Comment on A Higher Power When You Look

  1. SLWalker on Chapter 1 Mon 12 Jun 2023 07:09PM UTC

    Second read-throughs are always different than first ones because the very nature of the reader's relationship with the text has changed. I know what's coming, and I know an absolutely delightful amount that I didn't that first time. So, I see things differently (and maybe sometimes more clearly.) Which makes this whole passage--

    " ... Also, I’ve got this equation in my head— apparently invented by an alternate future version of myself, which is very interesting—and it solves transwarp beaming but it also solves everything else. Our warp equations are wrong. We’ve always known that they are wrong. Tae make the maths work with observed reality we had tae write errors into them. People have argued with me about it, but writing an error intae an equation means you’ve got it straight wrong. And I’ve figured it out. It’s space that’s moving. It fixes everything.We are going to have tae completely reconfigure our thinking about the entire physics of faster than light travel. So aye, you’ll forgive me if I’m a wee bit excited."

    --hit differently. Like, not only in the context of this story, but with an eye towards your Scotty in the RR, and the strange little loop of causality he creates with his prime universe counterpart, too.

    Also, I'm still glad she brought him some damn food and stuff. LOL!

    Love the tea discussion more this time around, in the second section. XD Tea snob that Scotty is. Love that he and Nyota both feel strongly about it, too.

    Oh man. Post-- damn, reading this whole story plus also writing Seamark, plus all of our chatting and idea tossing and AU plotting and 'yes, and'ing', that whole part with Spock Prime is even more of a kick in the soul, sheesh. (He is gone again-- Ooooh, and also oooof, both at once. Nice change, also heartbreaking as fuck for many reasons, but also-- there's so much love implied there, quietly? You know?)

    “I always found it best to be guided by her wise counsel, whether as a lieutenant, a commander, a captain, an admiral, or my friend,” the ancient Vulcan agreed, and exited with a nod. I love this line so damn much.

    “Thanks, Scotty,” she said quietly, her hand on his arm, which he reached over and patted. “Thank you for bringing him home.” Oh my god, the echo with the epilogue.

    Anyway. Still masterful work. XD Love it, as I did the first time I read it.

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    1. daraoakwise on Chapter 1 Mon 12 Jun 2023 08:19PM UTC

      It’s fun going back and touching a few things in a small rewrite. I wondered if you’d notice that small chance about TOS Scotty. Gone again. Your line, somewhere or other, about him disappearing and Spock asking for his death certificate to be issued really got me. This story is better for that slight nod back to that, and that gentle relationship between the two of them.

      The slight bootstrap paradox about the equation is something I’ve poked at. And earlier draft of ch 18ish had AOS Scotty giving it to TOS Scotty. I ultimately didn’t like that, but the push-pull of the thing across universes is really interesting, as is Spock’s motivations. And writing Spock Prime, like writing Scotty Prime, is always a tremendous honor.

      So fun to have you looking at this again! I’m going to do the same with AotW, very soon.

      Last Edited Mon 12 Jun 2023 08:19PM UTC

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      1. SLWalker on Chapter 1 Mon 12 Jun 2023 09:01PM UTC

        It’s fun going back and touching a few things in a small rewrite. I wondered if you’d notice that small chance about TOS Scotty. Gone again. Your line, somewhere or other, about him disappearing and Spock asking for his death certificate to be issued really got me. This story is better for that slight nod back to that, and that gentle relationship between the two of them. YES! I absolutely did notice. And aye.

        I'm on the fence about whether Spock ever got Scotty's actual last goodbye; it would have been a black box recording specifically for Spock, not a body or anything (so probably there was still some debate in Starfleet's top brass as to whether he might show up in another hundred years like the Flying DutchScotsman), and like-- it was very much no guarantee that Spock would have gotten it.

        But I think Spock knew that even if Scotty wasn't dead -- transporter brilliance or mycelial network or something else entirely -- he would have wanted left alone regardless. And that little note on motivations is fascinating, for real. TOS Spock worked with TOS Scotty on that transwarp formula, it was literally them passing notebooks back and forth over years and years. And I am fascinated a bit by him not claiming any credit on that; if that too isn't some form of love.

        Last Edited Mon 12 Jun 2023 09:02PM UTC

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