Re: VL - Vulcan in Vulcan
Adam Ophir Shapira 
Mon, 20 Oct 1997 19:14:40 +0100

At 5:30 PM -0500 10/20/97, Rob Zook wrote:
>Well, how about this: as someone else has pointed out,
>Vulcan/Hepheastus has nothing to do with heat or deserts.
>The only thing about Vulcan which seems related to heat
>was he was the smith to the Gods.

True, however a spaceship who's climate control seems
pleasant to a Vuclan would seem like a furnace to a
human. The lights would be so strong that any Human
would *need* sunglasses, and the heat would also be
un-bearable.

These two things together could remind a human of the
forge used by blacksmiths ... and thereby remind the
Human of the Roman dieity, Vulcan.

>
>It could be a planet we detected before we met the species
>and like normal astronomical tradition we named it after one of
>the Roman dieties - Vulcan.

There is only one flaw in that possibility ... and that
is that the only way scientists would be likely to give
two planets the same name is if there is a very strong
reason why the second planet is far more deserving of
the name than the first one. Therefore, your hypothesis
is only likely if Sarek in-fact came from the planet that
is between Mercury and the Sun. (Yes, there *is* a planet
in this solar system that is called "Vulcan", although
it may have exploded by now and it's existence isn't
verified.)

Of course, there is one more possibility. Perhapse,
since nobody was able to confirm the existence of the
Vulcan I just described, scientists may have dismissed
it as a hoax ... thereby leaving the name "Vulcan" to
be claimed by a later planet, and that planet may have
been inhabited by people with green blood and pointed
ears.

But then there is the issue that Vulcans landed on Earth
and shook hands with Cockran far before any Human ever
detected the Vulcan homeworld (canonical as of FIRST
CONTACT). Of course, it is possible that the Phoenix
attracted the attention of Vulcans due to Cockran traveling
within sensory range of the planet, but *still* it would
take at least a week for NASA to assign the planet a name.
Chances are that a Human would set foot inside the ship
before a week would elapse. Knowing what we saw about
Cockran's personality at the time, he would be very prone
to make a cynical comment referring to the forge used by
the Roman deiety upon being exposed to such heat ... something
along the lines of ...

    "Can't someone kick on the air conditioner? This
    place is getting hotter than Vulcan's forge!"

NOTE: I am *not* quoting Cockran ... I'm just making a
guess at something that he *may* have said.