#horta

My Top 25 Costumes from Star Trek : The Original Series

(pocket TOS #18 My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane)

it's not common in the shows prior to enterprise to see the world growing like that right in front of you.

i read the words "sounded like dragging concrete blocks over the carpet", and i looked up from the page before i read anything else and thought "kinda reminds me of that thing from devil in the dark."

and then i read the following lines, and i saw the word Horta. and it clicked and suddenly i just felt so emotional. like kinda proud like "hey i was there for that. and now they've all grown up."

Kirk was determined to kill the Horta, that "it had killed all those people, we can't risk keeping it alive," and that makes sense, perfect sense, and yet when Spock offers up the alternative, "it could be the last of its kind," Kirk still has all the reason to destroy it.

But Spock had asked him not to kill it, Spock had expressed interest in it, and Spock had wanted it alive. Spock wanted something.

And so when Jim comes face to face with the creature, alone, and knows he could be killed, he hesitates. At the cost of his life he hesitates because Spock had requested something from him. He doesn't kill the Horta, because Spock had asked him to find another way, and so Jim makes one. Makes one despite all odds, and despite no hope, and despite his life being in danger the entire time.

But that's not all, even despite wanting the creature to live, even understanding that it was only an animal protecting what was it's own, the moment Kirk falls into danger, Spock tells Jim to kill it.

'Kill the creature if it means my captain shall live.'

He was willing to forgo his curiosity, his scientific and Vulcan morals, if it was going to kill his captain. Isn't it illogical for one man to live if it kills the entire race of another? Isn't it illogical to be willing to assist that one man in such a thing?

They switched places, kill or find another way, all because of each other, and in the end, solved the problem together.

˖ ⊹₊ ✦ Horta Power ✦ ₊⊹ ˖

Victor Horta Art