Star Trek 'Runaway' Trailer Teases a Spooky Discovery Short Story

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Cadet Tilly is on the case when something mysterious invades the Discovery in a spooky new teaser for the Star Trek short film "Runaway." The new story is one of four Trek short films coming up from CBS All Access ahead of season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery.

CBS recently released synopses for the quartet of "Short Trek" films, each of which is expected to run 10-15 minutes. One of the shorts sees the return of Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd, the notorious con man and escape artist from TOS who re-emerged on season 1 of Discovery. Another short will explore the back story of Kelpien Starfleet officer Saru (Doug Jones). A third short stars Aldis Hodge (Leverage) as a new character named Craft, a man who finds himself stranded on a deserted ship.

The fourth of CBS All Access’s Short Trek films, and the first to debut, features the return of a fan favorite character from season 1 of Discovery. In the short, Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) develops an unlikely friendship with a strange new visitor to the Discovery. A trailer for the episode, entitled "Runaway," sets up the scenario which plays out like something from an M. Night Shyamalan movie. See the clip below:

In the clip, Tilly is doing some work in the mess hall while enjoying a beverage when suddenly a mysterious blurry something rushes through the room. An intrigued Tilly goes to investigate and finds some kind of orange goo spattered on the floor. Then things suddenly go haywire, as if the ship has been invaded by a Poltergeist. But the new visitor isn’t a ghost at all, it’s some kind of alien who apparently is able to cloak herself.

Though it looks like Tilly and the Discovery are in a lot of trouble with the arrival of this new, disruptive alien, the synopsis indicates that Tilly and the visitor actually become friends. So clearly Tilly must make contact with the alien and somehow communicate with her. The episode title “Runaway” likely gives a hint about what happened to the alien and why she's running around on a starship. Given Tilly’s own status as something of a socially awkward loner, it makes sense that she would befriend the new arrival on the ship.

With the short running only 10-15 minutes long, it’s likely there won’t be a lot to the story beyond the relationship between Tilly and the visitor. However, previous remarks from showrunner Alex Kurtzman indicated that "Short Trek" stories would reveal clues about what’s to come in future Star Trek: Discovery episodes, so that’s something for fans to watch out for. Star Trek’s first short film "Runaway" debuts on CBS All Access on October 4th, 2018.

Star Trek: Discovery release date: Sep 27, 2018