A Negligible Difference
| Star Trek TOS Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Negligible Difference |
| Author(s): | Guinn Berger |
| Date(s): | 1979-1981 |
| Length: | very long |
| Genre: | gen |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: The Original Series |
| External Links: | |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
A Negligible Difference is a gen Star Trek: TOS story by Guinn Berger.
Part one was published in 1979 in the second issue of WXYZine and part two in 1981 in that same zine.
In this story, Kirk is female and named Captain Jean Theresa Kirk. But then it turns out it is male-Kirk's dream.... except when he awakes and looks in the mirror, he really is female. There has been a switch due to some sort of mirror universe. There are backstories regarding the episode "Return to Paradise" with Miramanee and Salish, as well as a Janice Lester with an emphasis on guilt, gender, and suicide.
Excerpts
That sure had been some nightmare, he reflected, trying to conjure up a smile. Probably It had had deep, psychological meanings; dreaming of himself as a woman -- and of Janice Rand; Why, he hadn't seen Janice in years. He carefully avoided analyzing the part about Salish, and Miramanee... But the rest of it -- really he ought to tell Bones about it, just for a laugh, although he probably would take a terrible ribbing about being the 'lovely Captain Kirk'."
He opened the mirrored bathroom cabinet to take out his shaving kit, then stopped and stared at the collection of cosmetics on the shelves. Expensive brands of face powder, perfume, lotions, et cetera, stared back at him.
"What the..." A sudden suspicion came over Kirk, and he strode purposefully Into the other room and opened the wardrobe. The entire storage unit was filled with very feminine civilian clothes, as well as several of the tunic-style uniforms worn by female Star Fleet personnel -- all in command gold with captain's braid on thesleeves. He gritted his teeth. Somebody's idea of a joke was going to land that person in the brig, he vowed silently.
Just to make sure,he checked all the drawers that should have held his personal effects, Everything of his had been replaced with feminine froufrou. His medals and personal log appeared undisturbed, but that only served to make him more angry.
[snipped]
"Now let me see if I've got this straight," McCoy was saying. The doctor had been called in to hear the prisoner's story, and he glanced across the room at Kirk who was still ridiculously attired in pajama trousers. "You claim you're some sort of alter ego of Jean's, and , that you're not even from tbis universe. In fact you're from a kind of parallel alternate universe, and somehow you and she switched places. Is that right?"
[snipped]
They tested Kirk inside and out, up, down and sideways, backward and forward. They matched his ear conformation formation to that of their captain. They compared retina prints, fingerprints, whole-handprints, footprints, and voiceprints. They measured his brainwaves and analyzed' His blood. And, finally, they took a bone marrow sampie, extracted DNA, and Inspected his genetic structure.
"Well, I'd never have believed it," said McCoy grudgingly, "but we've given you every Identification test on the books and it appears you are what you claim to be." He shook his head in wonderment. Crazy. Jean Kirk -- as a man. Whatever would the Admiralty say about this?
[snipped]
"The one thing Janice Lester wanted in life," Jean said, "Was to be a starship captain. She was the most single-minded person I'd ever known. Everything she did was aimed toward that one goal. : She worked for it; planned for it... I think she might even have killed for it. I guess that's what she tried to do to Jim in this universe." Jean drew a ragged breath. "But she wasn't strong, physically, I mean. She pushed herself too hard, always working -- working..... She finally had a breakdown. It wasn't anything she couldn't have overcome in time but she knew... it meant the end of every thing she'd hoped for," The tears were gone now, but McCoy could almost feel the time-dulled ache coming alive again In Jean's mind.
[snipped]
"Jean Kirk Is the best starship captain in the fleet," McCoy unconsciously echoed hfs counterpart. "And for my money it's because she's a woman. She's gotten this ship out of more impossible situations than I care to think about, using strategies no man would dare use — and gotten away with It because her opponent didn't expect a woman to be that daring. In the crunch, where it counts, she thinks like a man, and the fact that she's a woman gives her the advantage of surprise." Before Kirk could answer, Spock cut In.
"I do not quite agree with you. Doctor. Our captain thinks like neither a man nor a woman -- she thinks like Jean Kirk. It is that which gives her the advantage."
Kirk stared at the Vulcan, and he too echoed his own counterpart: "She must be one hell of a woman."
If the phrasing of Kirk's remark struck Spock as being perhaps a bit crude, he did not indicate as much. He merely answered, "She is indeed, sir."