Unclear
"It deeply hurts me to witness the ideological and moral decadence of my hometown. Suk'muzh it is poisoned under the influence of hatred and irrationality. I cannot think about anything else. Is this the correct way to act when progress approaches us? Would have Surak approved this course of action? Is hate justified in the eyes of these individuals?
Balev has spoken once again.
He did not mention by name Ambassador Sarek, but I am certain he was talking about him.
We agree on the fact that his bonding ceremony is setting an example for the galaxy, but I differ in what this means for the Vulcan race.
Ambassador Sarek has brought into the conversation a topic we have avoided for so long. He has forced the entire planet to acknowledge a situation that has been present in the background of the Vulcan social scene for decades. His bonding ceremony has exposed the bigotry and discreet xenophobia that exists among our people, that is often, masked and justified in flawed logic…"
Varith closed the journal.
He was tired and had spent his entire Saturday inside of Velekh's apartment, to clean and search for any hint of his whereabouts.
T'Mirek had gone to solicit Velekh's dental chart.
Detective Wallace told them it would be useful for the investigation to bring personal objects, medical records or electronic devices.
He had searched for Velekh's PADD the whole day, but he didn't find it in the apartment.
He knew that Velekh indeed had one, he used to see him work on the device.
His written logs reflected Velekh's personal takes on different topics, always related to Vulcan society's state, but revealed little about where he could be. Actually, the journals not even mentioned the escapades or were ambiguous about his past life.
Varith never liked to bring back his past life to anyone, not even with T'Mirek. They had shared a lot of experiences during the time they both decided to become V'tosh Ka'tur, while still living on Vulcan.
Their backgrounds were different in contrast with what Velekh had disclosed as his past.
The V'tosh Ka'tur was an old movement, a phenomenon that existed inside Vulcan since the Awakening Time, but was less common from the stiffest and most conservative environments, like Velekh's birthplace.
Where are you? Where did you go? Why?
Detective Drew Wallace had asked when they had seen Velekh for the last time, the answer was easy, a month. But when he asked about when they had known something about him for the last time, the reply was not as a clear and easy to answer as the first question.
He heard his PADD beeping in the kitchen, where he had left it to charge it while searching for anything that could be helpful to localize his friend.
The screen showed him a new message from T'Mirek, a mail, so he sat at the kitchen counter and unlocked the device.
Velekh's dental chart [Received]
From: T'Mirek
Vulcan – English Translate message
Ignore this mail, Varith. I already sent it to Detective Wallace, but I want to save it here for any eventuality.
Velekh's dental chart
Sat, July 10, 7:00 p.m.
He clicked to get back to the main page. He had another mail from a co-worker in regards of the incoming Federation's Day.
[Jul 10] Stonn - I did the deposit on Friday, it'll be effective in three working days…
Deposit receipt
[Jul 10] T'Mirek Velekh's dental chart - Ignore this mail, Varith. I already sent it to Detective…
Velekh's dental chart
[Jul 3] Martin Lowell – The editorial wants to see you, call me…
[Jun 29] Velekh Photos - Good morning, Varith…
[Jun 26] Martin Lowell Good news – IB wants to translate your book…
[Jun 22] Velekh Photos
Federation's Day. pdf
[Jun 17] Martin Lowell – Wyatt wants to talk to you personally. This is her mail…
[Jun 15] Velekh Photos
Federation's day screenshot
[Jun 8] Velekh Photos – Stonn told me to send you the ideas for pamphlets…
Federation's Day sketches
[Jun 1] Velekh Photos – T'Mirek and T'Leia approved the photos, but I would like to know your…
Edited photos
Varith stared at the screen, thinking about dates and Velekh's behavior.
He had been at work for the last time on June 1rst.
He was trying to reconstruct the whole timeline in his head.
That day, they had scheduled the complete activities of the month and the incoming Federation's Day festival. Thus, he had barely interacted with Velekh that day, but he knew he was there.
He opened the last message they exchanged until Velekh went silent.
Photos [Received]
From: Velekh
Good morning, Varith:
I have finished editing the pamphlets for Federation day festival. Let me know if you wish to add a modification.
Download file
Greetings, Velekh.
