The Follies of Genius

by Starsinger

Pike learns that Kirk took the VSA Entrance Exam, and passed. Don't own them.

Kirk was asleep when Pike entered the room. Pike was now slowly walking again, thanks to the expert skill of Starfleet's doctors, and he really wanted to talk to Jim. He sat down in the bedside chair and waited out Jim's enforced nap. Jim awoke with a smile for Chris, "Nice to see you, Chris." Pike gave him a long look, "What did I do this time?" Jim asked, nervously.

"You got into the Vulcan Science Academy," Chris stated, it wasn't a question.

Jim shrugged and mumbled, "Wasn't that hard,"

"Jim, there are Vulcans who spend years studying and never make it in, and you did it without half trying?" Chris asked.

"Oh, come on! It started off by asking about Murphy's Law! How hard can a test be if it starts asking about Old Man Murphy?"

"Jim, this means you have thrown every single aptitude test you've ever taken. Why?"

Jim compressed his lips, "Chris, by the time I drove that car off that cliff, I'd graduated from high school. I had even started a few college classes. Then, I got shipped off to Tarsus IV, where I was re-enrolled in a local junior high. I did all the classwork in a few days, and just turned in the homework when it was due. There was a special school there for the gifted and talented, but for some reason, I shied away from it. It didn't feel right, so I played average. You'd never believe that I played dumb." Chris nodded.

"Funny, I was targeted because I was 'average', he never targeted the kids in the school, or the smart ones outside of school. As my science project, right before the famine, I started working on a specific crop that would be resistant to just about any problems that might arise: drought, disease, fungi, you know the usual. When the order came down for us to gather in the square, he'd received the work I'd done on the plants, but didn't realize it was me. I escaped, naturally."

Jim pulled out a flash drive, and plugged it into his PADD before handing it to Pike, "Did he ever find out?" Pike asked.

"Yes, he also realized that I'd survived the massacre. That's one of the reasons he targeted me. He wanted to make sure I never finished my work. It would erase in justification he might have had for what he did."

"Jim, what are you going to do with this?" Chris asked.

"Sarek has agreed to take it back to Vulcan and put it out there under their auspices. My name will never be mentioned. God forbid that it's known that I'm a Tarsus IV survivor. I don't need the money that the patent would bring."

Pike paused, looking at him, "Tarsus IV could have made you a very bitter person, Jim. Very angry against the universe and what it did to you, and for a while it did. But, during that time, it also made you so focused on making sure what happened there didn't happen elsewhere, that greed lost out to compassion."

Jim chuckled, "I am greedy, Chris. My greed is for knowledge and women, not money or fame. Although, I've been told I'm quite famous now."

"Those blue eyes are going to get you into trouble, son," Pike chuckled.

"Already have," Jim said with a grin. He pressed the nurse's button, "Maybe I can get them to help me into the chair, at least for a little while. I'd like to go out onto the terrace. It's quite beautiful." Pike stood back as the nurses did just that. They admonished Pike to bring him back in if he fell asleep after securely tucking him in with blankets. "Geez, you'd think I was going to fall apart by a good stiff breeze."

Jim was right, Chris decided. Zurich's view was quite beautiful. He looked over at his young friend and found himself agreeing with Komack, Jim did look fragile, even as his health steadily improved. "Jim, you have no idea how frightened I was when I heard you'd been killed."

"Chris, I had two options. First, die when the ship hit the ground along with the rest of my crew and those innocents on the ground, or, second, die in that chamber, and deny both Khan and Marcus their final victory, allowing my crew to survive. I had no idea that Khan would set his ship on a collision course with San Francisco. The needs of the many and all that."

"In the end," Chris said, "they decided that the needs of the many were best served by the needs of the one. THAT is what marks you as one of the greats, Jim. A crew so loyal that would do anything for you." Jim shook his head, "Yes, you made mistakes, we all have. You just have to decide to move on." Jim pulled out his PADD and handed it to Pike. Pike began reading its contents and his eyebrows went up, "Quantum Strings and Their Properties? Theoretical Engineering: How We Can Make Intership Transport a Functional Reality? You wrote those?"

"I submitted them as my Doctoral Theses recently. Not a whole lot to do recently," Jim said with a crooked smile. "Had Scotty look it over and Spock before he left on the Gagarin. They believe they're quite sound."

"Jim, I don't even understand half of this stuff in either paper, and you're showing me the ones in English. Is that Cyrillic?"

"Yeah, that's where I got my original Masters Degrees from, Russia."

"Jim, I'm looking forward to the day when I can call you Dr. Kirk," Chris said with a laugh.