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 TOS movie: The Motion Picture, 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[edit | edit source]

Captain James T. 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,” Nyota Uhura joined Kirk and Leonard McCoy to beam down. But a sudden transporter malfunction made it unclear whether the landing party had been killed.

Leaving Montgomery Scott in command, Spock took Hikaru Sulu and Native American Ensign Greywolf in a travel pod to the archeologists' camp, a pair of prefabricated domes on the tropical surface. The camp was deserted, but they followed three sets of tracks at the beam-down point to 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 an image that looked like an atomic bomb and other carvings 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 a laser rifle and a second holstered weapon.

Ensign Greywolf tracked the landing party.

Janice 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 Rosetta Stone-like inscriptions in three languages: Abaris hieroglyphs, an unknown language, and the ancient Earth language of the Sumerians, 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 Abaris natives. Kirk said Starbase 11 was 20 light-days away, and they'd find room for the aliens.

The destruction of Abaris was witnessed on the bridge and in the recreation room. McCoy, observing the aliens, suspected their fungal biochemistry made them “serene,” and realized that their biology was abnormally influencing the Hoff's behavior. Questioning how the aliens anticipated their arrival 5,000 years ago, Spock offered the possibility of precognition. Meanwhile, Uhura picked up a small spacecraft escaping: the unmasked Abaris pirate, who lived to fight another day.

References[edit | edit source]

Timeline[edit | edit source]

Published Order
Previous comic: #4: "Double Bluff"	Star Trek: The Original Series (US Comic Strips)	Next comic: #6: "Husian Gambit"
Previous story: "Double Bluff"	Stories by: Thomas Warkentin	Next story: "Husian Gambit"
Chronological Order
Previous adventure: "Double Bluff"	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: "Experiment in Vengeance!"

Appendices[edit | edit source]

Information[edit | edit source]

This is the fifth of 13 stories set after the events of TOS movie: The Motion Picture with the crew wearing the Starfleet uniform (early 2270s). It was the last of five stories set in 2273 near the beginning of Captain Kirk's second five-year mission aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). The story was told in daily and Sunday newspapers over 70 days (10 weeks).
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. (ST reference: New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics).
Scott and Rand used gossamer mice to test transporter repairs. Sensitivity of such mice to minute environmental changes was shown in TAS episode: "The Terratin Incident".
Archeologists Elsa Hoff and Paul Hoff were first referenced in one of Warkentin's audition sample strips. In the proposed story, reprinted in The Newspaper Comics, Volume 1, Kirk mentioned having attended the Hoffs' wedding on Zeon four years previously. But in the published story, there was no indication that the Hoffs knew Kirk.
Book-tapes in Kirk's quarters were labeled Garth of Izar on Tactics, "Advanced Poker," "The Orchestral Goldsmith," "The Limerick," and "Hornblower" by C.S. Forester.
Spock speculated that one of the wall carvings depicted the mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb blast. It actually turned out to be a bioluminescent mushroom.
Although the unnamed pirate expected to run into Kirk again, the plot thread was not picked up.
This may be the only time a Federation travel pod was seen operating within a planetary environment.
A Zaranite was visible in engineering in the strip for August 10, 1980.

Background[edit | edit source]

Mark Rice, Wendy Yang, and Ron Harris are credited with art assists. Wendy Yang was actually Warkentin himself, playing a joke. (Checklist at Hasslein Books website)
Rice's credit appears with Warkentin's on July 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 27, and August 3. Yang's credit appears with Warkentin's on July 17, July 21, August 10, and August 17. Harris' credit appears with Warkentin's from August 25-30.