hello nice reederz its dennis the vizsla dog hay laytly sum of my frends hav ben posting the sertch terms wot peepul yooze to find them and the thundering herd sed they wer intrested in wot other peepuls sertch terms mite be so i thawt i wood play along and reeveel mine!!!  oooh i can hardly wayt i wil bet peepul find me by sertching for things like heeroic dog and dog arkeeolojists and pig powders and sooperheros and things like that!!!  now this wil no dowt be a long and diffikult investigayshun and so i hav brawt bak my frend spock nimoy the faymus host of in sertch of welkum bak spock nimoy!!!

ha ha spock nimoy yoo ar luking verry groovy this morning!!! i hope this terns owt better for yoo then wen we went in sertch of the misteeryus fetch observer!!! ok now lets begin revyooing sertch terms for the last seven days!!!

ok their yoo hav it we hav suksesfully gawn in sertch of dennis the vizsla dog!!!! thank yoo for yore assistanse spock nimoy!!!

A peine le temps de profiter des Be@rbricks SpongeBob de la série 18 qu’il faut déjà s’ambiancer pour acheter la série 19. Comme d’hab, beaucoup de déchets et de figurines inutiles, et un ou deux modèles vraiment cool.

Et pour cette série, c’est le Be@r Mr. Spock qui l’emporte, juste devant le Uglydoll orange et le robot marron. Même si j’en vois déjà me contredire à cause des oreilles rondes et non pointues du vulcain.

Pour voir le reste de la série 19 Be@rbrick, cliquez pour

Eric Bana gives Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto some hair care tips.

(Paramount) Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Bruce Greenwood, Leonard Nimoy, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Morrison, Rachel Nichols, Faran Tahir. Directed by J.J. Abrams

Even icons from time to time must reinvent themselves, if for no other reason to remain relevant in changing times. That is even more true for those having to do with the future.

The Federation starship U.S.S. Kelvin is investigating strange readings at a black hole. To the surprise of the ship’s captain (Tahir), a gigantic spacecraft of unknown design emerges from the singularity and without any provocation at all, opens fire on the starship, crippling it. The captain is forced to come aboard the unknown ship and is escorted to its captain, a Romulan named Nero (Bana),  who proceeds to ask the Federation representative some rather odd questions, the strangest being what stardate is it. The answer drives Nero berserk and he murders the captain and once again opens fire on the Kelvin.

The second-in-command (Hemsworth) orders an evacuation of the doomed Kelvin, paying special attention to his wife (Morrison) who is in labor. He intends to join her, but the ship’s automated functions are out of commission, and they are needed to gain critical time for the crew of the Kelvin to make their escapes. He realizes with sickening horror that he must remain aboard to run the ship manually. The young lieutenant saves his crew by ramming the dying starship into the unknown spaceship, crippling its weapon systems and propulsion. The name of the young hero? George Kirk.

Years later, his son James (Pine), born the day of his death, is adrift in Iowa, drinking in dive bars, picking up every woman he can and generally just lashing out at the world. While attempting to pick up a pretty Starfleet cadet named Uhura (Saldana), he gets jumped by a number of cadets, holding his own for awhile before getting his tush handed to him until Captain Christopher Pike (Greenwood) stops the fracas and clears the bar. He talks to the young Kirk about his father, and the difference he made to the 800 lives that were saved by his sacrifice and invites Kirk to join the Academy.

At first Kirk is reluctant to join Starfleet but eventually relents. On the shuttle ride to San Francisco, he meets an irascible divorced physician who is joining Starfleet to rebuild a career that had been essentially stymied in his divorce. The medico’s name is Leonard McCoy (Urban).

Already at the academy is a young half-Vulcan named Spock (Quinto). Tormented by young Vulcans for his half-human ancestry, Spock elects to follow the Vulcan disciplines of logic and dispassion of his father Sarek (Cross) with the blessing of his compassionate mother Amanda (Ryder). Despite this, Spock elects to decline admission to the Vulcan Science Academy (the first Vulcan ever to do so) and join Starfleet. After graduating from the Academy, he devises the notorious Kobiyashi Maru test, the infamous “no-win” scenario.

In the meantime, a brash young Ensign Kirk is blowing through the academy in a mere three years, still picking up women wherever he goes including a beautiful young Orion ensign (Nichols) who has come up with a rather ingenious solution to Spock’s test, landing him in hot water with the Academy dons. Unfortunately, an emergency comes up that relates directly to Kirk’s past, one that will bring all the disparate elements and characters together and forge together a crew that is destined to become a legend, while a man from the future (Nimoy) holds the key to the lives of Spock and Kirk.

The Star Trek franchise has been in decline for several years now, with an over-saturation of product that eventually seemed somewhat formulaic in many ways. Star Trek reboots the franchise with the original characters as seen through fresh new eyes. Director J.J. Abrams balances a delicate line of maintaining the spirit of the original series while adding additional elements of action and epic scope. Thus his new re-imagining of Star Trek will please not only hardcore Trek fans but also more general audiences.

Electing to go with a cast of young actors while steering clear of big name actors (Bana as Nero is the most recognizable face in the show other than Nimoy, and Bana is nearly unrecognizable in any case), and they come through in spades. All of the major crew members (Cho as Sulu, Pegg as Scotty and Yelchin as Chekov, as well as Urban and Saldana) have extremely pivotal scenes and establish their characters nicely.

Much of the success of Star Trek rests on the shoulders of the two leads, and they pull through splendidly. Pine captures the essence of James Tiberius Kirk without the quirks and mannerisms of William Shatner. He nails the bravado, the charisma, the independence and the compassion of Kirk but at the same time manages to render him human and fallible. Like Shatner’s Kirk, he is rash and sometimes prone to egotism, but at the heart of him is his brilliant intuition and willingness to risk. Pine takes an epic character and makes him accessible.

Quinto, best known as Sylar on the hit TV show “Heroes” makes a marvelous Spock. He radiates icy calm that masks the boiling inferno below the surface. Spock is heavily conflicted but chooses not to come to terms with his conflicting natures; instead he subverts his more human aspects in favor of the Vulcan stoicism. Quinto also has an uncanny resemblance to Nimoy as a young Spock, and fills the boots more than adequately.

There are plenty of breathtaking special effects, not to mention some intense action sequences, the best of which is a parachute jump onto a drilling platform high in the atmosphere of Vulcan. Visually, this is a movie that will rock your world.

But is it Star Trek? That’s the question most Trek fans were hoping to have answered. I have to say, yes and no. The original television series in many ways was less action-oriented than this is. Yes, there were plenty of fistfights, phasers set on stun and epic space battles in the original, but the themes had to do with things that were important to series creator Gene Roddenberry; man’s inhumanity to man, racial tension, drug abuse, gender inequality and the supreme waste and ultimate uselessness that is war. Here, we are being re-introduced to the characters that the producers hope to rebuild the franchise with and the movie is more about that than taking on issues.

However, the foundation has been laid and hopefully in the future we’ll see stories more in tune with the high bar that Roddenberry set. Given the outstanding box office returns the movie had, it is inevitable that there will be at least one or two more installments in the movie series if not more. The action and special effects will get the bodies in the door; the characters will bring those bodies back for more. Abrams has hit a home run with the new Star Trek. Now, the question becomes can he do it again?

WHY RENT THIS: Breathtaking special effects and heart-pounding action sequences drive the movie. Young actors bring established characters back to life with fresh perspectives. Pine makes a fabulous Captain Kirk and could be a future star.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The overall tone that Trek-haters despised is still present here.

FAMILY VALUES: Some scenes of brief sexuality and some violence; also there is a nightmare-inducing creature during the Delta Vega sequence. Otherwise, fit for most young audiences (but not for the very teeny tiny).

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: The seven years gap between this movie and Star Trek: Nemesis is the longest in the franchise history.

NOTABLE DVD FEATURES: There are three different home viewing versions of this so far: a single-disc DVD which is essentially just the film, a 2-disc Special Edition DVD which contains some deleted scenes including Abrams’ take on the Klingons, and a 3-Disc Blu-Ray which contains a humongous number of featurettes, as well as a 360 degree view of various Enterprise and Romulan sets. There is also a feature on Gene Roddenberry’s legacy.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

TOMORROW: Disney’s A Christmas Carol

I haven’t read much fan fiction or slash fiction, but this Kirk/Spock video is downright mind-boggling. It’s fascinating how the scene selection, edits and connection to the music and lyrics all manage to tell a remarkably consistent and (fairly) complete story.

The video portrays Spock as a haunted and obsessed, near-demonic creature, while Kirk appears as an almost purely sensual object. Spock struggles with his lust (and possibly self-hatred), until he attacks Kirk. The implied rape leaves both men tormented and alone.

There’s also the addition of sepia tone and visual scratchiness, which makes it look like an old 8mm film. It could be a futuristic-horror-soft-core movie from the 1920s…with a soundtrack from the 1990s.

This brought three questions to mind:

1. Is this funny?
2. Is it offensive?
3. Is it art?

Not that these questions really matter that much, ultimately. They’re just interesting to me from a storytelling perspective (I know: “Suuuuure they are”). I can imagine arguments on the yes and no sides of each question, but right now I would answer: “Yes, as a subversion of pop culture icons”; “Possibly, but not badly enough to question the motives for making the video”; and, “Hell yeah.”

[Via Coilhouse]

Coincidentally, there’s an interesting interview with Michael Chabon on io9.com today, where he talks about fan fiction:

“This kind of process, by which one generation of fan/critics (because anyone who doesn’t understand that a fan is a critic doesn’t know what a fan is, and there is nothing sadder to contemplate than the idea of a critic who is not also a fan) becomes the creators whose work inspires and obsesses and is critiqued by the next generation of fans, who in turn become critic-creators, has occurred in every popular art form across the board going back fifty or five thousand years. The apostles wrote fan fiction on Torah.”

Also, Spock’s Nosferatu pose: awesome.

[Update/Note to self: Posting Kirk/Spock slash seems to be a good way to generate website traffic.]

Los periódicos locales mencionan la intención de 2 inversionistas por hacer un lago artificial bajo el puente Atirantado según esto para esquiar. hmmm

También esta la cosecha de narcos del día de hoy y la intención de hacerle su juicio político a Maderito, con toga y birrete, igual al que le hicieron a Natividad González Paras. Que bueno con esto hagan consciencia que ellos –los políticos, los funcionarios – trabajan para nosotros, y sino dan el kilo… bueno, Maderito si tiene kilos.

Y a nivel nacional tenemos a diputados y senadores con lo de los impuestos intentando llevar agua a su molino para el 2012.

Pero hoy me concentro en la carcajada que me hizo soltar Trino con sus monos en el diario Metro. Sí, soy trekkie.

monero Trino, diario Metro, octubre 27 del 2009

Pd: Ayer vi pasar 5 monarcas durante el cambio de clima, como a las 11 am.

Pd 2: Esta muy movido el tema “fibra optica”. ¿Que cocinan en el gobierno?

Leonard Nimoy as Fringe's William Bell. Photo copyright of Fox Television

IN the original Star Trek series, Leonard Nimoy’s character of Mr. Spock had to figure out a way to help his fellow crewmates get back from an alternate universe in the second season episode Mirror, Mirror. Now, years later, the actor is playing another character, Fringe’s William Bell, who apparently has information about a parallel universe. Introduced in the season one finale, There’s More Than One of Everything, Bell returned in the recently telecast year two episode Momentum Deferred, which shed some light on Agent Olivia Dunham’s (Anna Torv) past and her alternate-reality encounter. Nimoy has already reprised his role for an upcoming episode, which will hopefully reveal more of Bell’s true motives.

Earlier this month, Mr. Nimoy joined me and other journalists on a conference call to discuss his work on Fringe as well as his acting career in general. An edited version of that Q & A follows. Enjoy!

Did you have any reservations about taking on another role with the potential of such a fanatic following?

LEONARD NIMOY - I love this question. I can’t help but laugh because you’re absolutely right. It’s an interesting set of circumstances. What attracted me to it were several things – J.J. Abrams, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who I worked with on the Star Trek movie. I admire their talents and the work that they do. The series is at the very least to say intriguing. The character of William Bell was somewhat of a blank slate, but we began talking about it, and it was attractive to me because there was an opportunity to build an interesting and unpredictable character. I’m enjoying it a lot.

So lately it seems as if you’re J.J. Abrams’ muse of sorts. Can you tell us a little bit more about your relationship with him?

LN - Well, I first met him, I guess about three years ago when he first contacted me about the possibility of working together, and I went to a meeting with him, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman as well as some of his production staff. They told me a very good, strong and touching story about their feelings surrounding Star Trek and, specifically, the Spock character. And that gave me a sense of validation after all these years. I had been out of it [Trek] for some time, as you’re probably aware. There were several Star Trek TV series and movies in which I was not involved, so this was a re-validation of the work we’d done on the original Star Trek. I felt very good about it and went to work for them. I had a great time doing the [Star Trek X1] movie. I think they did a brilliant job, and the audience response shows that that was the case and has reinvigorated the franchise. So when they contacted me about doing Fringe – with the same creative team and attitude - it was very enticing.

Had you seen Fringe? Were you a fan of the show prior to that?

LN - I watched it periodically and think it’s extremely well-done. It’s very nuanced and complex. It’s a mixture of Science and Science-Fiction in an interesting and intelligent way. It tells a terribly compelling story, and the character that I was offered was potentially an extremely intriguing, controversial and fascinating one, which is very inviting for an actor.

I was wondering how you felt about the current state of Science-Fiction on TV and film?

