Star Trek: Eventide 777 - ╰t′paal-surrounding-area

They had left the city with it’s pointy buildings and many people behind. T’Lauk was walking with his hands clasped behind his back, just a small step ahead of his son. They were the same height. T’Lauk’s stoic, cold eyes were fixed on the scenery in front of them as his shoes repeatedly met the loamy path underneath their feet.

Fields of grey stone and red sand stretched in front of them, broken only by the glittering puddles in the distance, that were indeed lakes. Farther back, the horizon drew a zigzag line between a rocky mountain chain and the red sky. As always, there was no moon to be seen as the sky turned colour from a light beige orange to a deep, bloody red. Only the outlines of Vulcan’s sister planet could be seen faintly above the lakes. A few, large birds dragged themselves over the landscape, black shapes against the evening’s crimson colour. The air was dry and hot and Remun felt the strong gravitational pull of Vulcan tugging on his feet, as he followed his father down the path, away from the city. Here, at the outskirts of T’Paal, the only houses were cubic and bland. They were vertical farms, where plants were grown by farmers-turned-scientists with minimal water usage and maximum efficiency. Though the lakes offered water reserves which were rare on Vulcan, many of them contained toxins, or large animals that were not to be toyed with. It was more logical to reduce water usage on a desert planet. There was an especially hot region farther back in the mountains, where heated winds from the desert caught between the rocks and created a deadly oven for anyone who might dare to enter without proper preparation. Behind the mountains lay nothing. Or at least, so it seemed. No man’s land, where the desert was simply too harsh to allow any life, apart from sandworms and termites. Not even tough Sehlats lived in that region.

08:52

Remun knew all this. The information came flooding back into the front of his mind, revived by the sight of his home planet. Remun knew all this, because his parents had taught him all of it. They’d been completely focussed on providing him with the best education possible. And yet, thought Remun, they hadn’t taught him anything about things such as apologies and relationships. He looked at the red of his home which clashed so harshly with the green of his skin. Only his cognac coloured eyes were able to match the desert colours of Vulcan, but they couldn’t match the emotionless stare in the eyes of its inhabitants. “Why are we here, father?”, asked Remun quietly.

“I have news,” said T’Lauk plainly. He slowed down for a second to fall into step right next to his son. His eyes didn’t leave the lakes that lay in the distance, like mirrors, so calm and smooth. “You are aware we wish for the Tus’tgai family to live on. It is one of the reasons why we adopted you.”

Oh. Oh, no. He knew where this was going, or at least he had an inkling and he didn’t exactly like it. Though, that was illogical, wasn’t it? Dislike was an emotion. “I am aware,” he said and kept walking, past another Vertical farm, past a single shrub that had grown despite the harsh climate. Just like Remun. What an illogical allegory. Maybe the heat was getting to him - he wasn’t used to it anymore.

1

“Your mother and I are not yet very old by Vulcan standards. And were you a Vulcan, or did you have the same lifespan, we would have taken action either much earlier or much later. However, you are not, so your mother and I have decided to address the matter now.” T’Lauk unfolded his arms behind his back and instead weaved his hands together in front of him.

1

“And that matter would be?” Remun raised one eyebrow slightly, refrained from laying annoyance into his voice. He wanted his father to get to the point.

“You do not experience Pon Farr, therefore we have not promised you to a woman at a young age. However, we believe it is time. T’Rama N’Evran-Meng’tai, daughter of T’sus N’Evran-Meng’tai, has recently lost her husband to a shuttle accident,” he spoke without any emotion, “Though T’sus and T’Rama were hesitant at first, she has agreed to take you as her next spouse.”

Remun’s brain stuttered to a halt, even though he had been half expecting this. It was… unimaginable. Him, in a relationship, a married man! Ridiculous. Outrageous. Not to mention the fact that he would be expected to have children with this woman, and they would have his blood, his Orion genes, they would have to go through the same disapproval that he had had to go through! But Remun was not presented with a choice here. He was presented with a fait accompli. “When?”, he managed to ask, keeping his emotions in check.

“Soon. Likely in a few months’ time. I have asked T’sus to tell her daughter she might come visit you on the station in the meantime, so that the two of you may meet,” replied his father tonelessly.

