USS Greate Pier - The episodes - Season 1

LT: “Captain’s log, stardate 63805.3. A Federation shuttle is en route to the Greate Pier and will be delivering a special guest; Willy Philips. We are to transport Mr. Philips to a research center on Auze IV where his condition will be examined by a team of experts.”

A crew member brings Captain LT information on a PADD. The captain seems to point at a few things on the device while conversing with his minion. Meanwhile, the log continues.

LT: “This simple mission is welcome since the Inj trail is getting a little cold. The Inj shuttle we found recently told us we were roughly on the right track, but we’d like some confirmation on that right about now… I’d love to run into another Inj vessel just to get the admiral off my back… Our guest should arrive shortly.”

SCENE 2: Parallel worlds

Mark Philips and his wife Kerrttu Hakonen watch the airlock door open. Soon after a lady in her early 50’s carrying 2 suitcases approaches the couple. She is accompanied by a young man who seems uninterested in the people they are walk towards… While walking towards Philips and Hakonen he seems to find the corridor walls and ceiling more interesting to look at. The lady however smiles when she meets the two.

Woman: “Hello…”

Hakonen: “Hello Mss Jenssen… Welcome onboard.”

Jenssen puts down the suitcases.

Jenssen: “Please, just call me Britta.”

Philips: “Welcome, Britta. How was the trip?”

Britta sighs.

Jenssen: “Long…”

The young man is looking around without paying much attention to anyone.

Jenssen: “Luckily Willy kept me company.”

Mark walks up to Willy and extends his hand.

Philips: “Hello Willy...”

Willy immediately takes Mark’s hand and shakes it.

Willy*: “Hello Uncle Philips.”

(* = Willy’s lines will be indicated with “Willy:”, as Mark and Willy share the same last name)

Their eyes never meet, as Willy seems to continue studying the walls.

Philips: “Are you doing well, Willy?”

A short answer.

Willy: “Yes.”

Philips: “Good!”

Kerrttu seeks confirmation with Mss Jenssen.

Hakonen: “How’s Willy been doing?”

Jenssen: “Oh just fine. He hasn’t changed much since you last saw him…”

Hakonen: “Well, it has been a while… Nearly 2 years…”

Kerrttu looks at Willy.

Hakonen: “Way too long… We’ve missed him very much.”

Jenssen: “Yes, he’s a special kid… More often than not you don’t understand what’s going on inside that head, but he’s such a sweet and special kid.”

Hakonen: “Thank you for taking care of him, Britta… I know it’s not an easy task.”

Jenssen: “It’s my job, and I do it with a lot of pleasure…”

Mark returns to the chatting ladies.

Philips: “Let’s go to our quarters and make some coffee, ladies…”

Jenssen: “I’m afraid I can not stay; the shuttle will leave as soon as I get back onboard. There are more special people that need my attention. And please thank the captain for bringing Willy to Auze IV.”

Philips: “I’ll be sure to thank him.”

Jenssen: “I’m sure they will be able to learn something more about Willy in that research center.”

Hakonen: “Let’s hope so… Conditions like his have baffled psychologists and neurologists alike throughout the centuries…”

Jenssen: “And I’m sure we won’t be able to fully understand Willy and others like him for quite some time… Well, I have to be leaving now.”

She walks over to Willy…

Jenssen: “Willy, I have to leave now.”

Britta hugs Willy, who does not seem to mind. A little kiss on the cheek before she says goodbye.

Jenssen: “I have not been looking forward to this moment, but goodbye Willy… We had fun didn’t we?”

Same short answer accompanied by a smile.

Willy: “Yes.”

The lady walks back towards the airlock after some last words for Willy.

Jenssen: “Be nice to uncle Mark and aunt Kerrttu, ok?”

Willy: “Yes.”

Britta clearly has tears in her eyes, but controls her emotions just enough not to let them roll down her cheeks... She walks into the airlock, just out of sight of Willy, as if she couldn’t bear to take that one last look. She turns around to face Mark and Kerrttu.

Philips: “Have a good trip back home.”

Jenssen: “Take real good care of Willy…”

Hakonen: “We will, don’t worry… Be safe.”

A faked smile appears on Britta’s face followed by a short reply.

Jenssen: “Yeah. Bye…”

Philips: “Bye.”

The airlock closes and the shuttle soon undocks from the USS Greate Pier and flies off into a seemingly random direction. The couple and their guest enter their quarters.

Hakonen: “Welcome to your temporary home, Willy.”

Willy: “Yeah.”

Hakonen: “Do you like it?”

Willy: “Too bright. The light is too bright. Waste of energy.”

While looking at her husband, she replies.

Hakonen: “I’m sure we can fix that, can’t we?”

Mark Philips, still close to the door and its control panel, pushes a button. The light subsequently dims a bit.

Hakonen: “How’s that, Willy?”

Willy: “We must not waste energy. We can’t do that.”

Hakonen: “Hey, would you like to see your bedroom?”

Kerrttu walks over to the bedroom door, which opens.

Hakonen: “This is your bedroom, Willy. All for yourself.”

Willy seems occupied. His attention seems directed at the table.

