An Excercise Regiment. (Open)

[science_blues]

Spock was unaccustomed to being idle.

Her duties aboard her own Enterprise were difficult and numerous, often occupying the vast majority of her time. She had become acclimated to the constant torrent of work, and the sudden, distinct lack of it was...staggering. Without it, she had devoted her time to the methodical study of the ship, the individual environs, the alternated sections, the various settings, and the informational networks available to her.

As it was, she'd exhausted most reasonable details and, in turn, a vast majority of her patience. Without alternative scientific activities, Spock was left to decide what she wished to do. She had taken copious field notes within the confines of the Mess Hall. She was not in need of food, at current, and her notes were in need of sorting. It would not behoove her to take more, nor to visit that particular environ.

Perhaps exercise would help to clear the impatience that hovered in her veins.

Spock resolved herself to physical activity and left her assigned PADD in her similarly assigned quarters. It was not long before Spock located the gymnasium. Her blues were ineffective as exercise garb, so it was fortunate that spare garments were provided within the allocated dressing area. Properly outfitted, Spock took to the slow, sequential motions of ke-tarya.

Comments

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Spock's response was... interesting, to say the least.

"That's not what I was asking," he assured her gently. "Or rather, I wasn't making any assumptions. I'm trying to make as few as possible, where all this is concerned. I only meant to ask about your general feeling towards, her, because it's of interest to me. As illogical as that might be."

He seemed completely at ease with the concept that this Spock may find him so.

"Like I said, I'm not trying to pry. Just get the lay of the land, as it were. If I wanted to ask if you were romantically entangled... I probably wouldn't have used the word 'like.'"

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"My apologies, I am used to far less precise diction from Humans. I have become accustomed to it," Spock admitted. "My native Captain favors colloquialism far too often for my personal tastes. I will cease to presume that you do so as well."

It would only be sensible to offer him the same courtesy he was affording her.

"On a similar topic, however," Spock continued, unperturbed by her own unnecessary admission, "Why do you believe that you are prying? Is your Spock easily offended by the personal nature of some information? Does he dislike answering direct queries?"

Her own curiosity was tangible, despite herself. She almost wished she had not discarded her PADD in her quarters. A proper interview would have proved most valuable.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim laughed. "Oh, I can be colloquial. I'm just trying harder. As to prying," he ran a hand through his hair, "I'm being careful there, too. I've met... a few different Spocks, now. And I'm well aware of the value Vulcans put on privacy. There was a lot the one I know didn't tell me for a long time. Obviously there may have been contributing factors, but I guess I'm extra aware of making a bad impression by getting too personal. I'm erring maybe against the potential to assume I know you better than I do."

His head tilted slightly.

"Are you saying you have no objection to direct queries of a personal nature?"

Jim certainly didn't.

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"None whatsoever," Spock assured him evenly. "If there were any subject I was hesitant to broach, I would simply indicate so.

"To limit your questioning to only that which, you assume, would not arouse a reaction from me would be...illogical," Spock pointed out slowly. "Given the statistical unlikelihood of this particular meeting, it would be unwise to squander the potential of the opportunity."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim's smile reached its zenith again. "My thoughts exactly," he said. "So, tell me about yourself. What do I need to know about Spock? What do you want to know about me?"

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

Submitting information freely was a different matter, set decidedly apart from the simple asking of questions. What would she supply became what should she supply. Unfortunately she did not have enough information on the alternate Spocks to elaborate upon more than their most obvious genetic difference.

"My name is Spock," Spock prefaced evenly. "I am approximately twenty nine years of age. In my native universe, I am currently serving my second term of duty under a variant of yourself."

He had seemed interested in the topic of Jayna, perhaps rightly so. "I find her to be grating, nuanced, and frequently illogical. However, she is just as frequently a personable officer and I consider her a close acquaintance. Though she has yet to achieve it, she is determined to defeat me at a game of logic before this tour of duty is completed."

Spock cocked her head half a degree to the side. As to what she wished to know? Spock pondered silently and allowed her hands to fall back to her side when she spoke again.

