Phaser Fight
Page 4
“A noble decision,” replies the alien, pulling its hand back deep into space.
Up on the bridge, Captain Kirk sees his chance, The Enterprise hits Warp 10 within mere seconds. Before the alien can react, you’re more than fifteen million light-years away!
And you’d better travel just as fast to page 97!
Page 77
You hope that you’re doing what Spock wants. If you're wrong, it could spell disaster for the Enterprise. With Spock reporting that he was taken prisoner, you upholster your phaser. if it’s a fight that the aliens want, you’re ready to give it to them!
You take a deep breath, turn on the transporter, and then stand beneath its glowing light. Within seconds, you’re beamed out of the Enterprise and onto the bridge of the phantom ship. You’re ready for anything!
Turn to page 68.
Page 78
When you wake up, Dr. McCoy (who is beginning to look like the oldest man you’ve ever seen) hovers over you, asking, “Do you feel any different? Did anything happen?”
You remember the image of the green hand reaching out to crush the Enterprise, but you’re sure it was nothing more than a nightmare. After all, who would believe such a thing? if you told Dr. McCoy about it, he’d think you were crazy.
You keep silent—until all of a sudden, giant green fingers rip through the shell of the Enterprise! One of the fingernails just misses you! Not that it matter. The Enterprise is quickly crushed into a tiny ball!
You saw the future—too bad, though, that
you’re not going to be in it!
The End
Page 79
Page 80
“Don’t shoot! It’s me!” all three life forms cry as you raise your phaser. One—or none—of the images might actually be Spock.
You’re not sure what you should do. You could set your phaser on stun and shoot all three of them right away, or you could somehow try to discover if the real Spock is among them.
If you shoot all three of them, turn to page 103.
If you try to discover which one the three lifeforms is Spock, turn to page 13.
Page 81
Before finally taking it yourself, you give the serum to the rest of the crew. You’re relieved that not a single person on the Enterprise has died of old age!
Just like Dr. McCoy, the whole crew gels younger and younger. Except the anti-aging doesn’t stop! Soon the entire crew of the Enterprise becomes babies. And then they—and you—disappear entirely. That’s when you discover something far worse than dying…not living at all!
The End
Page 82
“It’s none of my business, sir.” you pipe up, full of confidence, “but our readings were wrong when they told us that there wasn’t any life on the planet. The readings are probably wrong again about those coordinates be in solid rock. I’m sure that this Professor Jinks must know what he’s talking about. I say we trust him.”
“I appreciate your opinion, Ensign,” begins Kirk in a kindly voice, “but—”
In your enthusiasm, you turn on the transporter and leap into its matter converting light, saying, “I just know there won’t be any problem. In fact, I’ll beam down first to prove it!”
Beam down to page 95.
Page 83
Seconds pass. Nothing happen.
You open your eyes. Bones—the human Dr. McCoy—is standing in front of you with a smile on his face. “You found the cure!” he announces “My formula, plus an apple, will save the Enterprise. You’re a genius! But, tell me,” he asks, “how did you know that an apple was the answer?”
“Oh,” you weakly reply. “I always heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
The End
Page 84
You tighten the muscles in your throat and, in a high-pitched voice, you squeak, “Eee eee exeee!”
The alien who asked you the question grins, and everyone else on the elevator breaks out into squeaking laughter.
It turns out that the alien wanted to know if you had tried the Beladorian salad for lunch (it’s made of fruits and vegetable grown on the Beladorian asteroids).
You replied, “Smell my breath.”
You got a lucky break—the Beladorian salad is famous for its sharp odors! In other words, you just “squeaked” by.
Go on page 90.
Page 85
The image is so real, so vivid, that you fight to wake yourself up.
“What is it?” Dr. McCoy asks worriedly as you stagger off your sickbay bed.
“Danger,” you mutter, positive that your nightmare is about to take place
“Just call Captain Kirk on the ship’s communication system. “Put up the ship’s protective shields!” you insist. “Hurry!”
Dr. McCoy is flabbergasted. He thinks you’ve gone insane.
Meanwhile, you sound so sure of yourself that the captain gambles that you know what you’re talking about.
But do you really know what you’re talking about—or have you gone totally nuts?
Find out on page 17.
Page 86
You reluctantly head for the door. On your way out, in frustration, you pound your fist on the transporter. “Stupid machine!” you spit angrily.
The red light goes out!
“Wait!” you cry, grabbing Spock’s arm. “Look at this!”
“Interesting,” says Spock. “The only thing that was broken on the transporter was the warning light itself. Your blow to the mechanism apparently helped it.”
“Then we can beam back to the Enterprise?” you ask.
“Exactly.”
