Disclaimer: Am I male? No? Then I don't own Star Trek. Alas for my second X chromosone...maybe.
What's this?
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Aaaaa! The world's coming to an end! It's 2012 already?! Run for the hills!!!
(Ha ha, seriously though, it's unlikely the world's going to end three years from now, since 2012 is just going to be the end of this section of the Mayan calendar, etc. Go here for more info {http://www dot moderntales dot com//comics/dumnestor dot php?view=archive&chapter=14677}, you know what to do with the dots. Read Irony's comic while you're at it, it's brilliant.)
So where was I? Oh, yes, update. More attempting to write Spock and failing miserably. Also, thanks to outtabreath for her stories that drilled it into my head that, yes, since Spock has copper based blood there is a certain part of his anatomy that's going to be a certain colour.
Do Vulcans dream of logical sheep?
Kirk was making curious noises on the other side of the room, despite the fact that he was in the deeper stages of REM sleep. Perhaps he dreamed, dreamed deeply and fiercely enough to warrant this emotional reacting even while his brain supposedly rested. It was appropriate that this captain was never truly silent.
Sagneen propriety had much to be held accountable for. He was very aware of the absence of coolness and scent and softness. More than that, he was very aware of the fact that Nyota slept alone, an act which she had expressed a distaste for in rather recent times. Furthermore there had been distress and worry in her face when she had bade them farewell for the night. It was not logical or right to cause distress to one's…significant other, nor to let them continue in distress. He should remove himself from this position of contemplation, leave this room and go to her. Not to join together, not this night, she had told him about the sense of smell their hosts possessed and he would not have her made the object of their curiosity. But if they had scented him on her, letting her lie in his arms would mean nothing to any but they two.
He considered this, weighed it and examined it from all sides. It was not satisfactory. He did not know who might be watching them, when he entered and exited her room and what they did therein. Their hosts were gracious but they might also be curious. He would not have his and Nyota's sexual habits bandied about between all the nobles. Nyota must – it was not logical, but she must – sleep alone this night.
"Spock? You awake?"
Terrans, he had had cause to note, had something of a propensity to state the obvious. If they left a building while it was raining they would remark upon it, often with surprise. If an appliance was clearly malfunctioning they would still declare that it was broken for the supposed benefit of others. When visiting England he had had occasion to witness a rugby match, and had heard a young woman in the crowd say, when one of the players was tackled by another, "Ouch; that must have hurt." Considering the place that the man had been struck in, how could it not have been painful? Another illogical trait of the species. Even Nyota did it upon occasion, though thankfully very rarely and usually when she was excited: "You're so hot," when their bare skin had touched for the first time. Or, flushing throughout her body, "It's green!"
Not now, her sleep must not be disturbed. Better to focus upon even Kirk. "Yes, captain, I am awake."
"Can't sleep either, huh?"
"On the contrary, I will not need to sleep for many more hours."
"Oh. Yeah. Forgot about that." Kirk shifted upon his bed so that his face was turned towards him. Humans normally preferred to see the face of the person they were conversing with; the captain must be eager to talk for some time, possibly as a method of returning to sleep. In which case, he would do all that he could to aid him. "So. You want to talk?"
"If you wish to, captain, I have no objection to conversing."
"Oh. Good. So. What do you think of the planet so far?"
The brash Kirk, actually asking him what he thought? Remarkable. "From what I have seen of the planet and its inhabitants so far, they appear to be a well structured, moderate race, whose entrance to the Federation would be considered very valuable. They have a rich and vibrant culture, a steady government and an effective law system."
"You mean they lock away anyone who doesn't conform to their ideals? Yeah, that's pretty effective." He sounded actually bitter. Had some occurrence during the evening brought about this change in mood? Kirk answered that unspoken question. "When we got split up at that party to talk to different people, Uhura said that she was listening to this group of women talking. One of them was that woman the ambassador was telling us about, you remember - of course you remember. Well, one of them was Trea. Only she's not Lady Trea any more, she's Prince Trea."
"Indeed? How has that occurred?" Had the woman decided upon a change of identity, or even a sex alteration? Such occurrences were not very uncommon in the worlds beyond this one. Mother…she had defended such practises to father, saying that reproductive capability had nothing to do with living life in the way you wanted, needed.
"Oh, it's some tradition; when a noble wrongs someone deeply, if they have their title taken away as part of their punishment it's given to the person who was wronged. Supposed to be some form of compensation as well as rubbing it in. And I mean the whole title, even if the person who gets it is the wrong gender."
Ah. Not a sex alteration, then. "Indeed, captain?"
"While Uhura was listening, one of them asked this Trea if she would continue in such a manner. And Trea said something along the lines of, 'As long as Heran still breathes, I will be at his side to make him remember.'" Kirk pushed himself up off the mattress so that their eyes were almost precisely on a level. "That means he's still alive, Spock! Seven years of imprisonment and he's still alive!"
