Fic: Observations, Ch 210
“Captain’s log. We’re responding to distress signals from an unknown planet. Commander Spock hasn’t been able to account for this, since the last reports of the planet said there were no civilizations or technologically capable life forms. I’m sending him and Lt. Uhura down to investigate.”
--
“Are you from the spaceship Enterprise?”
“Yes. Could you tell us what’s happened? We received strong distress signals from this planet, but there seems to be nothing wrong,” Nyota said.
“Wonderful, wonderful the party’s begun
let’s open the wine and have a victory song.
My name’s Alexander and I am the fool,
I am a good loser and obedient tool
to the perverted Platonians worshipping forms,
and don’t mind my language. I’m far from the norm.”
“I see,” she looked at me.
The other members of the away team shifted on their feet.
“Abnormal, abnormal
is my middle name
so don’t mind my language.
I’m simply insane.”
“Alexander, I am Commander Spock and this is Lt. Uhura. Who are the inhabitants of this planet?”
“Plato and Cato and playwright Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides and Ovid, Catallus.
They call themselves the bastards of Plato
but I think they look more like putrid tomatoes:
acidic and rotting and red bodies clotting.”
Alexander suddenly crumpled to the floor, clawing at his throat.
Lt. Pham immediately took out his tricorder and Nyota went to the dwarf’s side.
“What’s wrong? What’s happening?” she demanded.
“Tyrants tyrannical they don’t like my rhymes
they say they must punish me from time to time.”
“Lt. Pham, is there any way to stop this effect?”
“The tricorder is giving me readings of telekinetic effects, sir. The point of origin coming from down that corridor.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t worry for me,
worry about what they’ll do to you in their glee.
You should never have come, you should leave now and run
escape bastard Parmen the king and the one-”
“That’s quite enough.”
A needle and thread appeared. Alexander’s mouth was neatly stitched close, his screams only ripping the holes wider as the thread was pulled by telekinesis. It was a gruesome sight.
Horror was evident on all the faces of the away team members. Ensign Rashbaum was wide eyed with her hand to her mouth. Lt. Pham was about to protest when Nyota elbowed him sharply. Clearly it was necessary to be cautious around this species.
“Welcome to our Republic. My name is Philana, this is our jester Alexander. Who among you is the physician?”
“First tell us why you sent a distress signal and how you came to this planet, then we can negotiate medical services, if that’s what you need,” Nyota replied, eyes hard.
Alexander was curled on the floor, shivering, pus oozing from the holes of the stitches.
I am not willing to risk any more personnel on this planet. It is preemptive to create a judgment of a species based on two individuals, but already I find myself evaluating my first impressions. We do not deal with societies that whimsically torture others.
I could see Nyota coming to the same conclusion. We need more information.
“Our records from the last survey show clearly that there were no inhabitants.”
“We are the Platonians, and we took care that no one would hear of us. Our native star was Sahndara. Millenia ago, right before the star went nova, we managed to escape. We have modeled ourselves after the Republic of Plato, and all is harmonious here.”
Alexander’s mouth offered evidence to the contrary.
“The distress signal was necessary to issue because my husband, our Philosopher-King Parmen, injured his leg. His condition has deteriorated and we are in need of a physician. We bled him several times-”
Nyota stiffened.
“But he has not improved. Who among you is the physician?”
“How severe is his condition?” I asked.
“We only know of death through the ancient texts, but by their descriptions, it seems he is dying. A disgusting sight, mortality.”
“Lt. Pham, go with Ensign von Otter and Ensign Shahzad to evaluate the condition of Parmen. Report back as soon as you have the results.”
“If you’ll follow me,” Philana began walking.
“Before we go, could you unstitch his mouth?” Ensign Rashbaum was white as a sheet, but her voice was steady. “He wasn’t doing anything harmful. Only some funny rhymes.”
“Very well. Alexander, mind your tongue.”
His mouth ripped open and Alexander screamed, and screamed, and screamed.
“Uhura to Sickbay.”
“McCoy here. What’s wrong? Everyone’s frequencies are normal, as far as I can see.”
“Send down a dermal regenerator. One of the natives here has severe wounds.”
