Captain's Log, Stardate 5419.4: The Enterprise is approaching the Dulciphar star cluster, once the most densely populated region in this sector of the galaxy. Our mission: routine archaeological inventory of the ancient civilizations in the cluster. To that end, ship's personnel has been supplemented by a twenty-person team of researchers from the University of Nexqualy on Perren IX, led by Dr. Abdul Ramesh Kaul. Dr. Kaul is the Federation's foremost authority on the Meztorien culture, whose ruins are widely scattered throughout this quadrant. It is a distinct honor to be associated with such eminent scholars as Dr. Kaul and his team.

"Why me?" Ensign Pavel Chekov demanded, breaking his stride to lift his arms toward the ceiling as if imploring some unseen deity to answer his question. "Why do I have to be the person who gets stuck with the Djelifan? To listen to her talk, you would think that God Herself was from Djelifa and that She used that planet as Her base for creating the Universe."

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu ducked his head to hide a grin. "Do you have proof She didn't?" Turning the last corner to the turbolift, he glanced at Chekov from the corner of his eye. As he expected, Chekov still hadn't gotten the joke. While Chekov claimed half the Federation's technology was invented in his native Russia, the matriarchal Djelifans knew that everything in the Universe came from their planet. Whoever paired the visiting archaeologists with "buddies" among the Enterprise's crew had obviously been thinking of Chekov's Russian provincialism when assigning him to work with the Djelifan post-doctoral researcher, Talika Nyar. As they reached the turbolift Sulu gave an apologetic shrug. "Besides, I didn't get teamed up with any prize. Meredith is so shy she's hardly spoken three words to me."

"At least she's attractive." Chekov stepped into the turbolift. He glanced toward the intercom receiver.

The orangish-yellow star grew larger and brighter in the viewscreen, its attendant planets gleaming like diamond chips in their sun's reflected light. Captain James T. Kirk studied the image, trying to guess what discoveries they would make here. The familiar rhythms of his ship flowed around him soothingly -- Uhura's voice directing intraship messages, Chekov and Sulu adjusting the ship's approach, Spock at his station correlating the sensor readings as they came in. He let his anticipation build until he had to know what this solar system held for them. "Report, Mr. Spock."

The Vulcan raised his head from his scanner display and faced Kirk, his movements controlled and economical. "We are approaching the Careta system. The star is classified as F9 and has been fading gradually for the last 500,000 years. It is orbited by ten planets, most of them small, and has a broad zone of widely scattered asteroids between the fifth and sixth planets. The third and fourth planets are currently in the habitable zone, although the climates of both are marginal. At present, neither shows long-range readings that would indicate the presence of intelligent life."

"In other words, two possible choices for us to explore." Kirk glanced at the viewscreen, trying to guess which planet was the more likely candidate before Spock launched into another round of statistics.

"The possibility also exists that artifacts remain in the asteroid belt." Spock's voice held a note of reproof, as if chiding Kirk for jumping to so hasty and unscientific a conclusion. "The Meztoriens often established orbiting habitats in remote sections of systems that they did not otherwise occupy. A detailed survey would be required to establish whether such habitats were present in this system."

Knowing he would regret it, Kirk took the bait. "How long would it take to perform such a survey?"

"It will take 7.25 days to scan the asteroid belt with sufficient resolution to insure that we have not missed any potential Meztorien artifacts." Spock paused, raising one eyebrow. "We should, in any case, conduct such a survey. If we confine ourselves to investigating only the planets, we risk overlooking significant discoveries. This quadrant contains an anomalously high number of 'orphan' archaeological sites for which we have no context. It is possible that the smaller planetary bodies or the asteroid belt may contain information that will allow us to determine predecessor or successor cultures for some of these isolated remains."

Kirk suppressed a groan. By now, he thought, he should know when to keep his mouth shut. "I'll make you a deal, Mr. Spock. You can survey all the asteroids you like if we find something on one of those planets to keep our passengers busy in the meantime. They're getting anxious to do some serious work."

"Agreed, Captain, although I recommend that we conduct the asteroid survey regardless."

"We'll see, Spock. First, let's see what's on the planets." And hope it's big enough to keep the archaeologists busy for a while!

"Yes, Captain." Spock turned back to his sensors. Kirk watched him for a moment, then shifted his attention to the main viewscreen. Third planet or fourth? Which would it be?

Copyright © 1990 by Paramount Pictures