Valley of Shadows (Star Trek: TOS story)

Star Trek TOS Fanfiction
Title:	Valley of Shadows
Author(s):	Syn Ferguson
Date(s):	1980
Length:
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:	Valley of Shadows (story online at the author's website)
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Valley of Shadows was written by Syn Ferguson and illustrated by Nan Lewis.

It is a Star Trek: TOS story in the zines Sun & Shadow and Straight Trek. It was posted later online as part of the Foresmutters Project.

Summary

"Though his body still lives, his mind is lost. When all others have given up on him, Kirk takes him to the Valley, a snowbound and desolate place where Vulcan healers practice their mysteries."

Gallery

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  art by Nan Lewis, as printed in Sun & Shadow

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  art by Nan Lewis, as printed in Sun & Shadow

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  art by Nan Lewis, as printed in Sun & Shadow

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  art by Nan Lewis, as printed in Straight Trek

Reactions and Reviews

1981

Perhaps not by design, a 'shadow' in this zine is one of its suns. 'Valley of Shadows' by Syn Ferguson, is an excellent metaphysical, near-mythological treatment of the Orpheus and Eurydice theme: the man who deals with the keeper of Hell's gates in order to reclaim the soul of his beloved. From battle with a space monster, Spock has become a vegetable; Kirk takes him to the Valley of Shadows where a Vulcan telepath healer ostracized from her planet because of bastardy offers to return Spock's sanity, but at the price of becoming his wife. This is a common plot in fandom and an old one in general, but Ferguson makes good use of it; the loss is real; the confusion over accepting hope is real; the knowledge that if Spock does come back, he is still lost to Kirk, is real There's not a great deal of action in the piece, but the tension and the characters' vibrancy obviate the need of it. An outstanding piece.

1997

The same superlatives as to Syn's writing in my other LOC apply here. So richly inventive and the kind of writing that draws you into the tale and makes you see and feel the place, and leaves you feeling richer for the experience afterwards.

This has the tragic pathos, too. Spock's mind has been damaged beyond repair, and Kirk takes him, according to tradition, through the mountains to the healers in the Valley of Shadows. This is a place where the healers may be able to keep Spock's autonomic functions going, maybe not; may be able to restructure some personality, but probably not. He will probably be, for all intents and purposes, declared legally dead.

Kirk's emotional exhaustion is beautifully depicted. We learn how Spock came to be this way (attacked on an organic ship they were exploring), which figures in later in the mental-landscape scenes.

The two healers, an old, dying woman and her young female ward, are perfect characters for this kind of claustrophobic drama. Intense interaction between the three.

I loved seeing through the eyes of the young healer, T'Mar. She has a rebellious hatred for the old woman, and mysterious, seemingly nefarious motives.

Kirk's the first alien she's ever seen. She can't help but stare, and is uncomfortable with his touching Spock so much. She might hate the old woman, "but at least she [the old woman] controlled her emotions. The human sprayed his like scent from a civet cat, thick enough to choke on." Cough, cough.

A gorgeous scene, of Kirk's quiet love and anguish, looking at Spock's body in the firelight. And the ritual words to turn Spock over to this last resting place are so perfect, so evocative, so incredibly sad. "Who brings him?" "I( James Kirk, bring him." It goes on...his debts are paid, his enemies satisfied, his family frees him. "Do his friends free him?" Kirk's heart almost can't take it, but he must say yes, his friends free him. This is the exquisite anguish I love...and hope it's going to be a happy-ending story.

I couldn't always follow it, but the trance-mindtrip the two woman take to sustain Spock's body is fantastic. And here we learn more about TMar and her past and social-outcast status, the mental powers she discovers are purely her own, the possibilities of her gaining freedom from her guardian.

I won't go into all the good stuff in the mental landscape, but we learn through TMar in Spock's mind that he thinks Kirk died in the same incident in which he was injured, and he is now willing his own death.

TMar ends up bargaining with Kirk for Spock's return to wholeness, but it all takes on this gorgeous heroic aura, Kirk saving Spock's life on the mental plane, a simply breathless-making scene, god. Much heart-wrenching drama, but nothing trite or obvious. And Kirk ends up healing T'Mar's bitterness and setting her on a healthy life-path, too. Just wonderful.

