient Vulcans climbed or ran along in races." He pointed toward the sunset.

"Shall we begin?" I smiled and took off at a speed slightly faster than what I would normally jog at. Spock kept up easily and together we jumped the first gap in the rock. We landed at exactly the same time and I decided to make the jog more interesting. I took off at the fastest speed I could.

Without missing a beat the Vulcan matched me stride for stride. Any lead I gained was only temporary. I could have been seeing things as the glances I was able to steal were only brief–I could have sworn I saw the closest thing to a smirk I'd ever seen on his face. There were more than two gaps in this road but none were bigger than six feet so each was jumped with ease. Before long we'd come to the end and only the vast desert spread out before us. Miles and miles of that orange sand stretching to a ever darkening horizon. Puffing I put my hands on my knees and did my best to level my breathing.

Spock sat with his legs dangling over the edge.

"Was that my imagination or were you having fun," I sighed as I took a spot beside him.

"I indulged your clear desire for competition," he said in his dry tone; but there was a twinkle in his eye that kept my suspicion alive.

As we watched the last of the daylight fade a thought popped into my mind. It was a thought I'd had before. One I'd had with increasing frequency since Leonard shook his head and told me there was nothing his scans could detect. It was also a thought that scared me somewhat because it involved doing something I wasn't 100% comfortable with. In fact I was probably 0% comfortable with it but with no other options I was desperate for anything that could give me answers.

"Spock," I turned toward him and angled my body so our knees were almost but not quite touching. "Do you remember when you asked if you could do a mind meld with me?"

"I do." He cocked a single eyebrow. "Your heartbeat has accelerated a significant degree. This leads me to believe you are frightened."

"I am." It wasn't difficult to admit it either. "I'm frightened because I don't understand what's happening to me. You know that what happened on Rothlum wasn't something I should have been able to do. As much as Jim wants me to write it off, I can't. Leonard can't find anything that's changed within me to cause that. If medical science can't help, I'm left to wonder if a mind meld could."

"Jasmine, I am willing to look but I do not believe I will find anything. If Dr McCoy was unable to locate a variable in your brain chemistry that has been altered, I highly doubt there are any changes I could observe. I say this so not to raise any false hope within you."

"I know it's a long shot. But it's the only one from where I sit."

"Have you considered that you may have experienced something similar to an adrenaline rush? There are many documented cases of Humans performing physical feats that otherwise would be impossible for them. Perhaps this was a similar phenomenon applied to mental power."

"That was the first thing I considered but...there was another time in my life where I was just as desperate to save someone with telekinesis and failed. If what you're saying was the answer I just feel that I would have succeeded there too and something else is going on here."

Spock cocked his head to one side with a speculative expression in his eyes.

"I will grant your request. This will be over more quickly if you do not block my attempts. Many humans report that a mind meld to them feels like an intrusion and they panic which renders the exercise useless."

"I understand." I nodded as he reached for my face.