"Marginal Existence" was the sixth short story collected in the TOS anthology The New Voyages 2 in 1978. It was written by Connie Faddis, who also contributed "Snake Pit!" for the collection.

Description

"Marginal Existence" raises some rather chilling questions about fixed purposes which can get out of hand, pleasures which can turn into pain, and savagery which can rise out of the marginal remains of a once-flourishing civilization.

Summary

An Enterprise landing party discovers a centuries-old city of sleeping humanoids.

References

Characters

Christine Chapel • Pavel Chekov • Horst Gorshim • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Nyota Uhura • Elva Vigeland • unnamed characters (natives)

Referenced only

Devil • God

Starships and vehicles

Discovery (shuttlecraft) • USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • unnamed Federation shuttlecraft (rescue shuttle)

Referenced only

SS Botany Bay • unnamed Klingon starship

Locations

unnamed planet

Referenced only

Gehenna • Starbase 6

Races and cultures

Human • Klingon • Vulcan • unnamed races and cultures

Referenced only

Andorian

Science and classification

A'YOR'IK • anthropology • antidote • central computer • communicator • computer • coordinates • hypospray • IBM 360 • interlock • life support • medical tricorder • phaser • recognition beam • robot • sedative • sensor • sleeper unit • stimulant • suspended animation • tricorder • wire

Ranks and titles

astrophysicist • captain • chief engineer • doctor • ensign • geologist • lieutenant • officer

Other references

animal • Antares cymbal • barbed wire • belt • briefing room • canyon • century • chemical • city • club • coma • communications • concrete • engineering • glass • hallucination • headache • hour • humanoid • insect • jungle • kilometer • landing party • language • logic • metal • mind meld • minute • orbit • peace • plague • Prime Directive • sign language • soil • splint • stun • sun • supernova • telepathy • tomb • year

Chronology

Publication history

January 1978

First published by Bantam Books. (ISBN 0-553-11392-5)

February 2000

13th printing by Bantam Spectra. (ISBN 0-553-27933-5)

Appendices

Related stories

• TOS - Plot-Your-Own Adventure Stories novella: Distress Call! – The organic machine Fi'lakas captured and kept humanoids in stasis, including a Thrix, for centuries.
• TOS comic: "Rescue at Raylo" – Doctor Rycho used stasis chambers to drain life energy from captured Humans as a power source.
• TOS episode & Star Trek 2 novelization: Space Seed – James T. Kirk remembered the sleeper units found aboard the SS Botany Bay in 2267.
• TOS episode & Star Trek 1 novelization: Miri – A landing party in 2266 was attacked by feral youth.

Background

• This story was originally printed in the fanzine T-Negative #5 in 1975.
• While Spock noted that observing a supernova was rare, in the 2260s he would witness the novas of Beta Niobe, Isis and Minara, and assist in the creation of novas in superspace and the antimatter universe.
• Kirk's statement, "Light like death; shadows like death," was reminiscent of quotes from Sylvia Plath and Marc Augé.

• c. 1650 :
• Inhabitants of an unnamed planet abandon reality, locking themselves in sleeper units with pleasure-inducing drugs that eventually become painful.

• 2268 :
  • A survey team from the Discovery shuttlecraft explores the planet.
  • A nearby star becomes a supernova.
  • USS Enterprise personnel release the citizens from their stasis prison.

