- This article is about the Young Adult Novel. You may be looking for distress signals.
Distress Call! is a TOS interactive young adult novel, the first of two published in the 1980s by Wanderer Books. The book was written by William Rotsler, with the reader making choices to affect the outcome of the story.
Description
- The USS Enterprise has just received a frantic call for help from the vicinity of the unknown planet of Varda III. An archeological team from Luna University has disappeared without a trace. Lost? Trapped? Hurt? Their fading call offers no clues.
- Join Admiral Kirk and Mr. Spock, along with your other favorite Star Trek II characters, on a fantastic rescue mission to an alien planet. Plot your own journey through eerie passages, incredible dangers and bizarre happenings.
- This is an adventure with as many twists and turns as your imagination allows. And it's up to you to determine how the story ends. YOU are in command!
Summary
- Captain's log, stardate 8001.4
- The USS Enterprise, on routine patrol, has received a distress call from the vicinity of Varda III and we are responding as interplanetary law requires. Admiral James T. Kirk, commanding.
- Captain's log, stardate 8001.5
- We have rescued the archaeologists from a stasis trap on Varda III and are proceeding to Starbase Six. Also recovered were a number of space travelers, including a real live Thrix, which Doctor McCoy says is a living fossil.
Visiting the surface led to the discovery of millennia-old Vardan buildings. Exploration of the ruins led to five encounters, either with an automated organic healer that placed intruders into stasis, a programmed guardian that could duplicate living matter, an ancient illusion-generating device, a Klingon task force operating a biological weapon factory, or the planet's last surviving native.
References
Characters
- Alicia • Abdullah • Castora • Pavel Chekov • Fi'lakas • Healer • Lydia Gottlieb • James T. Kirk • Klaar • Larek • Leonard McCoy • Narva Moktar • Lex Nakashima • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Galen Tripp • Nyota Uhura • White Rabbit • Zaarek
- Referenced only
- Attila the Hun • Walt Disney • Master Computer (Shore Leave Planet) • J.R.R. Tolkien • V'Ger
Starships and vehicles
- USS Enterprise • shuttlecraft • unnamed Klingon starships
- Referenced only
- aircar • groundcar • tanks
Locations
- Varda III (Vardan buildings)
- Referenced only
- Earth (Kalilingrad • Kremlin • Leningorá • Moscow • Red Star • Red Square • Russia • Spirit of Tomorrow • St. Basil's Cathedral) • Omicron Delta region (Amusement Park Planet) • Orwell IV • Starbase 6 • Vulcan
Races and cultures
- Andorian • Argelian • Cossack • Daarlin • Deltan • Elasian • Human • Klingon • Lassfapan/Vardan • Phylon • Romulan • Thrix • Vulcan
States and organizations
- Klingon High Command • Luna University • Starfleet • United Federation of Planets • United States of Africa (Liberia)
Science and classification
- archeology • communications • communicator • computer • coordinates • flashlight • fusion torch • genetic engineering • intercom • light year • museum • neuroallozine • phaser • rifle • sensor • spacesuit • stasis • sword • turbolift • tricorder • Vardan illusion machine • viewscreen • warp drive • watch • weapon
Ranks and titles
- admiral • captain • commander • crewman • doctor • ensign • Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s) • guard • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • medic • officer • orderly • queen • rank • science officer • scientist • security officer • sergeant • slave • Starfleet ranks
Communications
Literature and publications
Other references
- 20th century • acid • archeological structure • air • alert status (yellow alert) • alien • animal • antibody • archaeology • art • assignment patch • atom • bacteria • baseball • beam • biological machine • blood • brain • bridge • bush • cactus • cavern • cemetery • court martial • day • desert • disease • distress signal • dolphin • dragon • ecology • electrical field • electricity • extinction • factory • flower • grass • guinea pig • Vardan • helmet • history • horse • hour • humanoid • ice cream • insect • Interplanetary English • IQ • jungle • kitten • landing party • language • law • library • lichen • lifeform • light year • logic • magnetism • metal • mind meld • mind spore • molecule • mural • music • ocean • orbit • Organian Peace Treaty • Orwellian rat • pet • planet • plant • plastic • poison • prison • rabbit • radiation • renegades • replica • robot • second • sector • Shetland pony • shore leave • sickbay • snail • space • sports and games • star • Star of Vardan • starbase • Starfleet General Orders and Regulations • Starfleet uniform • stone • teleportation • time • tomb • transporter room • treaty • tree • tribble • uniform • vault • venom • water
Timeline
Chronology
Although the Pocket Books Timeline places this story after Star Trek II Short Stories, this was explicitly Lex Nakashima's first visit to an alien planet, which establishes the story as taking place prior to events in the short story collection, in which he visited Macedon III and Omicron Theta V.
- Vardan buildings were established on Varda III
- University of Luna archeologists visited Varda III to explore its ruins
- The Enterprise responded to a distress signal from Varda III one day later
Appendices
Related media
- TOS comic: "The Ageless One" – Palnak's museum of living things was similar to the rows of wall niches containing visitors in stasis.
- TOS comic: "The Klingon Ultimatum" – In a similar "final solution" to eliminate the Federation as a threat, Klingons aimed a weapon of mass destruction at Earth.
Background
- Although it was labeled with the trademark brand "Plot-Your-Own Adventure Stories", William Rotsler's other interactive novel was labeled "Plot-It-Yourself Adventure Stories".
- The Pocket Books Timeline and Memory Beta Chronology place this story in the year 2277. Ranks and uniform descriptions were consistent with that placement, although some interior artwork depicted the Enterprise and its crew as they were in the 2260s.
- There were 29 story endings.
- Inflated dome structures at the scientists' outpost were similar to prefabricated domes used by archeologists in the 2260s decade in TOS comic: "Planet of the Dead" and in the 2270s in TOS comic: "Aberration on Abaris".
- Hikaru Sulu took command in one of the storylines.
- Dohlmen may have been intended to be Elasians, as the word was similar to Dohlman, a title on Elas. The plant-based Phylons may have been intended to be Phylosians.
Images
Connections
Timeline
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous book: First book |
Plot-Your-Own Adventure Stories | Next book: The Vulcan Treasure |
| Previous story: To Wherever Star Trek II Short Stories |
Stories by: William Rotsler |
Next story: Star Trek II Biographies |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: To Wherever Star Trek II Short Stories |
Pocket Books Timeline | Next adventure: The Vulcan Treasure |
| Previous adventure: Odyssey's End Untold Voyages |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: The Blaze of Glory Star Trek II Short Stories |
External links
- Distress Call! article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Distress Call! review at the Reading Star Trek website.