Willy: “Not parallel…”

The table in question indeed is not parallel to the couch it stands next to. Somehow this caught Willy’s eye…

Philips: “Willy? Go to aunt Hakonen… She will show you where you will be sleeping…”

Willy seems to understand and walks towards his aunt.

Willy: “Not parallel or perpendicular… Is the bedroom better?”

As his wife shows their guest the bedroom, Mark chuckles a bit…

Philips: “I missed that guy…”

SCENE 3: I spy with my little screen

Lieutenant Faulkner is at work in engineering. Elpek approaches his colleague of the same rank. Faulkner notices someone coming and quickly switches off the screen on his console.

Elpek: “Any luck with the data storage device from the Inj shuttle?”

Faulkner: “Yes, we were able to copy all data to the ship’s computer. We’re now browsing through all the data to see if there’s anything interesting in there.”

Elpek: “Good. Too bad the captain didn’t want to bring the entire shuttle onboard. I’d love to take something apart again…”

Faulkner: “Maybe next time…”

Elpek: “Welcome to the dayshift by the way…”

Faulkner: “That’s just temporary until this project is done… At least I don’t have to work 2 shifts in a row…”

Elpek: “Well, good luck with the project.”

Faulkner: “Thanks. See you, Elpek.”

Elpek walks off again. From the corner of his eye Faulkner follows the lieutenant until he is out of sight. He suspiciously looks around and concludes it’s safe again. He switches the screen back on. Bynes and Stilson appear on screen, seen from above, sitting behind a console. Faulkner presses another button after which the audio can be heard. He immediately decreases the volume a bit and looks around again to make sure only he can hear it.

Bynes: “These are just some medical records. I’m surprised they have medicine at all in their culture. All we’ve seen from them so far is violence and a complete lack of respect for their own kind to go along with it.”

Stilson: “Indeed… Alright, opening the next data cluster…”

He taps a few buttons on the console.

Stilson: “Did you see Crewman Isenberg recently?”

Bynes: “Isenberg? Yeah, I believe I saw her a couple of days ago…”

Stilson: “She looks amazing since she let her hair grow longer…”

Bynes: “Ehm, Troy … Did you forget about your Inger?”

Stilson: “What? No! Of course not…”

Bynes laughs out loud while his colleague is attempting to make excuses.

Stilson: “I’m just making an observation…”

Bynes: “Just teasing you…”

Stilson: “Just teasing you, SIR.”

Bynes: “Get lost, SIR.”

Both are laughing now. Meanwhile, Faulkner switches off the screen and leaves his post.

Stilson: “So, how come you’re still single?”

Bynes: “Well, that’s more of a choice than a case of bad luck in love… I’m fine on my own for now…”

Stilson: “Looks like these are more medical files… Next cluster.”

Bynes: “This looks more interesting… Flight data.”

Stilson: “Yeah, I’ll add this to the list.”

Faulkner made his way to another section in engineering where the young men are working. Without stopping the lieutenant walks past them. When Stilson notices his superior, he informs him of their progress.

Stilson: “Lieutenant Faulkner, we just found something interesting.”

Faulkner: “Good. Add it to the list.”

Stilson: “Just did, sir.”

Faulkner: “And try to keep your mind on the job, gentlemen. The ladies can wait.”

Stilson: “Sir?”

Faulkner doesn’t respond and disappears again, leaving 2 perplexed men behind.

Bynes: “What the…”

SCENE 4: Willing Willy

The captain gets up from his throne when he notices his newly arrived guest steps onto the bridge. Mark Philips accompanies his nephew. When they stand face to face Mark introduces them to each other.

Philips: “Captain, I’d like you to meet my brother’s son Willy.”

The captain sees that Willy is looking around the bridge rather than at him so he extending a hand to greet him seems futile.

LT: “Hello Willy, I’m LT.”

Willy: “Hello.”

LT: “Welcome to the bridge of the Greate Pier.”

Willy: “Yes.”

LT: “I heard you like starships, Willy. Is that right?”

Willy shows a broad smile, while still looking around the bridge in a seemingly random pattern.

Willy: “Yes! Starships…”

LT: “Well, I’m sure your uncle would be willing to give you a tour of the ship…”

Philips: “Of course…”

Holcraft: “Sir, sorry to interrupt, but we have a shuttle craft dead ahead… It appears to be adrift from these readings.”

LT: “What make?”

Holcraft: “Unknown design. But it’s rather large for a shuttle.”

LT: “On screen, lieutenant.”

The screen flicks on and shows a decent size shuttle with an earthy red color.

Stuckman: “It appears to have suffered some battle damage, sir. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was an Inj attack.”

LT: “Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised either…”

Willy sees the ship on the screen.

Willy: “Unknown ship. Looks nice. Nice shuttle.”

LT: “It’s not an Inj vessel, but at least it’s something…”

Holcraft: “No lifesigns onboard...”

LT: “No lifesigns? Hmmm, odd… No other ships in the vicinity? Escape pods maybe?”

Holcraft: “None.”

LT: “Alright, let’s find out who they are and what happened to them…”

LT directs his eyes to his first officer.

LT: “Commander, take an engineer to browse their logs and some security to be safe.”

Eisinga: “Yes, sir.”

Eldert gets up from his chair and proceeds towards the turbo lift.