LN - Well, I’m concerned about the positioning of story in terms of importance. When I see a lot of explosions and chases, I’m not terribly impressed. I think there are three important elements that must be given priority in Science-Fiction as well as any other kind of drama. The first is story, the second is story, and the third is story. Story, story, story, story, story. If the story is compelling and interesting, I think the rest will find its place. We have great technology in our industry, and that technology can be overused at the expense of story. That’s a problem for me, but when the story is in place, I think the special effects can find their proper place as well. Fringe uses the technology brilliantly and in the service of excellent storytelling.

Are there any other projects you’re currently involved with?

LN - I’m doing a lot of photography work. That’s one of my major creative outlets right now. I have an exhibition, Secret Selves, which is opening at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art next year and I’m really excited about that. Check out my website – LeonardNimoyPhotography.com

You had not been acting for a while, and then you’ve done Star Trek and Fringe pretty recently together. Having stepped away for a while and then returned, are your feelings about acting what they were, or have they changed?

LN - Well, I’m enjoying it. I’m very comfortable in the two offers that I’ve accepted. The Star Trek movie was a joy to do. I admire the production team that made the film, and I admire the new cast, too. Zachary Quinto, I thought, was a great choice for the new Spock and it was a pleasure to work with him and all the other people on the project. The Fringe character was intriguing because, as I’ve mentioned, it was kind of a blank slate and we had some very interesting and intense conversations about what we might or might not learn from him, and what we might or might not trust about him. These are fascinating opportunities for an actor, and they came from a group of people I had respect for. They piqued my interest and I went back to work. Frankly, I did not expect to be acting so much at this time in my life. My concentration was on my photography, but I’m having a wonderful time doing it.

After your role on Star Trek, your projects weighed heavily towards the Sci-Fi genre. Were you always a big fan of Sci-Fi?

LN - Well, it’s a good thing if you can find your niche as an actor and be able to support a family. Very early on – I’m talking many, many years ago, probably 1950 or 51 – I acted in my first Science-Fiction project, and I’ve since acted in Science-Fiction over the years. That first project is probably not terribly well-know. I thought it was going to rocket me to stardom, if you’ll pardon the expression. It didn’t quite work. It was a great project called Zombies of the Stratosphere, and I was the third of a group of zombies that came to Earth to take over its orbit. It’s funny as I think about it now, but it was a way of making a living. Science-Fiction seems to be a fertile ground for the kind of work that I do, the kind of presence that I offer, and I’m grateful for it and the niche it’s given me.

Have they mentioned anything about their needs for you on an upcoming Star Trek movie?

LN - My understanding is that they’re working on a script right now. I expect there’s going to be some time before they know exactly who and what they need. I frankly doubt, though, that I will be called upon again. I think I was useful in the last film to help bridge the gap between the original characters, the original actors, and the new cast. They have a wonderful new cast in place now and I’m sure they’ll move ahead with them. So I don’t see why they would need me in the next film, although if they called me, I’d be happy to have a conversation about it.

Your character of William Bell believes the world has “soft spots” – do you believe in this as well?

LN - What the show deals with in this wonderfully intriguing way is a question of an alternate universe through which one can slip through from one universe to another. I’ve been involved in stories of this kind before. I did a series called In Search Of…some years ago in which we dealt with subject matter like this. In terms of whether it’s scientifically accurate, I think that’s a question you’d have to ask people like Stephen Hawking.I’m not a scientist, and I can’t really tell you whether or not there is a soft spot where you could slip through to another world, but I think the Fringe series deals with that idea in a very intriguing way.

Do you believe William Bell is good or evil?

LN - That’s a really wonderful question. Time will tell.

What sort of acting challenges have you found playing the William Bell character?

LN - Well, the first thing was some wonderful and creative conversations that I had with J. J. Abrams, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman as well as Jeff Pinkner, who’s the show runner, to try to create from scratch a character that’s never been seen before, but only been referred to. There are certain things that were a given, including that he’s a power figure and a very wealthy and obviously terribly intelligent man with a scientific background. But in terms of characteristics, we started from scratch, and I think in the episode that recently aired [Momentum Deferred], a lot more of those characteristics were made evident. It’s great fun to be building the character from scratch, with certain givens, but so much to be developed as well in terms of the way he talks, walks, idiosyncracies, his tastes, is he difficult, is he gruff, is he charming, is he a nice guy, what are his real intentions? All of these are great exploration for an actor.

Can you talk a little bit about your love of photography and where that comes from?

LN - I became enamored of photography when I was about 13 or 14 years old and I’ve been at it ever since. I studied seriously in the 70’s and have a Masters degree in photography as a fine art. I would call my work primarily conceptual. I don’t carry cameras with me where I go. I get an idea of a subject matter I want to deal with and then I pull out my cameras. I have published two books – one is called Shekhina about the feminine aspect of God, and the second is called The Full Body Project, which deals with body images in our society.

You had your scene with Olivia (Anna Torv) in the recent episode; did you get a chance to meet any of the other actors and, if so, did you form an opinion of them?

LN - No, I have not worked with the others, only Anna so far. I think she does a wonderful job in the show, they all do, and I’m looking forward to meeting and working with the rest of the cast. They’re all very talented people and I admire the work they do.

What do you think of Anna Torv as an actor and a person?

LN - I think she’s really excellent in the role. We spent a bit of time working together and I was impressed with the way she works. I’ve seen quite a bit of her work on the screen. I think she handles a wide range of activities, from internalized psychological questions to all sorts of physical stuff, quite well. She’s extremely competent and interesting to watch. I think she’s terrific.

Have you found that there’s anything different in the way TV is done these days or what it requires of you as an actor, or is that aspect of the work still pretty much the same?

LN - I think it’s safe to say that what an audience is seeing today onscreen in a TV episode is far more complex than what we were doing when, for example, making the original Star Trek series in the 60’s. We were very heavy on pages and pages of dialogue and very little special effects, but because the technology has advanced so greatly, it’s possible to do some very complex, exciting and very useful technical stuff on a show these days. So we don’t have to rely quite as much on the story being told by the actors speaking. On the other hand, there’s a danger, as I mentioned earlier, of going too far with the special effects at the expense of the story. However, if the story is well done, if the story is in place strongly, the special effects can be enormously helpful to the actors, far more so than they were years ago when we were doing Star Trek. Delivering exposition is the toughest part of the job, and if it can be done visually and physically, it’s a big help.

Looking to the future, do you have any goals in mind, any invisible timeline where you just want to get out of the spotlight and retire, focus on photography, etc.

LN - I thought I had reached that point some years ago. I like to think about myself as an oceanliner that’s been going full speed for a long distance, and the captain pulls the throttle back all the way to “stop,” but the ship doesn’t stop immediately, does it? It has its own momentum and keeps on going, and I’m very flattered that people are still finding me useful. I try to pick my spots so that I have a balance between the work and my personal life, which I enjoy very much. I don’t know that I would actually any longer say, ‘No, I’m going to stop, 10, 12, 15 months or two years from now.’ I don’t know. I still feel strong and healthy and active, and as long as there’s interesting work to do, I’ll probably keep on doing it.

As noted above, photo is copright of Fox Television, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Title: A Stranger in the City
Author: AstroGirl
Rating: PG (for some swearing)
Word Count: 5889
Characters: Jack Harkness, Mr Spock, James T Kirk, Leonard McCoy

In New York in 1930s, some time travellers encounter each other. Again, even for someone reasonably ignorant like me, this is great.

*

Title: Awakening
Author: HonorH
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 449
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Deanna Troi, Jean-Luc Picard, Will Riker, Worf, Beverly Crusher, Geordi LaForge

The crew discover the Doctor to be more of an anomaly than they expected.

*

Title: In Passing
Author: HonorH
Rating: All Ages
Word Count: 586
Characters: Jack Harkness, Wesley Crusher, Beverly Crusher

A fun little piece. With flirting, because, after all, it involves Jack.

Teen Read Month Read Beyond Reality Tournament!

ROBOTS vs FAIRIES!

The Good Neighbors by Holly Black and Ted Naifah tends to make me think of a Terry Pratchett quote

Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.

These Fair Folk are not the Disney type. They are old school. They are not nice.

The Transformers have a classic good guy/bad guy storyline starring robots. The movies have resurrected this series from the 80’s, although the comics were always a bit stronger than the cartoon. Cartoons back then seemed to require that nobody win or get shot or anything.

Vogelein the Clockwork Fairy will sit out the battle this week. While she is a sentient robot who requires winding every 24 hours, she is also able to see the Summerlands, where the Fairies dwell.

ALIENS vs ZOMBIES

We actually don’t seem to have as many aliens as one might expect in the in the graphic novel section. There’s Spock and various others in the Star Trek manga and graphic novels. The books we have are mostly based on the old original series not the new, revised movie version of the original series. Lots more special effects because they are cheaper when you only have to draw them.

Of course we also have Superman! I think he may be a naturalized alien. Or maybe that was an Elseworld. But he isn’t from around here so that will do.

I honestly can’t think of anything nice to say about the zombies. We don’t have any in the YA graphic novel section. There are a few in the adult section because they are mature reader only books. Because zombies are disgusting. Zombies stories are depressing. They mostly end with not being turned into a zombie TODAY. No guarantees about tomorrow.

There is currently some effort in teen fiction to turn zombies into romantic leads, thereby displacing the vampire. These are not old time zombies that mindlessly eat human flesh and are rotting where they stand. These are mostly just teens without a pulse. And probably a very nasty smell.

*runs away with my Zombie survival guide*

VOTE HERE!
Comment here to defend your choice!

Some additional observations regarding the Fall 2009 issue of the BJU Review…

First – It appears that the interracial dating regulations have not been the only rules to have been changed.

Actually, I noticed this change before I received my copy of the latest BJU Review. While doing some reading for the “BJU Beer Summit” , I discovered a photo on the official BJU.edu website of the University’s president, Dr. Stephen Jones, with a goatee. Naturally, I thought it was a joke, so I stumbled around inside the BJU website and found videos of Dr. Jones speaking to potential students – and he still had the goatee.

Now I’m thinking, this is no joke – BJU has lifted the ban on male facial hair.

Evil Twin?

Facial hair (beards, moustaches, goatees and any combination of the three) was forbidden at BJU. Why? Well, not because of any Biblical reason – it was because facial hair was associated with a sloven appearance and with beatniks, hippies and those who were rebelling against society. Several times during my illustrious educational career at BJU I was called out for not shaving – even on weekends. “It’s not a school day,” I used to sarcastically reply, but the answer was always the same: “Doesn’t matter. Every day is a school day at BJU.”

Quick story – there were some staff members who were allowed moustaches. I remember one fellow who worked in the bowels of the University’s computer room back in the late 70’s. His moustache was allowed because he had some sort of malformed lip. (Yes – I asked.) During the shooting of the BJU/Unusual Films motion picture Sheffey (this was back in 1976-77) many students, staff and faculty were asked to be cast members and extras in the feature length film set in the late 1800’s. Naturally, real facial hair looks more realistic than fake, so these extras and cast were asked to “grow their own.” But – these bearded exceptions to the “no beard” rule were asked to wear large badges (like political buttons) identifying them as Sheffey cast members. Got a Sheffey badge? Your beard is okay.

Inside the BJU Review 2009 fall issue, I counted three – yes, 3, goatees, all sported by BJU employees. Strangely though, the picture of Dr. Stephen Jones was sans goatee. I can only speculate as to why. An old picture? More conservative (i.e., cleanly shaven) individuals still read only print media? He only wears the goatee for the BJU web presence?

Dr. Stephen Jones should wear the goatee with pride – a lot of men do.

Second – Inside the latest BJU Review, two recent Cinema grads are mentioned. One, Sarah Nevius (2009 MA Cinema) won 3rd place in a film festival with her film on grief called Solace. Always good to see a fellow cinema grad do something with the major, but the award came from Fireworks International’s Redemptive Film Festival, which, at the same 2009 ceremony, gave religious huckster Paul Crouch of TBN fame a “Lifetime Achievement” award.  Yikes.

The other Cinema major is Darcy Faylor who entered a screen writing contest and won $10,000 for her script Moody Field.  The article in the BJU Review describes her winning script as this:

Darcy’s script recounts the story of a family in World War II America…the family hires German prisoners of war from…a nearby prison camp in Valdosta, Georgia. The family learns to embrace German prisoners of war as equal members of society. The script, with its themes of love and forgiveness, contains a strong salvation message. “This story…is based on actual events,” Darcy said.

Yes – the “actual events” sound very much like the novel and the movie (the two, as usual, are slightly different) Summer of My German Soldier.  The novel by Bette Greene, was first published in 1973, and later adapted into a TV movie starring Kristy McNichol and Bruce Davison in 1978. (Kristy McNichol retired from acting over a decade ago, but you probably remember Bruce Davison as Attorney Wyck Fayer in Seinfeld.)

Here’s a short synopsis of the TV movie Summer of My German Soldier:

Patty Bergen (Kristy McNichol) is a teenager in a Jewish family living in the American South (Arkansas) during World War II. Her town eventually becomes host to a prisoner of war camp. A young German soldier (Bruce Davison) escapes from this camp and Patty finds him hiding in her “secret place” in the woods outside of town. After getting to know him, she ends up harboring him from his captors, and falls in love with him. Patty knows what she is risking to help him. In the end, his regard for her lifts her self-esteem and helps Patty face life and its heart breaks.

Short of the “strong salvation message”, the two stories sound eerily similar. Remove the Jewish girl (Patty) and substitute a Christian one. Instead of making her a loner (like Patty), involve the whole family. Move the locale from Arkansas to Georgia. Add Biblical salvation and take out respect and self-esteem.

An original script?

On the surface, they appear to have the same source material – with a few Christian “tweaks” thrown in.

Is it plagiarism?  Maybe – I don’t know.

It may not be a full beard, but it’s definitely a goatee.

“Dress Information” Excerpts, from top to bottom: BJU Student Handbook 1979, 1982, 1984, 1986.

