Too many close calls, Peter thought as he idly studied information he already knew in the science lab. So far, there had been precious little work for him on board the Enterprise, aside from some new life-forms to catalogue and put in stasis. He was tired of the same old routine. At least Spider-Man got out and about sometimes, but the most recent crisis saw him helpless to assist in any way, aside from making sure his pal Wesley wasn’t alone in case…
…in case the worst came to pass.
Well, the next time something threatens this ship, I’ll be out there making a difference. Believe it!
They were talking about him elsewhere in the room.
“I thought my shift would never end,” one male cadet was heard to say.
“Quiet!” one of the girls admonished. “You’ll break Peter’s heart! He can’t bear to be parted from the lab.”
Just then, Doctor Connors entered the lab with another man in tow. It was a white-haired man with a dark mustache who seemed to be taking in the lab with an air of jovialty that belied the seriousness of his visit. And then…Peter recognized him.
“There’s the boy I was telling you about, doctor! He’s Peter Parker, our top science cadet,” Connors remarked.
I thought you didn’t like me, Connors, Peter mused, thinking back to the incident with John Jameson. Then again, I suppose Starfleet adults aren’t as petty as these jerks I’ve been working alongside.
They approached him. “Peter, Professor Cobbwell has asked me to recommend a student who could help him with some research over the next couple days, and I was wondering--?”
“Wow! A chance to work with the most famous engineering expert in the sector? I’d be delighted, sir!”
He knew he was grinning from ear-to-ear like a fool, and he didn’t even care. Wesley would be so jealous…
“Thank you, my boy!” The Professor beamed at him. “I have some urgent experiments to perform, and will appreciate your assistance! My guest quarters are on deck three. On your way over tomorrow, please stop by the Quartermaster’s Store and pick up a small tricorder for me. I had some new wiring put in.”
“Sure, I’ll be glad to, Doctor Cobbwell!”
As he walked the corridors later he passed Flash Thompson, making his rounds as part of the security detail.
“Well, well!” he began. “So the teacher’s pet is gonna be working with that Doctor Egghead over the next few days while the rest of us waste time having dates and living it up! That about the size of it, Parker?”
“Knock it off, Flash. Of course I’d jump at the chance to work with a brilliant man like Doctor Cobbwell. As for you being an idiot, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, you were just born that way!”
Then, before the angry Flash Thompson could think of a suitable retort, Peter was gone.
The next day, as he was getting ready in his quarters, he put on his Spider-Man costume underneath his Starfleet uniform.
“I never know when I’ll need it! Besides, I feel almost undressed without it!”
Before long he was approaching the Quartermaster’s Store--a nondescript door served as the entrance, making it seem like just another place on the ship, not very different from officers’ quarters. It wasn’t until the door slid aside and he walked in that he realized he was entering someone else’s territory. Someone eccentric. There were devices mounted on shelves all over the place. Large ones, small ones, antiques, things that the average ship’s quartermaster wasn’t expected to have around. There was even a small sign reading “The Tinkerer Repair Shop”, adding a small touch of homeliness to an otherwise sterile shipboard environment.
An older man stepped out from an adjacent room. He was balding and hunched over, with a long chin.
“I’m The Tinkerer! What can I do for you, my boy?”
“I’m here to pick up a tricorder for Doctor Cobbwell!”
“Oh, yes! Doctor Cobbwell! Just a minute--I’ll get it!”
This guy looks like a character straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales!
Suddenly, while the old man was out of the room--Strange…my spider-sense picks up odd electric impulses. Must be coming from his testing equipment. I’ve got to stop getting so suspicious all the time. The Tinkerer looks about as dangerous as a second-hand creampuff!
Meanwhile, in his soundproofed “office“…
“Doctor Cobbwell is ready for his tricorder! It’s one of our special jobs!” The Tinkerer addressed a being with green, scaly skin, a large antennaed head and big black eyes, which proceeded to apply a device to the tricorder.
“Good! I have just finished it! He may have it now!” He stood facing the doctor, placing one hand proudly upon the device. “I have inserted our special device. He will never suspect that this is now much more than the enhanced tricorder he requested!”
The doctor hefted the device to carry it out to Parker, bending at the knees to save his tired back. “So far none of our “special” customers suspects what we have done to their equipment while we were supposed to be repairing it.”
“Naturally! Our plan must be completely secret until we are ready to strike!”
And then, after a short walk back out to the front room…
“This must be demanding work! I’m surprised you’re not at least a Lieutenant in Starfleet!” Peter exclaimed upon receipt of the tricorder.
“Nonsense, my boy! I like my work. Doing it without the promise of a reward only means they’ll keep me here that much longer. If I were promoted, do you know what I’d be doing?”
Peter shook his head.
“Probably maintaining engines or something tedious. Who wants to do that?”
With a minute to think, Peter realized he didn’t personally know the Chief Engineers of the ship. It was like nobody really, truly knew them as people. Not that he knew this “Tinkerer” person so well either…
“Good point. Oh, Mr., uh, Tinkerer, what’s your real na--”
“Well,” Tinkerer interrupted, rubbing his hands together briskly, “you’d better run along! I’m sure Doctor Cobbwell is eager to get his hands on that sleek little beauty!”
Peter shook his head, dumbfounded. “Um, yeah, I uh, I guess he probably is.”
With that he exited, still without a clue in the world as to what had just happened.
Wesley caught up with his friend as he was on his way back to Doctor Cobbwell.
“Hiya Wes,” Peter said amicably.
“Hey Peter. I heard you’re working with Doctor Cobbwell? That’s pretty exciting! I wish I had an opportunity like that--but I’m happy for you!”
“Well I heard Captain Picard’s actually letting you on the bridge now. That’s not too shabby, is it?”
“Well yeah, I mean…”
Peter looked at his friend expectantly and kept walking while Wes fumbled for words.
