#GK 28 The Mimicking Menace

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Star Trek Gold Key #28: The Mimicking Menace

Our story begins with shooting, although, apparently, not enough shooting for Spock.

[ID: A comic book splash page featuring Spock and McCoy, on a rocky planet with a pink sky and a volcano on the horizon, pointing their phasers at Kirk and a redshirt woman, who are firing their phasers back. Spock is saying, “McCoy, don’t argue! Fire your phaser! Shoot or they’ll kill us!” and McCoy is replying, “But how can I destroy my own captain—kill Kirk?” The comic is titled ‘STAR TREK: PART 1: THE MIMICKING MENACE’ and a narration box in the top right corner says “What form can life take? In an infinite universe, it can take infinite forms! Now, as the crew of the Enterprise seeks to learn about a wandering asteroid, it is confronted with an unsuspected life form that turns Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Calder against the others!”]

Things are a bit more low-key this time—no planets exploding or outbreaks of war, at least—but you can tell we’re in for a trip just by that dialogue. I mean, can you imagine McCoy saying that? I can’t. About the only time McCoy recognizes that Kirk is his captain is for the purpose of being passive-aggressive about it, never mind him reacting to Spock saying this with just sort of open befuddlement instead of yelling “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR VULCAN MIND??” Meanwhile, Spock could easily have shot both people himself in the time it’s taking him to try to convince McCoy to do it, while the narration box is dramatically telling us about how Lieutenant Calder will turn against the others, as if we have any idea who Lieutenant Calder is or why we should care that much about them.  

Ah well, I suppose we’re supposed to be interested in why Spock is advocating for Kirk’s death, so we might as well see what’s up with that.

We begin with a captain’s log: “The wandering asteroid Tactis II is now below the Enterprise! Question—does this asteroid pose a threat to the Federation?” We get absolutely no explanation as to why they’re interested in this asteroid specifically. Checking out every single asteroid to see if it’s a threat to the Federation does not, how should I put this, seem like a terribly efficient use of time. Then again, considering the results of their last two missions, I wouldn’t be surprised if Starfleet sent them out here to categorize all the space rocks just out of a desperate attempt to keep them out of trouble.

Anyway, as Kirk says to OC of the Week Lt. Calder, this might be an easy mission (you’d think he’d know better than to say that by now) because there’s no sign of life on the asteroid. Even the volcano is inactive! Asked to confirm, Spock says, “Temperature readings all negative!” I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he means they’re only reading temperatures below zero, because if you’re getting temperature readings of “no” I’d say you need to do some maintenance on those sensors.

They’re also getting some minor movement readings on the ground, but as Lt. Calder points out, that doesn’t on its own suggest life. Spock then says this is not a logical deduction because “Does movement itself signify life? Philosophers have not resolved that yet--” Uh...no? I’m pretty sure movement itself doesn’t signify life? Example: my ceiling fan’s moving right now and as far as I know, it’s not alive.

But never mind what the philosophers say, Kirk wants to know if there’s life on that there asteroid. “Prepare a landing party,” he says, “and hope that that volcano is inactive!” Kirk, you...you literally just said that volcano was inactive three panels ago.

Since they’re not picking up any life signs with the ship, Lt. Calder wants to take a shuttlecraft (or ‘shuttleship’ as she puts it) down so they can take “a larger bio-detection unit.” Kirk agrees, so off the landing party goes in the Galileo—Lt. Calder, Kirk, Spock, and two security guys. At least, Kirk says he’s taking two hands from security, but the two people we see in the Galileo are wearing yellow/green. Then again, the Galileo itself is also half-green, so I don’t know what’s going on.

They land on the asteroid, and Spock reports that the scanners show a life-supporting atmosphere. That seems like something you guys should have checked before you went down, but whatever. Of rather more immediate interest is that when Kirk looks out the door he sees an identical copy of the Galileo sitting nearby. (Which he refers to as a shuttlecraft. Three panels ago it was a shuttleship. Consistency!)

Naturally, it’s the two redshirts  goldshirts uh, greenshirts, who get sent out to investigate the other Galileo. But they’re interrupted by the volcano going off. An eruption interruption, you might say. So much for it being inactive! Great job on the sensors there guys.

Kirk tells the security duo to make for the duplicate Galileo, since they’re closer to it than the real one. So they hastily climb in, declaring that they’ll be safe inside. Yes, you’ll be safe from the lava, in the...metal shuttlecraft...that’s sitting on the ground...but hey, as long as you don’t directly touch the lava yourself, you’ll be fine, right? That’s how it works in video games, and video games have never led me wrong before!

