"Captain's log: Stardate 45570.4. We have arrived near an uncharted planet outside of the Federation in the hopes of repairing our warp drive engines. Meanwhile, an Away Team including Commander Riker, Commander Data, and Lieutenant Worf has been sent to investigate the planet."
The three officers arrived on the rugged black surface. They wore ultra-protective spacesuits; the planet's atmosphere was made of the dangerous noble gas radon, and it was exceedingly warm. In the distance, a volcano spewed orange lava into the dark sky. The terrain was much like the Badlands area on Earth, but without visible vegetation.
Data took out his scanner and swept it over the area. He read, "Beside radon, the atmosphere contains carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The ground and igneous rocks we see are made of bismuth sulfide, silica, and polonium."
"Any signs of life?" Riker inquired.
"No, sir."
The faraway pink sun penetrated through the gray clouds of sulfur and carbon dioxide, casting an otherworldly glow on the three explorers, who had to scale sides of black-and-gray-layered hills and walk around many same-colored rocks of all sorts of sizes. There were also beautiful rainbow bismuth formations, block-like and towering. Riker had an inkling to touch one, and it came tumbling down between him and his companions.
"Commander, bismuth is quite fragile at room temperature and only gets worse with heat," Data stated.
"Thank you," Riker flatly replied.
A little ways down the same path, they encountered a short valley and a pink stream about half a meter wide. Data scanned it and declared, "It is mostly composed of water and receives its coloring from bismuth subsalicylate."
Meanwhile, Riker poked at a waist-high plant growing next to the river. Its long, red stem twisted around in loops and was dotted with yellow leaves. Upon being touched, the plant tilted away from Riker as if offended. There were more of them growing around the river, some with cyan-hued berries hanging off the ends. These were the first signs of life that the Away Team had seen.
"What do you make of these?" he asked Data.
"They are not showing up in any records, and must be native only to this planet."
"Do you suppose anything eats them?" Worf asked, hand rising to his hip where his phaser was stored. He was always ready for some action, as typical Klingons are.
"Possibly." Data gave a quick nod. He then managed to step over the river and continue the journey.
They strolled through more stunning formations, this time of polonium-laced rocks. The silvery metal of the polonium highly contrasted with the black material, and the wavy streaks of both elements made a mesmerizing pattern. One spiked rock swirled about from the top to the bottom and resembled a fat candy stick. There was one side of a hill that seemed to be cut in half, revealing a mirror-like sheet of polonium. Riker glanced at it, gazing at the rose-tinted reflection of his companions. He thought he saw something move, so he quickly turned in the other direction to see if it was there, but there were only hills and rocks.
Perhaps it was just his sense of unease. Despite the dangerous gases and gray sky, the planet was beautiful. Riker thought about terraforming the atmosphere to make the place habitable and mining important minerals. He was even entertaining the thought of being a colonist with a wife and having children. His reverie ended when they finished climbing a hill and stopped under a natural arch.
"Commander," Data said, "do you see that opening in the side of that outcropping over there?" He pointed to it.
Riker squinted into the distance. "Yes."
"Do you believe we should explore that area?"
He took a moment to consider the implications. "Sure."
They all pulled out their phasers and carefully made their way over the next hills and promontories. They slowed when drawing near to the meter-wide opening of the cave and turned on the flashlights on the heads of their suits. They had to crawl in. Worf entered first, being the most eager for whatever might come.
The floor slowly sloped downward for a while and then opened up into a wider area as big and tall as the bridge on the Enterprise. Glowing green moss between ridges on the wet ceiling provided light for them to see what was on the walls: black, curling, tube-like structures. The room was moist and hotter than the outside. "Data, how hot is it in here?" Riker asked after standing up and stretching himself out.
"Forty degrees Celsius."
Worf swept his periphery around, keeping his phaser turned in the same direction as his face, alert for any hostile creature.
They explored farther into the cave after spotting a bigger tunnel in the upper left hand corner. It was also covered with the same mysterious tubing and ridges. The tunnel was short and led to a circular room which contained leathery ovoid objects and another tunnel leading somewhere else.
"These are someone's eggs," Riker proclaimed, taking a step back.
Worf shined a light into one of them, edging nearer to it with Data. "I see movement."
The thing inside shuddered and slid around. So did Riker. The egg suddenly opened up with a strange noise, four flaps folding back. The tall Klingon craned his neck to see what was inside. It was something light beige. It moved around and faced upward. Then it sprung, eight long fingers extended menacingly for Worf's face.
Data reacted like lightning and immobilized the creature with the phaser, first whacking it from its trajectory and then stunning it. Spooked, Worf jumped backwards into Riker, who yelped. They scrambled up the tunnel and into the first chamber, panting. Data soon followed, carrying the thing by its tail. "Fascinating," he said unaffectedly.
"Put that back!" Riker cried, looking around guiltily. "I don't want to be around when the mother finds us here."
"I agree," Worf said.
"To be fair," Data started, "I do not know how long it will remain unconscious. It could wake up after we leave the cave and follow us out; it moves very quickly. I do have exceptional strength to prevent it from escaping. It is better to take it on the ship with us for safety reasons."
Riker and Worf exchanged concerned glances. Riker thought it was a little odd for Data to ignore standard procedure and their feelings about the organism, but he said, "Fine." They quickly crawled out of the cave and took a last gaze at the planet. Riker promptly hit his communication button. "Away Team to Transporter Room: we have found an unidentified life form. Please beam us into a decontamination room."
"Acknowledged, Commander," was O'Brien's reply.
They were immediately transported to the requested room, which was a spotless white. Data walked over to the wall and lowered the thing into a drawer where it would be decontaminated and then sent to an observation room. The wash cycle began, first spraying them with water and then chemicals from all angles, and a last rinse of water. After the room drained, they took the suits off and put them in a shoot that led to an incinerator.
The computer did a final scan of them. "No harmful substances are detected. You can now leave the room." The door slid open.
They walked out and headed to the elevator, keen on giving Captain Picard their report.
