alternatehistory.com

series 3
The Quest Broadcast February 17th 1968

The Endeavour has sent a landing team to a planet to search for tritanium deposits, needed for the fleet building required to counter the potential Tellurian attack. One group picks up an unusual signal but loses it, at which point they are attacked. Reynolds and Spock rush over to the scene. They see a pink cloud hovering over the crewmen which withdraws on their approach. They find the three crewmen down; all unconscious and very weak. All of the men have had most of their red blood cells drained of haemoglobin.

The landing team returns to the Endeavour. On the bridge, Decker has Spock look for anything out of the ordinary which might lead to the discovery of the cloud which is considered the aggressor. M’Beke reports that all 3 injured crew are very weak but will recover in time but they all say that the pink cloud saved them from the entity that attacked them. At the same time an unusual ship appears at the jump point and heads towards the planet. It appears to have a single crewman who ignores all hails until his ship has made orbit.

Once the ship has reached orbit its crewman replies to the Endeavour’s hails. To everyone’s surprise the crewman is an old man (special guest star Laurence Naismith) and is wearing what appears to be an old British uniform. He announces that his name is Pelham Knorr and that he has been hunting a beast that wiped out his crew for years. He accepts Decker’s invitation to come aboard the Endeavour to discuss matters. Once aboard Pelham entrances the crew with his tall tales of his adventures whilst hunting the beast and is very appreciative of the chance to talk to others. He seems very surprised to meet members of his species in this area of space as he left his planet’s sphere of influence years before at the start of his quest. On further questioning it turns out that Pelham hails from yet another unknown human world in a far distant area of the galaxy.

Pelham had been second officer on board his ship which was exploring a planet similar to the one they were now in orbit when it had been attacked by a cloud like entity which had killed the rest of the crew and indeed had attacked him but had left him before he died. After it had left a pink cloud had enveloped him and he had recovered. The pink cloud had always been around when he had got ill or injured and had always healed him. Indeed Pelham surmised that it had slowed the ageing process as well, as by his admittedly faulty reckoning, he had now lived for over 200 years.

The landing party’s reports confirm Pelham’s story. They do not need to hunt the pink cloud but rather a smaller more compact purple cloud. This cloud gives the impression of being angry whilst the pink cloud gives an impression of tranquillity and peace. Then suddenly the ships alarms sound.

The purple cloud leaves the planet, passes through the ship's hull and into the ventilation system. Decker orders Scotty to close all vents and flood the system with gas. The creature exits the vents and attacks two crewmen but is disturbed by the pink cloud before it can cause much harm. It then enters the room assigned to Pelham and attacks him, Spock enters the room and manages to pull Pelham free. The creature seems to dislike Spock’s biochemistry as he is unaffected.

Pelham is taken to the Medical Centre but is dying, Fynely and M’Beke try everything but his body is giving up. Then the Pink Cloud appears and envelops Pelham. A look of peace crosses his face and he turns to Decker and tells him not to worry he has had a good innings and the purple cloud is in for a shock!

Indeed reports are coming in from various crew that they have seen the purple cloud and that it is fleeing them and is condensing. It tries to pass through bulkheads but fails and is found pooled in a corner of engineering. Scotty fires at it with a phaser and the creature is eliminated.

Pelham seems to know when this happens and explains that the pink cloud had subtly changed his biochemistry over the years to have this effect on the purple cloud. It used me as bait, he continues, but in return looked after me and I had a fair old life but I do miss home. Just then a look of wonder crosses his face and the pink cloud spins around him ever faster.

After a minute or so Pelham’s life signs cease to register but a little red cloud forms above his head. This cloud seems to be standing to attention and darts to all the Endeavour crew present giving them a feeling of gratitude. The pink cloud seems to shepherd the red cloud out of the Medical Centre. A message appears on a monitor “Thank You from both of us” and with that both clouds disappear.
Top