Transfer of Affection

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Transfer of Affection
Author(s):	Vivian Gates
Date(s):	1999
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Transfer of Affection is a Kirk/Spock story by Vivian Gates.

It was published in the print zine Encore.

This story was nominated for a 1999 STIFfie Award.

Summary

"The misty forms of two men making love invade Spock’s sleep on a transport vessel. He awakens changed: his sexuality has been re-defined, and his thoughts turn to Jim Kirk. He implements a plan, a long-term experiment, and suddenly there is a homosexual couple on board, and Kirk is vastly disturbed…."

Author's Notes

K/S finally drove me crazy. Well, not K/S, exactly. Some of the readers found my stories where I used a third party or someone other that Kirk or Spock to Illustrate some aspect of the K/S relationship rather — uh, odd. Then, some editorially bad moments happened one after another. Ever have an editor return a story to you—and she wasn't the editor you'd sent it to? And there was one who dabbled in blackmail, and another who kept a story for four years, and at that point I found a fandom which Didn't Have Editors At All. I, uh ... jumped ship. After almost 40 stories, I, who once scorned fans who left the one true fandom, went over the wall. I left behind one K/S story that had never been published. After the editor raked it over the coals — quite rightly, I must admit, although I went 'ouch! ouch!' at the time — had put in in the drawer to let it sit six months as the writer's manuals suggest. The poor thing was there over ten years, until the very kind Encore invitation arrived. So I dusted off the general idea and sat down to see if there was one more K/S story left in the old gal. It about killed me. After at this time. It turned out to be much harder to catch the voice' of the characters — and Kirk is harder than Spock. Fortunately, it turned out I had a good editor to help with the fiddly bits.

Reactions and Reviews

I was dismayed to read of this wonderful author’s experience with editors a while ago in K/S fandom. Ms. Gates has been one of my personal favorite authors and I cannot understand how anyone would reject a story from her, especially, if, as she says, it was because of the outside pairings of Kirk and Spock. That subject has never bothered me—indeed I enjoy it because Kirk and Spock get together and that makes it all the more satisfying.

But who knows what lurked in the hearts of some K/Sers back then—a well-written story with good K/S in it is fine by me. I wonder sometimes if our individual perceptions of what K/S readers want is distorted because most K/Sers are silent. Anyway, this story that Ms. Gates describes as being “dusted off” from a long time ago is really good, not her best, but certainly worth being published finally after all this time. It starts with Spock experiencing strange dreams of two human males making passionate love. During the dreams, Spock is entwined in it and the images are powerful and compelling to him. At first we don’t know who they are, but later we find out they’re two crewmen that slept in that bed. He’s on a small ship while investigating an abandoned ancient starship (I kind of hoped that story line would lead somewhere because it seems like such a neat idea of an ancient abandoned ship with ghosts on board!).

Anyway, Spock goes back to the Enterprise after the mission and requests the two men from his dreams to be transferred to the Enterprise. We’re not sure why Spock wants this and neither does Kirk who imagines all kinds of things and is very insecure about Spock’s attention to these men. I love how the two men are gorgeous, too! McCoy notices and has a talk with Kirk about Spock’s sexuality and starship personnel which I found very interesting. Just a small bothersome thing: I couldn’t understand the necessity for naming them sound-alike Lee and Li. It seemed unnecessarily awkward and kept getting in the way as I read. Kirk is increasingly jealous and imagines Spock is having sex with them. All this is really good and involving. There’s a great scene when Kirk comes to the room where Spock is working with them and finds them sunbathing under sun lamps! (But excuse me? Spock has “ugly toes”, huh?)

The story has a satisfying ending, albeit a little on the talky side. But Ms. Gates writing is really good and I welcome her return!

