| abstract | - Another species encountered was the Humpback whale of Earth. In the year 2286, the probe returned to Earth to try and re-establish contact with the Humpbacks but they had been driven to extinction in the early 21st century. When it received no answer, it began to vaporize Earth's oceans. Realizing that the only way to stop the probe was to answer it, Admiral James T. Kirk of the HMS Bounty traveled back in time to 1986 and retrieved a pair of Humpbacks; George and Gracie, to respond to the Probe. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) A year later, the crew of the USS Enterprise-A, under the command of newly demoted Captain Kirk, encountered the Probe again during a joint Federation-Romulan archaeological expedition. The two parties were able to open a dialog with the Probe, which had been uninterested in humanoid life - seeing them as "mites." Spock was able to determine that the Probe was missing large portions of its memory due to an encounter with a group of aliens - possibly the Borg - and that these aliens were responsible for the disappearance of those who created the probe in the first place. Due to this dialog, the Probe learned that if it sent out transmissions too loudly, it would damage humanoid technology. (TOS novel: Probe)
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