O’Rourke put the shuttle on automatic pilot as she and Watt began to put on cold weather clothing. Watt was surprised when Magus did not do the same.
“Aren’t you going to get kitted up?” asked Watt.
“My dear Captain, I have visited Istarix many many times. There parts of that island that are far colder than Alaska. I will be fine.”
After putting on her thick jacket O’Rourke seated herself in the pilot’s seat. She then pressed a button on the communications console.
“This is shuttlecraft Copra calling the Alpha Tracking station, please respond.”
Her words were greeted with silence, so she tried again to contact the station. She got the same result.
“Aren’t you going to get kitted up?” asked Watt.
“My dear Captain, I have visited Istarix many many times. There parts of that island that are far colder than Alaska. I will be fine.”
After putting on her thick jacket O’Rourke seated herself in the pilot’s seat. She then pressed a button on the communications console.
“This is shuttlecraft Copra calling the Alpha Tracking station, please respond.”
Her words were greeted with silence, so she tried again to contact the station. She got the same result.
“If Starfleet Command couldn’t get in touch then I hardly think you’d be able to.” said Watt.
“I know.” said O’Rourke. “But it was worth a try.”
A few minutes later they neared the tracking station. Watt began to conduct a scan of the station.
“Odd.” he said. “I’m getting o life signs and no signs of bodies. All I’m picking up is the power supply.”
“I’m getting the same thing.” said O’Rourke.
“Put us down near the main building.” Watt ordered.
The shuttle soon landed and they disembarked. Magus looked most odd just wearing his tailcoat in gusting winds and temperatures of well below freezing. O’Rourke and Watt took out tri-corders and began to scan the area.
“Still can’t get any life signs.” said O’Rourke.
“We’ll check the building.”
They entered the main building. To some of them it felt very odd. Almost everything was intact. It was as the personnel had just gone out for a walk. The only odd thing was the temperature. The heat was way above normal limits. O’Rourke soon found the climate controls and she adjusted them accordingly.
“Right.” said O’Rourke. “Where do we start?”
“You check the sensor readouts.” said Watt. “Magus, can you help me with the logs? We might be able to find something in there.”
As O’Rourke walked over to the science station Watt and Magus sat themselves down at one of the other stations.
“The last readout came in twenty six hours ago.” O’Rourke reported. “They were monitoring a meteor shower that was coming down nearby. The sensors show that one of the meteors hit nearby.”
Watt was surprised when Magus read the logs at high speed.
“There is nothing in here.” he said. “Just the usual log entries. The last entry was made twenty nine hours ago, before the meteor storm.”
“I suggest we take a look at where that meteor hit.” said Watt.
Their tri-corders led them to the site. The first thing they stepped in to was slushy water.
“Must have been a tremendous amount of heat from that thing.” said O’Rourke.
“But the meteor hit hours ago.” said Magus. “If heat from the meteor melted the ice it should have re-frozen again by now.”
Watt soon found the fragments. He began scanning them with his tri-corder.
“I’m detecting a strange substance here, the like we saw back at the station.”
Magus looked at the tri-corder reading.
“It definitely is the same as at the station. There were residues all over the place there.”
Then Magus suddenly shivered. The shivering lasted only for a few seconds.
“Finally feeling the cold?” said Watt.
“I suddenly felt as if someone has walked over my grave.” said Magus. “There is a feeling of death around here. I don’t know why I never felt it before. Perhaps it appears to be centred near this meteor fragment.”
O’Rourke, tri-corder in her hand, started to move away from the fragment.
“I’ve got a positive lock on that substance Captain.” she said. “It moves away from the fragment, towards the station, and then heads due south. It must go on for a long way, far out of range of the tri-corder.”
“Could you adjust the sensors in the shuttle?”
“I think so Captain. From there we should be able to trace whatever this is!”
Near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco two young cadets from the academy enjoyed a stroll, trying to get away from their hectic study schedule. As they spoke and joked about some pranks they had pulled at the academy one of them spotted something in the river.
“What is that?” he said pointing.
“Looks like a blob of something floating in the river.”
The blob moved towards the river bank as it was carried along by the tide. When it got near enough to the cadets they went to investigate.
“Strange looking thing, whatever it is.”
“That’s the thing. What is it? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
The cadet reached out his hand as he tried to touch the strange ooky substance. Suddenly it came to life and grabbed his arm. Seconds later it was all over him. As it devoured him it grew in size and mass. The other cadet, scared witless, barely had enough time to get away. But get away he did.
