The Aging World

The Aging World was a four-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 25th weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in two installments in Valiant and TV21 in. This was the first of 14 stories drawn by John Stokes, who illustrated the final 13 stories of the regular series as well as one of the annual stories, contributing a total of 240 pages. In this story, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) tracked the distress signal from a missing Federation ship.

Publisher's description

 * Teaser, 9 October 1971
 * Investigating the disappearance of a survey ship, the USS Enterprise lay in orbit above the planet Taunus, from which a continuous S.O.S. signal was being received. Captain Kirk, Chief Engineering Officer Scott, and two crewmen took a shuttlecraft down to the surface … but although the signal was stronger than ever, there was no sign of the survey vessel! It was technician Chalmers who first realized that something terrible and sinister was happening!

Summary
Nyota Uhura tracked the call sign of a missing survey ship to Taunus. Kirk took a rescue team with him in the Galileo, but extremely dense foliage slowed their search. Chalmers felt a tingling sensation in his skin, then realized with horror that he was rapidly aging. In a panic, he ran back to the shuttlecraft and took off. But in his despair, he crashed the Galileo into the side of a mountain.

Scott realized that they were all aging rapidly. A crewman wondered if the aging would reverse when they left they area. Kirk wouldn't give up until they'd rescued the ship's crew, so they kept searching, eventually locating the vessel buried deeply under plants.

But it was too late. The crew had aged into skeletons, with one person's hand left permanently on the distress call button. Kirk turned off the signal, then asked Scott to beam them up. They rematerialized back to normal in the transporter room. Kirk remarked that Taunus would remain unexplored forever.

Characters

 * Chalmers • Pavel Chekov • James T. Kirk • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Nyota Uhura • USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel (unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s))

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • Galileo (class F shuttlecraft) • surveyor

Locations

 * Certax Alpha system (Taunus)

Earth • Jupiter

Races and cultures

 * Human • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Federation

Science and technology

 * communications • communicator • distress signal • Morse code • radio • S.O.S. signal • transporter

Ranks and titles

 * captain • chief engineer • crewman • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • officer • Starfleet ranks • technician

Other references

 * assignment patch • atmosphere • beam • bridge • foliage • gravity • helm • mountain • parking orbit • planet • rapid aging • skeleton • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • transporter room • universe

Chronology

 * The presence of Pavel Chekov as a bridge officer places the story after his promotion to bridge duty in May 2267.

Production history

 * The British weekly anthology comic TV21 Weekly merged with anthology Valiant to become Valiant and TV21 in 1971. Its first two issues serialized this Star Trek story.


 * : Pages 1-2 published in Valiant and TV21 #1.
 * : Pages 3-4 published in Valiant and TV21 #2.
 * December 2016 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2 (IDW Publishing)
 * 1 February 2018 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #29 (Eaglemoss)
 * 1 February 2018 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #29 (Eaglemoss)

Background

 * This story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Aging World") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2.
 * Valiant and TV21 #1 was 32 pages and included cover teasers for Star Trek and three British comic strips. Star Trek was the only color story in the publication and was printed on pages 18-19. The cover listed pricing for distribution in Malaysia, Malta, Australia, East Africa, West Africa, South Africa, Rhodesia and New Zealand.
 * Valiant and TV21 #2 was 44 pages. The front cover contained page 3 of the story. The back cover contained page 4 of the story.
 * Pavel Chekov was seen on the bridge manning the helm in one panel, but had no dialogue.

Related stories

 * – In 2267, radiation from a comet triggered rapid aging.
 * – In 2269, Taurean women used headbands to drain life energy from a landing party, resulting in rapid aging.
 * – In 2365, super-strong antibodies triggered rapid aging in the crew of the USS Lantree (NCC-1837) and Doctor Katherine Pulaski.