Captain's Log, Stardate 54324.5: Starfleet Command has
directed the Enterprise to do a preliminary exploration of planet --- in
advance of a full research team. Scanners report the atmosphere to be
breathable, but are receiving confusing readings with regard to life
forms. I am beaming down with a landing party composed of all our chief
officers except for poor Scotty.
Supplemental-1: Redshirt
Riley has received a head injury, apparently while exploring under a high
rock shelf. He reports only hearing a loud sound and jumping before
being struck. After examination by Dr. McCoy he has been judged capable
of continuing duty.
Supplemental-2: We have encountered an
alien creature on this planet. While it does not itself seem menacing, an
unfortunate occurrence took place when it was present. Specifically, on
my orders Lt. Sulu withdrew his phaser. The creature disappeared
leaving a puff of smoke, immediately following which a loud noise was heard
next to Sulu. Sulu fired, hitting Ens. Chekov. Oddly enough,
although Sulu's weapon was set to stun, Chekov was also covered with a black
powder similar to soot. Mr. Chekov has been sent back to the ship for
examination and quarantine.
Stardate 54326.2, Mr. Spock
reporting: Tricorder readings indicate that the creature we encountered
earlier is constantly moving at great speed over the surface of the
planet. We have encountered the creature once again. In an
attempt to slow the creature for study, I attempted to fire on it. The
creature, however, appeared to move faster than the phaser beam.
Regretfully, the beam struck an outcropping of rock above the Captain's head,
causing it to break off and fall. Although it appears that several tons
of rock fell squarely on the Captain, he was driven straight into the ground
but apparently not seriously injured, though stunned. The Captain has
been beamed up to Sick bay, leaving me in command of the research
party.
Captain's Log, Stardate 54342.1: The creature is
still at large on the planet surface. While Mr. Spock continues to lead
a research party I am currently at work with Mr. Scott on an Acme Pressure
Cooker for our lab, for when the creature is finally
apprehended.
Captain's Log, Stardate 54342.3: The strange
occurrences that have dogged the landing party since our arrival at this
planet have led me to believe that the creature is in some way directly
responsible for them. Mr. Chekov and I have both been declared fit for
return to duty, though Dr. McCoy has entered in his medical log that he feels
we should be kept under observation.
Mr. Spock has constructed
a device which he suspects should be able to counteract the creature's
incredible speed as follows: We have placed dish of birdseed out in the
open, with several signs pointing to it. This dish is atop a cleverly
concealed trap door, which will open when any weight falls on it. The
creature will then travel a slide, eventually being deposited in a cage
constructed of sheets of transparent aluminum. We will then be free to
analyze it at our leisure. Meanwhile, I have forbidden all beaming down
to the surface of the planet except on my or Mr. Spock's direct
order.
Captain's Log, supplemental: The plan failed.
The creature was indeed lured by the birdseed, as expected. It sped to
the dish, consumed the bait, and sped off without setting the trap. Mr.
Spock is as puzzled as I, and has begun tests to discover the flaw in the
design. I have sent out three search parties to see if we can box the
creature in, one headed by Mr. Sulu, one by Mr. Chekov, and one by
Sociologist Xontel.
Captain's Log, stardate 54342.8:
Sociologist Xontel has been temporarily incapacitated. In pursuing the
creature, he and his men somehow managed to cross the place where Mr. Spock's
trap was set just as he completed the corrections to it. The trap was
sprung, and all four of my men were suspended for a moment in mid-air,
puzzled, just before they fell into the cage we constructed. We are now
trying to release them with phasers, as the lock was inadvertently smashed by
the impact from Sociologist Xontel's foot as he fell. I consider this
a major setback. Mr. Spock considers it "fascinating."
Captain's Log, stardate 54343.4: In an all-out attempt to stop
the creature once and for all, I have had a phaser rifle beamed down
from the Enterprise. The creature has behaved in an extremely
cunning manner, yet I am unsure whether this is a sign of actual
intelligence. Lt. Uhura has been unsuccessful in her attempts to raise
Starfleet Command. Meanwhile, Mr. Scott informs me that our dilithium
crystals are deteriorating at an alarming rate. He has jury rigged a
system that will prevent the decay for a time, but it is imperative that we
find new crystals soon.
