A Logical Look At Amok Time, by K'Sal

Amok Time (episode 35) is not a favorite episode of mine. I'd really rather it wasn't canon, but it is. This is my interpretation of the episode. I'm not too pleased with it, but it's the only thing I find (shudder) logical and scientifically plausible. I've come to the conclusion that, in a sense, Kirk/Spock was subversively written into the original series, and then the movies made it canon!

Pon Farr is some sort of estrus cycle. Estrus cycles are usually moderated by environmental conditions (i.e. the urge hits when conditions are optimal for reproduction). We know Vulcan is a desert planet, so I'm guessing the seven-year Pon Farr cycle comes from the Animated Series episode when Spock goes through his Kas-wan or whatever you call it, and his comment that he and T'Pring were bonded at seven years of age. It makes sense that would occur after he'd passed the Kas-wan test, and had proved his survival fitness.

Here's guessing that Vulcan has about one wet year in seven (Earth standard years), so the estrus cycle hits right at the end of the dry period, or the beginning of the wet period. Those males who've survived the bad times are ready to rumble! It's the Vulcan jubilee year, so to speak. This would also explain why Vulcans have such long lifetimes - the slow breeding cycle made a longer lifetime optimal for survival.

So why did Spock join Starfleet as a sexually immature juvenile? Why, for that matter, was it permitted by the Vulcan authorities? It's made clear in the episode that Vulcan wants to keep this facet of their biology a secret! I'd guess because he didn't feel comfortable with T'Pring and wanted to see if being away from Vulcan would prevent Pon Farr from ever hitting if he wasn't subjected to the environmental cues. I'm guessing that if he never went into Pon Farr the "betrothal" would have been legally dissolved. Now when you consider the fact that it is semi-canon that Romulans, who are exactly the same species, don't experience Pon Farr like the Vulcans, this seems like a good theory. Who knows, maybe it would have worked if T'Pring had left Vulcan as well.

This could explain why Spock was considered "almost a legend" on Vulcan at the time of his Pon Farr. I'll bet everyone else was extremely interested to see what would come of his flaky experiment - even the authorities. No wonder Sarek didn't approve - we find out later that he really loves his son. T'Pring provided herself with an alternate, since Spock wasn't around and clearly did not intend to be. And then nature caught up with them - maybe because Spock was severely injured and stressed during the events of Operation Annihilate, which comes only a few episodes before Amok Time.

If we are going to analyze Amok Time logically, we have to acknowledge that for Vulcans, a mental link is an integral part of the biological urge, part of mating, just as touch is for humans. "One touches the other ...in order to feel each other's thoughts. In this way, our minds were locked together ... so that, at the proper time, we would both be drawn ... to ... Koon-ut-kaliffee." For all we know, the mental link between partners is required for conception to take place. Perhaps the female ovulates due to mental stimulation - perhaps the mental linking is a method to ensure that the pair is mated cohesively enough to protect and raise the child.

There must be some sort of biological value for telepathy to have evolved; perhaps the thin air of Vulcan doesn't convey pheromones very efficiently. Perhaps male Vulcans tended to be nomadic, ranging over large areas to find food, while the females stayed close to a well-watered area. Being able to communicate effectively with mates and intimates over distances might have a lot of survival value - the group's effective range to find food and water would be greatly enhanced.

The exact function of the mental link between pairings is open to speculation - but the fact that it is the controlling factor is not speculative. Spock is drawn back to Vulcan because T'Pring is on Vulcan. The mental link between T'Pring and Spock is allowing some sort of communication between them, as the exchange with the Vulcan authorities on their arrival shows:

Kirk: Open the channel, Lieutenant. Vulcan Space Central, this is the U.S.S. Enterprise ... requesting permission to assume standard orbit.
VSP: U.S.S. Enterprise from Vulcan Space Central --permission granted, and from all of Vulcan, welcome. Is Commander Spock with you?
Spock: This is Spock.
VSP: Standby to activate your central viewer, please.
Chapel: Doctor, what's going on?
T'Pring: Spock ... It is I. T'Pring ... parted from me and never parted, never and always touching and touched. We meet at the appointed place.

What we see in this excerpt is that the Enterprise has not communicated with Vulcan yet, which is hardly surprising, since the ship is supposed to be on its way to Altair Six - effectively Kirk has mutinied. We know this because Vulcan Space Central welcomes them "from all of Vulcan", and then asks if Commander Spock is with them. Really, they are asking if Spock is alive or not; they know he was on the ship. As soon as Spock speaks, they switch T'Pring through. They've been waiting for them. Now, if Kirk had communicated Vulcan before this, they wouldn't need to ask about Spock, would they? They know the Enterprise is on its way because T'Pring knows.

If you think this is overly speculative, you must explain how, in the very short time AFTER Spock's return to the ship, T'Pau got back to an area with communication facilities, made a formal request to Starfleet to divert the Enterprise to Vulcan, Starfleet considered the request, and transmitted the permission to change course to the Enterprise. Bureaucracy just does not move that quickly.

