Aberration on Abaris

Aberration on Abaris is a Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It is the fifth story in the US Comic Strips series, published by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. The story was set after, depicting events from Captain Kirk's second five-year mission aboard the refurbished USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). In this story, The Enterprise is sent to rescue two archeologists on a doomed planet.

Summary
Captain Kirk received an urgent message from a commodore at Starbase 15. Abaris was due to collide with another planet in three days, and the Enterprise, the only ship in rescue range, needed to rescue two archeologists stationed there. Arriving at warp 11, hails were met with a rude reply from the archeologists. Mentioning that Abaris’ climate was “similar to Kitui province in the African Confederacy,” Uhura joined Kirk and McCoy to beam down. Uhura asked if the archeologists were Elsa and Paul Hoff, “who discovered the crystal cities of Lakh,” and Kirk confirmed that they were, and had to leave due to a cyborg uprising. But a sudden transporter malfunction made it unclear whether the landing party beamed down or had been killed.

Leaving Scott in command, Spock took Sulu and native American Ensign Greywolf in a travel pod to the archeologists’ camp, a pair of pre-fab domes on the tropical surface. Finding the camp deserted, but finding three sets of tracks at the beam-down point, they followed them, discovering a three-meter-tall, multi-ton pyramid within one of the domes. Noting a misalignment in the surface, Spock opened a hidden door in the pyramid, leading to a smooth ramp downward. Exploring, they saw carvings of an atomic bomb and images that seemed familiar. Greywolf noted marks in the dust indicating the landing party had come this way, but felt uneasy, a sensation Spock said could “have a logical basis, such as the surfacing of subliminal data.” Spock thought he heard a noise. Unknown to them, they were being followed by a masked pirate armed with an old-style laser rifle and a second holstered weapon.

Rand located a mechanical cause for the transporter malfunction, and repairs began. Meanwhile, Spock, Sulu and Greywolf walked into a mammoth hall filled with carvings several stories high, as well as several species of enormous fungi which Sulu recognized. There the Hoffs welcomed them, but claimed not to have seen Kirk, Uhura or McCoy. The Hoffs apologized for their rude behavior over the communicator and offered tea to Spock. But Sulu caught sight of Uhura’s earring on the floor and kicked Spock’s tea before he could drink it. Kirk, Uhura and McCoy popped out of a hidden wall panel, saying they’d been drugged by the Hoffs, but were okay.

Complaining about Starfleet interference in their previous work on Lakh VII, they refused to heed Kirk’s plea to leave the planet immediately. McCoy realized they were being irrational. The Hoffs showed them a stone with Rosetta-like inscriptions in three languages: the hieroglyphs in this pyramid, an unknown language, and Sumarian, an ancient Earth language which facilitated translation. They led the Enterprise party through the halls, a timeline of the planet’s culture, ending at a 5,000 year-old marble carving of a starship.

Overhearing talk about a stone’s incalculable value, the masked pirate emerged, weapon drawn, demanding the stone, but, after seeing it, said it looked unremarkable. Paul Hoff became enraged, pointing out its value was only to archeologists, and dove at the pirate, who unintentionally fired at the ceiling and caused a cave-in. Separated from everyone else, the pirate fled back through the tunnels. Trapped and unable to leave without the transporter, Spock heard Scott report it was repaired. Before they could beam up, the Hoffs said they’d have to also rescue the remaining inhabitants of the planet: 2,000 green, tiny fungal-type aliens. Kirk said Starbase 11 was 20 light-days away, and they’d find room for the aliens.

The destruction of Abaris was seen on the bridge and in the rec room from 400,000 kilometers away. McCoy, observing the aliens, suspected their fungal biochemistry made them “serene,” and explained that the Hoff’s behavior was being abnormally influenced by the aliens’ biology, suggesting that their future research be “guided by a competent psychochemist.”

Questioning how the aliens anticipated their arrival 5,000 years ago, Spock offered the possibility of precognition. Meanwhile, Uhura picked up a small ship escaping: the unmasked pirate, who lived to fight another day.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk • Spock • Leonard McCoy • Hikaru Sulu • Janice Rand • Montgomery Scott • Nyota Uhura • Marcella DiFalco • Graywolf • Elsa Hoff • Paul Hoff • Unnamed pirate

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) • travel pod

Locations

 * Abaris in the Ceti system Starbase 15 • Starbase 11 • Lakh VII • Crystal cities of Lakh • Kitui province • African Confederacy

Races and cultures

 * Human • Abarisian Lakh VII cyborgs

Science and technology

 * mycologist • luminescent amanita muscaria • pantherina • baeocystis • cyanopus • pelliculosa • silvatica • hieroglyphics • Sumerian • tricorder • transporter • gossamer mice • psychochemist • parking orbit

Other references

 * Antarian foxbat • phaser rifle

Related stories

 * - Described the starship refit, crew changes, and technology updates that occurred prior to the events of this story.


 * - A similar mystery where an extinction-level planetary crisis led to the discovery of 24,000-year-old -era stone statues of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.


 * – A stone sculpture of Spock was found, being worshipped as a god.

Information

 * This is the fifth of 20 story arcs set after the events of, and is set during Captain Kirk's second five-year mission aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).


 * This story arc was not printed with a title. The title was provided from Warkentin's original script by his widow, Rosie Warkentin Ford, for the story's reprinting in The Newspaper Comics, Volume 1..


 * Scott and Rand used Gossamer mice to test transporter repairs.


 * Archeologists Elsa and Paul Hoff were name-dropped in one of Warkentin's audition sample strips. In the unpublished strip, reprinted in The Newspaper Comics, Volume 1, Kirk mentioned not having seen them “since their wedding on Zeon four years ago.” That backstory could have changed, since, in the published story, Kirk was aware of archeologists being on Abaris, but no mention was made of him meeting them previously.


 * Tapes in Kirk’s quarters were labeled “Garth of Izar on Tactics,” “Advanced Poker,” “The Orchestral Goldsmith,” “The Limerick,” and “Hornblower” by C.S. Forrester.
 * Although the unidentified pirate was revealed to be a woman, as her ship left the system, thinking, "We'll meet again, Kirk," the plot thread was not picked up.