[Goatee Panorama, from left to right: Rick Warren, V.I. Lenin, Philip Yancey, Evil Mr. Spock (Mirror, Mirror), Nathan Bedford Forrest, T.D. Jakes, Bart Ehrman, "The Master" (Dr. Who), Satan (South Park)]

So, I know this is a few years old but man does Nerf Herder rock the Nerdcore in this video or what?

Ever since I’ve caught up with watching Big Bang Theory, I can’t get this out of my head. Thank you Nerf Herder for showing me how much of a geek I truly am!

Al igual que su amigo William Shatner (el capitán Kirk), co-estelar de la saga Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy está disfrutando de un resurgimiento a finales de su carrera.

El retorno del actor y director en su personaje de Spock fue una de las joyas de la versión de Star Trek de J.J. Abrams y volverá a deleitar a sus seguidores teniendo un enigmático papel en la nueva temporada de la serie Fringe.

En charla telefónica, Nimoy respondió a la pregunta que está en boca de mucha gente respecto a su probable participación en la segunda entrega de las aventuras de la tripulación del Enterprise.

“Francamente dudo que seré llamado nuevamente. Creo que fue útil en la última película para ayudar a crear el puente entre los personajes originales, los actores originales, y el nuevo elenco. Tienen un elenco nuevo y maravilloso y estoy seguro de que saldrán adelante con ellos. No veo, por el momento, por qué podrían necesitarme en la próxima película, aunque, si quisieran llamarme, me encantaría tener una conversación al respecto”.

La próxima entrega de “Star Trek”, está siendo escrita por los co-productores, Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman y Damon Lindelof.

Paramount Pictures espera lanzar la película en algún momento del verano de 2011.

“Admiro el equipo de producción que hizo la película. Admiro el nuevo elenco. Zachary Quinto fue una gran elección para el nuevo Spock, y fue un placer trabajar con él y con todas las demás personas en el proyecto”, finalizó Nimoy.

From the book Wishcraft, by Barbara Sher

Some of the 7 characteristics of that environment are being treated as if you had a special kind of genius that was worthy of love and respect, encouraged to explore all your own talents and interests, and being bailed out of trouble without reproach.

After reading the list I felt the weight of growing up in a family dominated by boys. I don’t believe anyone ever thought I’d be anything but a mother. I needed no special training, nor encouragement to do that. I was loved and cared for. I had all I needed in terms of food, shelter and games to play. But not much more in preparation for life.

Bu there was something delicious about thinking what it would be like if I had been raised that way. It also gave me a sense of calm. Ah, this why my life is the way it is. I didn’t get what I needed to be anything more.

The Exercise, I’m pleased to say, was to write about “What You Might Have Been.” I had a lot of fun with that I think I would’ve been a rock journalist. It was just the right time for it, too. I probably would’ve married a rich rock star. With his money, I might have gone to school and become an architect. After designing and building a few homes (including my own) I may have grown bored and decided to settle down and have kids. While the children were growing up, I would’ve written my music business novel. I’m sure it would’ve gotten quickly published, as I am, after all, the wife of a famous rock star. From then on it would’ve been a busy life, combing the children and both our hectic tour schedules. Then again, maybe I would’ve settled on becoming a first-rate writer from the start, not needing so many things. It’s hard to say.

Barbara reassures us that it’s not too late. We can create the environment, the tools and supplies, the supports, we need. That’s good news. We can still have “the inner strengths that are built by good early nutrition – self-confidence and self-esteem and the courage to take risks.” Yes, ma’am! I’ll have a big helping of those, please.

She’s careful not to blame the parents. After all, as I always say, “My mother didn’t have Oprah,” or anyone else, but maybe Dr. Spock, to tell her how to raise children. (Mr. Spock might have offered more effective insights.) Many of our parents didn’t have a clue about all this and certainly weren’t raised in this kind of environment. My mother’s mother was too busy trying to figure out how to survive.

My parents, Barbara reckons, wanted to protect me from disappointment. My mother’s life didn’t end up as she may have dreamed. There were little choices for women in her day. To marry a good man, keep house and raise children was about it for her. No doubt she suffered greatly having to deal with her disappointment and didn’t want me to suffer in the same way. Barbara mentions jealousy as a factor, too. Even if they weren’t aware of it. “Suddenly they saw blooming in you all the qualities they had to squelch in themselves.” You could hardly blame them.

There’s some serious stuff here. I’m almost tempted to write a piece on each of her characteristics. The rest of the book, Barbara says, “is going to be your Portable Success Support System.” I’m looking forward to the next section, “Wishing.” Until next week, I continue to Wish.

1. The Chipmunks – All My Lovin’
2. Darth Vader’s Theme on ukelele and toy whistle
3. Crispin Glover – These Boots Are Made For Walkin’
4. Burt Ward – Boy Wonder
5. Vincent Price – Roast Pork Recipe
6. Hulk Hogan – Hulkamaniac
7. George Takei – On The Road Again
8. Peter Sellers – Hard Day’s Night
9. KFC Employee Training Tapes – Original Recipe History
10. Tanya Tagaq – Qimiruluapi
11. Mario Bros. Theme Concerto
12. Calgon – Ancient Chinese Secret
13. Mike Tyson
14. Eddie Furlong – People Are Strange
15. Thundercats Voice Actors Out takes
16. Kim Basinger – 2 Naughty
17. Porter Wagoner – The Rubber Room
18. Rose Brooks – They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha Ha
19. Waylon Jennings – Dukes of Hazzard Out takes
20. Sammy Davis Jr. – Plop Plop Fizz Fizz
21. William Shatner – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
22. Tipsy – Chop Socky
23. Charlie and the Gang – Nightman
24. Charlie and Dennis – Dayman
25. Tool – Faaip De Oiad
26. Mr. Spock – Out going message

Thanks to April Winchell for having such an awesome website.

Being in Iraq  was in Many Ways Less Frightening than Being in the USA

I find it interesting and sometimes painful to see how institutions and some people within the institution will label those of us who have gone to war and came back as gooned up with PTSD.  The biggest tension and issue, and I admit it as my own is that we get stereotyped and sometimes viewed as “broken.”  I admit that I have issues, in fact a lot of frickin’ issues and I have a pretty good awareness of them.  I see Elmer the Shrink to help me through the rough spots but there are times when I bump across those that appear to use my condition as a weapon against me.  Whether it is intentional or not, it is not fun to deal with.  I’ve had it happen a few times since I have started getting help last year and every one of the people involved were people who have not been to combat to use a pejorative term from Vietnam they are REMFs .

I know several others who have experienced this mentality.  We all feel really vulnerable because all of us have opened up to people, or to use the Star Trek analogy to “drop our deflector shields.”  Pulling down shields makes you vulnerable, if you do it because you think you are in a safe area.  When you take “friendly fire” is really sucks. It is actually easier in theater.  If I was sent to Iraq or Afghanistan today I would be back in my element and probably suffer little from PTSD symptoms.  Sometimes I wonder if the Navy would be better off to ship me over again.  Admittedly with the health of my parents and a position at my medical center that is important for me to remain in for the time being, there is something that says at some point I need to go back, maybe not now but later.  See out there the PTSD defensive reactions fit.  There are bad guys and good guys, friend and foe and the body and brains’ reaction to real or perceived danger are natural.  I am wary of people until I figure out if they are friend or foe. When I make a mistake in my IFF it usually bodes ill for me.

When you come back out of that environment you find that even though you are “home” that you have changed and nothing is the same as it was before.  Your body and brain have divided the world into two camps, friend and foe or safe or unsafe or maybe even secure versus dangerous.  In my life I notice this with people as well as situations such as being on the road in our nutty Hampton Roads traffic which by the way even if you don’t have PTSD is quite the adventure I have become a very offensively minded defensive driver with faster reflexes and reaction time than I had before I went to Iraq.  I have to say that I am now a very aware person to perceived threats and actually that is not a bad thing of itself.  In Iraq I was probably operating at a 9 or 10 of ten on my perceptions of and reactions to real and perceived danger.  Since I have returned and gotten some therapy I probably operate at a 3.5 to 4 most of the time and depending on the situation move up higher sometimes being very aware of possible danger and hyper-vigilant .  Before I went to Iraq I probably operated at about a 1-2 on the scale of 10, pretty oblivious to danger and not too worried about it either.  Truthfully I am happy at an increased level of the 3.5-4 and maybe on occasion 5.  I don’t like getting up above 7-8 because it really makes a mess of my nerves and general requires that I take my docile pills.  Recently I’ve had a few of those days.  Trust me it is no fun to have a nervous tremor.  When that happens I feel like Gene Wilder’s character in Blazing Saddle’s Jim the Waco Kid response when Sherriff Bart (Cleavon Little) questions him:

Jim: Look at my hand.
[raises hand and holds it level]
Bart: Steady as a rock.
Jim: [raises his other hand, which is violently trembling] Yeah, but I shoot with this one.

Although I can occasionally find some morbid humor in what is going on with me I can’t say that it is any fun.

There is a perception by some, which I think is often systemic in parts of the military that people with PTSD are “broken.” Some in the system as well as others who have been granted the privilege of knowing your vulnerability consciously or unconsciously sometimes use it against you, I personally think it is intentional when this happens but I try to give the benefit of the doubt to the offender.  Like I said before this has happened to my on a number of occasions and in every instance I have felt attacked, devalued and re-traumatized and I don’t like that feeling and it takes me a while to get back through all the crap.  When it happens to me I get angry, defensive and now as opposed to my pre-Iraq life will shoot back.  I’ve stopped rolling over and letting people get away with this behavior and when I see it happen to others I get equally pissed.  Unfortunately I have a number of friends who have had similar experiences and as we share our stories we realize that some people or even the system in general will write you off as damaged goods.  What is the bad thing is that the worst comes from people who have not been in harm’s way.  Likewise, if they went to a combat zone never left one of the big FOBs and never had to deal with the danger of being outside the wire. Nor have they experienced what many medical personnel who remained on the big FOBs experienced in dealing with never ending trauma of dealing with the death, wounding and suffering of young Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen.  Another group are the men and women who perform the tasks of getting the fallen back home.  One of my Chaplain friends had this job in Kuwait and had to meet every aircraft with the bodies of the dead leaving theater performing memorials and conducting honors all the time caring for those who cared for the bodies of these Americans and came back in pretty bad shape.

What saddens me is that this still attitude of men and women dealing with PTSD being “broken” or as one called me a “shipwreck” happens even though we have been making the conscious effort since Vietnam to treat people traumatized by war.  The end result is that those who are traumatized are again and again re-traumatized by the system as well as individuals in it.  I have seen enough of this to make me throw up. Thankfully the Navy as a whole does better in this than the Army, Marines or Air Force but there is a lot to be done.   When I have a REMF screw with me or my friends it does get to me and I can say that I get angry and the person moves out of my “circle of trust.”

Likewise I get discouraged and when I see my countrymen from both of the major political parties, elected officials and regular party members tearing themselves and the country apart because of the hatred that they have for each other and each other’s positions on the issues that face our nation.   I came home at the beginning of the 2008 primary season and within a short time became quite disheartened by what I saw on both sides of the line.  There is no civility in the land and no peace at home for those of us coming home from war.  We come back and see our brothers and sisters, fellow Americans all saying and doing things doing things that can only in the long run further divide and destroy the nation.  I can understand the anger that the returning German soldiers and sailors of the First World War came home to in 1918-1919.  It seems that the only thing that we lack to be like Weimar Germany is for right and left wing militias begin fighting in the streets, killing each other and trying to take over power by force.  As it is these are fighting at political rallies and raising the invective to frightening levels.  In the case of one protest men brought semi-automatic assault weapons to protest outside of a venue the President was speaking at.  They said it was a Second Amendment rights protest but all that is needed is for one deranged individual to act on a homicidal urge to blow the whole damned place up.  I have seen the results of such folly in both the Middle East and the Balkans and I just don’t get it, it is frightening to me and the extremists on both sides of the political spectrum seem like they are doing their damnedest to destroy the country that I love so much and went to war to serve. Regardless of what extreme they are on I just say a pox on them all.

I have been asked a number of times why I would open myself up and show my vulnerability on this website.  It is certainly not for fun when I deal with this subject because I am really wound up in it.  When I write I often have to live the experience again. While many times this is emotionally draining it is something is something that I know that I have to do.  I know so many vets from the current wars and Vietnam who struggle with some of the very things that I do and often a lot more but do not have the ability to really share their stories.  The Marines who fought at Hue City are a group that I still have contact with as are people from my last base chapel job, the Vietnam Veterans of America men who man the beer stand at the Church of Baseball Harbor Park Parish, Wayne the Army Chaplain and decorated Vietnam infantry scout who dealt with his own PTSD and helped me in my discernment process to become a Chaplain.  Likewise I have this connection with my brothers and sisters who have served in Iraq and or Afghanistan.  In a sense what I want to do in my articles about PTSD as well as those about my tour in Iraq is to help people who have not been or not experienced this to get some understanding of what happened to me and to many others.  I don’t want guys to fall through the crack like in Vietnam and I think that educating the public is the best way of raising the issue and helping people care for us.  So I guess this is my “cause” and maybe even a crusade.  I hope and pray that those who love and care for our combat veterans who read this will take the time to learn, take the time to care and take the time to be with us as we walk through the often dark places that we walk.

Today was not a good day for me it was very painful but at least I was able in this post to use it to help explain what we who deal with our return from war go through.  I guess that the Deity Herself knew what she was doing today.  Pray for all of us who live in the surreal world of PTSD as we pray for you and our nation.  Pray for me a sinner.

Peace,

Steve+

Se virem este sujeito em cima de um skate digam-lhe onde fica a Austrália porque o mais certo é ele ir parar a Corroios.

