Human... and from the Stars

Fanfiction
Title:	Human... and from the Stars
Author(s):	Shelley Butler
Date(s):	1992
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Human... and from the Stars is a Kirk/Spock story by Shelley Butler.

It was published in the print zine First Time #34.

Summary

"The day before heʼs to take command of the Enterprise, a malfunctioning ship finds Kirk crashed on Vulcan and five thousand years in its past."

Reactions and Reviews

1993

Thrown back into Vulcan's past when his shuttle crashes. Kirk meets a powerful Warlord, (This story contains very explicit detail, and has the weakness of offering no explanation for Kirks eventual return to his own time.) Spock takes extended leave to be with his dying lover. Kirk suddenly realises that he might not return, and unaware of his reasons, beams down to find him. Although involving an outsider, I nevertheless enjoyed this story.

O.K., how did he get back in his own time and why did he decide to go? Other than those blanks, this was an erotic, interesting story.

This is a very erotic wonderful story. It sure roused more than my imagination. It's a slave story set in ancient Vulcan days. I really do like slave stories. The seeming current trend of K/S makes my dynmaic duo too sweet, romantic, introspective, "feminine", and downright bland for my tastes. I get a sugar low after reading some of the currently syrupy goppy "sweet K/S."

This story SIZZLES with sexual tension and heat. I liked Kirk's scant, sexy outfit. And I really like this dominating rough Spock. The descriptive detail and general writing might be a little overdone in places, but I definitely prefer a writer to overdo it than to play it safe. This story really came alive for me.

One quibble I have is the historian's note, these details would never be recounted in interviews! The "intro" could have been cut entirely. Possibly, this could be set in sickbay. McCoy could be wondering if what he's hearing is just Kirk's fanciful fevered brain making up stories or if Kirk is actually reliving in detail (and WHAT detail!) an event from a prior life.

I have no EASY way to check to see if Shelley normally writes slave stories or not. I just want to say LOUDLY I liked this story, and I hope to read more slave stories or stories involving the rougher/darker side of K/S from her in the future.

I'm not sure if this is the first story I've read from this author or not - but I like her style — very much. I loved just about everything about this story - an aggressive Vulcan with Kirk as his slave. The sex scene was one of the hottest (and best) I've read for quite a while.

The only problem I had was at the end. I couldn't quite figure out how Kirk got back to the Enterprise and his own time. I thought his ship had been destroyed. I would have liked a little more explanation about that.

I enjoyed her descriptions of their clothing (or, in Kirk's case, his lack of it) and her depiction of life in pre- reform Vulcan.

A very enjoyable story. I hope to see more from this author in the future.

This story is beautifully written - the author's words are like poetry! Though English isn't my mother tongue, I feel never the less the beauty of the language. I great pity, that there's no illo of this proud warlord - I'd love to see him!

Please more such stories!!!

Nothing against this story, I just usually don't care for the alternate universe type stories.

This story offers an intriguing plotline. Kirk, on leave just before he takes command of the Enterprise, is taking a trip to Vulcan in a faulty spacecraft. He crashes on the planet and finds himself in the past, in pre-Reform times, enslaved by a Vulcan warlord named Spock. Soon enough, he learns he is to undergo a special test: he is to be joined in body and mind to the warlord in front of the circle of warriors. And he lay not survive the test. This idea has all the takings of a gripping, powerfully erotic story. Unfortunately, the story as written falls far short of that potential.

The major problem is that the author tells this story rather than showing it, drawing all the conclusions for the reader, and possibly drawing too many, conclusions, some of them unwarranted. (Example: "He understood that all of Time and Fate had combined forces to bring him here and he understood what this test was really about.") This technique left me emotionally unengaged with the characters. We are told what Kirk is feeling rather than shown in such a way that we can vicariously experience his feelings. And that vicarious experience is what I read K/S for.

In order to show this story rather than telling it, of course, the author would have to write a much longer story. And, frankly, I think that's what she should have done. There's far too much idea here for this short story; that's why all the exposition was necessary to set up the premise. Even so, the ending is of the deus ex machina type —and: we don't get to see even that! Neither is it dealt with in exposition. Kirk somehow escapes both Spock and the past; we aren't told how, and then meets his new first officer .... A great idea that could have been executed better.

