Chapter 21
Kirk's days and weeks were full. He was often tired, but enjoyed himself nonetheless. Especially, the nightly walk to the lab. He had not realized how cold it would be, and he often had to jog to stay warm enough. But it was forty minutes of solitude and he cherished every minute. He had not expected to have any emotional problems with it, and it was true that he never considered escape as a live option. Nor did he dread the sessions with Koh. But he so enjoyed the freedom of his time alone, that he climbed the steps to the lab with reluctance each night.
Once inside, he was fine. He actually enjoyed working with Koh. Because of the way he had set it up, they were not adversaries, but part of the same team. Kirk freely shared his emotional responses as well as physical reactions. And he was neither surprised nor angry that Koh used the information to push him to conquer new challenges. Indeed he would have been bored otherwise.
The public obedience trials with Konti were just plain fun. Occasionally he would suggest something new, just to keep things interesting. One evening Konti asked him about it.
"Why do you keep coming up with new ways for me to humiliate you? I think it's disgusting."
"I'm easily bored."
"For that matter, most of a slave's life is boringly repetitious."
"In that case, be as repetitious as you like, and I promise not to complain." He grinned in amusement.
"You actually like doing this! How can you!"
"It's all in the perspective. You see it as torture; I see it as humorous entertainment. A performance, if you will. And I like making people laugh, so yes, I enjoy doing this. Is there anything I can do to make it more enjoyable for you?"
"Kirk!"
xxxx
Two days later Konti took him to the weight room in the basement of his club. The place was deserted, but Kirk assumed it qualified as public, because someone could walk in at any time. He expected to hold Konti's towel, wipe sweat from his face, and count repetitions, while Konti worked out. Instead he was directed to pick up the weights himself. Biting back a protest - slaves do not question instructions - he did as he was told.
For most of an hour, Konti put him through a series of preliminary exercises designed to find out what he could do. To Kirk, it was obvious that Konti was no novice. After awhile, Konti left the room, gesturing for Kirk to continue, which he did.
Konti was no sooner out of sight than three others walked in. They took one look and were highly offended at Kirk's presumptuous use of club equipment. Kirk put the weights down and stood quietly with lowered eyes. The center of some highly vocal outrage, Kirk wondered how fast it would escalate to something more violent than verbal abuse. Into this maelstrom walked Konti. But he did not come to Kirk's rescue by taking responsibility for Kirk's actions. Instead he merely agreed that Kirk's presumption should be punished. They agreed to wait while Kirk fetched the whip from the flitter.
Kirk dropped to hands and knees while they each administered five lashes. Konti's were last and seemed extra ferocious. Kirk guessed that Konti was angry at himself and the whole situation, and wasn't even aware that he was taking it out on Kirk. And Kirk wouldn't tell him either.
Afterwards they went upstairs, and Kirk served Konti a meal. Two hours later they were back in the weight room, which was again deserted. This time Konti worked him for over an hour before they were interrupted. Suddenly Konti turned his back and began fiddling with equipment at the far end of the room. The next moment the room was full of newcomers. Kirk concluded that Konti must have heard them coming.
What followed was a repetition of the earlier scene, except that they doubled the number of lashes, since it was a second offense. Kirk neither moved nor made a sound throughout. One of them remarked on it, since he had participated in the twenty-lash party in the dining room the previous month. Konti replied that he was somewhat better trained now. He must have managed to say it with a straight face, because the answer seemed to satisfy.
Dead silence in the flitter all the way home. Once inside, Konti dropped into a chair and put his face in his hands. Kirk sat on the floor in front of him.
"Konti, you are troubled. Please talk to me. How can I help you?"
"You want to help me?! You should hate me! I despise myself!" He looked bleakly at Kirk, and spoke more quietly, but no less intensely. "Why aren't you angry?"
"Konti, your problem is that you are beginning to think of me as an equal. You're right, if you had done that to an equal, it would have been very dishonorable. But I am not your equal. I am your slave, to do with as you please. You can do me no wrong. By definition, whatever you do to me is right because you are the master. In this context, honor and dishonor have no meaning."
"You really believe that? Then why have you treated me with honor since the first day we met?"
"Just because you can do me no wrong is no reason I should wrong you."
He grinned briefly, then became serious again.
"Maybe it would help if I explain why I put these public obedience sessions in the plan I proposed to Koh. It's very important that this city view me as a slave. If they see me as a military prisoner, then the only place for me is a prison cell. Slave status gives me a place in your home. I'll do as many sessions like this afternoon as you can come up with, if it secures for me the right to spend time with you here."
"You don't think I engineered that on purpose, do you?!"
"No, I didn't really. But it worked beautifully. They'll be talking about it for a week at least. But tell me, what's with the weight lifting? What is your objective?"
"I thought if you looked a little less like a weakling, I wouldn't mind so much beating you up, slapping you silly, and whipping you every time I turn around. Don't get me wrong, I know you're not a weakling - I've seen what you can do. But you look like one, so I wanted to put some muscle on those shoulders. But it won't work. We'll never get the weight room alone consistently. And they're right; I'd never get official permission for you to use the place."
"Talk to Koh. If he can get it classified as torture," he grinned, "and that shouldn't be too hard, maybe he can include it in his experiments. Worth a try, anyway."
