ST Fic: The Star to Every Wand'ring Bark (2/8)
The Marriage of True Minds
Alteration
Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds
“Sometimes I think it will drive me insane, Bones!”
“Jim, you’re overreacting. You only had one shot of that Saurian brandy, right?”
“I’m serious, Bones. Do you realize how hard it is to be friends with a person who changes like that. All the time? We’re best friends today, but what if tomorrow it’s something that makes him into a completely different person? What then?”
“To be fair, Jim, he isn’t changing, you’re just learning new things about him.”
“Bones, he has changed. You weren’t here for my first few months on the Enterprise. He didn’t even pretend to be unemotional. You know how he calls me ‘Captain’ now, no matter what we’re doing or where we are? Well, he used to call me ‘Jim,’ even on duty. I don’t understand it. One week he’s expressive and friendly, and the next he turns into an . . . an alien!”
“Jim, he always was an alien.”
“Yes, I know, but he seemed so human in the beginning.”
“I dunno, Jim. I can’t speak for before I was here . . . since I wasn’t here . . . but maybe you’re confused. It was a pretty traumatic time, what with Gary and . . . well . . . maybe your memory’s faulty.”
“No. It couldn’t be. Anyway, you were at the court martial during the Pike episode. You saw the footage the Talosians sent us. He was no different from any human on the ship, when it came to expressing emotions, then.”
“You can’t rely on your memory of that footage either - that was just as traumatic.”
“No, Bones. Honestly, he even looked different. Something about his eyes or his eyebrows . . .”
“I don’t look at him if I can help it, so I never noticed.”
“Or what about his abilities? First he melds with a man, then an animal, and then a computer! Or what about his background? Not only did he let me believe that his human heritage was some tiny trace of human blood from a Human-Vulcan marriage several generations ago, but once he did tell me the truth about that, he never bothered to inform me that Ambassador Sarek was his father and the Lady Amanda was his mother.”
“Well, Jim, to be fair, he may have assumed that you would realize it without him telling you - how many Vulcan-Human couples do you think there are?”
“He might have said something. Why didn’t he tell me he could play the piano? I had no idea before we visited Methuselah.”
“Why the heck would he tell you that?”
“Oh . . . I dunno . . .”
“Jim, you need to work out your issues with the hobgoblin yourself. All I can say is, I don’t see that anything really dramatic has ever happened . . . And be honest - most of these earth-shattering revelations prevented horrible situations - like the healing trance - it kept him alive when your friends shot him.”
“Those weren’t my friends . . .”
“And the inner eyelids? I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if it weren’t for them. Not to mention the fact that Vulcan secretiveness made it possible for us to invent the Vulcan death grip - and that was a success.”
“That’s true . . . You know, I was hoping that there really was a Vulcan death grip. Every so often I’ll talk about the Vulcan something or other - when I’m bored. I always get a long-winded explanation of why I’m wrong, which - well, frankly, it’s entertaining. But I’m really hoping one day I’ll hit on something real.”
“Well, Jim, you go on entertaining yourself in whatever childish way you want. I don’t want to hear any more about it. It’s difficult enough to work with that Vulcan’s vital organs - for the rest, I’ll just leave well enough alone. For all I know there may be a Vulcan self-resurrection technique, but I don’t care, because Vulcans don’t want to talk about it. Let them be. “
“Hmph. I thought I’d have a more sympathetic audience in you, Bones. After all, you complain about Spock more than anyone else.”
“Like I said, the nictitating membranes were enough for me. I won’t complain ab-”
“Bones, you’ve got to get out of here! I didn’t realize what time it was. Spock should be here any minute to play chess, and if you stay you’ll both be so busy squabbling with each other that we won’t start playing for another hour - and then I’ll be half asleep when we finally get started.”
“Jim, I don’t think-”
“Bones! Don’t you have something better to do somewhere else? In Sickbay, for example?”
“Fine, Jim. I’ll leave you and the hobgoblin alone. Even if you do find him so annoying.”
“Why would you think I find him annoying?”
