Star Trek: The Cage (HBO Edition)

(This story is based on the original Star Trek pilot, The Cage, which was later recut into the two-part episode, The Menagerie.)

Captains Log: Stardate 3176.4

We received an 18-year old distress call from the uncharted Talos system. Orbital scans of the fourth planet, a class M planet, show wreckage and a small camp of survivors. We're preparing to beam down.

We diverted from the Vega Colony. I hope the crew can recover quickly from the fatigue of our last mission. The deaths on Rigel VII have affected everyone. Several crew members need hospitalization, and we could use some R & R.

Captain's Log: Stardate 3176.6, Number One in temporary command

The captain, Boyce, Spock, Tyler, and Garrison beamed down to the planet's surface. It was a trick. The camp was an illusion used to draw us here, so the aliens of this planet could capture Captain Pike. He is somewhere below the surface. Our hand lasers couldn't penetrate the doors to the turbo lift hidden in a rock outcropping. The rest of the crew has returned to the ship until we can determine what to do.

Pike woke up in a simple cell with a large transparent wall showing a rocky corridor with other cells, each with a different alien lifeform. In the middle of his cell, a large flat platform rose, probably meant to be a bed. Pike walked around the room looking for weaknesses and information about his captors. He threw himself at the clear wall, hoping to break it. He bounced back, the wall undamaged.

He remembered the alien that gassed him had a very large cranium, was tall and thin, and wearing a silver robe. Then he remembered Vina. The beautiful woman had led him away from the camp so the aliens could capture him, just after the camp disappeared. Was she real? Was she an alien? Could she be human?

Three of the silver-robed aliens approached the clear wall of the cell.

Pike said, "Can you hear me? My name is Christopher Pike, commander of the U.S.S. Enterprise from a stellar group at the other end of this galaxy. Our intentions are peaceful. Can you understand me?"

The aliens don't move their mouths, but Pike can hear them clearly.

"It appears, Magistrate, that the intelligence of the specimen is shockingly limited," came a deep voice.

"This is no surprise since his vessel was baited here so easily with a simulated message, Auditor. As you can read in its thoughts, it is only now beginning to suspect that the survivors and encampment were a simple illusion we placed in their minds," thought the Magistrate. Their voice sounded higher. A female of the species?

"You're not speaking, yet I can hear you," said Pike.

"You will note the confusion as it reads our thought transmissions," the Magistrate thought. Vessels on the side of its head pulsated.

Pike replied, "All right then, telepathy. You can read my mind. I can read yours. Now, unless you want my ship to consider capturing me an unfriendly act..."

The Magistrate continued, "You now see the primitive fear-threat reaction. The specimen is about to boast of his strength, the weaponry of his vessel, and so on. Next, frustrated into a need to display physical prowess, the creature will throw himself against the transparency." As they thought this, Pike was preparing to launch himself at the window. The alien's words stopped him, but then he rammed it anyway.

"If you were in here, wouldn't you test the strength of these walls, too? There's a way out of any cage, and I'll find it," Pike said.

"Despite its frustration, the creature appears more adaptable than our specimens from other planets. We can soon begin the experiment," thought the Magistrate. The three left via the elevator at the end of the corridor.

The aliens observed the captain through a viewing screen as he continued to explore his confinement.

"Many of us are already probing the creature's thoughts, Magistrate. We find excellent memory capacity," said the Auditor.

"I read most strongly a recent struggle in which it fought to protect its life. We will begin with this, giving the specimen something more interesting to protect," replied the Magistrate.

(Author's Note: I've started a tip jar over at Ko-Fi. Drop-in and say hi!)