“…it’s just that he’s so uncomfortable with it, even now. I don’t get to go up there all the time and it’s not like I’ll get to see a real crisis happen…”
Peter laughed. “We don’t want crises to happen, Wes! Be glad. The last one almost killed us. Who was it, the, um, Ferengi?”
“And the Tkon Empire,” Wes added enthusiastically.
“Yeah, they had a pretty big part to play in all of that. The point is, you were all excited to get up there, and now that you’ve gotten to do it a few times you want even more. Things like that don’t stop until you learn the hard way. Being at the helm of a ship gives you a lot of power, and the more power you have, the more responsible you have to be. That’s a big load to carry on your shoulders.”
And I sound like my Uncle, Peter silently added. Of course, Wes couldn’t possibly understand all of that the way I do. He wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider and given powers well beyond the abilities of normal humans. It’s a bigger responsibility than he could imagine, and I carry it around with me every day.
Peter adopted a faraway look as he thought wistfully of his uncle, and before long they were standing at Doctor Cobbwell’s door. He bid his friend goodbye and entered to find the Doctor hard at work at a computer terminal, but he reacted readily enough and promptly rose to confer with Peter.
“Boy, that Tinkerer sure is an odd duck!” Peter remarked.
“Yes, I had heard he was…but he’s got an excellent reputation for his work! That’s why I chose him to work on my tricorder. Now, here’s the experiment I want you to work on for me.”
He handed Peter a padd, and Peter immediately got to work with a series of wires, tubes, metal plates, microchips and other assorted pieces of equipment. He didn’t know quite everything about the experiment, but then again it wasn’t Doctor Cobbwell he was worried about.
It’s those strange electrical impulses I was getting at The Tinkerer’s shop. Not to mention what a character he is. Sheesh! There’s something funny going on on this ship…
Wait! Now I’m picking up those impuses again…here! I have to check this guy out. But how will I do that with the Professor watching me?
Not five minutes into the experiment, Peter noticed the Professor striding toward the door to the lab.
“I’m due to lecture in one of the science labs tonight, Peter. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
He’s gone! Now to see what this is all about!
The first order of business was to check out the tricorder itself. It was the only thing to leave The Tinkerer’s shop with Peter and come to the lab that Peter was aware of, therefore it was reasonable to assume that it would contain the offending article, whatever that may have been. Lifting the cover to inspect the interior, he was immediately vindicated by what he found.
“Hey, no ordinary tricorder has gadgets like that inside of it! There’s where the impulses are coming from--even with the tricorder turned off! That does it! Now I’m through kiddin’ around! Now Spider-Man is gonna take another look-see at The Tinkerer’s shop!”
It would take some doing to get through the busy ship in his costume, but he determined it to be worth the risk. So, without further ado, he rushed back there and put it on.
“Sheesh, is it really necessary to go as Spider-Man? I’m inviting all sorts of trouble by doing this, but I don’t know how else to handle it. Peter Parker, Starfleet cadet, taking matters into his own hands? What will I bring to the Captain, to the Chief Engineer…anybody? My suspicions are groundless without explaining my spider-sense. Ah, well. Here goes nothing!”
A short time later he was making his way through the ship, insisting that he was just an eccentric officer with an overactive imagination, on his way to experience a holoprogram based on the ship’s most infamous benefactor…or terrorist, depending on one’s opinion. Some believed him, some eyed him warily…and then some stopped him in the corridor.
“That’s far enough, Spider-Man!” one security officer announced with stentorian confidence. Another one stopped at his side, and she too leveled her phaser at him. It wouldn’t be long before Tasha Yar and Worf arrived to take him into custody, unless he took action fast. He fired his web-shooters and gummed up one phaser, then the other. Unfortunately, the second guard had time to react and pressed the button to fire, initiating an overload.
“Take cover!” she yelled, and both of them dashed around the curve of the corridor, while Spider-Man did something he should have been doing from the start--he took refuge inside the ship’s Jefferies tubes.
It would still not take them long to track him unless he found some way to override the scanners on the bridge. He definitely had the technical know-how, though even that would fail him in time. Though he was something of a prodigy by novice standards, he could still be outwitted by a well-trained crew with enough time to crack his techniques. He stopped at the nearest service junction en route to The Tinkerer’s place and rerouted some basic subroutines to optimize his chances, and then continued without slowing down.
Speaking of too many close calls, thought Peter wryly as he dropped into the shop from above.
“The place is closed for the day. Oh, well. That won’t stop me!”
He stopped with a flinch and tensed as his spider-sense buzzed. “I’m getting those strange impuses again! They’re coming from the back room!”
His voice immediately hushed as he realized that the door to the back room was open. In fact, the ambient light in the main room was from back there. He chided himself on his ignorance of his surroundings and crept back there, gawking at the impressiveness of the equipment arrayed inside.
Wow! No innocent little repair shop ever had a hidden workroom like that before!
Inside the room, The Tinkerer unwittingly conferred with two aliens who were definitely not members of the Federation. They were hairless and green, with bulbous black eyes, antennae and oddly-shaped heads that betrayed their two-lobed brains. They wore all black clothes which failed to cover their legs and their midsections below the chest, revealing a vast expanse of abdominal muscles numbering far higher than the average humanoid.
“You have done your work well, Tinkerer!” one of them praised the old man. “We are almost ready to strike!”
“Yes! Our electronic spy devices, hidden in equipment belonging to important members of Starfleet, have enabled us to learn much about their strengths and weaknesses before we attack their unsuspecting worlds!”
“Quiet!” another of the aliens interrupted, far more rudely than was probably necessary. “I am processing the latest pictures relayed back to us by our pin-point video spy device which you planted in the communicator of a military leader!” There was an entire bank of screens which lined the wall he worked at, and each of them showed a different scenario in a different location.
“How clearly we can hear and see!” The Tinkerer went on, heedless of the alien’s call for silence. “My devices never fail!”
“Silence!!” The alien repeated. “I must remember what they say!”
On the screen stood a Starfleet Captain, viewed from the chest-level of a man who was sitting down. It was the seated individual who spoke.
