Horta
From Hidden Frontier
The Horta is a silicon-based life-form from Janus VI. It is composed of a material similiar to fibrous asbestos.
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Physiology
Horta physiology is very different from the carbon-based norm more commonly found in the galaxy. Horta are hard to find with tricorders, and are invulnerable to phaser I, though they can be injured with an adjusted phaser II. They feed on rock, and thus they are nourished just by tunneling. Horta tunnel through rock like most humanoids walk through air, moving with the aid of an extremely corrosive acid. They leave perfectly round tunnels in their wake. This acid is so corrosive that it only leaves fragments of bone and teeth if used on a human.
The Horta species lives a very cyclical life cycle. Every 50,000 years all of the Horta die out bar one, the so-called mother Horta, who then watches the eggs until they hatch and mothers and protects them. Horta eggs resemble spheres, and they seem to mostly consist of silicon, aside from a few trace elements. They are stored in the Vault of Tomorrow in the Chamber of the Ages.
First Contact
It was in the midst of one of these temporary phases of extinction that the Federation colonized Janus VI around 2210. The mother Horta tolerated the Federation presence up until the miners established a new, lower level in 2267 where they first encountered Horta eggs. Thinking them nothing more than a ball of useless silicon, the miners' automated equipment destroyed thousands of them. The mother Horta retaliated by carrying out actions of sabotage and murder against the Janus VI colony.
It was only when Commander Spock of the USS Enterprise, called in to catch the dangerous "creature", mind-melded with the mother Horta that he was able to determine that the Horta was actually an intelligent life-form. In fact, before the discovery of the Horta, silicon-based life had been thought a fantasy by Federation scientists.
The mother Horta reached an accord with the miners, who were distressed at the destruction they had caused. The miners would leave the Horta alone on the lower levels once they began hatching, while the Horta would use their abilities to locate and construct access to choice mineral deposits for the miners. Just as the Enterprise departed the planet, the first baby Horta hatched and began tunneling like crazy. ("The Devil in the Dark," TOS)
Federation Membership
After decades of cooperation on Janus VI, the Horta successfully petitioned to join the Federation, and some number of Horta joined Starfleet, most specializing in xenogeology. Their physiology is well-suited to exploration of planets hostile to humanoid lifeforms. Horta can survive for limited periods of time in the vacuum of space and underwater, and for extended periods of time in oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres.
Since they cannot communicate verbally, Horta depend on telepathic translators to interact with other beings. Starfleet Academy trains telepaths in interpreting for non-verbal sentient species.
See Also
"Dancing in the Dark" ; Myra Elbrey ; Tolian Naros ; Pergium (mineral) ; Lieutenant Pergium
This article incorporates material from Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
