Title: Simple Arithmetic
Characters: Kirk, Spock
Rating: K+
Word Count: 200 (not including title)
Spoilers/Warnings: Spoilers for ST:TMP
Summary: Even math on the Enterprise can be dangerous. A double drabble, non-slash.
Disclaimer: Nichts. Rien. Ничего. Niente. שום דבר. Nothing, I own nothing.
Simple Arithmetic
He had always been good at mathematics.
It had started 6.4 days ago, when they had received news of the passing of a favorite Academy professor, who had died at the venerable age of 122. Jim and McCoy had reminisced fondly of the academician, remarking on the full, productive life the man had lived; and he had listened, pondering again the frail life span of humans.
Three days later, on an away mission gone horrifically wrong, Jim had almost died; he knew in one brief, agonizing moment, that if Jim had perished, his own soul would have been lost forever on the alien planet. These fragile humans, with their tenuous hold on life, were inescapably finite; and he was conscious that the tragedy they had avoided would one day come, and he would lose everything. He stared into the flames, unable to meditate. The truth had somehow escaped him until now, but he had always been good at mathematics.
It was simple arithmetic. Two hundred minus one hundred and twenty-two. But it equaled almost a century of despairing grief and soulless existence.
The next morning, a letter of resignation was waiting for Jim, and his journey to Kolinahr had begun.