On Wings of Ice

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	On Wings of Ice
Author(s):	Alexis Fegan Black
Date(s):	1987
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:	download here title page
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On Wings of Ice is a Kirk/Spock story by Alexis Fegan Black.

It was published in the print zine KSX #1 and Speed of Light... & other K/S stories.

Summary

"Stranded on a frozen planet when their shuttlecraft is sabotaged, Kirk and Spock share love as they wait for death."

Reactions and Reviews

Alexis Fegan Black's "On Wings of Ice" has Kirk and Spock stra/ided on an arctic planet where they have a final conversation before confronting a death of hypothermia. The two turn to each other for comfort in their dying moments. The ending is both expected and surprising, and has a metaphysical twist. I enjoyed this story, but thought it a bit shallow and would have preferred a more concrete conclusion.

What an intensely satisfying story; to love and die and live again....

Kirk and Spock are crashed on an ice planet, freezing, with few provisions. Lying down, huddled together, expecting to die. At Kirk's question, "Have you ever been in love?" Spock thinks the captain must be delirious from the hypothermia and pulls him to his body. Kirk confesses he wants to die first. This moves Spock unspeakably. How beautiful. Kirk asks the "if you only had one hour left, what would you want" question. Spock: I would wish to be in love. Kirk: I wish you would be in love with me. Spock: I am. Oh jesus. Kirk cries; they desperately make love (and it was believable, even confined to one sleeping bag in the freezing cold). To love into death.... Meld, love, death. Kirk is gone..-Spock waits.... Oh my heart.

This story is pure poetry! Just beautiful! Each sentence is special! Very skillful the changes between Kirk and Spock's remembering and the being with the Vians. I loved very much the mysterious element, that Kirk and Spock had known each other before actually meeting. And when "Spock looked down upon himself and saw that he shared the same state of undress" (p. 161). the scene reminds me of Adam and Eve in Paradise! A lovely idea was also their return to the Enterprise -"naked upon the bridge". Imagine this on TV....

One of the two stories I like least [in the zine] is "On Wings of Ice" by Alexis Fegan Black. I like most of Ms. Black's stories, but this is not so exciting. Although well written, the plot is far from new. This is a typical "First Time" situation (trapped together in an ice cave), and I'm sure I've read something similar before.

The shuttle carrying Kirk and Spock has been sabotaged causing them to crash land on a small freezing cold world. They do not even have shelter against the cold, only emergency body blankets against a rock outcropping. Supplies nearly exhausted, they face their last night together. When Spock’s blanket fails, the two men huddle

together to share the warmth from their bodies. Their conversation drifts to last wishes. When Kirk asks what Spock would do “...if you could do anything at all...” Spock replies, “I would...wish to...be...in love.” Kirk counters with “I’d wish...you could be...in love with me,” and they make love. (Although it is difficult to believe that two men this close to death could experience arousal and sexual satisfaction, as explained above, I never let reality intrude on a good scenario.) Kirk and Spock have already “died” and left their bodies when McCoy finds them joined together. Their spirits return to their bodies to live and love again.

Alexis was one of the very earliest K/S writers, but hasn’t written for our genre in years.

On the Wings of Ice by Alexis Fegan Black is another story of Kirk and Spock being marooned, this time in an ice cave where they slowly freeze to death. But this is not a death story. In fact, it is a story about life at its fullest and most difficult but also its most rewarding and uplifting. One of Alexis‘ more emotional stories, this is a lovely look into devotion, loyalty and love.

ON WINGS OF ICE by Alexis Fegan Black is a haunting and lovely story of Kirk and Spock stranded after a crash of their shuttlecraft Wings II on an icy planet. Told from first person Spock, the story is rich with imagery and love-filled romantic dialogue as Ms. Black can do.

"I don't think I ever believed I could really lose you," he went on haltingly. "And I'm not brave enough to be alone after you're gone." Not knowing what else to do, and addled by the intensely bitter cold, I pulled him closer to me, my hand tangling in his hair and forcing his face against my neck. To hear such a confession from such a man was more than I could bear. Tears stung my eyes, started to run freely down my cheeks, then turned to ice against Jim's hair." I was so struck by that image—tears of ice. They continue to get colder and colder and they both know they're close to death. I held him, treasuring the time together. "I will try to let you go first, Jim," I promised. It seemed to be what he wanted, what he needed. And it was, I knew, the only thing I could give." This was definitely heart-clutching time as they say such romantic beautiful things to each other. "He nodded again, his breath warm against my neck. "If you could do anything at all, Spock," he whispered, his voice almost gone, "what would you do now?" The answer was terribly clear. It hurt far more than the cold, far more than the numbness. "I would wish to be in love." Surprisingly, Jim only snuggled closer, holding me with a desperation born of death's presence. "I'd wish you could be in love with me," he said very, very quietly. My eyes closed, forcing tears beyond the snowflakes. "I believe I always have been, Jim."" The scene is heart-achingly gorgeous and culminates as they make love crudely in the freezing cave. "We would love into death. I was aware of Jim's breathing—ragged and shallow against my throat. His erection was pressed between our bodies, hard and thick and, like the rest of him, perfect. He began to laugh. Not hysterically or bitterly. But with apparently deep human satisfaction and even deeper pleasure. And though I would never have thought it possible, I laughed with him, our voices blending with the winds which howled and begged at the entrance to our tiny shelter. Our hands clasped together and Jim lifted them to his face, asking me without words for the meld, asking me to take the final voyage into darkness with him." Oh I could go on, but then I'd write out the entire story! They meld and see beautiful things. In spirit, rising high away from the Earth and toward the sun, we became one entity. Joined for all eternity. I felt tears when Spock pronounces: "He was gone." Then in a very unique twist, they watch from out of their bodies as their rescuers arrive and they decide to go back. So of course the story doesn't end with their deaths or else I most likely wouldn't be rhapsodizing about it like this.

So this is a very good example of a sad story, achingly sad, that is very effective with its "happy" ending. The fact that they survive only makes their pain and "death" more beautiful and more poignant. I adored the sweep-me-off-my-feet romance of it.