STAR TREK - 'OPERATION - ANNIHILATE!', 1967
AN EQUITABLE TRADE
First Prize Winner, Midcon, Leicester, 1988
I close my eyes tight As light Lances through my brain. The pain Declining - The entity within me entwining Is withering and dying. My whole body purges In violent surges - But from pain and possession At last I am free.
I open my eyes And realise That the brilliant white light Has taken my sight. I rise from the chair To where I hear Jim and McCoy's voices. I stumble into a table; I am unable To move unassisted. Aid must be enlisted from Jim.
I confess to them I find That I am quite blind. I feel their emotional pain That I will never see again. Nurse Chapel comes near And from her we hear The results of the test That show ultra-violet light best To kill the infestation. Kirk turns on McCoy in consternation - I need not have been blinded at all.
Now in the darkness I see with clear starkness How the rest of my life must be spent. I must resign my commission And without hesitation Return to Vulcan to stay. I will there find a way To live a useful and meaningful life. McCoy has bitter regrets; He sits alone and frets But the ultimate decision had been mine.
All aspects I had weighed. Action could not be delayed; I could no longer enure The pain and possession to endure; The alternative was agonising death; Each breath A crescendo of pain I could not fight; My life for my sight - The decision I alone made; And it is indeed An equitable trade.
GO TO NEXT PAGE
GO TO PREVIOUS PAGE
GO TO CONTENTS