Philips: “Sir, since there doesn’t seem to be anyone onboard, could Eisinga take Willy along? He loves to learn about new kinds of ships and…”

LT: “Absolutely not… The apparent absence of people onboard does not mean it is safe.”

Willy: “New shuttle?”

Philips: “Sir, I beg you to reconsider…”

LT: “He would just get in the way, Mark…”

Willy: “Willy will be good…”

Philips: “Please sir, he won’t get in the way… I promise.”

Willy: “Willy will be very good… New shuttle, LT.”

LT’s eyes reveal he has yielded to Willy and his uncle.

LT: “Alright then, before you 2 start giving me puppy eyes… He can go…”

Both Willy and Mark start smiling…

LT: “…BUT, under 2 conditions…”

Philips: “Name them…”

LT looks at Philips with a serious expression.

LT: “You stay with him and make sure he indeed does not get in the way and at first sign of possible danger I want him out of there. Alright?”

Philips is enthusiastic…

Philips: “You got it!”

…and then remembers his rank.

Philips: “Sir.”

Mark and Willy walk towards the turbo lift. Halfway there the lieutenant turns around for an instant.

Philips: “Thank you, sir!”

A little smile appears on the captain’s face.

LT: “Yeah, yeah, just get out of here before common sense kicks in… LT to Eisinga. There are 2 more away team members heading for the transporter room.”

Eisinga: “Understood.”

SCENE 5: Candid cameraman

Faulkner is at work at his station in engineering again, browsing through data from the Inj shuttle. A clumsy looking ensign walks into this area with a number of bulky devices and tools in her hands; obviously way too much to handle at once. Faulkner notices her and sees the imminent danger. The items start to slip from her hands. He quickly jumps up from his chair and comes to her aid just in time.

Ensign: “Thank you, sir…”

Faulkner: “Ensign Dolt, you should know better than that… Next time just walk twice or get an antigrav unit…”

Ensign: “Yes, sir.”

Faulkner: “Carry less and carry on.”

The ensign continues her trek through engineering with about half the goods from before. Faulkner observes her as she leaves the area while mildly shaking his head. He then turns around to get back to work when he sees Commander Reinard standing there looking at his console.

Reinard: “What is this, lieutenant? Why do I see Ensign Bynes and Crewman Stilson on your console screen?”

Faulkner: “Ehm… Lieutenant Commander Serrag put me in charge of digging through the database of the crashed Inj vessel. I have to keep an eye on my team in order to maximize efficiency.”

Reinard: “’Maximize efficiency’, nice words, but that simply does not justify spying on them…”

Faulkner: “Spying? It’s not spying, I’m just keeping an eye on progress and seeing to it they don’t slack in their work…”

Reinard: “Keeping an eye on progress is fine, but keeping an eye on people through the internal visual sensors is simply known as spying. As chief of security I have to keep an eye on things too, and spying is definitely a means to that end… But only in extreme conditions. And this is not an extreme condition. I have never had to resort to it myself.”

Vance rudely replies.

Faulkner: “I think it is necessary… That’s the only condition I need…”

Reinard: “That’s the only condition I need, SIR.”

Faulkner: “Listen, I don’t have to answer to you; you’re not my direct superior in charge of engineering”

Reinard: “No, you listen, lieutenant, you do have to answer to me. I outrank you, that’s the only condition I need.”

Faulkner: “Lieutenant Commander Serrag can tell me how to run an engineering or science project. You’re just the security guy! I will not be treated like this by you! Why do you have to interfere with daily life in other sections? Go secure something!”

Reinard, as an experienced security officer, remains calm and tries to remedy the situation.

Reinard: “Let’s calm down for a moment… No need to make a fuss…”

Faulkner: “A fuss? I’m not making a fuss. You are making a problem out of nothing. I’m trying to do my part in solving the Inj threat. Just let me do my damn job.”

Reinard: “However you want to twist, spying is not part of your job description.”

Faulkner: “Yeah? Well it works…”

Faulkner points at the 2 gentlemen on the small screen.

Faulkner: “Just this morning I caught these 2 talking about girls while they should have been digging through the Inj vessel’s database.”

Reinard: “I’m sure it works, but it simply has no place on a Federation ship. Anyway, you probably agree we should maximize efficiency and stop arguing about this.”

Reinard switches off the screen.

Reinard: “No more spying.”

Faulkner: “Yeah, just go back to your office and forget all about this while Lieutenant Commander Serrag checks in on me and complains about the lack of progress…”

Reinard: “That’s enough lieutenant; back to work.”

Faulkner sits back down and turns his chair to his console.

Faulkner: “Yeah, let’s both start doing something constructive with your time.”

Reinard: “You’re out of line, lieutenant.”

Faulkner: “Yeah, and out of time. Just leave me alone…”

The commander keeps his cool and responds in a very calm voice.

Reinard: “Ok lieutenant, that’s it. If you just had gone back to work, nothing formal or even informal would’ve reached your direct superior about this spy business… You don’t want to answer to me? Fine! I won’t even mention your rude behavior in my report. But you can now be sure you will answer to someone else. If you’re unlucky and my mood does not improve in the next few minutes, I’ll even report this to the captain himself… I always thought you getting demoted was a bit harsh; I now fully understand why…”

Reinard leaves a grumpy looking lieutenant behind.

