From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: ryon@dslnorthwest.net   
   Subject: Re: More Holes To Plug   
      
   On Apr 2, 8:34aam, "GeneK"  wrote:   
   > "Ron"  wrote   
   >   
   > >So--- the Iotians would have to use radar or some form of it. That   
   > >would require a big dish pointed at the skies, 24/7, manned constantly   
   > >by a race of people dedicated to playing gangsters. Does that sound   
   > >logical?   
   >   
   > I was thinking more along the lines of the Horizon leaving whoever their   
   contact   
   > at the time on the planet was some sort of "black box" device that would   
   beep at   
   > the approach of another vessel from their :"outfit" and enable communication.   
   Hmmm... Kirk says it took the Horizon's report a hundred years to be   
   received... That's a hundred light-years from Earth. Hell, that's   
   pretty far out, and at the time of the Horizon-- and presumably the   
   NX01 Enterprise-- warp 5 was the maximum. Did the Horizon crew know   
   that only a few new ships were maxing at warp 5 or so? Maybe, but   
   whether they did or didn't, it was very improbable another ship would   
   come tat ar again unless Iotia offered something that couldn't be   
   found closer to home. The Enterprise wouldn't have been there if   
   Starfleet hadn't received a century old signal and was curious as to   
   what happened to the Horizon. So I don't think it too likely the   
   Horizon crew was expecting follow-ups anytime soon-- if at all. There   
   wouldn't be any point to a follow-up visit.   
   I think more likely, the director had gotten a slick idea and didn't   
   stop to think it through much the same way in STIII Kahn remembers   
   meeting Chekov when Chekov wasn't even around--  ;-)   
   Ron   
   > It would have been sheer dumb luck that 100 years later Federation starships   
   are   
   > still using compatible transponder and com frequencies, or perhaps they were   
   > aware that the Horizon had left such devices on planets where they made   
   contacts   
   > (since their mission was specifically to visit the planet and see what the   
   > Horizon's visit might have done to it) and were scanning the appropriate   
   bands.   
   >   
   > But yes, in the absence of the above, the Iotians had based an entire global   
   > society on what they had "learned" from visiting aliens. aIt sounds perfectly   
   > logical to me that every "boss" on the planet would have a hotline to his own   
   > manned observatory watching the heavens in hope of beating all of his rivals   
   to   
   > the next alien visitor and whatever new "heaters" they might have invented   
   since   
   > the Horizon had visited.   
   >   
   > GeneK   
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