What Vulcan Space Central did was transmit news of the Enterprise's arrival to Starfleet headquarters, thereby letting Starfleet know where they could find their errant starship. T'Pau had already transmitted the request, because she learned from T'Pring that it was necessary. Kirk has been running silent, without any communications - he can't have told Starfleet he was going to Vulcan. If he had, Starfleet would have ordered Scotty to take command. If Kirk had been in communication with Vulcan, he would have already been informed that T'Pau had made the official request on their behalf - but it comes as a total surprise to him.

Considering the primacy of the mental link, what happens on the Enterprise is very interesting. When the episode opens, Spock is very withdrawn and uncommunicative, except for sporadic outbursts of behavior like throwing plomeek soup. He hasn't been eating, and refuses to speak to McCoy about what's wrong. McCoy tells Kirk that "There's a growing imbalance of body functions ... as if in our bodies huge amounts of adrenalin ... were constantly being pumped into our bloodstreams" and that this will kill Spock within a week.

Kirk finally breaks through Spock's barriers and forces him to explain some of what's happening in the confession scene in Spock's quarters. He does this by appealing to Spock's sense of duty to him: "You've been called the best first officer in the fleet. That's an enormous asset to me. If I have to lose that first officer, I want to know why." Of course, we find out when Kirk defies Starfleet orders to get Spock to Vulcan that his interest is personal, but apparently he knew Spock would not respond to an emotional appeal - that an emotional appeal would just cause Spock to retreat further.

Now, I believe that Kirk's an empath. A pretty controlled and shut-down empath (probably due to childhood trauma on Tarsus), but an empath. We know he's not a telepath from the opening episode, when the most telepathic humans are affected by breaking through the galaxy's barrier. Kirk seems to be able to control other people's emotions, although it seems as if he doesn't do it very often - he'd much rather appeal to the intellect. He only seems to use this ability in desperate situations, when lives are at stake and appeal to reason has failed. He's a dominant, controlling empath, and if he's got to kill someone he's most comfortable facing an opponent when his opponent is out of control and in the grip of violent emotions - and if they're not, then he'll push them into a storm of emotion.

We see this in the very first episode when he's facing Mitchell the demi-god (another telepath Kirk befriended, by the way), we see it in episodes like the fight with the Romulan starship, we see it in Metamorphosis when he figures out the cloud being is in love with Cochran, we see it when he forces Miranda, the human telepath (who he seems to admire greatly earlier in the episode - it appears that Kirk might have a thing for telepaths), almost into insanity to get her to pull Spock away from the brink of death. How else can you explain Kirk's sudden flashes of insight, his unbelievable ability to figure out what motivates a person or entity? If he has to, if it's essential, he'll figure out what your buttons are and he will damn well push them.

In "Obsession" (episode 48) we have support for this and indication that Spock seems to know about this ability of Kirk's. After one of the encounters with the blood-sucking cloud the following exchange occurs:

Kirk: I think I understand something now.
Spock: Do you believe you're in communication with the creature?
Kirk: I don't know what it is, Mr. Spock, but do you remember I said the thing was alive? It may not be communication as we understand it, but I did know it was alive and intelligent, and I think I know something else now.

Kirk calls this ability intuition. Later on, Kirk figures out where the creature is going and why, so we have objective proof that he is able to tap into the creature's motivations in some way:

Kirk: Direction, Mr. Spock.
Spock: It was bearing 127, mark 9, but I've lost it now.
Kirk: Mr. Scott, I'll need all the speed you can deliver. Keep at it until we begin to shake apart. I believe I know where it's going.
Spock: It's changed course before to mislead us. Logic --
Kirk: No, I'm going with intuition.

And again:

Spock: I do not understand, Captain.
Kirk: In Garrovick's quarters, I said the scent of the creature was somehow different. Something in my mind said "home".
Spock: And you know where home is?
Kirk: Yes, I think I do. I don't know how I know, but home is where it fought a starship once before.

As it turns out, Kirk's right. They catch the creature and kill it. Kirk is confident enough of his knowledge that he makes arrangements with another starship to rendezvous with him at the creature's destination. Now Spock would never, ever let him risk the ship and his reputation this way unless he had considerable faith in the ability Kirk calls "intuition."

