The Great Chronological Run-Through

[Deranged Nasat]

"Tomorrow Is Yesterday" (And Forgotten History, chapter one, part one)

If the Lazarus incident was indeed a dream, then at least we can see where the time travel claim, a detail that went nowhere in the episode, was conjured from. Kirk must have time travel on the mind.

The relevant section in Forgotten History, short as it is, is a must for contextualizing this, and it grants the episode some real historical significance. After the apparently non-replicable accident over Psi 2000, this is the Federation's rediscovery of time travel as a verified possibility within their understanding of physics. Indeed, Kirk's adventure here will be the prototypal time travel experience so far as the later Federation will be concerned. True to the (probably inevitable) reputation he will later acquire as the Donny Don't of Time Travel, he rather screws this up.

I must agree with Delgado, in the Forgotten History fragment, that Kirk didn't handle this at all well. I'm sure the damage to history will be far less if you just beamed the guy straight down, confused, rather than giving him a tour and then telling him "by the way, you're a prisoner here and you can never see your children again, LOL". That just means that when he makes his inevitable escape attempt you're cementing your status as antagonists, oppositional, threatening. He's a military officer; he's going to report in about a clear threat to national security - yes, he'd do that anyway, but now you've made it inevitable that he'll report it and truly mean it. You're potentially risking far worse contamination. Also, what sort of dangerous future knowledge could Christopher possibly have acquired from a quick eyes-only tour of the ship? "I know that one day there will be big spaceships and matter transportation devices. Now, puny mortals, watch as I play the stock markets and bend this planet to my whims!" I don't see how anything he knows - which is the vaguest and broadest information possible - translates into anything useful to an "unscrupulous" sort.

Again, the relevant snippet from Forgotten History helps here, because it makes a point of this being new to Starfleet, and of the lack of any standing orders or official procedures dealing with a scenario such as this. This is new territory, and Delgado acknowledges that any officer in Kirk's position is forced to make it up as they go. For now.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

The Black Star in Sector 006. I count it as important, since we'll see it again on several occasions and it becomes one of the most important locations in Federation space so far as the DTI is concerned. Okay, so we didn't actually see it here.

Antonio Delgado

Continuity

Delgado confirms that Starfleet Intelligence has kept an eye on reports of time travel over the last century, with the Temporal Cold War of Archer's time taking the role of historical mythology as much as anything; apparently, Archer’s time travel exploits are not public knowledge, and SI has been making sure that any stray incidents remain out of the public eye. They’ve been treading cautiously; Delgado, of course, thinks it’s time to stop gingerly paddling and posting NO BATHING signs and start swimming.

The Cygneti have either joined the Federation or are working closely alongside it, since they're trusted enough to overhaul the computer systems on a top-of-the-line starship - and since everyone treats their reprogramming as a frustrating or amusing prank and not an act of potential hostility. This builds on the initial Human-Cygneti contact of a century prior; it seems Cygnet retains its reputation for extensive ship-repair facilities. Vanguard also named the Cygnet system as supporting (or staging) colonists, so the Federation is invested here one way or the other. Regarding the Cygneti protest-joke, one wonders how common this sort of thing is in the UFP. It's an increasingly vast Federation and none of them can agree on anything. Do Tellarites try to reprogram computers to be argumentative and belligerent, for example? The idea of a constant low-level intra-Federation war over things like this amuses me.

Kirk names the organization under the umbrella of which Enterprise's mission is encompassed as UESPA, which as well as being true is also, presumably, a way to avoid any more awkward political explanations. No need to force consideration of other planets just yet, Spock aside. One alien might be easier to get a grasp on than a community of planets filled with them. The story of how Starfleet restructures itself into one fully integrated force is as yet untold, but I'm sure it has to do with the general pattern I've seen emerging here of a Federation that's grappling with its identity and structure, with concerted efforts by the core worlds to reign everyone in and establish a more unified and monolithic approach. Very soon the UESPA arrowhead will represent Starfleet in its entirety.

So, you can't transport someone without a communicator? Well they transported Christopher alright, didn't they? Or is it a range thing? This doesn't really make sense.

"Do you want another baby, honey?"

"Yes. Make sure we name him Sean Jeffery. That's important future information that I have, after being told that I can't return to Earth with important future information and have to stay with the future people against my will, only I then have to return to Earth after all, begrudging though they are, because they need a Sean Jeffery, but for some reason they explain that to me even though the whole point was to avoid the possibility of my future knowledge changing things".

