The bridge was quiet. Spock sat in the captain's chair manning the bridge along with Chekov and Sulu, who were obediently monitoring their warp. They had recently escaped yet another encounter with a previously unknown planet named Telarius one that was very similar to Earth, and it had proved to be quite disastrous.
The captain was injured and had been unfit for duty since the occurrence four days ago. Spock gazed out upon the vast emptiness that lay before him and noted all of the different nebulas and galaxies in his line of sight while performing unnecessary mental calculations concerning their properties and distance.
Recently, he had been suffering from a severe lack of sleep and little opportunity to meditate; life was proving to be rather stressful to him without it. He took a deep breath and sighed as he turned his gaze toward Sulu and inquired, "Status report, Mister Sulu."
Sulu heaved a sigh of boredom and replied, "The same as it was an hour ago, sir. The same as it was an hour before that too."
Spock raised his brow and briefly contemplated reprimanding the pilot for his deviation from standard protocol. However, as Sulu leaned back in his chair and groaned while stretching the sore muscles in his back, he decided against it. After all, despite it's need for standard protocol, Sulu's report had been very accurate. It was the same.
However, unlike Sulu, Spock was quite content with the status quo remaining unchanged. They were proceeding on course as expected. Spock settled back into his seat and contentedly resumed his mental calculations. Such exercises were providing him with the closest thing to relaxation he had experienced all week.
Suddenly a very tired and unmistakable voice pulled him from his reverie.
"Spock," the voice yawned. "Get out of here. Go get some sleep. You've been up for days. Sulu, Chekov, your replacements are on their way. You've been up for way too long too."
Spock stood to address his captain as Jim took the seat that he had previously occupied. "It is good to see you well again, Captain. I assure you that I am perfectly capable of remaining here on the bridge to assist you. Vulcans do not…"
"Yea, yea. We all know Vulcans don't require as much sleep as humans," Kirk shot back, "but last time I checked, four days was still a stretch, and Vulcans are expected to give some of their time to their families. I'll be fine. Besides, I think T'Laina is probably still up waiting for you to get back. Uhura told her at dinner that the sky on that planet we just warped away from –Telanus or whatever- was blue because that's Mother Nature's favorite color. Typical human response, probably what her parents told her when she was that age. Well, you can imagine, T'Laina wasn't having any of it. She told her mother that Mother Nature wasn't really a person and therefore couldn't have a favorite color, and it's 'highly illogical' to expect that she would believe that." Kirk paused and looked up at his First officer. "I swear Spock, seven years old, and she's already every bit as logical and cynical as you are. But she's a genius if I ever saw one."
Deep within him, Spock felt a proud satisfaction in his daughter's inquisitive mind and the captain's observation of it. However, not wanting to seem too emotional and arrogant in his pride, he simply raised a brow and informed Jim, "Captain, I must disagree. While T'Laina shows exceptional potential in her intellectual pursuits, she is hardly anymore of a 'genius' than most Vulcan children are at her age."
Kirk laughed and leaned forward in his chair. "Spock, we both know that isn't true. Besides, she's more human than vulcan, so I think it's is pretty amazing how smart she is. And I think you do too." Jim slapped Spock on the shoulder with a look of smugness. "Now go back to your quarters immediately and explain to you little girl why the sky is blue."
Spock released an imperceptible sigh of relief that he was finally being dismissed. Explaining why the sky was blue would have to wait; he needed to sleep.
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Spock entered his quarters and found his wife standing in the den holding a cup of tea. She appeared as if she had been crying.
"Nyota, my love, what is wrong?" Spock swiftly moved to her side and brushed away the phantom tears with the back of his hand. She sniffed and pulled away before sitting down on the couch.
"Nothing. I'm fine. I'm glad you've finally been given some time off. I take it Jim resumed command after dinner?" Spock sat next to her, reaching for her hand. "Yes, Captain Kirk has relieved me from duty. Are you quite sure there is nothing troubling you?" he asked as she stifled another sob.
"It's stupid. Really. Don't worry about it."
"Nyota, your feelings are not 'stupid'. Whether you approve of them are not, they are still very real and sometimes beyond your control."
Nyota sniffed again as she said, "T'Laina asked me at dinner tonight why the sky is blue. I told her the same thing my parents told me, that the sky is blue because it's Mother Nature's favorite color. I totally believed that when I was her age. You know what she said?" Spock recognized the question as being rhetorical but answered for the sake of time anyway; it was not logical to waste time hearing the same story twice.
"Yes, actually. Captain Kirk apparently overheard your conversation. He informed me of the details when he relived me from duty. How does her response trouble you?" Nyota stared into his eyes for a moment, seemingly pondering how she would answer.