Returning to Amok Time, Kirk gets Spock's confession; he makes the decision to divert to Vulcan against orders, knowing that it's going to cost him his career (he's going to keep his promise to Spock not to explain); and then apparently he does something else. By the time they reach Vulcan Spock appears almost normal again. He's rational, more under control, and apparently has stabilized physically. It's not because he found out they're going to Vulcan - it's something else. Christine comes to tell him that they're going to Vulcan, and the change has already occurred (plus he's been asleep, and in his adrenalin-crazed state he's not likely to have been sleeping.):

Spock: Miss Chapel.
Chapel: Yes, Mr. Spock?
Spock: I had a most startling dream. You were trying to tell me something, but I couldn't hear you. It would be illogical for us ... to protest against our natures. Don't you think?
Chapel: I don't understand.
Spock: Your face is wet.
Chapel: I came to tell you that we are bound for Vulcan. We'll be there in just a few days.
Spock: Vulcan. Miss Chapel.
Chapel: My name is Christine.
Spock: Yes, I know, Christine. Would you make me some of that plomeek soup?
Chapel: Oh, I'd be very glad to do that, Mr. Spock.

Some take this as proof that he was getting ready to roll in the hay with Chapel. Uh-uh. He's told Kirk that he must return to Vulcan or die. We find out later when they reach Vulcan that he's tied to T'Pring. So what has happened? Kirk's using his abilities to calm him down, that's what happened. And we see later that he has been hanging out with Spock off-screen (more on this later). By the time they arrive at Vulcan, Spock is looking relatively collected.

(If you don't like my interpretation, here's an alternative: What has occurred is that the dormant link between Spock and T'Pring is reawakening, thus lessening Spock's stress. But something has certainly happened.)

Now, the traditional non-slash interpretation of this episode is that Spock's shock at Kirk's presumed death plus the catharsis of the combat "turns off" the Pon Farr. Some writers allege that Spock's hybrid biology (which I don't believe in anyway) caused him to experience Pon Farr in an abnormal way. This is complete nonsense, and T'Pring's words prove it. What does she tell Spock at the end of the episode? She tells him that if he won the battle with Kirk, he would free her, because "she had dared to challenge." It's not Spock's "human, emotional side" she's counting on - it's obvious he's Vulcan in this respect. She couldn't possibly have anticipated that Spock's human side would abort the mating urge.

No, T'Pring's been counting on Vulcan customs all the way. She expected that he wouldn't claim her. That means that T'Pring knows about some other possibility. But it is indeed scientifically ridiculous to think that Spock would have a biological urge to fight any other male around to the death to mate, and then biology would decide that it wasn't worth mating after he'd won the battle. Such a behavior pattern urge would have no evolutionary value at all, and as T'Pring points out in her little chant, this has all been going on for a long, long time.

Here's my theory, and I think it makes more sense, as well as being suitably slashy:

There are two "rights" mentioned in Amok Time. The female has the right to pick a male to challenge her betrothed. This seems to be an awesomely unfair situation, because Spock himself explains that the purpose of the link is for them to be drawn together at Pon Farr - so it seems as if he has no way to divorce her, while she can calmly spend the first few decades of her life recruiting the biggest bruiser around to kill him. But the male has the right to bring his closest friends! That's the other "right":

Spock: Then would you beam down to the planet's surface with me? There is a brief ceremony.
Kirk: Is it permitted?
Spock: It is my right. By tradition, the male is accompanied by his closest friends.

Now T'Pau questions this:

T'Pau: Spock ... are our ceremonies for outworlders?
Spock: They are not outworlders. They are my friends. I am permitted this.

And guess what - they get to stay! Spock does have the right! Notice that Spock says they aren't outworlders - they're his friends. Consider that in combination with his earlier aside in the confession scene with Kirk, when he tells Kirk "It is a thing no outworlder may know ... except those very few who have been involved." They're involved, all right!

Now the "wedding party" looks more like a judge/jury/executioner setup to me. You've got the sedan chair bearers, T'Pau (clearly a judge, and a very prestigious one), T'Pring, Stonn, and the big goon carrying weapons who acts "in case of cowardice". This is not a big ol' ethnic wedding party. All you've got is the principals. So why does the male have the "right" to be accompanied by his closest friends? It's not a formality - oh no. They aren't there to mop his brow and hand him the ring!

My guess is that all or almost all male Vulcans are bisexual to a degree. It would have extreme evolutionary value. They do go into Pon Farr right on schedule, but if there's no available woman around they turn to each other. Obviously, once this behavior emerged among the Vulcan population, those who had the genes for it would be far more likely to survive over a good portion of their 200 - 300 year lifespan and therefore breed. So that behavior is going to propagate through the population.

Also, I suspect that over the several hundred-year lifespan it is not that practical to assume that most Vulcans confine themselves to just one sexual/mental companion. My guess is that their concept of "marriage" is quite different than ours, and that it is quite acceptable and probably expected to have other partners. After all, what would happen if the female were ill or unavailable during a future Pon Farr? I'm also guessing that custom dictates that when the two meet to consummate the "marriage", those who they bring along are implicitly "legitimized" partners. In other words, by bringing Stonn along, T'Pring was indicating that he was part of the package, so to speak.

