The agents of the Department of Temporal Investigations are
assigned to look into an anomaly that has appeared deep in Federation
territory. It’s difficult to get clear readings, but a mysterious inactive
vessel lies at the heart of the anomaly, one outfitted with some sort of
temporal drive disrupting space-time and subspace. To the agents’ shock, the
ship bears a striking resemblance to a Constitution-class starship, and its
warp signature matches that of the original Federation starship Enterprise NCC-1701—the
ship of James T. Kirk, that infamous bogeyman of temporal investigators, whose
record of violations is held up by DTI agents as a cautionary tale for
Starfleet recklessness toward history. But the vessel’s hull markings identify
it as Timeship Two, belonging to none other than the DTI itself. At first,
Agents Lucsly and Dulmur assume the ship is from some other timeline . . . but
its quantum signature confirms that it came from their own past, despite the
fact that the DTI never possessed such a timeship. While the anomaly is closely
monitored, Lucsly and Dulmur must search for answers in the history of Kirk’s
Enterprise and its many encounters with time travel—a series of events with
direct ties to the origins of the DTI itself. . . .
Apparently, this sequel/prequel to last year’s Watching the
Clock was to be part of the original Star Trek book line, but due to the
success of the first book that carried the moniker of the Department of
Temporal Investigations, this book becomes the second volume in the line –whether
it continues, I’m unsure.
This one is a detailed history of how DTI came into existence,
with the author explaining and writing out the Enterprises varying encounters with
time travel in both the original series, and the animated one (which became the
defacto last two seasons of series original five year mission). It also expands
on plot threads left unanswered in TOS episode Miri. Then it jumps to about 18
months after V’ger incident presented in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Like the first book, there is a lot of convoluted technobabble
concerning time travel. Little of science is explained, and what is explained
makes me wonder if only students of mathematics and quantum mechanics can truly
understand it.
For many hardcore Star Trek fans, the novels in various
incarnations have a tendency to go from good to bad, with little in between
that makes them okay. For me, as much as I like authors trying to expand Star
Trek by creating new stories, on occasion, it is nice to see someone pick-up interesting
plot threads from episodes that were left unanswered and create a whole new
story. Also, I like that there are veiled references to Sulu entering the command structure and even a slight comment about the 2009 rebooted Star Trek movie, which I enjoyed.
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