Star Trek: The Original Series - 129 - Constellations by Marco Palmieri & Gene Roddenberry

Author:Marco Palmieri & Gene Roddenberry [Palmieri, Marco & Roddenberry, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure, Interplanetary Voyages, Star Trek Fiction, Science Fiction; American, Space Ships, Starship Enterprise (Imaginary Vehicle)
ISBN: 9780743492546
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2006-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Theresa Errgang’s eyes followed James Kirk as he stepped down from the transporter platform. Behind the console, Mr. Scott was staring at him, still confused by the captain’s order to have the landing party beamed up while in the midst of a group of Niobeans. “Sir? What happened down there?”

“We’ll explain at the postmission briefing, Mr. Scott. As soon as we figure it out ourselves. Right now I think we should get to sickbay and get these prosthetics off. I’ve been dying to scratch my nose for days now.”

“And we should all get a thorough check for any nanites we might’ve picked up,” McCoy added. “Maybe they’re good for the Ilaiyens, but away from their proper environment and control signals, who knows what they’re capable of?”

“Right. All landing party members are to report to sickbay immediately.”

Spock and McCoy followed him into the corridor, with Errgang trailing closely enough to listen, and Chaane bringing up the rear. “I am unsure what there is to ‘figure out,’ Captain,” Spock said. “The matriarch did explain the situation very clearly, allowing for the vagaries of figurative language.”

“The facts of the situation, yes. But what it means, Spock…” Kirk broke off, shook his head. “This was… a humbling experience. We were so certain the islanders were like helpless children, needing our protection. But we were jumping to a conclusion based on the way of life they’ve chosen. It turns out they’re really a thousand years more advanced than we are.”

“I do not believe such a chronological comparison is valid, sir. True, they have made use of technology beyond our own, but they have remained static all that time. They have not progressed.”

“But they haven’t needed to,” McCoy countered. “Is that really such a bad thing? They managed to achieve a highly advanced way of life without giving up any of their old ways. Without cutting down forests or damming rivers or poisoning the air. They bypassed all the struggles we had to go through-and managed to hold on to a lot that we’ve lost.”

“Only by borrowing technology from a people who presumably did go through such struggles.”

“That’s what really gets me,” Kirk said. “A thousand years ago, these people leading a simple, tribal existence were visited by aliens far more advanced than they were. And contrary to all our expectations, our assumptions, that contact didn’t destroy their way of life. If anything, it simply enabled them to become more true to that way of life, to defend it from interference.”

He paused, gathering his thoughts. “We have the Prime Directive because we’ve seen what happens when an advanced culture aggressively tries to impose its values on a simpler one. But maybe we’re too quick to assume that any such contact is automatically destructive. That just being exposed to new ideas, new technologies will be too much for a ‘primitive’ culture to handle. Are we being condescending, assuming those cultures are too weak to adapt, just because they’re younger than ours?”

McCoy was thoughtful. “When you put it that way, maybe it is condescending.

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