Too many other aspects of this story are glossed over as well, and that fact weakens a lot of the author's conclusions, as far as I'm concerned, making them trite and unbelievable. For example, in the descriptions of both Spock's joining with Satek and Kirk's joining with Spock, the pain of the younger partner suddenly and inexplicably turns to passion. In the tent, Kirk suddenly and inexplicably both wants and fears Spock.

I think the major reason I didn't buy any of this is the fact that it was just glibly told, not portrayed. These passages use flowery language reminiscent of romance novels; They strike me as completely unauthentic. If the author had gotten more deeply into the scenes, giving a reason for such shifts as pain changing to passion, and expressing them in authentic, frank language, I would have found them much more believable.

[...]

The sex scene is where the story is at its best. Here, although there is still much more telling, than showing, the descriptions are more skillfully done; I have the impression that the author took more care with this scene than with any of the others. I did tire of the many synonyms for "huge" that were used to describe Spock's physical endowments. Yet here and there is a well-chosen adjective ("wondrous" and "meaty" come to mind), lending freshness and originality to the description.

In sum, this story is clearly the product of a vivid imagination and a promising talent. I think what's missing is just some skill with the language. This story strikes me as the early work of someone who has not been writing for a very long time. She simply needs some practice with the mechanics. I certainly hope she keeps writing and refining her style. And I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Whew! This woman does like it hot and fiery! An intense sensuality, poetically passionate and powerful. Rich, vivid details. Smoothly written.

This story has a unique premise: Kirk, just before taking command of the Enterprise, goes to Vulcan in a private craft for a little get-away-from-it-all, and warps back to pre-Reform times. He is taken by the Warlord Spock, a very powerful warrior, who has had a vision of the one who would come, Kirk. Kirk is very aroused in spite of resistance to being possessed and knowing he doesn't belong here in this time.

A very sensual view of Spock I really appreciate. The ritual sex, a great scene. Made even more powerful I think by the presence of the group of warriors.

After all that — an extremely intense experience for Kirk, not only in a sexual way, but as a journey in self-knowledge — it seems it would have been harder for Kirk to leave and go back to his rightful life, but we don't know - we weren't shown that process.

Then of course Kirk meets his Vulcan first officer on the Enterprise...

One thing I would have changed: I was so engrossed (to put it politely) in the sex scenes, and the use of the Warlord" did this or did that, instead of Spock doing this or doing that, lessened the impact for me.

Also, I don't feel the "Historian's Note" had any relevance or added to the story.

A beautiful use of "parted and never parted."

"Human... And from the Stars" is surely a welcome addition to K/S literature for those who enjoy Vulcan pre-reform stories. It attempts to combine traditional K/S with pre-reform by placing Kirk, on the eve of assuming his command of the Enterprise, on ancient Vulcan as a result of a strange time travel accident with a shuttle. The reader isn't told how the accident happened, or ultimately how Kirk manages to return to his own time by the last page, but that doesn't really matter. The real action and intent of this story, I believe, is to show the sexual awakening of Kirk at the hands of an ancient incarnation of Spock, who is the warlord of a band of lusty Vulcan warriors.

The intent is interesting, but the story falls short of success for what I see as four basic reasons.

1. Telling instead of showing. The basic outline of "Human...." clearly shows that this story is a very emotional one. Kirk is frightened by his situation, not understanding it at first, he is appalled by the ritual joining to which he will be subjected, and yet by the end of the ceremony he has not only accepted his fate in submission, but also joined with the ancient Spock in love and bonding. We are talking massive emotional transformations here, and yet the story is only seventeen pages long, and the time that has passed is toss than two days.

This story needed to be much longer, if not in time elapsed then in careful attention to shifts of mood and thought. For a reader to experience the full impact of an emotion, she must feel it along with the character. Careful build-up is essential. Because there simply wasn't enough time or space devoted to this task, the author was forced to fall back upon "Telling" instead of "Showing."

One example can be found on page 109B (A = first column; B = second column). For the first time since the sex scene began on page 105B, the reader is granted entry into Spock's thoughts. We're told "never had he felt such intense feelings... there was an awakening within him...." It is from this paragraph that the love and eventual bonding with Kirk flows, and yet it is a hasty insertion with no build-up that allows the reader to conclude for herself that such intense feelings do indeed exist. She is simply told so, and then the narrative goes back to Kirk's perspective.