“Because…oh never mind! Goodnight.”
The Remover
Alteration
Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds
“Sometimes I think it will drive me insane, Bones!”
“Jim, you’re overreacting. You only had one shot of that Saurian brandy, right?”
“I’m serious, Bones. Do you realize how hard it is to be friends with a person who changes like that. All the time? We’re best friends today, but what if tomorrow it’s something that makes him into a completely different person? What then?”
“To be fair, Jim, he isn’t changing, you’re just learning new things about him.”
“Bones, he has changed. You weren’t here for my first few months on the Enterprise. He didn’t even pretend to be unemotional. You know how he calls me ‘Captain’ now, no matter what we’re doing or where we are? Well, he used to call me ‘Jim,’ even on duty. I don’t understand it. One week he’s expressive and friendly, and the next he turns into an . . . an alien!”
“Jim, he always was an alien.”
“Yes, I know, but he seemed so human in the beginning.”
“I dunno, Jim. I can’t speak for before I was here . . . since I wasn’t here . . . but maybe you’re confused. It was a pretty traumatic time, what with Gary and . . . well . . . maybe your memory’s faulty.”
“No. It couldn’t be. Anyway, you were at the court martial during the Pike episode. You saw the footage the Talosians sent us. He was no different from any human on the ship, when it came to expressing emotions, then.”
“You can’t rely on your memory of that footage either - that was just as traumatic.”
“No, Bones. Honestly, he even looked different. Something about his eyes or his eyebrows . . .”
“I don’t look at him if I can help it, so I never noticed.”
“Or what about his abilities? First he melds with a man, then an animal, and then a computer! Or what about his background? Not only did he let me believe that his human heritage was some tiny trace of human blood from a Human-Vulcan marriage several generations ago, but once he did tell me the truth about that, he never bothered to inform me that Ambassador Sarek was his father and the Lady Amanda was his mother.”
“Well, Jim, to be fair, he may have assumed that you would realize it without him telling you - how many Vulcan-Human couples do you think there are?”
“He might have said something. Why didn’t he tell me he could play the piano? I had no idea before we visited Methuselah.”
“Why the heck would he tell you that?”
“Oh . . . I dunno . . .”
“Jim, you need to work out your issues with the hobgoblin yourself. All I can say is, I don’t see that anything really dramatic has ever happened . . . And be honest - most of these earth-shattering revelations prevented horrible situations - like the healing trance - it kept him alive when your friends shot him.”
“Those weren’t my friends . . .”
“And the inner eyelids? I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if it weren’t for them. Not to mention the fact that Vulcan secretiveness made it possible for us to invent the Vulcan death grip - and that was a success.”
“That’s true . . . You know, I was hoping that there really was a Vulcan death grip. Every so often I’ll talk about the Vulcan something or other - when I’m bored. I always get a long-winded explanation of why I’m wrong, which - well, frankly, it’s entertaining. But I’m really hoping one day I’ll hit on something real.”
“Well, Jim, you go on entertaining yourself in whatever childish way you want. I don’t want to hear any more about it. It’s difficult enough to work with that Vulcan’s vital organs - for the rest, I’ll just leave well enough alone. For all I know there may be a Vulcan self-resurrection technique, but I don’t care, because Vulcans don’t want to talk about it. Let them be. “
“Hmph. I thought I’d have a more sympathetic audience in you, Bones. After all, you complain about Spock more than anyone else.”
“Like I said, the nictitating membranes were enough for me. I won’t complain ab-”
“Bones, you’ve got to get out of here! I didn’t realize what time it was. Spock should be here any minute to play chess, and if you stay you’ll both be so busy squabbling with each other that we won’t start playing for another hour - and then I’ll be half asleep when we finally get started.”
“Jim, I don’t think-”
“Bones! Don’t you have something better to do somewhere else? In Sickbay, for example?”
“Fine, Jim. I’ll leave you and the hobgoblin alone. Even if you do find him so annoying.”
“Why would you think I find him annoying?”
“Because…oh never mind! Goodnight.”
The Remover