The Portal is Found

"What is it, Mr Sulu?" Kirk asks.

"It's an anomalous temperature reading, Sir. The whole area where our people beamed down when we were here before is at about 25°C, but there's one small spot within it that is much colder, at 15°C."

"That must be the effect of the portal, Captain," Spock interjects.

"We did a careful scan of the planet's surface when we were here before, Mr Spock, to make sure - as we thought - that there was no threat to our people. Why didn't we detect it then?"

"Because it didn't occur to us to do a high resolution temperature scan of the whole planet. We did a low resolution one, of course, to make sure that our people would be comfortable when they beamed down, but a small colder area wouldn't show up on that. There was no reason for us to think that a high resolution scan would be necessary, since even a small area that was hot or cold enough to be life-threatening would show up on the low resolution scan, as it would sufficiently alter the mean temperature of the 'pixel' it was contained in. Thanks to the alien being's memories, this time we knew just where on the planet to do a high resolution search, of course."

"Thank you, Mr Spock," Kirk says, thinking to himself that Spock had told him rather more than he had needed to know. "Mr Sulu, please pass the co-ordinates of the anomaly to Mr Scott, and ask him to set the transporter co-ordinates to a point offset one hundred metres. Hopefully that should provide a sufficient safety margin...

1. "Then tell the 'away team' to meet me in the transporter room."

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