"It's just that I always thought I would get to tell my children bedtime stories and little made up things like why the sky is blue. It's what we do on Earth. Earth children can't understand things like physics and water molecules and prisms of light, so we tell them made up stories. I wanted to…" At this point, Nyota broke off and began to cry into Spock's shoulder. He placed a hand on her back and drew her into him as she cried. "I just feel like she's too smart for her own good, you know? Like she won't ever get to have that childhood innocence. I'm sorry. I'm being selfish. I should be glad that she's so smart and everything. That's more important than getting to tell her some stupid, made up story."
"No, Nyota. You are human and therefore, you are not being selfish, you are simply expressing an emotional response. And you are correct; T'Laina is very intelligent for her age. She does lack much of what you refer to as the 'childhood innocence' displayed in human children. For your sake, I regret that she is more like me in that aspect. I see her behave as I did, and I feel an illogical pride in everything that she does. Because of this, I understand your grief at her inability to behave as you did at her age and to experience the same feelings that such stories brought to you." Nyota stood up abruptly.
"Thank you for trying to empathize, Spock, but you don't really get it. Which is fine. It's enough that you try. I just need a minute to collect myself is all." She bent down and kissed his cheek before walking past him toward their bedroom. Spock watched her go and decided that he would give her the minute she had claimed to need.
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In the meantime, Spock decided it would be illogical not to make use of his time before going to bed, so he ventured into his daughter's room to see if she was still awake. Sure enough, just as Jim had suspected, T'Laina was sitting up in her bed reading her favorite book. She immediately dropped it as she saw her father standing in the doorway and stood up on the comforter as he approached the bed.
"T'Laina," Spock chided as he lifted her off the bed and sat them both down on the edge, "you know that you are not supposed to stand on top of your bed. You also know that bedtime was one hour and twenty-seven minutes ago. Why are you still awake?" For the third time that night, Spock was told the same story about the dinner conversation concerning why the sky was blue.
"So I had to wait for you to come home. I mean, that doesn't make any sense, Daddy. I mean, Mother Nature doesn't really exist, does she? She's like Santa Claus. They just tell human children that because they like to hear stories." Spock glanced at the cover of the book T'Laina was currently reading.
"T'Laina, is Peter Rabbit not a human story? You obviously enjoy human stories also, so why can you not accept your mother's explanation as to why the sky is blue?" T'Laina sighed in frustration.
"Because I know that Peter Rabbit is just a story. But I know that Mother Nature isn't real, so that can't have anything to do with why the sky is blue." Spock raised his brow, took a deep breath as he contemplated how to explain the scientific reason behind the blue color of the sky on Telarius and Earth to a child.
"Simply put, all class M planets have a very similar composition of gases in the atmosphere. That is why we can breath on their surfaces without the assistance of additional equipment. Light is combination of wavelength, frequency and energy. When light travels, it travels in a straight line until something interrupts it. In this case, the gas molecules interrupt the light's path. The longer wavelengths pass directly through the gas molecules. The shorter ones however, such as blue, are absorbed by the molecules and is scattered into the atmosphere. Whichever direction in which you look, you are seeing this scattered blue light. Since there are no wavelengths in the sky except for the blue wavelength, the entire sky appears blue."
T'Laina had no immediate reaction to this information; she simply sat and gazed into her father's familiar eyes.
"Perhaps it would be best if I were to explain this phenomenon in full detail to you again in the future, when you are better prepared to understand it."
"No Daddy, I understand. I was just thinking that maybe Mommy was right. Maybe blue is Mother Nature's favorite color and that's why it's the only one that gets to be scattered by the gas molecules."
Spock could not help the faint smile that appeared on his lips with his daughter's statement.
"I was under the impression that you believe Mother Nature to be a story?"
"Maybe not. I don't know. But she's more interesting than gas molecules and wavelengths anyways."
A laugh from the doorway alerted them both to Nyota's presence. Spock noticed the return of her usual glowing smile.
"I think it's time for bed you two." T'Laina jumped up and ran over to her mother, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the bed.
"Will you tell me a story, Mommy? Please?" Nyota threw her hair over her shoulder and sat down laughing next to Spock as T'Laina burrowed back underneath the covers.
"Are you sure, sweetheart? The only stories Mommy knows are human ones." T'Laina giggled as Nyota gently tickled her stomach.
"That's okay, Mommy. My brain hurts from Daddy's science. But maybe you could tell me one that isn't made up. That way, it wouldn't be illogical."
"Sweetie, even real stories can be very illogical at times. Not everyone is Vulcan. And even Vulcan's have their moments," she explained as she gave Spock a knowing look.
"I believe I will choose to ignore that statement," Spock said as Nyota lay down next to her daughter and tugged him down next to them. He wrapped his arms around his wife and child, savoring the opportunity to do so in the privacy of their home.
"Let's see. What's a good not made up story?" Spock kissed the side of her neck as whispered a suggestion, "Perhaps she would enjoy the one about the Starfleet instructor who fell in love with the beautiful cadet."
Nyota covered his hand with hers, and smiling, she began, "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away…"