Series 5
The Clarke Broadcast March 15th 1969
Mission date 0872.9, whilst mapping the Flammarion System, the Endeavour encounters a graviton ellipse, a massive body of subspace energy that temporarily leaves subspace and travels through normal space for a time. Whilst maintaining a safe distance the crew begin scanning it. They recognize it as a similar phenomenon that reportedly consumed the Clarke IV, a manned spaceship exploring Europa in 2051. That had been the last Earth deep space mission before WWV. A mission sent in 2103 had found no evidence of any wreckage on Europa (although they did find life).
Further scans detect signs of the Clarke IV within the ellipse in a stable field that acts as the eye of the storm, and plans are made to modify the Herschel to allow it to enter this field and attempt to recover the ship. Brynne and Holmes, who are both interested in the early exploration of the solar system, quickly volunteer, while Russell, much to Spock’s concern, also wants to be involved.
The modifications work as expected, and the crew soon finds the ship, nearly in one piece. Stein detects that the ellipse is being drawn towards an asteroid, and warns the Herschel to escape before collision, but Russell insists on leaving with the module, despite Spock's concerns that this will slow the shuttle down. They are unable to clear the ellipse in time and are caught in a shock wave from the collision; Brynne is injured with plasma burns, and the Herschel 's shields and engines are knocked off-line. Spock warns that they only has a few hours to escape before the ellipse returns to subspace, where they would be trapped indefinitely.
After stabilizing Brynne, Russell and Holmes begin effecting repairs. But the Herschel’s power converter is beyond repair. Scotty, on the Endeavour suggests salvaging the power converter from the Clarke IV to bring the power back online. Russell instructs Holmes to go, but asks him to not only collect the part but to take time to download data from the module. Holmes arrives, and powers up the systems. While he works at removing the power converter, the mission Commander's logs of the few days the crew remained alive after being consumed by the ellipse are played out.
Holmes is impressed by what the crew did even though they realised that they were all going to die. They had kept analysing the ellipse and gathered much information about the phenomenon which will be of great use to Commonwealth scientists. With little time left to escape, Holmes spares enough time to download the module logs and helps Russell to bring the crew's preserved bodies to the Herschel. They are able to install the power converter in time to escape the ellipse with the Endeavour’s help before it returns to subspace.
The Endeavour crew holds a formal memorial service for the crew of the Clarke IV to pay their respects. Russell provides an eulogy, praising the crew's exploratory nature that would eventually lead to Endeavour and the Commonwealth.
Mission date 0872.9, whilst mapping the Flammarion System, the Endeavour encounters a graviton ellipse, a massive body of subspace energy that temporarily leaves subspace and travels through normal space for a time. Whilst maintaining a safe distance the crew begin scanning it. They recognize it as a similar phenomenon that reportedly consumed the Clarke IV, a manned spaceship exploring Europa in 2051. That had been the last Earth deep space mission before WWV. A mission sent in 2103 had found no evidence of any wreckage on Europa (although they did find life).
Further scans detect signs of the Clarke IV within the ellipse in a stable field that acts as the eye of the storm, and plans are made to modify the Herschel to allow it to enter this field and attempt to recover the ship. Brynne and Holmes, who are both interested in the early exploration of the solar system, quickly volunteer, while Russell, much to Spock’s concern, also wants to be involved.
The modifications work as expected, and the crew soon finds the ship, nearly in one piece. Stein detects that the ellipse is being drawn towards an asteroid, and warns the Herschel to escape before collision, but Russell insists on leaving with the module, despite Spock's concerns that this will slow the shuttle down. They are unable to clear the ellipse in time and are caught in a shock wave from the collision; Brynne is injured with plasma burns, and the Herschel 's shields and engines are knocked off-line. Spock warns that they only has a few hours to escape before the ellipse returns to subspace, where they would be trapped indefinitely.
After stabilizing Brynne, Russell and Holmes begin effecting repairs. But the Herschel’s power converter is beyond repair. Scotty, on the Endeavour suggests salvaging the power converter from the Clarke IV to bring the power back online. Russell instructs Holmes to go, but asks him to not only collect the part but to take time to download data from the module. Holmes arrives, and powers up the systems. While he works at removing the power converter, the mission Commander's logs of the few days the crew remained alive after being consumed by the ellipse are played out.
Holmes is impressed by what the crew did even though they realised that they were all going to die. They had kept analysing the ellipse and gathered much information about the phenomenon which will be of great use to Commonwealth scientists. With little time left to escape, Holmes spares enough time to download the module logs and helps Russell to bring the crew's preserved bodies to the Herschel. They are able to install the power converter in time to escape the ellipse with the Endeavour’s help before it returns to subspace.
The Endeavour crew holds a formal memorial service for the crew of the Clarke IV to pay their respects. Russell provides an eulogy, praising the crew's exploratory nature that would eventually lead to Endeavour and the Commonwealth.