Review – Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before
Gerbil? Yeah. Really.
Background
In response to a prompt about comedy, the idea of fraternity-style hijinks and an all-out prank war gave rise to this silly story.
Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before
Adding to the fun is the fact that the cover comes from a screenshot of Tripp Tucker‘s quarters in the final episode of the series.
These really are his Star Trek: Enterprise canon belongings. Hence the cover and the image mesh perfectly with the action on the page (although that’s actually an armadillo).
Plot
Deb and Chip are alone in his quarters. This is her first time staying overnight. Aidan is in Sick Bay, but it’s nothing serious. Chip has a romantic evening in mind, when Deb finds … Stella.
Stella is a stuffed toy. And so Chip needs to come clean about how and why he’s got Stella (who does not belong to him). Therefore, he begins to tell a story about the early days of the NX program. This was when there was an engineering competition to perfect an incredibly dull but necessary piece of canon equipment, inertial dampers. So a big part of the plot hinges on silly things happening when people are supposed to be ultra-serious.
Story Postings
- Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before – original post
- Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before on Fanfiction.net
- Also, Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before on Fictionpad
- Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before on the Delphic Expanse
- In addition, Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before on the G & T Show Forums
- Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before on Wattpad
- Where No Gerbil Has Gone Before in context
Rating
The Story is Rated K.
Upshot
I enjoyed writing this story a great deal, and apparently my peers enjoyed reading it. Because I won the monthly challenge! I really like it. This includes how it dovetails with canon personnel, its shout outs to Worcester Polytechnical Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts (a place I have visited several times), and its neat fit into my own fan fiction. Because the story is silly, it covers up a few more difficult issues. These include Aidan being in sickbay, and Emory Erickson reminiscing about Quinn. However, it also works as a means of getting people onto the ship who do not originally belong there. Chip in particular gets a good explanation of why he’s there in the first place.