SCENE 6: Remember this

The captain walks into sickbay and finds Doctor Shelley and Kerrttu.

LT: “Hello, ladies.”

Shelley: “Captain.”

LT: “I assume I’m rudely interrupting a chat about our guest?”

Shelley: “Actually, yes, we were talking about Willy…”

LT: “Does Willy have any special medical needs?”

Hakonen: “He only needs to come in for a little checkup once a week, but beyond that he needs no special medical attention. He has no medication or anything.”

LT: “Good, good… Anything else that needs to be done to make Willy’s stay as pleasant as possible?”

Hakonen: “Well, access to the ship’s database and technical manuals would be nice.”

LT: “He may of course access anything in the ship’s database anyone else can… And seeing as he loves starships so much, I’ll ask Lieutenant Commander Serrag to make some technical manuals available that are not accessible to everyone.”

Hakonen: “Oh, I’m very sure he’d appreciate that. Thank you, captain. But may I ask for one more thing?”

LT: “Name it…”

Hakonen: “I’d like it to be possible for Willy to roam the ship freely. He likes to go for walks on his own, especially on starships… According to his caretaker he certainly wore out the deck plates in that small shuttle he came in...”

LT: “If you say he’ll be fine on his own, he’s of course as free as anyone else on this ship…”

Hakonen: “Mark and I will give him a tour of the ship so he can get to know the Greate Pier and also learn which areas are off-limits.”

LT: “I’ll leave that in your capable hands… If there’s anything else I can do to make his stay a memorable one, please let me know.”

The captain’s remark makes Kerrttu and the doctor smile…

Hakonen: “I’m very sure he won’t forget his stay here…”

SCENE 7: Bart would say something weird is going on

Bynes and Stilson are sitting in the lounge. Bart is putting drinks in front of both men.

Endersby: “There you go, gentlemen.”

Bynes: “Thanks, Bart.”

The holographic bartender walks to the next table delivering even more beverages.

Bynes: “Well, I guess we can safely talk here…”

Stilson: “Yes, indeed…”

He jokingly closes his eyes as if he is daydreaming about a certain colleague…

Stilson: “Hmmm… Crewman Isenberg…”

Bynes: “No, you idiot! About how Lieutenant Faulkner seemed to know what we were talking about…”

Stilson: “Oh, right…”

Bynes: “I mean, he couldn’t have known, right?”

Stilson: “Well, why else would he say ‘the ladies can wait’?… He must have known.”

Bynes: “But how? He was too far away to overhear it… I guess…”

Stilson: “Maybe, I don’t know… Or maybe he was using internal audiovisual sensors…”

Bynes: “Would he sink that low?”

Stilson: “From what I’ve heard he was already sinking with that demotion business and all…”

With a pondering look he sort of replies.

Bynes: “Hmmm…”

SCENE 8: Crunched data

A six man team materializes on the bridge of the alien shuttle.

Eisinga: “Alright, you all know what to do…”

A few nods confirm this. Lieutenant Kerr, Ensign Marks and Commander Eisinga take out their phasers and start searching the ship. Willy looks around and smiles. The chief engineer walks over to a chair and sits down.

Serrag: “Let’s see if I can get some information out of the database from here.”

He puts his toolkit down next to the chair and starts operating the console.

Philips: “As soon as the security men have searched the entire ship, we can take a look around, Willy…”

Willy: “Yes.”

Philips: “Looks like a nice ship, huh?”

Willy: “Nice, yes.”

Serrag sighs…

Serrag: “This is not a very efficient console layout…”

Willy: “Borg ships are efficient.”

Both Serrag and Philips look at Willy in amazement…

Philips: “Well, you do have a point, Willy… Borg ships are very efficient… Let’s just hope we don’t run into one.”

Willy: “Dinner is a 6. We need to be home at 6.”

Philips: “No worries, Willy. We’ll be home on time.”

Willy walks over to Serrag’s console and seems to observe what the Vulcan is doing. Philips walks a few meters in the opposite direction to admire the creative architecture of the ship.

Philips: “This really is a nice ship… It makes the Greate Pier look so… boring.”

Serrag: “Aesthetically pleasing ship or not, the data is impossible to read… I’ll have to tie in the mobile universal translator.”

The lieutenant commander opens his toolkit and grabs a device from it. Willy continues to silently observe Serrag and Philips continues to observe the ship’s design.

Serrag: “There’s nothing I can plug this translator into, Willy. I’ll have to get creative.”

Serrag sits on one knee in front of the console and starts looking for an access panel. As soon as he finds it, he opens it and takes a peek inside. After a few seconds he continues to inform his observer.

Serrag: “Well, I’ll have to find out which lead is for the visual output to the console screen, but there are so many of them.”

He picks up a tricorder and scans the bowels of the console. After scanning a bit he identifies one lead as his target.

Serrag: “There we go. This is the one, Willy… I’ll have to strip the insulation from this lead and attach the translator to it.”

Willy: “Inefficient.”

Serrag: “I agree completely. Remind me to tell that to the owners of this ship if they return.”

