The Meditation Gardens (Open Post is Open!)

Apr 19, 2010 12:16

If Spock had been prone to think of such things in such terms, he would have thought it funny (if he had been willing to acknowledge such a human thing as humor) that a place so unlike his native Vulcan would most remind him of it. The meditation gardens were lush, greenery in abundance organized along classic Vulcan aesthetic principles of order, ( Read more... )

Leave a comment

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 16:26:38 UTC
James could not read Vulcan ( ... )

Reply

sehlatbear April 19 2010, 16:36:56 UTC
Spock's eyes opened at the sound of a shoe on gravel.

"James Kirk, there is no requirement for you to leave. This is a social space."

Reply

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 16:43:02 UTC
No requirement, perhaps, but for most people he knew it was a clear preference. But there was nothing in Spock's face or voice to suggest he was being polite at the expense of his own feelings--if he even had any--and James wasn't unfamiliar with at least one Spock's moods and habits. And he was curious.

"The use of the space doesn't necessarily imply a want of company," he said, but he approached casually.

Reply

sehlatbear April 19 2010, 16:49:08 UTC
Spock considered, nodded. "In human culture perhaps. In Vulcan society, if one does not wish company, one does not make one's self available in a public area explicitly designed for calm interaction."

He inclined his head, invited James to sit with the simple gesture.

Reply

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 16:53:39 UTC
He was, in a sense, so surprised by the gesture that he obeyed it with only a moment's hesitation. He'd be ready, of course, for some sort of trickery. But he hadn't gotten where he was by being afraid of everything.

What Spock had said made sense, to the extent being open about such things ever did. But it was in James' nature to desire openness, even if nothing in his life had prepared him to accept it.

"So what do you think of it?" he asked, because it wasn't as if they had a lot in common. Spock had greeted him on the boat, but otherwise they hadn't seen one another since that disastrous evening on the Enterprise. James still wasn't sure how he felt about that, but this Spock was familiar to him in a way the female one had not been. It let him divorce the two in his mind. "The colony, I mean."

Reply

sehlatbear April 19 2010, 17:06:39 UTC
His first experience of this James Kirk had left Spock with the impression of savagery and cold manipulation. This Kirk had asked him what he wanted, had promised it in return for Spock's capitulation. But he had not done the same in their last encounter. And it was wisest to allow others the courtesy of acknowledging their development.

"It is as was expected; the colony is efficiently run, true to the principles of Vulcan society, and reminiscent of Vulcan without illogical sentiment."

Reply

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 17:14:53 UTC
James would not have said he'd developed. Just that he knew better now. Was careful in a different way. And Spock already had what he wanted, if James could trust his eyes.

"Illogical sentiment," he repeated. "Guess it matters less to you, anyway. Yours is still there."

Reply

sehlatbear April 19 2010, 17:22:51 UTC
"On the contrary, James Kirk. The loss of this Vulcan was an unimaginable loss. The retention of my own, a dimension away, is no comfort."

Spock shifted, surveyed the unfamiliar flora. "This, however, is comfort. To rebuild, to protect and perpetuate our culture and people. What do you think of the colony, James?"

Reply

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 17:30:48 UTC
James would have been glad of his own planet remaining, whatever had happened to Earth here. It was not his, just as these people bore no relation to him.

"I think it's exactly that--a comfort," he said. "They'll always be exiles."

Reply

sehlatbear April 19 2010, 19:56:16 UTC
"Do you suppose Vulcans to be so ill suited to adaptation? Children will be born here."

Life was quite precious in all its forms - new life would be the key to re-establishing New Vulcan: not as Vulcan once was but as it would be forever moving forward, remembering without forgetting.

Reply

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 19:59:58 UTC
"No," James said. He had some knowledge of the Vulcan capacity to shape logic to the dictates of survival. "But it's never going to be Vulcan. And at least where I come from, they set quite a store on the past."

Then again, pre-Terran Empire had to look sort of like a golden age, to them.

Reply

sehlatbear April 19 2010, 20:05:45 UTC
"It is not required to be Vulcan. Vulcan is no more and that shall be acknowledged. However, the past has not been lost."

It was the present, more than anything, that was a keenly felt loss. Mental bonds, ties, communities - so much loss, the details of which were easily obscured when reviewing numbers and facts instead of the toll each Vulcan carried in their mind.

"I am curious about the Vulcan of your universe." And about how it compared to what he had gleaned of the Vulcan in his mirror counterpart's universe.

Reply

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 20:45:30 UTC
"I'm not sure I would be, if I were you," he said, glancing shrewdly at Spock. "Though it has the advantage of having few natural resources, so perhaps escaped the fate of some planets."

Not its people, though who, while not slaves, were nonetheless conquered.

Reply

sehlatbear April 19 2010, 21:05:33 UTC
His nod was thoughtful. Spock did not shy away from hard or unpleasant truths. But James Kirk seemed reluctant to disrupt the peace of the gardens - though he did not seem entirely cognizant of it himself. Fascinating.

"A different topic then, one of habitation. This universe is significantly different from your own: have you given thought to what you might do here should it be proven impossible for us all to return to our origin points?"

Reply

gold_ambition April 19 2010, 21:09:47 UTC
Now he grimaced, his expression setting hard and stubborn, though he did not sound overtly angry when he spoke.

"Everyone asks me that," he said. "It's a miracle, on one hand, that I've stayed out of the brig. And on the other I'm supposed to have some plan to stay indefinitely in a world that's I'm told is completely unsuitable for anything I can do. In other words, I've thought about it. I don't have an answer."

Reply

sehlatbear April 20 2010, 14:59:46 UTC
"It is not a miracle. You are not unintelligent, James Kirk. That was apparent even upon our first encounter. It is illogical to give credit to some notion of divine providence when the work is your own."

Jim seemed illogically unwilling to view this iteration of himself in any light other than the most negative. But Spock, perhaps because of their prior interactions, had the ability to contrast James Kirk of the then and James Kirk of the now. The human was still his fundamental self - but that expressed itself as adaptability for survival now.

"It is, perhaps, less important that you have an answer as it is that you are considering the question. I do not have an answer for myself, should we be trapped here on a more permanent basis."

Reply


Leave a comment

Up