A Day In Spock's Life
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek in any way, Paramount does. This story is rated PG-13 for some mild language.
Spock awoke as always at exactly 5:00 AM Ship’s Time. Immediately he was completely conscious, and wasted no time in getting dressed in his normal blue uniform and walking to the dining room.
As Spock sat down at his usual table, he found himself wondering about humans. It was 5:04, a time late enough that everyone should have been already in the dining room if they wanted to be at their posts by 5:28. But, it was most likely that the majority of the humans aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise were still asleep, and would not wake for at least another 21.542 minutes. He did not understand it. The humans had set the rule that stated each person was to rise at 5:00 Ship’s Time, yet they did not follow their own rule. It was highly illogical.
As Spock began to gingerly eat the strange Earth food called “pancakes”, the silence was overwhelming. He could hear the sound of his own breathing, which Spock was not used to, even though his ears had a higher capacity for doing such a thing. Humans did not value silence for the logical thing that it was, as Vulcans did.
Instinctively, Spock let his mind blank and focused on the soft sound of his own breathing. Soon not only the room was silent - Spock had joined the silence which gathered around him like a flock of birds eager to be fed.
He was now part of the traditional Vulcan meditation which he had studied for many years. Spock remembered when he was a young child and this meditation had been part of his schooling, part of Kya’shin, the teaching of logic over emotions. Hopefully when Spock reached the customary age he would receive the Kohlinar, the certificate of complete logic.
In just thinking this, Spock felt a small wave of excitement travel up his throat. Immediately he punished himself. He would not sink that low. It was against the teachings of Surak.
Spock remembered the chant he had been taught while being schooled, a basic asset of Kya’shin. I am in control of my emotions, Spock began to mentally repeat, I am in control of my emotions. At once, he felt the shield of logic fall over him, and ceased the chant. It was time to eat. Only 16.78886 minutes were left until he was due on the bridge.
“Hey, you green-blooded hobgoblin!” A voice called from beyond the depths of the silence Spock was engulfed in. He looked up at the sound of the wavy human voice. It was the doctor. He had a fascinating habit of calling Spock odd things that were not his name or his position. Yet another illogical aspect of human life.
“Hello, Doctor.” Spock greeted the man. The Doctor, Mr. McCoy, was grinning, a curious movement of the mouth that, when moved to create various shapes, displayed a number of Terran emotions.
“I see you’re finally trying flapjacks. ”said the Doctor, setting his replicator tray down next to Spock’s.
This was odd; Spock had thought that the Doctor disliked him. Obviously he had to study human emotions more.
“I believe they are called ‘Pancakes’, doctor.” He corrected, raising an eyebrow. Humans were fascinating creatures.
Doctor McCoy did not respond, as he was now hungrily attacking the Earth food, something quite nauseating to watch. Spock concentrated on the meditation until his captain arrived.
If Captain Kirk disliked Spock as the doctor supposedly did, he did not vocalize this. The captain was also human, yet illogically he was a person that Spock was considered to look up to. Perhaps it was easy for Spock to get used to the idea of having an emotional human as a captain because Spock himself was half-human.
At the mere thought of this, Spock would have gone rigid had he not still been chanting. Being half human was not something he usually talked about. Spock himself knew that if he were capable of possessing human emotions, the only thing he would feel for his human mother would be hatred.
It was 5:21. Time to report to the bridge. Slowly, Spock picked up his tray and began walking, calculating the distance to the nearest star traveling at Warp 7 as he went.
*************************
Science Officer Mr. Spock stood at his post aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. The time was 6:36 AM, and the Vulcan was not tired, though he had risen at 5:00 as usual that morning, and gone to bed at 11:30 the night before.
“How’s it going, Spock?” The Captain asked, walking over to him.
How’s it going. A Terran greeting of Earth origin, meaning approximately the same as ‘How are you’, Spock remembered.
“I am well,” Spock replied, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Unfortunately, it seems that we will not be able to reach Kalri IV for 4.26779 hours as the nuclear power being held in the quadrant - “
“Spare me the lecture, Spock.” He replied, “It’s 6:30. Time to be in bed, not to be lectured on nuclear physics.”