Another, much more subtle example of the same problem occurs on page 101A when Kirk "poured a glass of something alcoholic." How did he know it was alcoholic? Did he smell it, did he taste its fiery potency as it went down his throat? The reader needs to be drawn into the story by letting her experience the events of the story along with the character. We should have smelt or tested that alcohol, and then come to the same conclusion along with Kirk.

2. Technical difficulties. In almost any K/S story, it's difficult to keep the reference of a pronoun consistently clear. But perhaps because Spock's name was seldom used in the narrative, there was frequent confusion over which "he" in the sentence meant. Even worse was the use of "his" or "he" more than once in the same sentence to refer to two different characters. For example, on page 103B"... end taking the back of his (Kirk's) head with his (Spock's) hand, he (Spock) drew his (Kirk's) Tips to his (Spock's). This is the worst example among several.

There was a problem with consistency in the narrative. On page 100A, Spock's horse is led away, and then there's a long paragraph describing how Spock pets him. How Kirk notices how the animal was breathing, etc. After it's led away. This might seem like a minor point, but it is attention to details like this that makes a reader believe in the author's own special universe. I was frequently putted out of the story by inconsistencies. On page 98B, Spock is both standing and staying on his horse within two consecutive sentences. On page 103B, Spock looks at Kirk "in the same strange way that the warriors had when they saw him," and than the took is described in great detail. And yet it isn't the same took as on page 100 at all.

3. Kirk's characterization. I don't think the tone of what "Human..." was trying to accomplish would have been altered if the characterization had been sharper, more obviously the Kirk who is a starship captain. As a matter of fact, it may have even enhanced the emotional transformation that later occurs.

There are three scenes in particular where I thought Kirk was portrayed out-of-character.

[...]

These little incidents that give us a glimpse of the Kirk of this particular story are also inconsistent with an important paragraph on page 106B, where Kirk thinks to himself that he doesn't went to be a victim of the ritual Joining, that he wanted "mastery over his universe and (to be) a force in what would be done to him."

4. Emotional Development. The task the author sets herself in this story is an enormous one, and it would have been difficult. I think, for even the most accomplished end experienced writer to have pulled it off without a hitch. The main problems stems from too much telling, but also with the rapidity with which emotional states change, especially in the latter half of the story. For example, starting at the bottom of page 104B and onto halfway down 105B, Kirk feels in rapid succession: horrified, fearful, weak and helpless, frustrated, as If he were the center of the universe, as if he belonged with Spock, terribly sad, and finally angry. There is the outline of a wonderful fifteen page scene in just those two columns, but since all these emotions are thrown at the reader at once, it's impossible to assimilate them.

There were some wonderful elements in this story. The idea of Spock's horse Kahs-Wan was really neat, and I wish we'd seen more of him. The idea that a sexual experience was a part of a child's Kahs-Wan, while one that I personally don't care for, is nevertheless a different idea that you don't see too often, end which fit into this story's world.

I didn't realty mind the discontinuity at the end of the story, so that we don't know how Kirk got back to his own time. That's not what the story is about anyway, and the author was right, I think, to eschew the technical and concentrate fully on her theme.

[...]

The fact that I've been able to write such a long review of a story that is only 17 pages long proves that "Human..." is filled with challenging ideas and concepts. There's a lot going on here, and the world of ancient Vulcan seemed real to me. The story just needed more attention to emotional nuance to make the transformations that are in the story feel real too.

This story about 23rd century Kirk in a Pre-Reform context is wonderfully lyrical and evocative —pure poetry. I particularly liked the concept of the sword Tree. I get the feeling that Shelley enjoyed writing about the ritual public sex. I'm also fond of that kind of scene, and the characterization of Kirk is right on target. He is the same outrageously independent cuss that we all love. My only criticism is that I would like to have known how Kirk got back to the 23rd century.

1999

I’ve often wondered how Kirk got back to his time period after crash landing in Vulcan’s Pre-Reform time. How did he manage to land safely when he was unconscious? Automatic pilot? But could he have flown the craft when he passed out? I can’t see him twitching his fingers and doing nothing on that roller-coaster ride towards the planet. And being unconscious, how did the craft only get minor damage? Because that must have been the case or else he wouldn’t have been able to repair it and do the same trip in reverse without flying it apart.

How did his bond with the Vulcan warlord survive his return to his time period? What will the impact be on Spock of Kirk’s bonding to an ancestor of his? Strangely enough, those questions didn’t interfere with my enjoying her story.