So what are you waiting for? Turn to page 101!
Page 87
“I may be speaking out of line,” you offer, “but this whole thing seems a little fishy to me, Captain. If you don’t mind my saying so, sir, I think we ought to stick with our original landing coordinates.”
“I don’t mind, Ensign. In fact, I was thinking exactly the same thing,” agrees Kirk.
You beam down to the planet surface, ignoring the professor’s suggested landing site. Lucky for you that you do, because as soon as you beam safely to the ground, Professor Jinks comes running over and, with a great deal of embarrassment, says, “Thank goodness you’re all right. I’m awfully sorry about those ‘underground’ coordinates I gave you. The fact is, I’m bad with numbers.”
Is he also bad with the truth?
Turn to page 100.
Page 88
You jam the end of the banana into McCoy’s huge, gaping mouth. Ah, if only you had shoved it into his mouth sideways, instead, because this way the banana simply slides straight down his throat. He doesn’t even chew it. But he sure chews on you! Yecchh!
The End
Page 89
Your phaser blast is high. It accidentally hits the ship’s fire alarm system, causing bells to clang loudly all over the Enterprise. But the thunderous noise, however, literally shatters the enemy! Thin, glasslike crystals lie everywhere. But Spock is all right! And so are you!
“What did I do?” you ask in confusion.
“You saved my life,” he replies. “You see,” he explains, “the aliens are like mirrors. They reflect not only light, but energy. If you had fired right at them, the blast would have bounced right back at you! But because you missed, we have discovered the enemy’s weakness: sound! And that’s what we must tell the captain!”
Head for the bridge, via page 99.
Page 90
The elevator doors finally open—and not a second too soon. Another one of the aliens had just begun talking to you. But you quickly wave and step out onto the bridge as the doors close behind you. Safe. At least for now.
Just off to your right is the communications area. You casually winder off in that direction while the alien crew continues to busily multiply its power. They ignore you.
Soon you’re standing directly behind the communications officer. It’s now or never…
You shove the alien off his chair and
grab the microphone. With a quick flick of your wrist, you open all hailing frequencies. “Captain Kirk!” you cry “You can defeat the aliens by turning off all your power! They’re duplicating your energy and soon they’ll be strong enough to defeat you! You’ve got to turn off everything! Hurry!”
You begin to repeat the message, but a blast from an alien’s phaser hits the communications board and blows it up. You’re thrown to the floor by the blast. And when you look up, you see every alien on the bridge pointing a phaser at you. You’re going to die!
Be brave and turn to page 105.
Page 91
Page 92
The transporter works long enough to convert your bodies into energy—And it continues to work long enough to send that energy out into space—But then the transporter stops dead! And speaking of dead…
Your bodies never re-form—you and Mr. Spock forever blow through the galaxies on cosmic winds.
The End
Page 93
You climb down into the valley and hike over to the lake. The water lapping up onto the shore is a familiar and reassuring sound—it’s almost like being back on earth.
You take off your shoes and socks, roll up your uniform pant legs, and wade into the water. If someone—or something—is out there, then Professor Jinks is lying. And if he’s lying, you’ve got to find out why!
The water feels good. You wade in a little deeper and that’s when something grabs you around the ankles!
Turn to page 106.
Page 94
“Hey,” you begin, “why did the Zotropian cross the universe?”
In one voice, the three Spocks say, “I don’t know. Why?”
“To get to the other side!” you roar, unable to keep a straight face.
Two of the Spocks break up into riotous laughter. The third one just looks at you quizzically. You’re still giggling, but you manage to point your phaser at the two laughing Spocks and fire, knocking them out.
The real Mr. Spock hurries to join you at the transporter. While the two of you finish ripping it apart, the Vulcan explains, “The alien attack was only meant to distract everyone. The enemy planned to beam landing parties aboard through our transporter system and take over the Enterprise. But, thanks to you, their plan has been foiled.”
Spock pulls the last wire out of the transporter. He turns to look at you and says, “Now that the threat is over, would you please explain to me why a Zotropian crossing the universe is so funny.”
The End
Page 95
You beam down to the surface of the planet. Or, more accurately, into the surface of the planet!
You beamed down into solid rock! The only part of you that’s visible above the rock is your hair!
Well, hair today, gone tomorrow!
The End
Page 96
There’s a cave dug deep into the side of the valley wall. You sneak up toward it and peer inside: you’re shocked by the sight of an old man who’s all tied up, surrounded by three Klingon guards!
That old man needs your help. You pull out your phaser and leap into the cave. There isn’t a Klingon alive who can stop you when you’re angry—and treating an old man like that really riles you up.
“In the name of the Federation,” you cry, “drop your weapons!”