"That's nice, dear".

 

[Christopher]

So, you can't transport someone without a communicator? Well they transported Christopher alright, didn't they? Or is it a range thing? This doesn't really make sense.

You can't transport someone without knowing where they are. A communicator signal is how you lock onto their location. When Christopher's jet was breaking up in their tractor beam, they knew exactly where he was, so a communicator beacon was not needed.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

So, you can't transport someone without a communicator? Well they transported Christopher alright, didn't they? Or is it a range thing? This doesn't really make sense.

You can't transport someone without knowing where they are. A communicator signal is how you lock onto their location. When Christopher's jet was breaking up in their tractor beam, they knew exactly where he was, so a communicator beacon was not needed.

Ah, I somehow missed that. But then how could they not beam up Kirk after Sulu? If they know where Sulu is, Kirk must be right next to him, surely? "The lifesign nearest Sulu's is Kirk's". Risky, maybe, but less risky than leaving him behind?

 

[Christopher]

^They didn't beam Kirk up because there were Air Force personnel in the room with him. They'd already compromised the timeline enough. The whole reason Kirk engaged them in a noisy fight was to alert Sulu to go back to the ship before they found him. After that, he was probably moved rather promptly to somewhere else in the base.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Well, I personally fail to see how risking someone catching sight of a transporter effect - something they'd not be able to recognise or contextualise - is somehow more risky to the timeline than leaving Kirk and all his equipment behind to be poured over and examined by the base personnel.

 

[Christopher]

Well, I personally fail to see how risking someone catching sight of a transporter effect - something they'd not be able to recognise or contextualise - is somehow more risky to the timeline than leaving Kirk and all his equipment behind to be poured over and examined by the base personnel.

That wasn't Sulu's call to make, though. As I said, clearly Kirk's intention was to distract them while Sulu got away. It was, effectively, an order.

Besides, there were several human males fighting each other, moving around quickly in an enclosed space and coming into frequent contact. Without Kirk's communicator, it was difficult to tell which one was him. And then the Air Force personnel took him somewhere else in the base, and he was still one human male out of many, hard to distinguish from the others.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Well, I personally fail to see how risking someone catching sight of a transporter effect - something they'd not be able to recognise or contextualise - is somehow more risky to the timeline than leaving Kirk and all his equipment behind to be poured over and examined by the base personnel.

That wasn't Sulu's call to make, though. As I said, clearly Kirk's intention was to distract them while Sulu got away. It was, effectively, an order.

Besides, there were several human males fighting each other, moving around quickly in an enclosed space and coming into frequent contact. Without Kirk's communicator, it was difficult to tell which one was him. And then the Air Force personnel took him somewhere else in the base, and he was still one human male out of many, hard to distinguish from the others.

Okay, you've convinced me. The whole thing makes more sense than I initially thought, at least in terms of finding credible justifications.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Open Secrets (sans prologue and epilogue)

So, while Enterprise has been troubling the history books and chasing Gorn and other fun things of that nature, events have been chugging along in the Taurus Reach.

I’m not including the prologue and epilogue, as we’re not at the Klingon-Federation flashpoint yet. Still, the Klingons are pushing it at every opportunity, giving no quarter in everything save the actual battling; there’s a good sense here that they're stepping up their game without necessarily escalating anything. They simply have a confidence and a boldness that the Federation doesn't have at the moment. The Federation is starting to see that it’s erred, having mired itself in a situation that it can’t easily extricate itself from. Some of the most enjoyable scenes in this book are Jetanien dealing with Lugok (the Klingon ambassador), who has some good points amid the bullshitting. It really gives a sense of a problematic foundation having been laid that makes any subsequent attempts at a reasoned response on the Federation's part difficult, and it also conveys Jetanien’s unexpected isolation. T’Prynn and Reyes are both out for the count in different ways (their personal situations are the two most important running plots of the book, but they're both in dire straits), so he’s the only member of the Triumvirate left.

