Boldly Reading Book Club #4 – Indiscriminate Dust

Boldly Reading Book Club #4 – Indiscriminate Dust

Our next Boldly Reading Book Club selection is Niobium’s Indiscriminate Dust . The story is rated K+.

Introducing Indiscriminate Dust

It’s after Star Trek: Into Darkness, and the Alternate TOS crew is on its mission of exploration. The landing party is on an unnamed planet. There are numerous ruins, of dubious structural integrity. Spock, as in both TOS and AOS, finds himself holding Captain Kirk back a little, from just jumping in. But at least, this time, Kirk holds himself back.

And then he and Uhura find a second location, which is more structurally stable. Looking inside, though, they find something else.

Whoa. Let’s back up a second.

The planet is deserted, seemingly utterly bereft of intelligent life. And it still is, but their finding is one that can give just about anyone pause.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock talk, and Kirk asks Spock if such things bother him. The thought has not occurred to Spock before. And so the beginning seeds of a lifelong friendship are sown.

The Characters

The main characters are Kirk, Spock and Uhura, who have essentially become the new ‘Big Three’ in AOS. The only other people even mentioned are Chekov and Agarwal, neither of whom is seen ‘on screen’. This story belongs, solely, to three people.

Talking Points

Is Kirk’s newfound caution believable? Or is he just itching to get out there, and maybe holding back for some other reason, say, to appear more worthy of leadership, or to make for a better report, or for some other reason. TOS Kirk, after all, is quite the brash fellow. Or is this a meaningful difference between the two versions?

Zachary Quinto as Spock in the 2009 Star Trek film (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Spock doesn’t seem to get that this sort of a situation could affect him personally. Should that have been explored more? How else could he have reacted?

Uhura is almost a bridge character here. As she moves from one man to the other, and back again, are her behaviors reasonable? How can this mission set a blueprint for future missions, with either or both of the other two?

What was the climax of the story? Did it devolve to a satisfactory conclusion?

What happens right after the curtain comes down on the story? Where would you take these characters – and this ship – next?

Author’s Commentary

There are no specific sources for commentary, so we’ll need to rely on Niobium’s responses to reviews and anything else this author wants to add.