Fascinating. "Sangni physiology would allow Heran to live for a substantial amount of time with little or no nourishment, if in a rather debilitated physical and mental state. Presumably those in charge of him provide him with enough sustenance at certain intervals to ensure his continued survival, but little enough to keep him perpetually crazed with hunger." Kirk's face was lined now, in a way that radiated disapproval. "Remember, captain, he murdered an innocent man and an unborn child and nearly killed his other half. This is Sangneen justice. The Federation regularly imprisons criminals on penal colonies-"
"This is not imprisonment we're talking about, Spock, this is torture!" He sat up now, turning his body to the side so that his feet met the floor, ready to spring. "Haven't you ever been really hungry, Spock? So hungry that it hurts your stomach and it sends an ache all through your chest?"
He considered this. He had eaten nothing for days on several occasions, but never had he felt hungry, or at least not in the manner that Kirk described. He could not tell a lie. "No."
The lower whites of Kirk's eyes showed as half of his pupils disappeared for a heart beat. "Well, take it from me, it's not pleasant at all. These people, they live in huge palaces and have big fancy parties and, and choral recitals, and entertain Federation ambassadors and all the while they're keeping people locked up and constantly starved near to death."
"And what would you have them do, captain? Recall, they are setting an example to the majority of the population. Think of Christianity upon Earth; the terrible punishments supposedly awaiting those who did wrong after they died, or what was perceived to be wrong. In less noble examples, those who took their own lives would be bound into the earth forever as trees and torn at by rabid dogs; those who entered into relationships with their own sex would be forever set alight upon a fiery plain. Sangneen merely promises Hell while the criminal is still alive."
Kirk had cocked his head while he listened to this. "I didn't think you were religious, Spock."
"I am not, captain. I read The Divine Comedy on a recommendation from a colleague, mainly to discover more about fourteenth century Italian politics and the condition of the medieval mind frame. It yielded intriguing content on both subjects." He considered, and then decided to reveal the information. "It also made me ponder on why some drunken cadets referred to my ears as 'devil ears', since nowhere in the Inferno does it refer to Satan's ears, and I do not have three heads."
"Maybe those cadets hadn't read that particular work."
"Just as you say, captain." The man shook his head.
"You're distracting me, aren't you?"
"Of course not, captain."
"Please don't tell me that you approve of what they're doing to him."
Kirk sought his opinion? Asked for his cooperation in this matter?
"Captain, I am Vulcan. Whatever other impressions you may have formed about my people, know that we do not approve of violence. We must condone it upon some occasions-"
"Yeah, I've noticed-"
"-but it is very rarely the answer to the problems of the universe. Please remember from now on, Kirk, simply because I do not immediately condemn a practise does not mean that I accept it, only that I find it acceptable for the society that espouses it. Also recall that it is Ambassador Siobhan's duty, not yours, to remedy this custom, and that will only occur in time and not in one great venting of your emotions on the subject."
Kirk actually seemed to consider this. "All right, Spock. I won't let them know what I think about this, okay? At least not directly." He shifted in his seat. "Meanwhile; Cerdon-Serenu? What did you think of them? Apparently they're tipped to be the next two big shots around here. Or just the one big-shot, I suppose."
"I have heard this evening that they are one of several pairs eligible to become the next side of the Kin-Tei." He recalled the conversation he had had with one Sangneen woman, a rare unbonded noble, who had told him with a certain amount of bitterness of their success and their ambitions for the planet. She was evidently one of those who were not supporters of deep symbiosis, regardless of whether she had an other of her own.
"Yeah, and if they're elected others might try to follow their example, and then we'd have a whole council opposed to cooperating with the Federation; we might even have a whole planet of-"
He did not speak again. This was strange. It was the norm for Kirk to say whatever he felt, not to leave off speaking without completion. "A whole planet of?"
"Never mind." Kirk lay down again and pulled the coverlet over himself once more. "I'm tired. We'll talk more in the morning." A pity. Now that he had a grasp of Kirk's thoughts, he would not be averse to hearing more of them. "Night, Spock."
"Good night, Kirk."
A strange discussion with a strange man, but one neither wholly illogical nor uninteresting. Perhaps there would be more of the same, in time.
Kin-Tei is the Sangneen version of the Romulan senate, or basically any relatively small body of people that decides what a much larger body is going to do. More on them later.
Also, keeping up with the plugging at the start, I recommend The Divine Comedy. Along with Paradise Lost, it's basically defined how people imagine Hell. Plus Inferno's fun, because it gave Dante a chance to bash all the people he didn't like, even the ones that weren't dead when he was writing it. I see Spock reading it and thinking 'This is illogical and yet somehow entertaining – and informative, of course! Must read more!'