Really, this book is about the process of handing Vanguard over to the rest of the Federation – by the end of it Jetanien will be making plans to leave, to pursue his personal project at Nimbus, so all three of the original conspirators are out. The title of ”Open Secrets”, I think, is less about revelation or exposure as the revoking of that exclusivity, as the rest of the galaxy is handed the Vanguard situation and asked to make sense of it, and to bring it to a safe conclusion – which is an order that comes a little too late now that the situation’s already tied up in all manner of unpleasantness. It’s in open hands now, and everyone’s caught up in something that they're trying to come to terms with; they’ve been handed a mess and told to sort it out. Part of the problem, of course, is that the Klingons are leaning on them and there really isn't time to sort it out.

Speaking of Jetanien and Lugok, there’s a sense of progress on the “understanding Klingons” front, which of course is an issue that underlies this stretch of Star Trek history, as the Federation struggles to comprehend what it’s up against, and how far into that alien mindset it has to go to find common ground or the insight that it needs to work effectively in countering the Klingons; in reaching an accord with them or, one way or the other, diverting their hostility. Jetanien understands enough about the nature of the problem to summarise the difficulties they have in interacting with the Klingon culture. He hasn’t got any answers, but he’s at least asking the right sort of question. It’s clear that he and presumably other officials in the Federation are getting to the point where they’re able to articulate a sense of what’s going wrong and where the points of contention lie, even if they don’t yet grasp any way to bridge that divide or handle the Klingons effectively. They haven’t gotten much written down, but they know now what pages they need to fill, so to speak, and that’s a start, I suppose. But as these earlier Vanguard books stress, things are escalating too rapidly to place much hope in the likelihood of a breakthrough before the situation deteriorates completely, and the Federation’s increased understanding is being outpaced by the situation. They’re playing catch up, which is nicely relevant to the overall sense in this novel of big things hanging over the protagonists. Again, though, it’s not so much about being ominous as about everyone who wasn’t originally in on things now scratching their heads as they’ve been handled something that's too big to get an easy grip on. Nezrene’s warnings about Shedai power are a good example; she sort of skitters between opposing poles of warm reassurance that she trusts the Federation’s capacity to handle it and stark warnings about how it’s beyond their capacity to withstand.

On that note, it’s nice to see Tholians working with other races. Vanguard will leave them in a very paranoid and resentful place when this is over, so it’s interesting to see the flexibility of many individual Tholians in working happily alongside aliens. One can’t help but feel that the Tholians missed their chance here; this is a tragic time in their history.

As well as the Klingon/Tholian/Shedai stuff, there’s an interesting focus on Vulcan, and how it both mirrors and contrasts with the Taurus Reach; it too has its shells of obfuscation diverting outsider attention and veiling the planet in secrecy, but rather than a powder keg about to erupt into war it’s defined by a very appealing if stifling sense of peace (the constant descriptions of the oppressive heat add to this "stifling" effect, of course, as does the decision to set much of it in an isolationist, ultra-traditionalist village, a sort of Vulcan-even-on-Vulcan). It’s interesting to see how Vulcan has developed in the century since the initial rise of the Federation. It’s insular and secretive, even as it remains a lynchpin of Federation politics. M’benga even explicitly calls it “a planet not known for welcoming outsiders”. In an amusing sense, it’s once again a bastion of stability in the region, only achieved now through opposite means to those it once embraced. Not the active police force imposing on its neighbours but a passive, reliable quantity that sits at the heart of the Federation and closets itself in quiet mystery. As with the Taurus Reach, of course, this veil won’t be maintained forever; now that matters initially supressed have become the concern of others there's motive to poke around; T'Prynn's medical/psychic drama draws other people in and the veil has to lift somewhat. T’Prynn’s recovery through the attentions of M’benga, Pennington and Sobon is a trial run for the situation in the Reach, I assume. Delve through the obfuscation and the secrets, deal with the raging antagonist who won’t accept that his time has long passed, dampen the flames before the ghost you’ve been suppressing and fighting destroys you. Disentangle yourself from it, as hard as that is when it has such hold on you. They succeed in T’Prynn’s case, of course, but she still has to pick up the pieces in the aftermath - that won’t be easy, as we'll see in the next book - and the Reach issue is far larger in scale with the destructive consequences far, far broader in scope. Nor is the Reach ever a fundamentally safe place for the protagonists, unlike Vulcan. Small victories, though.

I guess Sobon is the Apostate?

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

It’s a mention, not an appearance, but the Tkon are referenced, and their significance is explored through the Wanderer’s recollections. They’re a long-vanished empire in the Taurus Reach who were rivals of the Shedai for a time.

