Answers (Star Trek: TOS story)

Fanfiction
Title:	Answers
Author(s):	J S Cavalcante
Date(s):	1993
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Answers is a Kirk/Spock story by J S Cavalcante.

It was published in Charisma #18.

Summary

"On their way back to Earth after VʼGer, Kirk goes to Spockʼs quarters to get answers as to why Spock left for Gol and what brought him back."

Reactions and Reviews

1993

This takes place right at STI as the Admiral and Spock connect in a wonderful way. Kirk comes to Spock for "answers" -- why Spock left him and then came back. This forms the basis for a beautiful story of Spock and Pon Farr and a Vulcan master named Sfarak. This is a very Vulcan Spock - steeped in all his culture and ceremony, dark and mysterious... There are lots of little touches throughout this story that create the reality of Vulcan. One is as Spock offers Kirk previous water from Vulcan to drink. In a moody and atmospheric scene, Spock mind melds with Kirk to tell a memory - the Vulcan Sfarak chooses Spock to serve him at the time of Pon Farr. Told in the first person of Spock, the characters and events told are mysterious and exciting as the reader is drawn into this Vulcan world of tradition, ceremony and emotions. The descriptions of Sfarak in the throes of Pon Farr are terrific. As he continues to fight the urges, he is still fiercely drawn to Spock. It is made all the more powerful by the author's expert use of the first person. Not an easy task.

"But there were hard questions to be answered, and one gentle clasping of their hands hadn't answered them."

I quote this line to show this author's talent for letting the reader know volumes from just a simple phrase or two. I'm sure I don't need to explain what Kirk is referring to or how he feels about it. This takes place right at STI as the Admiral and Spock connect in a wonderful way. Kirk comes to Spock for "answers' -- why Spock left him and then came back. This forms the basis for a beautiful story of Spock and Pon Farr and a Vulcan master named Sfarak.

This is a very Vulcan Spock - steeped in all his culture and ceremony, dark and mysterious. "Spock glanced up, his gaze black and opaque as L-langon's obsidian hills." There are lots of little touches throughout this story that create the reality of Vulcan. One is as Spock offers Kirk previous water from Vulcan to drink.

In a moody and atmospheric scene, Spock mind melds with Kirk to tell a memory -- the Vulcan Sfarak chooses Spock to serve him at the time of Pon Farr. Told in the first person of Spock, the characters and events told are mysterious and exciting as the reader is drawn into this Vulcan world of tradition, ceremony and emotions.

The descriptions of Sfarak in the throes of Pon Farr are terrific. As he continues to fight the urges, he is still fiercely drawn to Spock. It is made all the more powerful by the author's expert use ofthe first person. Not an easy task.

'I stare at the organ. Sfarak is huge. All blades are forbidden from Gol, except this one, I think." "...staring at this weapon, green as a sword of the legends. I understand." "A stab of pain, a coppery tang. I have bitten my lip. The sword has already drawn a blood, and it has not yet touched me."

There are references throughout to things Vulcan which created a powerful atmosphere of Vulcan mystique. So often authors will use contemporary or Terran references which really do not apply. Here,we visit a whole alien world. The Vulcan High Master calls Spock: "Spkh." Lines like: "His scent, musky as a Sehlat's fur, fills my nostrils." And when Spock sees Sfarak's organ: "...the ridges stand out like the hooks on a mountain Khuz-rhyn's quills..." There are many more and they all create a vibrant image of these people.

One of the most poignant moments occurs when Spock realizes that Sfarak will never experience love and will always be alone. "I weep as I have never wept before."

Even in the ending, the author holds to the entire theme of "answers" -- "The stars are ours again, t'hy'la, I hear from him." And their answer is together.

I must share with you the mysterious and unexplained happening concerning the artwork on the cover. I did this before beforereading the story. But,as I'm sure you will see, it not only goes with the story, it matches it exactly. K/S draws us together in mysterious ways....

This author recently wrote an article about using challenging, unusual ideas in K/S literature. I hereby confess to one and all that I am the person she cites in that article who, when confronted with the plot fine of this story, vowed that I would not like it. I've made no secret of the fact that I really don't care for third-party stories.

But thank goodness the author didn't listen to me. There are third party stories and then there are third-party stories.

As several editors make a habit of saying, a skilled writer can make me believe, and like, almost anything.

"Answers" is a very rewarding story, fulfilling to read. In the sensitive hands of J S Cavalcante, this tale of how Spock was called upon to serve a male priest during his pon farr at Gol shows both Kirk and Spock in character. The main events of the story are told as a flashback, in the form of a meld that Spock shares with Kirk shortly after the events of STI.

This author has a marvelous, a gifted way with words. I loved the way Spock decides he hates the way High Master T'Sai pronounces his name, and how he compares it to the way it sounds on the lips of his t'hy'a. "When Jim called me to his side, it was a benediction."

I loved the way Spock is confused that he, a male, has been chosen to serve another male. This section could have been as blunt as a hammer, but it's handled instead with subtlety.

[...]

Since I've always been open to the interpretation that Spock just might be innately homosexual (or at least bi-sexual, with a preference for males, if you want to get technical) this particular passage rings true.

Another marvelous little touch occurs when Spock thinks tradition bars all blades from Gol; no one here cuts his hair." Later, when he is confronted by the physical evidence of Sfarak's arousal. Spock thinks "All blades are forbidden from Gol except this one." Realty nice.

Another one from the sex scene, "...he had felt... complete and yearning for completion at the same time "The lover's paradox," came Spock's thought, the only coherent one in a jumble of incoherent emotions. "Oh, Jim , love me, I love you."

Despite my distinct admiration for this story, I did see some problems with it. Most of these centered about consistency, and the need to follow through on the emotional consequences of a character's words.

For example, Spock isn't exactly reluctant to meld with Kirk in the end ofthe second scene. He says "There is much Ihave not told you." and after a little insistence from Kirk, the meld that recalls the experience with Sfarak Rows out. But then, after Spock reveals all the incredibly intimate details of that story, Kirk barely reacts to the information at all. I think that some emotional integration was needed here. It also would have provided some much needed insight into Kirk's mind. This story suffers from the absence of Kirk's perspective. Everything happens too easily for him. He accepts everything, the sexual activities at Gol, Spock's final revelation of his desire for Kirk, too nonchalantly. After all. this meld is heavy stuff! The author fails to give us the emotional resonances of the revelations.

I think that the scenes written immediately after the first meld should have come from Kirk's perspective. Instead he pursues Spock, digging at him to tell more, blithely pushing aside the immense revelations already made. I had trouble understanding what it was that Spock had hoped to accomplish with the first meld, and why he was so resistant after it. Did he or didn't he mean to communicate something of importance to Kirk, and if not, why did he bother to meld at all?

The sex scene was actually the least interesting part of the story, and I think again that this might be one of those stories that would have been better without the obligatory physical passion. And I was a little put off by the interruption of that passion with the sounds of Spock's mental laughter. I don't quite get how Spock can project an "amused thought even as Spock's body heaved under him. thrusting the large organ at him."

I am in great admiration of the little touches of insight, the marvelous use of language rn this story. And even though it was a "third party story," there is plenty of Kirk and Spock, to.

Highly recommended.