Galileo 7: who stays behind?

[Warped9]

While reviewing "The Galileo Seven" a thought occurred to me. Up to a certain point it's reasoned that in all likelihood at least one person is going to have to be left behind. And on this point Spock asserts that as the one in command he'll make the logical choice and logically arrived at.

Now circumstances unfolded such that no one was left behind because partly because two of the crew had already been killed. But if things hadn't played out that way, if their initial plan needed to be acted upon then the question arises...

Who is the one to be left behind? Which one of them would Spock's logic consider the most likely candidate?

I'll turn this on its head for a second and offer up that I think Scotty is the least likely one to be left behind simply because not only does he know how to pilot the shuttlecraft but also because he has the greatest expertise in keeping it aloft.


Anyone else?

 

[CoveTom]

Seems to me that, logically, you'd ask two questions. First, who is absolutely essential to have on board the shuttlecraft in order to have the best chance of it reaching the Enterprise? Second, of those who can be left behind based on the answer to the first question, who has the best chance of surviving on the planet's surface until the shuttle can get back to the Enterprise and mount a rescue?

Presumably, Spock would consider himself and Scotty to be the only essential on board the shuttle. They were the only two involved in its repair, and they have the greatest relevant scientific and engineering knowledge.

Of the remaining ones, who would have the best chance of survival? That's hard to say, since McCoy is the only character we know anything about. However, given that he is a doctor, not a combat officer, and probably not as skilled in weapons and tactics as other officers, I'd probably rule him out. And I'd probably rule out the yeoman too, by virtue of her being a yeoman.

That leaves three others, and I really have no clue who among them would be the "best" choice.

 

[Timo]

If Spock reasoned that the three castaways would have reasonable chances of survival until rescue was mounted, his logical choice should probably have been to leave everybody behind but the one pilot. That way, the shuttle has the best possible odds of finding help.

And if it does fail, the people onboard will assuredly be quickly killed - while if the surface party has even slim chances of surviving until rescue arrives, it is likely to have those same slim chances of surviving for years, and of founding a thriving colony with little Mears lookalikes playing at the feet of Grandpa McCoy. After all, the planet was perfectly habitable, and supported a population of humanoids, even if the crash took place at a rather inhospitable part of the planet.

That Spock considered only leaving the minimum number of three people out of seven behind, and taking at least two "ballast" members aboard the shuttle, is probably thus an indication that the persons left behind stand absolutely no chance at all and will be dead within minutes, regardless of their qualifications. Spock's logical choice would then involve simply deciding who will live and who will die.

Although why Spock would divine that the chances of surface survival were zero when he had not yet even encountered the hostile locals and McCoy had given a favorable environmental report is beyond me. No doubt Spock's actual decision regarding leaving people behind would have been formulated using the best data at hand, and might not have involved leaving three people behind after all. Spock never says he wouldn't consider leaving everybody but the pilot behind; the plot thickens before Spock has time to explicate his intentions.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Pauln6]

If Spock reasoned that the three castaways would have reasonable chances of survival until rescue was mounted, his logical choice should probably have been to leave everybody behind but the one pilot. That way, the shuttle has the best possible odds of finding help.

And if it does fail, the people onboard will assuredly be quickly killed - while if the surface party has even slim chances of surviving until rescue arrives, it is likely to have those same slim chances of surviving for years, and of founding a thriving colony with little Mears lookalikes playing at the feet of Grandpa McCoy. After all, the planet was perfectly habitable, and supported a population of humanoids, even if the crash took place at a rather inhospitable part of the planet.

That Spock considered only leaving the minimum number of three people out of seven behind, and taking at least two "ballast" members aboard the shuttle, is probably thus an indication that the persons left behind stand absolutely no chance at all and will be dead within minutes, regardless of their qualifications. Spock's logical choice would then involve simply deciding who will live and who will die.

Although why Spock would divine that the chances of surface survival were zero when he had not yet even encountered the hostile locals and McCoy had given a favorable environmental report is beyond me. No doubt Spock's actual decision regarding leaving people behind would have been formulated using the best data at hand, and might not have involved leaving three people behind after all. Spock never says he wouldn't consider leaving everybody but the pilot behind; the plot thickens before Spock has time to explicate his intentions.

Timo Saloniemi

Interesting points. Once the shuttle is mobile, moving it to a more hospitable area near food and water would have been a viable option. They have an insulated shelter, supplies (or a simple protein synthesiser) on board, tricorders to locate more food etc. I don't think it's so obvious that their chances of survival were so slim.