The Belana’s Principal Coordinator

A new Star Trek story

1. First contact with Belana IV

2. Baadelin

3. A troubling silence

4. The Duska tribe

5. The delegation exchange

6. The sorcerer’s death

7. Attack on the Enterprise

8. Kirk, Spock and McCoy get in trouble 

9. The last fight

Personages

Baadelin: Gorlan’s most beloved daughter

Baedon: Karmut’s eldest son

Belana IV: Planet where the story takes place

Chekhov: Navigator officer of the ‘Enterprise‘

Giddon: Karmut’s second son

Gorlan: Chief coordinator of the Duska tribe

Hargal: Principal Coordinator of Belana IV

Karmut: The sorcerer of the Duska tribe

Kirk, James T,: Captain of the ‘Enterprise‘

McCoy, Leonard: Senior medical officer of the ‘Enterprise‘

Pergal: Gorlan’s only male son

Scott: Engineering officer of the ‘Enterprise‘

Spock: Science officer of the ‘Enterprise‘

Sulu: Helmsman officer of the ‘Enterprise‘

Uhura: Communication officer of the ‘Enterprise‘

1. First contact with Belana IV

The starship Enterprise was navigating in an unexplored region of the galaxy. As it approached the Belana solar system, Mr. Spock examined from afar the characteristics of its orbiting planets. Kirk, the captain of the vessel, a middle aged man, made the customary recording in the captain’s diary.

“Captain’s log, stardate 3421.6. We’re approaching the star system Belana. It has nine planets. We’re going to examine its fourth planet, to see if it’s inhabited, or fit for colonization.”

At the end of the laconic message, the captain inquired Mr. Spock, the science officer that was examining the instruments along the wall at his right, a native of the planet Vulcan from a terrestrial mother and vulcan father

― Mr. Spock! What about the fourth planet?

― It is of class M: sixty-seven per cent oxygen, thirty-two percent nitrogen, traces of carbon dioxide, water vapor and other gaseous elements.

― It looks like a perfect planet to be colonized, ― said captain Kirk.

― Yes! However, a closer look will give us more details.

― Sure! Mr. Sulu, get us into orbit. We’re going to beam down and inspect the planet.

― Aye, sir!

Mr. Sulu, the helmsman officer of Japanese ancestry, flanked by the navigator Mr. Chekhov, a young officer from Russia, had his post before the captain. He maneuvered according to the received order. Moments later, the Enterprise was in orbit about the planet. Mr. Spock started to collect its features.

― Habitable for eighty five percent of its non-aquatic surface, but there’s no signs of life as we know it, apart from insects and small animals. No evidence of intelligent life or organized infrastructures.

― Well… we’ll give it a closer look. Prepare to transport down with me and the other science officers.

Uhura, the communication officer, a beautiful, young lady of Swahili origin from Kenya, intervened from behind the captain’s chair.

― Captain! I’m getting a signal from the planet!

― Put it on the screen!

― Aye, sir!

Uhura managed with the communication commands. Soon afterwards, an image appeared on the screen. Uhura turned on her chair to observe it. Also the other members of the bridge turned their faces toward the screen. Mr. Spock left his post and went near the captain. A man of advanced age and humble appearance was visualized on the screen that occupied a large part of the front wall of the bridge. At his sides were two men of approximately the same age. They wore simple shirts, with decorations on their left sides, probably to indicate their ranks.

― I’m captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise, ― said the captain. ― We belong to the United Federation of Planets and come in peace. We are here to establish good relationships with the inhabitants of this planet.

With humble voice, the man at the center said:

― My name is Hargal. I’m the Principal Coordinator of planet Belana IV. You and your crew are most welcome here. Feel free to descend any time you wish. All that is ours is also yours.

― Thanks, Principal Coordinator. I look forward to meet you as soon I get beamed down with a couple of my officers.

― There’s no need to meet me. You may come down at the coordinates that will shortly be transmitted to your communication officer.

The video went blank. Showing surprise, captain Kirk turned towards Mr. Spock, who, like all Vulcans, didn’t show any emotion.

―The Principal Coordinator seems eager to get us down, but not to see us. What do you make of that?

― It’s interesting. However, there are insufficient data to understand his true intentions.

― You said that there is no intelligent life on the planet. How do you explain the presence of those people.

― Perhaps they live underground. I didn’t scan the interior of the planet. It wouldn’t be easy.

― Do you think there’s a gate near the place indicated by the coordinates?

― Possibly.

― For what reason would they live underground, if the atmosphere isn’t poisonous and there are no harmful radiations?

― The only way to get an answer is to go down and see directly, or ask them.

― OK. There’s nothing we can get by simple speculation.

Captain Kirk turned toward Mr. Scott, one of the most senior officers on board, a man of Scottish origin, who was near the instruments by the wall opposite to Mr. Spock’s, and said:

― Scotty! You have the com. Keep Alert 12 up to new orders. Remember: the ship and its crew come before anything else.

― Aye, sir!

― Uhura! Send the coordinates to the transporter room, and tell Dr. McCoy to get there.

― Aye, sir!

― Mr. Spock, please come with me.

Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock left the bridge. In the elevator, Kirk said:

― I want to appear peaceful. Therefore, we won’t bring any weapons with us.

― What if they’re not peaceful, if it’s a trap?

― It’s a risk we must take. That’s why I activated Alert 12. Our priority is to establish good relations with the inhabitants of the planets we visit.

― The coordinates point to the surface. To me, it looks a little suspicious that they didn’t give us the coordinates of their quarters inside the planet.

― They too may be suspicious towards us. Since we are strangers, perhaps they don’t want to reveal exactly where they live. An elevator or some other means will transport us to their quarters.

Mr. Spock raised his right eyebrow, as was his custom when something left him perplexed. It was clear that some doubts still persisted in his mind.

― Something doesn’t turn out to be correct, captain. Our communicators will transmit our positions during our permanence.

― Yes. Eventually they’ll take them away as soon as we’re beamed down.

A few moments later, both the captain and the science officer were in the transporter room. Mr. Henschel, a middle aged man, was behind the transporting machine, which had many levers over it. In front of him, in a separated circular room, at a level a little higher than that of the main room, there were six circular plates on the floor. It was there that had to stand anything, persons or things, to be transported away. On the ceiling above each circle there was a red cylinder, which, together with the plates on the floor, determined the volumes to be transported.

A couple of minutes after their arrival, the senior medical officer arrived, In his mid-forties, Dr. McCoy was one of the oldest officers in the ship. In a few words, captain Kirk explained the doctor the situation. Then the three officers took their positions over three circular plates on the platform.

― Energize, ― ordered the captain.

The officer at the transporter maneuvered various levers. Kirk, Spock and McCoy disappeared in a sort of cloud.

2. Baadelin

At the same time, three small clouds formed on the surface of the planet. In a couple of seconds they assumed the shapes of the beamed men. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy had been materialized at the location indicated by the coordinates. As the materialization got completed, the three men turned their heads around to get a first look of the place. They were in a small forest clearing. The sky was blue like that of the earth. The temperature was pleasant. There was some smelling in the air, like that of flowers in bloom. No intelligent being was in sight. Captain Kirk took his communicator and tried to contact the Enterprise.

― Kirk to Enterprise. Kirk to Enterprise… Please, come in… Kirk to Enterprise. Do you read me?

No answer came from the communicator. Kirk tried to maneuver it, while continuing to call, but got no response. Mr Spock and Dr. McCoy took their own communicators and also tried to contact the starship, but in vain.

― The surface of the planet must be protected by a force field, ― said Mr. Spock.

― You noticed no fields when we were on board, ― said the captain.

― Perhaps it was activated just after our arrival.

― It must be so.

Kirk gave another look around. Beyond the circular clearing, there were trees all around. They were rather thick, and the view didn’t reach more than fifty meters in any direction. The clearing was covered with grass. Some flowers with bright colors were visible on some bushes at the edge of the clearing.

― There should be the entrance to the underground in the vicinity, ― said the captain. ― Let’s find out where it is.

The three men started walking around, looking for something unusual that might have hidden the entrance to a room underground. They examined the bushes, imagining that the entrance might be hidden in between them They found nothing. Captain Kirk tried to contact the ship again, but obtained no results.

― Perhaps we’ve got beamed at a wrong spot, ― said Dr. McCoy.

― Hardly. I checked myself the coordinates, ― replied Mr. Spock.

― Let’s wait for a while, ― said the captain. ― Perhaps they’ll come and take us away with some sort of vehicle or flying module.

As they waited, Mr. Spock examined the surrounding region with his tricorder. Dr. McCoy simply looked around smiling.

― It seems a perfect place to rest for a while, ― he said. ― We all need some rest.

― I wonder why the inhabitants don’t live on the surface. The environment is excellent and there seems to be no danger ― said the captain.

― Perhaps there’s no danger just in this place, ― said Mr. Spock. ― That might be the reason why they gave us these coordinates for the transport.

― What danger could there be? You said that while in space you found nothing unusual, ― said the captain.

― Captain! The tricorder shows a couple of life forms two hundred meters ahead in that direction, ― said Mr. Spock, raising his left arm.

― Perhaps it’s the persons sent to pick us up.

At that moment, they heard a woman scream coming from the direction pointed by Mr. Spock. Kirk ahead, they immediately started running toward that direction. After a few dozen meters in the wood, they saw a sort of animal, resembling a bear, that unsuccessfully tried to reach the lowest branches of a tree by jumping. Up on that tree, standing over a branch, there was a girl about seventeen years of age. It was she who was screaming. Captain Kirk fetched a robust, dried tree branch that lied on the ground, and courageously advanced toward the bear. The animal turned towards him, raising his arms. Using the rod, Kirk managed to keep the animal at a distance, while trying to hurt him. In the meantime, Mr Spock fetched a big stone and hurled it toward the bear. Hit on the head, the bear emitted a strong, painful roar and retreated. After a few steps backward, it ran away. Thrown the rod aside, captain Kirk advanced toward the tree, where the girl had taken refuge. She quickly descended. She wore a simple skin vest that covered her from thighs to shoulders. She thanked the captain and Mr. Spock.

― Hadn’t you arrived, I’d had found myself in a very bad position. Sometimes the rowruses get up the trees, if they succeed to catch a lower branch.

― Who are you? What were you doing here?

― My name is Baadelin and belong to the Duska tribe. We live nearby. My father, Gorlan, is the tribe coordinator. Who are you? You look so strange. Where do you come from?

― I’m captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Do you know what a starship is?

Baadelin looked surprised.

― N-no!

― Where is your tribe? Can you conduct us there?

― Yes! My father will be very happy to see you, when he’ll know that you saved my life. Follow me!

The girl moved with quick pace in the wood, followed by the three cosmonauts, and conducted them farther from the clearing where they had been beamed down.

― Captain! ― said Dr. McCoy. ― What if the persons we had to meet come and don’t see us?

― We’ve waited long enough. Not seeing us, they’ll ask the Enterprise, or eventually look for us at the tribe. It seems the place isn’t far away.

― I’m amazed by what I see, ― said Mr Spock. ― There was supposed to be no superior life forms on this planet. Yet…

― Any explanation about that?

Mr. Spock raised his right eyebrow. After a while, he said:

― Everything looks illogical. It’s too early to give a rational explanation.

― Let’s follow the girl. Later we’ll see what to do and how to contact the ship. They’ll be looking for us by now, and should be able to detect our positions.

― It all depends on the force field. As it prevents us from contacting the ship, probably it won’t permit them to detect us either.

― Anyway, as for now, we have no better alternative but to follow the girl.

The girl continued to walk speedily in the wood, showing that she knew the place perfectly well. Half a mile ahead, the trees became more sparse. As they walked, they met a couple of warriors. They looked at them inquisitively, but did nothing to stop them. By the expressions of their faces, they didn’t look savage. A few minutes later, they saw a large clearing and a number of tepees similar to those used by the American Indians.

3. A troubling silence

From the com chair in the middle of the bridge, Mr Scott asked:

― Is everything OK? Have they been beamed down?

― Yes, sir! ― was Henschel’s reply from the transporter room.

― Uhura! Contact them. See if everything is all right.

― Aye, sir…

Uhura managed with the buttons of the apparatus before her, full of lights of many different colors. After a while, she turned towards Mr. Scott, and said:

― Sir, I can’t get in contact with them. They seem to have disappeared!

― Try again. Perhaps there is a turbulence of some kind that affects our communication.

Uhura turned toward the console before her, and worked for a while, managing buttons on it.

― Sorry, sir. I’m unable to establish any contact with them.

Scott opened the communication with the transporter room.

― Mr. Henschel! Has there been any problems with the transfer? Are you sure they got beamed at the right place?

― Yes, sir. Nothing unusual here. They’ve been sent to the coordinates the communication officer sent me. Nothing appears to have gone wrong.

― Uhura! Please try again. They can’t have vaporized in thin air.

Uhura tried again to communicate, to no avail. Turning toward Mr. Scott, she said, showing stupefaction in her face:

― I can’t communicate with them. I don’t receive any signal from their communicators. Unless something impedes the communication, it appears as if they didn’t exist.

― Check the coordinates the Belanans gave us with those of the Principal Coordinator, when he communicated with us.

― They are the same, sir.

― Perhaps we should send down a team to look for them, ― said Mr. Sulu, turning toward Mr. Scott..

― No. We’d risk to lose more men. Until we know what happened to our officers, we can’t risk any more lives. Let’s try to communicate with the Principal Coordinator Hargal. Uhura! Please, establish contact with the planet.

― Aye, sir.

Uhura worked with the dials of her console.

― We get no response, sir.

― What the heck is this! The planet appears to be empty of intelligent life, nonetheless we are contacted from its surface by people similar to us. We send down three men and they disappear. No alien ship in the vicinity, no danger as far as we can discern… Uhura, Sulu, Chekhov, get a substitution! We must discuss about this. Enforce yellow alert!