Conversely, by bringing along Kirk and McCoy Spock was informing T'Pring that he wasn't going to abandon his human friends, and at least implying that one or both of them were his lovers, or would be. I think Spock's "friends" offer him his way to divorce T'Pring under Vulcan law, if he wants to. If T'Pring challenges, I'm guessing that he has the "traditional" right to consummate his Pon Farr with one of his friends, refuse the challenge, and then T'Pring is free. This, by the way, would explain why Vulcans have the word t'hy'la - that's the "friend, brother, lover" who does this for you. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

My speculation is also supported by T'Pring's explanation at the end of the episode (which Spock comments is flawlessly logical): "But if you did not free me, it would be the same for you would be gone. And I would have your name and your property, and Stonn would still be there."

Remember, T'Pau earlier asked T'Pring if she were prepared to become property of the victor - so clearly there is some overwhelming societal custom, which overrides Spock's property rights. Yes, she will be his property, but it seems that doesn't give him total sway over her - she still has the right to companionship. Stonn's to be exact, because she followed the custom, the formula, and brought Stonn along to the Koon-ut-Kalifee. Even after having challenged, she is going to get Spock's name and property. More on that later!

The other point that confirms this is T'Pau's "Live Long and Prosper" to Spock as he's preparing to beam back up. Who does T'Pau think Spock is going to prosper with? McCoy, of course - Spock's other alternate. Remember, McCoy's upset as he declares Kirk dead, but tells Spock "strange as it may seem, you're the Captain now!" T'Pau doesn't necessarily think McCoy's rejected him. She's telling Spock to do the logical thing, advising Spock to live.

Why would T'Pring, who T'Pau warned would become Spock's property, get custody of Spock's property if he did not free her? The answer has to be that Vulcan is a completely matriarchal society. Males, you see, have this little instability problem. Literally, during Pon Farr they'd give everything away to get some satisfaction. In a society that evolved among harsh conditions, loss of control of a spring or a well and some good, relatively fertile ground could be fatal to a whole family. Vulcan males never have full legal control over their own property - never. If a male is an heir, their property passes from control of a female ancestor of theirs to their "wife". That is why the childhood bonding is arranged by their families - it's done to protect family welfare.

Actually, when you think of the situation from T'Pring's viewpoint, the most favorable thing that could happen after the challenge is that Spock DOESN'T free her - if he doesn't, she gets Stonn, Spock's name, and his property. Coincidentally, that would be exactly the outcome if she didn't challenge, except she wouldn't be Spock's "property". So why did she ever intend to challenge - where was the payoff? The logical answer is that she didn't intend to at all.

What changed her mind? Spock showing up with his human friends. Spock said when he was begging T'Pau to forbid Kirk to act as T'Pring's champion "His blood does not burn." Kirk's not subject to Pon Farr. Kirk fits the fundamental requirement to be Spock's "wife" in Vulcan terms. Kirk, in short, is eligible to get control over Spock's property.

The moment T'Pring realized that T'Pau was going to rule in Spock's favor, to rule that Kirk and McCoy could stay, that they were, in effect, valid parties to this relationship, she realized that her entire future was in jeopardy - that she could end up on the bottom of the pecking order (or divorced). I'm sure that there must have been debate on this topic before, when Amanda got involved with Sarek, and that it was decided within the clan that humans qualified to be property-holders.

I suspect that Spock knew that his relationship with T'Pring was a little problematic, and brought Kirk and McCoy along for two reasons: to preserve his legal right to their companionship, and as an implied threat to T'Pring. He knew that she really didn't want to divorce him, because she did want his name and his property, but he was trying to forestall a challenge and possibly becoming subject to Stonn (see the later explanation of what the challenge really is) by showing up with his prospective t'hy'las. Remember, if she exercised her challenge under my scenario, Spock's "friends" could allow Spock to divorce T'Pring.

I don't think that Spock, in his state, realized how T'Pring would react. He only understood after she explained - and that's why he gave her to Stonn. Not because he liked what she had done, but he clearly realized that she was acting logically within her framework (remember, he comments that her explanation is "flawlessly logical"), and blamed himself more than he blamed T'Pring for Kirk's death. On the other hand, Spock is not going to let her profit from Kirk's death.

Now let's come to the combat. First, how much did Kirk know before the fight started? When they first beam down, he translates Koon-ut-Kalifee for McCoy: "He described it to me as meaning ... 'marriage or challenge.' In the distant past, Vulcans killed to win their mates." Clearly, Kirk and Spock have been hanging out and talking quite a bit since Spock's original confession. Kirk's not NEARLY as clueless as McCoy. Given that, once the challenge is issued you'd expect Kirk to be a little more wary. But no, he jumps cheerfully in, despite the fact he must have seen Spock's crunched terminal in his quarters. Even during the intermission, he doesn't seem to buy McCoy's argument about killing Spock.

Why is Kirk so willing to jump into the ring, and so completely shocked when Spock draws blood? Because he's an empath, he's paying close attention to Spock, and he knows what Spock is feeling towards him - and it's not hostility. He knows Spock isn't angry with him, he feels Spock's overwhelming desire NOT to hurt him. And it's clear that Kirk expects to win! That's what he tells McCoy: "If I can knock Spock out without hurting him ..."