What's nice about the episode though is that it manages to get across that space is vast and that a lost ship has a very slim chance of being found quickly if at all (much like Aliens). Having said that, although he's no Uhura, I would have thought that cobbling together an improved subspace distress signal was within Scotty's ability. Spock managed to build functional communcations devices with far less resources in other episodes.

 

[BillJ]

Mr. Boma, teach him to piss off the mission commander.

 

[Warped9]

I must admit I hadn't considered that Spock could reason that most of them would remain behind and thus give a minimum crew a better chance of getting the shuttlecraft out of orbit.

The thing about Spock was I suspect everyone around him expected him to choose the least valuable member of the crew to remain behind if things had played out as they originally planned. Yet I really think that if it had come out that way then Spock would have elected for himself to remain behind because he'd reason he was more likely and suited to endure surviving there if the rest escaped and could possibly send back help. In their minds Spock's logic would probably reason that his choice would be based on who were the most valued assets to Starfleet whereas I suspect Spock would be thinking who logically had the best chance for survival on the planet surface.

The one guy I think Spock would demand having to be aboard when the shuttlecraft could take off would be Scotty because he could pilot the craft as well as know best how to keep it going.

 

[Timo]

Actually, we were never explicitly told that Scotty could pilot shuttles - not even in TAS.

Then again, if both Kirk and Commodores Decker and Mendez can do it easily enough, and even the alien Lokai gets the crate going, there might not be much trick to it. But if flying through the dangerous Murasaki region calls for special piloting skills, then we might have to consider Spock again: he felt himself to be exceptionally qualified in "Immunity Syndrome", after all.

I would have thought that cobbling together an improved subspace distress signal was within Scotty's ability.

In this respect, too, the Murasaki effect might call for special arrangements that just weren't available to our castaways. We might even argue that subspace communications are right out as a theoretical possibility, because even Uhura with her starship-quality resources only got them working on short range, and the castaways would be thinking rescue would only be available across fairly long ranges.

If Spock really had to split the crew in two to get the shuttle flying, I guess he would face such still resistance that he'd quickly cave in and instead proceed with the second most logical alternative - setting up a local survival center much like Paul6 suggested, making use of the shuttle. Humans don't like giving up hope, but they are suckers for postponing the inevitable, so that would probably go down pretty well with the survivors.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Pauln6]

In this respect, too, the Murasaki effect might call for special arrangements that just weren't available to our castaways. We might even argue that subspace communications are right out as a theoretical possibility, because even Uhura with her starship-quality resources only got them working on short range, and the castaways would be thinking rescue would only be available across fairly long ranges.

If Spock really had to split the crew in two to get the shuttle flying, I guess he would face such still resistance that he'd quickly cave in and instead proceed with the second most logical alternative - setting up a local survival center much like Paul6 suggested, making use of the shuttle. Humans don't like giving up hope, but they are suckers for postponing the inevitable, so that would probably go down pretty well with the survivors.

Timo Saloniemi

Ah right - I was forgetting the communications problems caused by the effect.

Spock would have been fine setting up shop on the planet. Logic clearly dictates that he's likely to bump into his future self in a cave after all.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Spock would've remained on the planet, along with the Yeoman and probably Boma. He'd find a logical reason, and make it stick.

 

[Danny99]

Mr. Boma, teach him to piss off the mission commander.

Something tells me that he would claw and fight his way back onto that shuttle.

What was McCoy doing on this mission anyways? I know in the writing sense, he was there for his conflict with Spock, but in the Trek universe, what was he doing there?

Same with the two that got killed: Latimer and Gaetano. Were they specialists in some field?

 

[Ssosmcin]

I agree, Spock would have probably stayed behind. Imagine the shuttlecraft landing and he's sitting there with his feet on the console - alone. "I knew the extra weight was holding us back!"

Scotty would go, because if something went wrong, he would be the guy to fix it. Yeoman Mears is the lightest, so she'd be allowed to stay on. That leaves McCoy and Boma, and because of the other two deaths, only two people would have to remain. I'd say "heaviest guy stays." Probably Boma, since McCoy is a twig.

Boma: "Wait, I gotta crap, wait a sec..."
Bones: "That's only 2 pounds."
Boma: "Heh, you think so?"

 

[Merky]

What was McCoy doing on this mission anyways? I know in the writing sense, he was there for his conflict with Spock, but in the Trek universe, what was he doing there?