A little later, Mr. Scott and the bridge officers were reunited in the briefing room. At the center of the room there was a large, oblong, pentagonal table, around which several people could take place. It was in that room that serious matters were usually debated. The officers got a seat around the table. Mr Scott opened the talk.

― We are in a very unusual situation. We’ve lost contact with the captain, his second in command and Dr. McCoy. We don’t know what happened to them. Please, express your opinion.

― The only option seems to send an armed team at the location were the officers were beamed, ― said Sulu.

― If the situation, although unlikely, is due to some sort of malfunction, independent of the will of the inhabitants of the planet, we risk to ruin the establishment of good relations with them, ― said Scott. ― It’s too early to act in such a manner.

― But our first three officers have been lost! ― said Chekhov, looking rather agitated. ― We can’t ignore that!

― Nonetheless, we don’t know what is going to happen, once some people are sent down there. Since we don’t know what happened to our officers, I can’t just send down more men. As far as we know, they might have materialized inside solid rock. We know nothing of this damned planet!

― Perhaps some sort of turbulence don’t permit us to communicate with the planet, ― said Sulu.

― Yes! That’s why we have to be careful, and not let our emotions determine our behavior.

― What if for some reason they have been kidnapped? ― asked Uhura.

― As long as we don’t get any communication in that sense, like a ransom request, we can’t take this seriously. In any case, we can’t exclude this possibility either.

― Why would they kidnap our officers? They certainly can’t expect that we give them the ship in exchange! ― said Sulu.

― We know nothing of the people that live on this planet. Therefore, anything is possible.

― What if something went wrong at their arrival? Some misunderstanding, or things like that? ― asked Chekhov.

― Captain Kirk is an experienced officer. We can rule out this possibility. Besides, it would have taken some time for it to occur. In the meantime, we’d have had the opportunity to establish the first communication… Any other idea of what might have happened, or how to react? ― asked Mr. Scott.

― Perhaps we should try to call the Principal Coordinator again. ― said Uhura. ― Sometimes insistence brings good effects,

― Yes. With no other options available, this actually seems the best we can do. We’ll try again to communicate with the Principal Coordinator, sending some messages and asking questions. Even if they don’t answer, I have the feeling that they hear us. In any case, talking is better than nothing. If they continue to ignore our calls, I’ll threat to destroy the entire planet. If good manners don’t produce a thing, perhaps tough ones will do. Let’s go back to the bridge!

The officers left the room and returned to the bridge. Each one took place at his respective post. As Mr. Scott sat on the com chair, he said:

― Uhura! Open the communication.

― Aye, sir.

Mr. Scott paused for a couple of seconds, as if to gather his ideas, then said:

― This is lieutenant Scott, substitute in command of the Enterprise. We’ve sent down at the indicated coordinates the captain, his second in command and the senior medical doctor of our starship. After that, we didn’t succeed to communicate with them. What happened? Where are they? Are they in good health? We came here in peace and were cordially accepted by you. What happened is inexplicable. Please, answer! Let us know their whereabouts.

Scott went silent. No response came from the planet. After a few minutes, Scott sent another message of a similar kind. Again, he got no response. All officers started looking at him, as if to understand what he would do next. Scott turned to the substitute science officer, and asked:

― Is there any way we can detect the officers on the planet? Even if the inhabitants happened to belong to unknown life forms, undetectable from our instruments, however the captain and the other officers are men! We should be able to locate them!

― We don’t see any signs of large forms of life on the planet, sir.

― Yet you see some life forms. How is it that you don’t detect our officers.

― I don’t know, sir. Perhaps they’ve been brought in the interior of the planet.

― How is it possible in such a short time! Can’t you pry into the interior?

― I’ve tried, sir, but got nothing. Perhaps it’s hidden by some force field.

― Can’t you penetrate through it, at least in a small region near the place where the three men were beamed?

― I’ve already tried, sir, but without success. No human life form exists on the planet, nor in its interior, up to a certain depth. Perhaps some strong field prevents us from getting a glimpse of what lies beneath, and our instruments are unable to recognize it or penetrate through it,

― Is there a possibility that they are all dead by now?

― I can’t answer that question. They might be dead and their communicators broken, but there’s no way I can ascertain it. All I can say is that our instruments don’t detect any live human being, nor any functioning communicator.

― Where can they be? Why should the Belanans do this? for what reason? That I don’t understand! They haven’t requested any ransom, they give no response to our calls… Hadn’t I been present when they contacted us, I’d doubt that the communication had effectively taken place. However, apart from this, it seems that they’re not posing any threat to the ship. Therefore, let’s cancel the yellow alert.

― Sir. Before leaving, the captain talked about Alert 12, ― asked Uhura. ― What did he mean by that?

― By Alert 12 it’s meant that whenever we get in contact with him after a long period of silence, a question should be asked, whose answer only he knows, like some unforgettable past common experience. This is to prevent a computer generated voice to trick us.

Scott remained silent for a few seconds, then added with strong determination:

― If we don’t get any message from the captain, and our requests are ignored,.. well… I’m going to wait for a whole day. After that I’ll break that planet into crumbles!

― What about the captain?

― If he doesn’t answer in twenty-four hours, I doubt he’ll still be alive.

4. The Duska tribe

As they got close to the encampment, they met more people, who looked at them with curiosity. They all appeared benevolent, perhaps for the fact that the cosmonauts were accompanied by the coordinator’s daughter, Baadelin. She conducted them to her father’s tepee. As they approached it, the chief coordinator came out, perhaps attracted by the noise. He was a man of about fifty. Baadelin was the daughter he got from his fourth wife. He bore a special affection towards her, for the fact that she had the sweetest character among his sons, and reminded him his first wife, her aunt, that he lost after a few weeks of marriage. Baadelin said:

― Father! These men saved my life from a rowrus that had attacked me. If it weren’t for them, I’d be dead by now.

― Since you’ve shown great courage and saved my child, you are my friends, ― said the chief coordinator. ― I’m about to lose Pergal, my only male son. If it weren’t for you, I’d had lost also my most beloved daughter. Ask me whatever you want, and within my power it’ll be yours.

― We did just what had to be done, ― answered the captain.

― I’ll be pleased if you stayed with us. This tepee near mine is yours to live, if you decide to stay.

― I presume we won’t stay long. We’ve been invited by Hargal, the Principal Coordinator of the planet.

― If by planet you mean this earth, there is no Principal Coordinator. Any tribe has its own coordinator. Besides, I don’t know any man of that name.

Captain Kirk looked a bit surprised, but quickly masked his emotions.

― We’re very pleased of your hospitality. We gladly accept it, ― he said.

Gorlan ordered that some food and all that was necessary for the permanence of the guests be brought in the tepee he had assigned them.

At that moment, Karmut, a man in his fifties, the sorcerer of the tribe, got out of the coordinator’s tepee. He had heard that Gorlan was going to give the strangers a tepee inside the village, and was furious:

― Since ancient times, it’s not permitted to strangers to live inside our camp. They should be given a tepee outside! ― he exclaimed with rough voice.

― They saved the life of my daughter, Baadelin. I adopt them, so they’ll be no more strangers.

Even more furious, Karmut didn’t answer, and left.

― Karmut is not like his father, who was a very humble man and a good friend of mine. He wants power, in contrast with our tradition. Who rules should be the most humble man in the village. Certainly, the gods don’t approve his conduct. Sooner or later he’ll certainly get into trouble. But now I must leave you. If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask me.

― You said that your son is going to die. Why? ― asked Dr. McCoy.

― He’s in my tent. Karmut gave him some herbs, but in vain.

― May I see him?

― Certainly! Please, come inside.

Gorlan entered the tepee, followed by Dr. McCoy, captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. A man lied on the floor, covered by a skin cover. He looked very pale. Doctor McCoy examined him with his instruments.

― He’s been poisoned! ― he exclaimed with surprise.

― Karmut said that he had been struck by a hoorjan, a sort of malediction the gods give to sinners. I suspected that it wasn’t true, because Karmut wants his eldest son to inherit the role of coordinator of the tribe

― Can you heal him? ― asked Kirk.

― I may try, ― answered the doctor.

― If you save my only male son, my gratitude will have no limits, ― Gorlan said.

Doctor McCoy gave instructions to make a potion to be administered to the coordinator’s son. Baadelin, who was present, said she would hurry to make it. Then she left.

― I’d advise to impede Karmut to get near your son, or he might try to kill him, ― said Kirk.

― I’ll take care of that, ― said the chief.

Kirk went outside and talked to Spock.

― New problems have arisen, ― said Kirk. ― If the coordinator’s son survives, Karmut will certainly say that it happened because of his herbs; if he dies, he’ll accuse us.

― Hopefully, he won’t die, ― said Spock, ― but in that case, we’ll have the coordinator’s protection.

― Yes! But the sorcerer looks dangerous. We’ll have to be careful in dealing with him. .― said the captain. Then, after a brief pause, he asked: ― As for the rest, what do you make of our situation?

― I believe we are no more on planet Belana’s surface. That would explain why we can’t contact the Enterprise and the fact that there wasn’t supposed to be any intelligent life on the planet, ― said Mr. Spock. ― I also suspect that we are going to stay here for a very long time.

― If that’s really the case, then the inhabitants of Belana IV must possess a technology that permits them to transfer things to great distances, even light years away. It all sounds meaningless. On the other hand, for what reason would they have done this? ― asked Kirk.

― I can’t answer that question. However, there’s a fact that doesn’t fit the situation, ― said Spock. ― If they possessed such technology, probably the Enterprise wouldn’t constitute much of a threat to them, and they wouldn’t need to act this way. They’re behavior looks illogical. We certainly miss something.

― Can it be that those who sent us here have an outpost in this planet and follow our moves?

― I can’t answer this question either; there aren’t sufficient data, ― replied Spock. ― The only thing we can do right now is to try to survive the best we can.

The two men returned inside the tepee.

― How’s Pergal going? ― asked Kirk.

― I’ve given him a shot to sustain his heart, but without the potion I’ve ordered, I doubt he’ll survive.

― My daughter will bring it in no time, ― said the coordinator. ― I hope it’s not too late to save my son’s life.

― Your son is very strong. I’ve reasons to believe he’ll react positively to the medicine.

At that moment, Baadelin entered the tent with the potion. She kneeled down and gave it to her brother, helped by Dr. McCoy.

― In a short time he’ll vomit, ― said the doctor. ― After that, in a couple of days he’ll be healthy again.

Gorlan sat near his son and waited. After a few minutes, Pergal started coughing. McCoy turned him aside. Pergal vomited abundantly on a plate they had put near his mouth.

― That’s good, ― said the doctor, to the relief of the astronauts. ― He’ll make it. He’ll survive.

In a few minutes Pergal’s face got some color. It became clear that he was recovering. Gorlan and his daughter were ecstatic.

― You are a true sorcerer, ― said the coordinator. ― I nominate you the new sorcerer of the tribe.

The astronauts left the tepee. The chief coordinator assigned McCoy a tepee of his own. McCoy thought he’d use it to receive patients, but would spend most of his time with the captain and the science officer.

5. The delegation exchange

― Mr. Scott! A signal is coming from the planet, ― said Uhura with loud voice.

― Put it on the screen.

From the big screen in front of the bridge, the usual image of the planet below disappeared and Hargal, the Principal Coordinator, appeared, flanked by his two adjutants.

― I’m sorry for what happened to your captain and his two sub-officers, ― he said. ― An incomprehension between them and us led to an attempt to use violence, which forced our security to kill them. But we are still willing to establish good relations with you. Please, forgive the accident. We’ll be glad to receive your new ambassadors. Send them to the same coordinates as before. We’ll receive them with due honor.

Mr. Scott appeared as if a bomb had exploded near him. He opened his mouth to answer, but the communication went out. Uhura, Sulu and Chekhov, all turned towards him, their faces expressing horror.

― What shall we do? ― asked Sulu with dismay.

― I can’t believe the captain is dead, ― Scott replied with anger.

― They are joking with us, ― said Chekhov. ― What do they expect from us, that we continue to send down our men just to be slaughtered?

― As before, they terminated the communication at their own discretion. It’s as if our words meant nothing to them. That’s outrageous! ― said Scott.

― On the other hand, what can we do? Their response shows they have no fear of us. Probably our weapons wouldn’t do a thing to them, ― said Sulu.

― That I would very like to try! ― Scott replied with anger.

― Probably they’re just playing poker, hoping that we leave the planet, ― said Chekhov.

― That’s incredible! Why do they act this way, without even knowing us! Certainly we won’t leave without first using all the weapons we have against that damned planet, ― said Scott.

― What if the captain is still alive? ― asked Chekhov.

― That’s the big question. Before turning our weapons on them and leave the planet, we must be reasonably certain that he, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are truly dead.

― The planet doesn’t show any signs of life. How can we get that knowledge?

― Probably some force field protects the interior of the planet from our instruments. Uhura! Did the communication come from the same spot as the previous ones?

― Yes, sir! Exactly from those same coordinates.

― Then the solution must reside there. We’re in a big mess, and there seems to be no way out, except annihilating the entire planet.

― Mr. Scott! I’m getting a new message.

Again, the image of the planet disappeared and the Principal Coordinator with his assistants appeared on the big screen.

― Perhaps you don’t trust us, ― said the Principal Coordinator with a humble voice. ― To show our good will, we’re going to send on your ship a delegation from our planet. After that, we expect you to send down a delegation of yours.

― Very well! Send here your emissaries, and we’ll send down ours.

― Call us when you are ready for the transfer. Our delegation will be waiting.

― OK.

The screen went blank.

― Who are we going to send? ― asked Mr. Scott. ― We can’t go down, otherwise the ship will remain practically without guidance.

