Star Trek 1 (Novel)
| Series | Star Trek |
| Published by | Bantam Books |
| Next | Star Trek 2 (Blish02) |
| Written by | James Blish |
| Released | Jan 1967 |
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A chilling journey through worlds beyond imagination
Circling the solar sphere in search of new worlds and high adventure
Captain James Kirk — Assigned to the top position in Space Service — Starship Command — Kirk alone must make decisions in his contact with other worlds that can affect the future course of civilization throughout the Universe.
Science Officer Spock — Inheriting a precise, logical thinking pattern from his father, a native of the planet Vulcanis, Mr. Spock maintains a dangerous Earth trait… an intense curiosity about things of alien origin.
Yeoman Rand — Easily the most popular member of the crew, the truly "out-of-this-world" blonde has drawn the important assignment of secretary to the Captain on her first mission in deep space.
With a crew of 400 skilled specialists, the mammoth Space Ship Enterprise blasts off for intergalactic intrigue in the unexplored realms of outer space.
Based on the exciting new NBC-TV series created by Gene Roddenberry
Charlie's Law
Adapted from the episode "Charlie X."
Story by Gene Roddenberry
Teleplay by D.C. Fontana
Stardate 1533.6: A powerful teenage boy wreaks havoc aboard the Enterprise.
The cargo ship Antares docks with the Enterprise to deliver young Charlie Evans, the lone survivor of a crash on the planet Thasus 14 years earlier. The personnel of the Antares — Captain Ramart and his first officer and navigator, Tom Nellis — seem unusually eager to leave — and when the Antares is destroyed, suspicion falls on Charlie.
Aboard the Enterprise, Charlie begins to work "miracles." At first these are harmless pranks, kept in check by Captain Kirk, whom Charlie comes to regard as a father figure, but when Yeoman Rand spurns his advances, she is erased from existence. Several other ship personnel are victimized, and in his eagerness to arrive at Colony Alpha V, Charlie assumes control of the Enterprise.
In an attempt to tax Charlie's control abilities, Kirk switches on the starship's interior systems to their fullest extent. Then a shimmering alien face materializes on the Enterprise bridge and identifies itself as a Thasian, come to take Charlie back. Despite Charlie's pleas, he vanishes along with the alien, doomed to spend the rest of his life alone on the bleak planet Thasus.
Related Data
Dagger of the Mind
Adapted from the episode "Dagger of the Mind."
Written by S. Bar-David
Stardate 2715.1: A new treatment for the criminally insane has deadly results.
The Enterprise is delivering supplies to Tantalus V, a "progressive" penal colony directed by Dr. Tristan Adams. A Tantalus inmate escapes to the ship and demands asylum. An apparent raving madman, the patient is subdued and taken to sickbay. There, he is identified as Dr. Simon van Gelder, Dr. Adams' assistant.
Captain Kirk and ship's psychiatrist Dr. Helen Noel beam down to Tantalus to ensure that all is well. After they leave, Mr. Spock uses a mind meld on van Gelder and determines that Adams has turned Tantalus into a chamber of horrors, using a neural neutralizer — a device responsible for van Gelder's incoherent state.
Kirk and Noel experience the device firsthand when Adams uses it to convince Kirk that he is hopelessly in love with Dr. Noel. She risks her life to cut the colony's power so that Spock and a landing party can beam down through the planet's defensive forcefield. During the attack, Adams accidentally dies in his own machine, and van Gelder becomes the new director of Tantalus, where his first act is to dismantle the neural neutralizer.
Related Data
The Unreal McCoy
Adapted from the episode "The Man Trap."
Written by George Clayton Johnson
Stardate 1531.1: A shape-shifting, salt-craving creature terrorizes the crew of the Enterprise.
The Enterprise visits planet M-113 to give archaeologists Robert and Nancy Crater supplies and medical checkups. Years ago, Nancy was romantically involved with Dr. Leonard McCoy — whom she nicknamed "Plum."
Now she is literally a different woman: each member of the landing party sees Nancy differently because the real Nancy is dead, killed by a shape-changing alien which has assumed her identity. The creature, the last surviving native of this planet, has been enjoying a symbiotic relationship with Professor Crater; Crater supplies the salt that sustains the entity, and the creature provides Crater with companionship.
