The Adventures of the United Galactic Federation Starship Enterprise: Nick X

The United Galactic Federation Starship Enterprise, under the command of Captain Anakin Skywalker, takes charge of a young boy named Nick from the United Galactic Federation science vessel Antares. Captain Roger and his first officer, Lieutenant Commander Raymond, sing the praises of Nick. As a child he was the sole survivor of a transport ship that crashed on the planet Thavak. For fifteen years Nick grew up there alone, stranded in the wreckage, and only learned how to talk from the ship's computer systems that somehow remained intact. Nick is to be transported to his nearest living relatives on planet Alpha III. After dropping Nick off, Captain Roger and Lieutenant Commander Raymond bid the Enterprise an unusual and very hasty goodbye and quickly proceed on their way. On the Enterprise, Nick tells Dr. McDonald that the crew of the science ship didn't like him, and that he wants people to like him. Nick then proceeds to fall in love with Lieutenant Commander Laura. He pats her rump (which she objects to) and gives her a bottle of perfume, her favorite kind. Nick later meets Laura in the Recreation Room, where Commander Starzilla, the first officer, plays her electric guitar and sings. Nick is annoyed with Starzilla's performance as Laura is paying more attention to her than to Nick, so he causes her to abruptly (but temporarily) lose her voice. When the Antares is almost out of communications range, it starts to warn the Enterprise about something, then disintegrates. After the spontaneous destruction of the Antares, Nick makes the curious and sinister-sounding comment that "it wasn't very well constructed." Shortly thereafter, another strange event takes place when the cook reports that the synthetic meatloaf has been transformed into real turkeys!
Back at the Rec Room, Anakin manages to beat Starzilla at 3-D chess. Nick is intrigued by the game and tries to duplicate the feat. After losing, he causes the white chess pieces to melt, revealing that he has both a bad temper and rather scary telekinetic powers. Laura introduces Nick to Lieutenant Rachel, but Nick is only interested in Laura and brushes Rachel off. Anakin, doing his best to instill Nick with manly qualities, attempts to teach him how to fight using some curious mallet objects. When Anakin's training partner John laughs at one of Nick's falls, Nick makes him "go away." This demonstrates to Anakin and Starzilla that Nick has the power to manipulate matter. Anakin calls security guards to escort Nick to his quarters, but Nick objects and makes the two security guards disappear. Anakin suspects that Nick has been given the powers which legend ascribes to the ancient race of Thavakians and confronts Nick about it. Nick admits that he destroyed the Antares by making the warped baffle plate on the shield of the energy piling go away, but he says that the ship would have blown up on its own sooner or later, and regardless, "they weren't nice to me". When Nick discovers that Anakin plans to divert from Alpha III, he takes control of the Enterprise and members of the crew. Nick makes Starzilla recite poetry, turns Rachel into a lizard, and chases down Laura. When she resists his advances he gets angry and makes her disappear, saying "she wasn't nice to me". Nick tells everyone that he can make them all go away, anytime he wants to. Anakin and Starzilla attempt to trap Nick in a detention cell, but to no avail. Nick goes on a rampage, turning a young crew member into an old woman and removing the faces of other crew members who are laughing. Meanwhile, a Thavakian ship approaches the Enterprise. The Thavakian commander appears on the bridge, saying that they had given Nick his powers to help him to survive on their world, and that it would be too dangerous for Nick to live among humans. The Thavakians return Lieutenant Commander Laura and fix the messes Nick has made. They apologize to Anakin and promise to take Nick to live with them. Nick begs Anakin for forgiveness and pleads frantically with him to not let the aliens take him away, as the Thavakians didn't understand human emotional needs. When Nick does vanish, Anakin finally agrees it's for the best. After they find out that Nick had never been loved in his life, the crew mourn his loss.