The two ‘shirts do make it into the duplicate Galileo alright, but are immediately confronted with another problem:

[ID: Two Enterprise crewmembers in green shirts with spirals around their heads, while white balls of light connected with angled lines float in the background. The man, on the left, is saying, “Funny...feel dizzy--” while the woman, on the right, is clutching her shoulders with her hands and saying, “Head spinning...can’t...stand! What’s going--”]

Wow, feeling dizzy while sitting on top of a fresh lava flow from a nearby volcano? What could possibly cause that? Could it be from inhaling the ash and toxic gasses released by volcanic eruptions? Or maybe from the intense heat of being stuck in a small enclosed metal box sitting directly on top of that nice toasty lava, which could easily be upwards of 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit? Nah. Nah, it couldn’t be. Must be something else.

Whatever’s stricken the security duo, they quickly pass out...but when Kirk calls a moment later to ask if they can get the duplicate Galileo moving (not even so much as a “hey are you guys alright” either—geez, Kirk), there’s now a duplicate security duo there as well to answer him. One of them tells him the ship is abandoned but all systems are go and they’re preparing to lift off.

The original Galileo, on the other hand, isn’t currently going anywhere, because “we have no ion power! Zero!” No, I don’t know what ion power is. But I hear shooting phasers at the engine works wonders. Anyway, that’s a pretty big problem because it means they can’t get away from the lava bearing down on them. I thought being in a shuttlecraft made you safe from the lava? Man, I’m confused.

“Stand by for the lava!” Kirk declares, a pretty difficult command to obey at the best of times.

The lava hits the craft. “Our internal temperature is rising sharply!” Spock tells everyone helpfully. “But it is possible that instead of being covered by the lava, we will be pushed by it! The surface below is glassy slick!” Sure, okay.

Luckily for them, the volcano soon stops pouring out lava, and the Galileo coasts off to clear ground. “Safe, Spock! Except for scorched paint!” Kirk declares. Wow. I guess those things have to be built to withstand planetary entry but still, that’s impressive. I wouldn’t advise touching the sides for a while, though.

But where’s the other Galileo gone? As everyone wisely sticks their heads out the door to check out all that awesome lava, Lt. Calder spots the duplicate—it’s flying into the cone of the volcano. Hm. That doesn’t seem like a great idea.

Kirk calls the security duo to say hey, what the fuck, why are you flying into a volcano, did you lose control of that thing? “No, captain!” one of the doppelgangers assures him. “Our scanners show entry into the cone is safe! We are sure reconnaissance there may help explain events here! Out!” Right, the cone of the volcano that erupted like ten minutes ago is...safe. Sure. That checks out.

The duplicate Galileo lands in the cone of the volcano which does, somehow, appear to be free of lava, but there are a bunch of weird lights hanging around up there. The doppelgangers carry the original security crew out of the craft, and then, um...this happens.

[ID: A comic book page with five panels. 1, top left: the doppelganger of the male security officer holding the unconscious original and saying into a communicator, “Security team to Captain Kirk! All in order! Will report back to base very shortly!...Out!” 2, top right: the shuttlecraft Galileo dissolving into more of the lines-and-lights while a narration box says, “Quickly, the Galileo’s double converts its form….” 3, middle left: the two doppelgangers watch a large amount of the lines-and-lights hovering above the unconscious security officers, with a narration box saying, “Then, the greater structure absorbs the lesser….” 4, middle right, upper: two indistinct figures descending the side of the volcano, with a narration box saying, “Minutes later, two figures emerge from the cone, starting down the now hardened, cool slope...” 5, middle right, lower: Spock, Calder and Kirk inside the Galileo. Kirk is saying, “Odd! My communicator is dead!” while Spock says, “No contact down here! None with the Enterprise above! Most illogical...and dangerous!”]

So the duplicate Galileo turns into lights, and then those lights get absorbed by the bigger group of lights that was already there. Okay. Gotta be honest here, I had to re-read this page way too many times to figure out what was going on there. Inasmuch as that qualifies as figuring out what was going on, anyway. Meanwhile, Spock’s over there misusing the word ‘illogical’ again.

Kirk and Calder go to talk to those two figures, while meanwhile, up on the Enterprise, Scotty’s wondering what’s going on. They saw two shuttlecrafts down there, and now there’s no communications. Also, y’know, a volcano went off, but he doesn’t seem bothered by that. It all seems pretty dodgy, so he has Sulu take the conn while he and McCoy beam down to go see what’s up. Why take McCoy? I dunno. Why not take McCoy, I guess?