And when they are back on the physical plane, and Spock is back from the dead, oh my heart could barely take it. Anguish relieved - nothing better.

2006

This story is set on Grimwald, a planet where Vulcan outcasts, including the mentally injured, are sent to be cared for. A devastated Kirk is taking Spock there after Spock’s mind has been damaged beyond repair in a terrible encounter with an alien race; his body lives, barely, in a life support suit but his mind is empty, and Kirk will have to declare him dead and “yield him to the Valley of Shadows”. He meets T’Mar, a young Vulcan novice healer and her elderly teacher T’Por who have come to collect Spock’s body and take it away with them.

T’Mar has lived in the Valley all her life and is bitterly unhappy there - she longs to be free of the planet and of T’Por. During the story T’Por dies attempting to help Spock and T’Mar – who always thinks of Spock as ‘the madman’ - tells Kirk she can give Spock back his mind and make him whole again, but in return, Kirk must agree that Spock will take her as his wife – to give her the power and position to escape and create a new life. Seeing no alternative now that T’Mar has created hope, Kirk reluctantly submits to the blackmail and signs a formal contract to this effect, knowing that if she is successful, Spock’s honour will ensure he abides by the promise and that Kirk will lose him once again – although he will be whole. After some traumatic events, Spock is restored and T’Mar, deeply affected by what she sees in their minds, rips up the contract and frees Spock, going back to her former life as Kirk and Spock return to the planet together. We all agreed that this story was extremely well written with some beautiful images – the author’s descriptions were excellent and very evocative with a wonderful choice of phrasing at times - 'The rift stretched five miles wide, horizon to horizon, deeper than the eye could see and red as a wound.' Grimwald was not just any old planet but a very particular vivid, haunting place. We liked the author’s attention to detail; she is often graphic, as in the description of the removal of Spock’s catheter, but never gratuitously so. Her new Vulcan characters are sharply delineated and very interesting. We all liked her Kirk very much - she wrote his exhaustion and emotional pain quite beautifully, presenting him as adorably complex and very heroic. There wasn’t as much of Spock as he is unconscious for most of the story, but when he awakes, the author gets right inside his head; his first comment to Kirk is perfect- “Am I the cause of your distress. Captain?” Such a Spockian phrase. The author gives Spock powerful nobility and her physical description of him is great too: a ”lean, elegant, raking beauty”. The story has an interesting plot, isn't overwritten and has a satisfying ending. It catches Kirk at a major turning point in his life, which gives the story great power.

However, there was some confusion about why the action took place on Grimwald, rather than Vulcan itself; there was no explanation for this. The piece was so rooted in Vulcan tradition and mysticism that despite being told we were on Grimwald, it felt like Vulcan; this was assisted by the fact that the descriptions were all about red scenery and at one point Kirk talks about being able to smell Vulcan: “He ... could smell it, a flat, throat-closing reek that said Vulcan, here in the snows, Vulcan.” There was also some discussion about why Vulcans would choose to send their sick and outcast off-planet rather than keeping them somewhere private on Vulcan itself; in pre-space flight days this must have been the case so it wasn’t clear why they would now ship them elsewhere. This, of course, assumes that we accept that Vulcans would cast off their 'insane, genetic experiments, defective children and results of rape' in the first place, which some of us didn’t believe. Some were prepared to accept the Vulcans weren’t quite as civilised as they are often portrayed, but couldn’t see them doing this – what logic is there in blaming a child for being the result of a rape and why cast out children with a disability or a genetic defect in a time when medical science is so advanced? What about IDIC? Another thing we weren’t all quite sure about was T'Mar's sudden change of heart. Admittedly she melded with both Kirk and Spock and so saw the inside of the K/S (or K-S) relationship, but it seemed all a bit too pat. She is a hard, desperate character, who has been yearning to escape from Grimwald for years and then suddenly she seemed to give up because she saw the beauty of their souls in the meld. Some of us found this a bit too much of a romantic notion; we couldn’t quite see why she didn’t just ask Kirk to take her with him. In fact, we were a bit disappointed that he didn’t offer; this seemed rather out of character. Kirk offered to help Alexander in a similar situation; one of his prime motivators is compassion. He also has a great generosity of spirit and is moved by pathos. Actually, we couldn’t quite work out why she didn’t just leave of her own accord. There didn’t seem to be anything physical stopping her.