Chang makes his appearance. He quotes “King Lear”, although Zett doesn’t know what he’s on about.

Heihachiro Nogura, I think. I'll have to double-check this. I know he's been mentioned in relation to his tactical significance in the Errand books, but I think this is the first time we've seen him.

Nimbus III first comes into play, selected by Jetanien as the likely site for his back-door détente with D’tran. It’s strategically worthless and has no valuable resources. This is ostensibly a good thing, but really it will come back to haunt them.

Continuity

Naturally we have references to various adventures of the Enterprise, those of significance to the wider political climate. The incident with the Romulans in “Balance of Terror”; the assault on Starbase 42 from River of Blood; the destruction of Cestus III. All of which emphasise the escalating complexity of the Vanguard mission; not only are the Klingons getting ever bolder, but other potential foes are becoming involved or making themselves known. Early in the book, we visit Cestus III prior to the Gorn attack, and see the Lovell crew helping establish the settlement.

The planet Arcturus is mentioned, though Arcturus is a difficult one to place. There are clearly two Arcturus, the one at the actual star – a Federation world, presumably where Endeavour helmsman Neelakanta hails from - and this apparently unrelated planet, which is a seedy commercial hub on the triborder. This Arcturus will crop up elsewhere – for example, Vulcan’s Soul: Exodus will mention vessels operating out of Arcturus as politically independent, and invested in Federation-Romulan relations, which supports its positioning on the triborder.

Pacifica is mentioned as a popular destination for colonists in the Taurus Reach; all the bold, hard-earned rewards of colonizing the frontier along with the benefits of a tropical holiday on the beach, one assumes. No mention is yet made of the natives, but the reference is so limited there’s no real reason we’d expect it to be.

A Bolian shows up as a Starfleet crewman – not the first appearance of the race, but I believe the first in Starfleet.

Starfleet learn more about the Tholians in the process, including an understanding of their communication abilities and the first insight into the Lattice. In other Tholian news, they apparently take permanent mates and breed in large numbers; fifty-odd children is apparently normal. They hatch in swarms, I take it.

 

[ryan123450]

Now there's a scary thought. A swarm of tiny hungry Tholians.

As always some great literary insights, Nasat. You can see so much more deeply than I can into these stories.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Official Record"

Not much to say on this one. It introduces Chekov to the crew as something not unlike Ming Xiong - somewhat highly-strung, eager and idealistic, with a tendency to kick himself really quite emphatically and with far more self-directed anger than is healthy. It also gives us a look at the situation on worlds caught between the machinations of the Federation and the Klingons, which we'll see a lot more of with planets like Neural, Capella IV, Organia and the return visit to Mestiko. It also demonstrates that Starfleet isn't a monolithic service - we have a return to the distinction between the naval operations of the starship crews and the ground officers who are more akin to the army. It isn't anything nearly as official as the old, actually-different-organizations division between Earth Starfleet and MACOs, but it's there and it makes sense enough. The Federation is a large place, there should be a lot of variation, particularly when institutions like Starfleet have such sprawling mandates.

McCoy uses his favourite expression for, I believe, the first time. The one about a long-tailed cat and a room full of rocking chairs. He'll use it in Catalyst of Sorrows, I believe in Ex Machina, and probably several other places.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

Pavel Chekov, I believe.

***

"Return of the Archons"

The Cygneti have erred, for Kirk's irritation with busy-bodying computers has blossomed now into murderous rage.

Actually, to be serious - in spite of the popular joke and later episodes turning it into a cliché (and from there Dovraku labelling Kirk as the Great Satan for his supposed campaign against machine gods; well what else was he to think?) - Kirk's destruction of the computer by turning its logic against itself is quite strong here, surprisingly so.