The doppelgangers tell Kirk they didn’t see anything unusual up in the volcano, just “a lava pit which caused the eruption, but it was cool enough inside!” A lava pit that’s cool seems rather unusual to me (temperature-wise; figuratively speaking, all lava is cool) but Kirk and Calder don’t get the chance to ask any follow-up questions anyway because this happens:

[ID: Kirk and Calder watching the two doppelganger security officers turning into lines-and-lights. Kirk is saying, “But what about the duplicate of the Galileo—say!” while Calder is saying, “A protein molecule chain! But why—what?”]

I’m not sure which reaction seems more unrealistic here: Calder immediately identifying a bunch of weird lights as a protein molecule chain, or Kirk just going “Say!”

Kirk and Calder feel weak and pass out, and then...

[ID: Two panels. Upper panel: lines-and-lights forming into the vague shapes of Kirk and Calder. Lower panel: The doppelgangers of Calder, Kirk and one of the security officers, with the security officer saying, “One is left!” and Kirk saying, “We can trick him easily! Come!” Meanwhile the real Kirk is laying unconscious on the ground, with a green shirt.]

So I guess the lights formed into doppelgangers of Kirk and Calder after they passed out, but...man, that sure could have been drawn a little clearer, huh. Also, apparently fainting made Kirk’s shirt change color.

Inside the Galileo, Spock’s check of the circuits has told him that the power drain afflicting the shuttle is being caused by some external force—something on the asteroid. Duhn duhn duhn! Before he can pursue this, Kirk and the rest come back, but either they’ve all suddenly transported into a green void (it’d make about as much sense as anything in this story, really) or someone forgot to draw the background.

[ID: Spock saying, “What did you learn, captain?” to doppelgangers of Kirk, Calder and a security officer, with Kirk replying, “Come out and we’ll tell you, Mr. Spock! Come!” All of them are floating in a vague green background with no features except a couple of diagonal lines cutting down across it.]

Spock asks what’s been causing all these shenanigans and doppel!Kirk tells him, “It’s rather difficult to explain...an unusual concept!”

Then Spock feels dizzy too.

[ID: Spock holding a hand to his head and saying, “Funny...feel dizzy!”]

Has anyone ever reacted to being dizzy by going “Funny...feel dizzy!” I mean, I feel dizzy all the dang time, and so far it has never once caused me to temporarily lose my grasp of personal pronouns and sentence construction. Being on tumblr too long sometimes does that, but never feeling dizzy.

Anyway, after passing through the green void, then a purple void, and then a pink void, evidently Spock somehow wound up outside, because he promptly runs back to the Galileo.

[ID: Spock running towards the Galileo, hands outstretched above him, thinking, “Energy drain..from me...from ion power...communicators...got to get away from...them!” while someone off-panel says, “Mr. Spock, where--”]

QUICK DEPLOY EMERGENCY JAZZ HANDS

While he’s doing that, Scotty and McCoy beam down nearby. Scotty’s glad to see the rest of the landing party apparently alive and well, but McCoy wants to know where Spock is. Yes, you read that right: McCoy wants to know where Spock is. I dunno, maybe he thought of a really good zinger on the way down and wants to use it as soon as possible.

Scotty wonders if Spock is in the Galileo, but as the two of them turn towards it, the doppelgangers draw their phasers and yell at them not to go in the shuttlecraft. Scotty draws his phaser in response, telling McCoy to draw his as well. The phasers are still pink, in case you were wondering. Well, pink-ish. Magenta?

So, turns out the cover was a bit misleading; it’s actually Scotty there telling McCoy to shoot, not Spock. But if you looked at that cover and thought, “Oh man, what I really want to see in a Star Trek comic is some really awkward dialogue for McCoy,” don’t worry! That part wasn’t misleading. This comic has you covered.

[ID: Scotty and McCoy, facing the doppelgangers of Calder, Kirk, and the security officers; Kirk is shooting his phaser at them. Scotty is saying, “They’re firing at us! Their phasers are on setting 1! Set yours for stun--” and McCoy is saying, “Me, shoot at my captain?”]

Part One ends on that dreadfully gripping cliffhanger. I won’t keep you in suspense. Let’s get to part two.