“I summoned you, Captain, to discuss our plans for the defense of our Beta Quadrant borders in case of a surprise attack by any hostile force…”
So that’s what it’s all about, thought Peter as he watched from around the corner. They’re hostile aliens from somewhere we haven’t explored, using some sort of eerie spy devices which they place in our equipment in order to learn our military and scientific secrets!
And then…
My spider-instinct warns me--someone is behind me!
Captain Picard leaned forward and listened intently to the report coming from the security station behind him. Tasha had mobilized security teams all over the ship. She sent Worf to the place Spider-Man had last been seen. She would have gone herself, but she was more useful coordinating their efforts from the bridge.
“It looks like he’s scrambled our sensors, sir!” she said brusquely. “But at least we think we’ve identified where he was when he did it. I’m having a team spread out from that location to find him and pin him down. It shouldn’t be long if he’s still out there, sir.”
Picard pursed his lips. “And if not?”
Her shoulders sagged. “Well, then I’m afraid I can’t make any promises, sir. I’m sorry. I’ve never seen anyone capable of disappearing into thin air like he does.”
“Carry on, Lieutenant.”
Peter turned to see a blaster trained on him, and did the only thing he could. He dove through the open doorway just as an energy blast lanced out and struck the wall where he’d been standing.
Whew! Not a moment too soon!
“A costumed Federation operative!” cried one of the two aliens inside the room. “Seize him!”
“It’s not gonna be that easy, buddy-boy!”
Spider-Man was too fast, somersaulting away from this one’s attempt to grab him. “See what I mean?”
“Look! He can climb sheer walls!” one of them exclaimed as Spidey charged up to the ceiling.
“He is no ordinary human! He is Spider-Man! Get him!” The Tinkerer cried madly, shaking his fist for emphasis. “If he escaped with knowledge of our plans, we are lost!”
One of them tossed a heavy metal object at him, and he relinquished his grip on the ceiling to catch it before it struck him in the head…and then he dropped like a fly.
“Hah! That inverter mechanism, thrown at him, loosened his grip on the ceiling! He’s falling!” The Tinkerer seemed like the type who just never shut up. Peter cursed his awful luck as he hit the floor.
“Now we have him!” The aliens were shouting as the attempted to dogpile him. “Render him helpless!”
“We can overwhelm him by sheer weight of numbers!”
“I’ve got news for you!” Spidey announced. “It’s been tried before!” He tossed them off of him with ease, flinging them this way and that.
“His strength is greater than suspected!”
“He shook us all off! A weapon! We need a weapon!”
“We have a weapon.” The Tinkerer, who had stood aside and watched the display without stepping in, took advantage of the others’ distraction to shoot Spider-Man in the back with his blaster. “The Tinkerer is never unprepared. That should stop him. It would have killed any normal human, but it merely stunned him.”
“Quickly! Put him in the specimen cage before he comes to!”
At once, Spider-Man was loaded onto a metal plate covered by a clear dome. He was already sitting up and clutching his head in pain.
“There! Nothing that lives can break out of that resisto-glass enclosure!” said The Tinkerer with satisfaction. “Now, our final problem is to find a way to suitable dispose of the meddler. He is the only mortal in the Federation who even suspects our presence here--the only one who knows our master plan.”
“There is no question about it. He must be destroyed. Release the air from the resisto-glass prison. Within minutes, Spider-Man will no longer be a menace to us.”
But Spider-Man was more aware than he appeared, and he played it off perfectly, surveying the room and his captors with a sly eye, including the spot where the prison operator was standing.
I’ve got to move fast. That control panel also opens and shuts this crazy mouse trap!
He then identified small perforations around the bottom of the rim of his cage.
The air is being forced out through these tiny holes. But instead of killing me, these little openings are gonna save me! It’s a good thing my spider’s web launcher is always loaded and ready for action! Can’t afford to miss. I’ve got to line it up perfectly with the hole and the proper control panel button. I’ve got the safety catch off…the nozzle on target…hand steady…bull’s eye! It worked! The cage is open! I’m free!
As the cage bottomed out, he rushed into the open just as one of the aliens announced him.
“Look! It’s impossible, but--he’s loose! Spider-Man is loose!”
Spider-Man immediately punched him, and sent him flying across the room to collide with his friend and the control panel.
“Who do you think you are, the town crier?”
“You fool!” shouted the second alien. “You jarred my arm! I-I’ve destroyed our control panel!” He started for the door. “It would take months to rebuild that control panel! We--we haven’t the time!”
“Quick! Let us flee while we can! Spider-Man is too powerful!”
The Tinkerer, in a frantic effort to keep up with them, called out “Wait! Don’t leave me! Don’t abandon me!”
Spider-Man leapt to intercept him. “Hold on there, laughing boy. You’re not going anywhere. They were just doing their duty to whatever planet they were from. But you, you traitor--!”
In the meantime, the place went from bad to worse. A fire was imminent, though the ship’s fire-suppression systems would kick in before long and subdue the worst of it. In the meantime, the aliens had made good their escape.
And then the door opened. Security guards filled the room, and Spidey did the only thing he could--he sprang back up into the Jefferies tubes, which had been left open, and made a break for it. He heard the order to “fan out” given below him, and listened for signs of pursuit. He didn’t even hear so much as mention of The Tinkerer or his colleagues.
What did they do? Vanish into thin air?
More than once his spider-sense alerted him to nearby security officers as he made his way back to his quarters. This was not a game Captain Picard was playing with him. No. Picard wanted him apprehended at all cost. Nonetheless, he made it back with minimal incident, changed again and rushed back to Doctor Cobbwell’s, past armed contingents as they marched through the corridors to find him. It twisted his stomach in knots to see the lengths they were going to, and to know it was all for him. He knew they’d stand down in a day or two, but it made him uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, a strange spacecraft streaked away from the Enterprise.
“Safe at last! Press the button which will destroy all our spy devices by remote control!”