“It’s definitely heading down the coast of California.” O’Rourke reported. “Possibly towards San Francisco.
“It’s probably being carried there by tides.” said Magus. “But I’m still getting the feeling I’ve seen something like this before.”
“I seem to remember reading about a similar meteor that crashed in America in the mid-twentieth century.” said Watt.
Magus’ face suddenly lighted up as he snapped his fingers.
“That’s it!” said Magus. “Something similar did happen in the 1950’s. Miss O’Rourke, try to contact Starfleet Command.”
O’Rourke did as she was asked.
“Odd. There’s no reply.”
“Try again Lieutenant.” said Watt.
She got the same result.
“I think we’d better hurry back.” said Magus. “I just hope that thing hasn’t reached a populated area.”
Admiral Calevicchi surveyed the area of the attack site near the Golden Gate Bridge. Teams scoured the area with tri-corders in the hop they could find anything. The Admiral turned to the cadet who had managed to escape.
“And you say he was attacked by a large…blob?”
“Y-y-yes sir. It came out of the river. He went to see what it was and it just suddenly leapt out of the water and covered him!”
The young cadet could tell that the Admiral did not believe his story. Before he could do anything however he heard a scream as one of his team came running towards him. He looked scared to death.
“What is it Lieutenant?” the Admiral asked.
“Trevors…he’s just…been attacked by some blob!”
“What is it with this blob thing? Show me where!”
The young officer showed the Admiral to where his friend had been attacked. The Admiral’s jaw dropped when he saw the blob-like substance moving off in the distance.
“What is that thing?” asked the young officer.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care!” said the Admiral. “Evacuate the area! Do it quickly! And now!”
“I’m getting something from San Francisco now Captain.” O’Rourke reported. “It keeps saying something about a blob attacking two men and parts of the city are being evacuated.”
“Then it’s begun.” said Magus. “Just as it happened over four hundred years ago.”
O’Rourke turned to Watt when she heard something in her ear-piece.
“You’re not going to believe this Captain. Starfleet Command itself is being attacked.
Watt looked at Magus.
“We need to be there, fast!
Magus closed his eyes and the shuttle craft vanished, as if into thin air. The shuttle soon flew over the skies of San Francisco, and the first thing they saw was the evacuation taking place. Once again O’Rourke tried to make contact with Starfleet Command but she got the 24th century equivalent of an engaged tone.
“So what do we do?” O’Rourke asked.
“Head for Starfleet Command.” said Watt. “That’s all we can do.”
“Aye sir.”
The shuttle was soon flying over the command centre. From the sky they could see the whole place was in chaos.
“The scan shows the substance is in this area.” said O’Rourke.
“Where exactly?” asked Magus.
“I don’t believe it!” O’Rourke exclaimed. “It’s actually inside the building!”
The shuttle craft soon landed in the main landing area, and they found heavily armed security teams running around all over the place. Getting off the shuttle Watt grabbed hold of one of the guards.
“What’s going on?”
“Something entered the command centre. It’s already killed five people. Phasers won’t do a thing against it!”
“What does it look like?” asked Magus.
“Like a blob of something or other.”
“Show us where.”
Phasers in hand the young security officer showed them to where the thing was. They saw a team armed with phasers and phaser rifles trying to stop the thing moving forward. As Watt went towards the team he was stopped by Admiral Calevicchi.
“When did you three get back?” the Admiral asked.
“Just now. We think we know what the thing is that’s attacking everyone. It looks as if it came from a meteor that hit in Alaska.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we traced it back here.” said Magus. “Something similar happened over four hundred years ago.”
“What did they do to kill it before?” asked the Admiral.
“They didn’t.” said Magus. “They froze it before, but I don’t think that process will work this time. This one seems to operate well in the cold.
“Then what should we do?” asked the Admiral.
“I think I know something that might work.” said Magus. “Admiral, order all of your security teams to withdraw to a safe distance.”
“Are you crazy? What for? That thing will run riot unless we try to contain it!”
“Please do as I say Admiral.” said Magus. “Containing it is what I want to do.”
The Admiral gave the order for the security teams to withdraw. Watt then turned to Magus.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” he said.
“I do.” Magus replied. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave also. Admiral, I want you to monitor things from the control room.
The Admiral turned to walk away but stopped when Watt did not move.
“Come on Jim.” said the Admiral.
“Good luck.” said Watt.
“Luck doesn’t enter into it my dear boy.”