[ID: The splash page for part two. A narration box in the top right says “Captain’s Log, Star Date...32:21:9. From the moment our party landed on the supposedly lifeless asteroid, our lives have been under an unexpected threat! Some as yet unexplained life-form drains us of strength, makes a mockery of our form and turns us against each other!” In the foreground on the right is the Galileo with Spock leaning out of the door and saying, “Scotty...do not let emotions confuse...you...fire at Kirk...and Calder...you must SHOOT!” On the left, Scotty and McCoy are facing the four doppelgangers; Scotty is saying, “Use your phaser, McCoy! Spock must know what it’s about—terrible as it seems!”]

I have no idea who’s giving that captain’s log, since Kirk is currently laying unconscious in the dirt somewhere around here. I also don’t know if either Scotty or McCoy actually fire their phasers, because the art cuts straight to doppel!Kirk and Calder dissolving back into light, followed by the fake security duo. Scotty helpfully lays it out for us.

[ID: Scotty and McCoy watching the lines-and-lights sinking into the cold lava. Scotty is saying, “It gets more puzzling by the minute! Four humans turn into “things” and now the “things” seem to be dissolving into the lava field!”]

Baffled by all this (understandably, so am I) McCoy and Scotty head for the Galileo to see if Spock has any answers. Said Spock is currently kneeling on the floor but says he’ll be restored to his full strength in a moment. When Scotty asks what’s going on, Spock says, “An energy drain, but I was less vulnerable than the others because--”

We never find out why Spock was less vulnerable than the others (how convenient) because suddenly the volcano starts throwing up rocks. That’s bad news for Kirk and Calder, who are still laying out there in the open somewhere, so McCoy runs out to get them. Or possibly he just teleports over there, I’m not sure, all I know is one panel they’re all in the Galileo and the next panel he’s over there with Kirk and Calder, who are slowly starting to come around.

They make it back to the protection of the Galileo just in time for the last of the rocks to fall on it instead of them. Then the rockfall stops, leaving the Galileo a bit dented but otherwise fine. Well, that page’s worth of action definitely contributed some valuable to the story.

Of course, while the Galileo might be intact, it’s still inoperable due to that whole power-drain thing. Spock reckons the key to all this lies up in that volcano crater, so he gets Scotty—whose communicator still works, presumably either because he’s not been down there long enough for it to be drained or because Scotty himself is an ambient power source—to call up the Enterprise with a request.

[ID: Uhura listening to a speaker saying, “Scotty to Enterprise! If you read me, beam down a fully-equipped video-camera-robot!” to which Uhura says, “They must want to inspect something they’re afraid to face themselves!”]

Dang, Uhura, okay. Just...lay that right out there.

Meanwhile, Calder is speculating that they’re dealing with “some parasitic life-form that drains life powers from humans!” Kirk asks Spock if he agrees and Spock says they need more concrete evidence before theorizing. Right, it’s too early to theorize that the thing that’s been draining everyone’s energy might be a thing that drains energy. I’m starting to suspect that Spock just reflexively disagrees with anything Calder says.

The robot and its accompanying TV monitor then show up and man, you’d think that the freedom of a comic book format would allow them to depict some Star Trek tech that looked less incredibly and intrinsically 60s but, uh...nope, just doubled down on that, I guess.

[ID: Kirk and Calder looking at a human-shaped gray robot, accompanied by a rounded orange TV with large antenna. Kirk is saying, “Here’s the robot! Let’s have it explore the crater’s interior!” and Calder is saying, “Right! This asteroid’s secret lies in there!”]

So the robot that has no reason at all to be shaped like a human but is for some reason goes up to investigate the crater, relaying video to the TV, while Kirk and Spock helpfully tell each other what they’re looking at. As the robot enters the crater they see a ruined spacecraft of some sort, and then a couple of skeletons with the ragged remains of clothing still clinging to them. Cool! Then they see the lights again, and then the screen goes blank. Spock tries to recall the robot, but up in the crater we see this happening:

[ID: A doppelganger of the TV robot being formed out of lines-and-lights. A narration box reads, “Inside the crater, a mocking duplication of the now power-drained robot takes place...”]

oh, now you give us a narration box to tell us what’s happening

The robot comes back, and everyone helpfully gathers around outside to watch so they can all faint en masse when it turns out that, oh, what a surprise, the returning robot is actually another duplicate. Luckily Spock (who, remember, is less vulnerable than the others because--) hangs on long enough to call up to the Enterprise using...either his communicator that’s magically now working again, or Scotty’s communicator which he magically acquired at some point that we never saw, take your pick.

