Journey's End (Star Trek: TOS story by Cybel Harper)

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Journey's End
Author(s):	Cybel Harper
Date(s):	1988
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Journey's End is a Kirk/Spock story by Cybel Harper.

It was published in the print zine Naked Times #19.

Summary

"After Kirk almost drowns while surfing, Spock confesses to a fear of drowning so Kirk decides to help him overcome it."

Excerpt

"It should have been easy. The water was shallow enough to stand up in, and Kirk had reacted quickly enough to prevent Spock from inhaling much, if any water. But all of that didn't take into account the Vulcan's strength or the depth of his panic. He fought Kirk, throwing the weaker human from him with a force that drove the air from Kirk's lungs and plunged him under water with barely enough presence of mind to hold his breath…"

Reactions and Reviews

Very enjoyable. Spock's shame at "failing" Kirk due to his hidden fears - and his subsequent decision to force himself to get over them for KIRK'S sake, and not for his own benefit, was very Spock! I also enjoyed Kirk's giving Spock his swimming lessons!

The premise of this story is improbable. There is no way that Spock could have graduated from Starfleet Academy without ever learning to swim. All Class M planets have water by definition (or they wouldn't be Class M planets). Therefore swimming would be considered a necessary survival skill for all cadets. As far as the K/S aspect is concerned, the inter-relationship between Kirk and Spock in this story struck ae as unsophisticated. It reminded me a great deal of the kind of K/S that was being written ten years ago.

Perhaps the weakest story in the zine is JOURNEY'S END by Cybel Harper, a short piece wherein Spock must face his fear of water and swimming. While the writing is good and the idea interesting, I had a problem accepting that a Starfleet officer wouldn't be able to swim, at least in an emergency situation.