The corridor soon emptied, save for Magus and the strange blob. The elderly wizard began to walk towards the ooky thing. As Magus moved forward so did the blob. The blob seemed a bit cautious at first because Magus was the first living thing that had not run away from it.
“Come on.” said Magus. “If you want something to eat why not try me?”
Magus reached out his arm as he walked towards the alien substance, and when he got closer the blob suddenly leapt forward and engulfed his arm. Seconds later it was all over him.
In the control room Watt and the Admiral were shocked.
“The stupid old fool’s got himself killed!”
Watt looked down at the panel in front of him.
“Look at this sir.” he said. “Energy levels in the corridor are rapidly rising. The reading is emanating from the blob itself.”
The Admiral looked down at the reading.
“Get the force fields in place…now!” he shouted. “Looks like there’s going to be one hell of an explosion down there!”
The Admiral was right. Energy inside the blob began to get higher and higher, and seconds later there was a mighty explosion that sent the gooey substance all over the place. The explosion knocked out the sensors. There was no longer an image on the screen. Watt, the Admiral, and a full security team were soon in the corridor. There was smoke everywhere, but when it cleared they saw Magus trying to brush goo off his tailcoat. Watt smiled broadly.
“Magus you old bugger! What happened?”
“I have this creature a severe bilious attack!” Magus replied. “As you know my body has a natural energy source. The blob’s digestive system obviously couldn’t handle it!”
Magus looked down at his clothes which were covered in bits and pieces of the strange blob.
“Looks like I’ll need a new suit! Shame, I’ve had this one since 1572!”
The corridor, and Magus’ clothes, were eventually cleaned, and the remaining bits of the alien creature were taken to be analysed. Two days later Watt and Magus sat in a shuttle as it took them to McKinley Station. As they approached the station a broad smile appeared on Watt’s face. The U.S.S. Valkyrie was now in full view, and he hadn’t felt this good in ages.
“It’s a beautiful sight.” said Watt. “I hope they haven’t been too rough on the old girl.”
“Although I have fond memories of this ship I still prefer the Orient Express as a means of transportation.” said Magus.
Watt let out a hearty laugh. The shuttle soon docked with the Valkyrie and Watt and Magus soon made their way to the bridge. Watt noticed the few changes as soon as he entered. O’Rourke had taken up her new role as navigator. Sutek, with three rank insignia on his collar now, yielded the captain’s chair to Watt. Watt looked around and smiled.
“It certainly is good to be back.” he said. “Commander Sutek, I believe you have our orders.”
“Aye sir.” said the Vulcan. “Mister Tompkins, please set a course for the Time of Legends, ahead warp factor four.”
Tompkins laid in the correct course.
“Engage.” ordered Watt.
And so came the next stage in the voyages of the U.S.S. Valkyrie.
“I know.” said O’Rourke. “But it was worth a try.”
A few minutes later they neared the tracking station. Watt began to conduct a scan of the station.
“Odd.” he said. “I’m getting o life signs and no signs of bodies. All I’m picking up is the power supply.”
“I’m getting the same thing.” said O’Rourke.
“Put us down near the main building.” Watt ordered.
The shuttle soon landed and they disembarked. Magus looked most odd just wearing his tailcoat in gusting winds and temperatures of well below freezing. O’Rourke and Watt took out tri-corders and began to scan the area.
“Still can’t get any life signs.” said O’Rourke.
“We’ll check the building.”
They entered the main building. To some of them it felt very odd. Almost everything was intact. It was as the personnel had just gone out for a walk. The only odd thing was the temperature. The heat was way above normal limits. O’Rourke soon found the climate controls and she adjusted them accordingly.
“Right.” said O’Rourke. “Where do we start?”
“You check the sensor readouts.” said Watt. “Magus, can you help me with the logs? We might be able to find something in there.”
As O’Rourke walked over to the science station Watt and Magus sat themselves down at one of the other stations.
“The last readout came in twenty six hours ago.” O’Rourke reported. “They were monitoring a meteor shower that was coming down nearby. The sensors show that one of the meteors hit nearby.”
Watt was surprised when Magus read the logs at high speed.
“There is nothing in here.” he said. “Just the usual log entries. The last entry was made twenty nine hours ago, before the meteor storm.”
“I suggest we take a look at where that meteor hit.” said Watt.
Their tri-corders led them to the site. The first thing they stepped in to was slushy water.
“Must have been a tremendous amount of heat from that thing.” said O’Rourke.
