10. Challenging T'Pau

As they spoke, the Vulcans among them heard the sound of bells and marching. Spock looked past T'Pring and Stonn.

"T'Pau is approaching," he said solemnly.

"Indeed," Stonn intoned.

Kirk looked at McCoy with questioning eyes. McCoy shrugged. "Vulcans. They have superior hearing, too. Must be the pointy ears."

"Spock?" came a muffled voice. "I can't breathe with you holding me like this."

Spock looked down and realized he was still clutching Christine to his chest. He relaxed his arms, but held her steady enough to prevent her from pitching backward as she gulped down the thin air. "Oh! I think I feel dizzy…"

McCoy dug in his bag. "Hang on to her Spock," he said. "She needs a triox injection. The air's thinner here and you're suffocating her." Her step forward and japed her arm.

"I apologize Christine," Spock said. "I would never intentionally hurt you. Or anyone, really. But especially you. You are…very special to me. I—"

"Enough of the sweetalking, lover boy," McCoy said. "You need to focus on what you will tell T'Pau. Chris, come over here and sit down. Have some water. You too, Jim, you're looking very, ah, pink."

Christine and Kirk sat down together on a nearby stone partly shaded from the sun. McCoy knelt in front of them. "Jim, I'd like to give you a triox injection, too. It'll compensate for the thinner air here.

Kirk waved him off. "I'm fine Bones. But I will have that water and sunscreen."

Spock tore his gaze from Christine and tried to focus on T'Pring. "We need to prepare a logical argument for T'Pau. Perhaps appeal to her own history balancing logic with emotion."

Stonn nodded. "Yes, but like many elderly, she grows more conservative with age. She has even spoken to my parents about my books…she feels they are illogically fanciful and deal with too many unlikely situations."

"Escapism," T'Pring chimed in. "She does not approve of activities that divert and rely upon imagination."

"I can understand T'Pau's initial reaction," Spock said thoughtfully. "But studies show that stimulating the imagination can help create and expand neural pathways that in turn activate more of the intellectual sections of the brain."

McCoy walked over to join them. "All of you need to focus on T'Pau, not Stonn's books," he scolded. "Are all of you going through the Time?"

The three looked at one another. "It is possible," T'Pring answered. "Stonn began showing symptoms a month ago and I a fortnight ago. Apparently it triggered for Spock as your ship came closer to Earth."

"This means you may be the most logical one among us, McCoy," Stonn said and almost smiled.

By then, the Humans could hear the bells and marching. "T'Pau?" McCoy asked.

Spock nodded. "Logically, yes."

"Smartass." McCoy shook his head and looked back at Jim and Christine. Christine waved. "We're OK," she called.

McCoy turned back to face a trembling Spock. He noticed his hands were fisted. "Easy, boy," he said. "She was just telling me that she and the Captain are fine. She wasn't waving to me."

Spock relaxed his hands and put them behind him. "My apologies, Doctor. I find I am becoming most…anxious."

The bells and marching became louder still. McCoy put his hands over his ears. "Must she make such a racket?" he groused.

The group turned to see a caravan coming toward them, led by a couple of priestesses with bells and a group of drummers. Behind them were four men carrying a sedan chair, followed by about six extremely large Vulcans armed with weapons similar to those in Spock's quarters.

Christine almost shivered. "Are you alright?" Kirk asked.

She nodded. "It's those medieval-looking weapons," she said absently. "Spock keeps a pair hanging near his bed."

Kirk absorbed this information for later reference. The nurse didn't report directly to Spock, he knew, and he and Spock had discussed adjusting the reporting chain to have the doctor report to him, the captain, instead of to Spock. Now he could see why Spock said this was logical.

The music (if one could call it that) finally stopped and T'Pau's caravan touched down. She rose from it gracefully enough for a 200-plus year old woman, Spock thought.

He went over to escort her to a throne-like chair the bell-bearers were carrying out for her. Once she was seated, he stepped back and gave her the Vulcan hand salute, the talaal. She returned his salute.

The bell-bearers now brought out a large gong.

T'Pring approached slowly. "I request permission to speak, T'Sai." (1)

T'Pau looked at her and shook her head ever so slightly.

Spock slowly walked over to the gong and picked up a mallet that lay in front of it. He struck the gong once and replaced the mallet.

T'Pau looked at him. "The gong requires two strikes," she said. "Thee should know this, Spock."

Spock clasped his hands and walked over to her. "I must speak with you, T'Sai," he said quietly.

"Art thou in fever?" T'Pau asked.

Spock nodded. "Yes, but it is tempered by my Human half. I am in possession of my senses."

"Do thee burn?"

"I do, but I control it when she who I desire is near." He indicated to the group of Humans who stood with Stonn several steps away in the shade.

T'Pau glanced at the group. Then she looked over past Spock to T'Pring. "I see thy chosen mate does not join thee. Has there been an offense?"

"No, T'Sai, no offense is taken when none is intended. T'Pring and I prefer other mates."

"Thee do not wish to join?"

"No, T'Sai."

T'Pau looked at T'Pring and beckoned her over. T'Pring quickly walked over, her heart hammering against her side. She yearned to look back at Stonn but did not dare.

"Thee do not wish to join with Spock?"

"No, T'Sai, I do not."

"Has Spock caused thee offense?"

"No…" T'Pring hesitated.

"Speak!" T'Pau commanded.

T'Pring turned to Spock. She took a barely perceptible deep breath.

"Spock," she began, "we were joined at a young age. We saw one another rarely. When you left for Terra, you did not consult with me; you merely informed me you were leaving.

"I was young. Your actions offended me. I felt that by leaving, you were stating you wanted nothing from T'Khasi. (2) I did not know what to do, so I shut you out."