“It is done! We can never again return to the Enterprise--they will be on guard from this day on!”
And, back at the laboratory of Doctor Cobbwell…
I’ve reexamined the tricorder, Peter reflected, satisfied, and it’s perfectly normal now. No devices--no impulses--nothing! Here comes Doctor Cobbwell. He looks excited!
“My boy, I just saw the most startling sight! As I was returning from my lecture through the corridors, I could have sworn I saw a smaller vessel breaking away from us and warping out of here. I contacted the bridge, but they said they hadn’t detected anything. It was not of any type of design I’m familiar with--Klingon, Romulan…it made me nervous, to be sure. They say it might belong to that Spider-Man who’s been lurking about here and there. Do you know anything about him?”
Peter held his breath for just a moment before answering.
“Well, some say he’s a hero, some say he’s a troublemaker. Personally, I’d like to withhold judgement. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy. I mean, he hasn’t killed anybody. Captain Picard’s already made up his mind, and who am I to question orders? If I’m ever sent after him, well, I’ll do my best. In the meantime all I’m supposed to do is take pictures.”
“They’re saying he started a fire in The Tinkerer’s lab--and now The Tinkerer is gone!”
“Gone?” Peter decided to use this opportunity to gather information on that potentially recurring dangerous element.
“They can’t find him anywhere. They think Spider-Man may have abducted him for some sort of technological intelligence.”
Peter shook his head. “I doubt that very highly, Professor.”
The Professor chuckled. “Well, there’s nothing we can really do about any of that, is there? Let’s just get back to work.”
“Sure, Doc!”
Peter returned to the lab experiment, and pulled out the mask he’d taken off The Tinkerer as they struggled in the midst of the fire. It appeared The Tinkerer had been one of those aliens all along. He’d never be able to report it to a soul, but he’d definitely be on guard for their return.
When Flash Thompson got off duty, he sat in the middle of Ten-Forward with his security detail and sipped from a glass of synthale.
“I don’t get why we have to go after him,” he said of Spider-Man. “He’s not really dangerous. He’s saved people.”
“You mean like The Tinkerer?” cadet Jones laughed.
“Look, how do we know old Tinkerbell wasn’t mixed up in some bad business before Spidey showed up to sort it out? Anyway, I just know he’s got no reason to abduct anyone. If anybody can handle himself, it’s Spider-Man.”
“Yeah, but Flash, if Captain Picard doesn’t even believe that the guy’s innocent, how can you? I say if he’s such a good guy he should turn himself in, maybe even offer to serve instead of sneaking around like he’s got something to hide. Maybe take that mask off and show us who he is!”
Flash shook his head vehemently. “It doesn’t work like that. I get it. He liked to be noticed, and he deserves it.”
“Okay, whatever.”
The conversation went far differently elsewhere. Captain Picard sat in his ready room, fuming over this most distressing loss. The Tinkerer had been an excellent quartermaster. A bit eccentric, but he could repair anything.
Picard broke from his reflections to feed his fish. As he was getting up, the door chime went off.
“Come,” he called.
Counselor Troi entered, a somewhat amused expression coloring her exotic features. He continued to feed his fish, absently aware that there must have been something important she wanted to discuss.
“Captain, I get the impression that this situation is upsetting you.”
He looked at her askance. “I would have expected that was obvious, Counselor.”
“Yes,” she said, “but I can see that you’re taking this situation a bit more personally than I would have expected.”
After he’d sprinkled enough food into the tank, he put the canister down and retreated to his desk.
“This…Spider-Man…thinks he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. It stops here, Counselor. How do I explain to the Admiralty how I’ve lost an officer without so much as a clue to the whereabouts of the abductor? When I know what he looks like, what he’s called?”
“You know what he looks like in his mask, Captain, but you have no idea as to what he looks like underneath. He might turn out to be a Klingon, a Bolian, a Romulan…put simply, Captain, I believe you’re being too hard on yourself.”
She walked closer, placing her hands on the back of the chair across from him.
“Whatever you’re feeling, it would be best to let it go. Your focus is suffering. I can sense that.”
“I will not let go of this, Counselor. I can’t.” Picard stated stiffly.
“It’s your decision, of course. If you want to talk about it, I’ll be available.”
“Yes, thank you, Counselor.”
It was said as a dismissal, and Troi departed the ready room slowly, looking back once as she crossed the threshhold of the door. Her captain was lost in thought. He’d risen and turned to look out at the expanse of stars streaking by through his window. It wasn’t easy, losing an officer. Responsibility came with a heavy price indeed.
The rest of the day flew by for Peter. More than half of it had already been blown by his little adventure, and the rest was fun, as he worked closely with the Professor and completed a couple simple experiments. The two of them talked theory for a while before the Professor retired, and then Peter returned to his quarters to reflect on the day’s events.
As usual, his thoughts turned to the dangers of continuing his adventures as Spider-Man. Doubtless he would be the subject of countless discussions at command level, and his name was probably already being bandied about Starfleet Command. He’d made a name for himself without ever revealing his name. It felt good. It felt terrible.
The following day Doctor Cobbwell departed the Enterprise, diembarking at Starbase thirty-one to await his next ride, his next assignment. He’d no doubt be aboard another starship soon, teaching bright young students and delivering lectures on everything from particle physics to amphibian metabolic processes.
Peter, in the meantime, enjoyed the attention it brought him.
“Looks like you and me are the new teacher’s pets around here, eh Pete?” Wesley said as they headed down the corridor toward Ten-Forward.
“Yeah, sure, Wes. We sure are. The question is, what does it mean for our futures?”
“Well it means we have futures, that’s for sure. I wish I could be a cadet like you. You’re so young to be in Starfleet.”
“I have a feeling your star is on the rise too,” Peter assured him. As they entered Ten-Forward, he was aware of Flash Thompson across the room, laughing at both of them and joking about what “bookworms” they both were. Wesley hung out with Flash here and there, but Flash was quickly learning that Wes was just like Peter.
