Orion Archives 2288: The Plumber's Helper

Zine
Title:	Orion Archives 2288: The Plumber's Helper
Publisher:	Orion Press
Editor:
Author(s):	Jim Ausfahl
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	2002
Medium:	print zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:	cited here, online link
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front cover

Orion Archives 2288: The Plumber's Helper is a Star Trek: TOS gen or het 116-page novel by Jim Ausfahl. It was later reissued in Orion Archives: 2285-2293 The Third Mission.

Reactions and Reviews

While escorting a mother-daughter pair of engineers to assist with a sanitation breakdown on a colony on Gamma Virginis, Enterprise diverts to rescue a hibernating survivor (Giacomo Eletto) from a derelict NASA Jovian Platform. The platform turns out to have been sabotaged at the start of WWIII. Since the colony turns out to have an odd medical problem - a parasite that gets by the filtration, and whose victims die if treated - McCoy is called into action. McCoy quickly recruits Giacomo, who was an M.D., into Sickbay service. Giacomo turns out to be an ancestor of McCoy's. He is also an expert tracker due to his Cherokee heritage, and routs the colony's saboteur by sneaking into the compound on a handy-dandy buffalo. The saboteur turns out to have been well-meaning; the parasites are genetically engineered and can repair damaged tissue. A pleasant read, but far too many coincidences, and not up to Ausfahl's better short stories. Best bit was the medical tutorial -"Beat the Reaper" - in which the program has access to the trainee when the trainee has access to the program, and pops up at all hours with a victim's life counting down.