“But the meteor hit hours ago.” said Magus. “If heat from the meteor melted the ice it should have re-frozen again by now.”
Watt soon found the fragments. He began scanning them with his tri-corder.
“I’m detecting a strange substance here, the like we saw back at the station.”
Magus looked at the tri-corder reading.
“It definitely is the same as at the station. There were residues all over the place there.”
Then Magus suddenly shivered. The shivering lasted only for a few seconds.
“Finally feeling the cold?” said Watt.
“I suddenly felt as if someone has walked over my grave.” said Magus. “There is a feeling of death around here. I don’t know why I never felt it before. Perhaps it appears to be centred near this meteor fragment.”
O’Rourke, tri-corder in her hand, started to move away from the fragment.
“I’ve got a positive lock on that substance Captain.” she said. “It moves away from the fragment, towards the station, and then heads due south. It must go on for a long way, far out of range of the tri-corder.”
“Could you adjust the sensors in the shuttle?”
“I think so Captain. From there we should be able to trace whatever this is!”
Near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco two young cadets from the academy enjoyed a stroll, trying to get away from their hectic study schedule. As they spoke and joked about some pranks they had pulled at the academy one of them spotted something in the river.
“What is that?” he said pointing.
“Looks like a blob of something floating in the river.”
The blob moved towards the river bank as it was carried along by the tide. When it got near enough to the cadets they went to investigate.
“Strange looking thing, whatever it is.”
“That’s the thing. What is it? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
The cadet reached out his hand as he tried to touch the strange ooky substance. Suddenly it came to life and grabbed his arm. Seconds later it was all over him. As it devoured him it grew in size and mass. The other cadet, scared witless, barely had enough time to get away. But get away he did.
“It’s definitely heading down the coast of California.” O’Rourke reported. “Possibly towards San Francisco.
“It’s probably being carried there by tides.” said Magus. “But I’m still getting the feeling I’ve seen something like this before.”
“I seem to remember reading about a similar meteor that crashed in America in the mid-twentieth century.” said Watt.
Magus’ face suddenly lighted up as he snapped his fingers.
“That’s it!” said Magus. “Something similar did happen in the 1950’s. Miss O’Rourke, try to contact Starfleet Command.”
O’Rourke did as she was asked.
“Odd. There’s no reply.”
“Try again Lieutenant.” said Watt.
She got the same result.
“I think we’d better hurry back.” said Magus. “I just hope that thing hasn’t reached a populated area.”
Admiral Calevicchi surveyed the area of the attack site near the Golden Gate Bridge. Teams scoured the area with tri-corders in the hop they could find anything. The Admiral turned to the cadet who had managed to escape.
“And you say he was attacked by a large…blob?”
“Y-y-yes sir. It came out of the river. He went to see what it was and it just suddenly leapt out of the water and covered him!”
The young cadet could tell that the Admiral did not believe his story. Before he could do anything however he heard a scream as one of his team came running towards him. He looked scared to death.
“What is it Lieutenant?” the Admiral asked.
“Trevors…he’s just…been attacked by some blob!”
“What is it with this blob thing? Show me where!”
The young officer showed the Admiral to where his friend had been attacked. The Admiral’s jaw dropped when he saw the blob-like substance moving off in the distance.
“What is that thing?” asked the young officer.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care!” said the Admiral. “Evacuate the area! Do it quickly! And now!”
“I’m getting something from San Francisco now Captain.” O’Rourke reported. “It keeps saying something about a blob attacking two men and parts of the city are being evacuated.”
“Then it’s begun.” said Magus. “Just as it happened over four hundred years ago.”
O’Rourke turned to Watt when she heard something in her ear-piece.
“You’re not going to believe this Captain. Starfleet Command itself is being attacked.
Watt looked at Magus.
“We need to be there, fast!
Magus closed his eyes and the shuttle craft vanished, as if into thin air. The shuttle soon flew over the skies of San Francisco, and the first thing they saw was the evacuation taking place. Once again O’Rourke tried to make contact with Starfleet Command but she got the 24th century equivalent of an engaged tone.
“So what do we do?” O’Rourke asked.
“Head for Starfleet Command.” said Watt. “That’s all we can do.”
“Aye sir.”
The shuttle was soon flying over the command centre. From the sky they could see the whole place was in chaos.
“The scan shows the substance is in this area.” said O’Rourke.
“Where exactly?” asked Magus.
“I don’t believe it!” O’Rourke exclaimed. “It’s actually inside the building!”