You either have to believe here that Kirk's an egomaniacal nutcase or think back to what happened with Gary Mitchell - Kirk intends to use his ace in the hole, his ability to futz with the more primitive emotions, to which Spock is certainly subject at this moment. Remember, Kirk's asked for McCoy's medical opinion on whether Spock can beat Stonn, and McCoy isn't sure that Spock's up to it. Vulcans are stronger than humans, so if Spock has a chance at beating Stonn, he certainly is physically able to beat Kirk, and Kirk expects to DOMINATE this combat - he'll have to in order to carefully knock Spock out.

Now to go back to the biological issue: what you see among animals when they fight for mates is that it is normally somewhat ritualistic. The struggle continues until one has established dominance, and then the other male almost always takes off. I grew up among animals, wild and tame of all sorts, including horses, deer, wolves, dogs, foxes, and bobcats, cats, rats, skunks, possums, squirrels, deer, chipmunks, birds, etc. What I observed is that the worst, most dangerous fights were over territory, not mates. Territory is an issue of life now, today, but there is usually another chance to mate - so evolution favors a certain amount of discretion over valor when fighting over females. Think about it - given the long Vulcan life span, wouldn't evolution favor discretion over valor even more than in terrestrial animals?

What I observed about the Kalifee combat is that it was ritualistic. Think about what happens - Spock starts out very strongly and aggressively, clearly startling Kirk. He draws first blood! Then, once Kirk realizes it's serious, and that he is in deep trouble, Spock breaks Kirk's weapon. That looked ritualistic to me. But wait! Now T'Pau calls a halt! Why? If it is really a fight to the death, the quicker the better - why prolong the agony?

Ah, and then the two of them are handed nice leather straps to fight with. A weapon with less risk of lethal damage. Very suitable for um, knocking people down and tying people up. It's now close combat. And Spock proceeds to knock Kirk down! Also, remember when T'Pau explains to McCoy that the big guy "acts only if cowardice is seen"? That's odd, isn't it? If the problem is that someone is challenging Spock for a female, what does it matter if the challenger gives up and takes off? That would seem to be a more logical solution, biologically.

But it might not be, if, for instance, one imagines that Stonn was picked as T'Pring's challenger. Stonn could take off into the desert and reestablish a relationship with T'Pring later - remember, T'Pring is giving him a certain standing by bringing him along in the first place. That could lead to a whole lot of conflict later on.

It looks a lot as if the purpose of the Koon-ut-Kalifee "ritual" is to confine the conflict to as narrow an interval and to as few parties as possible. The challenge is going to be settled right here and now, for all time, and Vulcan society's rules will enforce whatever happened. I just don't think the combat is necessarily to literal death. I think it's to the death of independence for the loser. If you allow my theory that male Vulcans are bisexual, I think the loser gets the choice of death or submission, and probably sexual/mental submission.

In short, they will establish a hierarchy between the males. The guy who wins ends up being top dog for all time. If the loser is willing to submit himself, and the winner finds him acceptable, he gets to live as the winner's "property", in a sense, but he IS STILL A PARTY TO THE MARRIAGE. A subordinate partner, but a partner. If the challenged male is really angry, or the challenger is not willing or able to submit, the challenger gets killed, and peace is restored.

So why did T'Pring challenge? She wanted Spock's name and property - she's never been happy about his behavior in attempting to avoid the marriage. She realizes that if she lets the marriage go on, she's not necessarily going to end up with the position she had expected. Remember, she tells Spock that she doesn't want to be "consort" to a "legend". If she accepts the "Koon", she's going to be stuck bearing children to Spock (after all, Kirk may not be subject to Pon Farr, but he's not a Vulcan female either). She takes the one option possible to improve her situation.

I'm guessing that what happens when she prevents the gong from being struck is that she blocks the mental link to Spock. This is what sends him into Plak Tow. Now, if Kirk had been Vulcan, I think he would have known enough to intervene. Probably he was supposed to step into the ring and meld with Spock, by tradition. Then he would have ended up being Spock's t'hy'la, and T'Pring would have been freed from all obligations to Spock - free to consummate another advantageous marriage. (And my personal interpretation is that by Vulcan custom, Spock would have been free to find another wife, to bear children.) But Kirk hasn't been filled in completely; he doesn't react the way T'Pring expected he would. T'Pring thinks the situation over, while chanting away. Doesn't she look completely intent and focused? I think she's struggling mentally to continue blocking the link, while desperately wondering what to do next.

