SPOCK'S CHOICE

By Gil Scott

McCoy looked up, startled, as the shuttlecraft jerked for the third time. "Dammit, Spock, haven't you learned to fly this thing yet?" he questioned.

"Doctor, I am not sure of the cause of the disturbances, but while I consider the problem perhaps you would like to hear some music."

As a wave of music from a Vulcan sonata entered the cabin, McCoy visibly relaxed.

"So now you are prescribing for me? When did you become a doctor? Besides, I think something like this would be more apropos, " McCoy commented.

As new music filled the hall, Spock commented, "New Orleans jazz, early 20th Century Earth, an excellent choice!"

"I'm surprised that you approve, as logical and green blooded as you pride yourself in being, " sneered McCoy.

"Actually, Doctor, I have found that it is you emotional human types who want to reduce music to dilettantish mathematics. I forget who it was that responded to the question of what jazz was by pointing to the band that was playing and saying 'that's it'."

"Well, " McCoy grinned, "We may make a poet out of you yet!"

Spock arched his eyebrow and was about to say that he didn't see any problem with being logical and a poet when the shuttle lurched and began a spin toward the planet below.

"Do something!" howled McCoy.

"I am afraid I cannot, the shuttle is completely out of control and I have no idea why." With an air that was almost pensive he added, "It seems my exit from this universe will be as much out of my control as my entry into it."

Just when it seemed that the shuttle and its two inhabitants were doomed, the spinning stopped and the shuttle settled on the planet's surface.

"Well," McCoy exclaimed, "I don't know how you accomplished that but you could have waited a couple seconds more until I was totally hysterical!"

"I am afraid I cannot take credit for our landing as I did nothing. It is most interesting," Spock stated.

McCoy rose from his chair. "Let's have a look around."

Spock stopped him. "That is not a good idea, the atmosphere is a deadly poison and would kill any known life form in seconds."

The words had barely escaped Spock's lips when there was a knocking. They turned, simultaneously, to see the hatch open and close like an old screen door on a hot Georgia day. In walked what seemed to be a human of about fifty years, slightly gray about the temples but with eyes that were black as coal.

"Where in tarnation did you come from?" asked McCoy, echoing the question that was already at Spock's lips.

"Oh," the intruder responded, "roaming about the galaxy, prowling here and there. Allow me to introduce myself. I am known as the Advocate, but you can call me Tom, if you like. Mr. Spock, I have come here to give you a choice!" The advocate motioned toward the computer readout screen and he said, "As you see, I have allowed your computer to access live scenes of the Enterprise, the Earth, and Vulcan. One of this trio will be totally and utterly destroyed and you, Mr. Spock, will pick which it is to be!"

"I do not think so, " Spock responded as he and McCoy hurled themselves at the self styled advocate.

McCoy was tossed aside like a limp doll and while he remained conscious he was unable to move. Spock's fate was even worse. He was crumpled in pain that made every nerve in his body feel like it was on fire.

When he was allowed to regain his feet, his body was covered with lesions, boils and burns.

The advocate, almost too coolly, commented, "Despite my pacific appearance, I am not someone that you can, shall we say, mess with! I am also afraid that you still doubt my ability to carry out my threats, and such doubt has its price."

The advocate waved his hand and Spock disappeared. When Spock opened his eyes he was on the bridge of the Enterprise and heard the voice of the computer announce, "Warp core explosion imminent!" Instantly the ship exploded and Spock felt his own body being vaporized along with his comrades in arms. Just a quickly, he was back on board the shuttle, still feeling the death of the ship.

"Be aware, Spock, that that was no illusion, what you experienced has actually happened, and now you can save only Earth or Vulcan. You will note that there are two new buttons on the shuttle console. If you push the green button, you will destroy Earth, but if you push the yellow button, Vulcan will be destroyed. Should you fail to chose, both planets will be vaporized."

Spock, his body raked with pain, pulled himself to an upright position. He looked the advocate directly in the eyes and stated, "I doubt not your power to make good your threat. However, no matter what you do to me, or to anything in the galaxy, I will never chose to destroy either planet, or any planet, or indeed any life form."