Peter couldn’t help but wonder what their similarities would lead to down the line. If their destinies were intertwined, or completely separate. Only time would tell.
…in case the worst came to pass.
Well, the next time something threatens this ship, I’ll be out there making a difference. Believe it!
They were talking about him elsewhere in the room.
“I thought my shift would never end,” one male cadet was heard to say.
“Quiet!” one of the girls admonished. “You’ll break Peter’s heart! He can’t bear to be parted from the lab.”
Just then, Doctor Connors entered the lab with another man in tow. It was a white-haired man with a dark mustache who seemed to be taking in the lab with an air of jovialty that belied the seriousness of his visit. And then…Peter recognized him.
“There’s the boy I was telling you about, doctor! He’s Peter Parker, our top science cadet,” Connors remarked.
I thought you didn’t like me, Connors, Peter mused, thinking back to the incident with John Jameson. Then again, I suppose Starfleet adults aren’t as petty as these jerks I’ve been working alongside.
They approached him. “Peter, Professor Cobbwell has asked me to recommend a student who could help him with some research over the next couple days, and I was wondering--?”
“Wow! A chance to work with the most famous engineering expert in the sector? I’d be delighted, sir!”
He knew he was grinning from ear-to-ear like a fool, and he didn’t even care. Wesley would be so jealous…
“Thank you, my boy!” The Professor beamed at him. “I have some urgent experiments to perform, and will appreciate your assistance! My guest quarters are on deck three. On your way over tomorrow, please stop by the Quartermaster’s Store and pick up a small tricorder for me. I had some new wiring put in.”
“Sure, I’ll be glad to, Doctor Cobbwell!”
As he walked the corridors later he passed Flash Thompson, making his rounds as part of the security detail.
“Well, well!” he began. “So the teacher’s pet is gonna be working with that Doctor Egghead over the next few days while the rest of us waste time having dates and living it up! That about the size of it, Parker?”
“Knock it off, Flash. Of course I’d jump at the chance to work with a brilliant man like Doctor Cobbwell. As for you being an idiot, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, you were just born that way!”
Then, before the angry Flash Thompson could think of a suitable retort, Peter was gone.
The next day, as he was getting ready in his quarters, he put on his Spider-Man costume underneath his Starfleet uniform.
“I never know when I’ll need it! Besides, I feel almost undressed without it!”
Before long he was approaching the Quartermaster’s Store--a nondescript door served as the entrance, making it seem like just another place on the ship, not very different from officers’ quarters. It wasn’t until the door slid aside and he walked in that he realized he was entering someone else’s territory. Someone eccentric. There were devices mounted on shelves all over the place. Large ones, small ones, antiques, things that the average ship’s quartermaster wasn’t expected to have around. There was even a small sign reading “The Tinkerer Repair Shop”, adding a small touch of homeliness to an otherwise sterile shipboard environment.
An older man stepped out from an adjacent room. He was balding and hunched over, with a long chin.
“I’m The Tinkerer! What can I do for you, my boy?”
“I’m here to pick up a tricorder for Doctor Cobbwell!”
“Oh, yes! Doctor Cobbwell! Just a minute--I’ll get it!”
This guy looks like a character straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales!
Suddenly, while the old man was out of the room--Strange…my spider-sense picks up odd electric impulses. Must be coming from his testing equipment. I’ve got to stop getting so suspicious all the time. The Tinkerer looks about as dangerous as a second-hand creampuff!
Meanwhile, in his soundproofed “office“…
“Doctor Cobbwell is ready for his tricorder! It’s one of our special jobs!” The Tinkerer addressed a being with green, scaly skin, a large antennaed head and big black eyes, which proceeded to apply a device to the tricorder.
“Good! I have just finished it! He may have it now!” He stood facing the doctor, placing one hand proudly upon the device. “I have inserted our special device. He will never suspect that this is now much more than the enhanced tricorder he requested!”
The doctor hefted the device to carry it out to Parker, bending at the knees to save his tired back. “So far none of our “special” customers suspects what we have done to their equipment while we were supposed to be repairing it.”
“Naturally! Our plan must be completely secret until we are ready to strike!”
And then, after a short walk back out to the front room…
“This must be demanding work! I’m surprised you’re not at least a Lieutenant in Starfleet!” Peter exclaimed upon receipt of the tricorder.
“Nonsense, my boy! I like my work. Doing it without the promise of a reward only means they’ll keep me here that much longer. If I were promoted, do you know what I’d be doing?”
Peter shook his head.
“Probably maintaining engines or something tedious. Who wants to do that?”
With a minute to think, Peter realized he didn’t personally know the Chief Engineers of the ship. It was like nobody really, truly knew them as people. Not that he knew this “Tinkerer” person so well either…
“Good point. Oh, Mr., uh, Tinkerer, what’s your real na--”
“Well,” Tinkerer interrupted, rubbing his hands together briskly, “you’d better run along! I’m sure Doctor Cobbwell is eager to get his hands on that sleek little beauty!”
Peter shook his head, dumbfounded. “Um, yeah, I uh, I guess he probably is.”
With that he exited, still without a clue in the world as to what had just happened.
Wesley caught up with his friend as he was on his way back to Doctor Cobbwell.
“Hiya Wes,” Peter said amicably.
“Hey Peter. I heard you’re working with Doctor Cobbwell? That’s pretty exciting! I wish I had an opportunity like that--but I’m happy for you!”
“Well I heard Captain Picard’s actually letting you on the bridge now. That’s not too shabby, is it?”
“Well yeah, I mean…”
Peter looked at his friend expectantly and kept walking while Wes fumbled for words.
“…it’s just that he’s so uncomfortable with it, even now. I don’t get to go up there all the time and it’s not like I’ll get to see a real crisis happen…”
Peter laughed. “We don’t want crises to happen, Wes! Be glad. The last one almost killed us. Who was it, the, um, Ferengi?”
