2020

Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in Unification III (Image courtesy CBS / Netflix. All rights reserved)

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“Unification III” is the 7th episode of the 3rd season of the TV show “Star Trek: Discovery” and follows “Scavengers”.

The discoveries on the Burn obtained thanks to the information gathered by Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) offer some more information on its origin. However, to make a real leap forward in the research into its causes, it’s necessary to obtain the data jealously guarded on the planet Ni’Var, formerly known as Vulcan. Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) has a tough decision to make.

The Portfjeld Formation and some of the microfossils found in that area

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An article published in the journal “Communications Biology” reports a study on microfossils with an age of up to 570 million years discovered in present-day Greenland. A team of researchers led by paleontologist Sebastian Willman of the University of Uppsala, Sweden, examined these microfossils, which have characteristics that suggest they may be animal eggs and embryos. They show similarities with other microfossils discovered in the Doushantuo Formation, in China, with an age close to 600 million years. This means that they were organisms that in such an ancient era were widespread all over the world and could be the remains of the first animals.

The Brains of Earth aka Nopalgarth by Jack Vance

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The novel “The Brains of Earth”, also published as “Nopalgarth”, by Jack Vance was published for the first time in 1966.

Paul Burke’s life changes when he receives an envelope containing a metal disk that floats in the air. When he receives a phone call from the sender, he ends up involved in an interstellar affair with an encounter with an alien named Pttdu Apiptix. L’alieno transports him to the planet Ixax to obtain his help to end a war that devastated his planet for a century.

Pttdu Apiptix explains to Paul Burke that the terrible war ravaged Ixax after the discovery that the inhabitants were infested with psychic parasites they called Nopals and that they also infest humans. To detach the Nopals from someone it’s necessary to use a machine that causes excruciating pain and the treatment must be repeated every month to prevent the parasite from re-attaching. Burke must find a way to subject humans to the same treatment or they will be exterminated.

Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) in Scavengers (Image courtesy CBS / Netflix. All rights reserved)

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“Scavengers” is the 6th episode of the 3rd season of the TV show “Star Trek: Discovery” and follows “Die Trying”.

The USS Discovery has been updated with new systems that take advantage of the technologies available in the 32nd century, and the crew is ready to leave for a new mission at any moment. Book’s (David Ajala) starship arrives, but only Grudge is on board, along with a message regarding the discovery of information about the Burn. Despite the orders, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) decides to go investigate, and Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) goes with her.

The Forgotten Son by Andy Frankham-Allen

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The novel “The Forgotten Son” by Andy Frankham-Allen was published for the first time in 2015. It was republished in a revised special edition in 2019.

Colonel Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart is still trying to get used to the idea that aliens exist and that an alien force attacked London. The invasion attempt failed, and now the main problem seems to be managing the return of the inhabitants who were evacuated in a hurry. The biggest complication seems to be his private life.

In the village of Bledoe, what seem like buried memories of events dating back thirty years begin to resurface. Mary feels the urge to return to the village where she spent years, until she and her son Alistair moved, after her husband was officially declared missing in action during World War II. Owain, a boy from Bledoe, starts having visions of what looks like a ghost.