Spock lowered his eyes. "I regret causing you pain. My actions were that of an immature youth. I thought only of myself. I apologize."

"I accept your apology."

"So it is settled!" T'Pau declared.

"No!" Spock and T'Pring said at the said time. T'Pau's eyes widened. "The two of you…do not wish to be joined?"

"No, T'Sai," Spock answered.

"T'Pring? Thee wish to release thy mate?"

"I do, T'Sai."

"This is highly illogical. It is unprecedented. Spock, a true Vuhlkansu (3) would fight for his mate, would he not?"

"Only if he desired his mate," Spock answered. "I desire another."

"I do, too," T'Pring added.

"Silence, girl!" T'Pau commanded. "Or thee will end up nothing, alone, shunned."

"Never!" someone shouted. "She will never be alone!"

T'Pau's eyes widened again. She looked in the direction from where the call came and spotted Stonn. "Is that the novelist?" she asked.

"It is Stonn," T'Pring replied. She still felt shaky but relieved that Stonn had taken some of T'Pau's attention off her.

Stonn marched over to the group. "T'Pring shall never be alone as long as I am alive," he stated.

"Is that so?" T'Pau asked. "She has been bonded to another since her seventh year. Tradition dictates this can only be broken with a challenge to her mate."

"But I do not wish to mate with her," Spock spoke up. "I desire another."

"Which is illogical," T'Pau stated. "Stonn, you must challenge Spock—"

"I decline a challenge," Spock interrupted. T'Pau fixed him with a stare.

"Forgive me, T'Sai, but it is illogical to require two to bond who do not desire one another."

A silence descended over the group. In the distance, a le-matya howled.

"You tell me the bond is illogical?" T'Pau asked.

"Yes, T'Sai, in this instance it is."

"Explain."

"Where is the logic in bonding two who desire other mates? Where is the logic in needless bloodshed to force this?"

T'Pring stepped forward. "T'Sai, if I may. During the time Spock has been away from T'Khasi, he has become quite a legend. I do not wish to become consort to a legend. Stonn wants me and I want Stonn.

If Stonn were to fight Spock, he would likely die. And Spock would still not want me. I still would not want Spock. Spock would be gone and I would be left with property and a name that is useless to me."

"If Spock were to die at Stonn's hand, there would be no heir to his father's house. His brother has been cast aside. There would be a long gap until another heir were produced for the House of Surak."

"More likely, Spock would kill Stonn and Vulcan would be deprived of one of its greatest writers."

T'Pau sniffed. "That is an illogical and emotional opinion, T'Pring. Thee should be ashamed—"

"Shame is an illogical emotion. Love, however, is the most logical one there is. I love Stonn and he loves me. Keeping us apart is what is illogical. Forcing Spock and I to bond is, thankfully, impossible as well as illogical."

"How so?"

"We both refuse. Unless you were to commit kae'at k'lasa, (4) it cannot happen. As that is a crime for which you and your followers were falsely accused of committing in your youth. I cannot believe you would commit this most serious offence for the sake of upholding an illogical tradition that serves no purpose."

T'Pau stood up. "Thee are a most irresponsible young female," she huffed at T'Pring. "And thee," she turned to Spock, "are thou a real Vuhlkansu or not?"

Spock stiffened. "I burn, T'Pau," he said. "I burn. But I will not kill to stop the burning. I know how to control it as long as I must. If one must descend into the madness that plagued our ancestors, then I am not a real Vulcan and nor do I wish to be one. I am proud of my heritage—both parts of it.

"The blood of my mother gives me control few Vulcans cannot, do not, have. I shall not, and shall never, dishonor my mother's heritage—nor that of my father."

He lifted his hand once more. "Live long and prosper, T'Pau. I plan to do just that." He turned to T'Pring and Stonn. "Live long and prosper." They silently returned his salute.

Spock turned, and stiffly walked off toward the group of Humans—his crewmates, his fellow officers, his friends.

Stonn wordlessly saluted T'Pau, took T'Pring by the arm, and led her away.

Kirk looked at his First Officer. "Is everything settled, Mr. Spock?"

"Yes, Captain, it is."

Kirk pulled out his communicator. "Four to beam up, Scotty."

T'Pau watched them shimmer away. She turned to her gaping Vulcan attendants. "What are thou looking at? Take me home!"

Stonn and T'Pring slowly walked down Mt. Selaya and back home.

"How would you write this, Stonn?" T'Pring asked.

Stonn paused. "I was just thinking about this. I would have written you to choose Kirk as your champion in kal'i'fee." (5)

"Kirk? He knows nothing of our customs."

"That would not concern T'Pau. She would find a way to compel him."

"So where is the logic in killing Kirk?"

"That would not happen. McCoy would intervene before Spock could kill Kirk—if he could actually do so. Did you observe McCoy giving the female Human a triox injection?"

"Yes."

"I have a feeling the good doctor would have an antidote to triox in his little black bag. I would write thus: McCoy would insist that Kirk needed triox to compensate for the air and make it a fair fight. Instead, he would inject an antidote, causing Kirk to pass out. He would then declare Kirk dead, and the fight would be over."

"And I would belong to Spock!"

"Only temporarily. Spock does not want you. If he were to kill his Captain, he would turn himself over to Starfleet. He would never return to Vulcan. You would have his name and his property, and me. I would still be there."

They walked on in silence. "T'Pring? What do you think of my story?" Stonn asked.

"I think you should write it just to knock the old starok (6) off her sedan chair!"

(1) Honorific for a high-ranking female

(2) Vulcan planet

(3) Member of the Vulcan race

(4) Mind-rape

(5) Challenge over a mate to battle until one participant is killed

(6) Bat