The Entropy Effect

 The Entropy Effect (1981) by Vonda N. McIntyre

Mystery. Intrigue. Time Travel. The possibility of the end of the universe. McIntyre's books has little bit of it all.

While Mr. Spock is completing a scientific study of a naked singularity which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the Enterprise receives an Ultimate override command. Spock's initial findings are most disturbing. If his calculations are correct the appearance of the singularity signals more chaos to come and...the end of the universe in less than a century. The override command cuts his research short. Ultimate is reserved for only the most dire of circumstances--a sun going nova, an invasion, a critical experimental failure, or unclassified: danger never before encountered. The command directs Kirk to take his ship at maximum warp to Aleph Prime. But when they arrive, nothing seems to be amiss--except brilliant physicist, Dr. Georges Mordreaux, a former teacher of their own Mr. Spock, is being held as a murderer. He is accused of having perpetrated a murderous confidence game, promising to send people back in time and then killing them instead. The Enterprise has been diverted to transport him to the nearest penal rehabilitation colony. But it appears that someone other than Ian Braithewaite, Aleph Primes's chief prosecutor, sent the message.

Kirk is furious that the Ultimate has been misused and is ready to leave Ian Braithwaite to wait for the official prisoner transport when Spock urges him to take on the assignment. He knows that something is not right. The man he once knew could never have killed anyone and he wants time to talk with Mordreaux and get his side of the story. Before that can happen, a crazed doctor--having somehow escaped the quarters surrounded by a force field and security personnel--bursts onto the bridge, kills Captain Kirk and his new Security Chief Mandala Flynn, and promptly disappears into the turbo lift. Mordreaux is later found in the secured quarters and the guards swear he could not have gotten out. 

Once Spock is able to confer with the prisoner, he realizes that he must journey through time--not only to save his captain, but to save the universe itself. Dr. Modreaux's experiments have warped time itself and the longer the warp exists the worse the stress of entropy is for those on the Enterprise as well as everything in the universe. Spock leaves McCoy--the only other officer who's in on the secret--in command and this also leaves a disgruntled Scotty open to Ian Braithwaite's bizarre theories of conspiracy. So Spock and McCoy are working on an even shorter time limit--if Scotty and Braithwaite put a stop to Spock's time travels, there won't be any time left for anyone.

This is one of the first Star Trek novels I ever read. It came in a boxed set of the first six published by Pocket Books and found under the Christmas tree when I  was twelve. That started me on a long journey of Star Trek and science fiction novel reading. And I loved those first six books (well--five of them, anyway. Let's not talk about The Prometheus Design, okay?). 

Upon this reading, I was initially a bit disgruntled that my Star Trek characters weren't behaving properly. And then I thought it over. First, from the cover picture, it appears that this takes place after The Motion Picture. I'm going to guess not too long after. The crew has just gotten back together after Kirk had been riding a desk job for Starfleet HQ. They're still settling back in with one another. Second, we've got that whole entropy thing going on that is screwing things up more and more the longer it goes on. It shouldn't be a surprise that this is putting stress on everybody and so there would be some weirdness. BUT I still think McIntyre made some mistakes. 

As soon as Kirk knew that the Ultimate override command was no longer in effect, he should have briefed his senior officers. Scotty, as third in command after Spock, should have been included. Since this was McIntyre's first book in the Star Trek universe, I don't know if she was just not well-versed in how these people work together OR if she was relying on the weirdness of the effects of entropy to explain everything OR if she felt she needed the disgruntled Scotty sub-plot to help move things along. Regardless, it's just a bit off. I'm also a bit perturbed at the short shrift Uhura, Chekov, and Nurse Chapel receive--they pretty much have walk-on parts

On the plus side, this is a fun adventure with some very moving moments. Spock's distress when he repeatedly comes "this" close to stopping Mordreax. McCoy's grief. Even Scotty's bafflement at being left out of things (even though I don't think McIntyre should have left him out--his reactions are definitely relatable). I also loved (both the first time I read it and now) that the spotlight was on Sulu. This is one of the first (if not the first) Star Trek novels to feature a character beyond Kirk, Spock & McCoy in a major sub-plot. Sulu gets a first name, some back history, and a love interest (no debates here on the nature of that love interest and how it fits in with later revelations on the character). And the creation of Mandala Flynn and the other new security personnel as well as Captain Hunter was truly inspired. Strong characters--both strong women and strong non-humanoid species--that I would have loved to see more of. 

As a mystery--and I do consider it a bit of one--it is a how-dunnit rather than a who-dunnit. Spock must figure out how Mordreaux was able to kill the captain and the security chief without having left his secure cabin. And then he has to figure out how to stop him from doing it in the first place.  A good Star Trek adventure all around. I gave it ★★★ and 1/2 when I first read it forty-ish years ago and I see no reason to change my rating now.

First line: Captain James T. Kirk sprawled on the couch in the sitting room of his cabin, dozing over a book.

Last lines: Whatever did happen seems to have involved only Spock himself; whatever it was has not affected the Enterprise at all. And that, of course, as always, is my main concern.

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Deaths = 4 (two poisoned; two shot)