"Do not be too hasty, Spock. First, let us hear from representatives of the parties involved. We will begin with a representative from Earth."

Immediately standing before Spock was a woman whose age was hard to guess and, though not particularly beautiful, she had an aura of fruitfulness, health and earthiness about her. Spock would have equated her with early images of the Madonna and Child, but noticed that she wore a pendant with a single grain of seed. This identified her as a priestess of the neopagan cult of Artemis.

She said to Spock, "I am a simple woman and can offer nothing in terms of logic or knowledge. But consider that the heart has knowledge of which the head knows not at all. I am a mother. I have a daughter who is just budding into womanhood and a son who is in the prime of innocent childhood, as well as a newborn infant. It for these 3 children that you must save the Earth. I know that there are other children and that the Earth is full of wonderful people and a glorious ecosystem unmatched in the galaxy. I do not speak for these but just for my children who are wondrously alive and more wondrously mine. I love them more than my own life, more than my planet, more than Vulcan and more than the whole galaxy. Do not be so arrogant as to prefer your justice over my children. Can you not choose to save them, as I would even at the cost of my soul? Is there any evil deed that one could commit or take into one's soul that would not be sanctified by the salvation of these three children? Can you not see them as your children and save them?"

The pain racking Spock's body had forced him sit on the floor with his back against the shuttle wall. His face bore the signs of intense concentration and he looked as though he would remain silent forever had not the advocate intervened.

"Spock, you must now to chose to destroy Earth or Vulcan or at least respond to the speaker from Earth."

Spock stood. Then he spoke. "To save these three children or any children or indeed any sentient life form is a noble task worthy of almost any price. The Talmud from ancient Earth stated that to save one life is to save the entire world. If this is so, however, it must logically follow that to destroy one life is to destroy the whole world. Therefore, to save life I refuse to destroy life."

Spock attempted to sit back on the floor with the dignity for which he was known, but halfway down his body collapsed with a sickening thud. Yet, he was somehow able to regain his composure and a portion of his dignity.

The advocate announced, "We will now hear from the representative from Vulcan." At that moment, Sarek appeared in the room, and looking down at Spock, he began to speak.

"Spock, I speak to you not as your father or even as a fellow Vulcan. I speak to you as one logical creature to another. My role here is to speak on behalf of Vulcan, but what could I say that you do not already know? Do consider that humans are spread throughout the galaxy and would survive the loss of Earth. I am not sure that Vulcans could survive the loss of their home world. However, that it not my chief point. Spock, you must chose and take this burden on yourself. It is not true that one world surviving is better that neither surviving. Even if you would chose to spare Earth, is that not better than both worlds being destroyed? In logic Spock, you have no other alternative but to mitigate the loss and suffering."

Spock struggled to his feet, looking as though he would collapse into a heap of rubble on the floor at any moment. Suddenly he stood straight and his voice was clear.

"What Sarek says would seem to be logical, but it is too limited." Spock thought for moment and then said, "There are times in which one must logically choose to shun evil, even if the cost is that the galaxy itself will explode. I stand here and refuse to act and will refuse to act until the end of time. Furthermore, I doubt the person standing here is the real cause of our problems but rather is the advocate, or mouthpiece, of someone else. Someone who needs to be brought before the bar of justice and made to answer for his malevolence."

Suddenly a figure clocked in judicial robes appeared in the room. He spoke to Spock "Would you question the power of one who holds your fate and the fate of the universe in his hands?"

"I would never question your power," Spock responded, "but I would certainly question your moral judgment. Even a being of infinite power is not beyond good and evil."

"Spock," the clocked figure answered, "you are not only incredibly naive, but are you are also growing tiresome. Be on your way!"

Instantly, Spock and McCoy were back in the shuttle and on course for the Enterprise. As the music drifted through the cabin, McCoy turned to Spock. "That was one heck of a bluff, Spock!" he said.

Arching an eyebrow, Spock responded, "Who was bluffing?"

Somewhere out there, the advocate turned to his partner and said, "Q, they were an interesting species. Have you met them before?"

"Yes indeed, " came the response, "in their future."

THE END