Janice thought it over the she replied:

"Jim, what if Charlie has harbored a serious grudge against me all this time? He was probably in love with me for the first time in his life and I rejected him, after all. What if seeing me again only hurts him? What if Charlie is still in love with me? It would be a total disaster if I rejected him a second time especially if Charlie has been pining for me the past 20 years with no female companionship all that time.

Kirk patted Janice's hand:

"I understand your concerns, Janice. I have concerns of my own. When the Thasians came to collect Charlie Evans he begged me to not let them take him and I didn't plead with his masters to let him stay. Charlie could very well have held a grudge against me the past 20 years as well. There is no doubt that if we both transport to the surface of Thasus and we find Charlie together and he sees us after all those years alone in exile, it could be very dangerous to both of us. But it might work a different way and we find that he has matured and doesn't harbor any grudges against either of us and will be glad to see us.  I expect he will be especially glad to see you, Janice. If that's true, together we might just be able to convince him to help us. I can go find him alone, but I think it's important that we find him together. Do you agree?"

Janice smiled:

"When you put it that way, Jim, of course I'll agree."

Kirk smiled and patted Janice's hand:

"We arrive in orbit of Thasus in 12 hours. Now let's have another martini and discuss exactly what we shall both say to Charlie when we find him. I don't think we can leave that first conversation with him up to chance or improvisation, agree?"

Janice nodded her head in agreement.

****   

Twelve hours later after a good sleep Captain Kirk and Janice Rand were both on the bridge as Captain Sulu caused the Enterprise to assume orbit around Thasus:

"Now in orbit around Thasus, Captain."

Kirk addressed Mr. Spock:

"Mr. Spock, what do sensors tell us? Any human lifeforms?"

Spock replied:

"Indeed Captain, I have found exactly one human lifeform fitting the last known descriptions of Charlie Evans height and weight. No doubt it is him. Charlie is inside a comfortable sized structure of unknown design. Shall I send his coordinates to the transporter room?"

Kirk replied:

"Good. You do that, Mr. Spock. Janice and I will beam down to Charlie's location immediately! Captain Sulu you have the con."

Sulu got up from his seat at the helm and sat down in the command chair then he spoke:

"Good luck, Captain?"

Kirk replied:

"Good luck indeed. We're both going to need it!"

Ten minutes later Admiral Kirk and Commander Janice Rand met Engineer Scott in the transporter room. Scotty spoke:

"I personally wanted to handle this important transport down to Thasus, Captain. Rest assured, while the both of you are down there I will be here with the transporter locked on both of you ready to beam you back aboard in two seconds as soon as you call for help."

Kirk smiled at Scotty:

"Thanks Scotty, that makes the both of us feel better about going down there to face the unknown."

Kirk and Janice stepped onto the pads. Kirk gave his last order before leaving his ship:

"Energize!"

****

Captain Kirk and Janice Rand materialized before what they both thought was an odd looking structure that resembled the type of  sand castles little children dribble from wet sand on a beach. But there was an obvious front door presumably made from some kind of wood. There was nothing for them to do next but step forward to knock on the door.

Charlie Evans was having a meal inside when he heard the knock on his door and at first he figured it was the wind until there was a second and third knocking sound. Perplexed, he rose from his chair to open the door to investigate the noise. To Charlie's great surprise, he saw two humans standing at the door's threshold and a second later he recognized who there were. Charlie ignored Captain Kirk shouting:

"Janice! Janice!"

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