Mon, Jun 29, 10: 44 p.m.
It was quick, cold and straightforward.
He watched the screen and re-read the short text, but it was obvious that the message contained zero information about his disappearance.
He opened another one, eager for even the tiniest bit of information he could get from Velekh's dry messages.
Photos [Received]
From: Velekh
Good morning, Varith:
Stonn told me to send you the ideas for pamphlets.
Federation's Day
Mon, Jun 8, 10: 44 p.m.
T'Mirek's loud arrival at the apartment was not enough to make him turn to see her.
Varith blinked and the entire message echoed inside his head. Then, a realization came up.
"I bought Terran Italian food. Let's eat," she said handling plates from the dishwasher. "Varith?"
"Good morning," he repeated out loud.
"What? It's fucking 9:30 p.m.…" she quickly replied with a half-smile, that faded away when she noticed Varith's expression.
"He said, 'Good morning'," Varith said.
T'Mirek was too confused to add something.
Varith stayed silent for an entire minute and then, his eyes met her. The Vulcan woman remained quiet, waiting to hear what his friend had to say, because she recognized that look of knowing something in his dark eyes.
Finally, the man said with a cautious tone, "He wrote 'Good morning' and it wasn't morning."
"And?"
"It was not morning… here in San Francisco."
"I don't get it," she laughed nervously.
"Why would you start a message with a 'good morning' if you are going to send it when it's almost midnight."
"Did… Did Velekh send you a message?" Her heart skipped a beat
"No."
"So, what?"
"I believe he was…"
The silence evolved them and T'Mirek's enthusiasm for the Terran food vanished.
"You're acting like when we arrived here. Velekh's clothing, personal belongings and his whole life are here, in San Francisco. I don't have a fucking clue of where is he… But I don't believe that there is some kind of mystery around all of this."
"Observe this. These, are the messages he sent to me," he handled his PADD to her, who reluctantly accepted it and scrolled. "The same hour in two of them, I haven't revisited the other ones, but I—"
"Stop! You need to stop."
"You are not listening to me." His voice trembled as he said that, evident frustration in his tone.
"I did it. I listened to you and Velekh every single time… this is like the imaginary logic extremists thing. You have no idea of how much time I spent hearing about all of this super elaborated conspiracies. I'm done with that. I don't have more energy to deal with you both seeing those bastards, we aren't in Vulcan anymore. It's time to stop thinking about what we left behind. I moved on, and I thought you too, but it's like if Velekh triggered the fact that you haven't. You still behave a lot like when we were studying in Shi'kahr… It's like if in some way, you can't and don't want to move on. There's no mystery to solve, Varith. Velekh needed help, we failed to do something for him. This is a consequence of that," she snapped, her eyes were slightly watery, she was distressed and her emotions were more visible than on a regular basis. "Do you know what Detective Wallace told me today?"
Varith sat, watching his PADD locking and the screen going off.
"Tell me," he said dryly, recovering the composure, still unable to meet her eyes.
"Velekh's credit account has stayed without any movement for over a month. The time he went silent is the exact time no one has acceded. So… he had no money to go anywhere."
"I see."
"You need to see someone. This isn't healthy."
"I am okay," Varith answered.
"You sure about that?" she asked. Her eyes reflected her emotions to the situation so clearly that Varith felt the need to look away. "It worked for me, I don't see logic extremists everywhere anymore. You should really consider talking with someone. Velekh should have done it too."
T'Mirek stood up, walking towards him and hugging him as a sign of comprehension, yet Varith found no comfort in the embrace.
Ⱄ Ⱄ Ⱄ
Sarek adjusted the shiny golden pin in his dark robe because he noticed it was backwards.
Once again, he was trapped in another social gathering, bored and eager to leave soon. He had spoken with individuals whose names had forgotten as soon as they left out of his sight.
He exhaled and eyed his surroundings with discretion.
He was convinced that unknown Vulcan man, who resembled so much the image of his brother Silek, had been following him around the event.
He didn't know who he was, but he believed he saw him in the lobby that morning before leaving and it was now there.
He tried to ignore his presence. Somehow, he felt his dark eyes every time he moved to another place inside the ballroom. For an illogical reason, he stopped walking around because every time he did it, the man appeared to be closer and closer.