Willy: “They need to be back at 6. Dinner is at 6.”

Serrag laughs.

Serrag: “Let’s hope they will make it in time…”

The Vulcan grabs another tool from the box and uses it to strip the insulation from the lead. He then proceeds to clamp the translator to the exposed wire.

Serrag: “There we go. We can give it a try now.”

Serrag sits back down in the chair and switches the translator on. He then pushes a few buttons on the console.

Serrag: “You see? It works… I can read the data now. Let’s see if there’s anything here than can shine some light on this mystery…”

From a distance Philips is asking for an update.

Philips: “You got it working, sir?”

Serrag: “It seems so, ensign. In fact, I’ve just accessed the last log entered into the computer…”

Without looking directly at the lieutenant commander, he asks a follow-up question.

Philips: “Nice… What does it say?”

Serrag: “Hmm, interesting. It seems they were on a mission to find the Inj as well. It says here they managed to steal part of the Inj’s database. But the last thing they entered was that the Inj boarded their shuttle… It would appear they lost the ensuing battle.”

Serrag hits a few more random buttons on the panel in front of him.

Serrag: “Oh, the captain’s going to like this…”

Philips: “Hm?”

Serrag: “The data from the Inj shuttle on this computer tells us the headings of the Behemoth the Inj shuttle belongs to and several other shuttles… If I can open this data file I’m sure there…”

The Vulcan is interrupted by his nose…

Serrag: “What’s that smell?... Willy, did you…”

Again he is interrupted, this time by a bright flash and a small explosion from behind the access panel below the console. Serrag jumps up from the chair to prevent his feet from catching on fire. Willy is clearly startled by this event, but doesn’t seem to do much other than having a pair of big eyes in his head. Philips rushes towards his colleague and his nephew.

Philips: “What the hell happened? Are you ok, Willy?”

Willy: “Yes.”

Philips: “You, sir?”

Serrag: “I’m fine. Nothing like an explosion to get the adrenaline flowing again…”

Philips: “Vulcans have adrenaline too? What happened? Are you sure you’re ok, Willy?”

Fear in the eyes of the young man seems to tell a lot.

Willy: “No…”

Philips puts an arm around Willy’s shoulders to calm him down a little… Serrag kneels in front of the access panel again and takes a look around.

Serrag: “It seems the console couldn’t handle a simple translator hooked into the visual output.”

Serrag walks over to another console nearby and taps some buttons.

Serrag: “And I’m afraid I have to retract my previous conclusion. It’s the ship’s computer that couldn’t handle the translator… It’s as fried as this console is.”

Philips: “What are you saying? You can’t fix the computer anymore?”

Serrag: “Oh yes, I think I can fix it… But it would be useless… The data storage was destroyed… All the data is gone.”

Philips: “Uhoh…”

Serrag: “Uhoh is right… The captain won’t be pleased to hear that…”

SCENE 9: Peeping about chicks

LT: “I’m not pleased to hear that…”

The captain sits in his chair in his ready room and is addressing an ensign sitting on the other side of the table.

LT: “Who do you think is spying on you and Stilson?”

Bynes: “We believe Lieutenant Faulkner might be.”

LT puts his elbows on the desk and sinks his face into his hands while letting out a deep sigh…

Bynes: “I’m sorry, sir… I just thought it was probably best to tell you this…”

LT: “Yes, of course, ensign. You’ve done the right thing… It’s just that for once I’d’ve liked to hear a different name…”

Another quick sigh is heard while LT leans back into his chair…

LT: “Well, at least I’m not surprised… But tell me, ensign, why do you suspect you’re being watched?”

Bynes: “Well, Crewman Stilson and I were talking about…”

The ensign is looking for the right words for a second…

Bynes: “…a non-work related topic during our shift. Mere seconds later Lieutenant Faulkner walks by and tells us to keep our minds on the job. He specifically mentioned the non-work related topic we were discussing and that it could wait. That can’t be coincidence… Can it?”

The captain looks puzzled.

LT: “What exactly was that ‘non-work related topic’?”

The door chime saves Bynes from answering.

LT: “Come in…”

Commander Reinard steps into the office.

LT: “Commander, what can I do for you?”

Reinard: “Actually, it concerns Mr. Bynes here and his colleague Crewman Stilson.”

LT: “Something to do with Lieutenant Faulkner by any chance?”

SCENE 10: To err is Vulcan

A small meeting is taking place in the conference room.

Eisinga: “We found no one onboard. The ship’s complement must have at least been 2 dozen officers.”

LT: “Any idea where they went? Abducted by the Inj? Blown out of an airlock?”

Serrag: “We cannot be sure. I tied a mobile universal translator into the ship’s computer to make sense of their symbols and language. Unfortunately, I did not anticipate I was overloading the system by using the translator. It fried out the main computer and its data storage.”

LT: “Fried?...”

Serrag: “Yes, sir.”

Eisinga: “That’s one hell of a sensitive system then…”

Serrag: “I’m sorry, sir.”

LT: “No worries; you couldn’t have known… But it is unfortunate…”

Serrag: “It’s not an entire loss though… Before the system fried, I did manage to extract some data from the computer. I can tell you they were attacked by an Inj shuttle. In fact, it was their mission to find the Inj. It’s unknown who found who in this case and we don’t know much more than that the Inj boarded the shuttle with apparent success.”

