The fifth in a collaborative series between myself (mostly story, a little art) and 
Remember how this all began because Princess Bazelle, as a child, could not tell the difference between small starships and bugs?
There are some very big and ugly bugs at home in her star system. After all the beautiful things I have recollected about visiting my old friend, I prefer not to get into those details here. Let's just say the flyswatter she improvised as a child came in handy in adult form after all.
The day my family and I were leaving for home – in fact, we had just broken orbit – we got a call from the spaceport.
“Return to planetside, return to planetside.”
I didn't question it and reversed course. Just behind me, captured by the rearview mirror sensors if you will, was the equivalent of roadkill being made, provided one could redirect a comet or something like that to do it – cracked space-time windshield from the force of the blows and all:
And, later on, the netting would come out, it being understood that this is the “bodied” representation of something spectral and thus unthinkable magnitudes of order more powerful:
So, another day planetside … we split up because Mrs. V.T. Kirk absolutely does NOT go to the aquarium if there are anything like jellyfish there. V.T. stands for her maiden name: Vlarian Triefield, full fleet admiral, already having clocked 35 years in the fleet and semi-retired when I met her, looking young and beautiful like 35 because of the combined quarter-Vulcan, half African-American genome she possesses. Add on another 18 years to that point – the admiral had put in DECADES dealing with gem-jellies in space and simply was not going on her off time to look at jelly anything.
“Unless I can spread it on bread or cheese, it's not happening.”
PTSD in old soldiers is to be respected, so she took baby Laurence and our eldest Marcia to the park while I took Marcus Valerian (called Mark V), Laura, and Valerie our middle children to the aquarium.
“Yep, I can see why Mom won't come in here – look at that feathery one that would fall all over you like a big hat,” Mark V said as we visited the giant jellyfish exhibit and saw the blue and gold representative.
“Look at the brain on the one coming up next to it!” Valerie cried. “I bet it doesn't have any problems with trigonometry!”
Laura being who she is, she ran all the way to the other side of the tank.
“This one is a fish and a flower all at the same time!” the five-year-old said.
“Yes, if you imagine a fish and a flower twice the size of a man,” I said as I went to retrieve the most Kirkishly Kirk of my children, and contemplated the massive sea beast while recognizing that Mark V was absolutely right about his mother not needing to see that.
My baby girl thought about this for a long time.
“It's a good thing it's still alive and here,” she said. “Imagine a fishy flower that big, going bad at home! The whole neighborhood would stink and the bees would go on strike!”
“Oh, but the yellowjackets would love it,” Mark V said.
“Nope, too much salt,” Valerie said. “That thing would just have to rot, unless we could feed it to the seagulls.”
“Which is why it is still here, and not at home,” I said. “Actually, looks like that's not one jellyfish; that's a group, all huddled up together.”
“Oh yeah,” Laura said. “Now I see it!”
Art by Deeann D. Mathews, the author
“See? You scared them!” Mark V said.
“How do you know they just didn't all come over here to get as far away from you as possible?” Laura retorted.
“Stop,” I said, while Valerie just shook her head.
“You two need to think about the family,” she said. “We are the children of Captain Marcus Aurelius Kirk and Admiral Vlarian Triefield – we just can't be any way out here in these public places.”
“Well, you're 11 – you put both our ages together to get to your age – that stuff is for people older than 10, and anyway, he started it!” Laura said.
“What's happening, Mark V?” I said. “Yesterday and today – what's happening?”
He thought about it, and then burst out: “Where was all the hoopla for the princes and stuff?”
Mark V had three sisters, and baby Laurence was almost seven years younger … he did get frustrated sometimes as a boy alone, and felt overlooked and thus disrespected, as far as a little boy understood the concept.
“Princess Bazelle is the king's youngest child,” I said, “so her brothers all were coronated before her.”
“Oh, so we just missed all of that,” he said.
“Wanna go to the royal museum and see all the pictures and footage? There is a big celebration now that all of the king's children are of age.”
“Yes, Dad, I do.”
I then turned to Laura.
“I'm right here, Laura, a whole, complete Dad. When Mark V picks on you, you don't have to get in trouble with him – because both of you are still grounded when we get home –.”
“Oh, no!” they both wailed, knowing all their electronics were going to be off for a week.
“-- And because Valerie is right: we have to represent the Kirk family out here, Laura, and so you talking back to him is just as bad as him starting stuff with you because you didn't have to get into the mess up.”
They both pouted for a few moments, and then thought about it some more, and then ran and hugged me.
“We're sorry, Dad!” Mark V said.
“We forgot!” Laura said.
“I forgive you,” I said. “You still have to learn, and I know that … but being grounded will help you remember so that when you hit 10, you will have this Kirk family thing in public down!”
“Right,” Valerie said. “Get the practice in now, siblings – it pays off!”
Over to the royal museum, where we caught up with the rest of the family and got to review the coronations of all the king's children all the way down to Princess Bazelle … while this was going on, His Majesty quietly materialized next to me.
“I have greatly enjoyed watching you as a father, Captain Kirk,” he said. “I can tell you that when this day comes, and the last of your children is grown, you will share in the joy I have this day in full.”
“His Majesty made a profound impression on me as a father, at our first and second meetings,” I said. “It amazed me how quickly His Majesty addressed the issues, received repentance, determined discipline, and got back to not being angry with Her Highness both times. It seemed to be a very kingly way to operate, although much harder to do for me because of human ego. But, my father did well with that also, and so I recognized that and realized I could learn too.”
The king smiled.
“You are a blessed man, Captain Marcus Aurelius Kirk Jr. For a human, you are shockingly humble, and so all that is good that there is to be learned is available to you. Keep learning, and, greet your father for me. He must be an equally remarkable man.”
“Oh, he is, Your Majesty, and will be honored to receive His Majesty's greeting.”
“Farewell for now, Captain Kirk. The most important work you will ever do, you are doing with your family, as your father clearly did with his – keep it up, young man.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”