Forgotten gem.

August 20, 2012 10:30 AM

I'm trying to recall a Star Trek short story published 25-30 years ago. I have no author or title. It was in an anthology.

The setting was two characters (never named) waiting for rescue, playing mental chess and arguing philosophy. From the dialog, Spock and McCoy are implied. It starts and ends? with a chess move.

posted by Mblue to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

Have you tried the Trek-specific wikis? This sounds like something Memory Beta would have.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:55 AM on August 20, 2012

There is a TOS-era short story entitled "Ni Var" in which Spock's two halves play against each other.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 10:55 AM on August 20, 2012

Per zombieflanders' advice, the three dimensional chess entry on Memory Beta references a mental chess game between Spock and Data that fits your description from a non-canon TNG comic.
posted by Wretch729 at 11:22 AM on August 20, 2012

Best answer: I can't currently check the story itself for the chess move, but to me it sounds like the story "Cave-In," from the anthology Star Trek: the New Voyages 2. And there's an Amazon review that says: "Cave-In" by Jane Peyton is an interesting prose piece of dialogue between Spock and another character (McCoy?) while trapped together after a cave-in (of course)."
posted by theatro at 11:49 AM on August 20, 2012 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks theatro, the title Cave-in did the trick. That is the story!
posted by Mblue at 11:56 AM on August 20, 2012

Amazon link (courtesy of my brother, who got the answer about 90 minutes after theatro's comment.
posted by matildaben at 1:15 PM on August 20, 2012