The Klingons scramble to their feet. But not to give up. In the Klingon language there is no word for “surrender.” They’re going to fight to the death—yours, they hope!
Fight for your life on page 112!
Page 97
While you made your getaway, Dr. McCoy (who is now a doddering old man) has created a new serum. if this doesn’t work, the whole crew will certainly die. As it is, not a single person on the Enterprise—including yourself—is less than sixty-five years old.
The serum is passed among the crew.
But while you wait for it to work, the huge green hand comes racing back into view! The alien has found you! There will be no tricking it this time!
Your fate awaits you on page 113.
Page 98
You try to control your trembling. The last thing you want to do is look scared. Then you look at the alien who asked the question and you shake your head.
He gives a squeak of satisfaction and casually turns to talk to one of the other aliens. You got away with it! You’re home free! Or are you?
Turn to page 111.
Page 99
When you reach the bridge, you hear Captain Kirk give Chekov the order, “Fire photon torpedoes number one and number two at that force field at the count of three! One…Two…
“NO!” you shout. “You’ll destroy the Enterprise. With that you leap on Chekov, pulling him away from the photon torpedo button.
“What’s going on here?” demands Captain Kirk
Mr. Spock quickly steps forward and explains everything. And when he’s finished, the captain gratefully shakes your hand, saying, “Something tells me you’d make an awfully good starship commander.” And that, you well know, is the greatest compliment of all!
The End
Page 100
“What kind of a professor is bad with numbers?” you ask suspiciously.
Jinks shrugs and replies, “I’m a thinker, not a counter.”
“You could have killed us—” you begin. But Captain Kirk interrupts you and asks what the professor is doing on this planet.
His answer is startling. “I invented this planet!” he proclaims.
Meanwhile, Spock shows you his tricorder reading. It indicates that there are other life forms nearby. When you ask the professor who else is on the planet with him, he scoffs at you, saying, “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m all alone here.”
We’ll see about that…
Turn to page 108.
Page 101
While you slowly reshape into human and Vulcan forms, a battle is taking place in the transporter room of the Enterprise!
Captain Kirk and a security detail are fighting the alien boarding party that beamed aboard the starship a few minutes earlier. And the captain and his crew are losing!
The aliens think that they’re getting reinforcements from their mother ship. But they’re in for a big surprise.
Hurry and turn to page 114!
Page 102
After the crew drinks the smaller dose of serum, you take a swallow yourself. If they’re all going to turn into monsters, you don’t want to be the only human on hoard to see it.
Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Scotty, (even Bones) take their medicine—and then all four hundred crew members are suspended between life and death, between humanity and something from before the dawn of man.
Will you die of old age? Will you survive only to live like wild beasts? Or will you defeat the disease and become your youthful selves again?
The answer is on page 20.
Page 103
Better safe than sorry, you say to yourself—and then you fire your phaser at all three Spocks!
Two of them instantly disappear. They were fakes, obviously meant to confuse you. But the real Spock is unconscious, lying on the floor of the transporter room.
As you try to revive him, the ship is buffeted by one explosion after another. The Enterprise is beginning to shake apart from the powerful attack of the unseen enemy!
Finally, Spock begins to come around. He’s seen the enemy and you’re sure he holds the answer to the survival of the Enterprise.
He opens his eyes and begins to speak…
Find out what Spock says on page 4.
Page 104
If Dr. McCoy looks like a monster, you and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise look like something out of a nightmare!
Everyone’s head shrinks. And your faces! A third eye grows on your forehead. Your tongue splits and turns into two horrible tusks, while your teeth look like they could literally tear through metal.
Unfortunately, though, your mind can’t tear through this book. You don’t understand a word of any of this, except ther
e’s something familiar about…
The End
Page 105
“Eexee!” (Ready!) squeaks the commanding officer.
“Exweesee!” (Aim!)
You close your eyes. It’s all over.
“E—”
The final command screeches to a halt in the enemy commander’s throat. When you open your eyes, you see the aliens beginning to melt, disappearing into a pool of mush!
Captain Kirk must have heard your message and shut off all power. You’re safe!
You quickly find Mr. Spock, and the two of you beam back aboard the ship. The aliens, defeated, head back to their phantom universe. You’ve saved the Enterprise! Not bad for an ensign—although Spock considers it quite logical that you’ll get a promotion.
The End
Page 106
You’re pulled right off your feet! When you fall into the lake, you cry out in surprise. With your mouth wide open, the lake water comes rushing right down your throat!
Coughing and choking, you try to free yourself from whatever is holding onto your ankles. You kick your legs, but it doesn’t seem to help. Worse, though, whatever is holding onto you is dragging you into deeper water!