Eisinga: “So we may have an ally in the battle against the Inj…”

LT: “Let’s hope that others of their kind had more success in dealing with these critters than the previous occupants of the shuttle out there…”

Serrag: “Also worth mentioning is the fact they stole part of the Inj database before they were seemingly defeated by the Inj. I was able to access part of it before the computer blew. The screen showed headings of the Behemoth the Inj shuttle came from as well as those of many other shuttles.”

Eisinga: “But that data is lost as well?”

Serrag: “I’m afraid so. Just when it popped up on screen, the explosion occurred.”

LT: “Hmmm…”

Serrag: “I’m sorry I couldn’t get more information, sir, but it…”

The Vulcan is once again interrupted, this time by an unhappy but realistic captain.

LT: “It’s quite alright, Serrag. At least we know we’re still on the right track…”

SCENE 11: Hand-eye coordinates

Mark Philips and Willy are in their quarters.

Philips: “Want something to drink, Willy?”

Willy: “Yes.”

Philips: “What would you like?”

Willy: “Water.”

Philips: “Water? Alright…”

Philips walks over to the replicator and places his order.

Philips: “One synthale and one glass of water, both 7 degrees.”

The replicator complies and presents the ensign with the requested drinks. Philips hands the drink to his nephew and takes a sip from his own.

Willy: “Thank you.”

Willy sits down and picks up a PADD from the side table. At that moment Kerrttu walks in.

Hakonen: “Hi honey.”

She walks over to Mark and gives him a kiss.

Philips: “Hi.”

Hakonen: “How did the away mission go?”

Philips: “Not too well… Serrag found critical information on the Inj but he managed to blow up the main computer by accident… So the information is lost.”

Hakonen: “Oh, that’s unfortunate…”

She walks over to the couch where Willy is sitting and sits down next to him.

Hakonen: “So, what did you think of your little expedition to that shuttle, Willy?”

Willy: “Inefficient shuttle. Unsafe.”

Hakonen: “Yes, the computer broke, didn’t it?”

Willy: “That was fun.”

Kerrttu laughs loudly. Mark also shows a broad smile. He sits down in a chair to relax a little and lets out a sigh of relief.

Philips: “So, how was your day?”

Hakonen: “Very busy… You know how things are when they need to get done yesterday…”

Philips: “Where are my manners? You want a drink too?”

Kerrttu smiles.

Hakonen: “Well, I could sure use a cool apple juice.”

While the good mannered Mark gets his lady a drink, Kerrttu sees Willy is tapping some buttons on a PADD.

Hakonen: “What’s that you’re studying now, Willy?”

Willy holds the PADD at angle so Kerrttu can see.

Hakonen: “Oh, I see. Some spatial coordinates and such… What are they coordinates of?”

Willy: “I don’t know.”

Hakonen: “Where did you get them then?”

Willy: “Lieutenant Commander Serrag, Vulcan.”

Hakonen: “Oh, I see…”

Philips: “Here you go.”

Mark hands Kerrttu her glass of juice.

Hakonen: “Thanks…”

Mark plops back into his chair and grabs his synthale from another side table. Willy continues studying the data on his PADD.

Hakonen: “Shouldn’t you be in a debriefing with the senior staff right now?”

Philips: “No… The only thing I did on this away mission was keep an eye on Willy and admire the aesthetics of the ship…”

He takes another sip from his drink.

Hakonen: “Well, at least you got to relax a little today…”

Philips: “Relax? I’m beat… And thirsty as hell… Must’ve been the dry air on that shuttle…”

He finishes his glass of synthale and seems to study it in wonder.

Philips: “Is it me or does this glass have a hole in it?”

He stands up to go get another drink.

SCENE 12: The excremental mass seems to quickly and forcefully come into contact with the device which circulates fresh air

With a face that could kill a cute, little Tribble, Faulkner exits the turbo lift and walks onto the bridge. He heads for the captain’s ready room. The captain hears the chirping of the door chime and gives permission to enter.

LT: “Come in.”

The door whooshes open and the disgruntled lieutenant walks in.

LT: “Sit down, lieutenant.”

Faulkner: “I’d rather stand, sir.”

LT: “Suit yourself.”

Faulkner seems annoyed and in rather a hurry to know what the deal is.

Faulkner: “Did Reinard spill the beans?”

LT plays along.

LT: “Among others, yes.”

The lieutenant can’t believe what he’s hearing…

Faulkner: “Among others?”

LT: “Yes, we have spies everywhere, lieutenant.”

Faulkner: “You have me come here so I have to walk across the bridge where everyone can see me trotting to your office while they’re all aware of what’s going on?”

LT starts laughing…

LT: “Ehm… You could have used the backdoor, Vance…”

LT points out the backdoor behind him with his thumb.

LT: “And relax… No one but me, Reinard, Bynes and Stilson know about this. Anyway, we all make mistakes and we all go too far sometimes… Even me…”

Faulkner still seems to be in attack mode.

