Commutative Diagram

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Commutative Diagram
Author(s):	Mary Suskind Lansing
Date(s):	1992
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:	at AO3
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Commutative Diagram is a Kirk/Spock story by Mary Suskind Lansing.

It was published in the print zine Consort #2.

Summary:

"Lonely, and fighting an attraction to Spock, Kirk goes along with a mail order bride set up by a drunk McCoy."

Reactions and Reviews

This was an interesting story, but I think it was two stories combined into one, each with a different 'voice' and tempo. It was jarring to go from one to the other, like I had made a misstep someplace. Nonetheless, this was an amusing story which aiso provided insights into Kirk's and Spock's characters.

This is one of my very favorite K/S stories; it’s given me much pleasure over the years. Since this is a fairly old zine (published in 1992) I’ m going to give an extensive review. Be warned.

It is after ST IV, and the story begins in McCoy’s cabin. Our good doctor is drunk and contemplating the dregs of some excellent whiskey remaining in his glass. Two of the very last drops remind him of his two friends: “That drop there, the one that was so slow catching up with the other, that was Spock. Jim was always out in front.” When the Spock-drop catches up with the Jim-drop, McCoy is relieved. He drinks them down because: “Family belongs together.” This leads quite logically in McCoy’s inebriated state to “family planning,” and before he knows it he is on the computer filling out applications to find both his friends a wife.

When Kirk is contacted by a young xenobiologist named Val Alain, and Spock receives an offer to bond from an older male Vulcan teaching at Starfleet Academy named Skuner, they initially think to refuse, but things have been happening that spook them badly. Kirk had always been attracted to the Vulcan yet looked elsewhere to satisfy his sexual urges. I love this passage: “And then one day, there was no one there. Spock was dead, and reason told him that what was missing from his life would never be replaced. And in that day, the macho Captain James T. Kirk had become as sexless as a corpse.”

When Spock returns, Kirk can again have meaningless affairs but is haunted by wanting Spock. He engages in a 23rd century version of phone sex with him. Kirk has sex with temporary crewmember. When Spock calls, he uses Spock’s voice to increase his pleasure, making love while he has Spock tell him about some trivial, and false ship’s business. Spock knows it’s happening, and the second time this occurs, Spock records the session for his own personal use. The behavior becomes too kinky for both of them to accept, and they decide marriage and bonding with their mail-order partners to be infinitely safer. (If there is another K/S story based on this scenario, I haven’t come across it.)

In typical Kirkian fashion, the captain escalates the situation. He asks Spock to repeat the behavior, only this time they are both in the same room, and then even further showing up one night at Spock’s door wanting to go to bed with him. He’s afraid to pass on a relationship with Spock without finding out how they truly feel about one another. What a tender and beautiful love scene! After this, Kirk while ready to call off his marriage to Val, isn’t totally committed to a bonding with Spock. He’d like things to go on as they now are. Naturally, this is something Spock cannot accept. McCoy is aghast at what he has wrought. His solution to the problem is unique and absolutely brilliant. Hunt down this zine (It’s available from The K/S Press Library), and find out the ending for yourself.

I miss this author. Her work was always different, very well written and humorous without being silly. Characterization is her strong suit. Even though we only meet Val and Skuner through their “e-mail” communications, they are sympathetic and fully realized people. Her versions of Kirk and Spock are very close to my own vision of them.

Check out this story. You’ll love it as much as I do.