Missing
Photos [Received]
From: Velekh
Good morning, Varith:
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Greetings, Velekh.
Varith finished his third cup of lemon tea in the day and re-read the mail again. It was the last one he had received from Velekh after he went into another of his not so unusual escapades. Often, Varith and T'Mirek would be able to predict when Velekh would run away, but not this time.
He was concerned for Velekh's sudden departure without notification in advance.
It was not the first time Velekh had fled away and failed to tell anyone, but it was the longest time, none of them had seen or heard of him. He used to disappear for days when the need for meditation and the doubts were too much to bear.
Life on Earth as a V'tosh Ka'tur was far from easy.
The first few years after leaving the home planet were always difficult, as Terran society had little in common with Vulcan society.
The first few months always felt like a vacation that would end at some point. When the feeling wore off and they realized that they would never see most of the people they had known ever again, that was when the internal conflicts appeared, along with the difficulty of adapting to a completely new world.
Velekh had said to Varith how scared he was for his life since he was not a common V'tosh ka'tur from an average fundamentalist family, but an ex-member of a family of logic extremists supporters. He had been very emphatic that none of them were extremists. However, Varith got the feeling that if he had felt the need to tell him that they were sympathetic to the cause, then they must not have been the most open-minded people.
Varith had been living alone for a while after Velekh felt that his constant inner fight with emotions was an inconvenience for Varith and moved out. He knew that Velekh still felt ashamed of displaying emotions in the presence of other individuals—especially the Vulcans ones—as he was during the first five years after moving to Earth.
That night after work, Varith headed to Velekh's apartment in the center of the city. It was raining heavily, but humans didn't seem to mind the bad weather as much as him. It resembled his first day on Earth so long ago, and the cold sensation he felt once he stepped into the street, brought back a few of the most unpleasant memories of his early days as a Terran resident.
Once he was in the lobby of the apartment building where Velekh lived, he felt that his worries were absurd. The elevator doors opened on floor number six, revealing an empty hallway of flickering fluorescent lights.
Perhaps, he should have brought something, just in case Velekh was hungry. He often spent days meditating without taking a single break to eat or even sleep.
As he exited the elevator, he spotted a human male at the other end of the hallway.
"Good night," the man said once Varith was close enough.
He watched him and responded to the greeting with a wave of his hand. The human replied to that by raising the garbage bag in his hand and he stared at him silently.
He looked at the number on the apartment door and knew who he was.
His name was Robert, the tenant of apartment 34B.
Varith didn't even know his last name, but he was aware that this man was some sort of friend of Velekh's. At least, enough for him to entrust him with the care of his pet, a feline creature named 'Cat'.
"Have you seen Velekh?" Varith queried.
The man seemed to mull it over for a moment and shook his head, holding the bag in both hands.
"No," he answered and asked, "Do you know when he'll be back? Cat misses him."
Robert walked until both were close and turned his eyes to Velekh's apartment before meeting Varith's eyes. "You don't know, right?"
Varith nodded his head and Robert sighed, his eyes full of an indecipherable emotion.
"I haven't gone to check inside his apartment. I don't know if I should," Robert said, as he shrugged. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here."
The human secured his grip on the trash bag and reached into his pants pocket, rummaging around.
Varith watched him as he pulled out a small golden key and then extended his arm, offering it to him. He observed the small metal piece glint and picked it up.
"He gave it to me when, you know, he was out there the first time. I've been keeping it in my pocket since yesterday, but I don't think I'm allowed to go to his apartment if he's not there."
Varith felt confused and tried to think why the human would be reluctant to enter Velekh's apartment despite having been granted permission, but he stayed quiet.
One could tell that it made him very uncomfortable to bring that subject up with a stranger. Velekh was friends with both of them and they both knew about his escapades, but they didn't know each other well enough to talk about personal matters.
"Why did he provide you with the key to his apartment?" Varith queried in a curious, yet serious tone.
"He wanted someone to take care of Cat—just in case—but that's all he said about it." Robert sighed before adding, "Kinda weird 'cause he'd always take Cat with him when he was—you know—gone."
Robert shrugged and started to walk away to get rid of the trash bag in his hand as he intended.
"When did you see him for the last time?" Varith asked, before he could leave.