Faulkner: “’even me’, almost sounds like you’re old and wise… I’m older than you are…”

The captain goes along with him again and sarcastically replies:

LT: “Older? I wouldn’t have guessed that from your behavior…”

Faulkner shakes his head, looks to his right and seems to mumble to himself.

Faulkner: “Damn, what arrogance…”

LT: “You’re equally arrogant; you just don’t deserve it.”

Faulkner: “You do deserve it, of course…”

LT: “Well, I don’t spy on my officers…”

Faulkner: “No, you rely on other people to spy for you… Remember how Hinsdale got me demoted?”

LT: “Not that discussion again… You got yourself demoted, Faulkner… And the funny thing is, you know that… You just ran out of words to defend yourself with…”

A short moment of silence before the captain goes on.

LT: “See, Faulkner? I can go on the offensive too. Didn’t I tell you to relax? You come in here guns blazing, defending yourself against the worst possible form of inquisition while there is hardly any attack on you at all… Relax and stop attacking. Just tell me your side of the story…”

Faulkner now sits down and seems to calm down. It takes a few seconds before he starts explaining.

Faulkner: “They were talking about a girl while they should have been concentrating on their job.”

LT: “I see… And that’s it?”

Faulkner: “I was put in charge of this project, sir. I have to keep things running as smoothly as possible in order for us to track the Inj to the best of our abilities… The data in the database could be vital to that end. We can’t have people slacking like that…”

LT: “All work and no play make Bynes and Stilson dull boys... You can’t expect these guys to concentrate on their jobs every single second of their shifts…”

Now LT stands up from his chair and starts walking around…

LT: “I mean, I don’t really know how close you and Zavelsky are these days, but I bet you a whole credit you thought about her once or twice during one of your shifts.”

Faulkner: “I’d like to keep my relationship with Zavelsky private if you don’t mind.”

LT: “I don’t mind at all… In fact, I don’t need the answer to that question, just as long as you can answer it for yourself. I think it’s quite healthy to talk about the ladies… Even on duty.”

After his short walk, the captain sits back down behind his desk.

LT: “I appreciate the effort you are doing to keep things running smoothly, I really do. It seems like a big difference to the attitude you had a few months ago, and I commend you for that. I just don’t think spying is the way to go. If the results of their work are fine and work is done on time, cut them some slack. It’s when you start to see bad results when you tighten the reigns; but spying on them is a rather large leap beyond that even.”

Faulkner’s gaze is directed at the floor. He seems to be lost in thought while his grumpy look seems to have partly dissipated.

LT: “So, that’s about it, lieutenant. Dismissed.”

The lieutenant looks up and seems amazed.

Faulkner: “That’s it?”

LT: “Yes. Did you expect something else?”

Vance seems lost for words.

Faulkner: “Ehm, I… I don’t know…”

LT: “You want me to discipline you? I currently see no reason to continue trying to get you to function properly as an officer. For as far as I know that isn’t necessary. I’ve heard no complaints about you in the past few months and I see this incident as separate from the others. If this conversation proves anything, the only thing you could work on is your communication skills. Well… Unless there’s anything you’d like to add, you’re dismissed.”

Faulkner: “Thank you, sir.”

With a surprised smile on his face the lieutenant leaves the ready room.

SCENE 13: Remember that

Commander Eisinga runs into Mark Philips in the corridors. The ensign greets his superior with a nod.

Philips: “Commander.”

Eisinga: “You look rather tired, ensign.”

Philips: “I might be a little, sir. I’ve been babysitting my nephew all day long. It’s eh… it’s quite demanding.”

Eisinga: “Yes, I can understand… He’s a special character. The away mission must have been exciting for him.”

Philips: “Oh, he loves anything that flies through space… He knows all known ships from the inside and out…”

Eisinga: “I’m glad he at least had a good time there; the results were less than exciting for the rest of us. We lost some important information on the Inj fleet’s positions and headings…”

Philips: “Those coordinates could get the admiral off of the captain’s case I bet…”

Then Mark realizes something…

Philips: “Wait a minute… Maybe…”

Eisinga: “Maybe what?...”

SCENE 14: (Dis)ability

Another meeting in the conference room. Captain LT is accompanied by his first officer, the chief medical officer, the chief of security and the chief of engineering.

LT: “Now then, commander, why are we here at this hour?”

Eisinga: “I myself am uncertain, captain… I assembled this meeting on behalf of Ensign Philips who assured me that, if his guess was right, it would be worth it…”

LT: “Uhm… The words ‘if’ and ‘guess’ are the ones bothering me a bit. I was finally listening to the new album of one of my favorite bands… This better be good.”

Eisinga: “I assure you Ensign Marks will have the answer to that, sir.”

At that very same moment Mark, Kerrttu and nephew Willy walk into the conference room.

LT: “Ah… the man with the answers and his following. Please, sit down.”

The 3 do as the captain requests and take a seat.

LT: “Now then, let’s have it, Ensign Marks.”

Philips: “Well, as you may or may not know, our nephew Willy here has a form of mental retardation. In many ways he is mentally inferior to us. Kerrttu and me have known Willy for all his life and we can therefore say that describing him as a person with mental retardation doesn’t do him justice…”

LT: “And how does Willy tie into all of this? I believe the commander told me it had something to do with the locations of the Inj fleet somehow?”