Despite these reservations, we all enjoyed this story and would recommend it.

2010

This just showed up on the archive site, which is seriously cool, but I've known this story for years. A friend sent me a copy long ago, telling me -- accurately - - that I just had to read it, that the language would captivate me and the characterization enchant me. She was right.

The story starts with Jim Kirk leading a mule-back litter down a steep mountain trail. He is alone except for the person in the litter, who, it turns out, is Spock, in a total life support suit because his mind has completely shut down and he would be dead without the suit. Per Vulcan custom he has been relegated to this place, called the Valley of Shadows, and the order of Vulcans who care for people in his sort of situation. Jim is very quiet and sad, doing a lot of thinking about the time he shared with Spock, and how he never expected it to get cut short like this, much less to have to watch as Spock's empty body deteriorated without his mind to command it. So he has agreed to do this last sad duty for his friend, and to try and somehow go on alone. Now more than ever, he doubts his ability to do this. The world itself, Grimwald, is beautifully described, the sight of red sunlight on endless snow and ice, the taste of the air, so different from either man's home -- everything is lyrically rendered and one can easily see the story unfold in the mind's eye.

The personalities Kirk encounters there are cleanly defined as well -- the elderly savant who first tries to help, and then the angry, defiant young outcast who finally steps up to do what's needed -- along with the eventually disclosed reason for Spock's plight; all these things are skillfully handled. The story's resolution is deeply satisfying and yet again, this author delivers one hell of a story!

Not gonna spoiler it for ya. It's up online now, so go read it an' see for yerself.

Beautiful, wonderful, and sad.

This was the first of yr stories I ever saw, a friend loaned and later gave me a copy. So beautifully written, all the characters so very sharp and clear. The Valley itself, the people who live there, the ones who come to help... And the ending... Beautiful!! Very happy to see this on the archive, hope to see more of them soon!

This was the first of yr stories I ever saw, a friend loaned and later gave me a copy. So beautifully written, all the characters so very sharp and clear. The Valley itself, the people who live there, the ones who come to help... And the ending... Beautiful!! Very happy to see this on the archive, hope to see more of them soon!

2011

Another one I remember from the publication I now am reminded was called Sun and Shadow. I did not know that you had written both pieces, though I should have. Beautifully written and the hopeful tone of the piece more than makes up for the depression that overtakes me when I read Freedom is Standing in the Light. This one was one of my favorites from that publication. I wish I could find my copy, but I'm afraid it has been lost permanently when my ex lost a storage unit we'd been keeping things in. Knew I should never have let it out of my sight. I am glad, though, to be able to read more pieces authored by you. The imagery in this story drew me in until I was living in the story, breathing the air with the characters. I didn't surface for a true breath until I'd finished reading and then it was quite a jolt to find myself in such comparatively mundane surroundings. Thanks for sharing your gift.

Beautiful,mystic,and graceful... The story made me think of Ursula Le Guin.

Another one I remember from the publication I now am reminded was called Sun and Shadow. I did not know that you had written both pieces, though I should have. Beautifully written and the hopeful tone of the piece more than makes up for the depression that overtakes me when I read Freedom is Standing in the Light. This one was one of my favorites from that publication. I wish I could find my copy, but I'm afraid it has been lost permanently when my ex lost a storage unit we'd been keeping things in. Knew I should never have let it out of my sight. I am glad, though, to be able to read more pieces authored by you. The imagery in this story drew me in until I was living in the story, breathing the air with the characters. I didn't surface for a true breath until I'd finished reading and then it was quite a jolt to find myself in such comparatively mundane surroundings. Thanks.

2012

I read this wonderful story years and years ago in a print zine, and it was one of the ones I returned to over and over. Syn Ferguson produced some of the loveliest K/S I have ever read. I also loved her Court of Honor, and the poster made to raise funds for the eventual printing of the zine still hangs on my wall across from me as I type. It is one of my favorite Trek mementoes. I hope that wherever she went she has found some peace and continues to write with her usual talent.

2015

There are Fics and there are examples of writing as a craft carefully honed with though to the exact placing of each word. Few writers reach that level of skill.

Most beautiful in so many ways. One for many: the different perception Kirk has of the surrounding landscape when he approaches the valley of shadows and when he is leaving. It illustrates his inner journey better than a thousand words.