The human turned to face Varith again, doubtful.
"I don't know… he was not being himself at all these days. I saw him twice," Robert explained, looking sideways, as if he was having trouble remembering that information. "I needed help with my old screen and he gave me a hand with that, but I didn't want to bother him because he was working."
The fluorescent white lamps flickered, making the human even more uncomfortable.
"Would you like a beer? I don't like to stay in the hall for so long. These lights are kinda creepy, but the lessor is cheap as fuck and won't replace them."
Varith saved the key in his pocket and walked toward Robert's apartment. The young human seemed to forget he still had a trash bag in his hand, but he ignored that fact in order to get more information about Velekh's sudden disappearance.
Ten minutes later, he was sitting across a round shaped table in the human's apartment waiting while he got rid of the trash bag.
He glanced around the place. It was similar to his Vulcan friend, but not as clean and collected.
Varith focused his attention on a show that was on the screen. It was a humorous segment that mixed comedy to speak about sensitive topics hosted by a human. Twenty-three years proved to be insufficient to understand the role of the pre-recorded laugh track. The joke remained the same without an audience laughing hysterically.
"…Logic extremists got artsy this week! Shi'kahr awoke covered in pretty passive aggressive art… Well, aggressive aggresive would be more accurate. It looks like they won't be sending Ambassador Sarek a coffee maker as a wedding gift, unless is actually a homemade b…"
The sound of the main door opening brought him back to reality.
"Sorry, it's a mess out there."
"It is no matter."
The human turned off the screen and sat at the table offering him a canned alcoholic drink.
Varith took it and placed it on the table. He found the icy feel of the can's material very unpleasant.
"Do you think that maybe he… I don't know, man. Did he say something to you?"
"No."
"Right, that's why you're here," Robert said, taking a sip of his drink. "I was telling you in the hall… he was scared. I'd never seen a Vulcan scared before, but I think he was. Y'all not like any other Vulcan I've met before and it's hard to read your... emotions. "
Varith watched his reflection on the surface of the can as he thought.
"Did he mention if he was planning to go somewhere?"
"No," Robert replied. "When he fixed my screen he didn't say much. We talked about Cat and he said he was busy."
It had been a waste of time talking to the man. It was obvious that he knew even less about Velekh's disappearance than he did and had gathered no useful information. Except for the fact that he believed Velekh was scared by something, but that was a subjective judgment.
The silence filled the room.
Cat appeared in the small kitchen door frame and Robert looked back to Varith.
"I can take care of Cat. I always wanted a cat, but mom didn't like pets," Robert said.
Varith nodded and thanked him for the drink before leaving.
Ⱄ Ⱄ Ⱄ
"Velekh?"
There was no response, only the echo of his voice in the hallway. The door creaked open and Varith stood in the frame, staring into the void.
Velekh's apartment was immersed in darkness.
He stepped in, turned the lights on while closed the door and glanced around from the doorframe. The place was utterly silent, which meant that Velekh was not there and that was an unusual behavior.
He walked to the living room, appalled by the disaster it was all over the walls. He frowned unconsciously, not so sure what he should start to see first.
The wall was completely covered with pictures of the planet that once was their home, clippings and unrelated texts both in Vulcan and English about places in San Francisco and Vulcan.
"Temples," Varith said to himself.
Temples and luxury places that not the average individual could afford were all over the wall near to the window.
He tried to find the relationship between those places, but could not come up with any possible answer other than to bring him doubts about Velekh's sanity. aside from doubts about Velekh's sanity. Perhaps, he intended to draw such places. Velekh was well versed in that field and, quite often, he would ask him where he could find art supplies.
"The Galaxy Inn will host Plahsjs' fashion show…" he read.
What relevance had a haute couture fashion runway for a man like Velekh?
Varith was sure that Velekh was not interested in fashion. There was no point in concentrating on that detail, as he was inclined to think that the reason Velekh didn't cut out the whole article to post on his wall meant that he was only interested in that particular part of the whole paper.
He took a seat in a chair in the center of the room and imagined a lone Velekh sitting there.
Varith sighed quietly wondering what he would have been thinking surrounded by all that overwhelming amount of information.