He sighed, nervous and restless.
Ambassador Lyra was talking with him about Vulcan.
She was praising the natural beauty of the planet and the unique flavor of the cuisine, but he was more committed to keeping in check the unknown man's position than paying attention to compliments.
Sarek was extremely thirsty.
He drank seven cups of some bitter juice in less than an hour, despite finding flavored drinks as unpalatable, he forced himself to drink it. Because the water had a strong metallic flavor like raw meat, which was disgusting in his opinion. The time only made unbearable the urge of consuming any liquids.
The unknown man following him around stopped him to search for a refill of his beverage.
Ambassador Lyra started to speak about something related to a touristic temple nearby. Meanwhile, Sarek could barely concentrate in the conversation, because he was eyeing the stranger.
The man had relocated and spent the last half hour standing in the drinks' area, looking directly at him without interact with the rest of the attendees.
Stop, he commanded mentally to the man, like if he could hear him.
He was growing impatient, an unpleasant sensation hit him.
The man didn't stop, Sarek saw him slowly taking a drink from the table and sipping the liquid. An action that felt like a mocking gesture, an act of defiance and also an invitation to get close, but Sarek didn't fall for it and remained attached to his place.
Do not, he said to himself.
"Ambassador Sarek?" The bewilderment in Lyra's voice was off-putting in Sarek's ears. "Are you okay?"
He felt confused for a brief moment.
Why would she ask about his state? He was perfect, as always.
Perhaps, a little colder than usual, but he attributed that sensation to the common custom of adjusting to lower temperatures inside buildings, for the comfort of beings not accustomed to desert conditions.
"I am," he replied and the surprise in the woman's face made him realize he was displaying open confusion for her question, so he forced himself to recover the composure.
"You look a bit pale…"
"Excuse me," he said, unsettled and all of a sudden too agitated to stay. His eyes focused discreetly on the Vulcan stranger and whispered to Ambassador Lyra, "I shall leave."
Ⱄ Ⱄ Ⱄ
Detective Drew Wallace had worked in so many cases during his career.
He had switched from homicides and violent murder cases to the missing person's department, in the search for less traumatic visions to evoke at night.
He was currently assigned to, at least, three cases. Although, the image of that young Vulcan and his worried friends was troubling him more that it should.
They have provided everything they could, the woman had brought the missing Vulcan's dental record and belongings, as well as more pictures of the young man.
He stopped in the most recent and examined it carefully.
Velekh seemed to be in some kind of celebration with the two individuals who reported his disappearance. He was looking directly at the camera and resembled almost… happy. His friends assured it was something different about his most recent disappearance. He agreed and wrote a message directed to the coroner, as it was the protocol after a long absence, adding the dental chart, pictures and the few medical records they had.
The sound of his husband, Thomas Wyatt, coming back home drew his attention back to the reality.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"What are you doing here? Kinda early, don't you think?"
Thomas Wyatt was an officer part of the Terran department of the Interplanetary Criminal Police Organization.
Unlike Drew, Thomas had chosen a path full of violent crimes and greatest importance cases often involving high profile criminal groups.
"Yeah, but I wanted to stop by to eat together," he said, staring directly at the screen in the detective's hands. "Are you working?"
"Nah, I'm just reading this stuff. A Vulcan couple reported their friend as missing. The guy's been out there for a month before they decided to tell the police, which is weird if you ask me," Detective Wallace said, putting aside the PADD. "By the way, how's your big case going on? It's all over the news."
"Well, there's a lot to do. It wasn't an accident, but that's not hard to figure out. Places don't suddenly explode with people inside."
"Surely, don't."
"We haven't solved pretty much anything. Saavedra thinks it was an extremist attack. It's was pretty well planned to be made by an amateur. Definitely, the work of a skilled professional, because it's way more elaborated than the Terran Children's Institute attack."
"That's so scary."
"Yeah, but she's right. The whole place was full of that explosive shit, so whoever who did this wanted no survivors left."
"Logic extremists?" Drew queried.
"Saavedra said that, but Denisse and I disagree."
