Steve Corey, a NASA astronaut, is tapped to join the Apollo program, though his mission doesn’t launch for another two years. 2261—The Enterprise is the first starship to explore Hinrichs V. A landing party traces strange readings to an ancient Earth circuit board and a child’s drawing. When contact with the team is lost, Spock beams down and rescues them from an exotic and dangerous life-form that shares most of its DNA with humans. They discover that all life on the planet is rapidly evolving and capture the creature for further study. Removed from the planet’s ecosphere, the beast reverts to his original human form—Steve Corey—who reveals his backstory: the Apollo program also involved the construction and use of a secret deep-space launch base on the far side of Earth’s moon. Steve was