Fragments (Star Trek: TOS story)

Fanfiction
Title:	Fragments
Author(s):	Diane Marchant and others
Date(s):	1977-1988
Length:
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'Fragments' Part 1 appears in the Spock fanzine in 1977. It should be noted that this 'adult' content was the first to appear in a zine that was otherwise produced by and for teenage school children, containing quizzes and their own Star Trek fanfic adventures.

Fragments is a serialized story in many issues of Spock, an Australian publication.

"Fragments" was the first truly "adult" story to be published in the fanzine, focusing on a Spock/Chapel relationship brought about when Christine Chapel decides to save Spock from pon farr and then has his baby.

The first chapters were by Anonymous aka Diane Marchant who wrote eight installments between June 1977 and October 1978, commencing in SPOCK Issue number #3 (Volume 2 No 3).

After the first eight installments, Marchant handed over the serial to anyone else who wanted to continue it. The remaining stories were by four other fans who completed the story between 1977 and 1988.

The first installment was titled: "Fragments: Part One of a Fragmented Story (or quote: "Soap Opera") About Star Trek."

The First Author: Diane Marchant

The first author was Diane Marchant writing as 'Anonymous'. This is confirmed by the then-editor of SPOCK, Geoff Allshorn.

Also of note:

Diane Marchant very much shipped Spock/Chapel.

Diane spoke often about how she didn't like to write stories; she only wrote fragments and was happy for others to fill in the gaps.

The title of the series. "Fragments," may allude to Marchant's A Fragment Out of Time (1974).

The title of the series also alludes to "A Place Out of Time..." written by Kert Rats (Marchant's pseud) and was illustrated by Diane under the initials, "DSM" in "Spock" #14.

From the author of the Spock/Christine zine, The Bond (1980):

I have always been a Spock/Christine fan and have never read any good stories on them except the fantastic Crossroad series by Juanita Salicrup, and Fragments, a short series of stories in an Australian fan zine called Spock. The writer is not identified. (But I know).

[...]

[I thank] Diane Marchant: Who has been holding her breath waiting for this book to come out. Who filled my head with wonderful praise and a few gentle criticisms. (Hope you haven't turned blue yet, It's been a long time in coming.) Also thanks for the drawings which where inspired by the first draft. Especially Spock by the ocean.

The Baton is Passed On to Others

The first author, Marchant, wrote the first eight segments and then offered it up for other fans to continue if they wished. At the end of the eighth instalment, Marchant wrote: "Fragments ended, but in truth did not even really begin, if you want to pick up the gauntlet."

Three, possibly four, other fans took her up on this offer.

The first new writer, Nurith Anbari, wrote in "Spock" #15: "Like many other, readers, I was a bit upset when the fascinating "Fragments" series ended unfinished. It's been nagging at me since then and as readers were invited to 'take up the gauntlet', I've done just that in hopes that others will do the same after me!"

Marchant's Comments

Marchant commented on the second installment in Spock #4 (v.2 n.4):

(EDITOR'S NOTE: More than one person has written to me expressing how much they liked the story [Part 1], and asking why the author wanted to remain anonymous. I made a point of asking the authoress about putting her name on the story, but she [jokingly] replied, "Story? I don't write stories!")

PART TWO by anonymous

Part two (Shudder!) of the Soap Opera, Trek flavoured...

The Impact of This Series

"Fragments" was the first truly "adult" story to be published in the fanzine. While while not openly pornographic, it was rather startlingly blunt about the issue of sex within a fanzine that had been devoted to 'G rated' material. This marked a turning point within the fanzine, and within the club: mature adult concepts (no longer 'G rated' only) were now included and freely being published/discussed. One can only imagine the impact upon teenage school children (and increasing numbers of adults joining Austrek from outside the club's traditional membership base) who had, up until that point, written and read only about spaceships and aliens and beaming up, to suddenly have this bodice-ripper material included among their stories:

The fire flickered. The ember glowed. Waiting soon to end. Years of rusting go to nought. He knows... he knows.

Facing the wall, he feared this time would mean his end. Needing the one he possessed not, and never would. Surely he could not survive, not this onslaught.

There was a calling... suffering. She could almost taste the bitterness. Who would suffer so? Suddenly looking at the door. She knew the cabin. Is it he?

Entering the semi-darkened room, her eyes accustomed themselves. Oh, can such misery exist? Pitiful to see, he is hunched against the wall. Her throat constricts, her heart is low. She manages a, "You have need of me... I am here."

Slowly an unkempt head turns her way and yellow-rimmed eyes stare blearily as stumbling words tumble mechanically from his lips, "How did you know?" Then: "No matter... leave... go! Go!!" He all but screams... "Before it is too late!"

"If I go it most certainly will be too late... so no matter what you say, I'll stay."

He closes his eyes momentarily, then gutterally orders, "Come here!" Moving over to him, she is roughly pulled to the bunk. Clothing torn, body bruised, crushed, violated. Flinching beneath his brutality, she makes no complaint. It is his life! - (from SPOCK 3, June 1977, page 17)

Editor Geoff Allshorn was sixteen years old when he typed this story from Diane's handwritten notes into the fordigraph stencil for SPOCK publication in 1977 - and in 2023, approaching fifty years later, he still recalls how startled he was.