Three nights later, weight workouts were added to Koh's arsenal. Thereafter Kirk spent hours of grueling work with the weights. Wryly amused with himself, he questioned, Why did I get myself into this? The answer contained no humor. Because Konti wants it. Avoidance of work or pain is no part of my purpose. I am here to serve the Lord by being a friend to Konti, and to Koh, and any others the Lord sends me.
xxxx
The observers' panel had been aboard the Enterprise for two months. Sullivan called a briefing to discuss their findings. Gliff shared first.
"I was put on this panel for one reason. You wanted to know how they would treat a social outcast. I'm here to tell you, I've never been treated with so much respect in all my life. And it's not because they're ignorant. They know what I am. But it doesn't matter. And I don't think it's because I'm on this panel either. The top brass knows, Spock and Uhura and them, but some of the guys I meet on the Rec Deck have no idea what I'm doing here. The only ridicule I've heard was from a new guy. Several others came up to me afterwards and apologized. They said he wasn't a Christian yet, and didn't know how to behave."
"Thank you, Gliff. Lila, what have you got?"
"Well, first of all, I haven't been able to uncover any hint of gender-based discrimination. Secondly, I have found no evidence that Christians are treated any different than non-Christians, either better or worse. And get this: the non-Christians are far more emphatic in their insistence that there's no discrimination going on. As for a conspiracy, there's zero evidence on that too. And I've looked hard; it just isn't there."
"Thank you. Sam?"
"I've spent a lot of time on the Bridge being eyes for Spock. So most of my observation has been of the senior officers. In my opinion they have thoroughly accepted Young as their Captain. They like him, respect him, and treat him as one of them. They have made no attempt to convert him to Christianity. The subject is seldom even mentioned on the Bridge."
"And Chuck?"
"I'm here because you want the nuances, the undercurrents, the things that aren't obvious. So first, let me say that I don't disagree with what's been said, as far as it goes. One thing that's very subtle is that Spock knows something about Young that he's not telling. Furthermore the five of them know that Spock knows something; they're not asking what it is; they just follow his lead. In short, they trust Young because Spock does, without having to know why.
"Secondly, while there's no discrimination, persecution, exclusiveness, or any of that, it's not true that they're powerless. They're so confident, open, and free with themselves, precisely because they know what they have. They know what they can do, and they're not worried about the opposition. I've seen some examples of that power, and it's real. The healings are spectacular and definitely powerful. But it's more than that.
"To begin with, I thought it was just Kirk. Then I discovered Spock has it too. And I've seen it at work in bunches of others too, though perhaps not quite as strongly. It's the attitude of 'Give to the max; there's no such thing as too much.' What I haven't quite figured out is how they can keep giving and giving, and never run out. But it's that giving attitude that disarms the opposition.
"You wanted Kirk off the ship, so the Christian movement would die out. And if its foundation was in Kirk, it would have collapsed. But it's not. Christianity is alive and well, and still growing. In my opinion, the more you try to stifle it, the faster it will spread."
"And what about the concerns Pierce referred to in the courtroom?"
Sam replied, "I can find no supportable evidence for the idea that Christianity is exclusive. Yes, they believe that theirs is the only right way. But they don't exclude anybody who disagrees. They'll talk theology if you want to, but they don't try to force their ideas down your throat. They'll pray for you if you let them, but they accept you as a person even if you say 'no'."
"I'm afraid I'd have to agree," Lila admitted. "And I can't find any evidence of rebellion against the authority of Starfleet either. There's no record of any instance of someone objecting to orders based on a religious conviction. I looked at all the files, especially where I could find a non-Christian superior. I turned up absolutely nothing."
"Okay, we're here for another month anyway. Do you need more time?"
"I don't think any more time will change my conclusions."
They each voiced similar sentiments.
"All right. Thank you all. I'll file my report and let you know."
xxxx
Sullivan met privately with Young.
"I have to file my report within a day or two. What progress do you have for me?"
"Spock knows who I am - he learned it in the mindmeld. But he hasn't told anyone else, and the knowledge has not turned him against me. They have let me into their personal lives as a friend, as well as accepted me on the Bridge. There has been little opportunity to test how I would fit in with that famous rapport they use in crises."
"And what about the Christian question?"
"They've seldom mentioned it, and no one has tried to convert me. Even when my eyes were healed, they didn't jump on it and ask me about becoming a Christian. Nobody said, 'You owe it to God, because He healed you.' I don't even think they thought it. I suppose they're waiting for me to make the first move, but they don't seem to be in any hurry about it."
"All right. Anything else?"
"They said I'd be here for twelve months. Since Kirk was taken by the Klingons, there's no reason to wait twelve months to replace him. Spock thinks he's still alive, but that seems unlikely. Any idea what Command plans to do?"
"No, but don't be too sure they won't wait the twelve months. They'll continue to try to give the Enterprise light duty, but no guarantees that you won't have to handle anything critical. They assured me you could really be Captain of this vessel. Were they wrong?"
"No, I can handle it. And it's easier now that I've stopped trying to appear incompetent. Once Spock told me he knew, it seemed pointless. No, my concern is for Nona and Gisa. This existence is so confining for them. But they will manage."