So then she picks Kirk. What this will do is

In a way, it's as if she's giving him a nudge - hey human, HAVEN'T YOU REALIZED THIS IS YOUR CUE? I don't think she ever expected him to accept the challenge - why on earth would she expect him to accept it? If Kirk denied the challenge, she would have picked McCoy next - he wouldn't have accepted, and then they would both have dealt themselves out of the relationship. Then, I believe, she would have turned around and accepted Spock, who is in a totally frenetic state, and certainly would have accepted her. She would have been Spock's legal wife, with no other males/non males able to challenge her rights to Spock's property, and as she explains at the end "and still there would be Stonn".

So what's T'Pau thinking? Well, I think she realized there was an issue when Spock showed up with two human males. She's a very important person, and the question of whether humans had enough mental stability to be the "property-holder" for a male Vulcan must have come up when Sarek picked Amanda. T'Pau sees the implications immediately. So first she tries to get Spock to send them away, before the ceremony proper ever starts. That doesn't work, and T'Pring challenges. Suddenly T'Pau gets rather chatty:

T'Pau: She will choose her champion.
Kirk: Spock --
T'Pau: Do not attempt to speak at him, Kirk. He is deep in the Plak-tow -- the blood fever. He will not speak with thee again ... until he has passed through ... what is to come. (T'Pau doesn't know herself what's going to happen! Also she may be trying to get Kirk to communicate with Spock in the right way - mentally! Don't speak at him, go to him.)

T'Pau: If thee wishes to depart, thee may leave now.
Kirk: We'll stay.
T'Pau: Spock chose his friends well.
McCoy: Ma'am, are you trying to say ... that she rejected him, that she doesn't want him?
T'Pau: He will have to fight for her. It is her right. (And duh, human, you can prevent this!)

I think she expected Kirk to step in when T'Pring picks the Kalifee - though she offers them a chance to leave, she expresses approval that they choose to stay; she clearly takes this as a sign of commitment to Spock. T'Pau does tell Kirk he has no obligation to accept the challenge: "T'Pring is within her rights, but our laws and customs are not binding on thee. Thee are free to decline ... with no harm on thyself." I think when she says "our laws and customs are not binding on thee", she is acknowledging that he doesn't have the obligation to step in and become Spock's t'hy'la while pointing out that Spock is in a bad situation. It is rather self-evident that Kirk doesn't have to fight Spock for T'Pring.

If you accept my interpretation, Spock's dialogue with T'Pau becomes even more heart-rending:

Spock: T'Pau ... (Note that he doesn't appeal to Kirk, but to T'Pau)
T'Pau: Thee speaks?
Spock: My friend ... does not understand.
T'Pau: The choice has been made, Spock. It is up to him now.
Spock: He does not ... know. I will do ... what I must ... T'Pau ... but not with him! His blood ... does not burn. He is my friend!
T'Pau: It is said ... thy Vulcan blood is thin. Are thee Vulcan ... or are thee human?
Spock: I burn ... T'Pau. My eyes ... are flame. My heart ... is flame. Thee has the power, T'Pau. In the name ... of my fathers, forbid ... forbid! T'Pau ... I plead ... with thee! I beg!
T'Pau: Thee has prided thyself on thy Vulcan heritage. It is decided.

The obvious question here is why doesn't Spock appeal to KIRK? He could tell Kirk not to join the combat, couldn't he - if the problem is that he has to kill Kirk, or that Kirk must kill him? If he can talk, why not talk to Kirk, or to McCoy? That's not what Spock is begging T'Pau for, because that's not what Spock has to do. T'Pau would contradict him, if Spock told Kirk he would kill him. Spock is begging T'Pau not to force him to mentally rape his friend, who doesn't understand what is really about to happen. T'Pau already knows (telepathically) that there is some connection between Kirk and Spock. Spock is begging and pleading with T'Pau to forbid Kirk's participation, and excusing Kirk's failure to intervene so far by telling T'Pau that he wasn't totally honest with Kirk, that Kirk is not betraying him, but simply doesn't have a clue.

T'Pau understands Spock, but responds with inevitability, and I think the comment about Spock's Vulcan heritage is meant to be reassuring: Once Spock has "done what he must" with Kirk, his sanity and logic will return. Spock will be able to take care of Kirk properly, to deal with him in a logical and just manner. T'Pau, who is a Vulcan female herself, doesn't understand how a human would react under these circumstances. She sees that Kirk really cares about Spock - Kirk's clearly trying to figure out how to help him.

After all, the obvious comparison is with Sarek and Amanda, and that worked out just fine. From T'Pau's point of view, as from T'Pring's, Kirk becoming Spock's t'hy'la is the most logical solution at this point, and if this happens forcibly, it really doesn't matter - the end result is about the same in Vulcan eyes. Kirk will be Spock's property, but Spock will not abuse him. Kirk will get what he wants - Spock's survival; Spock will get what he needs, but doesn't want.

