Star Trek 8 (Novel)
| Series | Star Trek |
| Published by | Bantam Books |
| Previous | Star Trek 7 (Blish07) |
| Next | Star Trek 9 (Blish09) |
| Written by | James Blish |
| Released | Nov 1972 |
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On their latest missions, the Starship Enterprise and her crew journey to a glaciated wasteland where beautiful women rule; defeat the ferocious double of Captain Kirk on board the Starship; visit an eerie planet where it's always Halloween; and even dare to go beyond the edge of the galaxy.
Based on the exciting new NBC-TV series created by Gene Roddenberry.
Spock's Brain
Adapted from the episode Spock's Brain.
Written by Lee Cronin.
While the Starship Enterprise is on a routine mission in deep space, a young woman materializes on the bridge and renders everyone on board unconscious. They awaken to find Spock missing, when Dr. McCoy summons Captain Kirk to sickbay, where he has discovered Spock, laying motionless on a biobed: the woman has stolen Spock's brain! They have only 24 hours to find it before his body dies, and Kirk follows the woman's trail to Sigma Draconis VII. McCoy fabricates a device to control Spock's brainless body, and Kirk, Scotty, and McCoy beam down with Spock's body to the planet. There, they discover a primitive tribe of men called the Morgs, who are provided for by an underground society of women, the Eymorgs, who live in a scientifically-advanced environment, yet they do not understand it. Led by Kara, the woman who appeared on the Enterprise, the Eymorgs are using Spock's brain to run the computers that control their underground environment. After some difficulty, Kirk locates Spock's brain and, using a device called the Teacher, McCoy temporarily gains the knowledge he needs to restore the Vulcan to normal. Kirk encourages the Eymorgs to share their knowledge with the Morgs, so that they can rebuild a united civilization on their planet.
Related Data
The Enemy Within
Adapted from the episode The Enemy Within.
Written by Richard Matheson.
In orbit of Alfa 177, the U.S.S. Enterprise experiences a momentary transporter malfunction, caused by a magnetic ore accidentally brought aboard. Scotty checks the equipment, finds nothing wrong, and beams aboard Captain Kirk. After they leave the transporter room, a duplicate Kirk materializes. The malfunction has split the captain into two people, each physically identical but mentally and emotionally distinct. The "good" Kirk is compassionate, intelligent, and deliberate. The "bad" Kirk is violent, amoral, and savage.
An animal beamed aboard the Enterprise shortly thereafter is divided into two creatures as well—and after Yeoman Rand accuses the captain of assaulting her, Mr. Spock realizes the same has happened to Kirk. The transporter malfunction must be repaired shortly or a stranded landing party, led by Lieutenant Sulu, will freeze to death on the planet's surface.
The captain, meanwhile, is dying—neither half can survive alone. Scotty rigs the transporter to work again, and after capturing the "bad" Kirk, beams both captains down—and back as a single person. The restored Kirk then orders the landing party rescued.
Related Data
Catspaw
Adapted from the episode Catspaw.
Written by Robert Bloch.
On Pyris VII, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy encounter a haunted castle, and find Sulu and Scott transformed into "zombies." Aliens Korob and Sylvia — disguised as a warlock and a witch — are responsible for the "trick or treat" trappings, using supernatural devices to terrify the men of the Enterprise. Only Spock is unaffected by their scare tactics. The aliens are on a mission of conquest, and have used a matter transmuter to assume human form. Sylvia, affected by her new body, attempts to ensnare Kirk into becoming her partner and lover. When Korob aids Kirk and company to escape, Sylvia changes into a gigantic black cat and crushes him. Kirk destroys the "magic wand" transmuter device, causing the castle to vanish and the aliens to resume their actual forms. In reality, they are fragile creatures, and are destroyed by the planet's atmosphere. Sulu and Scott are returned to normal, and "Halloween" is over.
Related Data
Where No Man Has Gone Before
Adapted from the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before.
Written by Samuel A. Peeples.