Encore! is stories by established K/S writers. I'm a dinosaur stuck in the era of Gayle F-Sutherland- Lovett-Soto-Frost-Decker and various other writers and artists of the early and middle days of K/S. Despite talented newcomers like Shelley Butler (and to me, she is still a newcomer), I prefer the older K/S. I'm only commenting on one story in Encore!

because that's the only one I've read so far. If the rest of the zine is anywhere near the quality of this story, this zine is one of the finest ever done--as far as writing goes. (The computerized cover and few interior art pieces leave me cold, but I am very prejudiced and own a lot of prints as well as various originals of Lovett, Butler, and [Gayle F]. That lets you know right now what my tastes are.) I don't believe in long reviews NOR in giving away the plot. Just believe me when I say this 40 page story is a wonder. Actually if someone gave me some hints about the plot, I'd start gagging as it contains elements I'm not fond of. BUT this story is so well written and crafted, it's a marvel to read. I dragged my feet a little at the start and then was hooked. The basic premise is that Spock learns about homosexual love by associating with two original characters: Lee and Li. (Frankly, I would have named them something else; and I'm sure I'm being very stupid in not realizing any significance to the names, which surely there must be.) The story revolves only around five characters--McCoy being the 5th. But, don't worry, this story is not an orgy; it's strictly first time K/S. In the 40 pages there is little sex but much sensuality and eroticism. This is a story anyone who appreciates good writing will love. This Spock and Kirk are a little different and the Vulcan-type details are not the conventional ones, but nothing has been twisted so much you wonder why it's in a K/S zine. When I looked at a piece to copy so you'd get the idea of the writing, I found I couldn't do it well because everything was so related to the context. When I came to this line, "'That's one dangerous bed,' Kirk said, thoughtfully," I was blown away by its cleverness. But out of context, it means nothing. And by cleverness, I mean not only does it show the writer's use of words, but it shows Kirk's intelligence and sense of humor, too. The following serves better as an example: "No answer but ejaculation, a peak of pleasure milked from each body in turn, while drops of salt were rubbed from eyes with swift, angry hands. Hidden and lost in the mist of white ...."

Last night when I read "Transfer of Affection," I felt some of the joy I used to have years ago reading K/S. Thank you, Vivian Gates for writing it, and Jenna Sinclair for publishing it.

Transfer of Affection" by Vivian Gates was fascinating—a truly original plot involving a unique danger from telepathy. I had enjoyed her writing in the past ("Home from Eden" in Act Five. Scene One is one of my favorite first time stories). I've always found her writing to be refreshing original and thought-provoking.

Besides writing very rich K/S stories—this being one of them—Ms. Gates has this particular talent, if I can explain it properly.

You know how in a sci-fi/fantasy or historical story we are sometimes given explanations for things that are obviously put there for us, readers from another time. These things, intrinsic to the society of the time of the story, would not be "explained" to a reader of that time. If the story is told from the perspective of a visitor from our time to this other time/place, that's fine. But that's not usually the case (or the intent, I don't think); and so what happens is, we're going along being fully in the characters' time/place, and all of a sudden there will be a jarring observation from some cosmic observer about how things are in that time as compared to when the observer comes from. Did I say that clearly? Ms. Gates, though, put all sorts of really interesting "historical" information in this story in such an organic way, so that what I was trying to explain above did not happen. There are numerous examples of this, her imaginative take on underlying details of what the ST society will be like. Some for instances: One character has the longest hair on the Enterprise. We get an interesting little aside about short hair on starships (a holdover from times of zero gravity). We also get this fascinating picture, through McCoy, about crew composition on various ships for various reasons. This has to do with many aspects besides sexuality, but in this case, it is brought up with regard to there being seven homosexuals on the Enterprise, but only one couple. It's also so interesting about why the Enterprise doesn't have the best women in 'Fleet. Then there's an interesting thing about patents/copyrights with regard to replicator technology; and about "sunlamps" on the ship. We also get definitive info about Vulcan society, either through McCoy talking to Kirk (about Vulcans not being into homosexuality, but that in pon farr they sometimes form temporary bonds with males) or through Spock telling Kirk in detail about his childhood education, about the nature of links and bonds, and his unique circumstances as a half-human; including wonderful subtleties about Sarek's motives, etc. And besides the satisfying K/S story here, the premise and what's-it-called, the thing that instigates their coming together, is also imaginative. It's about psychometry—emotional energies being absorbed into objects and picked up on by someone else. In this case, Spock picks up these vivid and life-changing emanations from the bed he's in on a temporary assignment, previously occupied by two male lovers. Almost throughout, the writing is slow and in-depth. You have to want to read pages and pages of Spock's thoughts about Kirk or Kirk's thoughts about Spock (my idea of a good time). We end up knowing really intimately what's going on at any given moment, colored by the emotional atmosphere. I loved Kirk awkwardly (and very realistically) trying to ask Spock questions about the changes in him. And great Spock observations of Kirk, every subtle detail of body language, etc. Plus it's fun, having Spock exploring his human/sexual side. He's going through an intense redoing of his personal philosophy, defining his sexuality. This is no caricature, either, but a gorgeous, more relaxed Vulcan. Of course, this gets Kirk all antsy, wondering what the hell Spock's up to. Kirk starts out thinking of Spock's and his relationship as a friendship, but even in that case, he's still jealous of Spock hanging out with these two new crew members. I'll comment on this, though: why in the world have two main characters called Lee and Li? Almost too odd to be real, or to be fiction, for that matter. Plus there's a very odd thing about "ugly toes." There's a good motivating jeopardy situation here, in that due to his awakened sexuality and unbonded state, Spock can't meld with Kirk in the line of duty, as he may well be drawn to Kirk. Kirk's feelings evolve along with his deep contemplations about Spock, from the unequivocal friendship (and that it's imperative this be maintained), through trying to imagine Spock with a lover, to realizing that lover could easily be himself. (Here, there are pages and pages of these contemplations, but they take place as Kirk goes about his business, not just in empty space.) It seems for the most part that Kirk considers himself totally heterosexual, that the "spark" is not there with Spock. But, recognizing that Spock has changed, Kirk thinks it likely he could, too.