The final act becomes very interesting when considered against the body of lore that has accumulated by this point when approaching the Trek universe the way I am here. For one thing, the description of Landru's history and the original purpose to his reforms is intriguing. I like to read Spock's raised brow and slight disconcertion as an acknowledgement that this is a familiar tale. Of course, nothing like this could have been intended at the time, since such a detail in Vulcan history wasn't yet conceived, but for purposes of this project we can conclude that Spock is obviously responding to the revelation of Landru's cultural status - he's this planet's Surak. He's been even more successful than Surak, in some ways, in achieving his peace and repression, although he's taken a collectivist approach where Surak was (largely) an individualist. (Spock is a bit more collectivist, though he still views things through a prism of individual determination; "the needs of the many" being about his own choice, etc.). We've just recently seen, during our visit to an isolationist village on Vulcan (Open Secrets), how stifling and contradictory to the supposed Vulcan ideal some interpretations of Surakist philopsophy can be (Pennington had a chat with a teenage girl about the apparent contradictions in her peoples' ethos). So this is rather timely.

Kirk concludes the episode by stating that while the computer-Landru may have continued Landru's mission, it couldn't manifest Landru's understanding or compassion. One wonders if Kirk is implicitly debating - and defending - Surak while Spock pretends to ignore the olive branch and defends, in a tongue-in-cheek way, his exaggerated portrayal of Vulcan ways as computer-like and entirely rational. I like adding this layer of subtlety to their interaction. Certainly we can suggest that a lot is being communicated beneath the surface here, even more so given our enhanced knowledge of the setting.

Of course, as well as Vulcan's pursuit of peace the final act also works as a commentary on something that hasn't reached cliché status yet but has come up (Mestiko, most notably): the Prime Directive. The phrase is used here for Landru's driving imperative and it's impossible not to read the critique of the Federation's own Prime Directive. The Prime Directive of Landru is the good of the Body. The good, we are told, is the harmonious continuation of the Body. "The good is peace, tranquillity"; a stagnation wherein all that may harm or disrupt the Body is to be rejected or - should that fail - assimilated as rapidly and completely as possible. Just as some in the Federation consider anything that disrupts or imposes upon a technologically less advanced society to be default or exclusively harmful, and an abrogation of responsibility. A sterility is to be maintained, lest infection occur. Kirk says that without freedom of choice the Body will slowly die, and Spock pointedly asks Landru whether in enforcing his Prime Directive, he is aiding the body or destroying it. We'll have cause to consider such questions on many future occasions.

The pursuit of peace and a tranquil, harmonious, comfortable existence - supposedly for the better - is defining for both the Federation and Vulcan, and it's interesting to watch this episode's conclusion with an understanding of what comparisons and contrasts must be running through Kirk and Spock's heads. It also prompts consideration of just what the Federation is doing in enforcing some of its policies, and how healthy or defensible those positions are. Again, we'll get a lot of mileage out of this.

Even before the final act, I enjoyed this one. It's similar to the Trelane episode, in that it's played completely straight in tone despite the absurdities, and a very real sense of sobriety and genuine danger is communicated. I find it creepy and intriguing. I also enjoyed the depiction of the resistance, who oppose Landru but are still completely dominated by the idea of his power and cannot actually stomach the thought of actively opposing what he represents to them.

It's interesting to consider how many other people might have found Beta III. Obviously it's out of the way, having only just now received a follow-up mission (Starfleet takes a long time to get around to following up on its lost ships, doesn't it?), but I wonder if the odd Nausicaan raider ship, say, discovered this vulnerable planet and ended up with the crew absorbed into another community somewhere on the surface.

"Restoring the planet's culture to a human form" is rather amusing if we assume that these people aren't human. All hail Kirk the conqueror. Of course, TOS has this odd idea that Humans exist independently on other worlds. It's always implicit, but it truly seems that many of these perfect Humanoids are to be read as Human. Lazarus was all but explicitly from a Human civilization (assuming, as I am for now, that he wasn't a dream ). Are the Betans a Human offshoot or not? Well, I suppose there's not really any point in quibbling if they're that identical - whether you hail from Earth or Beta III, I suppose you're Human, though why the Federation isn't scratching its head in confusion over this isn't clear. Same genome all over the place? Someone has to be responsible for that. And all too often these peoples appear culturally Human as well, whatever particular Human society we're reproducing today. I blame the Skagarans. Damn Skags.

Seriously, I'm starting to get the impression that Earth hasn't been quite so protected and neglected as it may seem. Was Earth considered an open-source pool of labour and experimental subjects by the starfaring races of the last few millennia? Pop by Earth, disappear a remote village, set them up elsewhere for whatever bizarre purpose. Why does this sort of thing never happen to the Tellarites? Why is it always Humans?