The arrival of the Enterprise landing party upsets the delicate balance of this strange alliance. Craving additional salt, the creature kills two crewmen and boards the Enterprise disguised as one of its victims. The creature assumes Dr. McCoy's appearance before Captain Kirk eventually tracks it down and kills it with the aid of Mr. Spock and the real McCoy.
Related Data
Balance of Terror
Adapted from the episode "Balance of Terror."
Written by Paul Schneider
Stardate 1709.2: After attacking an outpost, Romulans battle the Enterprise.
The Enterprise is patrolling along the Romulan Neutral Zone, a border between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire. As Captain Kirk is performing a wedding ceremony for crewmembers Angela Martine and Robert Tomlinson, an outpost along the border announces that it is under attack from the Romulans. Kirk witnesses the destruction of the outpost, but is helpless to assist. The Romulans have perfected an invention that renders their ships invisible, and Kirk reasons he must overtake and destroy the enemy vessel before it can return home. To the surprise of all, transmissions intercepted from the Romulan ship reveal that they look almost exactly like Vulcans, which causes Lieutenant Stiles to express his distrust of Spock. When the Romulan Commander is finally cornered, he destroys his ship rather than surrender — and Stiles, whose life was saved by Spock, realizes his prejudicial attitude is wrong.
Related Data
The Naked Time
Adapted from the episode "The Naked Time."
Written by John D.F. Black
Stardate 1704.2: The Enterprise crew catches a virus that removes their inhibitions.
The scientific research team on planet Psi 2000 reports that the planet is due to be destroyed. Arriving to evacuate the scientists, the Enterprise discovers that the researchers have frozen to death after someone in the camp turned off the life-support systems. To add to the mystery, the positions of the bodies indicate that the researchers went berserk before they died.
The riddle is solved when Lieutenant Tormolen, who lands to investigate with Mr. Spock, spreads a strange condition he has contracted on the planet. As the Enterprise crew begins to become infected, strange things happen. Mr. Sulu threatens the crew with a foil while Lieutenant Riley locks himself in engineering and turns off the ship's engines. The disease must be conquered and control of the starship regained in time to prevent the Enterprise from being destroyed when its orbit decays around the doomed planet. A last-minute attempt succeeds in hurling the ship back in time while making its escape.
Related Data
Miri
Adapted from the episode "Miri."
Written by Adrian Spies
Stardate 2713.5: A strange group of children is discovered on an Earth-like planet.
The Enterprise discovers a planet that looks amazingly like Earth, where they find a ruined, deserted city. Its only inhabitants are "children," all centuries old, the product of life-prolongation experiments. After exposure to the results of that research, the adults of the planet died horrible deaths, acquiring skin blotches and going berserk. When the children's slowed metabolism finally allows them to reach puberty, they too will sicken and die.
Captain Kirk and the entire landing party — except Spock—are infected with the disease. Dr. McCoy must find an antidote before they go mad and die from the illness. The children, who call themselves the Onlies, mistrust all adults, who they call Grups. They harass the intruders, stealing their communicators and abducting Yeoman Rand. Kirk enlists the aid of one — Miri, who has a crush on the captain. She assists in recovering the kidnapped yeoman and the party's communicators. McCoy, having synthesized an experimental antidote, uses it on himself and proves its effectiveness, saving his shipmates and the planet's "youthful" inhabitants.
Related Data
The Conscience of the King
Adapted from the episode "The Conscience of the King."
Written by Barry Trivers
Stardate 2817.6: Kirk suspects a Shakespearean actor is a mass murderer.
Captain Kirk receives a message summoning the Enterprise to the home of Dr. Thomas Leighton, a brilliant research scientist whom Kirk knew many years before. The summons is a trick to lure the captain to Planet Q so that he could see and meet actor Anton Karidian. Leighton believes that Karidian is actually Kodos, the ex-governor of Tarsus IV, who oversaw a massacre that killed the doctor's entire family and part of Kirk's as well. When Leighton is killed, Kirk investigates and decides to transport the Karidian troupe on the Enterprise so that he can study the enigmatic actor. In an effort to discover the truth, Kirk romances Karidian's daughter, Lenore. During the voyage, Lieutenant Kevin Riley, another survivor of the massacre, is poisoned and nearly dies. A phaser explodes, almost killing Kirk and Spock. Riley recognizes Karidian as Kodos, but a shocked Kirk discovers the insane murderer of the survivors is Lenore — who accidentally kills her father.
