Gold Towards the Golden
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| Star Trek TOS Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Gold Towards the Golden |
| Author(s): | Cheryl Rice |
| Date(s): | 1976 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | gen |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: The Original Series |
| External Links: | Gold Towards the Golden |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Gold Towards the Golden is a Star Trek: TOS story by by Cheryl Rice.
It was published in the print zine Berengaria #8.
Summary
Jim Kirk is awakened by Spock's voice in his mind. Soon Lt. Ker appears at his door. A telepath, Lt. Ker has also been summoned by Spock's voice. They find Spock in the Biology Lab trying to revive Leonard McCoy who has been bitten by a poisonous spider. The medical team pronounce McCoy dead, but Spock and Lt. Ker use their combined mental powers to save his life.
Reactions and Reviews
Kirk is sent on a Guardian mission to ancient Greece, and he and Spock have quarreled over this use of his talents. He winds up spending an evening with Alexander the Great. Okay, it sounds sillier than it is - it is actually quite nicely written and thought-provoking as Kirk muses on Alexander's combination of kindness and cruelty, civilizing intentions and megalomania. Most interesting is perhaps the vision of time as a river, where all of us are in fact, living forever. [1]
"Gold Towards the Golden" struck me as particularly well done. By coincidence, I've been reading this week The Last of the Wine, one of Mary Renault's fine novels about ancient Greece. It deals with a somewhat earlier period than that of Alexander the Great, but It was still Interesting to compare the Cheryl Rice story with the novel. I'm sure Cheryl doesn't imagine herself as skilled as a story teller as Mary Renault, but I thought that the BERENGARIA story successfully caught much the same general atmosphere and attitude toward Greece's great era. At first I thought It improbable that a great commander would have been permitted to wander off like that where he could be easy prey for an assassin. But we don't know that much about secret service men in Alexander's day and maybe this encounter with Kirk could have occurred in just this way on a night when the emperor felt the need to be alone for a while. [2]
The two illustrations for "Gold Towards the Golden" were particularly effective, despite their apparent simplicity. [3]
Your best story, however, was Cheryl's "Gold Towards the Golden." Being somewhat of a Greek history and mythology nut, I was able to recognize the person as Alexander almost Immediately. I have a feeling that this story may not be a favorite for many—one has to have a feel and a love of Greek things for it. I doubt I would have enjoyed it If I did not have that background. But a well written story indeed—a thoughtful piece rather than an action adventure tale—Cheryl seems to like to write the thoughtful kind of stories. It is a nice change. [4]