That’s the transcript from one scene with Spock and Uhura, as narrated in the movie’s novelization for the audio book. The précédant part is link.
If toi spot any mistakes, let me know and I’ll correct them!
“They were alone in the lift. As had everyone else on board, she tried to think of something to say. And as happened to everyone else on board, she could not find words to express how she felt. Surely any words, she thought, no matter how well-meaning, would constitute an intrusion. Yet as the lift continued on its way she felt—she knew—that she had to say something.
‘I only wish I’d listened to that distress call plus closely and sooner.’
How banal, she thought angrily as soon as she had spoken. How utterly, utterly inadequate. And stupid. Seeing her expression twist and deducing the reason, he peered down at her sympathetically. He, who had just Lost his homeworld and the vast majority of his kind, had room enough within himself to feel compassion for her.
‘Without you, none of us would have survived. What has happened is hardly your fault. Based on what knowledge and information is available I do not see how it could have been prevented.’
He sounded almost wistful.
‘Perhaps in another universe, another chain of cosmic links, a small change in this ou that sequence of events might have made a difference. But not in the here and now. toi must not blame yourself. What happens to us, how our lives and that of all around us progresses, hinges on very small decisions.’
They stood like that for a moment, until Uhura did something any other member of the crew would have found odd—but not out of character. Reaching out, she thumbed the Stop on the lift. It immediately came to a halt between decks. Then she leaned forward, put both arms around him, and pressed her lips against his. Though mixed with sorrow and regret, no one would have mistaken it for a platonic kiss. In a manner plainly half-human, half-Vulcan, Spock responded. In a fashion sufficiently straightforward to indicate that he had done so before.
Eventually she pulled back.
‘I’m so sorry. I can’t do anything about what’s happened, about your world and your people. All I can do is try to do something for you.’
He looked away, bewildered, lost, uncertain. Nothing he had learned in his long course of education prepared him to reply. Nothing except what lay within him could conceivably conjure an appropriate response.
‘What can I do?’ she pressed him. ‘Tell me what toi need.’
What I need? How to respond logically and rationally to the human woman so close to him? How to respond logically and rationally to such a question from anyone?
‘I—need.’
Almost, he responded emotionally. Almost, he let himself go. But the time he had spent on Earth and among humans did not begin to equal the time he had spent maturing on Vulcan. He was his father’s son and his mother’s son, but in the end he could only be him. Whatever that might turn out to be. With a start, he realized that despite all his certainty about himself, despite all the knowledge he had so assiduously cultivated, that was one question to which he still had no resolution.
In lieu of an answer he could only continue to be what he had become thus far. Reaching toward the control panel, he restarted the turbolift.
‘I need for us all to continue performing admirably in the face of the terrible calamity that now confronts my people, our fellow Starfleet personnel, and the entire Federation.’
If toi spot any mistakes, let me know and I’ll correct them!
“They were alone in the lift. As had everyone else on board, she tried to think of something to say. And as happened to everyone else on board, she could not find words to express how she felt. Surely any words, she thought, no matter how well-meaning, would constitute an intrusion. Yet as the lift continued on its way she felt—she knew—that she had to say something.
‘I only wish I’d listened to that distress call plus closely and sooner.’
How banal, she thought angrily as soon as she had spoken. How utterly, utterly inadequate. And stupid. Seeing her expression twist and deducing the reason, he peered down at her sympathetically. He, who had just Lost his homeworld and the vast majority of his kind, had room enough within himself to feel compassion for her.
‘Without you, none of us would have survived. What has happened is hardly your fault. Based on what knowledge and information is available I do not see how it could have been prevented.’
He sounded almost wistful.
‘Perhaps in another universe, another chain of cosmic links, a small change in this ou that sequence of events might have made a difference. But not in the here and now. toi must not blame yourself. What happens to us, how our lives and that of all around us progresses, hinges on very small decisions.’
They stood like that for a moment, until Uhura did something any other member of the crew would have found odd—but not out of character. Reaching out, she thumbed the Stop on the lift. It immediately came to a halt between decks. Then she leaned forward, put both arms around him, and pressed her lips against his. Though mixed with sorrow and regret, no one would have mistaken it for a platonic kiss. In a manner plainly half-human, half-Vulcan, Spock responded. In a fashion sufficiently straightforward to indicate that he had done so before.
Eventually she pulled back.
‘I’m so sorry. I can’t do anything about what’s happened, about your world and your people. All I can do is try to do something for you.’
He looked away, bewildered, lost, uncertain. Nothing he had learned in his long course of education prepared him to reply. Nothing except what lay within him could conceivably conjure an appropriate response.
‘What can I do?’ she pressed him. ‘Tell me what toi need.’
What I need? How to respond logically and rationally to the human woman so close to him? How to respond logically and rationally to such a question from anyone?
‘I—need.’
Almost, he responded emotionally. Almost, he let himself go. But the time he had spent on Earth and among humans did not begin to equal the time he had spent maturing on Vulcan. He was his father’s son and his mother’s son, but in the end he could only be him. Whatever that might turn out to be. With a start, he realized that despite all his certainty about himself, despite all the knowledge he had so assiduously cultivated, that was one question to which he still had no resolution.
In lieu of an answer he could only continue to be what he had become thus far. Reaching toward the control panel, he restarted the turbolift.
‘I need for us all to continue performing admirably in the face of the terrible calamity that now confronts my people, our fellow Starfleet personnel, and the entire Federation.’