Amanda Kooser/CNET

Emoji, those little digital pictograms, are here to express sentiments when words fail us (or simply take too long to type out). When a close friend is caught in a high-radiation environment after restoring the warp drive and saving your starship, you can either have a long conversation through radiation-proof glass, or you can simply text a Vulcan salute emoji using your Apple device.

Quartz reports that it has confirmed the presence of a Vulcan salute emoji in Apple's most recent OS X beta release, though the symbol currently doesn't appear in the system's emoji keyboard. It's unknown if the emoji will be included in the final release or if it will also appear in a future update of Apple's mobile iOS. If the salute ends up in the wide release, Apple users will be able to quickly say, "Live long and prosper, you illogical human" to each other.

Apple did not immediately respond to a CNET request for comment.

The Emojipedia, an online reference source for emoji, notes that the "raised hand with part between middle and ring fingers" is coming soon to iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3. Emojipedia also shows the hand icon with a variety of skin-tone modifiers to cover the gamut from Spock to Tuvok.

Vulcan salute emoji were in the works before Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Spock on "Star Trek," passed away in February. The Unicode Consortium introduced 250 new emoji in June 2014. On that list is a hand with fingers splayed in the middle.

"Star Trek" lovers and geeks everywhere will no doubt embrace the Vulcan emoji, especially as fans continue to mourn Nimoy's passing and find ways to pay tribute to his legacy in everyday life, one emoji at a time.