"They attacked the Terran moon's institute not so long ago!" Drew Wallace said, serving food for both of them. "It wouldn't be crazy to think they could be the responsible for this attack."
"Exactly. But the timing seems odd between attacks, and overall, the target," Thomas said, looking at the pictures of the missing Vulcan all over the table. The Vulcan woman was covered in tattoos and her hair was dyed. She was the antithesis of a traditional Vulcan, the man wasn't as changed as her, but there was something inherently different in his facial expression and the youngest one, the missing person, looked like a conflicted child in the search for a comfortable place to belong wearing those human styled clothes. "This is the kind of Vulcans they would target; V'tosh Ka'tur. Vulcans who have chosen a different way of living, not the ones who are close to be like them."
"Do you think they might have an internal problem?"
Saavedra had said something along those lines.
Despite, no proved connection with actual logic extremists, the attack could still be related to them in a way.
The deceased Vulcans may not be active collaborators, most of the attacks were directed to people who were challenging to traditional values and leaving the home world was a mild form of that. Would they kill for something as small as leaving the planet? It was too radical and pointless, even for a logic extremist, but he wasn't sure.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when I was working on murder cases, there was a case that I remember pretty damn well. Some guy killed another, so brutally that we have to identify the body using his medical records. Turned out that they were some sort of gang and there was an internal war for the leadership. So, the other guy just went to straight up kill the competition."
"A good theory, but we haven't found any connection or hint that indicates these guys were related to logic extremists."
"Yet."
"I gotta say the theories out there are pretty mistaken. Internet folks are really into mental gymnastics and conspiranoid theories," Thomas replied, handling a canned soda from the refrigerator.
The public loved to engage in commentary out of boredom. Which was harmless most of the time, but with the rise of the public's preference for misguided speculation by influential individuals with huge fan bases and following, as a form of entertainment, the panic and misinformation could be easily spread among the public.
"Some of them are reasonable. Those bastards are getting more and more public and shameless everyday… Their leader, even gives speeches on public and broadcasts his xenophobic crap to the galaxy to see," Drew said, taking a spoonful of rice. "I don't understand how no one has done anything. The guy has the nerve to mention Councilman's Skon son in one of them. He's part of the Vulcan royalty or something like that."
"Well, it's not that easy. He has been very careful with his public appearances and declarations and no one can 'do something' if you belittle or mock planetary functionaries. So, he can freely critique whatever he wants."
"A lot of people think that he wasn't criticizing. His speech was more like a very 'polite' threat being who he is," added Drew kind of shocked to think how lightly the galaxy was taking an extremist leader's declaration against a public servant.
"Off-worlders think that. It's hard to tell how this is perceived in Vulcan and freedom of speech is a complicated matter ever since," Thomas interjected. "Also, being xenophobic not necessarily makes him a terrorist by extension. He's a bigot for sure, but until this day, no one could prove that he has any direct connection with any attack. He's clean."
Drew took another spoonful of food and added, gesturing Thomas' plate, "Enough talk about space bigots. Let's eat."
Ⱄ Ⱄ Ⱄ
Sarek was restless.
He had slept almost four hours during the last week, and the effects of that were beginning to show.
Sleeping was extremely hard and required an amount of concentration he did not have. He missed Amanda and being back in Vulcan resulted to be even more unsettling than he expected.
He hadn't called her in a while, he had already lost track of when he had sent a message to her that it wasn't just a short reply not longer than a few lines.
Amanda was naturally worried for his safety and Sarek understood her position. Until that moment, he wanted to act unbothered and allow himself the indulgence of dismissing the subject, but Ambassador Jharaah's insights shed a different light on the matter.
The logic extremists and their leader seemed to take offense for being associated with him outside of Vulcan, according to his colleague. He was beginning to think that her assessment was not an alarmist perception or an exaggeration, since the galaxy agreed he was in a compromised position and had become a controversial person for the simple act of getting married.
It was indisputable that the overwhelming and ill-intentioned reaction of the public played a major factor in the logic extremists' disgust towards him.
The media all over the galaxy had added fuel to the fire with all the attention they poured into an event that was hardly relevant in their real lives.
The buzzing sound from an unidentifiable source was drilling his head in waves since he entered his room. After twelve long hours of uninterrupted wakefulness, he got up of bed, determined to find the source.
