An unholy screeching filled the circular communications suite. The ear-bleeding union between a thousand sharpened nails being drawn down a gigantic chalkboard and a banshee’s scream bounced around the small room’s rounded walls and shook the bones of the assembled officers.

“That’s what it sounds like!” Log shouted, cupping his hands round his mouth in an effort to overcome the high-pitched wail. He offered the lieutenant a broad smile with undeserved satisfaction at his contribution to the investigation of the mysterious feedback.

Nico’s eyes followed the Tellerite’s voice from inside his skull. “Alright, so where was this and when?” he enquired, trying not to smirk. He couldn’t help but admire the young man’s ability to mimic the sound he had heard.

Log motioned to the surrounding room, the high-pitched sound continuing to resonate throughout the deck plates and bulkheads.

“It’s sort of everywhere and…” Log paused, tilting his head slightly as he looked for the right descriptor. “… well, the timings don’t make much sense.”

The thin Tellerite ensign waved a hand over the nearby console, summoning a list of log entries that blinked restlessly. Alongside them, time indexes rolled in long numerical sequences, mapping the occurrences down to the nanosecond.

“I can’t see any sequence, common element or factor. Some are during the alpha shift, some in the dead of night. This cluster is all within a few minutes of each other. This one, more than forty-five minutes between bursts. The only thing they have in common is…” Log raised a stubby finger into the air.

The screaming sound stopped abruptly, leaving the room with a vast ocean of silence.

“They all only last precisely twenty-six point three seconds.”

Tellerites had more precise hearing than the Human ear; they were able to pick up mechanical noises at frequencies lower and higher than any other species, save a Ferengi. “Do you notice any metallic pings, or anything organic? Like a groan, moan…” Nico instructed the comms unit as he inserted his hearing device.

Repeating the section over and over against the subspace hum and noises of standard space. There was nothing out of the ordinary; it could be a stellar phenomenon, however, there was none on record.

“Curious….” Nico began to theorise, “The fact that it is so precisely controlled leads me to believe it is in fact organic in nature, so are we dealing with a Gekli pod, or something similar?”

Log’s eyes leapt into saucers; the thought of a biological interference hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“You don’t think it’s like a macrovirus or something? I read about those.” Log shuddered noticably as a vision of gigantic suckers clasped around his skull. “Or a cheese!”

Log rushed towards the toolkit and grabbed a tricorder, falling to his knees next to the panel.

“Crewman Morris is always eating that stinky stuff from the mess hall; there are crumbs everywhere. I’ve never heard of a planet called Bishop, and I couldn’t attest to their smell…” Log’s voice became muted as he leaned his upper body into the console’s base, the trilling of his tricorder mixed with the low grumble of his wandering mind.

“No, no, Mr. Log, that is not what I meant. Sometimes Lifeforms, like the Gekli came emit mating calls that are picked up by our ships and are often misconstrued by certain aspects. But, anything is possible, check for a macrovirus.” Nico encouraged. Who was he to rule it out?

“Sir, there are no residual biological signs. I would like to rule it out, perhaps we are dealing with another communication, or a large spatial anomaly,” said one of the team members.

Nico swivelled on his chair to face the member of the team. “So what could cause it? We need solutions, people. What do you think Mr. Log?”

The shuffling and grunting from inside the console ceased; only the high-pitched beeping of the tricorder continued.

“I don’t think it was the Gekli Lieutenant.” Log’s voice had turned into a dramatic whisper, hissing through the seams of the unit as his legs went still as a fallen marble statue.

Several seconds passed before Log’s upper body slowly slid free from the aperture, his stubby fingers extended forward, cupping something with a child’s wonder.

“I think we have a new crew member.” With slow movements, he offered the clasped hands towards Nico and lifted a sausage-like thumb, creating a tiny window into the dark makeshift container.

“What in the blooming hell is that?” Nico asked out loud, moving in close to examine the creature. It was bright pink and bouncing around. It seemed pretty solid, so not a changeling, but didn’t provide any other clues. Nico reached back, opening and closing his hand to motion for a Scientific Tricorder, which was available in the comms lab on one of the walls. Similar to a medical tricorder, it had the extra sensor piece, but was able to pick up extra things that the medical one could not.

“Hello Joe… I’m Nico, I’m your friend…” Nico said slowly as he began to scan the object… Moments later, the same shriek filled the room.

“I think it’s the source of the noise!” Log cried. “Over there in the kit is a box with something that might help!”

A nearby crewman began rifling through the deep toolbox, casting nonstandard tools left and right before lifting a small transparent box stacked with lustrous blue discs from the depths of the grey crate. The contents seemed to twinkle in the room’s bright lighting, offering twists of small, delicate sugar crystals. Atop it, a handwritten note sat in long, cursive handwriting, ‘Don’t eat all at once. Love Mum x.’

“Pass one to the Lieutenant.” Log nodded towards the crewman. “I hope he likes mudcakes.”

“What the heck in a handbasket!” Nico exclaimed he was waiting for an explanation. He was never one for science, but he felt the need to dissect this vivacious, noisy thing. “What is a Mudcake? I mean I used to make Mudpaddies back in Greece, but they were not edible….”

“It’s a thing my mum makes, sugar-topped pastries baked in a mud oven out the back of the house.” Log nodded towards the aperture in his closed hands, where Nico slid the small cake towards the shrieking creature. Abruptly as it had begun, the shrieking stopped, replaced by the sound of snuffling and chewing. “Looks like he’s a fan of home cooking.”

Log slid the top hand back slightly, allowing the light from the overhead lighting to illuminate the small creature better. Its sharp pink colour had settled into a more muted pastel whilst it chomped on the cookie with a small lipless mouth.

“Any ideas?”

“Protocol does dictate that we are to turn in a new species to the Medical Department for Quarantine and study. But this little thing…” as Nico began to mouth the words cute, it began shrieking again… “GET ME MY PHASER!”

Mercifully, the screeching abated as Log broke into a run and the comms lab settled once more into a peaceful silence, a trail of crumbs weaving its way down the corridor.