The Nexus
Whilst Star Trek: Generations could not really be described as the crowning achievement of the Star Trek phenomenon, its convoluted story contains a core concept I am finding myself identifying with.
For those unfamiliar with the movie’s plot, here is a thumbnail. As the story villain, Malcolm McDowell plays a man who experienced a brief encounter with The Nexus, a ribbon of energy moving through space that enables him to live permanently in the happiest time of his life. He is removed from The Nexus at the critical point before the vessel he is on has been destroyed, but before The Nexus can fully consume him.
He subsequently goes to great lengths to find his way back there. He cannot approach the ribbon directly in a space ship or the energy ribbon will destroy it and kill him, and as such, he must be at a minimum distance from the event horizon to be safely picked up and carried away. He finds a way to re-route the energy ribbon by way of destroying numerous stars, and thus changing the course of the ribbon by changing the gravitational influence of solar systems in or near the ribbon’s path.
Since returning from Spain, I’ve found my thoughts often drifting to (in particular) the final weeks of my stay, when I was driving around a country where the evidence of civilisations dating back thousands of years was still very evident. As the last of my savings dribbles down the monetary pipes of hotel registers and car rental agencies, and I drive myself all over the northern flanks of Canberra, I find the yearning to get back to Spain becomes increasingly stronger, to such an extent I’m now finding it dominating my thoughts on a regular basis.
For me, Spain has been my Nexus. Being forced to return to Australia, and the routines of the life I thought I’d left behind me in Canberra in particular, has only served to reinforce the feeling I’ve been prematurely removed from a place where I felt I was meant to be.