The Story Of T’Ling
Aka: Jen’s theory of red matter, multi-universes, and Spock.
Boring explanation on Red Matter TheoryTM :
So Red Matter, as we see it in the film 2009, is shown four times (though only used three). This is seen in the containment of a supernova, the loss of the Kelvin, destruction of Vulcan, and the collision and subsequent disappearance of the Narada.
The first time we see it, Spock Prime uses it to contain the Supernova that was caused by the destruction of Romulus. The red matter created a black hole that Nero and Spock were both pulled through and sent back in time. However, both of their ships were pulled through the black hole unharmed, Nero’s enough so to attack Kirk’s ship.
There is no indication that the red matter would not work similarly in the other cases. This is the theory I go on.
I’m operating on the idea that objects can be displaced forwards as well as back. If this is true and the red matter creates a wormhole (or a black hole if you’d like to see it that way) that displaces objects in time, then that means four things things.
A supernova will appear randomly somewhere in the timeline from Romulus’s destruction (similarly to Spock Prime and Nero’s ships)
George Kirk and the Kelvin are alive and will be displaced now given the spoilers we’ve heard about the next star trek movie this could prove to be canon!
Nero and the Narada (however damaged) are alive (which I would need to make a whole other post about because I write Nero and have a lot of thoughts on this)
And perhaps most importantly, the remains of Vulcan are displaced somewhere in time. It’s important to note that Romulus was destroyed by the supernova before it was displaced, leaving nothing behind that wouldn’t be burned up, but Vulcan imploded as it was pulled into the black hole.
Now with all these disturbances, each will in turn create a new universe or timeline split, However, since we follow AOS Kirk and his crew, we will be unaware of the differences, unless we were to compare what might have happened were those events not to have occurred.
Okay, so onto Spock Prime:
We have no knowledge of Spock Prime and red matter. He might have created it. He might have stolen it. All we know is that he knew how to use it and that deploying it on the supernova would contain the blast (likely how they planed to save Romulus).
So Spock Prime KNOWS about red matter. And having gone through time because of it, I’m almost certain he could make these same conclusion: Vulcan is still there. It’s not gonna be in one piece. There are likely NO survivors. But there is wreckage.
After Va’Pak, Spock returns to the colonies under the name Selek (a name adopted from TAS) and helps in the reconstruction of the planet as best he can. He teaches young Vulcans and he helps in physical construction. He helps restore the former databanks of Vulcan history (being careful not to spoil anything from his timeline that may vary). But I believe he was always watching. He kept in contact with Starfleet and kept record of every anomaly, searching all the black holes recorded. Searching for a very particular pattern. A lightning storm in space.
And then one day he finds it. It’s a year into the other Enterprise’s five-year mission. It’s after Khan. Things are peaceful, the colony is starting to be normal life for survivors. He tries to petition the Vulcans to send a search party but they don’t listen. It’s not logical to go and search rubble and I’m not sure most of them believe his theory. Why would they search a place that was lost to them? What is he hoping to find? Nothing survives in space. Digital records would be gone and all artifacts would be destroyed. It’s not logical. Spock manages to get a ship and heads over anyways.
It’s heartbreaking for him
Imagine what it’d be like to dig through your home after a fire, hoping to find any scrap of something that might have made it. There’s nothing. Everything that pulled through is completely destroyed. It’s all just rubble and bodies and he almost turns back. But he’s determined to find something. Just one little thing.
The things he finally returns with are not enough to be worthwhile to any Vulcan on the colony. Some sand from the planet. A piece of cloth with a black diamond pattern. And a seed. Technically a seed pod (top picture, bottom corner). It’s so small he almost doesn’t see it. Almost doesn’t recognize it. It’s in open space. There’s no way that it survived. There would be no logic in bringing it to the colony to plant. But some small sentimental part of him takes it anyways.
He names it T’Ling and carves the letters in Vulcan onto the shell. She’s put in a little box that he had on the Jellyfish and added to his collection.
It’s AOS Spock that plants T’Ling. After Spock Prime passes away, and he inherits the box. “This is my logic” it says, and that is all the explanation he gets for any of the items. But some part of him knows. Understands. There’s a picture of the crew. His crew, old, smiling, and happy. But what’s under it confuses him more. Spock runs his fingers through the sand and knows its from Vulcan. There’s no logic in that presumption, no evidence to support that, but he’s confident he’s right. And buried in the sand and cloth, is a seed with a word carved into it.
Spock is far from a botanist. He runs a scan on it and finds it’s a native species from Vulcan, Lhm'ta. He has no way of knowing where the seed was from. He assumes its from Spock Prime’s Vulcan, and has not idea that the seed wouldn’t likely have survived. So he plants it with help from the crew. It takes a while, and Spock almost discards the notion of growing any of the seeds. But one grows. And she blooms.
He insists on taking her to his room. The conditions are more like Vulcan, he assures. He sets her up under a powerful red light. He’s beyond careful with her well-being, taking trimmings and analyzing them. The flowers produce a sweet scent he never thought to appreciate while on the planet. The Lhm'ta's roots make a spice tea that Spock never thought he’d taste the genuine flavor of again. And on rare moments, when he meditates, if he opens his eyes and looks over at her on his desk, he feels like he’s home again. @mccoymostly because you always seem to like my theories and are always asking to be tagged. So there. Also I might just start tagging you in everything :P @kaitymccoy123 because Spock friend <3