“I see,” said Remun. He looked out at the lakes and he felt numb. Was that how he was supposed to feel? Numb? Maybe. Maybe this was right. This was his purpose, to keep his father’s name alive, wasn’t it? (edited)

T’Lauk was quite content, oblivious to his son’s internal struggles. He was glad that they had found a full blooded Vulcan who was even willing to get together with an Orion. Remun should consider himself lucky. T’Rama’s family was not as highly regarded in Vulcan society as T’Lauk himself, but T’Rama was a good scientist - a botanist in fact - and therefore her status was not to be disregarded. “Your mother and I are content that this will be happening. Do not disappoint us.”

How often had he heard that sentence? Hundreds, millions of times. Do not disappoint. You’re not allowed to disappoint. You’re meant to be perfect, Remun, meant to be perfect… “I shall not,” he said quietly, but he wasn’t so confident in himself. He was many things, but certainly not a family man.

“That is all I wanted to discuss. Should we continue our walk, or return to the house?”, asked T’Lauk. He had no preference.

Remun hesitated. Part of him longed to see the lakes again, the smooth water, the sky reflecting on the surface… But he found that he wanted to be alone, not in his fathers company. “Would you mind returning to the house? I will follow shortly. I would like to be alone,” he said, though perhaps that was illogical.

T’Lauk was this close to calling him out for illogical preferences, but then he refrained. Surely, Remun would have to consider this new information. His son was so slow sometimes, perhaps he needed time to comprehend. Yes, that was how T’Lauk explained the situation to himself. He nodded. “I do not mind. Do not wander off.”

That sounded like he was a child. Ridiculous. Remun refrained from commenting, though. He simply nodded and watched his father turn around, turn his back on the Orion.

T’Lauk left, his feet carrying him all the way over the loamy path, back to the city and home.

For a few seconds, Remun looked after the Vulcan man who he called his father. He wondered whether this was some kind of manifestation of an underlying pattern: Remun telling people to leave, people turning their backs on him. And then Remun drew his eyes away from the man who had raised him and he returned his attention to the little path in front of him that would lead him to one of the smaller lakes. He made his way past a couple of boulders, his mind wandering. Remun had never met his biological father. There was no data on the man. All that he knew about his biological family was that his mother was a lunatic, cared for in some psychiatry on Orion. He’d visited once and it had sent him into a terrible identity crisis - mostly, it had planted the seedling of an idea inside of his mind which boldly suggested that maybe insanity ran in his blood - and Remun hadn’t visited since. All the ties were cut off neatly. Just as he liked it. Or at least, he thought so. After a while, he reached the lake. The path ended at the edge of what looked like a tiny cliff of roughly half a meter. Underneath it lay the rusty coloured water. The lake had once been a crater, caused by a volcanic eruption. Nowadays all the volcanoes in the mountain chain near T’Paal were dead and lay unmoved. This crated had been filled with water for a long time, and Remun knew without trying that it would be warm to the touch if he were to reach down and dip his fingers into the water. He looked down at his own reflection on the smooth surface of the lake, blurred and distorted only slightly by tiny ripples. Green skin, freckles, sharp eyes. A soon to be married man. The thought made his stomach drop uncomfortably, but he tired not to think about it. Did he belong in this world? Did it even matter? What if he jumped into this lake right now?

2

11:32

[TW: mentions of death, suicide I guess, graphic descriptions of decay] He imagined how the hot water would soak through his robes, make them heavy, make it difficult to swim. Maybe he would sink, sink away from this world. Maybe he would drown and then his body would be washed up on the other shore of the lake, where a le-matya would find it and bury its teeth into his dead flesh. Maybe the animal would recoil at the taste. It would wonder what this green corpse was, where it had come from, why its taste was unfamiliar, it didn’t belong here… Remun didn’t jump. Too much logic was holding him back, but his eyes rested on the surface of the water for a long time, and there was a tugging on his chest, begging him to dive in. He didn’t. He picked up a flat, sharp-edged stone and threw it, skipped it over the surface. One, two, three, four, five, plop. Circles stretched over the lake. Eventually, Remun turned around. He went all the way back to the city; it was getting late. He would leave in the morning, return to the station. There was nothing else to do here. Nobody else to talk to, nothing else to say.

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