Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"The stars are sure bright tonight. Seems like I never get tired of lookin' at 'em." Daniel Boone leaned against a log as his camping companion finished cleaning up from their evening meal. His long legs were stretched straight out to warm his feet from the dying campfire. Hands behind his head, his handsome face relaxed, he continued to gaze at the starry sky.

"Canis Major is particularly bright. How many poets have gazed as we now gaze at the same glowing heavenly bodies? It does inspire one to lofty thoughts." The Cherokee tended to wax poetic whenever the occasion arose.

The two men were comfortable together. They had camped in the Kentucky wilderness many, many times and were familiar with each other's habits and quirks. They were near enough to Boonesborough that the next day's journey would have them there. Mingo sighed and rolled himself in his blanket, nestling down beside the log to sleep through the hours of darkness. Beside him Daniel prepared to do the same.

He was just scooting down to lie full length upon the soft Kentucky soil when he noticed a particularly bright star. Surprisingly it seemed to be descending. It appeared to be headed for a spot in the timber about a quarter of a mile away. Exclaiming in alarm he jumped to his feet and pointed. Beside him his Cherokee friend likewise rose and stood watching the heavenly body's descent into the Kentucky forest. The two men stared at each other, then grasped their guns and trotted to investigate.

"Mr. Sulu! Are you sure this is the Amusement Planet? This system doesn't even resemble the Omicron Delta region of space, and the elapsed time since our destination was decided is not long enough, according to the brochure."

Commander Sulu nodded his head, raised his eyebrows and smiled crookedly. Beside him Pavel Chekov giggled. The sound caused First Officer Spock to straighten from his console and stare at them. In the command chair Captain Kirk was also staring at his navigator and pilot.

The First Officer approached his captain and quietly leaned over. "The readings indicate a heavily forested area approximately endless."

"Endless? How can it be endless? Approximately?"

"To be completely correct, sir, I should have said that the forest seems to extend beyond the range of my sensors."

Captain Kirk started and looked into his First Officer's dark brown eyes. He had known the Vulcan to be imprecise only when he was undergoing some unusual stress, usually biological. "Oh, great, just great," the captain thought to himself. "What a time for Spock to go hormonal on me."

Kirk swiveled in his chair and rose to stand beside the navigation console. Sulu and Chekov were making hand puppet gestures to each other and giggling like two teen-aged girls. Frowning, Kirk beckoned Dr. McCoy to his side. The thin doctor approached, his face screwed into an expression of annoyance.

"Bones, does anything seem amiss? From a psychological standpoint I mean."

"Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a psychiatrist!"

Kirk bowed his head and sighed. First Officer Spock stepped behind the doctor and placed two long fingers behind the doctor's head. The bunny ears gave the doctor an waggish expression and Lieutenent Uhura burst into laughter and collapsed onto her console. She accidentally disrupted the electrical connections to the bridge and the lights blinked out. The red emergency lights came on.

Sulu and Chekov continued to make hand puppets, using the indelible markers usually used by the beautiful scantily clad ensigns that needed signatures from the captain at odd moments throughout the day. And to add even more dash, the red alert siren began to blare. The communication whistle sounded and a thick Scots burr sounded from the console.

"Captain, the Enterprise is too close to the surface! What are you doin' up there? And while I've got you on the intercom, all the Romulan ale is missin' from the commissary. Just thought you'd like to know. Scott out. Oh, wait. My bairns want to know why we did the sling-shot manuever around the sun? Where are we goin' to be goin' this time?"

"What did you say, Mr. Scott? We did the sling-shot manuever? Where are we?"

"That's what m' lads are askin' YOU, Captain. Where are we?"

Captain Kirk turned quickly to his first officer, who was now engaged in creating his own hand puppet that looked remarkably like his Ambassador father, Sarek. Sulu and Chekov had collapsed breathlessly onto the floor and were sitting underneath their console, still giggling. It was then that the captain noticed the tell-tale blue stain around their mouths. And it wasn't Kool-Aid.