It might be noted that Diane also introduced slash fiction to the world with another fan story (in another fanzine, some years earlier) entitled "A Fragment Out of Time". Here, she was using the title "Fragments" to introduce another audience to contemporary (but in hindsight, somewhat potentially problematic?) heterosexual adult fan fiction.

Other Unrelated "Fragments

Note: there are several fanworks called "Fragment/s" in the series that are not part of this serial. One is "Fragments" by Greg Plecko in #20 and "Fragment" by Jane Callard in #30.

Series Summary

In the story, Christine Chapel becomes pregnant by Spock while he is in pon farr. She leaves the child in a Vulcan orphanage. Spock discovers this fact three or four years later. He then takes T'Aime and gives her to his parents to raise.

Spock and Christine marry and in another bout of madness of which he cannot remember, Spock impregnates her again. Christine gives birth to a son.

They live as a family on Vulcan but Spock and Christine are very unhappy in their marriage. Spock is cold and of no support. Christine becomes a teacher.

Their daughter, T'Aime is blinded by teasing classmates, but then recovers her eyesight. Spock is always leaving on long, long missions without consulting Christine.

Their marriage is miserable. After yet another long mission away (one which he barely tells her he is leaving,), Spock returns, this time he brings home Saavik as his ward. He treats Saavik well and disregards his own more "human" children. Christine talks of leaving him but decides to stay in a loveless partnership.

Somewhere along the line, it turns out they are not "really married."

In the end, Christine abruptly takes her two children and goes off with the greengrocer.

The Chapters: Brief Summaries

The Marchant Stories

Part One (Spock v.2 n.3.) is by anonymous/Marchant. This is told in a flashback from four years ago about when Christine entered Spock's quarters (after feeling he is in distress) and finds him in pon farr. Spock pulls her down when she approaches the bed and rapes her. Christine goes to Sick Bay where McCoy treats her, and he agrees to keep "her secret." She debates her options about keeping the baby: if it looks "human" then she could keep it and send it to a long-term Starfleet resident daycare but if it looks Vulcan, it would be sent to Vulcan. Christine gives birth in a Vulcan hospital (clinical and emotionless) and leaves the baby there.

Part Two (Spock v.2 n.4.) is by Anonymous/Marchant. Spock and Christine are on a possible rescue mission to an outpost that has been attacked by an unknown enemy. After surveying the bodies of Vulcan adults and children, they find a small baby as the sole survivor of the colony. As Christine gathers up and starts to tend to the baby, she is suddenly injured when the structure collapses as a result of the earlier attack. Spock assists her and, while she is fevered, she utters aloud, "I left her... I didn't want to... but... it was the only way... for her own good... they all agreed... My little girl... the dainty elfin child... so like her father's people..." Spock and Christine are beamed back to the Enterprise with the rescued baby, and Spock overhears a startled transporter officer mumbling to himself, "Vulcans work fast".

Part Three (Spock v.2 n.5.) is by anonymous/Marchant. The Enterprise is in orbit around Vulcan. Christine has a head injury and is in Sick Bay. The rest of the story appears to be a flashback. The baby is a lone survivor of an attack on an outpost (Vulcan?) and is now in the care of the authorities. Spock tells Kirk he is beaming down to Vulcan to talk to Christine who is visiting the planet and is known to have an interest in "all things Vulcan." When Spock arrives in a small Vulcan town, he visits the House of the Nurturers of the Future (a home for children) and sees Christine departing the building. He goes inside and is told Christine has been to visit "one of our pledges" with whom she has "a bond" as "she gave it life." Spock ponders this and observes a girl "wafer-thin, long legs and arms, flowing ebony hair, and large, very large blue eyes." This child's name is T'Aime.

Part Four (Spock #6/7 double issue) is by Anonymous/Marchant. This is a flashback to the same encounter as recorded in Part 1, but this time it is being recalled through Spock's perspective. While many of the Enterprise crew are jittery and edgy, impatiently awaiting a long-deserved shore leave, Spock is clearly suffering the effects of pon farr. It is starting to affect his work on the Bridge, and Kirk suggests he has a rest in his quarters. Finally complying, Spock suffers alone until Christine Chapel arrives and he barely understands her presence: "Stay!... Golden-haired white witch... forbidden... she's one of them! ... I am alone... I burn with fire, blood, light... a solitary purgatory!" Spock later awakens in his quarters, with pon farr satiated, and finds himself staring at a small black idol that emits smoking incense.

Response to Part 4: Angela Hanslik gives a personal response to Part 4 of "Fragments" by writing a poem called "The Other Side of the Story", which recounts the same story from Christine Chapel's perspective. With Diane's permission, it is published in Spock #10.

Part Five (Spock #9) is by Anonymous/Marchant. Spock is restless and seeks medication from McCoy to help him to sleep. That night, he has troubling dreams in which T'Pring transforms into Christine Chapel. Spock makes his way to Chapel's quarters, and she cautiously welcomes him for an intimate encounter. Spock later awakens in his own cabin and perceives the events as part of his troubled dreams.