On the Enterprise some greenshirt tells Uhura they’re receiving a very feeble signal, and she tells him to turn on the sound-booster, because I guess Uhura’s delegating her job now. Spock tells them to fire a stream of negative ions into the volcano’s crater, so they circle back around over the crater and shoot it with the ion-beam dispenser that the Enterprise apparently has. This causes the lights to glow more brightly for a moment before fading until the weird thing is left looking like just a bunch of q-tips stuck together. But like, really big q-tips.

The real security team, still laying up there in the crater, finally get enough strength back to wake up and skedaddle out of there. Upon making it back down, though, they run into a spot of confusion, what with the four crewmembers laying unconscious on the ground and the four identical crewmembers standing over them.

[ID: The shocked security officers watching a double of Kirk, wearing an orange shirt, standing over the unconscious bodies of the real Enterprise crew. The narration box says, “As they hurry back to the Galileo...” while the double of Kirk says, “Shoot them! They are dangerous doubles!”]

dude your case for that would be better if your shirt wasn’t the wrong color

Spock tells them to shoot the people standing up, which they do, presumably accepting his authority on the grounds of being the only one around who doesn’t have a double. The doppelgangers turn back into lights and disappear into the lava, where Spock says they should be temporarily immobilized. One of the security duo reminds him about that robot that’s hanging around here somewhere.

[ID: Kirk holding a hand to his head while Spock kneels next to him, glancing over his shoulder at the TV robot and saying, “The ROBOT! I almost forgot! BLAST IT!”]

“there’s no need to swear, Mr. Spock” “I MEANT SHOOT IT”

Oh, how suspenseful, how will they handle this—I’m kidding, they just shoot it too. Everyone then heads back to the Galileo, where Kirk notes that “The ion power’s restored! Another mystery—like why you weren’t doubled, Spock!” Spock says he wasn’t doubled because he’s a Vulcan and his internal structures are different, so that slowed the process. Oh sure, that thing can duplicate a shuttlecraft and a robot just fine, but I mean, Vulcans, Vulcans are way different. As I’m sure you know, taxonomically speaking, humans are more closely related to shuttlecraft than they are to Vulcans. And no, Spock has nothing to say about the first mystery of why the shuttlecraft’s power is back on.

As they fly back to the Enterprise, Spock and Calder explain—and I use the term loosely—what that thing’s whole deal was. “This shape is very similar to our protein molecule chain!” Calder explains. “That is our basic life-building unit!”

Here’s a rendering of a protein structure, in case you were wondering (hemoglobin, specifically).

[ID: A computer rendering of several red and blue chains of curls inter-meshed with thinner curling red and blue lines and small branching structures of green, red and blue lines.]

Looks identical to me!

Spock explains that, as Calder speculated earlier, this particular protein molecule chain is a parasitic life-form that drains energy from everything. The central ‘life-core’ in the volcano sends out “smaller molecule chains—those duplicate any mechanical or human energy source, drain its energy, and return to feed the CENTRAL core!” Ah yes, the molecule chains. The chains that were easily big enough to be seen by the naked eye. Those molecule chains. Sent out by the protein molecule chain that’s...the size of a volcano crater...look, I’m a humanities major and even I know this is nonsense.

Calder reckons the thing goes into hibernation to save energy since it’s the only life form on the asteroid, but that the signs of movement the Enterprise detected could be its way of luring in passing energy sources. Because it’s a protein molecule chain that’s smart enough to understand that passing starships might be scanning for life, I guess…? Alright, never mind that, how did Spock defeat it? Simple, he says: the thing had absorbed the shuttlecraft’s power source, which was positive ions, so he had it hit with negative ions.

...you know, fine. Fine. Whatever. Let’s just go.

Kirk closes out with a captain’s log: “In accordance with Federation by-laws, we did not destroy the life-form on Tactis II...but even now, the life-form is probably active again! It will be seeking other energy sources! Be warned!”

Oh, sure, Federation by-laws. Now you care about Federation by-laws. You weren’t real fussed about Federation by-laws when it came to starting a civil war, or disrupting a clone society so badly the whole planet blew up, but this, this is serious. A bunch of weird lights on an asteroid that eat everyone who comes close? That’s something worth preserving!

So they fly off, having determined that against all odds, Tactis II is a threat to the Federation. Great. Now we’ve got to check all these other asteroids too.

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GK #28: The Mimicking Menace Discussion

Shoot, I forgot to put this up! Here you go.

As with all the Gold Key comics I suspect there will be no satisfying answers to anything, but feel free to scream “WHAT WAS THAT” as much as you want.