"I desire to know a great deal about you, but for specificity's sake, I will restrain that impulse. I have met one Spock who has served, and continues to serve under Captain Pike. Though I do not know if your Spock served under your native Pike, if indeed there was one, I would like to know how he came to serve under you and your opinions of his service as well as his personality."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim smiled at the description of... Jayna. The name still struck him oddly. And now the knowledge that she, too, had made captain before him.

"Don't restrain yourself on my account," Jim said easily. "But for starters: Spock served under Captain Christopher Pike for over eleven years, before Pike's elevation to fleet captain left a vacancy which I filled. That was in 2265. I found him to be a most excellent Science Officer, but soon recognized his potential for the position and made him my second in command in addition. I have had no complaint with Spock's service or cause to regret my decision. I believe he has the most highly developed mind of any officer I have ever met, and his intelligence, compassion, and thought patterns are both compatible with and augment my own style of command. I value his loyalty as well as the strength of his convictions--even when they bring him in conflict with myself, as they occasionally do. I think, as a command team, we have developed a nearly seamless rapport.

"Personally, I find him... fascinating." He smiled--not mockingly, but in full acknowledgment of his own bias. "I am aware that some have, in the past, found him cold or unfeeling. I do not, though I harbor the conviction that what he calls logic may not be the only path to what he seeks. He's a formidable opponent in games of logic--though I note that I have, on occasion, beaten him at chess. Upon closer acquaintance I find him giving, layered, admirably curious, gentle, humorous and in short one of the best men I have ever known."

He smiled again, his eyes crinkling up with everything he felt and currently missed about his partner.

"But I'm biased."

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"Biased though it may be, your account is most encouraging," Spock admitted, a lightness taking her features.

"Where is your native Spock now, if not aboard this vessel?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

That Spock was encouraged by his biased view was, in itself, encouraging. And made her all the more likable.

"He's on a mission of his own," he said. There was little harm in telling her some of it, at least. "There's a Romulan ship just out of range; Spock thinks he can help those aboard."

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"Fascinating," Spock commented, "and admirable. I am inclined to hope he experiences a fruitful outcome."

"Is he endeavoring toward a specific purpose?" Spock prompted casually.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"As am I," Jim said, smiling slightly at the understatement. "I believe he is attempting to determine the nature of the madness which seems to afflict one of the Romulans, and guide the other towards some measure of stability of his own. I'm afraid I don't know much about Romulan culture or its relationship to Vulcan, but Spock thinks he can be of use. How much has anyone told you about this dimension? Other than the gender thing--and I have questions about that, too--I wonder what's different."

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

Spock processed that information as best she could. They were unstable and one was mad?

"I have been told very little concerning this particular plane of reality," Spock replied. "I have been slowly compiling what I have observed, but the information predominantly relates to minutia.

"If there are any queries you wish to pose me, or any information you wish to supply, I would readily cooperate."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

"I asked, primarily, because I don't know what you know of the Romulan situation," he said. "Or of the past this ship has had with the one called Nero. My own questions--well, it's difficult to know where to begin."

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"The Romulan, Nero is alive in this reality?" Spock's eyebrows lifted in tandem and she blinked at Kirk.

"Please elaborate," Spock requested evenly.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Spock was subtle. This was true in any reality Jim was aware of. It was also true that Jim had spent several years now studying that subtlety.

"He is," Jim said. "The name is known to you." He paused slightly. "I'm sorry."

Condolence was more or less illogical. But that didn't bother Jim at all.

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"You offer condolences," Spock stated curiously. "What has occurred on this plane of reality to merit this automatic response?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim felt his assumptions were pretty well-founded. But then, so was Spock's request for clarification.

"Nero entered this reality from mine," he began. "Causing the death of this Jim Kirk's father, and splitting the timelines, as far as I can tell. He later destroyed most of Starfleet." He paused, then continued, more quietly. "And Vulcan. He was presumed dead after he failed to destroy Earth, but obviously it was erroneous."

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

Spock was silent as she processed this information. The account of this universe, if this Kirk could be accredited with possessing accurate information, differed greatly from that which she knew to be true. Vulcan had been destroyed? Earth had been threatened?

"I understand your urge to deliver condolences," Spock responded as the carded the information away. "But the sentiment should, perhaps, be reserved for those of this plane.

