Star Trek

Town was a small place, not much contact with aliens, and the Vulcans—he'd heard his classmates tell them—were all haughty bastards.So it's not very strange that the police gentlemen also respect this man with sharp ears and black eyes. After all, I heard that Vulcan's strange power can single out an entire police station or something.

Jim was carried to the chair by the police like a chick and sat obediently. He raised his eyes and secretly looked at the guy with the ridiculous bangs.The Vulcan man with his hands behind his back, his back straight as if he's in a debate contest, and he's framing the reasons why he can take Jim away (including the fact that no one here can stop him—threat theory), Jim thought Those old guys must have been dazzled by this perfect score logic before letting themselves go.

The child is not wary.He really doesn't need to.Even his biological parents don't care about him, so what else is he afraid of?So the Vulcan gave him a look, and Jim obediently stuck to the hem of his clothes and left with him.

"So, Mr. Qi Liuhai, who are you?" After sitting on the aircraft and fastening the seat belt, the boy still couldn't restrain his curiosity, "Did my mother hire you? How many credits are you getting this time?"

The Vulcan glanced at him, and said in a deep voice, "You seem to be used to this."

"What?" Jim asked. "Are you used to bailing me out or are you used to going to the police station?"

The Vulcan sighed inaudibly: "I underestimate my own safety."

The little boy curled his lips and did not answer this question, but opened another: "What's your name?"

"Spock."

"Where do you come from?"

"Shi'Kahr."

"where is that?"

"Vulcan capital."

"Are you really a Vulcan?"

"……definitely."

"Is there only one country in your place? A whole planet?"

"indeed."

"Fascinating."

"……indeed."

"Do you have a king?"

"Vulcan is patriarchal. You have a lot of questions."

"I'm still a child, and I'm at the age when my thirst for knowledge is strong."

"Fascinating. Vulcan toddlers tend to seek answers to their own questions rather than ask others directly."

"But I'm from Earth. You have to do as the Romans do."

"Rome? I'm not familiar with this race."

"A common saying. Where are you taking me?"

"……go home."

"Whose house?"

"you."

Spock took him back and stayed with him to take care of him, and though Jim insisted at first that he didn't need someone else to look after him, it didn't take long for him to get used to the presence of the pointed-eared man. Spock made him breakfast, waited for him after school, taught him subjects he didn't know (Vulcans can do anything!), took him out for rides in their flying machines at night; they even adopted a crippled puppy who had Soft golden fur and bright green eyes, always fond of licking Jim's cheeks and palms, and when the leg was healed they helped him find an owner, which made the boy both disappointed and happy.

Spock stayed at his house for the better part of a month.This was probably the happiest time Jim had been in ten years.Then the adults leave, but promise him to come back for Christmas, and Jim believes everything he says.

For some strange reason, the boy found that he was unexpectedly kind and trusting to this visitor from another planet.Spock, who is more than [-] years older than him, is like a friend and an elder. Although he always looks dumb and talks complicated and difficult to understand, Jim can feel his care and love for him, and such unconditional tolerance can never be achieved overnight. trained and accumulated.

Jim thinks Spock must love him very much.

Love that James Kirk who is not in this dimension, on the other side of time and space.

Even though Spock never mentioned it to him, he just knew.He's seen the way Spock looks at him, as if he's looking for someone else through himself, residing in a lovesickness that has nowhere to go, and behind that deep look, there's such a majestic love behind it, Jim thinks, it's like Mom looked at Dad through herself—

Loved deeply for a lifetime, only to lose that person for some reason.But that love will not stop, it will always exist, like the distant universe, there will never be an end.

He woke up that day, and the moment he opened his eyes, he saw a sea of ​​blue as beautiful.It shimmered and shone, and he almost drowned in it; but the sea suddenly became distant, and such a high-purity color overlapped before his eyes for a while and then became clear again. Spock blinked and saw that he was lying on the edge of the bed with his head tilted The blue-eyed boy who was looking at him had already run away laughing.