Eisinga: “Did you bring the PADD?”

LT: “PADD? What PADD?”

Hakonen: “No, that won’t be necessary.”

Philips: “Serrag, can Willy borrow your PADD perhaps?”

Serrag: “Of course.”

The Vulcan stands up and hands the PADD to Philips who in turn passes it on to Willy. Serrag sits back down.

Philips: “And could you perhaps display the PADD’s output on the screen so everyone can see?”

Serrag stands up again and flicks on the big screen in the conference room. Everyone’s attention is focused on what Willy is about to do.

Hakonen: “Willy, can you show us the coordinates and other data you had on your PADD earlier today?”

Willy: “Yes.”

With both thumbs Willy starts to tap buttons on the PADD in rapid succession. The information appears on the main screen at the same time.

[IMAGE WILL BE INSERTED SOON]

This screen slowly but surely reveals the translated ship names, locations and headings of the entire Inj fleet consisting out of 1 Behemoth and a number of its dispatched shuttles. All present stand in awe of Willy’s achievement.

Reinard: “Sorry if I sound rude, but how does he do that? Did he memorize this list?”

Shelley: “In a way, commander.”

Serrag: “Remarkable. This information was on the shuttle’s screen for under 2 seconds. He could not have read it that fast and retained all of it…”

Shelley: “I’m afraid that’s where you’re wrong, lieutenant commander. Willy Philips is what we know as a savant. Savants are people with developmental disorders which have one or more abilities that even exceed those of ‘normal’ people…”

Reinard: “What does that mean? He has a photographic memory?”

Shelley: “Not quite. Savants can have different kinds of extraordinary abilities; some are brilliant music composers, some can solve complex mathematical equations by heart in mere seconds, some have an amazing memory. Willy falls in the latter category. He was able to read all the information on the screen before it blew up and he simply remembered it exactly. Willy has in fact read thousands of books at phenomenal speed and retains more than 98% of the contents to the letter.”

The captain truly looks amazed, like all others present.

LT: “Amazing…”

Hakonen: “It is amazing. But it’s in sharp contrast with his disabilities. For one, he needs help getting dressed in the morning and he cannot tie his own shoes… Yet he can recite the entire manual for this ship’s warp engines precisely.”

Willy: “It is time for coffee. It’s coffee time.”

Kerrttu smiles.

Hakonen: “Almost, Willy.”

Philips: “As you may have noticed, he has a need for structure. Everything has to happen according to an exact time schedule for instance. Dinner at 1800, coffee at 2100, bed time at 2200…”

Shelley: “About half of the people dubbed savant also have autistic disorder. Willy is clearly one of them. Impaired social interaction, repetitive behavior and the need for order are all symptoms of this…”

Eisinga: “I’m sorry, I’m still at ‘thousands of books’ and ‘retaining more than 98%’… How is this possible?”

Shelley: “Well, even after hundreds of years of study we still aren’t exactly sure how it works. But suffice to say that savants of Willy’s kind, the ‘memory masters’ if you like, can access everything stored in their brains, unlike us. We tend to forget most things, especially if things were unimportant and happened a long time ago. Neural pathways in the brain will degrade over time if they aren’t used; they need practice. You will often be reminded of the fact your uncle has died; those neural pathways will stay intact until you die yourself, but you won’t bother thinking back to what you had for breakfast the other day and so you forget. In memory savants all neural pathways seem to stay intact without any practice..”

Hakonen: “It’s often compared to a well ordered library. If Willy wants to access a certain memory, he walks to the appropriate section of the library, picks up the right book, opens it at the right page and reads the information. In our minds it isn’t structured as neatly. Sometimes we need to think very hard to remember some fact. A lot of the times we simply say ‘I don’t know’ right away… This doesn’t happen with Willy.”

LT: “So I’m not the only one who can’t remember what he had for breakfast… Serrag, can you apply Willy’s coordinates to a map with the Greate Pier’s current position.”

Serrag: “Of course…”

The lieutenant commander walks back to the screen again on the wall and taps a few buttons before the requested map shows itself. The captain studies it for a few short moments and then addresses Willy again.

LT: “Willy, you have saved the day, you know that? You have been a great help to the Greate Pier.”

Willy smiles broadly.

Willy: “Yes.”

LT: “Thank you very much… This might prove to be decisive in the fight against the Inj. The admiral will no doubt redirect a bunch of ships to intercept the various shuttles and kill the Behemoth. The only hope I have is we are allowed to be part of it…”

Eisinga: “I’m sure we will…”

LT: “Serrag, can you add Auze IV to the map on the screen?”

Serrag sighs loudly…

Serrag: “Yes, sir.”

Semi reluctantly, the Vulcan gets up yet again and adds the planet to the overview.

LT: “Good, good. We should be able to get to Auze IV by the day after tomorrow, Willy. Safely away from Inj routes.”

Willy: “Research center.”

LT: “That’s right.”

The captain now looks at his first officer.

LT: “Commander, instruct the helm to set course for 319 mark 4, warp 6.

Eisinga: “I feel humbled by the presence of our resident memory master… I just hope I can still remember the coordinates when I reach the bridge.”

While everyone smiles at his remark, the commander leaves the conference room.