Part Six (Spock #10) is by Anonymous/Marchant. Spock and Christine are talking about what has happened. "Then he realises what he should have known. IT HAD NOT BEEN A DREAM." He suggests that she should not have submitted [to the pon farr]; after all it was not her problem. She replies that his death would not have been a solution. She tells him that she has requested a diversion to Vulcan for them both on compassionate grounds, and that Starfleet has approved.

Part Seven (Spock #11) is by Anonymous/Marchant. Christine and Spock arrive on Vulcan in time for dinner, T'Aime is brought out to meet her mother. Christine hugs her, but T'Amie coldly tells her that this "is not permitted."

Part Eight (Spock #12) is by Anonymous/Marchant. Christine explains to Amanda how she became pregnant with both children.

Other Authors

Part Nine (Spock #15) is by Nurith Anbari. Christine, pregnant again, reads T'Aime a fairy tale. T'Aime is very cold and unemotional. Christine tells Amanda that she will go away and become a teacher at the Science Academy seeing how T'Amie is a stranger to her. Amanda says the same thing happened with Spock when he was young, that they were often away, and each time they returned, he'd become more distant, and then chose the Vulcan way and became even more a stranger.

Part Ten (Spock #25) is by Helen Sargeant. Christine is still on Vulcan. T'Amine is blind because she had a fall after Vulcan children teased her. Spock, Sarek and Amanda have gone to a lecture. Uhura is visiting, and while they sit in the kitchen with Christine, they chat about Christine's unhappiness. When Uhura babysits during the day, T'Aime cries for the first time. Uhura scolds Spock later about his disapproval of his emotional daughter.

Part Eleven (Spock #27) is by Anonymous (presumably a different anonymous than Marchant). Spock and Christine go for a walk, and Christine (very discretely) goes into labor. Their son, Sulen, is born.

Part Twelve (Spock #32) is by Anonymous (presumably a different anonymous than Marchant). Christine takes care of her children and contemplates their nature and their future.

Part Thirteen (Spock #37) is two stories, one by by T.A. Morris. In the Morris one, Christine is very miserable and lonely as she takes care of baby, Sulen, all day. Amanda is of no help emotionally. She tells Christine "there's nothing to be upset about" and that she "would get over it." Christine thinks: "Why did they all assume they knew what was best for her and her children?"

In the story by Helen Sargeant, Christine tells Spock how unhappy she is staying home with the children, and that she wants to teach at the university. He is not supportive: "Spock sighed. "Christine, you know that you have virtually no chance in getting in, don't you?" But she proves him wrong, and she becomes a good professor.

Part Fourteen (Spock #39) is by T.A. Morris. Christine, Spock and T'Aime (who is no longer blind) go to a party with Kirk, McCoy, there is talk of Vulcan archeology. Christine is uncomfortable and vomits due her inability to screen out all the Vulcan telepathy. Hearing for the first time that Spock going away for two years on a mission doesn't help things either.

Not numbered (Spock #40) are both by Helen Sargeant. They are titled "Fragments 1" and "Fragments 2." Christine finds a cure that fixes T'Aime's blindness. Christine and Spock are not happy with each other and disagree on how to raise the children. Spock goes away on yet another mission for 6 months. He writes Christine a letter saying he has discovered "a small society of halflings on Hellguard" and that they are being put into orphanages. He tells Christine that he is bringing one of these orphans home to be his permanent ward. That "halfling" is Saavik.

Not numbered (Spock #41) is by Helen Sargeant. T'Aime is kicked out of Vulcan preschool for being a disruption and tainting full-Vulcan children. Spock and Christine have a fight over what Christine sees as Spock's preferential treatment of Saavik. Spock admits that he feels Saavik is more worthy of his personal Vulcan training than T'Amine and Sulen. Christine suffers bad headaches because she can't screen out telepathy so Spock sends her away to a place where she has to stay in isolation for 8 months "to heal." They both admit they are unhappy and do not love each other. Christine says she is going to go live on earth. She and Spock mind meld and then decide to stay together in a partnership, one they agree is loveless.

Not numbered (Spock #48) is by T.A. Morris, and it is titled "Fragmental as Anything." This is the serial's last installment. In it, Vulcan's weather and landscape appears to be identical to Australia, and there is much about rabbits and their holes in the ground. Chapel converses with the fruit and veg man about her unhappiness. On her way to daycare to pick up the children, Christine decides she is going to leave Spock. After retrieving the children, Christine arrives at her house; Kirk is there having coffee with Spock. Spock tells Christine he is leaving on a mission. Chapel tells Spock she is leaving, too, and she is taking the children. Spock is very okay with this, but Kirk scolds her for treating Spock badly. Christine ignores Kirk, thanks Spock for the babies, and tells him "Thanks for not officially marrying me. And, I can look after myself now." The green grocer arrives to bring them a delivery, and Christine asks him for a ride to the space port. She then leaves and becomes the fruit and veg seller's partner. The end.