“All right. I’ll send a kit down to the transporter room.”
--
“The jester does as lady says and grows so weary of the fight.
Their power to control my limbs, to stitch my lips, to stunt my height
is old as centuries pass like days, the leaves and lays of looming night.”
“Alexander, how long has this been going on? Can you tell us?”
We were seated in a guest room, waiting for Lt. Pham and the others to return.
“Stupidity, stupidity,
eternal jester standing by.
You’ll learn their ways and power plays
and love their cruel corrupted light.
I’ve tried to die but I’m a slave,
my body shrinks, it is my grave.
The stupid jester, ugly fool
who lives to serve with verve and drool.
Go to Parmen and you’ll see,
the bastards of a Golden Age.
The gold turned gilt, pretentious sage,
lying dying on his couch.
But we are equals in a way
for now his body is his grave.”
“So Parmen really is dying?”
“They thought in immortality,
they wouldn’t need the medical art.
Fools more foolish than their jester-
immortals shit and spit and fart.”
“Are the Platonians truly immortal, or merely have extreme longevity?” I asked.
“I’ve never seen one die of age,
I’ve seen them kill in fits of rage.
Parmen’s a psychotic hoax,
but his body is the host
of the most psychokinetic power,
unstable as a falling tower.”
“Then there was a point in time when the Platonians did not have this ability?”
“Mr. Spock, you’re most observant.
My riddling rhymes are not deterrents?”
“I find your habit of speaking in rhymes to be intriguing. Did you begin at the same time they gained their telekinetic power?”
“No. I can speak normal if I choose.
But speaking normal, I find I lose
the freedom of insanity.
And it’s a little vanity.
They may be master of my voice,
but in the words, I have a choice.”
“Alex-can I call you Alex?” Lt. Kristof-Nutukwa asked.
“A name’s a name and shortening it,
doesn’t change the fact I never wanted it.”
“You never wanted it? You didn’t get to name yourself?”
“It’s a mockery.
Their clever crockery.
For Alexander was a Great,
but here I have a different fate.”
“Then what name do you want us to call you?” Nyota asked.
“My mother called me Odysseus,
wily and promiscuous.
He knew the tricks,
he walked the treks,
and used his brain while on the decks.”
She laughed.
“Okay. Odysseus, then-it’s a beautiful epic and wonderful choice for a name. How long has this torture been going on? Why do they treat you this way? Are there others they treat like you?”
“To understand the state of things
one must go back in time to kings
who thought themselves philosophers
but were in fact Mephistophelers.
I will not tell you as a rule,
I’m but a jester and a fool.
Go ask their historian-Thucydides the Dorian!”
Nyota frowned. She seemed to consider her words carefully. Then-
“Thucydides of Athens fair
wrote history of free men in war.
The fight they fought, the speeches wrought,
are still remembered and adored.”
“The speeches wrought he wrought untrue
like Plato’s Republic deceiving you
with visions of a paradise.
In paradise there is no place
for lice or mice or hate or face.”
“Then enlighten us of history,
the way before your star went dark,
the horror seen, the tears of those
who sank inside the drowning ark.”
Silence.
“We want to know, we want to see,
we’ll listen to your twisting rhymes.
You body and your history
bear witness to their gruesome crimes.
A jester slave, a jester mute,
can reenact in pantomime,
remembering the days before
when things weren’t gilded in the grime.”
“Lady,
what good would it do me
recounting hurts and woes and aches?
What can you do, what could you see
to take away the pain and quaking of my memory.
I will not tell, for all our sakes.”
“Perhaps you’ve lived in fear so long
you think there’s no integrity
in thinking beings-you are wrong.
We want to help, so help us see.”
Silence.
Odysseus looked at us, scrutinized us.
Nyota held his gaze.
“Those that remain are thirty-eight,” he began.
A pause.
“There once were more than thirty eight, and it’s ironic.
These remaining cannot bear children.
It seems in draining the genetics out
and breeding perfect lazy louts
they made a breed of impotent sprouts.
And impotent in more than coupling-
their ideas and arts and science are nothing.
Nothing but derivatives of ages gone and deadness lived.”
Another pause.
