Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages – Story 1 “Ni
Var”
Author: Claire Gabriel, with an introduction by
Leonard Nimoy
Publication Date: 3/1976
Publisher: Bantam Books
Page Number: 36
Historian’s Note: Sometime after season three of
classic Star Trek but before the first season of the Animated Series. I am
assuming this because the events of “Infinite Vulcan” are never discussed.
Cast of Characters: Captain James T. Kirk Commander
Spock Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
AKA “Bones” Lieutenant
Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”
Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Lieutenant Kyle Nurse Christine Chapel Ensign Pavel Chekov Dr. Albar Exar Dr. Shona The “Twins”
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Starbase
10
Planets: Fornax II
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story begins with the Enterprise being diverted from their trip to Starbase 10. They are sent to the planet Fornax II where a dying scientist, named Dr. Albar Exar, wants the Enterprise to deliver research an electronic copy of his research to be deposited in the main Starfleet commuter system at Starfleet headquarters. Dr. Exar has requested that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock come down to pick up his research alone. When they arrive Dr. Exar takes a strong interest in Mr. Spock, due to Mr. Spock being a Vulcan/human hybrid. The Doctor even noted on how healthy he is for “a hybrid.”
 |
| Spock is healthy for a "hybrid" |
As a
Fornaxian, Dr. Exar is 7-feet tall, has bright red skin, and a rectangular
shaped head. His wife, Dr. Shona, is a
beautiful Andorian. Spock is shocked to
discover that they have twins, two boys with rectangular heads complete with
Andorian antennae. The reason Spock is
shocked is because the couple was reported to have just one child. Exar claims
that they had just the one, but he pointed out that most hybrids are unhealthy
and his son was no exception. Therefore,
in order to save his son’s life, he created a device using the principles of
the transporter to split him into two separate beings. Despite the two boys looking exactly alike in
physical appearance one is biologically Andorian while the other is
Fornaxian.
Both
Spock and Kirk are appalled. Spock feels
that they have denied their son a chance to be his true self. Kirk is horrified because it brings back
memories of his least favorite adventure, when the transporter split him into
two different people. According to Exar
it was Spock’s write-up of that incident that jump started his research into
splitting hybrids. He only wishes he
could complete his research before he dies.
Kirk is called away to take a communication from Starfleet Command leaving Spock behind to collect the research. However, Exar wants to finish the research and Kirk has left him with his perfect subject. Spock is knocked out with a phaser and an evil experiment is about to begin.
 |
| Poor Spock |
Kirk is notified twice when Spock
returns to the ship, which makes him think Scotty forgot to tell Kyle that the
he already informed the Captain of the First Officer’s arrival. When Kirk first sees Spock after his return,
the First Officer explains to both the Captain and Dr. McCoy that Exar has
fallen into a coma and will soon be dead.
That Spock would just leave the soon-to-be widow and her two children by
themselves, shocks the two other men.
Spock just explains that Andorian women are known to be strong and
efficient in times of crisis and she didn’t need him.
That is
the first sign for the next few weeks Spock seems to be increasing his distance
from the crew. At one point asking the
Captain for the crew to always identify each other by their rank titles at all
times. It as if he lost all emotional connection to the ship and has
recommitted himself to Vulcan philosophy multiple times over. McCoy pointed out that they can’t write Spock
up for “acting like a Vulcan” but he is concerned about Spock ignoring his
physical.
However, in addition to Spock acting super-vulcanish there were also times where the exact opposite was occurring. One example is Mr. Sulu caught Mr. Spock grinning from ear to ear while on duty. It was like the only thing Vulcan about him was the pointed ears. Given what he heard on the planet Fornax II Kirk goes to Spock’s quarters while he knew Spock was on the bridge. When he got there, he was let in by Spock!
 |
| If Spock is smiling something is up! |
This
Spock explains that they were split by the dying mad scientists, and they kept
their situation a secret while they tried to decide what they would do. The two new Spocks, one fully human and the
other fully Vulcan, were not sure they wanted to be reunited. As they have continued separately problems
have emerged. The human Spock cannot control his emotions while the Vulcan
Spock cannot connect with humans. Kirk
is puzzled why either would have such difficulty as humans control their
emotions—just not to the same extent as Vulcans—and Vulcans don’t have a hard
time connecting with humans, heck Spock’s father Sarek married Spock’s human
mother Amanda. The human Spock claims
that both sides of him learned to depend on the other when they were one
being. His human side never had to learn
any type of human control as the Vulcan side had always taken care of
that. Also, it was the human side that
was able to connect to his fellow crew members with him never having to learn
it the same way another Vulcan might. As
a single person this was never a big deal, but split into two separate entities
each feels helpless. The human to such
an extent that he preferred to hide in his quarters and allow the Vulcan to
deal with the outside world even with his new limits. However sometimes it is necessary for him to
act and that is why he was on the bridge.