Connections

Star Trek: The Original Series collected short stories, novellas and short novels
The New Voyages	The New Voyages ("Ni Var" • "Intersection Point" • "The Enchanted Pool" • "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited" • "The Face on the Barroom Floor" • "The Hunting" • "The Winged Dreamers" • "Mind-Sifter" • "Sonnet from the Vulcan: Omicron Ceti Three") • The New Voyages 2 ("Surprise!" • "Snake Pit!" • "The Patient Parasites" • "In the Maze" • "Cave-In" • "Marginal Existence" • "The Procrustean Petard" • "The Sleeping God" • "Elegy for Charlie" • "Soliloquy")
Star Trek II & III Short Stories	Star Trek II Short Stories ("The Blaze of Glory" • "Under Twin Moons" • "Wild Card" • "The Secret Empire" • "Intelligence Test" • "To Wherever") • Star Trek III Short Stories ("The Azphari Enigma" • "The Jungles of Memory" • "A Vulcan, A Klingon, and an Angel" • "World's End" • "As Old as Forever")
Strange New Worlds	I ("A Private Anecdote" • "The Last Tribble" • "The Lights in the Sky" • "Reflections") • II ("Triptych" • "The Quick and the Dead" • "The First Law of Metaphysics" • "The Hero of My Own Life" • "Doctors Three") • III ("If I Lose Thee..." • "The Aliens Are Coming!" • "Family Matters") • IV ("A Little More Action" • "Prodigal Father" • "Missed" • "Tears for Eternity" • "Countdown" • "First Star I See Tonight" • "Scotty's Song" • "The Name of the Cat") • V ("Disappearance on 21st Street" • "The Trouble with Borg Tribbles" • "Legal Action" • "Yeoman Figgs" • "The Shoulders of Giants") • VI ("Whales Weep Not" • "One Last Adventure" • "Marking Time" • "Ancient History" • "Bum Radish: Five Spins on a Turquoise Reindeer" • "A Piece of the Pie") • VII ("A Test of Character" • "Indomitable" • "Project Blue Book" • "The Trouble With Tribals" • "All Fall Down" • "A Sucker Born" • "Obligations Discharged") • 8 ("Shanghaied" • "Assignment: One" • "Demon" • "Don't Call Me Tiny") • 9 ("Gone Native" • "A Bad Day for Koloth" • "Book of Fulfillment" • "The Smallest Choices") • 10 ("The Smell of Dead Roses" • "The Doomsday Gambit" • "Empty") • 2016 ("Dilithium Is a Girl's Best Friend")
Constellations	"First, Do No Harm" • "The Landing Party" • "Official Record" • "Fracture" • "Chaotic Response" • "As Others See Us" • "See No Evil" • "The Leader" • "Ambition" • "Devices and Desires" • "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" • "Make-Believe"
Star Trek: Explorer	"All That Most Maddens and Torments" • "The Way to Exile" • "Cumulative Damage" • "Explorers of the Storm" • "The Guardian" • "The Trouble with Jones" • "Sundering" • "A Dish Served Cold" • "Forewarned and Three-Armed" • "Working Miracles" • "Cat and Mouse" • "Housewarming" • "Memoriam"• "Chekov's Challenge" • "My Name is Mudd" • "The Lost Noel"
Misc. short stories	"Though Hell Should Bar the Way" • "Conflicting Natures" • "The Avenger" • "Night Whispers" • "Just Another Little Training Cruise" • "Safe Harbors" • "Ill Winds" • "The Greater Good"
Misc. novellas & short novels	"The Business, As Usual, During Altercations" • "The Badlands, Part I" • "One Giant Leap" • "The First Artifact" • "The Sorrows of Empire" • "A Less Perfect Union" • "The Chimes at Midnight"

Timeline

published order
Previous story: Cave-In	The New Voyages 2	Next story: The Procrustean Petard
Previous story: Cave-In The New Voyages 2	TOS short stories	Next story: The Procrustean Petard The New Voyages 2
Previous story: Snake Pit! The New Voyages 2	Stories by: Connie Faddis	Next story: Most recent work
chronological order
Previous adventure: The Enchanted Pool The New Voyages	Pocket Books Timeline	Next adventure: A Piece of the Action
Previous adventure: The Enchanted Pool The New Voyages	Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (2264 to 2270)	Next adventure: A Piece of the Action

Translations

1983

Japanese : 限界存在, translated by Hiroshi Saito. (Hayakawa Bunko)

External link

• Marginal Existence article at Fanlore.