The use of paper was an old-fashioned custom. However, considering that Velekh had grown up in a family that held tradition to the letter and had had to learn to write perfectly on paper, he would certainly be the type of person who would still hand write in a journal rather than use a PADD like everyone else.
A journal.
Varith stood up and slowly searched a bookshelf on the other side of the room. It was filled with books and journals cluttered with articles, papers, and more out-of-context clippings.
Rummaging through his personal journals was a violation of Velekh's privacy, which made him uncomfortable, but it was necessary.
He picked up a handful of them and sat down on the floor to read them, after confirming that they were indeed written by Velekh. Those handwritten phrases, neatly and carefully executed in the Vulcan alphabet, could not have been done by anyone else. A quick overview revealed how erratic the writing style had become over time.
"All that I always believed to be absolute truth is nothing more than pure biased opinions of unworthy individuals who perceive themselves as superior. I was told many lies from the day I was born. The galaxy is not at all what I was told. My mother and father have fallen into the trap and sacrificed their lives for a useless and harmful cause. Going to study in the planet's capital, Shi'kahr, has opened my eyes. I have read Surak's teachings in the library of the learning center and learned about the IDIC principle. Nothing I was told is the learning center's copy of Surak's teachings that I borrowed. I was never told about it.
I have doubts.
My whole belief system is shaking the more I read about the outside, the more I learn about others, the more I know about the galaxy."
Varith thought that the decision to become a V'tosh Ka'tur should have been an entirely different experience for Velekh. He shuddered to wonder what he meant when he wrote that his parents had sacrificed their lives.
"Varith has said that I would have to be prepared to leave all my belongings behind.
We are finally going to meet here in Shi'kahr and I am terrified. I have gone to the temple for the last time, this is my last night on Vulcan before I leave forever for a better life where I will not be judged for embracing the emotions and vulnerability that have been with me since the day I was born.
I reluctantly admit that I am emotional about my upcoming departure. I will miss my planet, but not the people I grew up with. They are the reason I am leaving for the rest of my life.
Our way, the Vulcan way, has not admitted our true nature as emotional beings. We look at humans as if we are superior, but we live in hiding an essential trait that has defined us for a long time, which has proven to be detrimental and an extreme denial of Vulcan nature.
I have chosen to no longer participate in this. I will not serve this knowing what I know now."
Varith touched the page, feeling the smooth texture of the black ink on the paper covered in masterfully executed Vulcan script.
"I have finally arrived on Earth. All is uncertain, but I trust Varith's judgment when he said that I would eventually integrate into human society. From now on I will write in English, as the Vulcan language evokes my past and my home planet. It is my desire to detach myself from what I have left behind when I decided to become a V'tosh Ka'tur."
Varith flipped through a few pages, skipping over Velekh's first mundane experiences on Earth, until he stopped just short of a page written in his third month after leaving Vulcan:
"The local temple in the center of town is a gathering place for logic extremists. They pose as harmless residents such as myself, Varith or T'Mirek, but I have spent my entire life surrounded by logic extremists and am able to distinguish them from the common followers of Surak. Their purpose for being on Earth remains unclear to this day, but I am committed to finding the truth. It is no different from the temple in my hometown and I have noticed that not everyone is allowed to enter."
The next page was a messy drawing of an unknown Vulcan man with no further notations.
Varith examined his face and guessed it must be someone Velekh had known or grown up with, because the next page was a highly detailed drawing of a location of Velekh's birthplace.
It was a temple he had mentioned attending during his early life. It was beautifully designed, the details of the facade were done with care and closely resembled the architectural style of the Awakening Time. However, that was a stylistic choice, not even a hundred years had passed since the construction.
"Humans' open display of emotion still feels unsettling for me. I have chosen to stop cutting my hair to honor Surak. I remain a follower of his teachings, but the Vulcans with whom I do not wish to be associated wear it proudly..."
He remembered the day Velekh showed up at work with a poorly executed short haircut for everyone's awe and gave no explanation. Varith had supposed he wanted to fit in. Quite often, Velekh wandered into keeping the traditional bowl cut or shaving his head, until he finally opted to keep it.