But T'Pau does respond to Spock's agonized plea by warning Kirk not to intervene: "Do not interfere, Kirk. Keep thy place." Here, I think she's being quite literal. Don't go to Spock, she's saying. Don't step in the ring. Stay, physically, where you are. That's what Spock is asking for. She doesn't explicate, because it's obvious that Spock doesn't want her to, and T'Pau has realized now that Kirk doesn't understand what Spock needs from him. If she tells him, Kirk may refuse, and then Spock will be at T'Pring's and Stonn's mercy. So when Kirk accepts, she jumps right on it. Now why does T'Pau make the comment about "This combat is to the death"? She's telling Kirk right there that this is serious, that this is absolute, that he will have to surrender to Spock in order to live - that's his only way out.

(Death, to Vulcans, is not quite what death is to us. Death is death of bodily independence, but as we learn later, the custom is to commit one's mind at death to another's keeping, and from there to Sileya. Kirk will be dead in the sense that he'll be subject to Spock - his independent existence will be ended. And Spock's will be as well; he will be mentally and physically dependent on Kirk.)

Only McCoy's intervention prevents the inevitable. It seems probable that Vulcans fight mentally as well as physically. This is probably why the two different weapons are used - the first allows a quick kill. If both survive the lirpa (and I would think Spock's action in breaking Kirk's weapon is a ritual way of declaring that he doesn't want to actually kill him), then they will proceed to a "contact" combat employing the ah-woon in which superior mental power may be more determinative than mere physical strength. Given that, T'Pau's "calling" of the lirpa match is actually protecting Kirk from Spock's unfair advantage - after he had broken Kirk's weapon Kirk could have been forced to submit by threat of death alone. It does seem as if the "rules" of the Kalifee are designed to test both mental and physical strength.

Although Kirk knows at the end of the lirpa bout that he's physically overmastered, he still doesn't seem to believe that the situation is hopeless. Even as McCoy gives Kirk the hypo, Kirk hasn't accepted that he has to kill Spock - his response to McCoy is "Kill Spock? That's not what we came to Vulcan for, is it?" Then he quips "Sound medical advice" in response to McCoy's "Be careful." So what is Kirk planning? My belief is that Kirk was trying to exert empathic control over Spock during the combat, to calm his aggression, as Spock was trying to subdue Kirk and meld with him, to establish a permanent link. I think Spock was having a very difficult time of it - I suspect he instinctively resorted to strangulation as way to cut off the blood supply to Kirk's brain and physically shut down Kirk's mental defenses, thereby allowing him to gain telepathic control over Kirk's mind.

After McCoy pronounces Kirk dead, T'Pau tells McCoy that she grieves with him. Quite an interesting statement - one can hardly think she was rooting for Kirk over Spock if the combat were really fatal! Here, I think, she is acknowledging responsibility, taking the blame for Kirk's death, and therefore logically implying that Spock should not blame himself. I interpret her final instruction to Spock to "Live long and prosper" to be a way of urging him to live. Spock, in return, tells her that her actions have made it impossible for him to live long and prosper "for I have killed my Captain and my friend."

Now what happens with T'Pring is interesting. This is the exchange:

Spock: Why the challenge? And why [did] you choose my captain as your champion?
T'Pring: Stonn wanted me. I wanted him.
Spock: I see no logic in preferring Stonn over me.
T'Pring: You have become much known among our people, Spock. Almost a legend. And as the years went by, I came to know that I did not want to be the consort of a legend. But by the laws of our people, I could only divorce you by the Kaliffee. There was also Stonn who wanted very much to be my consort. And I wanted him.

If your Captain were victor, he would not want me, so I would have Stonn.

If you were victor, you would free me because I had dared to challenge, and again I would have Stonn.

But if you did not free me, it would be the same for you would be gone. And I would have your name and your property, and Stonn would still be there.
Spock: Logical -- flawlessly logical.
T'Pring: I am honored.
Spock: Stonn ... she is yours.

Clearly when Spock comments on T'Pring's flawless logic he's not referring to the present truth of what she just said, because his next action is not included in T'Pring's list of possibilities. Again, let me point out to the skeptics that T'Pring believes that Spock is capable of walking away from her without mating. Nor do I think Spock is being sarcastic about T'Pring's logic - T'Pring doesn't think so either. As I've said before, I believe Spock is acknowledging that T'Pring's reasoning from her point of view is logical. I think he places the primary blame for Kirk's death on T'Pau and himself.

Regardless, Spock can "free" T'Pring - there's no question that she is now Spock's property. However, Spock doesn't do that. Instead, he gives T'Pring to Stonn. Either T'Pring is still Spock's property, and he has given custody of her to Stonn, or he has given over his property rights in T'Pring to Stonn. Regardless, T'Pring is not free, and she doesn't get his name or his property. Spock tells Stonn: "Stonn ... she is yours. After a time ... you may find that having ... is not so pleasing a thing after all ... as wanting." I tend to think that bitter little speech is a comment on what Spock has just experienced. He was quite content to want Kirk, but his seeming victory over him was awful. I think Spock almost won the combat, and linked to Kirk, then experienced his "death".

