James T Kirk: The Next Generation
Don't Open too Many Doors
Deep in a forested area he stood on a tightly woven futon, which more or less, resembled a blanket. The early morning sky was only just barely showing the signs of daylight in the far distance. The futon was soft on bare feet, keeping them safe from the harshness of the ground beneath it. In his youth, standing on a blanket during his morning meditation was not necessary. But, as he was nearing one hundred and fifty years in age, Hikaru Sulu thought it best to take such precautions.
Scotty on the other hand, who sat on a nearby log as he ate some exquisitely prepared pancakes and syrup made for him by S'vath's wife Amanda, wore a pair of comfortable moccasins that were a gift on his birthday many years earlier by Leonard McCoy. Scotty watched his good friend Sulu slowly try to sit down on the blanket. Due to Sulu's age, the old codger couldn't just sit down and get up like some spring legged chicken; it took planning and time.
"Yuh need some help o'va there?" Scotty asked, with his Scottish accent in full tilt. "I wudd'na want yuh to crack a bone."
"No, I do not need your assistance. The exercise can yield its own reward." Sulu said.
"I can always take yuh back home to Chiisai. I'm pretty sure Demora isn't too happy with yuh buzzin' about the galaxy again."
"No, I do not yet wish to return to Chiisai," Sulu said, after a moment's thought. "I am very well aware of the fact that this could be my last venture into the unknown. I favor the chance to spend that time with you, Mister Spock, and the young people we have met so far. I feel alive again," Sulu said. "And I want to keep feeling alive longer."
"I'll rememba' that when they thread rubber bands threw yuh bones to keep them upright," Scotty said with a slight laugh.
Finally, with his rear end on the blanket, Sulu began his deep breathing exercises. He also noticed Scotty eating the pancakes. "I thought Dr. McCoy warned you about eating those cursed things."
Scotty swallowed a mouth of pancakes before continuing.
"Lad, me mum lived to be a hundred and ten, and she ate'em everyday," Scotty said, with pride in his voice. Besides," Scotty added, "Amanda made them with some kind of new flour that can provide the same taste but with only a third of the calories."
Scotty watched as Sulu did his breathing exercises.
"Oh, by the way, I got a message from Miles," Scotty said, as he took out a data-pad from his pocket, "there still be no sign of the capt'n," Scotty reported as he read the pad. "And Miles still wants us both to come to Earth and give some speeches at the academy."
"I do not truly understand; why do we not go try and find the captain?" Sulu asked, as he exhaled a deep breath of air.
Suddenly a third person emerged from the trees.
"As I explained," Spock said, as he unexpectedly came out from the surrounding foliage, wearing his morning robe, and carrying his own blanket. "I believe this new Jim Kirk is not unlike the one we knew before; an unexpected force of nature."
"That sounds kind'a strange com'in from a Vulcan," Scotty said, with a tinge of doubt in his voice.
"Mister Scott," Spock said, as he spread out his own blanket next to Sulu's, "as you well know, I have long since evolved past the belief that logic is the only answer to the universe. There are some aspects to the universe, and Jim Kirk is one of them, that just defy any attempts at explanation."
Sulu breathed in and then breathed out, as he watched Spock sit next to him and did his own Vulcan breathing exercises.
"Spock," Sulu began to say, "If this had been the Kirk who died on Veridian III," Sulu pressed further, "would we be trying to find him?"
"Perhaps," Spock said without any hesitation. "And as to why? Because the Jim Kirk that died no Veridian III was on our plane of existence, this new Kirk is not." Spock explained.
"Spock," Sulu said, "the Kirk who died on Veridian III, Mr. Scott, and this new version of Jim Kirk, all arrived in this time in unconventional ways, and yet you don't consider the new Kirk an equal?"
"Even though the Jim Kirk who died on Veridian III, and our Mister Scott here, arrived in the future by unconventional ways, as you put it, they are the same two people who experienced everything we did up until the point they both disappeared." Spock explained. "This new Jim Kirk never encountered his adult son, or brought two whales into the future to save Earth, or so on and so on. We must avoid hampering this new Jim Kirk from finding the destiny that awaits him. He must be allowed to live his own life, and in a way that only Jim Kirk can."
"Then why did you try to save him in the first place?" Sulu asked.
"He's got'ya there," Scotty added.
"I did not say we would not help this new Jim Kirk, at the most dire of times. I am only saying that we allow this new version of Jim Kirk a chance to solve problems in his own unique way." Spock explained. "It is an intangible conclusion set of priorities, however, I think you both know of what I am speaking of. Consider it our own version of the Prime Directive, however, in this instance, aimed at an individual."
Sulu and Scotty nodded. Jim Kirk, the one who had died on Veridian III, had an uncanny sense of landing on his feet no matter the situation. The new Kirk, who was several years younger, had to be allowed to find that ability as well. The unspoken aspect of Spock's conclusions was very direct as well. The new Jim Kirk would no doubt out live Spock, Sulu and Scotty. It meant there would come a time when Jim Kirk would not have his old generation of friends to rely on; the new Kirk had to be allowed to forge new relations and he had to find his own path to walk.
"By the way," Scotty said to Spock, "have yuh read the reports about that star showing signs of going supernova somewhere near the Neutral zone. According to this news data, it could be very destructive."
"I am indeed monitoring it," Spock replied, as he did some stretching, "In fact," Spock added, "I meant to discuss a topic that I am finding most interesting; Red Matter. What do you know about it?" Spock asked his two friends.
Two miles away from where Spock and the others were discussing the subject of Kirk, S'vath was on the ground, on his stomach, and he was staring at one of the crystals.
The crystals had begun to grow on Trianguli Gamma VI not long after the Vaal mechanism had been deactivated by, of all people, Kirk and Spock, over a hundred years earlier. And due to the unique aspect of the world, and its native population, the Federation ordered the crystals as being unique forms of life, and that they were not to be disturbed in any way.
The crystals were actually growing, and always had. The tallest of the crystals were nearly six feet tall. They radiated with a soft blue glow, and tiny lines inside the crystals, which resembled veins, had been measured by Starfleet scientist over the decades. It was an accurate way to judge a crystal's growth.
But as S'vath was on the ground studying the crystal before him, he found himself trying to solve a new puzzle. At the base of the crystal, and all the crystals that had been studied in the past day, there was a color change to the veins. They were no longer a lighter bluish hue from the rest of the crystal. The new veins, which were very thin, were a dark brown. And, when using his Tricorder to figure out measurements, S'vath was able to approximate when the new colored veins had started to grow. He rechecked his figures, and the results were the same.
The new brown tinted veins were in their second week of growth; which coincided precisely to when Kirk had arrived weeks earlier.
- continued