“And the Tkon Empire,” Wes added enthusiastically.
“Yeah, they had a pretty big part to play in all of that. The point is, you were all excited to get up there, and now that you’ve gotten to do it a few times you want even more. Things like that don’t stop until you learn the hard way. Being at the helm of a ship gives you a lot of power, and the more power you have, the more responsible you have to be. That’s a big load to carry on your shoulders.”
And I sound like my Uncle, Peter silently added. Of course, Wes couldn’t possibly understand all of that the way I do. He wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider and given powers well beyond the abilities of normal humans. It’s a bigger responsibility than he could imagine, and I carry it around with me every day.
Peter adopted a faraway look as he thought wistfully of his uncle, and before long they were standing at Doctor Cobbwell’s door. He bid his friend goodbye and entered to find the Doctor hard at work at a computer terminal, but he reacted readily enough and promptly rose to confer with Peter.
“Boy, that Tinkerer sure is an odd duck!” Peter remarked.
“Yes, I had heard he was…but he’s got an excellent reputation for his work! That’s why I chose him to work on my tricorder. Now, here’s the experiment I want you to work on for me.”
He handed Peter a padd, and Peter immediately got to work with a series of wires, tubes, metal plates, microchips and other assorted pieces of equipment. He didn’t know quite everything about the experiment, but then again it wasn’t Doctor Cobbwell he was worried about.
It’s those strange electrical impulses I was getting at The Tinkerer’s shop. Not to mention what a character he is. Sheesh! There’s something funny going on on this ship…
Wait! Now I’m picking up those impuses again…here! I have to check this guy out. But how will I do that with the Professor watching me?
Not five minutes into the experiment, Peter noticed the Professor striding toward the door to the lab.
“I’m due to lecture in one of the science labs tonight, Peter. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
He’s gone! Now to see what this is all about!
The first order of business was to check out the tricorder itself. It was the only thing to leave The Tinkerer’s shop with Peter and come to the lab that Peter was aware of, therefore it was reasonable to assume that it would contain the offending article, whatever that may have been. Lifting the cover to inspect the interior, he was immediately vindicated by what he found.
“Hey, no ordinary tricorder has gadgets like that inside of it! There’s where the impulses are coming from--even with the tricorder turned off! That does it! Now I’m through kiddin’ around! Now Spider-Man is gonna take another look-see at The Tinkerer’s shop!”
It would take some doing to get through the busy ship in his costume, but he determined it to be worth the risk. So, without further ado, he rushed back there and put it on.
“Sheesh, is it really necessary to go as Spider-Man? I’m inviting all sorts of trouble by doing this, but I don’t know how else to handle it. Peter Parker, Starfleet cadet, taking matters into his own hands? What will I bring to the Captain, to the Chief Engineer…anybody? My suspicions are groundless without explaining my spider-sense. Ah, well. Here goes nothing!”
A short time later he was making his way through the ship, insisting that he was just an eccentric officer with an overactive imagination, on his way to experience a holoprogram based on the ship’s most infamous benefactor…or terrorist, depending on one’s opinion. Some believed him, some eyed him warily…and then some stopped him in the corridor.
“That’s far enough, Spider-Man!” one security officer announced with stentorian confidence. Another one stopped at his side, and she too leveled her phaser at him. It wouldn’t be long before Tasha Yar and Worf arrived to take him into custody, unless he took action fast. He fired his web-shooters and gummed up one phaser, then the other. Unfortunately, the second guard had time to react and pressed the button to fire, initiating an overload.
“Take cover!” she yelled, and both of them dashed around the curve of the corridor, while Spider-Man did something he should have been doing from the start--he took refuge inside the ship’s Jefferies tubes.
It would still not take them long to track him unless he found some way to override the scanners on the bridge. He definitely had the technical know-how, though even that would fail him in time. Though he was something of a prodigy by novice standards, he could still be outwitted by a well-trained crew with enough time to crack his techniques. He stopped at the nearest service junction en route to The Tinkerer’s place and rerouted some basic subroutines to optimize his chances, and then continued without slowing down.
Speaking of too many close calls, thought Peter wryly as he dropped into the shop from above.
“The place is closed for the day. Oh, well. That won’t stop me!”
He stopped with a flinch and tensed as his spider-sense buzzed. “I’m getting those strange impuses again! They’re coming from the back room!”
His voice immediately hushed as he realized that the door to the back room was open. In fact, the ambient light in the main room was from back there. He chided himself on his ignorance of his surroundings and crept back there, gawking at the impressiveness of the equipment arrayed inside.
Wow! No innocent little repair shop ever had a hidden workroom like that before!
Inside the room, The Tinkerer unwittingly conferred with two aliens who were definitely not members of the Federation. They were hairless and green, with bulbous black eyes, antennae and oddly-shaped heads that betrayed their two-lobed brains. They wore all black clothes which failed to cover their legs and their midsections below the chest, revealing a vast expanse of abdominal muscles numbering far higher than the average humanoid.
“You have done your work well, Tinkerer!” one of them praised the old man. “We are almost ready to strike!”
“Yes! Our electronic spy devices, hidden in equipment belonging to important members of Starfleet, have enabled us to learn much about their strengths and weaknesses before we attack their unsuspecting worlds!”
“Quiet!” another of the aliens interrupted, far more rudely than was probably necessary. “I am processing the latest pictures relayed back to us by our pin-point video spy device which you planted in the communicator of a military leader!” There was an entire bank of screens which lined the wall he worked at, and each of them showed a different scenario in a different location.
“How clearly we can hear and see!” The Tinkerer went on, heedless of the alien’s call for silence. “My devices never fail!”
“Silence!!” The alien repeated. “I must remember what they say!”
On the screen stood a Starfleet Captain, viewed from the chest-level of a man who was sitting down. It was the seated individual who spoke.