The shuttle craft soon landed in the main landing area, and they found heavily armed security teams running around all over the place. Getting off the shuttle Watt grabbed hold of one of the guards.
“What’s going on?”
“Something entered the command centre. It’s already killed five people. Phasers won’t do a thing against it!”
“What does it look like?” asked Magus.
“Like a blob of something or other.”
“Show us where.”
Phasers in hand the young security officer showed them to where the thing was. They saw a team armed with phasers and phaser rifles trying to stop the thing moving forward. As Watt went towards the team he was stopped by Admiral Calevicchi.
“When did you three get back?” the Admiral asked.
“Just now. We think we know what the thing is that’s attacking everyone. It looks as if it came from a meteor that hit in Alaska.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we traced it back here.” said Magus. “Something similar happened over four hundred years ago.”
“What did they do to kill it before?” asked the Admiral.
“They didn’t.” said Magus. “They froze it before, but I don’t think that process will work this time. This one seems to operate well in the cold.
“Then what should we do?” asked the Admiral.
“I think I know something that might work.” said Magus. “Admiral, order all of your security teams to withdraw to a safe distance.”
“Are you crazy? What for? That thing will run riot unless we try to contain it!”
“Please do as I say Admiral.” said Magus. “Containing it is what I want to do.”
The Admiral gave the order for the security teams to withdraw. Watt then turned to Magus.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” he said.
“I do.” Magus replied. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave also. Admiral, I want you to monitor things from the control room.
The Admiral turned to walk away but stopped when Watt did not move.
“Come on Jim.” said the Admiral.
“Good luck.” said Watt.
“Luck doesn’t enter into it my dear boy.”
The corridor soon emptied, save for Magus and the strange blob. The elderly wizard began to walk towards the ooky thing. As Magus moved forward so did the blob. The blob seemed a bit cautious at first because Magus was the first living thing that had not run away from it.
“Come on.” said Magus. “If you want something to eat why not try me?”
Magus reached out his arm as he walked towards the alien substance, and when he got closer the blob suddenly leapt forward and engulfed his arm. Seconds later it was all over him.
In the control room Watt and the Admiral were shocked.
“The stupid old fool’s got himself killed!”
Watt looked down at the panel in front of him.
“Look at this sir.” he said. “Energy levels in the corridor are rapidly rising. The reading is emanating from the blob itself.”
The Admiral looked down at the reading.
“Get the force fields in place…now!” he shouted. “Looks like there’s going to be one hell of an explosion down there!”
The Admiral was right. Energy inside the blob began to get higher and higher, and seconds later there was a mighty explosion that sent the gooey substance all over the place. The explosion knocked out the sensors. There was no longer an image on the screen. Watt, the Admiral, and a full security team were soon in the corridor. There was smoke everywhere, but when it cleared they saw Magus trying to brush goo off his tailcoat. Watt smiled broadly.
“Magus you old bugger! What happened?”
“I have this creature a severe bilious attack!” Magus replied. “As you know my body has a natural energy source. The blob’s digestive system obviously couldn’t handle it!”
Magus looked down at his clothes which were covered in bits and pieces of the strange blob.
“Looks like I’ll need a new suit! Shame, I’ve had this one since 1572!”
The corridor, and Magus’ clothes, were eventually cleaned, and the remaining bits of the alien creature were taken to be analysed. Two days later Watt and Magus sat in a shuttle as it took them to McKinley Station. As they approached the station a broad smile appeared on Watt’s face. The U.S.S. Valkyrie was now in full view, and he hadn’t felt this good in ages.
“It’s a beautiful sight.” said Watt. “I hope they haven’t been too rough on the old girl.”
“Although I have fond memories of this ship I still prefer the Orient Express as a means of transportation.” said Magus.
Watt let out a hearty laugh. The shuttle soon docked with the Valkyrie and Watt and Magus soon made their way to the bridge. Watt noticed the few changes as soon as he entered. O’Rourke had taken up her new role as navigator. Sutek, with three rank insignia on his collar now, yielded the captain’s chair to Watt. Watt looked around and smiled.
“It certainly is good to be back.” he said. “Commander Sutek, I believe you have our orders.”
“Aye sir.” said the Vulcan. “Mister Tompkins, please set a course for the Time of Legends, ahead warp factor four.”
Tompkins laid in the correct course.
“Engage.” ordered Watt.
And so came the next stage in the voyages of the U.S.S. Valkyrie.
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