When he packed himself up and walked out of the room, he saw Jim was making something in the kitchen, the flour and syrup from the duplicator spilled all over the table, and the little boy's nose and cheeks were also stained white. Spock opens his mouth, swallowing the question back: it's clear that Jim's trying to cook Christmas dinner.

The oven blares, and the boy scrambles on thick gloves to bring them out—Spock leans closer, and it's hard to tell what they are.A dark mass with a burnt smell.

"It still failed." Jim wrinkled his face, took off his gloves and picked up the PADD that was also covered with flour, "But I followed the tutorial like this, right."

"You forgot to brush with fresh egg wash or butter." Spock glanced at it, sharply.

The child looked up at him: "Are you going to be a pastry master?"

"No, I just ask myself to be successful in everything."

After cleaning the battlefield, they took out sandwiches and milk from the duplicator to settle their food and clothing simply.Jim can't wait to drag Spock into the backyard to inspect their Christmas tree after breakfast, and Spock realizes he's overlooked something important just a few minutes ago.

"I have to apologize to you, Jim. I overlooked the custom of piling presents under the Christmas tree." Spock was slightly apologetic, and annoyed that he hadn't fully checked human customs.

"It's okay." The child's mood was not affected at all, Jim squatted down and made a ball of fluffy snow, and threw it at the adult with a smile, "——you are the best Christmas present, Spocky."

I am already very happy that you spend Christmas with me.

It's good enough that you can show up and fill a wonderful void in my life.

Spock crouched down too, and together he rubbed snowballs and piled them into bigger ones.The power disparity between the two parties is too great, so they can only give up the snowball fight.They are going to make a snowman.

"Spock," Jim said out of the blue, looking up at him beside him, "Where are you from?" For a moment he was very unlike a ten-year-old, very unlike himself.

The answer is not Vulcan.of course not. Spock met those still clear blue eyes, and with a thought, he understood a lot in this brief moment.

"...from the future."

he answered.The soft snow was pinched into a ball shape in the warm palm.

23. [Spirk] Lllawarra Flame Tree

Misplaced walkers in the gaps of time and space always have their own unspeakable secrets. There's an unbreakable twenty-year age difference between Jim and Spock, and an even more impenetrable twenty-year timeline.The Vulcan from the other side of time and space who stayed in Iowa accompanied him through half the winter vacation, every day was gentle and sweet, dispelling the child's loneliness and fear, from Christmas to New Year, year after year.But such days always come to an end, and when Spock left, it was a very bright morning, and the sky was still shining with stars, and Jim sent him away, all the way to the ferry at the end.

The flying car stopped halfway, and the two of them walked in the snow with one deep foot and one shallow foot, and there was silence for a long time.Sending you off for thousands of miles, you have to say goodbye.No matter how far away the farewell is, the time to say goodbye will always come. They didn't agree to meet again in the next year——Spock didn't know, couldn't predict it, let alone make a promise.His own situation cannot be guaranteed, and the idea of ​​reunion is a slim possibility. Talking about it now, I always feel that it is too illusory, and it is really an extravagant hope.

Luckily Jim didn't ask either.He has always been a delicate and sensitive child. He can understand what should be said and what should not be asked, what is possible and what is impossible, and it is useless and meaningless to talk more.

The huge starship at the ferry is close in sight, and the shuttle is quietly parked aside.There was a cold fog everywhere, and the dock before the sun was cool, and Spock turned around, blowing out a small piece of whiteness.He lowered his head and saw the boy's blue eyes reflecting the bright sky.He knew that Jim had grown taller and grown up, not the crazy, fragile kid he'd seen in the sandy and dusty spring.He wanted to reach out his hand to touch his cheek, but in the end it landed on the top of his head, and he pressed it lightly with his palm swirling.

"Promise to me, take care of yourself."

Jim nodded, didn't speak, his eyes were glued to him, refusing to move away.He sighed cautiously, and embarked on a lonely journey.

The shuttle drove far away, and the sound of the engine whimpered in the morning mist.He leaned back in the chair, knowing that the boy must still be watching it go away, and suddenly missed the smell of tobacco he had tasted.He tasted it only once, in a tired and lazy