------------ Forwarded message
>             The famous Enterprise/Road Runner Encounter Story
>
>
>
>              ...Let us suppose that the Enterprise is doing some sort
>              of research  mission to an  unknown planet. I  think the
>              Captains Log would be worth a look:
>
>         Captain's Log,  Stardate 54324.5: Starfleet Command  has directed
>         the Enterprise to  do a preliminary exploration of  planet --- in
>         advance of a  full research team. Scanners  report the atmosphere
>         to  be  breathable, but  are  recieving  confusing readings  with
>         regard to  life forms.  I am  beaming down  with a  landing party
>         composed of all our chief officers except for poor Scotty.
>
>         Supplement: Redshirt Riley has received a head injury, apparently
>         while exploring under a high  rock shelf. He reports only hearing
>         a loud sound  and jumping before being  struck. After examination
>         by Dr. McCoy he has been judged capable of continuing duty.
>
>
>         Supplement: We have encountered an alien creature on this planet.
>         While it does  not itself seem menacing,  a unfortunate occurance
>         took place  when it was  present. Specifically, on my  orders Lt.
>         Sulu withdrew his phaser. The creature disappeared leaving a puff
>         of smoke, immediately following which a loud noise was heard next
>         to Sulu. Sulu fired, hitting  Ens. Chekov. Oddly enough, although
>         Sulu's weapon  was set to  stun, Chekov  was also covered  with a
>         black powder  similar to soot. Mr.  Chekov has been sent  back to
>         the ship for examination and quarantine.
>
>         Stardate  54326.2,   Mr.  Spock  reporting:   Tricorder  readings
>         indicate that  the creature we encountered  earlier is constantly
>         moving at  great speed over  the surface  of the planet.  We have
>         encountered the  creature once again.  In an attempt to  slow the
>         creature  for study,  I attempted  to fire  on it.  The creature,
>         however,  appeared   to  move   faster  than  the   phaser  beam.
>         Regretfully, the  beam struck  an outcropping  of rock  above the
>         Captain's head,  causing it  to break off  and fall.  Although it
>         appears that several  tons of rock fell squarely  on the Captain,
>         he  was  driven  straight  into the  ground  but  apparently  not
>         seriously injured, though stunned. The Captain has been beamed up
>         to Sickbay, leaving me in command of the research party.
>
>         Captain's Log, Stardate  54342.1: The creature is  still at large
>         on  the planet  surface.  While  Mr. Spock  continues  to lead  a
>         research party I  am currently at work with Mr.  Scott on an Acme
>         Pressure Cooker  for our  lab, for when  the creature  is finally
>         apprehended.
>          Captain's Log, stardate 54342.3. The strange occurences that have
>         dogged the  landing party since  our arrival at this  planet have
>         led  me to  believe that  the creature  is in  some way  directly
>         responsible for  them. Mr. Chekov  and I have both  been declared
>         fit  for return  to duty,  though Dr.  McCoy has  entered in  his
>         medical log  that he feels  we should be kept  under observation.
>
>
>         Mr. Spock  has constructed a  device which he suspects  should be
>         able to counteract the creature's incredible speed as follows: We
>         have placed  a dish  of birdseed  out in  the open,  with several
>         signs pointing to it. The dish  is atop a cleverly concealed trap
>         door, which will  open when any weight falls on  it. The creature
>         will then  travel a slide,  eventually being deposited in  a cage
>         constructed of  sheets of transparent  aluminum. We will  then be
>         free to  analyze it at  our leisure. Meanwhile, I  have forbidden
>         all beaming down to the surface of the planet except on my or Mr.
>         Spock's direct order.
>
>         Captain's Log,  supplemental. The  plan failed. The  creature was
>         indeed lured by  the birdseed, as expected. It sped  to the dish,
>         consumed the bait, and sped off without setting off the trap. Mr.
>         Spock is  as puzzled as  I, and has  begun tests to  discover the
>         flaw in the  design. I have sent out three  search parties to see
>         if we can box the creature in, one headed by Mr. Sulu, one by Mr.
>         Chekov, and one by Sociologist Xontel.
>
>         Captain's  Log, stardate  54342.8.  Sociologist  Xontel has  been
>         temporarily incapacitated.  In pursuing the creature,  he and his
>         men somehow managed to cross the place where Mr. Spock's trap was
>         set just  as he  completed the  corrections to  it. The  trap was
>         sprung, and  all four of  my men were  suspended for a  moment in
>         mid-air,  puzzled,  just  before  they  fell  into  the  cage  we
>         constructed. We are  now trying to release them  with phasers, as
>         the lock was inadvertently smashed by the impact from Sociologist
>         Xontel's foot  as he fell. I  consider this a major  setback. Mr.
>         Spock considers it "fascinating."
>
>         Captain's Log,  stardate 54343.4. In  an all-out attempt  to stop
>         the creature once  and for all, I have had  a phaser rifle beamed
>         down  from  the  Enterprise.  The  creature  has  behaved  in  an
>         extremely cunning manner, yet I am  unsure whether this is a sign
>         of actual  intelligence. Lt. Uhura  has been unsuccessful  in her
>         attempts to raise Starfleet Command. Meanwhile, Mr. Scott informs
>         me that our  dilithium crystals are deteriorating  at an alarming
>         rate. He has juryrigged a system  that will prevent the decay for
>         a time, but it is imperative that we find new crystals soon.