He continued to read: "T'Mirek and Varith have invited me to have dinner together to celebrate six months since my arrival to this planet. I have declined, not because I find the celebration unworthy, but because I am experimenting with emotions I do not feel comfortable sharing with them… for now. All I can think of is those children whose lives were taken away today in a successful bomb attack in Terran Moon's institute of languages where kids from different planets attended in order to acquire tools that were going to facilitate their interaction with individuals from other species. An opportunity that was denied to me as a child.
I heard the holovideo in the news before the bomber committed suicide and I think I knew him. I believe I recognized his voice".
Ⱄ Ⱄ Ⱄ
One of Varith's favorite aspects of Terran culture was that you could wander the streets and malls to hang out. He and T'Mirek liked to waste their time looking at things they had no intention of buying or drinking sugary coffee in some pretentiously decorated coffee shop in some mall.
Varith took a sip of his caramel macchiato and looked at the time on his cell phone.
T'Mirek should be here any minute. She had proposed to meet him at the mall for lunch and to walk around the place during the afternoon.
"Did you find where's Velekh?" asked T'Mirek when she arrived at the place, holding a coffee in her hand.
Varith couldn't avoid thinking how human she resembled to his side. T'Mirek had arrived on Earth at the same time, but she had blended more smoothly than him into human society. She was like every other human, but with pointy ears and telepathic abilities.
"No, his neighbor said he does not know."
Varith found himself concealing the information he had read from Velekh's journal last night because he was uncertain what all that really meant.
The journal had tons of still unread pages he needed to examine before jumping into conclusions. He had just learned that Velekh was struggling more than he thought and mentally in an odd place, but nothing was essentially different from the other times he ran away.
"What do you think? It's been a month. He never took a whole month away and he was always in his apartment when you went after him. Except that time when he got lost," she said.
Varith didn't know what he should think about it.
The probability that Velekh might have committed suicide came to his mind and he felt horrified. He just acknowledged that Velekh lived in a paranoid alert state where he was constantly seeing logic extremists around him.
No one wasn't certain if Velekh had seen them in a temple that Varith never cared to personally visit himself. However, Varith noticed how he had slowly fallen into a void of loneliness and said nothing to not force him to speak about something he didn't want to.
Perhaps, he should have spoken with him.
"I do not know," Varith said with doubt permeating his voice. "I think he is still adapting to Earth."
"Uhm."
"Is there something you want to say?"
"No, I'm just rambling," T'Mirek admitted with a half-smile in her face. She looked at the temple and then, her eyes came back to Varith's to add, "Things are slowly changing. I thought we would be dead when something actually began to change in Vulcan. I never believed I would hear that someone from the most Vulcan family of Surak's followers on the whole planet would marry a human. A human. We all know how low our people rate humans as potential mates. That means something."
"Vulcans taking human mates is not a novelty."
It wasn't. Varith had seen a countless number of Vulcans engaging in romantic relationships with humans in his twenty-three years on Earth. Therefore, T'Mirek's enthusiasm was unexpected.
"Do you think I don't know that? I know. A lot of the people we helped to leave Vulcan are here or out there because of that. I get it, but… Ambassador Sarek's still an ambassador after that. He didn't lose his position, he wasn't publicly disowned and he wasn't kicked out of Vulcan. So, in some way, the elders that kicked us from our own planet had to shut the fuck up and I'm living for it!" she replied, laughing loudly and Varith couldn't believe she was the same person with whom he escaped Vulcan two decades before.
She often remarked how Vulcan she used to be. Swearing was something they both probably never thought T'Mirek would do.
"Those extremist bastards must be bursting with logical rage for sure. I'd love to be there to see Balev's face when he found out the Councilman's son just did exactly what he and his bunch of enraged Surak's fanboys hate. He spent years and years saying how Surak-honoring that family was and, oh, surprise! I guess he's gonna have to get rid of the altar—which he surely has—dedicated to Councilman Skon."
Varith was not as amused as she was. For sure, logic extremists were more than displeased with the ambassador, and they had already shown that they were not above taking action against things—and people—that caused them discontent.
The attack on that Terran school on the moon was an example of that.
That wedding could only mean that things were about to get really ugly for his compatriot and the naive Mrs. Grayson. Varith felt sorry for her, because he was sure Amanda Grayson had no idea what she had done in the eyes of the bigots.