― There are other officers in the ship. I’d propose to send some doubles, ― said Sulu. ― They won’t take any binding decision, but report to us,

― That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Lieutenant Uhura! Call the officers Johnson, McGuire and Moreno, and send three men from the security to the transporter room.

Uhura acted as requested. A few minutes later, the three mentioned officers were on the bridge. Mr. Scott instructed them regarding their mission. Then he sent them to the transporter room.

― Uhura! Open the communication with the planet.

Uhura established the communication.

― Our delegation is ready to be beamed down.

― Very well, then. Our delegation is already in place. Beam them up, and transport down your emissaries.

― All right!

The communication ended. Mr. Scott talked to the transporter room.

― Mr. Henschel! Beam up the delegation from the planet.

― Aye, sir!

A few seconds later, Henschel communicated the arrival of the delegation.

― Very well! Beam down our officers!

― Aye, sir!

― Now I’m going to talk to those men from Belana IV! At least they won’t interrupt the communication. Mr. Sulu, you have the com.

― Aye, sir!

Mr. Scott went to the transporter room. There, three well dressed men were waiting, and three men from the security were nearby.

― Well… ― said Mr. Scott with a satisfied tone in his voice, ― now we’re going to talk quite a bit!

― About what? ― asked one of the men of the Belana IV delegation.

― First of all, I want some news of the captain and the other two officers we beamed down.

― We know nothing of it, ― answered one of the men of the delegation, showing surprise.

― How can it be! What’s your specialization on the planet?

― I’m a robber.

― I killed two persons.

― I was in jail for…

― What?!

― They told us that some people had paid a ransom for us, and we had never to return to Belana IV, otherwise they’d put us in jail again.

6. The sorcerer’s death

Alone in their tepee, Kirk and Spock were examining every aspect of their situation from the scientific point of view, trying to get a logical explanation.

― I wonder if we are still on Belana IV, ― said Spock.

― Why do you say that? ― asked Kirk.

― What we got from the instruments while in orbit was real. That’s a fact! There was no intelligent life on Belana IV. Therefore, we can’t be on the surface of that planet.

― How is it possible that we got transferred on another planet?

― As of my knowledge, it’s impossible. However, the instruments don’t lie. Every information I got from them was reasonable. There wasn’t room for mistakes.

Dr. McCoy came in.

― Jim, ― said Dr. McCoy, as he entered the tepee. ― Karmut is going to challenge my nomination as sorcerer of the tribe.

― How?

― In combat.

― You won’t have a chance to beat him. He’s too strong and used to fighting; you’re not. Can’t you renounce that privilege?

― That would show that Gorlan made a mistake in choosing me and give Karmut reasons to argue that he’s unfit for governing the tribe. Besides, Karmut doesn’t like us. If he gets his title back, he might try to use his influence against us, saying that we’re foreigners who came here to disrupt the peaceful life of the tribe. I’ve just discussed the matter with the chief coordinator. This is what he told me.

― Bones! You can’t fight against him! He’ll kill you!

― There’s one possibility, captain, ― said Mr. Spock. ― that Karmut dies first,

― We can’t kill him! We’re not assassins, ― said Kirk.

― I wasn’t saying that.

― Explain!

― Dr. McCoy drugs him, so that he may appear dead for some time. Then there will be reasons to say that it’s a sign from the gods, and that McCoy is the rightful sorcerer of the tribe.

― Bones! Can you do that?

― Yes! I can prepare the potion. The problem is how to have him to take it.

― We’ll see it later. Prepare the potion!

McCoy left the tepee.

― How can we induce Karmut to drink the potion? ― asked Kirk.

― I can use my power on his neck from behind, so that he gets unconscious. Then, while he’s in that state, I’ll give him the potion. Nobody will know what happened to him, not even himself.

― Yes! That’s the only way out of this trouble. You must be careful that he doesn’t see you.

― Of course. While you distract him with some talk, I’ll come from behind and do the job.

― OK. As soon as we get the potion, I’ll try to find an excuse to bring him in an isolated place. You’ll follow us without being seen, and then intervene.

Half an hour later, Kirk was in Karmut’s tepee. The sorcerer looked as if he was pleased to have the opportunity to know better his enemy, and manifest all his rage.

― I know McCoy very well, ― Kirk was saying. ― Let me be frank with you: he’s unfit to be a sorcerer. And he’s also my friend. I wouldn’t like to see him dead. Is there any possibility that he renounces the nomination and you get back your title?

Karmut looked triumphant. Showing great disdain, he said:

― No! Being a sorcerer is too great an honor. Evidently you don’t appreciate that. One cannot renounce it. Only the gods can decide through a fight who deserves to receive that great honor. The chosen one by the gods shall win the fight and be the rightful sorcerer of the tribe.

As they were speaking. from behind Spock raised the border of the tent and slipped inside without being noticed. A moment later Karmut was unconscious on the ground. Spock took the cup he had laid outside the tent and poured its contents in Karmut’s mouth. Afterwards, he left. Kirk waited a few minutes. The potion made its effect, and the sorcerer got pale as if he were dead, while his breathing became imperceptible. Then kirk went to Gorlan’s tepee.

― Karmut is dead, ― he said. ― I was talking to him in his tepee, when he fell down as if a bolt had struck him.

Gorlan ran out and went to Karmut’s place, followed by Kirk. Some warriors, seeing the emotional state of their chief, followed him. Gorlan entered Karmut’s tepee. A few moments later he came out. He talked to the people that had gathered outside:

― Karmut, the great sorcerer, is dead, ― he said.

Then raising his arms to the sky, he added with loud voice:

― This is a sign from the gods. McCoy, the man who saved my son’s life, is the chosen sorcerer. Prepare the pyre for Karmut’s corpse to be burned according to the traditional ceremonial, so that his soul may return to the gods.

The warriors started yelling with joy and dancing, a usual practice when a sorcerer died. Some of them prepared a pyre and put Karmut’s body over it.

― The gods have spoken, ― said Gorlan to McCoy. ― You are the new, chosen sorcerer of the Duska tribe. May the gods always assist you in your sacred service. Now the sacred ceremonial will be performed. The sorcerer’s body will be burned and his soul will return to the gods.

On hearing these words, the warriors started yelling again with joy and dancing. McCoy intervened:

― If his death is a sign from the gods, just to show that the honor of being sorcerer of the tribe has passed to me, than Karmut might come back to life. Don’t burn his body immediately. Put some guards near the pyre, so that when he’ll come back to life we shall be informed. If he doesn’t return to life within one day, than his body shall be burned and his soul will return to the gods.

― You speak wisely. Your word shall be obeyed, ― said Gorlan.

As suggested by McCoy, the chief coordinator decided to wait a full day before lighting the pyre. He ordered two men to stand on guard near it. After that, he left. McCoy joined Kirk in his tepee.

― In this way we’re not responsible for his death ― he said.

― The danger isn’t over, yet, ― said Kirk. ― He’s a stubborn man. He won’t renounce so easily to the privilege of being sorcerer of the tribe. We’ll still have to stand on guard against him.

― Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long for the rescue by Mr. Scott. I wonder what is happening on the Enterprise.

― That worries me too. However, if we are no more on Belana IV, as Spock suggested, I doubt we’ll have a chance to be rescued.

The rest of the day passed peacefully, but a new menace started to loom over the astronauts. Baedon, the eldest of Karmut’s sons didn’t accept well the fact that his father had died. He had expected that through his influence he would have become chief coordinator at Gorlan’s death. Now, with his father dead and Gorlan’s son alive, that chance seemed to have slipped away.

The sun went down and the village remained illuminated only by the stars. As night descended, Kirk and Spock noticed that the sky wasn’t the one they expected. The location of the stars didn’t correspond to that seen from Belana IV. No known constellation was visible.

― According to what we see, we could well be at the other end of the galaxy. No group of stars is familiar ― said Spock.

― How can it be that in a matter of seconds we got transferred so far away?

― Evidently, the scientific knowledge of the Belana’s people is far beyond ours, but there are also other possibilities.

― What do you mean? Are you suggesting that our minds are being influenced through telepathy?

― Well… it might be so, The third possibility is that we are inside a hollow, artificial planet, and the sky isn’t real.

― If it’s telepathy, we might still be on board of the Enterprise! However, for what reason would the Belana IV inhabitants do this trick to us? Is this a zoo? Are we supposed to be like some kind of animals?

― That’s an open question. It’ll remain such until we get more information.

― If we are experiencing telepathy and are still be on board of the Enterprise, then also the other crew members are experiencing some fantastic adventures. Is it so?

― It may be. However, since all the strange things happened after we got transferred to the surface of the planet, I’d give more consideration to the third possibility, although nothing can be said for sure.

― If we are in the interior of the planet, then the Enterprise is free and may eventually free us. Scott won’t certainly send other crew members on the surface until he gets some news from us. This is the best possibility we can hope for.

― Yes! To know if that’s indeed the case, we should walk a few kilometers outside the village, and see if the stars change their positions in the sky. That would tell us if they are real or not. If they are real, then either we have been transferred to a very distant solar system or we’re influenced through tehepathy. .

― We don’t have any weapons. It might be dangerous to leave the village, especially at night. Who knows what other animals live on this planet? We’ve seen a rowrus, but there may be other animals, even more dangerous.

― Until we know more about it, it’s better not to leave the village boundaries, ― concluded Spock.

As time passed, all people went to sleep, except the two warriors on guard near the pyre. Because of his past deeds, Karmut hadn’t been well loved in the tribe, and many people hated him. During the night somebody lighted the pyre, so that his body be burned without the accomplishment od the sacred ceremonial. The old sorcerer went to ashes. When the chief coordinator heard about it, he wasn’t surprised and did nothing to punish the guards who had gotten asleep.

7. Attack on the Enterprise

On board of the Enterprise, Scott was dismayed. Three more men had been lost without making any progress, nor acquiring any new knowledge of the enemies. The men that came on board didn’t give any useful information regarding the people that lived on Belana IV, since they answered to the questions that were asked in a very generic and confused way. Finally, they were confined. Scott didn’t risk to send down any more men, because the communication with the planet had ended as soon as the officers of the delegation were transferred. The spaceship continued to orbit the planet in an idle way, while the instruments continued to reveal nothing regarding its inhabitants. No noticeable infrastructure was visible on the surface. It looked as if there was no intelligent life on the planet. In particular, the position where the officers had been transferred wasn’t in any way different from any other in the surrounding regions. The planet was a mystery.

― A sort of ball of fire is coming from the planet, sir, ― said Sulu.

In fact, a huge, luminous ball had left the planet’s surface and was moving fast toward the ship.

― Red alert! ― Scott quickly ordered, with loud voice. ― All shields to maximum level of protection!

A few moments later the fiery ball struck the Enterprise. All men on board got violently shaken.

― Did the ball come from the same coordinates where our men were beamed down? ― asked Scott.

― No, sir, ― answered Uhura.

― Fire toward the place of launch!

― Aye, sir!

Sulu fired. For a few seconds, a powerful phaser ray was emitted from the ship and hit the planet at the point from which the ball of destruction had been launched. A while later, a second fiery ball left the planet from another location.

― Fire to that location! ― yelled Scott,

The ship fired. A moment later the ball struck the ship.

― Protection down to eighty percent, ― said Sulu.

A third ball of fire left the planet from a third location. The ship fired. A moment later, it was struck by the ball.

― Are there any casualties? ― asked Scott.

― No, sir, ― replied Uhura. ― No report of casualties.

― But it is reducing our protecting shield, ― said Sulu.

― Do all the balls come from the same spot?

― No, sir. They always came from different locations.

― Perhaps we succeeded to neutralize some of their weapons with our phasers, ― said Chekhov.

― There’s no way we can confirm that. Look! Another ball is coming!

― Fire!

The ship got struck again. Afterwards, more balls continued to hit the ship.

― The shield protection is down to twenty percent, ― said Sulu. ― We won’t be able to resist much longer.

― If we could see our enemies, perhaps we could be more effective. But we see nothing, and know nothing. There’s no escape, ― said Mr. Scott with frustrated voice.

A new ball struck the ship.

― The shields are down to eight percent, sir. Perhaps the next ball will damage the ship.

― Uhura! Open the communication channel with the planet!

― Aye, sir! But I don’t know if they hear us.

― I think they do. ― said Scott. Then, raising his voice, he said: ― Here’s lieutenant Scott, substitute commander of the starship Enterprise. We came in peace and you kidnapped six of our best officers. We did nothing against your planet, and you kept shelling our ship in order to destroy it. What do you want? What are your conditions? Please, answer!

No response followed Scott’s talk, but a new incandescent ball came from the planet below. The ship was hit and remained without protection. Its protecting shield had been reduced to zero. Mr. Scott spoke again:

― Your behavior against us is totally unrighteous, since no war has been declared. It goes against the most elementary laws existing between planets, be they friendly or not. You don’t even answer to our requests. You don’t say what you want from us. At this point, our only answer can’t be but this: we won’t surrender. As of our last resort we’ll blow up the ship and the entire planet with it. Your conduct has clearly shown that you don’t deserve any better. The responsibility for the destruction of your planet will be entirely yours. End of communication.

The commander, emotionally shaken, waited for an answer, but got none. However, no more balls were launched from the planet.

― Perhaps we’ve destroyed all their battery stations, ― said Mr. Chekhov.

― I doubt it, ― replied Mr. Scott. ― Has the ship suffered any damage?

― No, sir, apart from the loss of power. We’ll need several hours to regain the power we lost.

― Well, if there are no permanent damages, that’s good news. It means that if they don’t get struck again for a few hours, we’ll get back as we were originally and be able to fire back. At least, we won’t be like sitting ducks.

― Perhaps it’s time to consider leaving the planet, ― proposed Sulu.

