Chapter Twenty-three
After a few, brief seconds of confusion, Spock found himself in what appeared to be a dimly lit room. As he looked around, he saw that the walls were constantly shifting to and fro, flickering between different colors.
/I'm sorry. The place isn't quite stable yet,/ a voice apologized. /Usually, the others helped me out in making these sorts of rooms, but I'm on my own now/
Spock turned around and there was Kathryn. /Now, if I can only—there!/ She snapped her fingers and the room shifted into the Enterprise's Bridge.
/What in the world is going on!/ Kathryn's mental thoughts echoed around him as the Bridge disappeared, returning them to the dim room. Her figure faded out soon after, the face twisted in concentration.
As Spock stood there, he could hear distant murmurs of voices beyond the room. /These are not all Miss Kathryn's thoughts/ he realized as scraps of sentences and bits of emotional color trickled through to his mind.
/No, they most certainty are NOT/ Kathryn answered him. A mental 'blush' followed those words, and Spock could 'feel' her embarrassment all around him. /Believe me, I would not think that kind of stuff!/
Spock reflected that, given the pieces of information he had acquired, the only logical explanation was that he was hearing others' thoughts.
/Well, I'm glad you realized that wasn't me,/ Kathryn said as the room shifted once more to a fair representation of the Observation Deck niche in which they had been sitting before. A few seconds later, everything firmed up around Spock, and Kathryn reappeared, sitting on the window seat.
/Fascinating/ Spock thought.
Kathryn smiled. /It really is. You should have seen a mental room made by Ti'lace. She could make everything to suit individuals—if she made this room, it would have appeared differently to each of us./
/But that isn't why I made this. Now, where do we go from here?/
Spock considered. Kathryn waited attentively.
/Miss Kathryn, can you hear all of my thoughts?/
/Oh no. Not here. I can only 'hear' the ones that you would say aloud if we were still physically talking to each other, or really loud ones./
/Wait. This doesn't qualify as a mind-meld then, right?/
/No it does not./
/Lovely./
Spock refrained from asking Kathryn what exactly was 'lovely' about the situation, and began to think through all the cases of mind-melds he had experienced or heard about in his life. None of them applied to this situation.
/Excuse me for interrupting you, but I think I've got a solution./ Kathryn 'said'. /Here!/
All of a sudden, a multicolored tunnel appeared in the side of the mind-room, just big enough for Spock to walk through. /If I've made this correctly, you can enter my mind now. I don't know how or if it will work though/ she added. /This is completely new for me, too!/
She vanished. /Coming?/ her voice echoed through the tunnel with a decidedly impish tone.
Spock reflected that it was only logical to proceed and fulfill a) his captain's orders and b) some of these inexcusable gaps in the study of mind-to-mind communication.
He stepped into the tunnel.
It was bright neon colors and spun, he believed the human phrase was 'like a top', taking him along with it. It was also impossible to walk through it, if you were a Vulcan.
/Sorry! I didn't mean it to be so like the Vortex. Big mistake. Here, is this better?/
The tunnel shifted into an accurate representation of one of the Enterprise's corridors. He proceeded along it to the door at the end, and opened it.
There stood Kathryn in the doorway.
/Hullo! Come on in,/ she smiled, stepping back.
He stepped through the door and into a completely new landscape.
TOS-TOS-TOS
The area in which he first stepped into was brightly lit—full of round seats, low tables, soft rugs and bookshelves all in vibrant colors. Books covered most of the chairs and lay about most untidily on the floor. On the closest bookshelf an Old Earth poster proclaimed "And they lived happily ever after" in curling script.
/I think that each book is a memory, if I've build this place right. Try it./ Kathryn 'said', throwing herself into a pink recliner and picking up a well-worn book.
Spock moved to the nearest table, picked up a worn, green book with cloth covers and opened it.
Instantly, he found himself in a wood of decidedly Earth origin, with the open book in his hand. As he looked through the trees, he saw two men fighting with heavy wood sticks on a narrow bridge over a rushing river. Suddenly, the larger man, with a clever twist of his hand, threw the other into the river with a loud shout.
/Most intriguing,/ he thought, shutting the book.
Immediately, he was back in the vibrant room.
Kathryn looked up from her book. /Back so soon? Sorry, random thought, my bad./
Spock summarized that that thought was to be ignored, and picked up another book, this one in light grey with a slight sheen to it.
Upon opening it near the end, he found himself on a battlefield. A man with long blond hair wailed over another person amid wreckage and dead bodies of men and...elephants? He shut that book instantly.
A thick, deep blue book with a strange pattern on the front drew his attention next. It drew him into a dark room. A woman in a low cut, red dress was in the foreground, her profile facing him. She said "Run. Run you clever boy, and remember me."
Spock shut that book quickly as well, reasoning that there was nothing of importance in that.
The next book had an Enterprise ensign on it. He opened it and an-oh-so-familiar memory burst upon him.
Once again, he was in the throes of pon farr, trying so hard to get something out to explain Jim and Doctor McCoy's presence there on the hot sands of Vulcan. Once again, he could not speak, could not explain, could not plead. Once again, he felt that surge of uncheckable emotion swirling through him, his own, raw, physical power burning him, both devouring him...
Two soft hands closed around his, and forced the book shut, taking it away from him.
/I'm so, so sorry. You were not supposed to open that book. What did you see?/ Kathryn's voice asked urgently. /This is really important, Mr. Spock! Please...answer me!/
Spock straightened up. /I am...unharmed, Miss Kathryn. May I ask.../
/No! You may not. All you need to know is that that book has some of your past and a lot of your future in it. This is exactly the reason I did not want this!/ Kathryn was visibly agitated, and the room began to churn about them, the lights darkening. Her emotions began to trickled through to Spock for the first time during the 'meld'. /What did you see?/
/A very painful memory from some time ago, Miss Kathryn./
She relaxed and the room stabilized about them. /Good. Carry on, then!/
/Miss Kathryn, where are we?/ he asked, decided that a change of subject was in order.
/I think we are in the section of my memories that deals with the books, films and tv I remember, judging by what I've accessed, and what you've gotten into. Do you need to get further in?/
/I think that would be a wise idea, Miss Kathryn./
/Oh, for heaven's sake! You're messing about in my mind, call me Kathryn! This way./
She led the way past the bright bookshelves. Spock followed her.
Soon, they came to another, much darker door. Kathryn pushed it open.
/Welcome to Family Memories, Mr. Spock./