Spock raised an eyebrow. Technically he had not been lecturing - only explaining to the Captain why they would be delayed. He pondered asking why humans had this strange need to repel knowledge, but concluded that the Captain was in what humans called a “bad mood” because of his lack of rest, and thought better of it.
His eyes again flew to the screen, but there was nothing new there. He did note, however, that the Enterprise had rotated about .3944 meters, and this gave Spock a slightly different view of the stars. He began calculating the distance to the nearest one when Lieutenant Uhura interrupted him.
“Just look at the stars! They’re so beautiful...... just think, Spock, of how far away we are from anything, out here among the stars......”
Spock again raised his eyebrow. Beauty was a term not commonly used among Vulcans, but he knew from experience that human females used it quite commonly to describe any number of things. He glanced again, quickly, at the stars, but was unable to find any beauty there.
“Lieutenant, beauty is a human concept. I am unable to understand your meaning.”
Uhura laughed, though Spock could find no humour in what he had just said. Many humans found comicalness in the strangest things and places. Spock had a very hard time understanding them.
“Spock,” The Captain said, and Spock turned,”When did you say we would reach Kalri IV again?”
“4.2779 hours, Captain,” Spock responded, wondering why he was being asked to repeat this information.
Captain Kirk nodded. “Report back here in four hours - you’re off duty until then.”
“Four hours and 16 minutes, captain,”He responded, and Captain Kirk nodded.
Spock would have questioned the captain’s motive for doing this, but again decided that this was not a good idea. He might as well meditate before beaming down to Kalri IV to study the plant life.
While walking to his quarters, Spock contemplated Kalri IV. He knew that it was a small, primitive planet with few inhabitants, but harbored many rare types of plants. These were what the U.S.S. Enterprise was there for, to examine the plants and see if there were any that had not yet been recorded. He knew that Kalri IV was the second youngest planet in a galaxy consisting of only five planets, each numerically labeled.
Spock lost his train of thought as he reached his quarters, and the grey door whooshed open in front of him.
His room was plain, almost exactly the same as it had looked when he had moved in. Spock did not see why the other crew members cluttered up their rooms up with decidedly useless disarray.
He sat down on the small, Federation-standard chair near his bed and began to meditate.
************************
Again, Spock felt the silence surrounding him, even though now there was little silence. He heard some security guards talking in the hallway, and a yeoman expressing one of the harsher human emotions. Anger, he believed it was called. After a brief period they quieted, leaving meditation an easy path for Spock to take. He felt his breathing become steady and controlled, and emptied his mind of useless thoughts. The only thing that Spock was still aware of, as he sat there, still, was the time. He had only 3.2984 hours until he had to report to the transporter room to beam down. Finally, he pushed even that thought from his mind, and had to no longer concentrate on the quiet.
He was unaware of how long he sat there, but periodically stopped to calculate the time. When he had only .09114 hours left, Spock stood up, shaking away the secrecy of Vulcan meditation.
He quickly made his way to the Transporter Room in the five minutes that he had allowed himself, where he quietly waited for the Captain and the Doctor. It was, he thought, illogical that the Doctor constantly accompany them. If there was need for a doctor, he or the Captain could contact Mr. Scott and tell him that one of the medical personnel was needed.
Spock’s thoughts were interrupted by both the Captain and the Doctor rushing into the room.
“Sorry I’m late, Spock,” The Captain said, “Bones here was just showing me a new disease he seems to have found in one of the Ensigns.”
“He’ll live,” The Doctor said in his odd, droning voice. “Jim, the flapjacks this morning weren’t up to Federation Standard. I’m going to enter my grandmother’s own recipe into the replicator if that’s all right with you.”
“Ah, but ye can’t,”Mr. Scott, the Chief Engineer, said,” The main relicators na’ working. I’ll try t’ fix it while ye three are on Kalri IV, but it may na’ be up an’ running until tomorrow.”
If Spock had to choose one word to describe these three men, he thought, it would most definetely not be logical. They were already late in beaming down to the planet, and the Doctor had chosen a very irrelevant subject matter. Pancakes had nothing to do with Kalri IV’s vegetation and ecology.
“Captain, it has been already 1.279 minutes since you arrived. I suggest that we beam down immediately.”
