I am back for part four of #TMPRead. Today we find out if Kirk was really that stupid for ordering phasers instead of torpedoes. (Hint: he wasn't).
Capter 12. The time distortion the crew faces in the film is here, but thankfully seems much shorter in writing. It's only a littler more than page total. Kirk orders phasers, Decker countermands, and the asteroid is destroyed. #TMPRead
A sizable chunk of the asteroid actually hits the ship, but does no apparent damage. A hint of the new screens that will deflect V'Ger's torpedoes later. #TMPRead
Kirk realizes his entire "roll during this had been unusually passive". That sums up the entire story pretty well. #TMPRead
Kirk, frankly, doesn't seem that crazy in his need to reach the cloud in time. He's right. It's dangerous and it's going to be here soon. If there was anytime to push people it's now. I don't know why he's presented as unreasonable. #TMPRead
Kirk already knows about the phaser routing problem when Decker informs him of it. He saw it in the original specs and protested it fiercely. He just didn't know the engineers were stupid enough to not listen to him. #TMPRead
Since Scotty is the overseer and partial designer of the refit, is he actually the dumb one here? #TMPRead
Knowing McCoy fought Kirk ever leaving the center seat, it's odd now to see him chastising Kirk for scheming to get it back. This is an unnecessary inconsistency not in the film. #TMPRead
Their fight is more of a rager her. Kirk is "exploding with anger" at the accusations. #TMPRead
Kirk orders Scotty to start working on taking the phasers off engine power as if he doesn't have enough on his plate. #TMPRead
Kirk is blaming Decker for letting the design flaw slip by. Looks like he learned nothing from talking to McCoy. #TMPRead
Decker is out stomping the halls mad thinking about how he and Scotty already had a plan to create a phaser bypass circuit once they left orbit. Doh!!! #TMPRead
Decker thinks about why he "ran like a thief" from Delta after seeing Ilia in the hall. He was all for the merger that Deltan sex caused, but worried about it shattering his psyche. #TMPRead
We have confirmation that Wil is Matt Decker's son. He was raised by a New Human mom while his dad was in space. Hence his sneaking desire to merge with Ilia... and something else?#TMPRead
Gene argues with himself over whether the Enterprise is a "heavy cruiser" or a "battleship" as Spock's shuttle approaches. In the end "exploration and research vessel" is the proper term. #TMPRead
Kirk play's decker a log he made stating Decker saved the ship. Decker accepts in a way Kirk finds graceful. #TMPRead
Chapter 13. Kirk moves to shake hands when Spock enters the bridge. When has Spock ever shook hands on even the warmest of occasions? #TMPRead
Decker suspiciously can't believe Spock is magically here. Neither can the audience. #TMPRead
Kirk considers his friendship with Spock to be "the touching of two minds... superior to the wild physical love... during pon farr". #TMPRead
He also feels that, with Spock on board, he's truly in command of the ship now. #TMPRead
McCoy jokes about Spock's determination to ignore and injury everyone around him: "Never look a gift Vulcan in the ears, Jim!" #TMPRead
Chapter 14. Scotty also wants to shake Spock's hand. What is wrong with all of them? #TMPRead
Spock would make a great engineer, Scotty thinks. Decker also makes a great engineer. Meanwhile Scotty can seem to fix shit this trip out. Why is he even here? #TMPRead
Don't take that as I don't want Scotty around. I'm saying his character is not being used particularly well. #TMPRead
Spock wanders through the deeper parts of engineering to a corridor where he literally hears people fucking in the various rooms. This is, apparently, their normal use case. #TMPRead
He's looking for a meditation room, but all are in use. I really like the idea of future humans, even on a quasi-military ship, fucking and meditating with each other. But is it really a good idea right now?! #TMPRead
Spock finds a room, finally and looks out at the stars. Vulcans have a "seventh sense" which lets them sense the oneness of the universe. They don't consider it a "belief" but a fact. #TMPRead
Their "sixth sense" is the ability to sense a presence or disturbance in magnetic fields. Add that to your Vulcan powerups, @8bit_Maurice! #TMPRead
Vulcan meditation exercises include trying to find math that would make him a part of the universe and all of it as well. Sounds super fun. #TMPRead
Spock is upset that it's difficult to forget the joy Chekov had in seeing him for the first time. The mere thought of Kirk makes him think "T'hy'la!" This is intense. #TMPRead
Finally, he contacts V'Ger and is impressed by its mathematical perfection. He knows it is in the cloud coming toward them. #TMPRead
Chapter 15. Spock has presented practically the same intermix formula that put them in the wormhole. Both Decker AND Kirk find this suspicious and annoying. Kirk's also getting annoyed with Spock's disrespect toward Decker. #TMPRead
The wormhole is referred to as a "hyperspace rupture". Gene actually mentions "hyperspace" a lot in this book. #TMPRead
Entering warp is called a "quantum shift". It takes you into hyperspace. So what is warp drive, Gene? A tunnel? A different space? A shrinking of the universe like you just told us a few chapters ago? #TMPRead
Spock lets Kirk know that he felt V'Ger on Vulcan, but also that he felt Kirk's thoughts as well. Kirk had wondered if the Klingons had been destroyed or turned into exhibits somewhere. #TMPRead
McCoy acknowledges that Human/Vulcan telepathy is possible in cases of close friendship. Kirk says his great wish at the time was that he could discuss the situation with Spock. Awwwww! #TMPRead
Spock consider's McCoy asking about his leave time an invasion of privacy. McCoy considers that an emotional response. #TMPRead
Spock's goal in the Kolinar was to purge his human side. He is hoping V'ger will help him do that where the Vulcan masters failed. #TMPRead
Kirk tells McCoy to chill. That Spock would never betray them. Spock's cards weren't fully on the table like this in the film, though. Now he admits he has a need from V'Ger. Kirk is blind to ignore that much. #TMPRead
Decker is showing Scotty his phaser bypass design. Are we still worried about this? #TMPRead
Kirk is impressed with the design as well. He's seriously considering putting Decker back in command. But no! He is the Kirk. He's never really left this bridge. #TMPRead
That's a wrap on today's #TMPRead. I'll be back here at the regular time of 1pm/10am tomorrow when the Enterprise finally encounters the cloud.