Captain's Log, supplemental: Mr.
Sulu reports high energy tricorder reading from an area of the planet in
which the creature has not yet been sighted. He has taken a small
party, including Mr. Spock, to the high-elevation spot from which the
readings emanate. I have begun to analyze the creatures
movements. It seems to travel consistently over a set path.
Perhaps we can corner it in a tunnel it seems to pass
through frequently.
Captain's Log, stardate 54344.7: Mr.
Sulu has located a cache of Acme dilithium crystals atop a high cliff.
Regretfully, while collecting them, the edge of the cliff broke off, and he
and Mr. Spock plummeted several hundred feet to the ground below.
Strangely enough, they both survived the fall with no more than raising a
cloud of dust on impact, although they did pass the chunk of rock on the way
down and end up completely buried. A rescue excavation has commenced,
and they should be safe shortly.
Captain's Log, stardate
54344.9: Mr. Spock has beamed up to the ship with them to assist Mr.
Scott in their installation, as he foresees compatibility problems.
Back on the planet's surface, Mr. Chekov led seven men into the tunnel in an
attempt to capture the creature in transit. A loud BEEP, BEEP was heard, and
Chekov aimed the phaser rifle and commanded his men to spread out. I
wish to state for the record that I would have acted similarly, and that
Ensign Chekov should in no way be held responsible for the unfortunate
circumstances arising from the unexpected appearance of an old Earth-style
freight train. He has been beamed back up to the ship with minor
injuries.
Captain's Log, stardate 54345.1: Dr. McCoy has
beamed down with a hypo containing a mixture of kyranide, tri-ox compound,
Scalosian concentrate, a thereagram derivative, and some other items he found
in unmarked containers in Sick bay. By injecting a small amount into
each member of the landing party, I hope to be able to deal with the creature
at its own high speed terms.
Captain's Log, supplemental:
The latest experiment to deal with the strange creature has failed. As
Dr. McCoy was injecting a measured does of the compound, it abruptly appeared
behind him and uttered a loud BEEP, BEEP! Dr. McCoy, understandable
flustered, accidentally pressured in the entire contents of the hypo into his
arm. A full security team is in pursuit of him, waiting for the effects
of the drug to wear off.
Captain's Log, stardate 54345.2: I
have ordered the landing party transported back to the ship. The new
dilithium crystals have been successfully installed. On my
responsibility, the ship is preparing to engage main phasers to attack the
creature, which continues on its semi-erratic course across the planet's
surface.
Captain's Log, supplemental: This is a warning to
all other starships that may pass this way. Do not approach this
planet! The illogical events occurring here are too much to overcome
with simple science. If you have heard the events transcribed in the
rest of this log, you will learn that this creature is nearly
undefeatable. We channeled full ship's power through the phaser
banks. Theoretically, the creature should have been destroyed;
hover, the energies were too much strain for the Acme crystals. The
full force of the phasers backlashed over the Enterprise, engulfing her
completely. At first, the only noticeable effect was a complete failure
of all systems save emergency gravity and life support. Then a web of black
lines spread through the Enterprise's superstructure. Next, the ship began
breaking up, piece by piece, falling through the atmosphere to land on the
surface of the planet. When the ship had collapsed entirely, my crew
was left hanging in space for a short time, and finally each of us began to
fall to the planet below. We have no theories on how any of us
survived, but every crewmember has reported nothing more than a sense of
uneasiness, followed by the realization that they were several hundred miles
up in the air, a sinking sensation, and then a gradual drop: first the
feet, then the body, and finally the head, usually wearing a resigned
expression of perplex. We are attempting now to communicate with the
creature in the hopes that it will prove intelligent. Perhaps we can
communicate our peaceful intentions to it. Mr. Spock has constructed a crude
rocket launcher from the wreckage of the ship, and with this we hope to send
the recorder marker up into space, where hopefully someone will find
it. Captain James T. Kirk, recording.