What is McCoy doing on 98% of the missions? His character is completely useless on majority of all the away missions other than to be a character development device for Kirk and Spock. Same could also be applied to why the two senior most officers on board the ship are always the one going on away missions when it's most logical for one to stay on board.

Anyway, from what I got out of that episode, Spock was looking at it as weight. That was the whole argument; weight needed to be removed in order to make the ship lighter. Spock was willing to sacrifice three officers rather than dump the equipment off of the ship.

If I approached it from that angle that I assume Spock was approaching it from, the three officers that would weigh the most would be the ones off of the shuttle craft. It did not seem as if he was taking into consideration skill level, more like he was looking at it from an aspect of a way to get that shuttle off of the planet and save whomever they could...


... and if there's a possibility, return to the planet and save whatever remaining life as I recall it's not the Vulcan way of seemingly throwing away a life.

 

[Nero's Shadow]

I think mr Spock would stay behind with mcoy there chances of survival would be better with Spock logical thinking mind McCoy would be useful on how to survive on the planet what plants to eat and if Spock or McCoy get hurt there chances would again be helped with both there experaince

 

[Pauln6]

It's easy to forget that the Enterprise carries out lots of research. Most likely the shuttle was full of experiments, including biology experiments, that McCoy would have overseen. The presence of a yeoman or a security guard is more questionable - any one of the away team can record the mission logs on a tricorder and what security do they need on a shuttle? Having said that, it's possible that Mears was trained in something relevant to the mission. Maybe she was qualified to oversee a variety of the experiments, sort of a general lab assistant, although I would have thought someone assigned to the science department, whether a yeoman or not, would have been better suited.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I think the yeoman is there simply to assist in compiling the data collected. Therefore, she's extraneous, and logically she and Spock would remain behind. With Ensign Ricky, if he's still alive.

 

[jayrath]

Speaking from a purely logical standpoint, all the officers would be saved, including the chief medical officer. Starfleet has invested more training in them.

From there it would get down to who has families, who is an only child, etc., same as when the U.S. had the draft. If you're single, a crewman and you have siblings -- welcome to the planet.

 

[Hambone]

Speaking from a purely logical standpoint, all the officers would be saved, including the chief medical officer. Starfleet has invested more training in them.

Whatever happened to the Captain "going down with his ship"? Spock would have learned this by serving under Kirk, who always put the safety of the ship and crew before himself.

If it had come to the point where someone was actually left behind, the "logical" choice would be Spock. He wouldn't have had it any other way. He is, to quote the M-5 computer, "Non-Essential Personnel".

 

[T'Girl]

Logically, excepting Scotty, you leave the two heaviest people behind.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Logically, excepting Scotty, you leave the two heaviest people behind.

20 years later and, engineer or not, he'd be first pick.

 

[Timo]

What was McCoy doing on this mission anyways? I know in the writing sense, he was there for his conflict with Spock, but in the Trek universe, what was he doing there?

Same with the two that got killed: Latimer and Gaetano. Were they specialists in some field?

Let's remember what the mission was all about in the first place. The shuttle was to investigate the Murasaki mini-quasar; Boma was clearly a specialist in such phenomena as evidenced by his first line being a piece of advice on the subject for Spock! If the quasarlet was the sole target of the study, then Gaetano and Latimer would probably be specialists in related fields, too.

Then again, Latimer flies the shuttle, despite many of our main heroes being present, suggesting that he's better at it than said heroes and possibly a dedicated pilot. Would go well with his gold uniform. And Gaetano never contributes anything scientific. But if he were a scientist first and soldier second, it would be rather natural for him to be insubordinate the way he later is. You can't be a good scientist if you yield to authority.

So perhaps we have a quasarlet study team of Spock, Boma and Gaetano, with Latimer pulling double duty. We never learn whether Mears was just a "stupid" clerk or perhaps a science specialist as well - many of those have worn red in other TOS episodes.

McCoy could be there to investigate the health effects; as said, he always tags along, so perhaps there's a standing Starfleet order for always having a medic in the team, and important missions get the top medic.

It's actually Scotty whose presence is a mystery here. What need would there be for an engineer when no other TOS shuttle sortie ever features one?

Of course, we can also argue that our heroes knew of the four solar systems engulfed by the quasarlet, and McCoy and Scotty were there to evaluate the potential of these planets for exploitation (chiefly, setting up an observation post - is it feasible in the engineering sense, and can observers survive there?).

Timo Saloniemi