“I summoned you, Captain, to discuss our plans for the defense of our Beta Quadrant borders in case of a surprise attack by any hostile force…”
So that’s what it’s all about, thought Peter as he watched from around the corner. They’re hostile aliens from somewhere we haven’t explored, using some sort of eerie spy devices which they place in our equipment in order to learn our military and scientific secrets!
And then…
My spider-instinct warns me--someone is behind me!
Captain Picard leaned forward and listened intently to the report coming from the security station behind him. Tasha had mobilized security teams all over the ship. She sent Worf to the place Spider-Man had last been seen. She would have gone herself, but she was more useful coordinating their efforts from the bridge.
“It looks like he’s scrambled our sensors, sir!” she said brusquely. “But at least we think we’ve identified where he was when he did it. I’m having a team spread out from that location to find him and pin him down. It shouldn’t be long if he’s still out there, sir.”
Picard pursed his lips. “And if not?”
Her shoulders sagged. “Well, then I’m afraid I can’t make any promises, sir. I’m sorry. I’ve never seen anyone capable of disappearing into thin air like he does.”
“Carry on, Lieutenant.”
Peter turned to see a blaster trained on him, and did the only thing he could. He dove through the open doorway just as an energy blast lanced out and struck the wall where he’d been standing.
Whew! Not a moment too soon!
“A costumed Federation operative!” cried one of the two aliens inside the room. “Seize him!”
“It’s not gonna be that easy, buddy-boy!”
Spider-Man was too fast, somersaulting away from this one’s attempt to grab him. “See what I mean?”
“Look! He can climb sheer walls!” one of them exclaimed as Spidey charged up to the ceiling.
“He is no ordinary human! He is Spider-Man! Get him!” The Tinkerer cried madly, shaking his fist for emphasis. “If he escaped with knowledge of our plans, we are lost!”
One of them tossed a heavy metal object at him, and he relinquished his grip on the ceiling to catch it before it struck him in the head…and then he dropped like a fly.
“Hah! That inverter mechanism, thrown at him, loosened his grip on the ceiling! He’s falling!” The Tinkerer seemed like the type who just never shut up. Peter cursed his awful luck as he hit the floor.
“Now we have him!” The aliens were shouting as the attempted to dogpile him. “Render him helpless!”
“We can overwhelm him by sheer weight of numbers!”
“I’ve got news for you!” Spidey announced. “It’s been tried before!” He tossed them off of him with ease, flinging them this way and that.
“His strength is greater than suspected!”
“He shook us all off! A weapon! We need a weapon!”
“We have a weapon.” The Tinkerer, who had stood aside and watched the display without stepping in, took advantage of the others’ distraction to shoot Spider-Man in the back with his blaster. “The Tinkerer is never unprepared. That should stop him. It would have killed any normal human, but it merely stunned him.”
“Quickly! Put him in the specimen cage before he comes to!”
At once, Spider-Man was loaded onto a metal plate covered by a clear dome. He was already sitting up and clutching his head in pain.
“There! Nothing that lives can break out of that resisto-glass enclosure!” said The Tinkerer with satisfaction. “Now, our final problem is to find a way to suitable dispose of the meddler. He is the only mortal in the Federation who even suspects our presence here--the only one who knows our master plan.”
“There is no question about it. He must be destroyed. Release the air from the resisto-glass prison. Within minutes, Spider-Man will no longer be a menace to us.”
But Spider-Man was more aware than he appeared, and he played it off perfectly, surveying the room and his captors with a sly eye, including the spot where the prison operator was standing.
I’ve got to move fast. That control panel also opens and shuts this crazy mouse trap!
He then identified small perforations around the bottom of the rim of his cage.
The air is being forced out through these tiny holes. But instead of killing me, these little openings are gonna save me! It’s a good thing my spider’s web launcher is always loaded and ready for action! Can’t afford to miss. I’ve got to line it up perfectly with the hole and the proper control panel button. I’ve got the safety catch off…the nozzle on target…hand steady…bull’s eye! It worked! The cage is open! I’m free!
As the cage bottomed out, he rushed into the open just as one of the aliens announced him.
“Look! It’s impossible, but--he’s loose! Spider-Man is loose!”
Spider-Man immediately punched him, and sent him flying across the room to collide with his friend and the control panel.
“Who do you think you are, the town crier?”
“You fool!” shouted the second alien. “You jarred my arm! I-I’ve destroyed our control panel!” He started for the door. “It would take months to rebuild that control panel! We--we haven’t the time!”
“Quick! Let us flee while we can! Spider-Man is too powerful!”
The Tinkerer, in a frantic effort to keep up with them, called out “Wait! Don’t leave me! Don’t abandon me!”
Spider-Man leapt to intercept him. “Hold on there, laughing boy. You’re not going anywhere. They were just doing their duty to whatever planet they were from. But you, you traitor--!”
In the meantime, the place went from bad to worse. A fire was imminent, though the ship’s fire-suppression systems would kick in before long and subdue the worst of it. In the meantime, the aliens had made good their escape.
And then the door opened. Security guards filled the room, and Spidey did the only thing he could--he sprang back up into the Jefferies tubes, which had been left open, and made a break for it. He heard the order to “fan out” given below him, and listened for signs of pursuit. He didn’t even hear so much as mention of The Tinkerer or his colleagues.
What did they do? Vanish into thin air?
More than once his spider-sense alerted him to nearby security officers as he made his way back to his quarters. This was not a game Captain Picard was playing with him. No. Picard wanted him apprehended at all cost. Nonetheless, he made it back with minimal incident, changed again and rushed back to Doctor Cobbwell’s, past armed contingents as they marched through the corridors to find him. It twisted his stomach in knots to see the lengths they were going to, and to know it was all for him. He knew they’d stand down in a day or two, but it made him uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, a strange spacecraft streaked away from the Enterprise.
“Safe at last! Press the button which will destroy all our spy devices by remote control!”
“It is done! We can never again return to the Enterprise--they will be on guard from this day on!”