“You’re right, Spock.” The Captain said, a smile on his face, which was very similar to a grin, “Let’s go.”
It was odd that the Captain was feeling happiness. If anything, he should have been feeling seriousness at realizing his mistake.
Spock stepped into the transporter directly after the captain. It was a matter of rank, the Captain had explained. He did not quite understand why rank affected such small things as stepping into a transporter, but Spock had realized that this was a human ship. He would follow the rules no matter how irrational they happened to be. He suspected that this was a matter of honor, and honor meant more to Vulcans than it did to Klingons, although they would never admit this.
Spock felt the familiar sensation of beaming, and the next thing he knew he was on the surface of Kalri IV. It looked just like the pictures he had seen while researching - very dry, with little plants. The temperature was at medium heat, very similar to Earth, the main planet of humans.
In the distance, Spock saw a glimpse of green. He made his way towards it.
“Where are you going, Spock?” The Captain asked.
“I believe I see a large section of the planet which is made up of nucleated multicellular organisms containing chlorophyll and which have rigid cell walls.”
“He means he sees a forest,” The Doctor said grumpily,”Speak English, Spock!”
Spock rose an eyebrow, confused.”Doctor, I was, in fact, speaking English.”
The Doctor shook his head, and said, very softly, “Didn’t sound like English to me!”
Spock made no comment as he was unsure if the Doctor had been speaking to him, but did continue making his way towards the “forest”, as the Doctor had called it. He wondered if, perhaps, they would discover a specimen which had never been seen before.
***************************
Spock made his way slowly into the forest, the Doctor and the Captain following closely behind him. He recognized most of the plants which he encountered, but stopped at a small, flowering plant about 10 centimeters high. Spock ran his tricorder by it, but the only knowledge that he was able to gather from that was that it was, in fact, alive. Just like every other living plant he had encountered in his life.
“Captain, I believe that I have come across a new species of Erythronium.” Spock said, inspecting the plant.
The Doctor looked up from scanning the surface of a rock nearby. ”You mean White Beauty? Those small white things we’ve got on Earth?”
Here it was again, the word beauty. Spock examined the plant closer, and saw that the small, white petals did slightly resemble stars. Perhaps these humans weren’t as illogical as he had suspected. This thought was whisked away from his mind, though, when the Doctor began to ramble on about pancakes again.
Spock did not comment and finished recording the information he had found into a PADD, as the Captain tiredly scanned a few random plants, then took out his communicator. “Scotty, three to beam up.”
Spock raised an eyebrow. “Captain, there may be more unknown plants in the area. I would not recommend that we beam up until .47 hours.”
The Captain just sighed. ”Spock, it’s 10:30 in the morning! (A/N - Funny... as I am writing this it’s 10:30 in the morning...) Do you know how late I stayed up last night?”
Spock’s eyebrow rose further. “I am aware that you were awake until approximately 11:58, as I was helping you recreate the nuclear tension of the antimatter section of the engines.”
“See? I’m tired. ”The Captain looked almost smug, for a reason that Spock could not comprehend.
“I still do not apprehend the reason for your tiredness.” He said. 11:58 was, for a Vulcan, a very reasonable time to begin resting.
The Captain sighed again, and Spock could say nothing more, as Mr. Scott was in the process of beaming them up.
“Find anything?” Mr. Scott asked, leaning on the Transporter, once they had beamed up, of course.
“Spock found a new species of something,”The Captain said, his shoulders slouching.
“White Beauty,”The Doctor put in,”That’s one of my favorite flowers.”
“Did someone say White Beauty? The flower?” Lieutenant Uhura asked, stepping into the Transporter Room.
Spock raised an eyebrow. “Yes, in fact. The Doctor and Mr. Scott were just conversing about it.”
The Lieutenant laughed. ”Come on, Spock, why would I be asking that if I hadn’t heard Dr. McCoy talking about it?”
Spock thought about that, and concluded that the statement was not based in logic. He found no reason to ask something if he already knew the answer. Obviously, humans were not quite as reasonable as he had thought earlier.
“Uhura, did you taste the pancakes this morning?” The Doctor asked, very “worked up”, as humans called it.
Spock found that his presence was no longer needed, and went to the Bridge to catalog the data he had just found.
*********************
Approximately 1.9882 hours later, Spock found himself on the Bridge, doing absolutely nothing, which was quite disturbing for him. Spock had found out earlier that he did not fancy doing nothing, and it created an odd sense in him that he could not explain. He had, early on, created a remedy for this, which was to calculate the exact speed of the Enterprise, or the distance to every star or planet nearby. Unfortunately, he had already done each of these, and had found the distance from the Enterprise to planet Vulcan (A/N - I would just say Vulcan here, but while reading it over it sounded kind of confusing). Spock stood at his post, hands clasped behind his back, while facing the realization that there was absolutely nothing to do.
Ensign Chekov sighed in his chair. “Keptin, vith this new computer nawigation, I hawe nothing to do! And it’s not ewen time for lunch yet!”
Had Spock been human he would have started right then. This was amazing - the Ensign was experiencing exactly what Spock himself was. The only thing different was that the Ensign was hungry , and Spock knew that he would not need to eat anything for another .93224 hours.
Also, he suspected that Ensign Chekov had not yet calculated the speed of the Enterprise.
Spock heard the loud sound of the turbolift doors gliding open, and heard the Doctor speaking with the Captain. He was busy thinking about his lack of things to do and, even with his highly sensitive Vulcan ears, did not catch what they were saying.
He turned, wondering what the Doctor was there for. He did have an illogical habit of coming tothe Bridge when he had no reason to at all. Spock watched the Doctor explain something to the Captain in a hoarse whisper that Spock normally would have been able to hear. He considered asking the Doctor to check his ears, but thought that it might not be a good idea. The Doctor did have a strange unliking to his ears.
Then, abruptly, the Doctor turned away from the Captain, and grinned. “Everybody,” He announced, “We’re having a party!”
A party. Spock had never been to a party before, as it was a Terran custom. He did not relish the idea, but a party might be welcome if he still had nothing to do at the time. Spock raised an eyebrow at all of the excited faces on the bridge - he did not understand what was so intriguing
about a party. Perhaps he really was missing out on something here.
“When will this party be?” Lieutenant Uhura asked, smiling,” I hope it’s soon. The Enterprise hasn’t had a party in years!”
“I was thinking today,”The Doctor said.
“Today?” Ensign Chekov asked in disbelief,” But, doctor, ve don’t hawe any time!”
“I was thinking,” The Doctor said,” Since none of you seem to be doing anything anyway, we could get ready now, and have the party tonight.”
“It’s a good idea, Bones,” The Captain said,”And you’re right - no one is doing anything.” He stood up. “Spock, I leave the Bridge under your command. I’m going to go help set up.”
The Captain said, walking to the turbolift. The others on the Bridge followed his example, until Spock was the only one left. He sat down in the Captain's chair, and prepared himself for a long day.
***********************
Spock had been sitting in the Captain’s chair for exactly .93224 hours, meaning that it was about 1:25 in the afternoon. And it was also the time that, each day, Spock became hungry for lunch. The only problem was that he was the only person on the Bridge. If he left, the Ship would become vulnerable to attack. Well, more vulnerable that it was already. Spock would have to talk to Captain Kirk, and tell him to come to the Bridge while he ate.
There were problems with this, though. He could not leave the Bridge, for reasons already stated. This problem would be easily solved - Spock would merely intercom (A/N - is that the right word? I’m not sure...) the Captain and tell him that he must come to the Bridge.
Spock paused for a second. Which room would the Captain be in? He was not familiar with partied, and had no idea which room they would choose for it to be in. Logically, it would be in one of the recreational rooms. He punched in the button for Recreation Room 1.
“Captain? This is First Officer Spock. ”He said, but there was no reply.
He pressed “Recreation Room 2” , and repeated his message. Again, there was no answer. Spock urged himself to think logically, and then came up with an answer.
“Computer,” He said, “State the location of Captain James T. Kirk.”
“Captain James T. Kirk is currently located in Recreation Room 7.” The Computer’s mechanical voice answered.
Spock would have commed(A/N - I have no idea if I am using the right words here! Please tell me if I am not) the Captain right then, but was lost in thought. Starfleet computers were, in some ways, smarter than Vulcans. They had the ability to observe the entire starship, and could locate any person or object in seconds. Although many Vulcans were completely logical, they could not do this. Spock wondered if it was possible to be able to do this. It seemed illogical, so he turned back to the comm, and hit the button for Recreation Room 7. Immediately he heard voices.
“I told ye earlier, the replicator’s na workin’!” Came Engineer Scott’s voice.
“What’s a party without food? First we can’t have pancakes, then we can’t even have food at a party!” This was the Doctor’s voice, of course. “Listen, Scotty - we need that replicator!”
“I’ll have it in four days.” Came the Engineer’s muffled reply.
“Is the Captain there?” Spock asked, then instantly disapproved of saying it. He already knew the answer to that question, and he shivered slightly as he realized that was acting like a human! Maybe it wasn’t such a logical idea after all to spend so much time around them.
“Spock?” Came the Captain’s voice.
“Captain, please report to the Bridge immediately.”
Suddenly there was ‘worry’ in the Captain’s voice, a fairly common human emotion. “What happened? Klingons? Romulans? Damn! I knew I shouldn’t have left the Bridge!”
“Actually, Captain......” Spock said, “I am hungry.”
“You’re hungry.” The Captain said, almost amused. Spock wondered why.
“Yes.” Spock replied, and he heard the Captain sighing.
“All right, Spock, but don’t take too long eating.”
“Captain, I assure you that I will be back in 14.673 minutes.” Spock replied, wondering at the odd actions of his captain. He would never understand humans.
In approximately 1.2874 minutes, the Captain reached the Bridge, and Spock headed to the mess hall.
****************************************
Spock reached the mess hall in 2.17 minutes, and once he was there raised an eyebrow. The mess hall was empty. He supposed that the humans were too busy readying for the party to eat, which was exceptionally illogical. Or, perhaps, they had already eaten, but Spock doubted that. The tables were extremely clean, and there was no mess anywhere. Unless the humans had abruptly decided to be neater, the remaining members of the Enterprise’s crew had not yet eaten.
Spock could find no reason why the humans would do such a thing, and was still pondering it while he walked towards the replicator.
“Replicator, a standard sized cup of Plomik soup, and a plate of Fori-kol, please.” Spock said.
The replicator made an odd grinding noise, not unlike the sound that computers usually made when malfunctioning, and immediately Spock remembered that the replicator had broken.
“Plomik soup is not in the database,” The replicator responded, sounding very mechanical and grainy. ”Fori-kol is also not in the database.”
Perhaps Spock could partially fix the replicator. After all, if something was not done about it soon, the ship’s crew would have no food. This could become a disaster, as humans became hungry long before Vulcans.
Spock searched the replicator for an identification number, then turned to a nearby computer.
“Computer, locate the main database number for replicator 10783.”
“Database number 4962832.” The computer responded. Again, Spock envied this ability of the computer’s. If Vulcans could be anything like this, Starfleet would have no use for the computers.
“Request permission to enter database 4962832.” Spock stated, not really thinking about the replicator. Maybe if all Vulcans trained in Starfleet, they could learn how to do this.
“Permission granted.” Spock raised an eyebrow. It was illogical for access to main computer databases to be as simple as this. Any hijackers aboard the vessel could easily break into the starship’s main security system.
Soon thousands of binary numbers were filling the computer’s small screen, and Spock recognized this as the replicator code. It was a pattern of twenty-three numbers repeating without any breaks, meaning that the code was empty. The replicator recognized the names of no foods.
“Reset replicator code.” Spock commanded the computer.
“Code resetting.” The computer assured him, yet Spock had an irrational sense that something was going to go wrong.
And he was right. As soon as the computer uttered those last two words, the replicator made a loud crunching sound and emitted three high-pitched beeps. Some sort of fire, possible made of the Cadmium and Oxygen that were in the replicator (A/N - I know, I know... Cadmium and Oxygen don’t usually explode when mixed together.... just pretend this is one of the rare occurrences when they do).
“Your food is ready. Thank you for your order.” The replicator said, and Spock blinked, as he had not recalled the replicator ever saying that before. Obviously he had done something wrong - possibly the outcome of resetting the database while the replicator was processing food had some sort of dangerous chemical reaction to the replicator.
Suddenly Spock realized what the replicator had said - ‘Your food is ready’. It was illogical that the replicator would still work after the database had been reset. Possibly he had underestimated the replicator’s power. He looked into it, and, had he been human, would have been amazed. Sitting in the replicator was meatloaf. Spock blinked.
Obviously the method he had used was faulty. Spock made a mental note to tell the Chief Engineer of the problem, then headed back to the bridge. His 14.673 minutes were up.
Once he was there, Spock found the Captain sitting comfortably in his chair.
“Oh, hello, Spock.” He said, “How did lunch go?”
“I found it quite fascinating. ”Spock replied.
“I won’t ask. ”The Captain said, laughing. “Look, Spock, you can go take a break. I’ll stay here on the Bridge. Preparing for that party’s got me worn out.”
“Captain, I would prefer to stay.” Spock protested, or at least the nearest Vulcans can get to protesting. It was, after all, a very emotional activity.
The Captain sighed. ”All right, Spock. I guess I’ll go eat lunch then.” He got up, and was walking towards the turbolift when Ensign Sulu came running in.
“I don’t like to bother you, Captain, but something’s wrong with the replicator,”He said, still smiling. Spock watched him, finding it illogical to display such weakness all the time.
“Before I could even order,”The Ensign went on calmly,”It thanked me for my order and gave me some meatloaf. Should I contact Mr. Scott?”
The Captain smiled slyly, making him look much like the Doctor. ”Oh, no, Sulu, you don’t have to do that... why don’t you ask Spock about it? He should know what’s wrong.”
*****************
It was about 1.074 hours later, and Spock was exhausted. He had, to the Captain’s great amusement, explained to Ensign Sulu what had happened to the Replicator, then reported this information to Engineer Scott. Spock and Engineer Scott had been working on fixing the replicator for approximately the last hour and 5.4 minutes.
“I think I’ve got it. ”The Engineer said, stepping away from the replicator and wiping sweat off his face.
Spock thought about this. It was not logical for the Chief Engineer to discontinue working, as he only thought that he had fixed it. It was not yet a proven fact. Spock chose, though, to say nothing, and to continue working.
After a few minutes, he looked up. ”I believe, Mr. Scott, that I have accurately fixed the replicator’s bio-database. It would be logical that we test out the Replicator to see if it is functioning normally.”
“All righ’. ”Mr. Scott said, “I’ll order something, if ye don’ mind. It’s been a long day.... Replicator, how about some Scotch?”
“Thank you for your order. It would be logical that you also have an entree with your order.”
Engineer Scott looked at the replicator in surprise. “Mr. Spock, what did ye do to this blasted machine?”
It was a very open-ended question. Spock did not know which aspect of his work the Engineer wanted comment on.
“Mr. Scott, I believe I have already told you this. I entered the replicator’s manufacturing number into the computer which resulted in the code to the main database. From this I got the information which -”
The Chief Engineer silenced him with a wave of his hand. “All righ’, replicator,”He said,”I’ll order somethin’ else to eat. Replicator, give me some Colcannon.”
“Thank you for your order. Your food is ready. ”The replicator said in an almost mocking tone, and as Mr. Scott waited anxiously for his food, something arrived. The Engineer groaned. It was meatloaf.
Spock raised an eyebrow. He was sure that he had entered the binary code properly. Possibly someone had hacked into the computer system as what the humans called a ‘practical joke’. In that case , there would be no way to fix the replicator. Spock wondered why humans performed these practical jokes, as it only wasted time and, in some cases, lost the starship equipment. It was quite illogical.
“Perhaps we should contact the nearest Starbase and ask for a new replicator. ”Spock suggested,”It seems the only thing we can do at the time.”
Mr. Scott was about to reply when suddenly both of them heard the loud beeping sound that was Red Alert. The Captain’s voice came floating in from the comm unit in the midst of this confusion.
“Mr. Spock, report to the bridge immediately. Kirk out.”
Spock heard this and rushed out of the room, leaving behind a bewildered Engineer. Mr. Scott stood there for some time, and then, in the middle of a potential emergency, reached down for the meatloaf.
“I knew I should have eaten earlier.” The Chief Engineer mused to himself, then dug in to his treasure.
***********************
TBC
In Chapter 9
Email: sablit@charter.net