Buzzzzz…
He closed his eyes, filled with nervousness for no logical reason and focused all his energies on searching for the source of that annoying noise.
The more he tried to spot the source, more scattered and foggy the sound became. It was like being surrounded by it and as if he was standing at the origin
Buzzzzz…
Silence.
It suddenly stopped and then, the buzzing started to increased and sound more and more erratic that Sarek thought for a second that he had a device in his head about to explode.
He evoked all his years in logic to remain calm, his heartbeat started to normalize when the sound returned and, for the first time in hours, it was clear enough to assess that was a real life sound.
The floor, it was on the floor.
He focused all his energies to search for the device and the buzzing returned. It was a phone, his phone, so he turned it on and the screen light felt extremely bright in his eyes.
"Hello?" It was the voice of a young man on the other side of the line. His mind began to race, the voice sounded familiar and juvenile. Perhaps too cheerful for his taste, but he was certain he had heard that voice before. "Ambassador? Ambassador!"
"Mr. Langdon?" Sarek stammered, trying to sharp his hearing sense.
The person on the other side of the line breathed audibly and then, adopted an even more cheerful form of speech, "Oh, it is you! Hello, Ambassador Sarek."
He was cheerful, too much cheerful.
Sarek was sure he never had heard Scott Langdon speak with that amount of enthusiasm. He glanced at the hour displayed in the digital clock on the nightstand next to the bed, the bright green colored numbers revealed it was 3:00 in the morning.
"It is an inappropriate time to call, Mr. Langdon," Sarek said in a soft tone, uncertain when another wave of silence filled the line.
"Certainly it is," he said and hung up, which felt off in Sarek's perspective. Scott Langdon was formal and educated when interacting with him, but he was certain he had never heard him using that phrase, that was something Sarek would say. Also, why he would call him when they were so close to each other? He was literally in the next room.
Sarek stood and walked towards the door, but stopped when he intended to reach for the doorknob and returned back to the bedroom, sitting down in the fluffy circled-shaped rug in front of the bed.
He meditated until the dawn's light entered through the tinted crystal of the window, but no comfort came of such action. Not when he became conscious of the noise of the world moving out there against him.
And it was a terrifying realization.
Ⱄ Ⱄ Ⱄ
Scott didn't expect to find Varek waiting for him in the lobby to take breakfast together or "the first meal" as he called it, but there he was when he exited his assigned room.
"Varek," he said. He almost had a heart attack, because the Vulcan had basically jumped out of the now where. "Good morning."
"Good morning, Mr. Langdon."
"There's no need for such level of formality. Call me Scott," he replied and Varek nodded in agreement.
"Attaching to human social conventions, I extend you an invitation to take the first meal together," the young Vulcan said, gesturing the elevator at the end of the long hall of empty rooms.
"Sounds great."
Surprisingly, that day the schedule indicated only a social event at night. Thus they had free time for leisure.
Getting to know Varek had an odd and kind of unsettling subtext. He was stiff, formal and polite, but his human instincts made him feel like he shouldn't get closer than necessary.
The elevator door slipped, opening into the busy lobby of the hotel.
Varek and Scott moved among the people crowding the place and made their way to the dining area and twenty minutes later they were both seated nearby a floor-to-ceiling window that displayed the exterior landscape.
"Does ever rain in Shi'kahr?" Scott asked, turning to see Varek, noticing his eyes completely attached to the bacon strips in his white plate with a hint of shock under thick layers of seriousness.
"Not as often as on Earth. Vulcan is a planet with deserted environmental conditions," Varek explained, focusing on his on elected meal; cold soup and a small plate of green salad.
"I had never been on Vulcan before. This is my first time," the human admitted cutting into pieces the pancakes in the plate.
"I am aware."
"Have you ever been on Earth, Varek?"
"No, I have not."
"Oh! Hum… well, it's way colder than Vulcan."
"It does not sound very pleasant," he replied.
Once again, he was watching the bacon strips he intended to pick with the fork.
Scott was uncomfortable with the way he was looking at his breakfast, he deeply regretted to elect bacon strips, but was too late.
