They enlist the help of Grang, a local from NGC 434, to guide them through the system, all while attempting to find the runaway mouse "Mickey" on the Enterprise.
At the time of the story, Enterprise is due to return for a shore leave from a prolonged mission. The crew is beginning to get upset and prone to an outbreak of space cafard—a disease that is contagious and often deadly. The supplies and food are running low. However, the ship is unexpectedly diverted, instructed to pick up emergency supplies and to head to a remote section of space where Captain Kirk is to follow secret orders.
The ship is ordered to go to the distant Horatius system populated by anti-Federationcolonists to check on a distress call. Upon arrival, the crew starts checking all three planets in the system. The first one, Neolithia, is the world free of modern technology and so low on development scale that its stone-age population is not even capable of sending a distress signal. The second one, Mythra, is a world populated by religious zealots and has normal radio-level technology, but denies sending a distress signal. Both planets, however, report attacks by mysterious "space raiders" who kidnap citizens and wreak havoc. Kirk decides to help, hopefully without breaking General Order Number One, and is joined by Grang, a resident of Neolithia.
The Enterprise heads towards the third planet in the system, Bavarya, which turns out to be a technologically advanced world with an unusually large population.
In the meantime, DoctorMcCoy is trying to prevent an outbreak of space cafard. Also, Sulu's pet rat, "Mickey", escapes, and is believed to be a possible carrier of bubonic plague.
This novel was the first original prose story written in the Star Trek universe, but it was not the first book published, as it was predated by the first episode novelization collection by James Blish. While this book was aimed primarily at children and young readers, the subsequent Spock Must Die! is the first ever Trek novel aimed at a general audience.
The german version of the book has been released in July 1970 while the original Series itself first aired in 1972 in Germany. As a result, the Novel contains multiple illustrations of the interiors and starships that have a different style than the actual series.
In 1999 Pocket Books published a facsimile edition of the book. Pocket Books editor John Ordover comment that they did the reprint "for fun", and had also noted that copies of the original were selling for high prices on the second hand market. (STreference: Voyages of Imagination)
To create the facsimile Pocket Books purchased one of two copies of the original owned by Dayton Ward.[1]
The facsimile is almost identical to the original: The text on the cover "AUTHORIZED EDITION" is moved slightly, and the book has a new copyright page, plus a one page introduction by John Ordover on what was originally a blank page.
The reprint edition was packaged in a slip-cover, promoting it as "The lost Star Trek novel".
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