"The losses my reality suffered were...not as numerous." The extinguishing of life could not be deemed more or less than the extinguishing of other life. It was a universal tragedy. However, her reality had not lost Vulcan.

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim's expression cleared. "Good," he said. "I mean, not that he was there at all, but.." It was odd, talking to someone from another reality, when naturally your only frame of reference was your own. Where do you begin?

"So your world," he started again. "Starfleet seems to be a constant, so far, along with the Enterprise. What about the Federation? And, forgive me if I'm ignorant, but from what I know of Vulcan given names, Spock is pretty traditionally male." It had been plaguing his mind, not that he cared, either way.

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"The Federation exists as a peaceful, diplomatic organization of planets. I believe it is similar to that of this particular plane of reality," Spock clarified easily.

"As to my name," Spock continued, "it is a historical reference to one of the earliest societal figures of Vulcan culture. Though the consonant structure is frequently reserved for male denotation, the convention is easily discarded in the face of representative naming."

Spock had never thought her name to be particularly male. Considering how infrequently human officers actually dealt with Vulcans, however, it was unsurprising that it had never come up. Only here, in this reality, where her name was shared among a plethora of male variants, did she actually consider how unusual it was.

It was an interesting conundrum.

"What of your native reality, James Kirk?" Spock prompted. "Is it particularly dissimilar to this one?"

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

That reassured him, somewhat. Naturally, she could be lying about the benevolent nature of the Federation, but it was both unlikely and, Jim thought, pointless.

"Not as much as some," he said. "In fact, it's likely much like yours, in the sense that the Federation is a voluntary, peaceful organization. Starfleet exists primarily for research and discovery, though we are called upon to make and keep the peace--more often than I'd like, but it comes with the territory. There are variations. My Enterprise crew gained its present configuration years after this one did, presumably due to Nero's actions and the destruction of a great deal of the fleet. The ship... well, there are a few differences, but many more similarities. And we all seem to have a pretty similar frame of reference, culturally. It's interesting," he wound up, "the opportunity to witness what one man's actions altered."

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"An interesting supposition, but fundamentally inaccurate," Spock stated with an arch of her eyebrow.

"You presume that your reality is linked more closely to this one then the other alternatives," Spock continued. There was no judgment in her voice, only calm, analytical, consideration. "And thereby that this variant of yourself is variant only because he has selected or been selected by opportunities alternate to your own.

"Is it not more likely that the development of this universe is separate? That the figure of Nero has influenced both my native reality and this one, albeit in separate fashions, is indicative of a nonspecific universal resonance."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim's brow furrowed slightly in thought. Being challenged by Spock felt almost familiar.

"Granted, that fact does alter the supposition," he allowed. "I had been working on the theory that since Nero arrived here from my timeline--a fact which is known based on the testimony of my reality's version of Spock from further along that timeline--via a mechanism of time travel, that there was no alternate universe prior to his incursion. Couldn't this nonspecific universal resonance support the hypothesis that this happened at least twice--once in my case and once in a 'prime' universe relating to your own--and support both readings?"

[science-blues.livejournal.com]

"I have not the statistical data necessary to ascertain the likelihood of such an event," Spock admitted slowly, her eyes drifting briefly from Kirk as she pondered his suggestion.

"That near identical circumstances should force nearly identical events to unfold in four alternate planes of reality is...nothing short of miraculous. Though, I must acquiesce, I cannot discount the concept." Spock's eyes lifted and met the Human's again, her features lilted in a subtly thoughtful way. "It is an interesting suggestion."

[original-fine.livejournal.com]

Jim spread his hands.

"Well, a lot of it is difficult to comprehend, much less explain," he said. "I've visited another world, one in which the Federation was nonexistent and its place taken by a ruthless Terran Empire. The departure from my world was extreme and prolonged, if they had ever been connected at all, but the parallels were astounding. Everyone looked exactly the way my crew did. Bones found the same acid stain on his table. Crew histories and positions were remarkably similar, even though our histories diverged centuries past. I still don't know how to account for our genetic identities--not to mention the table--with the information provided. The fact that each of our parents procreated with the exact same people at the exact same time in both worlds defies any logical explanation I can think of."