“It is logical that a culture such as this would lead to extreme stagnation,” I nodded. “And it is likely that they were unable to preserve the civilization’s history and accumulated knowledge in the haste to leave the planet.”
“Wait-do I have this right? I’m not as good at navigating the riddles,” Lt. Kristof-Nutukwa said. “There was a eugenics program on your planet that led to these Platonians.”
Odysseus nodded.
“Philana said your star went nova,” Ensign Rashbaum added. “Where the Platonians the only ones who managed to escape? They came here, and you’ve been living here ever since? Are you a product of that eugenics program too?”
“I am a product of that scheme
but things went wrong in their utopian dream.
There were others who were like me
but they were purged, thrown to the sea.”
“... I hope that’s not literal.”
“You’d be surprised by utopias.
The ridiculous cornucopia
of demons, monsters, slaughtered for beauty.
‘Give up your son for Forms and duty!’”
“Yet you survived,” I said.
“I was named Odysseus
because my mother loved the sea.
She threw me to the saltiest part-
I floated in tranquility.”
“How’d you find yourself with these Platonians, then?” Kristof-Nutukwa asked.
“I was a child when the star blew up,
a stowaway aboard their ship.
She made me promise I would survive
and remember her. And that was it.
“So many millenia passed
and I have tried to thwart their rule.
Millenia passed-I wonder often
if I’ve always been the fool.”
Silence.
“Odysseus, when did their telekinetic powers emerge?” I asked.
“Three millenia ago is when
they discovered powers beyond their ken.
Three millenia and a war
that shrunk their numbers to four score.
Another fight would break out later
when Parmen came to be dictator.
They whittled down to thirty-eight.
I hope it turns to thirty-seven.”
“The war must have been sudden and insane
to have such power on the plane
of battle. But you survived
the gore and hoary violent score,
their symphony of force and war.
Odysseus, can you not offer observations or ideas?
How was it you that came to suffer,
serving their maladies through the years?”
“How did they become telekinetic? I’ve never heard of a substance being able to induce that kind power,” Rashbaum asked.
“If I knew,
don’t you think I’d do it too?
And why do you want to know?
So you can join their lovely show?”
“We would like to help you. The only way, it would seem, to make the terms between you and the other Platonians equal would be to find some means by which you could also be telekinetic.”
“Psychokinetic.
Psychokinetic.
Power that’s so absolute
corrupts from leaf to shoot to root.
“Don’t try to help me in that way.
I don’t want that kind of sway.
I’ve got no doubt that if I could,
I’d kill them all-it’d feel so good,
to rip their mouths and hearts and hands,
to sift their brains through colander strands.
Don’t tempt me, make me one of them.
Leave me some dignity, gentlewomen.
“If you want to help, take me with you.
I want to see that space
untouched by slavery, a place of pure equality.
I have forgotten, though I dream, that sweetest taste of liberty.
Where I do not need to speak in rhyme,
I do not live by rings and chimes
demanding everything.”
“We will bring you with us. I promise this,” Nyota said, voice fierce.
“No. They’ll throw a fit with screams and kicks.
They’ll bloody you and pierce your lips.
They never planned on letting you
leave and bring out their debut.
They’ll kill you first. Philana queen will do her worst.”
Nyota straightened.
“You don’t know who you’re speaking to-we are the Enterprise and her crew.
We’ve seen such terrors, faced such strangeness that would make others die of fright.
In facing that and walking forward we fear no evil, know no blight
depriving us of victory, of confidence and surety. Our captain is a mystery
born in darkness, standing in light. Our commander is our certainty
whose mere presence can ignite the courage to continue onward, persevere and keep the fight.
I understand these are but words, but let me tell you of a man-
the man I love was taken over by an alien who had planned
to kill me, our ship, and all our friends, but first drive them to black despair
terror intended to distend and bring out madness everywhere.
“We survived.
“And I have nightmares every night of haze and fog and screams and pain
and every night, I wake up shaking, crying, hurting, half insane
my lover is a murderer who couldn’t help the things he’s done
but still we walk and talk and listen to our silence and our song.
“So you don’t know who you’re speaking to-we are the Enterprise and her crew.
“And there is nothing we can’t do.”