And, back at the laboratory of Doctor Cobbwell…
I’ve reexamined the tricorder, Peter reflected, satisfied, and it’s perfectly normal now. No devices--no impulses--nothing! Here comes Doctor Cobbwell. He looks excited!
“My boy, I just saw the most startling sight! As I was returning from my lecture through the corridors, I could have sworn I saw a smaller vessel breaking away from us and warping out of here. I contacted the bridge, but they said they hadn’t detected anything. It was not of any type of design I’m familiar with--Klingon, Romulan…it made me nervous, to be sure. They say it might belong to that Spider-Man who’s been lurking about here and there. Do you know anything about him?”
Peter held his breath for just a moment before answering.
“Well, some say he’s a hero, some say he’s a troublemaker. Personally, I’d like to withhold judgement. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy. I mean, he hasn’t killed anybody. Captain Picard’s already made up his mind, and who am I to question orders? If I’m ever sent after him, well, I’ll do my best. In the meantime all I’m supposed to do is take pictures.”
“They’re saying he started a fire in The Tinkerer’s lab--and now The Tinkerer is gone!”
“Gone?” Peter decided to use this opportunity to gather information on that potentially recurring dangerous element.
“They can’t find him anywhere. They think Spider-Man may have abducted him for some sort of technological intelligence.”
Peter shook his head. “I doubt that very highly, Professor.”
The Professor chuckled. “Well, there’s nothing we can really do about any of that, is there? Let’s just get back to work.”
“Sure, Doc!”
Peter returned to the lab experiment, and pulled out the mask he’d taken off The Tinkerer as they struggled in the midst of the fire. It appeared The Tinkerer had been one of those aliens all along. He’d never be able to report it to a soul, but he’d definitely be on guard for their return.
When Flash Thompson got off duty, he sat in the middle of Ten-Forward with his security detail and sipped from a glass of synthale.
“I don’t get why we have to go after him,” he said of Spider-Man. “He’s not really dangerous. He’s saved people.”
“You mean like The Tinkerer?” cadet Jones laughed.
“Look, how do we know old Tinkerbell wasn’t mixed up in some bad business before Spidey showed up to sort it out? Anyway, I just know he’s got no reason to abduct anyone. If anybody can handle himself, it’s Spider-Man.”
“Yeah, but Flash, if Captain Picard doesn’t even believe that the guy’s innocent, how can you? I say if he’s such a good guy he should turn himself in, maybe even offer to serve instead of sneaking around like he’s got something to hide. Maybe take that mask off and show us who he is!”
Flash shook his head vehemently. “It doesn’t work like that. I get it. He liked to be noticed, and he deserves it.”
“Okay, whatever.”
The conversation went far differently elsewhere. Captain Picard sat in his ready room, fuming over this most distressing loss. The Tinkerer had been an excellent quartermaster. A bit eccentric, but he could repair anything.
Picard broke from his reflections to feed his fish. As he was getting up, the door chime went off.
“Come,” he called.
Counselor Troi entered, a somewhat amused expression coloring her exotic features. He continued to feed his fish, absently aware that there must have been something important she wanted to discuss.
“Captain, I get the impression that this situation is upsetting you.”
He looked at her askance. “I would have expected that was obvious, Counselor.”
“Yes,” she said, “but I can see that you’re taking this situation a bit more personally than I would have expected.”
After he’d sprinkled enough food into the tank, he put the canister down and retreated to his desk.
“This…Spider-Man…thinks he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. It stops here, Counselor. How do I explain to the Admiralty how I’ve lost an officer without so much as a clue to the whereabouts of the abductor? When I know what he looks like, what he’s called?”
“You know what he looks like in his mask, Captain, but you have no idea as to what he looks like underneath. He might turn out to be a Klingon, a Bolian, a Romulan…put simply, Captain, I believe you’re being too hard on yourself.”
She walked closer, placing her hands on the back of the chair across from him.
“Whatever you’re feeling, it would be best to let it go. Your focus is suffering. I can sense that.”
“I will not let go of this, Counselor. I can’t.” Picard stated stiffly.
“It’s your decision, of course. If you want to talk about it, I’ll be available.”
“Yes, thank you, Counselor.”
It was said as a dismissal, and Troi departed the ready room slowly, looking back once as she crossed the threshhold of the door. Her captain was lost in thought. He’d risen and turned to look out at the expanse of stars streaking by through his window. It wasn’t easy, losing an officer. Responsibility came with a heavy price indeed.
The rest of the day flew by for Peter. More than half of it had already been blown by his little adventure, and the rest was fun, as he worked closely with the Professor and completed a couple simple experiments. The two of them talked theory for a while before the Professor retired, and then Peter returned to his quarters to reflect on the day’s events.
As usual, his thoughts turned to the dangers of continuing his adventures as Spider-Man. Doubtless he would be the subject of countless discussions at command level, and his name was probably already being bandied about Starfleet Command. He’d made a name for himself without ever revealing his name. It felt good. It felt terrible.
The following day Doctor Cobbwell departed the Enterprise, diembarking at Starbase thirty-one to await his next ride, his next assignment. He’d no doubt be aboard another starship soon, teaching bright young students and delivering lectures on everything from particle physics to amphibian metabolic processes.
Peter, in the meantime, enjoyed the attention it brought him.
“Looks like you and me are the new teacher’s pets around here, eh Pete?” Wesley said as they headed down the corridor toward Ten-Forward.
“Yeah, sure, Wes. We sure are. The question is, what does it mean for our futures?”
“Well it means we have futures, that’s for sure. I wish I could be a cadet like you. You’re so young to be in Starfleet.”
“I have a feeling your star is on the rise too,” Peter assured him. As they entered Ten-Forward, he was aware of Flash Thompson across the room, laughing at both of them and joking about what “bookworms” they both were. Wesley hung out with Flash here and there, but Flash was quickly learning that Wes was just like Peter.
Peter couldn’t help but wonder what their similarities would lead to down the line. If their destinies were intertwined, or completely separate. Only time would tell.