Mr. Scott looked at him. He was realizing that there was little alternative. But after a while, he said:

― Would they let us leave unharmed? That’s the big question. What if they wait until we are far enough, so that the destruction of the ship won’t affect the planet, and then start pounding again and destroy us? No. At this time I think there can be only war between them and us, until complete annihilation. We won’t leave the planet, unless they give us back the captain and the other officers we beamed down.

― We might not be able to get them anyway.

― If we don’t get them, we won’t leave this planet without utterly destroying it! With these people, there’s no guarantee of anything. The situation has reached a point of no return.

― A signal from the planet, sir, ― said Uhura.

― Put it on the screen!

The screen lighted up. The Principal Coordinator Hargal and his lieutenants appeared.

― You can in no way resist another attack from us. We offer you to come down and live on this planet as free men. But first you must release your ship and let our men take control of it.

― We don’t trust you. You never honored your word. We’ll fight to the end, and finally blow up the ship and also the planet.

― This is our last offer: surrender!

― This is our last answer: never!

The Principal Coordinator consulted his aides. Then he replied:

― As a sign of good will, we’ll return your last three officers you sent down. Send back the delegation we sent before and we’ll send your officers back. You’ll see that they are in good health. Afterwards, you’ll have one hour to decide. Past that time, the ship will be destroyed.

― What about the captain and his officers?

There was no answer. The screen went blank.

― What shall I do? Should I send the three men down? ― the frustrated Scott asked himself,.

― Well. They are criminals, ― said Sulu, turning towards Scott.

― What if they’re not?

― You’ve interrogated them. Even if they’re not criminals, which they pretend to be, what can we get from them, anyway? They’ll never talk.

― Yes, you’re right. I’m going to show that bunch of … that we are civilized people. We’ll send the three men down, and the hell with them if they don’t send our men back! If they do it, we’ll get from them some information of the people that live on Belana IV. It’ll be better than nothing.

Mr. Scott ordered the prisoners to be brought to the transporter room and sent back to the planet. A while later, he received confirmation that the task had been done. Immediately afterward, he received the communication that the three officers of the Enterprise had been beamed on board. Mr. Scott appeared quite relieved.

― Send them here. I want to interrogate them, ― he said.

From the transporter room came the reply:

― They’re unconscious, sir.

― Bring them to the sickbay! ― he ordered.

Mr. Scott left the bridge and went to the sickbay. The three officers laid in beds and were being examined by Dr. McCoy’s substitute.

― What happened to them? ― Scott asked.

― They’re just profoundly asleep.

― Can’t you wake them up?

― It seems they’ve received an unknown substance. There’s no antidote to it. I’m unable to wake them, ― said the doctor. ― We’ll have to wait for the natural end of the cause that keeps them asleep. I gather it will take at least one hour.

― Exactly the time they gave us to surrender, before obliterating the ship!

8. Kirk, Spock and McCoy get in trouble

United in McCoy’s tepee, Kirk and Spock were spending some time with the doctor.

― I’ve become a country doctor, ― said Dr. McCoy, smiling. ― That’s what I always wanted to be. I only regret that I don’t have all the medicines and instruments I had on the Enterprise.

― As for us, we can take this as an unexpected vacation, ― said Kirk. ― What troubles me is the fate of the Enterprise. I wonder if it’s safe.

― We have no way of knowing it, captain, ― said Mr. Spock. ― As long as we cannot communicate with the ship, there’s nothing we can do either for their, or for our own sake.

― I wonder why they put us here. ― Kirk asked. ― The place is wonderful for a vacation. The people are very good, except Karmut, who is dead. We have no enemies. The place is idyllic. Why did they put us here?

― A philosophical question, captain, since we have no data to reason about.

― So, we have no alternative but to try to spend our time as best as we can. Perhaps we’ll have to spend the rest of our life here.

Mr. Spock raised his right eyebrow, without answering.

― What about our first directive, that regards the non-interference on the technological evolution of the inhabitants of any planet? ― Kirk asked McCoy.

― The fact that I cure people produces no interference, ― answered the doctor. ― They don’t know how they get cured. They just think that it’s a sort of witchcraft, as sorcerers do.

― You’re not going to teach scientific knowledge about the human body. Are you?

― Absolutely not! Karmut’s second son, Giddon, who expects to succeed me as sorcerer, asked some questions about the practice. I answered that only the gods have the right to instruct those who are to become sorcerers. For the moment he seems satisfied of the answer. Perhaps he thinks his father died just because in the past he gave him instructions that were meant to remain secret. Giddon is a humble man, the exact opposite of his older brother Baedon. They’re like white and black.

― How is Pergal? Has he recovered from the poisoning?

― Yes! He’s doing well. Another day or two, and he’ll return as he was before the poisoning. Gorlan is very happy. When we first met him, he had lost any hope of saving his only male son, since, apart from Pergal, he has only daughters. If his son died, after his death the role of chief coordinator would have been assigned to Karmut’s eldest son.

A strong cry as of a man being killed was heard from outside the tepee. Kirk ran out, followed by Spock and McCoy. Gorlan, the chief coordinator, lied dead near the entrance of the tepee, with a knife in his chest. In the vicinity, Baedon, karmut’s eldest son, started yelling that he saw Kirk killing him.

― Help! The chief coordinator has been killed! I saw Kirk putting a knife in Gorlan’s heart! He must be arrested! ― he yelled with strong voice.

Some warriors approached and looked with dismay at the body of the chief coordinator on the ground. Soon after, also Perlan and Baadelin arrived. Baadelin kneeled near her father.

― Oh, father! You, the best of men, have been killed! No! No! I can’t accept this!

Near her, Perlan silently watched. With loud voice, Baedon continued to yell:

― It’s them! They are enemies. We must execute them!

― No! They are friends! ― said Baadelin, raising her head. ― They saved my life. They also saved my brother’s life. Somebody else is to be accounted for the killing.

― You’ve been cheated, ― cried Baedon. ― I saw him fighting with your father and kill him! If I were closer, I’d have prevented it, but came too late. They’ve got the sorcerer’s job, and now want to rule the entire village. They are strangers. They are enemies!

― They never asked anything, ― Baadelin replied. ― It’s you, who wanted to take my father’s job!

― You are a woman, who reasons by feelings. You have a strong feeling toward Kirk, who apparently saved you. But he did it with the secret motive to be accepted in the tribe. Stay aside! Women don’t deal with these matters. As rightful heir to the title of chief coordinator, because of age and experience, I take full responsibility of the situation. Those men want all the ruling power of the tribe. Pergal got sick the same day they arrived. They are responsible for all the bad things that happened to us! They are killers! They must be executed!

Pergal, still weak because of the poisoning, said with a feeble voice:

― They can’t be the killers. I know what they’ve done to me. I heard them talking to my father. They are good people.

― You don’t know them! ― continued Baedon, yelling as much as he could with his harsh voice. ― They just had the chance to save Baadelin, and used that fact to get the trust of your father. I saw them killing him! It’s my witness against your feelings. I know that you are in good faith, but that means nothing against the fact that I saw him with my own eyes as he killed your father. Justice must be done!

Now the place was surrounded by warriors. At first doubtful and uncertain on what to do, after a while, compelled by Baedon’s strong voice and reasoning, they started to take heed of what he was saying. Somebody said:

― Yes! We always lived in peace before they arrived. They are the killers!

A roar erupted:

― Yes! They are the killers! They must die! We must execute them! Immediately!

Some warriors menacingly advanced to grab Kirk, Spock and McCoy, when another man came forward. It was Giddon, Baedon’s younger brother.

― No! ― he said with loud voice. ― The foreigners are not responsible of our chief coordinator’s death. I wouldn’t have intervened, if things didn’t reach this point. I feel pain in my heart to say this, but if I didn’t intervene to avoid these unjust executions, I’d be punished by the gods. It was my brother Baedon who killed our chief. I saw him doing it! ― he said with painful voice. And he lowered his head, and started sobbing.

9. The last fight

In the meantime, in the starship the hour granted before the surrender of the vessel was coming to the end. All the principal officers were gathered in the conference room to discuss the last events and the line of action.

― We’re in a very bad situation, ― said Scott. ― Up to now we’ve got no success against our enemies. What’s more, we know nothing about them: neither their strength, nor their intentions. The three officers they returned to us are still sleeping and won’t wake up before the hour has passed. We’ve seen that our enemies are able to destroy the ship. Our shielding potential is still low. A few of their fiery balls will destroy the Enterprise.

― We won’t die without fighting, ― said Sulu.

― What about contacting them again, ― proposed Uhura.

― I’ll certainly do that before the hour has passed, although I doubt they’ll listen to us. Up to now they’ve obtained whatever they wanted: they got the captain, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy; they cheated us by sending three criminals in exchange for three of our best officers; they almost destroyed the starship; they returned our three officers asleep, and got back their men. They seem to be like a cat playing with a mouse. Unfortunately, we are the mouse. However, we can’t surrender the vessel. Perhaps they need it for some reason. With the starship in their possession, plus their superior power, they might be able to conquer the entire planets of the Federation.

― That’s a serious possibility, ― said Mr. Sulu. ― Since we know nothing about them, we can’t take that risk.

― One possible alternative, ― said Scott, ― is to surrender, and get beamed down after having programmed the vessel to leave the planet and auto-destruct itself. Before the end of the truce, we’ll send a message to the General Quarter of the Federation, explaining what has occurred to us. Then, if our enemies don’t accept our offer, we’ll blow up the ship with us inside; all forms of life on the planet will be wiped out.

The gathered officers looked at each other without expressing a word. There seemed to be no alternative.

― The time is expiring. Let’s send the message to the General Quarter of the Federation, and then try to have a last talk with the Principal Coordinator. Let’s return to the bridge, ― concluded Mr. Scott.

The officers left the room and each went to his post. As the hour was close to expire, Scott told Uhura to transmit the log of everything which had happened since their first contact with the planet. That being done, he ordered:

― Establish contact with the planet!

― Aye, sir!

Nothing appeared on the screen.

― There’s no response, sir.

― It doesn’t matter. Even if they don’t want to talk to us, I’ll talk to them. Open the channel!

― Done! We’re transmitting, sir.

― This is lieutenant Scott, actual commander of the starship Enterprise. We are willing to surrender. Tell us where we can be transported down, and we’ll do it. After that you’ll get possession of the ship.

No response came from the planet.

― We are ready to be transported down. Please tell us if we are the be beamed at the location previously used for transport! ― Scott repeated.

A ball of fire came up from the exact coordinates where the teams had been previously transported down.

― Fire! ― said Mr. Scott. ― This is the fight to the end.

The ship was struck by the ball.

― The protection is down to twenty percent, sir, ― said Mr. Sulu.

― Well. We can withstand two more balls. Then it will be the end.

Another ball came from the planet, immediately followed by a third.

― The shields are gone! ― said Mr. Sulu. ― Now we are at their mercy.

Time passed without any new balls of fire being launched from the planet’s surface.

― It seems they’ve spent all their firing power, ― said Chekhov.

― I wouldn’t bet on it, ― commented Mr. Scott.

There was a moment of suspense. Then the officers on the bridge heard the noise produced when someone is being transferred. They all turned towards the origin of the noise. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy were materializing. As the transfer ended, captain Kirk said:

― Thanks, Mr. Scott. You transferred us at the right moment. Although things seemed to be solving the right way, we could have been in grave danger.

― We didn’t transfer you, captain! ― said the stupefied Scott.

― “All’s well that ends well”! ― said a voice from the screen.

Every person on the bridge turned towards it. The Principal Coordinator and his two companions were visualized, and smiling.

― We joked a little with all of you, but did no harm. Your ship is as it was when you first came here. We’ve enjoyed observing you in your vicissitudes and how you reacted to the various dangerous situations in which you found yourselves. You’ve been treated well, because you came in peace. This experience is also an answer to your intention to establish relations with us. We don’t need you. Our society is far more advanced than yours. As you don’t interfere with peoples too far behind your technological advancement, so we do not establish relations with you. If you continue to live peacefully, in a million years you’ll achieve what we’ve already got. Go in peace!

The image disappeared from the screen. In its place, the stars of the cosmos appeared. Everybody was happy on the bridge, except Mr. Spock, who looked perplexed.

― Captain! The planet has disappeared! ― said Mr. Sulu with astonishment.

― Perhaps it has never been there. It’s time to proceed, ― said the captain. Then, noticing Spock’s perplexity, he asked:

― Any problem, Mr. Spock?

― This experience has raised many questions and answered only a few,

― Be patient! A millions years from now and you’ll get all the answers you crave, ― said the captain smiling. Then, turning his head toward the screen, he ordered:

― Ahead, warp factor one, Mr. Sulu!

― Aye, sir! ― answered the helmsman, smiling.

Mr. Spock raised his right eyebrow. The ship moved swiftly ahead.

The end

“Oh, grow up!” Is there anyone who didn’t hear some version of this humiliating admonition as a kid? Often voiced by another kid, or some chronologically mature person who probably needed to “grow up” himself.

Still, it does raise an important question: what does it mean to grow up? What qualities are present in those people we respect for their maturity?

Although it may not be very humble to do so, let’s start with the quality of humility. And its important to remember that humility is not identical to a lack confidence. Rather, it involves the recognition that in the big picture of the universe, you are a very, very small part. That is to say, unless your name is one that ranks with Einstein or Beethoven, virtually no one will know your name in a hundred years. As Goethe put it, “Names are like sound and smoke.” They disappear that easily. Humbling indeed. You probably aren’t as important as you think you are.

Which means, of course, that your problems, at least most of them, aren’t that important either. The ability to recognize that most problems are transitory and only temporarily bothersome is another sign of maturity. Now, I’m not talking about brain cancer here, but the more garden-variety ups and downs of life. It sometimes helps weather them to realize that you will care little if anything about those difficulties in five years or even five months. No, as the saying goes, “Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff.” Or, at least most of it.

