Chapter By Chapter> Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders chapter 11

Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.

The previous chapters were mostly funeral and mourning, but we did get hits of character moment and building our suspect list…and yet our heroes haven’t had time to find the titular murders yet.

Last week gave us two chapters, but it also gave us insights we need into the original characters for this story. That’s still important. The Vulcans are a bit complex versus what we would have seen by the time this novel came out (first printing: November, 1984, but by my copy “Encounter At Farpoint” was the only listed Star Trek: The Next Generation novel, adapting the pilot episode from three years later) without being the jerks from the Enterprise television show. This is a good thing. McCoy doesn’t even hate Vulcans, he’s just set in his way and bit of a crotchety country doctor. That’s why we love him.

I’ll keep the mystery side of the story past the jump, but so far our heroes don’t know about the mystery of the title, just that something’s gone wrong and they have two patients they’re protecting.

On the mystery angle, Sendet clearly had his sights on T’Mir, who knows it and if I read her correctly (not always easy with Vulcans, the best poker face this side of androids) she knows it and isn’t interested but is embarrassed by the attention. He’s also rather bold about it for a Vulcan, dismayed he didn’t have a spot IN THE FUNERAL PARTY! Dude! Time and place! This is neither! Okay, so he’s a jerk. He’s also our first official suspect, but let’s see if they figure out they need one in this chapter. It depends on whether or not they’re waiting for the second act of the book. I could see the show doing that, but when you use the word “Murder” in your title, it’s not like we aren’t expecting it as readers.

As for Sendet, who continues to push, both Sorel and T’Mir give him the Vulcan version of “time and place” before Sorel’s grandfather (Vulcan’s really are long-lived if Sorel has two adult children, his son bonded as we learn, and grandpa is still around) finally tells him the Vulcan version of “stop embarrassing yourself and get lost, you little snot”. I like grandad, who even gives Daniel his blessing in being treated as family. T’Mir notes that the whole family will now accept his presence whether they would have or not before. Later, Sorel’s aunt wants to “help” find a wife for Daniel. Yep, he’s family now…though T’Mir knows a way to keep him off the “marriage mart”, as she calls it. Bet she does.

Turns out I was right. After the ceremony and Corrigan and Sorel complete the day’s assignments, T’Mir walks him home. We learn more about their history, and her interest in a painting of a sailing vessel as there were sailors in his family. Some people still use the old sailing methods, which is also true today but is probably more of a novelty in the high-tech Federation of the 23rd century. I know it definitely has to be by the 24th. She was enthralled by such stories as a kid and even got to go sailing on a smuggling ship for the experience during her time on Earth. It’s not much but it does set-up the early relationship of Daniel and T’Mir–which is funny when, as expected, she brings up the idea of bonding with him. In essence…she just proposed. I guess that’s not a cultural issue in Vulcan society, and they never had jewelers with ad campaigns to convince them to put a ring on it.

Daniel brings up that he’s old enough to be her father but she says that’s no longer true. Um…yeah it is, T’Mir. The process had an unintended side-effect of physical de-aging but he’s still a stocky bald man who used to change your diaper. He just has less wrinkles and his spinal column is a mess. He tries to use Sendet as a dodge, but she replies that he’s more interested in her status than in her, a joining of houses rather than hearts. With Daniel admitting she’s reached sexual maturity, is very attractive, and there is something there, he accepts, with the bonding to take place tomorrow. Sendet will not be happy, but the real question is whether or not that will be interrupted by the main event of this story.

While the plot doesn’t move forward, this is very important. It does add to Sendet as a suspect in so much as motivation. The parents clearly disagreed with bonding their kids as a child due to their own journey of finding each other and wanted that for Soton and T’Mir. Seemed to work out for Soton, as we see he has a bond mate. This is otherwise more about setting up Vulcan society in general and with our cast specifically. The blurb on the back notes that murder is unheard of on Vulcan after the enlightenment of Surak. We even note that there are no locks on the doors like its 1950s rural America, with locks on the doors of the stasis chambers only there for medical reasons rather than concerns of what’s going to happen. That’s what makes this so interesting, that a place where murder was all but bred out could see one happen.

While admittedly the title is a necessity to let the reader know what to expect from the story, and a title like “Danger On Vulcan” wouldn’t be specific enough, it is the title that makes part of my mind want to rush in just so the title fits the story. I know it will. I have read this before, even if it was so long ago I don’t remember the mystery fully. I’m just so anticipating the main thrust of the story I want to get it going. We’re maybe a quarter to a third of the way through so it should happen soon. It’s all on me…but I really want to get this game afoot. Next time, we do get caught up with the characters we already know.