Loving Her Is Red
Chapter Twenty-five
T'Penn had made the appointment to meet with the school chancellor and the board of directors at thirteen hundred hours. She had instructed Spock to allow her to make her introductory remarks and when she had completed, she would summons him and Nyota to the meeting.
Spock looked at his beloved, beautifully attired in her Vulcan finery, her hair cascading down her back. She smiled at him nervously,
"Spock, I am attempting to calm my thoughts."
He placed his hand on her psi points and send her his calm. His thoughts to her were,'K'diwa. whatever happens today will not lessen my attachment to you and our determination to stay together. It will simply be standing at the fork in a road and making a joint decision.'
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When T'Penn presented herself before the Academy Director and Board she was robed in her healer's formal dress which included an elaborate headdress. Although it had never been commented on before, T'Penn was a very beautiful Vulcan female and her attributes showed very clearly in the finery she wore.
All the Board rose to greet her and gave the Vulcan salute and appropriate words of greeting. Her nod allowed them to returned to their seats. She slowly surveyed the room. Looking each member directly in the eye. The sight of this Vulcan female whose very present exuded power was quite unnerving to the entire group of males.
In slightly accented standard she gave her greeting and then said, "Gentlemen, I wish you to know what a unique opportunity is presented here. I have been sent to speak to you on behalf of Lady T'Pau and Ambassador Sarek in regard to their kinsman, Osu Spock.
What will be revealed today has never been explained or spoken of outside of Vulcan society at any time in our history. I will simply state facts and answer no questions. The reasons for any lack of discussion of said subject is because it is view as sacred, having to do with life and the passing along of its force, a subject most sacred to Vulcans. For that reason, any revelation of this information or discussion later is strictly forbidden. For that reason before I continue I will request that you join me in the most binding of Vulcan oaths, 'The Blood Oath". The breaking of which is a capitol punishment by the violator's own hand, in your world it is called suicide. Any with doubts as to their ability to keep this oath should leave my presence immediately. In addition any question in regard to our ability to know if this oath is broken, should be discarded. It should be noted that this vow has a onehundred percent adherence by Vulcans and thus has never been broken by any Vulcan. I do not wish to be forced to question the integrity of you who are in this room and are prominent Terran citizens and leaders. No one moved. No one said a word.
With her words T'Penn produced what looked like a large sewing needle and pricked her own finger which oozed green. She then approached each member, who likewise produced their index finger for submission to her instrument of validation. Each members' finger was in turn touched by her blooded finger and the green and red liquids were joined. She had produced a piece of cloth with which she would dry each members hand after her touch.
That settled, she requested a moment to summon the other witnesses to this meeting to join them at the office in fifteen minutes. This she did telepathically. She then allowed an option for those present. She told the group that if they wished she could arrange for the sacred information's details that would be conveyed to be placed in their minds as temporary memory which would allow the more personal information to disappear from their consciousness within a few hours. The general reasons for their decision would remain but none of the Vulcan sacred information.
All agreed that that would be a great safety net that would prevent disaster in the future. T'Penn did not have to meld with them but she did touch them all mentally by placing her hands on each of the attendees psi points she selected the site for the temporary memory to be stored. After their decision this extremely temporary bond would be broken and the information erased. This she would be able to do telepathically. It was in this way each one's freedom of choice would remain. She complimented the attendees for their wise choice.
"Gentlemen, you will now be privy to a Vulcan biology lesson. All male Vulcans born on their home planet have body rhythms that are closely tied to the planet's bio-rhythms. The cycles of all plant, animal and humanoid life is seven earth years. Depending upon the birth of the male Vulcan, he will sometime in his late twenties or early thirties come to maturity. At that point in his existence he will bond with a female and start to build a family. The family for a Vulcan is not a social endeavor, but a sacred one. You presently have one Vulcan on your staff, the son of Sarek and grandson of Lady T'Pau who was born on our home world, and thus he too is subject to this natural imperative."
T'Penn knew that Terrans were influenced by what they called, 'name dropping'. The names that she had just mention were the most powerful Vulcan individuals known to Terrans. They, of course, were not familiar with the fact that even those two powerful figures had to join themselves to the High Council, in their established positions to influence the Vulcan people as a whole. The Vulcans did not have what Terrans once called, 'the divine right of kings,' nor were they influenced by said 'name dropping'.
T'Penn continued,
"There are two other matters involved with the information I will reveal. For every house, clan or family one of its' major focuses is the continuance of the family line through the birth of sons. Osu Spock, is the legitimate heir of Ambassador Sarek and so is expected to continue their house which is in direct lineage to Surak, the honored founder of Vulcan Society as it appears today.
Osu Spock, or Lord Spock is the son of Amanda Grayson of Terra and Osu Sarek, of Vulcan. Because of his mixed ancestry, there are no written or even past records that he can be compared to. He is presently twenty-eight earth years old. He visited me in Nairobi by appointment and after I joined with his consciousness, he was advised that his first seven year cycle was impending. His symptoms were not totally Vulcan, which was to be expected and I advised him of the singular choice before him. The consequences of not finding a wife or as such is called on Vulcan, a bondmate, were so severe that he took the steps necessary to procure a mate.
The one individual within his sphere of contact there in Nairobi was Nyota Uhura, who had been his student, and teacher's assistant, but at that time was on temporary leave from the Academy. They had formed a friendship during the time she served as his teacher's assistant and she agreed to enter into that relationship with Osu Spock. Prior to the bonding I searched both of their minds and am able to testify with certainty that there had been no inappropriate behavior or fraternization prior to this event. While you have your rulings against fraternization here at the Academy, premarital joinings are against Vulcan law because of our view of family and that every offspring needs to be brought into a family arrangement. Baring sickness or accident, every child on Vulcan lives in a home that has two parents. I personally performed the marriage bonding.
T'Penn now presented a question to the group.
"Gentlemen what things are necessary for a Terran's continued life?"
Random voices responded,
"Food." "Water." "Oxygen."
With what frequency is food necessary?
One of the males answered,
"Usually, and this depends on the persons health, weight and surroundings, the maximum of forty days can elapse without food before death ensues.
Another addressed the need for water,
"The maximum number of days that an individual can survive without water is seven although five seems to be closer to the experience of most. Other factors to consider is the persons health and surrounding temperatures."
The final answer was,
"Irreparable damage to the brain occurs after four minutes without oxygen.
T'Penn then spoke,
"A Vulcan does need these things also, but is able to survive longer periods of time than a Terran. An example being, because of the location of our heart, our entire chest cavity houses our lungs which are larger than a Terrans thus we take in more oxygen but require less because of certain conservation factors built into our body's systems we are capable of using stored oxygen to prolong life. We can go without food for around two earth moon cycles. The reason for this is that we can slow down our metabolism and can enter a trance that allows us to capitalize on all reserves. If injured, we can will our body into a healing trace that will direct all energies to the healing process which speeds up recovery from sickness or injury. It was by use of this Nyota Uhura's parents were saved from certain death."
Now I will reveal to you the major reason for Osu Spock's action, which some of you might have deemed reckless. Simply said, once a male's cycle begins he must have a bondmate to join with him or he will die. So for a Vulcan male, for his continued existence the procuring of a bondmate is as necessary as food, water and oxygen.
The room was silent until there was a polite knock on the door and after permission to enter was granted two graceful figures, clothed in Vulcan robes entered, Spock nodded and Nyota went to T'Penn's side and was then joined there by Spock. The silence continued. The proverbial, 'you could hear a pin drop' had application at this point.