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DISCLAIMER: I Don't Own Star Trek. And I'm not making any money from this.
Emotional Complications
Nyota's return and the emotional and professional advantages it provided, the transmission from T'Lan, and the contact from his fellow Vulcans were all, if not precisely 'happy' events for Spock, definitely fulfilling.
There was one more event that occurred in the first few weeks that Spock was unsure how to classify. He discovered that his cadet had been quietly stoking another emotional attachment.
Spock was very poor at judging motivations, but even he had been able to intellectually deduce the reason Uhura had taken his assistantship. She wanted to solve the mystery of the 'Romulan' transmission they had found. This had been illogical. There still was not definitive proof that their research would deliver a method of decoding the transmission. And of course there was the matter of its very unlikely authenticity.
Still, for so many months she had worked diligently and patiently at tasks that were distant from the transmission itself. She'd said that she appreciated the skills she had acquired during the course of the assistantship. He supposed that it was illogical to presume from this that she had put her original motivations behind -- but he had.
He had been wrong.
"Lieutenant Spock," Nyota said in the lab one day, "Did you see that Commander Sharpton has finished her background investigation of the transmission we found?"
The Commander had been seeking evidence of a Romulan vessel in satellite data on the date of the transmission. "No, I haven't. When did she complete it?"
"About fifteen minutes ago. She just messaged me. I've been gently hounding her for months to let me know as soon as the investigation was completed."
That was something to contemplate, a cadet, gently hounding a Commander.
"I didn't realize you were following the matter so closely." He responded. Spock himself had not been following the matter at all. If there was anything important discovered he was sure the Commander would tell him in good time. The likelihood that the transmission was anything at all was so remote. Investing mental effort in the matter seemed a waste of time.
Nyota continued, "Do you know why the investigation took so long?"
This was a frustratingly vague question, the possible explanations were infinite. "No, Cadet, please enlighten me," he said, seating himself at a console to begin some simulations.
She sat down at a console opposite him. "Because there is nothing," she said with a smile.
Spock was confused. Why did this make her happy?
"Nothing, Cadet?"
She laughed, "Nothing, there are no official satellite records from that date, no records from Earth telescopes, hardly any unofficial records. Don't you find that odd? During the 1990s several earth governments, not to mention independent agencies were scanning the skies...and that date doesn't exist."
"A lot vanished during the war 70 years after the transmission, Cadet. Especially official records --"
"Because the interim government during and after the war was anti-space travel, anti-science, anti-technology, and run by quasi-religious groups that wanted humans back in the Stone Ages.
"The fact that there are no records from that date suggests that there was something to hide!" She said, hands moving excitedly.
Spock looked up from his console. "Cadet Uhura, need I remind you that the likelihood that the transmission is Romulan in origin is--"
"I know, I know...if it was Romulan we wouldn't be here...or I'd be wearing a little Romulan slave girl outfit..."
Spock tensed. The idea of Nyota in the hands of Romulans was more than unappealing. "Cadet, if that is a joke, I am certain it is not funny."
"I'm trying to lighten the mood...A Romulan slave girl outfit might actually be slightly less revealing than this uniform..."
Spock decided to play along, if it would keep the mood lighter on her end. "Perhaps, Cadet."
He took a breath. "Still, it is very unlikely that the transmission is anything other than an anomaly or, considering its origins, a hoax."
Uhura's jaw clenched. When she spoke her voice was nearly a whisper. "Considering its human origins, Lieutenant?"
Spock looked her dead in the eye and replied, "The 2053 Signal, Table-Top Cold Fusion...Piltdown Man. Need I continue?"
Uhura took a deep breath and looked down. "I guess our track record has been spotty at times."
Her shoulders slumped. Her face went slack. Spock could tell she was upset.
He tried to distract her. "Cadet, did you know that there is a theory that the Piltdown Man hoax was perpetrated by Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries? If so, Piltdown Man was perhaps the greatest mystery Doyle ever created." This was certainly not an original thought of his own; it was something he'd seen in a documentary.
"Yes, I'm sure that the researchers who dedicated their lives to studying Piltdown Man for forty years, only to find out it was fake, thought it was a wonderful mystery," Uhura replied.
Spock had nothing to say to that.
xxx
Just under a week later Spock returned early from a class he was teaching. Uhura was there a little earlier than usual -- so not officially on 'lab' time yet. That wasn't in itself particularly strange. What was strange was that she was playing recording 180092A over the lab sound system. She wasn't facing the door, she was staring out the window just listening to the static, and then those suspicious clicks and tones. He entered and she didn't even notice.
When the audible part of the recording ended she said without turning around, "Computer play again." She kept her eyes out the window, standing stock still, only slightly more relaxed than if she had been standing at attention.
Once more when the recording ended, she called out, "Computer..."
Spock interrupted this time. "Cadet Uhura, why are you listening to this recording?"
Uhura spun fast in surprise and snapped automatically to attention.
"Lieutenant, I just want to remind myself that it is real."
"How can you deduce from this recording alone that what we are listening to is…real."
"I can't. But he just sounds...sad."
It was an awkward moment for Spock. She was clearly wasting her time on something that was illogical, although technically it had been her time, and he hadn't been in the lab to be distracted by the recording.
Finally he just said, "You realize this is a completely illogical activity?"
"Yes," she replied, "I do."
If she had denied that it was illogical he could have reasoned with her. But she didn't deny it was illogical. She accepted it was and did it anyway.
He realized that she had become emotionally attached to their research, more specifically to the promise of deciphering the 'Romulan' transmission. He wasn't sure how, or if, he should discourage this.
Commander Sharpton's revelation of the loss of the records for the recorded date had noticeably motivated his Cadet.
They were also fairly close to completing their research into subspace signals generated by planets. It looked as though only planetary position in the solar system and the galaxy was important. Planet side events appeared to only minimally contribute to 'solar gossip.'
After they finished with planetary bodies they could focus on solar events. Once they discovered exactly how solar events affected the 'solar gossip' they could begin to investigate the transmission. He'd heard Nyota murmur to herself more than once, "We're getting close."
She had always been timely before, but now she was significantly ahead in her work. She had told him that she had broken down her tasks into those she could do only in lab, and things she could do remotely when she 'had a minute.'
In short, her emotional attachment to the project was putting him ahead of schedule again. Even if the source of her motivation was illogical should he discourage it?
He did mention to her that they were ahead of schedule, and she need not push herself to the point of neglecting her other duties. But ever the efficiency expert, he didn't push it.
Less than two weeks later they were finished with planetary subspace signals.
A/N: Thank you to everyone posting reviews and helping me try to keep this story consistent and good. Also thank you Cylobaby for trying to help me increase my readership – this is getting so long I'm afraid it scares people away. I'd love to hear ideas for how everyone would summarize this story to draw readers in.
If anyone out there is interested in a short Uhura/Spock fix I've written two other stories featuring them. I may periodically post more – things that don't fit the story line or are too steamy for the M rating.
As always, thanks for reading. It is a privilege to have you all roaming around my twisted mind.