Varek was giving him a look of the subtlest bewilderment and disgust he ever received. Perhaps, he looked like the barbaric, illogical and uneducated human being Varek probably thought he was from the beginning.
"I am aware that humans still consume meals that include imitation of animal products," Varek said flatly, as if he could hear his thoughts.
"Yeah, we do," he said, lacking of anything else to say in response to that unnerving look.
Varek nodded and took a spoonful of soup.
"We stopped eating real meat way before my parents were even born." As if stating that fact was doing anything in favor of the human kind in the eyes of a Vulcan. Humans were still barbaric in many ways for Vulcan standards. Regardless of working close to Vulcans during a considerable amount of time, Scott never felt like he had to explain his cultural practices until Varek appeared in his life.
"I see."
The silence took over the table.
The noise of the tinkling sound of the cutlery colliding against the plates and the background chatter in the place only remarked the distance between them.
"You are displaying signs of discomfort," Varek assured and Scott almost jumped to hear his voice.
"No, I'm just rambling. Never mind me."
"Do you find my presence distressing?"
Yes, I do, he wanted to say.
"No! Just, I don't know you. That's all."
"You do," Varek said tonelessly and then, added, "I partook on your human customs of socializing. According to my knowledge, that could be categorized in as 'getting to know each other'."
"Technically, but I meant that we don't know personally."
"I disclosed to you my age and birthplace."
"Yes. Hum… I like Shi'kahr's weather," the human said in an attempt to soothe the uncomfortable silence in the table, pretending to be too concentrated on cutting the syrup-soaked pancakes he had chosen as breakfast. "Shi'kahr's a really nice city, don't you think?"
"It is agreeable, yes."
Scott felt the need to flee. Varek was eyeing a man eating a huge piece of meat in a table nearby and he felt grateful to be out of his attention focus.
"You really seem to get along with Ambassador Sarek," Scott commented.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing," he quickly said feeling stupid. "I meant you're adapting very well to the work."
"I am only complying effectively with my work, Scott. As Ambassador Sarek expects us to," he replied and no amount of seriousness could hide the hostility in his wording.
"As I do."
Varek stayed silent and, eyed the whole place with a hint of arrogance and turned his eyes to the human, "I read the official reply you pretend to send to Ambassador Laurie about his request of meeting and I noticed minor errors of redaction and proper use of the English language."
"I'm sure I wrote it correctly," Scott assured, serious. Did he? The seriousness of Varek was making feel doubtful of his performance.
"Natives speakers are not exempt from committing grammatical errors and elemental punctuation mistakes," Varek said matter-of-factly, taking a sip of cold tea, looking absolutely unbothered.
"I know, but I'm pretty sure I wrote the reply correctly," Scott insisted, imitating the Vulcan's gesture and gulping the fruit juice on his glass.
"There is no need to take it personally." Varek straightened his posture, but didn't look defensive. His eyes almost reflected sympathy and Scott took offense from that gesture.
"I'm not taking it personally," the human replied, smirking.
Scott blinked, confused and trying too hard to remember the entire text he had written. He was sure he had written correctly the reply and proofread it a couple of times before send it to Varek.
He saw Varek handling his phone to him, placing it in front of him.
He took it with hesitation and scrolled, reading the text and noticing the highlighted sentences in a bright red color. He stared blankly into the screen, confirming his assessment. There were basic errors in punctuation and grammar, as well, as in structure all over the text.
"I'll work on it. Thanks for letting me know." He turned off the device and extended it to its owner with a subtle smirk in his lips, kind of embarrassed to see what he had written.
"It is no matter," Varek said tonelessly focusing his attention on the food.
Their eyes met.
The human smiled out of discomfort and proceed to slowly eat the entire amount of beacon in a spoonful under Varek's cold scrutiny.
I need to settle a few things before getting into the drama part of this story. This is about to get so messed up for Sarek. I'm sorry for the delayed update, I was re-reading previous chapters to catch errors. Fortunately, I found a few and already fixed them. I'll be constantly editing the story to improve punctuation and grammar, because punctuation doesn't work the same in English as in my native language and I'm still learning.
Thank you so much for reading and stay safe.
Special shout out to tanseynz for leaving a comment :)