Kirk promises to keep his secret
while the Spocks work on a device that will help them become on being
again. McCoy becomes suspicious and they
take him into confidence. The device is finished at Starbase Ten, the Spocks
walk in together with the Vulcan’s hand on the human—despite Vulcan’s not
liking physical contact—as they look to be rejoined.
The
rejoining is successful. Kirk and Spock
have now both undergone a very similar experience, although Spock’s may have
been better seeing as neither side was violent.
Although to be fair that may have been due to the separation process
being done intentionally rather than accidentally. Spock lets Kirk know that he is grateful and
the expression comes from the “both of us.”
Additional thoughts: This is the third story that involves a duplicated Spock. The first was James Blish’s poorly named Spock Must Die and the second was the animated series episode “The Infinite Vulcan.” I like Mr. Spock too but I wonder what others see in him that makes them want to duplicate him so often. One Spock is nice they say but why can’t we have two?
 |
| Is two better than one? |
Of the
three stories however this on is by far the best. It is the story I thought I was getting when
I first read Spock Must Die. Spock’s
dual nature of being half Vulcan/ half human is explored by separating the
two. It is interesting that Spock’s
human half chose to hide in his quarters for as much as he could reflects
Spock’s desire to be seen for his Vulcan traits. We first saw this in “Journey to Babel” and I
wrote about it here. Therefore, when split in two the decision is made to have
the Vulcan be the one to represent the person upfront, it makes for a minimum
change.
I love how this story ties directly into “The Enemy Within.” It has some direct consequences, someone learning about what happened and trying to duplicate it. It was really nice touch to have Spock’s own scientific paper that he wrote about the incident be used as the basis for the antagonist’s study. In addition, we also see how the incident effected Captain Kirk in the long-term. Even mentioning the incident creates pain. His other self robbed McCoy, attempted to rape Yeoman Rand, and almost killed an entire away team. One point the book misses however is Kirk’s perception of events. The author discusses how the memory causes him pain but I always wondered exactly how does he remember it? Does he have dual perception of the events?
 |
| Kirk's nightmare! |
I did think it was odd that once Kirk figured out Spock’s situation that they didn’t involve Dr. McCoy right away. Considering his relationship with both them he should be trusted not to mention his medical knowledge that could be very useful. Yet McCoy must basically force himself into the fold by threatening Spock to report to his physical. Also shouldn't all the senior staff be made aware, you know in case it matters at one point if they know.
 |
| Spock should want Captain Kirk to be in the know! |
There
was also a strange side quest where the Spock twins had to work together to try
to get Kirk not to go on a landing party on a particular mission they were
assigned. I didn’t understand what this
had to do with the rest of the story as it did not lead to anything. Although
it did contain a cool reference to the episode “Obsession.”
Lastly one
major thing the story lacks is a confrontation with those responsible for doing
this to Mr. Spock. Exar and Shona
greatly violated Mr. Spock’s person and yet this is never mentioned thought the
rest of the story. I understand Exar may have died, but his wife was helping
him and was also responsible for what happened.
I don’t care if she is “the twins” only parent, being a parent doesn’t
give you a right to go conducting involuntary illegal experiments on others. Also, I would have liked Spock to talk about
what has happened as a violation of his person.
With Kirk it had been an accident.
Should it be canon: Yes, I really like this story
and I think it fits well with established Star Trek lore, this very easily
could be an episode of the original series. Its inclusion would enhance canon.
Cover Art: The cover is beautiful. You have the Enterprise flying in all its
glory in the bottom center of the image.
Behind it looks like a space station built on an asteroid. Flying above in the opposite direction is an unknown
starship whose design I don’t recognize.
Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment