Star Trek: The Original Series - 123 - Vulcan's Soul 1 - Exodus by Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz

Author:Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz [Sherman, Josepha & Shwartz, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure
ISBN: 9780743463584
Google: EGVMrN9YYRYC
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2004-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Even before Spock materialized outside the most secure installation of the Vulcan Science Academy, the heat of his homeworld rose to welcome him.

Saavik stood before him, a cool shadow in the oppressive light. Too quickly, she strode from the deeper shade of an overhanging roof onto the ruddy sand to meet him. Too briefly, she touched his fingers and gazed into his eyes.

“They are waiting for you,” she said, and led him within.

The translation team he expected to see was assembled: philologists, archeologists, computer scientists, a Seleyan adept, and Ruanek, their resident expert on the Romulan language. Characteristically, he had appointed himself guardian of the artifact. Spock agreed with the Romulan’s decision: Ruanek definitely had the curiosity; and, as an exile from the Two Worlds, he had the right.

Seeing Spock, Ruanek hastened forward, his eyes blazing with all his old impulsiveness. Twenty years on Vulcan sufficed-barely- to allow Ruanek to keep his face impassive; within the privacy of his thoughts, the Romulan exile was probably dancing with eagerness and the curiosity that Vulcans and Romulans, even this long after the Sundering, still shared. His wife, Healer T’Selis, who served as the representative of the adepts, philosophers, and priests on Mount Seleya to this project, touched Ruanek’s sleeve with two fingers. Presumably, she was suggesting more control. Presumably, she would have little effect.

“Your father’s suggestions helped us break the encryption algorithms,” Ruanek told Spock, making a laudable effort to speak more slowly. “Once we completed the translation, we knew the time was right to contact you.”

Spock nodded. Combined with the artifact’s own arcane and ancient technology, the encryption algorithms that concealed the artifact’s message had been so complex, so elegant that they had earned even Ambassador Sarek’s admiration before he set off for the… Even in the heart of the Vulcan Science Academy, Ruanek would not permit himself to mention the secret conference from which he had extracted Spock. Even after twenty years of exile, he retained a respect for secrets.

Nevertheless, Spock felt his eyebrow rise before he could suppress it. It was too much to have expected that either Ruanek or, for that matter, Saavik herself could have withheld any information from Sarek that he wished to have. Both owed him too much and both cared for him too much. Besides, withholding information from Sarek would not just have been illogical, it would have been unkind. Sarek had found this new type of data storage fascinating.

Spock made a mental note to meditate on the subject so that he could regard any input from his father as beneficial: no doubt, Sarek would give him a private critique when he returned to Vulcan.

Ruanek gestured toward the worktable on which the artifact rested. Resembling a priestly crown from the days before Surak, it gleamed with green gems, wound with wires of copper, gold, and hyponeutronium. It was no ornament, though, but one of the most sophisticated recording devices he had ever encountered: it recorded thoughts, memories, sensations, and emotions without harming its wearer.

Ruanek handed Spock a padd, and Spock scanned the long-awaited translation.

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