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ANIMAL PASSIONS - Emily Adams

He grasped one wrist in each hand, holding tight, with his chin resting on top, willing himself not to fidget, not to move. The itch in his thigh persisted, increasing and demanding more attention the more he tried to ignore it. Think of something else, he kept telling himself. Say the alphabet backwards, recite the names of the crew, list the names of all operating starships . . . .

It was no use. The itch became irresistible and he had to scratch. No matter what.

Slowly, carefully, he slid his hand down his side and between his leg and the tree limb onto which he was clinging. As he moved, the limb shook slightly, its leaves quivering with a metallic jingle.

He looked up guiltily as the soft sound broke the stillness and met his first officer's eye. "Sorry," he mouthed.

5,654 Pat Roklos

"Five thousand six hundred and . . . ah . . . . " McCoy slid his tray onto the table, watching both the coffee slosh over the top of his cup and Spock, whose face was a wooden, unreadable mask.

"Fifty four," Kirk finished.

"Stars surveyed this week?" McCoy guessed innocently before taking the seat next to Kirk.

"No. Actually the number of hairs . . . on Spock's chest," Kirk answered seriously, never breaking eye contact with his first officer.

LOVE AND LIES - Royal Stewart Montgomery

"That covers Engineering." Kirk flipped the pages in his list of departmental reports.

"Mr. Spock?"

Kirk glanced at his second in command as Spock began his report. He tried to keep his mind focused on what Spock was saying but his thoughts kept straying to more personal concerns. He couldn't hear Spock's words because he was too busy watching the mouth forming those words.

Soft, Kirk thought, I bet his lips are soft. They'd feel wonderful.

FIRST TIME . . . AGAIN - Jacquie Renee

After Admiral Kirk's third brandy, he finally took notice of his surroundings. A dark outworld bar probably on the frontier of the alien sector of ShiKahr. How he got here he was uncertain that the brandy helped, he was certain. Aliens mingled and talked among themselves.

Tellerites, Andorians, humans, and even a Vulcan or two populated the bar. No one took notice of one beaten man sitting in a dark corner booth.

THE BEST IS YET TO COME - Jean Gabriel

They talked far into the night. Long after the crickets had stopped their incessant chirping, long after the full moon had travelled across the sky, even after McCoy had fallen fast asleep by the flickering campfire. Long after . . . .

THAT SWEET USED TO BE - Karla Kelly

Admiral Kirk sat in the restaurant, waiting for Lori to return to the table, idly turning the brandy glass in his hands, when the band began to play "Beyond Antares." Instantly Spock appeared before his eyes, as clear and as real as he had been on the Enterprise, playing his lyre to accompany Uhura's singing.

The memory replaced reality and Kirk saw it all again.

Spock looked down as he played, the light glinting off the soft black hair. Uhura's voice filled the rec room and Kirk was struck by the beauty of the pair. It was enough to make his stomach contract with jealousy. Suddenly, Spock looked up and their eyes caught, revealing their hidden emotions. For one unexpected moment, they absorbed the love emanating from the other, unshielded, unashamed. Then Spock dropped his eyes, leaving Kirk to wonder if that sharing had ever taken place.

RAINY DAYS - Sharon Travis

It's raining. Hmm . . . . I smell coffee; soon she'll come upstairs and bring me a mug hot and steaming just like in those days when I was home from the Academy, on vacation. I love being at home. Although my true home now is the Enterprise. No, not only the ship, but the work and the people who work with me. I miss them. I miss you, Spock.

MAGIC - Penny Wise

James T. Kirk surveyed with disgust the elegant trap which his first officer and friend had just sprung. He was checkmated, but that disturbed the young man less than the face he hadn't even seen it coming. He raised his eyes to the solemn dark ones, now holding the faintest hin of humor.

NOT MEN APART - Kathy Stanis

"I know, Jim. It would seem we are . . . graced with heightened perception and extrasensory communication here. At the risk of sounding poetic,I feel the very gravitation as an . . . embrace. Matter-of- factness vied with flights of fancy in a dance of expression across his face.

"Ah, yes." Kirk unhesitatingly moved closer and put his hand on the back of Spock's neck. The Vulcan visible loosened, the last vestiges of tension flowing out at the smooth and commanding touch. Kirk's voice was silken. "That's where we left off, isn't it?"

ORDER OF THE ELITE - Kay Wells

One after the other, the ten men with the red sashes repeated the same Vulcan phrase and began walking around the outside of the circle. The men without arm bands closed their eyes.

Kirk estimated there were nearly seventy men in the room and he counted twelve, other than himself and the doctor, who wore neither arm bands nor the boot sash. Spock was one of the twelve.

WARRIORS - Sharon Travis

I'm standing here at the door to your quarters. Five minutes, now. I'm nervous. If someone comes past, I'll have to excuse myself and run. But who would come at this hour?

None. No more excuses! I have to speak to you . . . and it must be now!

EQUILIBRIUM - Kate Singer

Another factor which had the same effect on Kirk was his burgeoning friendship with Spock. Unbeknownst to Kirk, his features softened as he thought of the enigmatic half-alien who was his first officer, garnering warm smiles and greetings from the weary crewmen he passed.

But his hands unconsciously clenched into fists and his jaw firmed again when he remembered the xenophobic slurs the Vulcan had endured from Stiles due to his uncanny physical resemblance to the Romulans.

POETRY

COVERS

ART

March 1992