DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters are the property of Paramount Studios, Inc and Viacom. The story contents are the creation and property of Djinn and are copyright (c) 2001 by Djinn. This story is Rated G.
Reflections – Fight or Flight
by Djinn
Greetings,
cousin. Your communication was well timed. Your news and thoughts provided a welcome
diversion, as the voyage had been uneventful.
Naturally, the tedium of the trip did not distress me. But I cannot say the same for those I share
this ship with. Well most of
those--Doctor Phlox appears to find the smallest
aspect of life on board this ship intriguing, so I do not believe the lack of
outside contact bothered him in the least.
But my human colleagues became increasingly tense and irritable. Boredom coupled with anticipation, and in
some cases fear, is an unfortunate combination.
But boredom gave way to something else.
That is what I wish to discuss, as I have found my thoughts have been
drawn back to it repeatedly.
A few days ago we came upon a
ship, seemingly adrift in space.
Propulsion, comms, life support, everything
was inoperative. A vulcan ship would have continued on its way. We would not have even stopped to question
our course of action, would have put any curiosity we felt at the sight aside
and resumed our mission.
I told Captain Archer that vulcans do not share the human enthusiasm for
exploration. Or for
foolhardy missions. I know my
colleagues view me as overly negative.
Recently, I overheard two crewmembers discussing me. They used the term "wet blanket." I looked the word up in the database. It means one who quenches or dampens
enthusiasm or pleasure. I have not fully
ascertained if that term applies when the wet blanket is proven right in the
end. I suspect not. Perhaps "voice of reason" might
suffice. An apt term for a vulcan. Reason dictated we should not have inspected
that ship. But we did. And on this ship that we should not have
entered, the Captain found alien bodies hanging from hooks. They were attached to a pump and were being
drained of some fluid. Once we saw this,
reason again dictated that we leave this place before whoever did this returned
to collect the fluid. Our continued
presence could do nothing for the victims and would put us in danger.
The captain listened to
reason. For a while. But as we moved farther from the ship, he
became increasingly tense. I found
myself in the unlikely position of allying myself with our chief engineer,
Commander Tucker, an especially emotional human, in an attempt to divert the
captain from his mood. We were unsuccessful. In fact, I think all we accomplished was to
strengthen the captain's resolve to return to the ship.
Logic was against this
action. Reason dictated staying our
course. Yet we did not, T'Kan. We turned
around and tried to determine what had happened. In the process we were very nearly destroyed
by the murderers' ship. It was a foolish
choice to go back. It made no sense. At the most basic level it was ill conceived.
Yet, it was not the wrong
decision for this ship, for this crew. I
can see you now, cousin, raising that elegant brow I have always envied and
asking me how I arrived at such a faulty conclusion. I will try to explain.
Captain Archer asked me what
I would have done if the ship had been full of dead vulcans. I rejoined that they were not vulcans. But he was
speaking in hypotheticals. I have found myself revisiting this
puzzle. Would a vulcan ship have turned and left fifteen dead vulcans hanging from the ceiling like so many slaughtered
animals? Logic dictates that the needs
of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
The needs of the complement of the
But this is not a vulcan ship. Captain Archer is not a vulcan commander.
His choices are often based on emotions.
I tried to steer him toward logic.
I pointed out that vulcans had a code of
behavior. He said that humans have a
code of behavior as well. He did not say
what it was, but by this latest event I can interpret it as: Humans will take any opportunity to
interfere, to insert themselves into situations in which they do not
belong.
That would certainly be the
rational interpretation. But again, it
would be the wrong one. How do I know
this? I have done something strange, T'Kan. I accessed a
graphic of the corpses as they hung from the ceiling and replaced the faces of
these unknown aliens with vulcans. Not faces I knew, these were random images
generated by the computer in response to my specifications. Then I laid the two graphics side by side and
compared my reactions to the aliens and to my own people. And I found that my reactions were not the
same. In fact, I had an emotional
reaction to the latter. I can no longer
say that I would not have chosen to stay in the way of danger in order to help
my own people. It is not logical but it
is true.
But the humans did not need
to rearrange the faces of the victims to their own countenances. They reacted this way to strangers. Their instinct, their code of behavior, can
perhaps be interpreted more generously then I did before. It can be stated as this: Humans wish to help. It is not a logical code. But perhaps compassion rarely is?
I will still argue with the captain
if this situation repeats. I will
continue to be the voice of reason. That
is my role on this ship as science officer and as a vulcan. But
when he disregards my counsel in the future, when he makes his next foolish
choice, I believe I will know why.
T'Pol out.
FIN