Over next few days the alien sensation returned to Spock. Sometimes as a gentle tickle in the back of his mind, others it was an insistent piercing signal that shook his attention from the world and forced his focus within.
Each time it became harder and harder to return his attention to his studies.
The mental contact was exhausting, but the utter consuming nature of the communication was worth the effort.
It was the only moments that he found that completely silenced the sound of his memories and he welcomed every moment of relief.
The summons he received said he should be at the feet of Surak at precisely 1 hour after sunrise. He had deleted the message as he deleted all the messages he received and went on about his studies.
His day was spent in meditation and study, as all his days were spent. On this morning he contemplated the tone.
It was not a sound of anything he had ever heard before Vulcan, but somehow he felt as if it knew him, it wanted him. It was calling out to the universe and receiving no answer.
It appeared that he was the only one who had achieved the stillness to hear it.
He listened in complete stillness. His inner clock told him it was time to go. The masters had summoned him.
As he moved to rise from the stone the sound came, it reverberated through him like a vibration on the wind. It seemed to come from the sun itself. He raised his eyes in disbelief, immediately brushing away the emotional responses that often came with not comprehending something. It was enough that it existed.
He glanced at the space between the great feet of the monument to Surak. T'Lar stood waiting with two masters.
It was time.
He moved with measured steps, pushing his curiosity to the back of his mind. What was this strange pure tone? Why did it call to him as it did?
He approached the trio of Vulcan masters. T'Lar held the Kolinahr'an Whyun, the mark of a master.
There was no flutter in his heart, it was not appropriate. He had worked for two years to reach this point, a place of utter peace.
As he raised his eyes to T'Lar the sound came again, this time it seemed to rise up with the mineral scent of the geysers around them.
The masters did not appear to hear it.
Perhaps it was not the sound of the sun or the sand or the rising mist. Perhaps it was the sound of peace. The sound of complete and utter emotional emptiness. Perhaps it was the music of the Masters.
The tone wavered for a moment and changed. It was stronger now, closer.
Yes, now that he was closer to his goal he could hear it.
He raised his hand in greeting.
"Our ancestors cast out the animal passions here on these sands. Our race was saved by the attainment of the Kolinahr."
"Kolinahr: through which all emotion is finally shed."
"You have labored long Spock..."
"Now receive from us the symbol of total logic. "
The tone sounded again, but this time it called out words, thoughts.
It was a question.
He could not quite make out the words.
The Kolinahr'an Wyun rustled in the breeze.
He could almost hear the words that called to him.
If only he could close his mind to distraction and focus on it.
If only he could just stop.
He raised a hand unthinking, to stop the distraction. Just for a moment. He had to hear it again.
T'Lar's voice brought him abruptly back to the moment. "Your thoughts...give them to me. Our minds...one and together. This consciousness calling to you from space...it touches your human blood, Spock."
She stepped away.
"You have not achieved Kolinahr." Then there was a loud crashing of sound, too loud for the simple glass tiles that fell before him. The sound of his plans and his hopes crashing down on the temple steps with those simple words.
And then she changed her tone. It was the tone a primary teacher used with a child. Even Sarek had not used this tone with him. "His answer lies elsewhere. It will not be achieved with us. Live long and prosper "
Spock picked up the talisman of stone and chain, ran his fingers over its smooth surface wondering what exactly it was.
Now that he finally held it in his hand it seemed so...insignificant. Vulcan made jewelry almost gaudy in its simplicity.
No, this was not the answer he sought. That much was certain.
And if his answer did not lie here, then there was only one other place he could go.
Back to the stars.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The message was not addressed to Jim Kirk. It was intended for the Federation President.
As Chief of Operations, Jim wasn't even slated to be the first to read the report. His duty was the smooth operation of Starfleet. An over glorified administrative position. He 'broke down barriers' and 'facilitated solutions'.
Since the official announcement of the demise of the Orion syndicate, James Kirk spent the majority of his time wishing he could go home, filing report after report in which he hashed and rehashed other people's work. He had become the epitome of a paper pusher.
But this particular paper - this one was different.
As the President's new golden child he was taking care of the military reports while the President negotiated a trade treaty with the Tellerite ambassador.
It was a military intelligence report from the post monitoring the Klingon Empire.
A massive power source was moving purposefully but blindly through Klingon space.
He read the report once, twice. Keyed up the pictures of the object, blurry from decoding and re transmittal.
He read the scanned data that had been decoded. Not as thorough as a Starfleet scan, but sufficient.
He stared for a long time at the image of the thing. It was incredible, unthinkably large and incomprehensibly powerful. If you believed what the Klingons had to say. He did not.
Not in the beginning.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The next morning Admiral Kirk sat drinking his morning coffee reading the latest Starfleet reports before his daily briefing with the President.
There had been a massive power discharge in the Klingon Empire. An unknown source had disintegrated a Klingon Bird of Prey.
At least that was what the report said. He tended to believe it was a Klingon ploy to distract Starfleet from their shared border. Jim's gut feeling was that the only massive power source was a Klingon invasion force.
But none of the evidence appeared to point in that direction.
By the time they had finished breakfast, however, the President believed it. Jim was a convincing man, when he believed in what he was saying, and the President was convinced.
Convinced that Jim was probably right, but not that the Federation was in any danger. A great believer in Starfleet's might, the President could not be convinced that there was any real danger in the intelligence reports. He smiled to Jim tolerantly and dismissed him for the arrival of the Tellerite ambassador.
There were important things afoot and the President was at the center of a very heated negotiation. Without another thought he turned Jim loose, allowing him to handle the little problem as he saw fit. If Jim thought this was a threat to security and the general operation of Starfleet and the Federation, then he could just keep himself busy and out of the way with the intelligence reports.
Jim simply nodded his acceptance and left.
His next stop - Commodore Nogura's office for a 3-hour meeting that would change the course of Starfleet history.