Another important quality of being a grown-up, I think, is to have a balance between your head and your heart. We all know people who are way out of balance–those who claim to be imperturbably logical like the Mr. Spock-type Vulcans from Star Trek and others who come apart at the smallest disappointment or frustration, letting their emotions whip them around like a passenger on a “tilt-a-whirl” amusement park ride. Emotions are there for a reason; the pain of them needs to be attended to, lest you leave your hand on the stove’s burner because nature didn’t inform you to remove that hand. Equally, your head is required to have good judgment and learn from experience, to be cool under fire, and to forge ahead in spite of fear.

In other words, balance is a sign of maturity. Balance of head and heart, work and play, action and contemplation, passion and repose. Socrates said that one should be grateful to old-age that the passions rule us less. But do not live a life without passion, especially when you are young enough to enjoy it! He also said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” And so maturity requires some thought about your life, where you’ve been and where you are going, why you have done what you’ve done, what worked and what didn’t, and what lies ahead. It requires an unflinching look in the mirror and the intention to improve.

That means, of course, that being a “grown-up” demands that one has learned something from experience and continues to learn more as experience unfolds. My friend Henry Fogel has said, “I like to make new mistakes!” Meaning, of course, that there is no point in repeating the same old ones.

Another friend, Rich Adelstein, once told me that he thought that if he were able to figure out the solutions to his then-current problems (he was 50 at the time), he believed that he could simply keep living in the same fashion, using the same solutions to confront whatever was ahead of him. But, he rightly realized, that there would be new problems requiring new solutions, and that the version of himself that faced those new problems would be older and different, and therefore might see things quite a bit differently than the 50-year-old version. This is an example of maturity, along with a signpost to some of its characteristics, including the need to change, the ability and willingness to be flexible, and the awareness that learning along the way is required. Rich was able to change, and to change his mind about the need to change.

What other qualities might be present in the mature, “grown-up,” person? Confidence and the capacity for self assertion, certainly; the ability to laugh, and to laugh at yourself, not at the expense of others; to take risks and do things that might be hard or embarrassing or frustrating until you master them; to be independent in thought and deed, not to follow the crowd or require a caretaker or someone to make decisions for you; and of course, the capacity for intimacy and love, knowing all the while that embracing others makes you vulnerable to loss.

So, yes, being a grown-up means accepting the world on its terms: that loss is an inevitable part of  life, and that to defend too strongly against it deprives you of the most important and precious things that life has to offer: love, closeness, tenderness, and the acceptance and affection that can only come from unguardedness. To live as if your heart has never been broken and never can be, then, shows both maturity and courage.

Responsibility-taking is another part of being mature, admitting that “yes, it was I who made the mistake.” We all heard the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree a long time ago, and it is entirely about responsibility-taking and honesty. And, as that reference might suggest, honesty is no small part of the “grown-up” life. As the sages say, it simplifies life enormously to be honest. Too many people justify their dishonesty by claiming that they are trying to spare someone else’s feelings. Don’t be deceived. Usually it is much more self serving than that.

Back to humility, where we started. Part of being mature is having the humility to realize that you too might,”but for the grace of God,” be in someone else’s less advantageous spot, and that therefore they should be judged less harshly for whatever they have done or whatever has happened to them, or perhaps not judged at all.

Maturity means cherishing the quiet moments as much as the thrills. And, most definitely, it means living in the moment, mindful of everything, trying not to get caught up in hoping it were different (even though you might well be justified in doing so); allowing yourself to stay centered where you are in time, rather than to be looking back or forward while the irreplaceable, unrepeatable instant of your life passes by. Look back too much and you will be caught in the sadness of  time-past and unfulfilled longings and regrets, while missing what is possible in the present. Similarly, living in the future tends to generate anxiety in anticipation of what may come, and deprives you of the same present moment that passes by those who are looking back at yesterday.

Accepting and liking oneself is a part of being a grown-up. Not that you don’t need to or want to change, but to appreciate what is good about yourself and to accept some of the inevitable limitations to which all of us are prone. Not to avoid self-improvement, but to avoid self-denigration.

To be a grown-up means living a principled life, one with a commitment to certain values, and to put those values to work, not just in words, but in deeds. As the AA crowd likes to say, “Don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk.” And those principles, those values, must be informed by the fact that we are all mortal, all in-transit, but that the planet and the human race are here (we hope) for the long hall. We are “just visiting” as the Monopoly board reminds us when we land on a certain space. The game will outlast us and so will life on this planet, if we don’t mess it up.

In putting those commitments to work, we must actually do work. Freud was right when he pointed to love and work as the essential organizing forces in any life. If you are mature, unless you are aged or infirm, there is work to be done. Life is made more interesting and engaging by doing it, too. The mature person is not simply a spectator in the game of life.

At least one other quality should be mentioned in this pantheon of qualities in the house of maturity: gratitude. Appreciation of what you do have and appreciation of simple things: a beautiful day, the affection of your children, friendship, the ability to do things, a touching song or story; good friends; all the stuff of life that is too easily dismissed.

Let the last words on the subject of being a grown-up (and much more) go to Adlai Stevenson II, in his 1954 speech at the senior class dinner of his Alma Mater, Princeton University. These 55-year-old words spoken by the 54-year-old Stevenson are as appropriate now as then:

“…What a man knows at fifty that he did not know at twenty is, for the most part, incommunicable. The laws, the aphorisms, the generalizations, the universal truths, the parables and the old saws—all of the observations about life which can be communicated handily in ready, verbal packages—are as well known to a man at twenty who has been attentive as to a man at fifty. He has been told them all, he has read them all, and he has probably repeated them all before he graduates from college; but he has not lived them all.

What he knows at fifty that he did not know at twenty boils down to something like this: The knowledge he has acquired with age is not the knowledge of formulas, or forms of words, but of people, places, actions—a knowledge not gained by words but by touch, sight, sound, victories, failures, sleeplessness, devotion, love—the human experiences and emotions of this earth and of oneself and other men; and perhaps, too, a little faith, and a little reverence for things you cannot see…

To my way of thinking it is not the years in your life but the life in your years that count in the long run. You’ll have more fun, you’ll do more and you’ll get more, you’ll give more satisfaction the more you know, the more you have worked, and the more you have lived. For yours is a great adventure at a stirring time in the annals of men.”

I checked out of Hotel Ibis in the morning, and for the rest of the trip I spent the nights at B.O.’s family’s house as their guest. Somehow, in the move I lost my beach sandals.

In the morning, we split a sandwich (I think it was queso y puerco) from OXXO as a light snack on the road, and drove to Coahuila state, to see the Museo de las Aves. Yes, it was a museum that was devoted exclusively to the birds of México; there were many fine specimens of birds were on display in various dramatic poses. There was a map at the museum that showed the various climates of México. It showed that Monterrey is in a temperate forested clime, not out in the desert.

Me With Display of Stuffed Ostrich

Something that I got to wondering was, when a taxidermist is presented with a dead bird to mount for display, how do they decide what pose to put the bird in?

B.O. and Me at Museo de las Aves

Comparing Crocs at Museo de las Aves

After the Museo, we visited B.O.’s friend V. in Saltillo, which is the capital of Coahuila. We didn’t stay long, since we needed to get back to Monterrey for dinner.

On the way back, we bought a braid of garlic (ajos) from a roadside vendor. The sign behind us indicates two local towns, Los Fierros and Rinconada; the vendor was from Rinconada.

Garlic Vendor and Me

Garlic Braids

B.O. has a ceramic container at home which she can use to roast the garlic. Roasted garlic — sounds delicious!

Roadside Landscape

In the evening, I attended the weekly dinner of B.O.’s extended family. About 24 people were present. This photos is a little underexposed, but it gives a flavor of the setting.

Family Dinner

Dinner was tostitacos, which looked like tacos in a red shell. B.O. assured me that this was the meal that they always had (i.e., they didn’t make a special meal just because I was visiting).

After dinner they threw a birthday party for me (although it wasn’t really my birthday), complete with birthday cake, to show me what their birthday parties are like. They give each birthday party a theme according to the particular celebrant’s in-jokes, personality, and history. In my case, the motif was Mr. Spock, which is a reference to an in-joke that B.O. and I have that I am very Vulcan. B.O.’s sister E. had spent a lot of time making cute table decorations; you can see one on the table in the foreground, in the photo above. They presented me with some birthday gifts, and then I showed them some old movies of my own family from the 70’s and 80’s.

Here are two of B.O.’s nieces.

M. and M.A.

Here’s B.O.’s nephew.

R. At The Computer

B.O.’s family had gone so far as to have a piñata custom made in the image of Mr. Spock.

Revellers and Piñata

Apparently, this helped drum up a little business for the piñata maker. I was told that two other customers saw the Spock piñata, and asked the piñata maker to make one for them, too.

The convention is that the celebrant gets the first swings at the piñata. But if the celebrant is an adult they take only “light” swings at the piñata without breaking it, to allow the children to take “real” swings. In any case, the piñata was surprisingly well-made, and didn’t break very easily (this one was not filled with anything).

Here’s A. taking a swing at the piñata. She is wearing her Snow White costume.

A. Having At It

And here’s little V. taking a swing (with a little help from her father, B.O.’s brother E.):

V. Taking A Swing

According to this web page, the traditional piñata is shaped like a seven-pointed star to represent the Devil and the Seven Deadly Sins. So hitting it with a stick is symbolic of fighting evil.

Trip Summary

If you want to know what motivates me to do good when I boot up, this is it: my background. Fan art by ‘Ariel’. Thanks, girl; this is my dream man, too.

There’s been a lot of talk about President Obama sharing certain qualities with Mr. Spock.  But who would really be the better Vulcan?  Sure Spock has an obvious leg up, but he’s only half-Vulcan which makes Obama’s Vulcanness that much more intense.  Let’s compare:

Most Logical

Spock uses science every day in his job and science always has a logical conclusion.  President Obama thinks he can get the United States out of debt by spending more.  Winner:   Spock!

Spock's album

Most in Control of His Emotions

While Spock tore up the Enterprise for Nurse Chapel, stole the ship for Captain Pike and went nuts on that planet with the spores, Obama stands up to the White House Press Corps and with a straight face says about torture, “we should be looking forward and not backwards”.  Man!  That’s cold!  Winner:  Obama!

Best Strategist

In counselling Captain Kirk in Wrath of Kahn, Spock said Kahn’s tactics “suggested two dimensional thinking”.  This insight led to victory in the ship to ship battle.  Obama promised to bring the troops home, but sent more troops to Afghanistan and widened the war to Pakistan, all while denying the wars weren’t just like Vietnam.  Winner: Spock!

Was there any doubt his green blood would prevail?  Spock is the most Vulcan.  Nice try, Mr. President.  You’re really more beige shirt material anyways.

Tony DiGerolamo, thefixisin@comcast.net

Two of my favorite conservative bloggers, Ed Morrissey and Moe Lane, gave me a good chuckle this morning, and man, did I need it.  The subject is President Obama’s latest “gaffe.”  I’ll let my friend, Ed, introduce it:

Yesterday found Barack Obama in fine form while meeting with an audience comprised mainly of Russian business leaders, clumsily reminding them of a transaction that still rankles the Russians to this day, as Reuters explains:

Referring to the long history of Russia-U.S. trade stretching back more than two centuries, Obama told an audience of business people in Moscow:

“Along the way, you gave us a pretty good deal on Alaska. Thank you.”

Czar Alexander II’s sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million in gold, around 1.9 cents per acre, was regarded by Russians as a national disgrace — particularly once it became clear that the province was rich in oil.

Ed was characteristically measured in his criticism, calling the quip an insult, and an indication that the President might not understand diplomacy.  On the other hand, he called it his “Obamateurism of the Day,” so I guess, when you’ve already decided you’re going to do one of these every day, you’ve got to work with what you’re given.

Moe Lane, on the other hand, ratchets up the mock outrage, comparing the Alaska Purchase, by turns, to the Boxer Rebellion and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I get that blogging is all about hyperbole, but really?  The Alaska Purchase?  After 142 years and umpteen changes in the Russian government, I’m pretty sure the sting has worn off.  When it was originally made, folks here thought we got hosed.  How could anyone have foreseen that it would produce such a cash cow of a resource?  No, not Sarah Palin, I meant the oil.

This is the very best of the American story, people having the foresight and wherewithal to make something great where others saw only far-flung territories that they were too lazy to hassle with themselves.  We didn’t exploit the Russians here.

Hell, if the Russians had taken that money and bought IBM stock with it, then we’d be the ones getting zinged.

Is it possible that some Russians took offense to this?  I doubt it, and I’m a little surprised that a movement that accuses liberals of having “bleeding hearts,” and of the crime of empathy, would ascribe such wafer-thin skin to the Russians.

This is the nature of political opposition in Obama’s America, though.  There’s this alternate universe where Mr. Spock has a beard, and the President isn’t a duly elected leader worthy of reasonable scrutiny, he’s a bumbling amateur putting the country on a rocket sled to Hades.  (All worth it, by the way, if we get to wear those cool gold sashes.)

At the root of this, I believe, is a desire to get revenge for all of the bile that was spewed at George W. Bush for 8 years.  The constant refrain is, “Well, you did it to our guy.”

This ignores the fact that their guy was, at least, given a chance.  Remember that 90% approval rating?

I’m not going to sit here and catalog all the ways that Barack Obama is not George W. Bush, or produce a pile of actual Bush gaffes, because that’s not the point.  Obviously, conservatives think Bush was treated unfairly, but even granting that, is that a justification to treat Obama unfairly?  I suppose if you’re bartering tits and tats, it is, but I’m in the habit of setting my own standards, not obeying those of my opponent.