"I'm surprised too, but I don't think he... What's the earthly expression, "will come clean" out of this whole situation. He's taken sides, and I'm sure the logic extremists are not pleased. Being who he is."
That news had been as shocking to the Terran public as it was to the Vulcan one. Not in the same way, but both agreed that it was something that disrupted the order of things.
Humans were morbidly curious about the situation. Varith understood it, because he knew that his people had always kept away from other species and it was rare that one of them—moreover, someone from among the most conservative and traditional social circles on the planet—had made such a radical decision.
Most of the articles on the news were rude speculations of a personal nature, but they hardly crossed over into the realm of bigotry. Contrary to all odds, Vulcan voices were more adamant about expressing outright xenophobic and supremacist views. Of course, they did so in a much more refined and polite manner than the few xenophobic Terrans. Therefore, many people on Earth played it down, believing that it was just a minor disagreement.
"I know," she replied. "I think this is a step forward for all of us, don't you think?"
Varith settled back in his chair and twisted his mouth. To him it seemed more like the prelude to a catastrophe.
"I am not sure. It is premature to draw conclusions."
The truth was that no one seemed to have cared much about commenting on Logic Extremists until the Ambassador's wedding. He, T'Mirek and other expatriate Vulcans had spent years trying to bring some light to that issue, but no one had really cared. Extremists were rarely talked about and often, they were justified for being who they were.
"I'm not saying this is going to magically end all hatred and bigotry," T'Mirek countered. "That's ridiculous, but we can't deny that this whole wedding thing has made a lot of people aware of the outrageous things Balev's cult members say and recognize that they are extremists."
The place Velekh spoke of in his journal was so close to them that he could see the building from the third floor window in the mall. He had passed the time watching that place through the window before T'Mirek's arrival. His mind was filled with lots of unanswered questions he didn't even know how to formulate.
The building was surrounded by an extensive amount of concrete. He never found that details as odd, but Velekh's notes about logic extremists there brought a new light to that design decision. It seemed like they wanted little to do with native citizens and locals as much as possible to avoid their illogical way of living.
He sighed.
That was pure speculation. He was not certain that any of it was true, and he was inclined to believe that neither was Velekh .
"Have you ever been to the local temple, T'Mirek?"
"The building that is just behind us? No, I do not need to meditate anymore to keep my emotions in check," she replied, gesturing to the place and sipping her cold coffee. "What does that have to do with Velekh?"
"Nothing. I was just curious. It's been a long time since I visited one."
"If you wanna go, not today, please. I don't think they'll like my 'logically bitching' T-shirt."
Varith exchanged looks with her and nodded. He didn't have any intention to walk into a building full of Vulcans who would disprove his existence.
"I think Velekh will come back. Don't worry. You said he was sending the work from wherever he is, don't you?" T'Mirek said in a conciliatory tone, as if trying to make him feel that things were less worrisome than they really were. "He just recently stopped. I think that he's resting a little bit. I don't think this is different from the other ones, Varith. You're acting like a worried Vulcan dad without the threats of disowning, of course."
He sipped his drink.
T'Mirek had a point. Velekh was like the little brother he never had. He resembled so scared upon his arrival and teaching him the ways of the Earth was like telling himself he had left Vulcan for good.
The deafening sound after a deep grayish cloud of smoke coming out of the Vulcan temple at the distance attracted everyone's attention. In less than a minute, all the people were looking through the enormous crystal clear floor-to-ceiling windows, astonished and appalled to witness the smoke rising without saying a single word. The temple was not close enough to feel threatened by collateral damages, but was visible from the position.
"What the hell was that?"
T'Mirek's shock-filled voice wasn't enough to make him react. He felt incapable of moving from his place, he blinked to recover composure and slowly turned his eyes to his friend, adding in a shaky voice, "I do not know."
The crowd was silent for a few minutes, exchanging looks of confusion and surprise as the smoke ascended into the sky. Soon, the initial shock wore off and the nervous chatter of half-voiced speculation filled the venue.
Varith felt T'Mirek's hand wrap around his arm and drag him to the exit. He saw himself walking along T'Mirek, but his head was far away from that place.
Could it be that it was true and there were extremists on Earth? Why would they bomb that place? Where was Velekh then?