Spock does believe that Kirk's death is murder - after beaming up he tells McCoy that he intends to resign his commission and surrender himself to the Federation authorities. Given that Spock was willing to die to keep the secret of Pon Farr earlier in the episode, this is quite incredible. After all, Spock could just stay on Vulcan - obviously he's not guilty by Vulcan law of any crime. Either Spock does not expect to be alive when they reach the Starbase, in which case McCoy will be forced to give some sort of explanation of Kirk's death or Spock knows that during his trial McCoy would be forced to explain what happened. I'd guess that Spock finds Kirk's death so illogical that he intends to divulge all of the details of Pon Farr in order to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring in the future.

Parenthetically, it's very possible that Spock forces Vulcan to make some sort of disclosure about Pon Farr to the Federation even after he finds out that Kirk survived. Remember, in this episode Spock tells Kirk "it is a thing no outworlder may know, except for those very few who have been involved." By the last season, even Droxine in the Cloud Minders has heard about it:

Droxine: You only take a mate once every seven years?
Spock: The seven-year cycle... is biologically inherent in all Vulcans. At that time, the mating drive outweighs all other motivations.

I think Spock talked himself, or else forced Vulcan to disclose it. Remember Roddenberry's famous footnote, when Kirk is dodging around the rumors that he and Spock are lovers? Kirk refers to Pon Farr himself in that quote, after having been willing to lose his career to protect Spock's secret a few years earlier. It's not a secret any more.

Now, anyone is free to disagree with my interpretation, and I know many who wouldn't be able to accept it for emotional reasons. But this interpretation, or something close to it, is the only thing that will allow the Vulcans in the episode to be seen as acting logically, and not make Kirk out to be an utter idiot.

Whether or not Kirk had sex with Spock to resolve Pon Farr is not clear, though it's obviously the most plausible and simple explanation. But we don't know the nature of the Vulcan mating drive, other than that a mental link to a partner seems to completely direct the male during Pon Farr. It's possible that the Pon Farr just lasts until the link is solid, and the male has mental control over his mate. The physical act of impregnation might come at a later time - perhaps when the male senses the woman is most fertile. If you prefer, you may suppose that Kirk's mind never generates the appropriate cue to Spock's. That's it - Spock just hangs dutifully around for thirty years waiting for Kirk to ovulate. In a pig's eye, as our favorite doctor would say.

Everyone has to make a choice about the Amok Time episode - either it's a piece of very good, quite radical, science fiction, or an awful one. This episode either presents us with the "logic" behind the Vulcan way of life, or shows Vulcans as being illogically bloodthirsty hypocrites. If combat alone can alleviate Pon Farr, what's the purpose of the ritual at all? There is no good biological or societal reason for the Koon-Ut-Kalifee if you accept Spock's statement to McCoy that the combat assuaged his mating drive. A male Vulcan could simply hire a big bruiser to knock the madness out of him. If this were true, when Spock believed himself to be dying before, wouldn't he have taken steps to see if combat would save him?

It amazes me how bad a great deal of the fanfiction dealing with Amok Time really is. I think it stems from a failure to really deal with what we're shown on screen. You see T'Pau presented as a human-hating tyrant: does this seem consistent with Sarek's position in Vulcan society? It's certainly not consistent with her behavior in the episode!

You read Spock feeling rejected because his parents weren't at his "marriage": I doubt I'd want my parents at a ritual that could include me being killed in front of their eyes, and there's a notable lack of non-participants at the ceremony, such as it is. This is not a wedding; it's a meeting of a Vulcan fight club. I myself refuse all "Bring Your Own Weapon" wedding invitations.

You read that Kirk was really just trying to get T'Pau's approval by volunteering to fight with Spock: how much sense does that make? He's just junked his career to try to save Spock! Throughout this entire episode, Kirk has only one thing on his mind - saving Spock's life.

I've even read stories in which Spock was portrayed as being furious with both Kirk and McCoy for their interference: come again? That, of course, would explain why Spock intended to turn himself over to the authorities to be tried for killing Kirk, but on finding a living Kirk aboard the Enterprise acts like a polar bear stuck in Dallas during the summertime who's just spotted a snow cone!

If McCoy never realizes what happened, then you can understand why he's always ranting at Spock about logic. Kirk, on the other hand, continues to have a lot of faith in Spock's logic, even after almost being "killed" by him. Kirk's either completely irrational himself, or he understands a lot more than McCoy does. Think it over for yourself.

Live long and prosper!

K'Sal

This essay was written and completed in 2003, at which time K'Sal sent it to me for beta in several intermediate drafts and eventually a final version; I presume she posted it somewhere or other, although I wasn't active in her mailing list world at the time. When I recovered this from my old hard drive, and read over it, the amount of work that went into it as well as the highly significant K/S content really struck me, and I decided I should put it up on the site with her fiction works.