"The Patient Parasites" was the third short story collected in the TOS anthology The New Voyages 2 in 1978. Written by Russell Bates in script form, it was based on his first story submission for TAS.
Summary[]
A USS Enterprise landing party is held hostage by a robot probe.
Log entries[]
- Captain's log, stardate 5459.4.
- The fifth planet in an uncharted and uninhabited star system has produced a mystery. Our sensor scan detected an intense energy source moving rapidly over the surface. But all efforts to identify it have failed. First Officer Spock has ordered up a landing party to investigate.
- Captain's log, stardate 5459.6.
- Despite careful and exhaustive analysis, our challenges for Finder remain dangerously few. With most of our time gone, I have reluctantly ordered five planet-wrecker missiles placed on standby, with my First Officer's concurrence. But I refuse to accept Finder's invulnerability.
References[]
Characters[]
- Finder • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (sciences division crew, security officers, transporter chief, ensign)
- Referenced only
- Pablo Picasso
Starships and vehicles[]
Locations[]
- unnamed planet
- Referenced only
- Earth • Starbase 6 • Zeta Geminorum system
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
Science and classification[]
- carrier missile • command chair • communicator • computer • coordinates • cryomemory cube • Feinberger • force field • impulse • machine • medical tricorder • memory bank • phaser • photon torpedo • planet-wrecker missile • robot • tractor beam • transporter • tricorder • viewscreen • warp drive • warp power
Ranks and titles[]
- captain • doctor • ensign • first officer • lieutenant • medical officer
Other references[]
- alloy • atmosphere • auto destruct • beam • bird • bridge • bridge crew • briefing room • captain's log • cat • cosmos • desert • eclipse • electricity • extinction • fly • gravity • helm • hour • ion • jellyfish • kilometer • landing party • light • logic • orbit • rock • second • shore leave • snake • spider • star • suicide • technology • transporter room • universe • vegetation • water • year
Chronology[]
- 459
- The Tullvan species died out. (Referenced)
- Stardate 5459.4
- A USS Enterprise landing party encounters an artificial construct that calls itself Finder on a remote planet. Finder wants warp technology for its creators, the Tullvans. (In-story)
- Stardate 5459.6
- James T. Kirk considers his options against Finder. The ship and crew prepare to free their associates. (In-story)
- Stardate 5459.7
- Kirk and crew launch an all-out offensive against Finder, but without much progress. Then Spock learns that Finder's masters might have been Tullvans, and that they are extinct. Finder, forced to face that it is an artifact serving no masters, is defeated by information and logic and releases Kirk's crew before destroying itself. (In-story)
Timeline[]
Publication history[]
- January 1978
- First published by Bantam Books. (ISBN 0-553-11392-5)
- February 2000
- 13th printing by Bantam Spectra. (ISBN 0-553-27933-5)
Appendices[]
Background[]
- At the end of the story, James T. Kirk quoted a 20th century children's rhyme to flummox Spock. (There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
- The author's original draft was rejected for production in TAS partly for not taking advantage of the scope possible in animation. It also featured Dawson Walking Bear, but because script editor D.C. Fontana thought the character seemed interchangeable, Bates replaced him with Hikaru Sulu.
Related stories[]
Intelligent probes were also encountered in:
Connections[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: Snake Pit! |
The New Voyages 2
|
Next story: In the Maze |
| Previous story: How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth |
Stories by: Russell Bates |
Next story: last story |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: The Slaver Weapon |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next Adventure: Intersection Point |
| Previous Adventure: The Slaver Weapon |
Next Adventure: Intersection Point | |
