A Gift of Crystal

Star Trek TOS Fanfiction
Title:	A Gift of Crystal
Author(s):	Robin Hood
Date(s):	1986
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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A Gift of Crystal is a sort-of Kirk/Spock/OFC story by Robin Hood.

first page

It was published in the print zine Shades of Grey #1.

Summary

"K'T'lk and Kirk discuss human sexuality, particularly homosexuality. But Kirk finds this a difficult subject, so K'T'lk invites Spock to join the discussion."

Reactions and Reviews

1986

A GIFT OF CRYSTAL by Robin Hood continues a conversation begun in Diane Duane's THE WOUNDED SKY between Kirk and the crystal spider, K'T'lk. She's very interested in human sexuality and Kirk, to his own bemusement, is very apprehensive to answer her questions ... which turn to Spock and their feelings toward each other. This is not a technical 'menage', but it certainly is an emotional triangle; a story that is very well-written, a plot that is ' pulled off' to perfection.

1987

The other story in this alien set sounded promising. On the surface, a tale about Kirk, Spock and K't'lk, an alien from Diane Duane's novel, THE WOUNDED SKY, should be an astonishing revelation. Yet instead it was disappointing. For one thing, "A Gift of Crystal" by Robin Hood isn't a triad story at all. It's K/S being nursed along by a third party—a concept which I've always found somewhat dubious since it assumes that Kirk and Spock can't manage by themselves. This is a rather demeaning attitude toward our heroes. It also occurred to me that if Kirk and Spock had melded according to Spock's "natural instinct", as ne puts it in this story, the need for a nursemaid would have been erased, and then goodbye alien. The whole sequence of events in "A Gift of Crystal" struck me as totally superfluous.

1989

This was quite well done, and I could imagine K'T'lk giving that kind of Dutch-uncle talk to Kirk and Spock, making them see what's so clear to her. But somehow I can't quite get into stories that have Kirk and Spock becoming that close to anyone save McCoy. Writers should perhaps be aware that there's a barrier there (for some of us) that require really heavy artillery. The characterizations were good. My favorite bit was where K'T'lk surmises that her questions provide "an opportunity to bring it out into the open and blame it on someone else." I have two wishes: One is, that the author had gone over the story a couple of times more for smoothness and rhythm. The other is, that she'd told us what K'T'lk was knitting! An egg case? A sculpture that would have meaning to K and S? I'd have like to know.