1.
Spock has observed precisely 367 Starfleet cadets undertake the Kobayashi- maru without their ever knowing or caring that he was doing so – but it had never felt voyeuristic before. It had never felt anything before, and that was as it should be. He can only assume that this case is more interesting because nobody has ever looked like they might succeed before. Certainly he has no specific interest in the young man in question, last minute recruit James Tiberius Kirk. So why does he find himself wanting to know more about this strange, illogical young man? – and why does he feel like it would be somehow stalking him –he wishes he could think of a better word for it – to do so?
He watches from above as the boy – who clearly does not have the half of his intelligence or any degree of self discipline – behaves so casually, so nonsensically in the face of what should be certain failure. He gets the distinct impression that young Kirk is, to put it in a excessively human way – pissing all over his carefully constructed test. He wonders why Kirk keeps looking up – keeps looking his way. It would be deeply illogical to think that the boy knows that he is personally responsible for the test and yet he still could well know that whoever constructed it would be standing where he is and so by inference the cadet's mockery is aimed directly at Spock. Spock finds himself a little bewildered by just how angry this makes him – certainly he has dealt with worse and more personally mockery than this – and yet. Yet he wishes somehow that he could just yell out to stop the test, storm down there and punch that arrogant young man – possibly throw him around a little while he's at it – Spock stops that line of thought quickly, alarmed by how detailed and real this fantasy is becoming. He is deeply alarmed by this urge and struggles to quell it but – is Kirk actually eating and apple? Is he actually doing it in an especially obnoxious way? Spock wishes – very much not for the first time – that he was half as logical as he appears to be.
From his vantage point he summarises what he can about the cadet. He is clearly tenacious and somewhat dense as this is now his third attempt at the test. Most cadets accept their failure after the first try and thereby come to understand the purpose of it but Kirk is clearly excessively tenacious, obstinately unintelligent or a combination of the two. None of the adjectives he can come up with are particularly flattering; he is arrogant, rude, infantile, insubordinate and disorganised. He is also an extremely attractive example of a human – Spock supposes, grudgingly, and finds room in himself to be annoyed by this as well. He would like to fucking make him subordinate and also snatch that fucking apple off of him.
Spock is so troubled by his own thoughts – and busy wondering why he cannot form an intelligible descriptive summary of Cadet Kirk without resorting to vulgar expletives, that he does not initially register that he has just been asked a question. He frowns, unravels the question, realises that the smug, idiotic, ingenious little bastard has indeed passed his test, thins his lips to avoid saying something distinctly un – Vulcan, and replies simply –
"I do not know."