>
>         Captain's  Log,  supplemental.  Mr.   Sulu  reports  high  energy
>         tricorder  readings from  an  area  of the  planet  in which  the
>         creature has  not yet been sighted.  He has taken a  small party,
>         including Mr.  Spock, to the  high-elevation spot from  which the
>         readings  emanate.  I  have   begun  to  analyze  the  creature's
>         movements.  It seems  to  travel consistently  over  a set  path.
>         Perhaps we  can corner it  in a tunnel  it seems to  pass through
>         frequently.
>
>         Captain's Log, stardate 54344.7. Mr.  Sulu has located a cache of
>         ACME  dilithium crystals  atop a  high cliff.  Regretfully, while
>         collecting them, the edge of the  cliff broke off, and he and Mr.
>         Spock  plummetted  several  hundred  feet to  the  ground  below.
>         Strangely enough, they  both survived the fall with  no more than
>         raising a  cloud of dust  on impact,  although they did  pass the
>         chunk of  rock on the  way down and  end up completely  buried. A
>         rescue excavation has commenced, and they should be safe shortly.
>
>         Captain's Log, stardate  54344.9. Mr. Spock has beamed  up to the
>         ship with them  to assist Mr. Scott in their  installation, as he
>         forsees compatability problems. Back on the planet's surface, Mr.
>         Chekov led seven men into the tunnel in an attempt to capture the
>         creature  in transit.  A loud  BEEP, BEEP  was heard,  and Chekov
>         aimed the  phaser rifle and  commanded his  men to spread  out. I
>         wish to state  for the record that I would  have acted similarly,
>         and that Ensign  Chekov should in no way be  held responsible for
>         the  unfortunate   circumstances  arising  from   the  unexpected
>         appearance  of an  old  Earth-style freight  train.  He has  been
>         beamed back up to the ship with minor injuries.
>
>
>         Captain's Log, stardate 54345.1. Dr. McCoy has beamed down with a
>         hypo containing a mixture of kyranide, tri-ox compound, Scalosian
>         concentrate,  a theragram  derivative,  and some  other items  he
>         found in  unmarked containers  in Sickbay.  By injecting  a small
>         amount into each  member of the landing party, I  hope to be able
>         to deal with the creature on its own high speed terms.
>
>         Captain's Log,  supplemental. The latest experiment  to deal with
>         the strange  creature has  failed. As Dr.  McCoy was  injecting a
>         measured dose  of the compound,  it abruptly appeared  behind him
>         and  uttered  a  loud   BEEP,  BEEP!  Dr.  McCoy,  understandably
>         flustered, accidentally  pressured in the entire  contents of the
>         hypo into  his arm. A  full security team  is in pursuit  of him,
>         waiting for the effects of the drug to wear off.
>
>         Captain's Log, stardate 54345.2. I have ordered the landing party
>         transported back  to the  ship. The  new dilithium  crystals have
>         been successfully  installed. On  my responsibility, the  ship is
>         preparing to  engage main phasers  to attack the  creature, which
>         continues on its semi-erratic course across the planet's surface.
>
>
>         Captain's  Log, supplemental.  This  is a  warning  to all  other
>         starships that  may pass this  way. Do not approach  this planet!
>         The illogical events occuring here  are too much to overcome with
>         simple science. If  you have heard the events  transcribed in the
>         rest of  this log, you  will learn  that this creature  is nearly
>         undefeatable. We channelled full  ship's power through the phaser
>         banks. Theoretically,  the creature  should have  been destroyed;
>         however, the energies were too much strain for the ACME crystals.
>         The full  force of  the phasers  backlashed over  the Enterprise,
>         engulfing her  completely. At  first, the only  noticeable effect
>         was a complete failure of  all systems save emergency gravity and
>         life  support. Then  a  web  of black  lines  spread through  the
>         Enterprise's superstructure.  Next, the  ship began  breaking up,
>         piece by  piece, falling  through the atmosphere  to land  on the
>         surface of the  planet. When the ship had  collapsed entirely, my
>         crew was left hanging in space for a short time, and finally each
>         of us began to  fall to the planet below. We  have no theories on
>         how any of us survived, but every crewmember has reported nothing
>         more than a sense of uneasiness, followed by the realization that
>         they  were  several  hundred  miles  up in  the  air,  a  sinking
>         sensation,  and then  a gradual  drop: first  the feet,  then the
>         body, and finally the head, usually wearing a resigned expression
>         of  perplexion. We  are attempting  now to  communicate with  the
>         creature in the hopes that  it will prove intelligent. Perhaps we
>         can  communicate our  peaceful intentions  to it.  Mr. Spock  has
>         constructed  a crude  rocket launcher  from the  wreckage of  the
>         ship, and with  this we hope to send the  recorder marker up into
>         space, where  hopefully someone  will find  it. Captain  James T.
>         Kirk,  of  the  United  Federation of  Planets,  Captain  of  the
>         Starship Enterprise, recording.