Misplaced in Purgatory

Fanfiction
Title:	Misplaced in Purgatory
Author(s):	Judith Gran
Date(s):	1996
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Misplaced in Purgatory is a K/S story by Judith Gran.

It was published in the print zine Amazing Grace #3.

Summary

"An unusual alien contact/captivity story, unable to “speak”, Kirk and Spock are institutionalized as intelligently substandard by the telepathic populace on the planet they crashed landed on."

Reactions and Reviews

1996

Judith Gran keeps us in suspense. This is a long, very gripping story with a lot of good plot and good sex. But this story tells us even more. It tells us about the worth of human beings, about prejudices and injustice. I think this author writes very demanding stories.

1997

... the delightfully titled Misplaced in Purgatory, by Judith Gran. In my opinion, this story has really got some special things going for it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a short list of criteria by which I determine the degree to which a story reaches me. For me, these criteria might include "Does the story grab me right away? Does it engage me... do I forget where I am for being so involved in the story? Do the voices sound right and do the characters behave as I imagine they would? Does the story compel me, and do I find myself thinking about it after the last page is turned?"

Reading Misplaced in Purgatory, I found the answers to be yes, yes, yes, and yes. From the first sentence I was deeply involved in this story, and deeply convinced that this really was James T. Kirk, as he would behave in this situation. This is a Star Trek episode that might have been, very true to the original series, with an elegant solution worthy of a McCoy's-Neuro-Paralyzer-in-a-Pinch award.

The story opens with JTK alone, ill, in a crashed shuttle with no food and water on a strange planet--and Spock is missing. Kirk tries desperately to search for him but he is too weak from his illness and finally collapses. He awakens to find he has been forcibly institutionalized; it seems that on this planet, people communicate with telepathy, and anyone who can't broadcast their thoughts is considered severely disabled.

As the story unfolds, Kirk experiences first hand the grim situation that faces the non-telepaths of this world. He is forced to endure a humiliating and degrading existence along with the rest of the "residents" (read: inmates) of the institution. Joy of joys, he finds Spock, also held prisoner in the "congregate living facility" (read: warehouse for unwanteds.) Great scene where he finds Spock. I could feel that hug!

But unfortunately, all is not well. It seems their communicators are missing, and will have to be retrieved if the boys are to get out of this awful place and get home. As they make plans to go in search of the missing comm units, they learn more and more about the pointless, boring, degrading existence that is forced on the residents every day.

Fascinating perspective -- to us (and Kirk) most of the incarcerated beings seem quite intelligent and functional -- their disability is simply their lack of telepathy. Kirk is forced to face the fact that he can do nothing to help--the Prime Directive forbids his interference.

I won't give any more away, except to say I absolutely love the fact that the answer comes in the form of the written word--a book. A very important book. How many times in Earth history has the simple weapon of information been the sword that turned the tide of a war?

It's hard to be objective about the way different people write intimate scenes, but these I found a bit clinical and not nearly as engaging as the "real" story that was going on here, though the love between Kirk and Spock was quite palpable, and satisfying. Also, the ending felt a bit rushed to me. After the clever climactic scene, the story seemed to be over very quickly. Of course in keeping with the episodic feel, that makes sense. I still found myself wishing that the last few pages had finished at the same pace and with the same attention to detail the author gave to the rest of the piece.

In the end, it passed the most demanding of all my personal fanfic criteria -- I felt compelled to set aside the zine when the story was finished, so that I might absorb and think about what I had read. Hey, if you can make me forego reading K/S in favor of introspection, you've really got something.

1998

Kirk and Spock crash land on a planet with a culture similar to that of present day Earth where they are regarded as severely retarded, and treated accordingly. This story does what many of the best Star Trek episodes did, which is hold up a mirror to our own society. In this case, the image reflected back is an extremely ugly one. An excellent job of spotlighting the abuses with which our "modern" institutionalized care facilities are plagued, and the horrifying ease with which the taxpaying public is duped into supporting them.