Personal log, Donald Varley

The Personal log of Donald Varley was recorded during his service aboard the USS Yamato. Several entries were made in 2365. They were later reviewed by Captain Jean-Luc Picard where his search parameter was limited to entries containing the words "Romulan" and "Iconia". 

Entries
Stardate 42592.72 &bull; 17:16:02-17:16:37:
 * "Personal log. It was kind of Dr. Ramsey to allow me to carry away my own little piece of legend from the archaeological dig on Denius III. My engineers have examined it, but are completely baffled by its technology. What was its purpose? I'm like a caveman confronted by a tricorder. I'm certain this device is Iconian, but how far had it traveled before it was abandoned on this alien world?"

Stardate 42605.57 &bull; 13:40:22-13:40:42:
 * "Personal log. A galactic Rosetta Stone. The starfields on the artifact were unintelligible until I took into account two hundred millennia of stellar drift. After that it was easy to pinpoint Iconia."

Stardate 42607.33 &bull; 07:55:20-07:55:25 / Stardate 42607.95 &bull; 22:48:30-22:48:39:
 * "My first officer is questioning the wisdom of my order to violate the Neutral Zone, but I am convinced that I've taken the only proper course. Should this advanced technology fall into the hands of the Romulans, we might as well dock our ships and defend ourselves with sticks."

Stardate 42607.33 &bull; 07:55:53-07:55:58:
 * "Personal log. We've been spotted by a Romulan cruiser, but after playing hide and seek through several solar systems, I think I've managed to elude them."

Stardate 42607.95 &bull; 22:48:27-22:48:33:
 * "The Iconian probe scan – was it an attempt at communication? If only I knew what we were dealing with here."

Stardate 42609.01 &bull; 00:14:08-00:14:24 / Stardate 42608.29 &bull; 06:58:01-06:58:09:
 * "Personal log. I am unable to send an away team to the surface of Iconia, nor can I scan the energy source on the planet because of these maddening system failures. It's infuriating to be stopped at the threshold of a dream by one's own ship. We are leaving orbit to rendezvous with Picard. If his people can't help us repair the Yamato, I must convince him to continue this exploration. The future well-being of the Federation may well depend upon it."

Background
While Picard requested "Captain Donald Varley's personal log," the computer display read "Access File &bull; Captain's Log &bull; USS Yamato &bull; NCC 71807" and included entries from Commander Steven Gerber and Lieutenant Commander Beth Woods.

The same graphic was later used in, albeit distorted, to depict the log salvaged from the El-Baz.

Osobní deník - Donald Varley