I love how he proposes himself to Spock...culminating in such a gorgeous moment. Spock, without words (Kirk had been doing all the talking), kisses Kirk. A very, very beautiful kiss, and what follows also—beautiful sex in perfect words, and a lovely ending, K/S-wise and writing-wise.

To be honest, after the author's personal note prior to this story, I honestly wasn't sure what to expect in the way of story or plot as I started reading. And starting off in a very odd dream-like experience was extremely disconcerting. However, hind sight (always wise) had me looking back over the story and marveling at how successful it was to start the story in the midst of the dream. Immediately, the reader was put on the same level as Spock—off-balance and uncertain. Then, as Spock began to put the pieces together and move forward with his insights from the dream, the reader follows right along. We really traveled the exact same path as Spock...very effective writing, excellent use of point-of- view.

Despite Ms. Gates' complaint concerning not being able to capture the voices after all this time, I want to say Huzzah! for her excellent job at it. She's captured Spock's alien logical perspective with great style even as she took him "where no Vulcan has gone before." For Kirk's voice and style, she's got him to a T: his calculating control, his wit, his strength and his vulnerability.

Wonderful stuff. Their voices and styles couldn't be any closer to canon...I could literally hear them as I read. And if that weren't enough, the plot is wonderfully creative. I love the idea of Spock absorbing strong emotional "vibes", emanations left during heightened emotional experiences—sexual experiences—in an object (a bed, naturally!) Not only is it an eminently logical idea, given Spock's abilities, but the story goes further and expands upon that simple idea with the most detailed Vulcan cultural framework to support and expand upon it. Wow! I love creative "peeks" into Vulcan nature and culture, and the story certainly supplied us with a big one. Spock's unusual relationship with his father, always a source of speculation and interest, is also woven into the story in ways that explain and tie together canon and the plot, and do so in such a way as to make it all quite believable. Two original characters are written in seamlessly and used to good advantage. They are interesting in their own rights, and provide additional sources of interaction for our Captain and First Officer, while highlighting the relationship tension between them, also. McCoy's appearance in the first scene with Kirk is wonderful, capturing all of the nuances and rhythms in their interaction that I so loved in canon. The doctor is wise and yet very real, psychoanalyzing Kirk and the situation by the seat of his pants, yet another voice and style captured very well. The story weaves together at the end into a lovely, powerful awakening (of all kinds!) for Spock and Kirk. The pacing and written style is excellent, never detracting, always adding to the story, and by the time Kirk goes to Spock and reveals that he is "way ahead of Spock's game", it's delightful and perfect and makes wonderful sense. Like Spock, I too quivered with expectation as Kirk confronted him...and I was amply rewarded in a lovely, lovely ending that does exactly what I want an ending to do.

All in all, I do hope Ms. Gates won't let this be her last piece. She's got wit and style and a hell of a talent. Her knowledge of the universe—the characters and the nuances—comes across with depth and creative insight. Hopefully, we'll get to read more new pieces by this "old" author!