Kirk abruptly halted in the middle of the hall, letting Bones get a couple of steps ahead, and all but slapped his forehead in exasperation at his own stupidity. Bones was right. He'd been so wrapped up with pushing himself from one thing to another without losing momentum that he hadn't bothered to take a second to think.

"Right. I knew that," he lied, quickly catching up again and striding slightly ahead. It wasn't as if there was any point to not checking now, not if something had happened. Plus, they were already halfway there. "Because if he is okay, we don't have time to waste with examinations. I know it's not most cautious route, but our manpower's limited."

Honestly, Kirk wasn't in love with this course of action either, but he hadn't earned his captaincy by choosing the safe road during the whole thing with the Narada. Here, he'd gone in slow at first. Unknown surroundings, limited resources, faceless enemies, getting thrown curve balls every couple of nights... It had seemed like the best strategy at the time, but after one week, nothing had changed.

So dangerous as it might be for them to split up, at least he could trust in his crew. They were the best Starfleet had to offer, even if a few of them might be a little worse for the wear after one of Landel's experiments. For Chekov, it was this, whatever it was. For him, the brainwashing. For Spock...

Kirk slowed until he and Bones were walking shoulder-to-shoulder again. "So, aside from Spock being... Spock," he said suddenly, "has he seemed okay?"