Question about Kobayashi Maru (Ecklar)

[Shatnertage]

I'm a long-time Star Trek fan but new to the novels. I just read Julia Ecklar's Kobayahsi Maru and have a question about the resolution.
(Spoilers follow)











If I'm reading it right, they basically made a super-radio that absorbed all kinds of radiation. But how would this make the shuttle any more detectable to Enterprise?

Is this an example of handwavium, or did I misunderstand the story?

If anyone has any thoughts about the rest of the book, feel free to share them.

 

[Christopher]

I guess the idea is to create a sort of blank spot in the middle of the noise. In a field that full of noise, the only thing that would stand out is a "quiet" patch. Although I'm at a loss to figure out how making a receiver that can detect all signals constitutes absorbing all signals.

 

[Shatnertage]

Yeah, that was my reaction. Kind of like how in Superman III a weather satellite can cause weather, not just observe it.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Pass on the technobabble

I have fond memories of Kobayashi Maru, but most of the specifics have faded away now.

I liked the end of Chekov's story when he found out how wrongly he (and the other cadets) had interpreted the mission. That's the bit that sticks with me. That and Sulu's great grandpa. And Scotty's "double cheat".

Of Kirk's story, I remember nothing.

I remember this novel and the 'other' Kobayashi Maru novel (a huge disappointment, IMO) disagreeing on what gravitic mines were.

Nice cover art, too.

 

[Shatnertage]

I really liked all of the stories--especially Scotty's. It's easy to draw a straight line from the cadet who ended up needing 12(?) Klingon ships to take him down to the miracle-working chief engineer of the Enterprise.

I'd never picked up on Chekhov idolizing Kirk or that Kirk cast such a shadow over the rest of Starfleet so early in his career--is this something from the books?

SPOILER ALERT








I thought that Kirk's KM scenario was handled much, much better than in the 2009 movie (which on whole I liked). It seemed more consistent with the guy who pulled the Corombite manuever--he basically changed the parameters of the test so that his reputation allowed him to bluff his way through, since the Klingons now feared "the" Captain Kirk. None of the technical aspects of the scenario changed--just the Klingon's estimation of the man in the captain's chair. So, in poker terminology, he still held the same cards, though his opponents now had respect for the man who held them. He thought his way around what he thought was an unfair test.

The movie, OTOH, just let Kirk put a "God mode" cheat into the game, giving him a stupid solution (though one that required some off-screen ingenuity) to what he thought was a stupid test. I'm not sure if I want to read too much into movie Kirk's character from that.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, the movie's take on it was that Kirk resisted the idea of a no-win scenario because it reminded him of his father's sacrifice. So the "god mode" cheat may have been a manifestation of his childlike wish for a magic solution that would bring his father back, or something like that. And given this Jim Kirk's different life history, I think it makes sense for him to take that more drastic, less nuanced approach. Kirk Prime just plain didn't like to lose, so he contrived a clever way to win. Alternate Kirk was more deeply disturbed by the whole concept of a no-win scenario, so he just made it go away.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I don't think it was so much "making the test go away" as it was him giving SFA an big "FU" at daring to try to cheat the egomaniacal Kirk Almighty.

 

[Stevil2001]

I always liked that cheat, and I liked that Diane Carey reused it in Starfleet Academy when David Forester takes the test.

 

[Christopher]

I don't think it was so much "making the test go away" as it was him giving SFA an big "FU" at daring to try to cheat the egomaniacal Kirk Almighty.

You misunderstand my use of "make it go away." I was trying to evoke a child's wish to have the power to make bad things vanish, like the way a child who's lost a parent would wish for the power to bring the parent back. The "it" in my statement wasn't the test, it was the death of Kirk's father, a real-life "no-win scenario" that the simulation painfully reminded him of. Surely on some level he's often wished he had the power to undo that tragedy. So creating a "god mode" hack that let him instantly and easily turn the no-win scenario into a guaranteed-win scenario was an act of wish fulfillment.

If you think it was purely about Kirk's ego, then you need to review the hearing scene where he confronted Spock. Look at the way Kirk reacted when Spock said "You of all people should know... a Captain cannot cheat death," referencing George Kirk's sacrifice aboard the Kelvin. Kirk concealed his reaction to that by retreating into bluster -- "I don't think you like the fact that I beat your test" -- but Pine's performance revealed that Spock's words struck very close to home. The egotism was just protective camouflage.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'd forgotten about the assembly afterwards. Last time I saw the Kobayashi Maru scene it was the extended version in the deleted scenes a few days after I saw the movie. I saw it out of context.

(and noticed for the first time that when the lead Klingon Warbird explodes, a large chunk of debris shaped exactly like the Starfleet arrowhead is blown toward the viewscreen.)

 

[seigezunt]

I liked this novel. Didn't really care how the framing device got resolved, though.

 

[Shatnertage]

^Well, the movie's take on it was that Kirk resisted the idea of a no-win scenario because it reminded him of his father's sacrifice. So the "god mode" cheat may have been a manifestation of his childlike wish for a magic solution that would bring his father back, or something like that. And given this Jim Kirk's different life history, I think it makes sense for him to take that more drastic, less nuanced approach. Kirk Prime just plain didn't like to lose, so he contrived a clever way to win. Alternate Kirk was more deeply disturbed by the whole concept of a no-win scenario, so he just made it go away.

I hadn't thought about it in those terms--it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Tiberius]

I guess the idea is to create a sort of blank spot in the middle of the noise. In a field that full of noise, the only thing that would stand out is a "quiet" patch. Although I'm at a loss to figure out how making a receiver that can detect all signals constitutes absorbing all signals.

It just created destructive interference, cancelling out the noise, thus creating a quiet patch.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Pass on the technobabble

I have fond memories of Kobayashi Maru, but most of the specifics have faded away now.

I liked the end of Chekov's story when he found out how wrongly he (and the other cadets) had interpreted the mission. That's the bit that sticks with me. That and Sulu's great grandpa. And Scotty's "double cheat".

Of Kirk's story, I remember nothing.

I remember this novel and the 'other' Kobayashi Maru novel (a huge disappointment, IMO) disagreeing on what gravitic mines were.

Nice cover art, too.

This is what I came into this thread to say too!

I read this book in grade 12 a couple of times. I mean it came out in 1990..I was in grade 12..nice group of stories..how could I not have really fond memories of it.