While patrolling near the outer boundary of the galaxy, the Enterprise beams aboard the flight recorder of the S.S. Valiant, a galactic survey vessel that had visited the area nearly two centuries earlier. Upon attempting to leave the galaxy, the survey vessel had come in contact with an energy barrier, which disabled the ship and killed some of the crew. One crewman, however, recovered from serious injuries sustained within the barrier. From this point, the information is garbled; there are repeated requests for data on extrasensory perception, or ESP, and a self-destruct order is apparently given by the Valiant's captain.
Puzzled yet determined, Captain Kirk decides to move forward, only to contact the same energy barrier that had disabled the Valiant. Unknown radiation penetrates the ship, and Kirk orders the Enterprise back out of the energy field. Several crewmen are dead and two have been rendered unconscious: Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, a friend of Kirk's from Star Fleet Academy, and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, a psychiatrist. Both recover and seem unharmed—though Mitchell's eyes now glow a bright silver. The ship's warp engines are also severely damaged.
In sickbay, Kirk learns that Mitchell is feeling completely well. He is also reading material he never understood before with complete comprehension, and his reading speed is incredible. Showing off to Dr. Dehner, Mitchell "plays dead" by stopping all his body functions for almost a full minute. He is mutating into something beyond Human.
Kirk and Spock discover Gary Mitchell's ESP quotient is extremely high, as is Dr. Dehner's. At a meeting of the Enterprise department heads, Sulu states that Mitchell's powers are developing at an astounding rate. Spock suggests that Kirk kill Mitchell now, while he still can; he cautions him not to wait too long, as the captain of the Valiant obviously did.
Unwilling to murder a man who was once one of his closest friends, Kirk sets course for Delta Vega, an uninhabited planet with an automated lithium-cracking station that can aid in repairing their damaged warp drive engines. He intends to maroon Mitchell there. Mitchell is sedated and transported to the planet, where he's confined within a hastily built brig. But Gary has grown too strong to be held by a forcefield. Declaring that he has become a god, he escapes, taking along Dehner, who has also begun to mutate. Kirk follows with a phaser rifle, and Mitchell attempts to kill him with his new powers. Dehner, realizing what Michell has become, helps Kirk overpower the mad superman, and is killed in the attempt. Aboard the Enterprise, Kirk records that Mitchell and Dehner died in the line of duty. (Summary adapted from The Star Trek Compendium)
Related Data
Wolf in the Fold
Adapted from the episode Wolf in the Fold.
Written by Robert Bloch.
Kirk and McCoy have taken Scotty to planet Argelius II for therapeutic leave following an accidental head injury caused by a female crew member. But a series of brutal murders of young women, apparently committed by Mr. Scott, suggest the engineer may have been more seriously injured than thought. Scotty can recall nothing, and Chief Investigator Hengist wants him arrested immediately. Then a psychic reveals the real murderer: a previously unknown ancient life form, Redjac, that first appeared on Earth as Jack the Ripper. The entity, in its current incarnation of Hengist, is trapped aboard the Enterprise and transported into space at maximum dispersion, scattering and effectively destroying the creature.
Related Data
For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
Adapted from the episode For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.
Written by Rik Vollaerts.
The Enterprise encounters an asteroid on a collision course with a Federation planet, only to discover that it is actually a spacecraft called Yonada — and its inhabitants are unaware that their home is a spaceship.
Dr. McCoy, who has just discovered that he is terminally ill, insists on joining the landing party to Yonada, where they discover the population within is governed by a sophisticated computer called the Oracle, which is programmed to conceal Yonada's true nature from its people until the ship reaches the end of its journey. But something has gone wrong with the Oracle's programming, and Captain Kirk and Spock must find a way to correct it.
Meanwhile, McCoy falls in love with Natira, the high priestess to the Oracle. She wishes to marry him, but only if he will stay on Yonada with her and agree to obey the will of the Oracle. Kirk and Spock penetrate the Oracle's defenses and reprogram it to bypass the endangered planet. They also discover that Yonada, built centuries before by the Fabrini civilization, has in its computer banks the Fabrini's advanced medical knowledge, including a cure for McCoy's illness. Natira realizes that McCoy's place is with his own people, although she will always love him. Kirk promises McCoy that, when Yonada reaches its destination, the Enterprise will be there to greet Natira and her people.
