After the Tahiti Syndrome

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	After the Tahiti Syndrome
Author(s):	Judith Gran
Date(s):	1992
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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After the Tahiti Syndrome is a K/S story by Judith Gran.

art for this story by Dorothy Laoang

It was published in Amazing Grace #2 which also contains its prequel "First, Do No Harm."

Summary

"Back on the ship, Kirk and Spock reaffirm their bond and their commitment to each other."

Reactions and Reviews

This story did not work at all for me, even though I admire the ideas it puts forward. My personal policy is that I won't review a story that I think has no redeeming qualities, because a review of same would be of no use to the author and of minimal use to fandom. So this story does have redeeming qualities, not the least of which are the author's intelligent and well-thought-out ideas. She has skill with the English language, too, and that's no small achievement.

But this story also has some big problems, and-this may sound odd-the author writes stylistically well enough that the problems are glaringly obvious.

The first two pages of this piece are, respectively, a recitation of the events of "The Paradise Syndrome" (which we hardly need) and then a recitation of the author's version of what happened next with the villagers, the obelisk, etc. Both of these dry passages are ostensibly told from Spock's POV as he remembers the incidents. I would like to have seen this section written as scenes and made relevant to the story. Otherwise, it should have been left out; it isn't relevant as written.

A technical problem that bothered me: The tense shifts suddenly on the second page, from the past perfect of Spock's memory, to the simple past, as though we're now in the story's present time. This is a confusing shift, because we find out on the third page that the action and dialogue on page two were still taking place in Spock's memory. Page three, etc.: In the present time of the story, Spock and Kirk are back aboard, and they now must deal with the ramifications of what happened on the planet: Kirk, who was in a committed relationship with Spock before his amnesia, married Miramanee on the planet and then resisted having his memories returned during the mind meld with Spock. Spock is understandably "hurt" though he tries to deny it, and Kirk feels guilty.

There are a lot of good ideas in this story, but ultimately that's all the piece is. It's told in a pretty objective narrative voice-even the sex scene, which is written in exquisite detail but is just plain not sexy. It's just a recitation oi who does what to whom. The "sonic cleaning device" (a clever idea) and the lubrication are out of place; the details of the use of these items just don't belong in a passionate scene. I read this section and thought, "So what?"

The next bit has Spock remarking casually to Kirk "McCoy knows about our relationship," a bombshell that fizzles when it could have exploded. And then Spock and Kirk discuss business: namely, the Bioethics Committee stuff about Miramanee from the author's other story in this zine, "First, Do No Harm".

This piece is not really a story; it's all summation and no drama. There are passages that don't belong, such as Kirk's description of a native dish and the revelation that he tried to give his native clothes back, but ultimately kept them. Again, so what? These details either should have been edited out or should have been made relevant and written into a much longer story.

The important pans of the story, those that should have been shown, were told, either by the author or in dialogue. The real story here is Spock's. He's understandably hurt that Kirk resisted having his memories restored. He's concerned that Kirk might really want to "escape" from their committed relationship. This is a legitimate source for drama, but it was pretty much ignored, because the author told what should have been shown and included a lot of nonessential information as well. And an insightful parallel was pointed out and then ignored: Kirk remarks that Spock went through a similar case of the Tahiti syndrome himself with Leila on Omicron Celt Three. So they've both had some escapist tendencies. Yet nothing comes of these potential conflicts. Kirk and Spock make love, with a mind meld, and they talk, and Spock's problem seems to have been solved while we weren't looking, without any messy drama or emotion intervening. That messy emotion is exactly what's missing. We read K/S to get an emotional experience, after all, so that's what a story should give us. With a problem of this magnitude, there should have been some anger, some Vulcan pouting, some broken crockery (figuratively)-whatever.

The piece does have some good points. Here and there, the reader will find some gems in both description and dialogue. My favorite: "Interesting," Spock murmured with a lift of an upswept brow. "That would confirm my suspicion that you have an attraction to the logical mind that is in many ways quite-illogical." Wow! What an insightful remark, and how refreshingly original. Also original are the ideas surrounding Miramanee and her people, the Prime Directive, medical ethics, etc. This author writes like someone who is well accustomed to writing nonfiction, such as technical material, and is now trying her hand at fiction. I'd say she's made a good start, and I would love to see her continue, especially with longer pieces, because her remarkable ideas certainly deserve a longer medium.

For most of this sequel to "First Do No Harm", I was puzzled by the lack of a point. It went from an unnecessarily long summary of "The Paradise Syndrome" to a gratuitous sex scene, with very little in between. However, the conversation after the sex proved to serve an important purpose, and I was glad to see the loose ends tied up as well as they could be. Also, regarding the sex, the "sonic device" was truly original.