TOS/TFP: The Sentience Syndrome Chapter 2

Ratchet, Arcee and Bumblebee entered the base from the ground bridge and screeched to a halt.
Arcee and Bumblebee transformed and joined the other Autobots in the base.
Ratchet opened his rear doors and said, “You may exit the vehicle now.”
Spock and McCoy stepped out of the ambulance hesitatingly.

“With pleasure! What kind of driving was that?” Doctor McCoy demanded an explanation, as Ratchet transformed.

“The kind that just saved your life!” Ratchet answered, trying to keep his patience and then muttering under his breath something about ingrate humans.

“Oh…” Doctor McCoy turned around uttered for two entirely different reasons.
The first from realisation that they owed their lives to the talking vehicle and the second from shock of being in a room full of giant machines.

“Perhaps explanations are in order.” Optimus Prime approached them and spoke up.
Doctor McCoy’s eyes widened

“Fascinating.” Spock raised his right eyebrow in awe of seeing Optimus Prime’s stature, the tallest out of all the Autobots he had seen today.

“My name is Optimus Prime, we are autonomous sentient beings from the planet Cybertron, our mission on Earth is to…” Optimus Prime’s words faded away to Spock as his legs buckled slightly.

Rivet, who was amongst the Cybertronians listening to Optimus Prime’s briefing, noticed this and went to Spock’s aid.
He supported Spock’s arm and lead him away from the group, to a quiet spot in the base, where the sounds of their voices could not exacerbate Spock’s condition.

“Hey mister, are you alright?” Rivet asked gently.

“Yes my health is… adequate.” Spock answered untruthfully.
Rivet nodded, but scanned the Vulcan nonetheless with his medical scanner.

“All your vitals are way off. You have practically no blood pressure!” Rivet said with astonishment

“That is because the parameters you are expecting to see are human, I am a Vulcan, with different physiology to humans and as such possess different ‘vitals’ as you say.” Spock explained.

“So are you an alien?” Rivet asked excitingly.

“To your perspective, that is correct.” Spock answered.
Rivet grinned, he had watched many movies with Miko, Rafael and Jack but science fiction films were undoubtedly his favourite. He was trying hard to contain his excitement.
Noticing this, Spock suggested, “Perhaps if you spoke with Doctor McCoy, he could inform you of the parameters you need to scan for to assess my health.”

“OK.” Rivet said and cast one last look at Spock without being impolite to look at his intriguing alien physiology.
But during that glance, Rivet noticed a large cut on Spock’s arm that appeared to have turquoise coloured inflammation.

“Uh mister, whether you’re an alien or not, a green coloured cut is not a sign of ‘adequate’ health.” Rivet pointed to Spock’s arm.

“I concur. But this is normal phenomenon, as Vulcans have green blood and this cut was obtained during my previous mission and it should have healed sufficiently by this present moment and should not be a cause for concern.” Spock explained.
After Spock had finished his explanation, Doctor McCoy walked up to Spock to check up on him. He placed his hand on Spock’s shoulder and asked, “Spock are you alright?  I saw you leave and—”

“I am fine, Doctor, do not trouble yourself.” Spock assured him.

“Doctor McCoy? He’s not “fine”, he has a big cut on his arm.” Rivet interrupted.
Doctor McCoy examined Spock’s arm thoroughly and asked, “When did this happen?”

“During our last mission, it was merely a small cut, which is why I did not seek your medical attention.”

“Small cut or not, you should have gone to me. You stubborn hobgoblin, you know that the planet had a substantial microbial reading and now your arm is infected.” Doctor McCoy scolded his friend.

“If your memory serves you correctly Doctor, you will remember that we did not have sufficient time for a medical examination between our last mission and our arrival here.” Spock reminded Doctor McCoy.

“Yes, yes OK Spock I get it!” Doctor McCoy quickly replied.
A few moments of silence and uncertainty passed and Spock finally spoke up.

“Our first priority now, should be to find a means of contacting the Enterprise.” Spock announced to Doctor McCoy.

“No Spock, our first priority is to get you to bed. Doctor’s orders.” Doctor McCoy corrected him.

“Very well Doctor.” Spock acquiesced.

“Is everything alright?” Ratchet asked as he approached the group.

“Yes Ratchet, Mr Spock here was just going to have a rest.” Doctor McCoy explained.

“Well Rivet can show him where the medical bay is and Nurse Darby can attend to him.” Ratchet offered.
Needing no further orders, Rivet guided Spock towards the medical bay and they both made their way there.
Doctor McCoy watched in concern as Spock walked slowly towards the medical bay.

“Tell me Ratchet, do you ever have problems with patient compliance?” Doctor McCoy turned towards Ratchet.

“Yes quite frequently. I’ve also had to deal with patients who nearly stabbed me*, patients who still want to go on field missions and bots who have no idea what they’re talking about giving medical advice to my patients!” Ratchet complained, sensing that Doctor McCoy was a kindred spirit and would be the ideal person to complain to.
Doctor McCoy’s eyebrow raised, “It sounds like I’ve had it easy, compared to you.”

“Indeed.” Ratchet replied.

Footnotes
*Rivet was the one who did this, his optics were damaged and he tried to stab Ratchet.
He and Ratchet re-enacted the scene from Space Seed where Doctor McCoy advises Khan where to slit his throat. You can read the story here: www.fanfiction.net/s/8670908/1…