Hmmm, I wonder if anyone In The Know is wondering whether the crystalline hand of the Shedai was involved somehow? Was the shared Humanoid genome programmed into their ecosculpting technology and made to sprout on worlds across this part of the galaxy? It might explain why any research into this bizarre commonality seems to be getting nowhere and we have to wait for Galen to start finding answers: maybe any efforts to look deeper were dissuaded or shut down by the paranoid?

Continuity

USS Archon, like many of the Daedalus-class ships, was built by the pre-Federation Earth Starfleet and entered Federation service later; we saw it in action at Draylax and participating in war games at Sol.

Beta III made an appearance in the Mirror Universe. Implicitly under the control of Landru in that reality also, it was conquered by Shran in the name of the Terran Empire.

Christopher Lindstrom was introduced for purposes of this run-through in "The Landing Party", where he participated in another Sulu-gets-in-trouble-leading-an-away-team mission.

Next Time: Happily, the novels followed up on the sociological recovery mission to Beta III, so we'll catch up with Lindstrom and the Betans in Foundations, chapter 10-16.

 

[Christopher]

Kirk's destruction of the computer by turning its logic against itself is quite strong here, surprisingly so.

KRAD took rather the opposite view in his recent Tor.com rewatch review. I find it rather implausible myself. In the climactic scene, all Kirk had to do to destroy Landru was to say "You are the evil, you are hurting the society you want to protect." Even if you assume that the computer is simple enough that it blindly tries to process any data put into it (even "You are the evil and evil must be destroyed"), the question arises, why did nobody try that before? Given that Landru was presumably monitoring everyone and everything that happened on Beta III, perceiving it through the Lawgivers’ eyes and ears and probably through other means, then Landru should’ve heard many people expressing those ideas in the past — say, any time the Lawgivers came to kill or reprogram someone for their defiance and they spoke up in protest about how “the Body” was harming society. I just can’t believe that Landru spent 6000 years oppressing people and neutralizing dissenters without ever hearing anyone express the notion that its methods were less than beneficial. If simply exposing it to that idea was enough to give it a self-destructive existential crisis, why didn’t it blow itself up long before Kirk got there?

One wonders if Kirk is implicitly debating - and defending - Surak while Spock pretends to ignore the olive branch and defends, in a tongue-in-cheek way, his exaggerated portrayal of Vulcan ways as computer-like and entirely rational.

Two years hence in "The Savage Curtain," Kirk won't even recognize Surak's name. His interest in history doesn't seem to encompass Vulcan at this point.

Of course, as well as Vulcan's pursuit of peace the final act also works as a commentary on something that hasn't reached cliché status yet but has come up (Mestiko, most notably): the Prime Directive. The phrase is used here for Landru's driving imperative and it's impossible not to read the critique of the Federation's own Prime Directive.

In fact, this is the episode where the UFP's Prime Directive is first mentioned -- although it's promptly dismissed as inapplicable to this artificially stagnated society. It's a bit confusing that the same term is used for two different things, a symptom of the apparent sloppiness of the script, with ideas and character threads introduced in the first half and forgotten in the second.

(Note that the first use of the phrase "Prime Directive" in science fiction was in Jack Williamson's The Humanoids, to refer to the androids' directive of protecting humans from themselves by coddling them to an extreme degree, doing all their work for them, and basically turning them into the crew of the Axiom from

 

[Christopher]

Sorry -- I posted Quick Reply by mistake, and the edit function seems to be down, so I'll have to continue my thought here:

...basically turning them into the crew of the Axiom from WALL-E. So Williamson's Prime Directive was basically the opposite of Starfleet's.

Of course, TOS has this odd idea that Humans exist independently on other worlds. It's always implicit, but it truly seems that many of these perfect Humanoids are to be read as Human.

Not an uncommon idea in older science fiction. In the 19th century, it was commonly assumed that we'd find races of "man" wherever we went in the universe, as an extension of finding them everywhere we went on Earth. And it's an idea that persisted in lots of early SF, both written and filmed. It even crops up in some more modern fiction like Battlestar Galactica or Iain M. Banks's Culture series.

 

[Leto_II]

Holy crap, Nasat, just wanted to say that I am in awe of this whole project, and the effort you're putting into it, pulling all of the tapestry-threads together like this. Whenever I see it "upped" on the main forum-page, I know I'm never going to be disappointed. Always an outstanding read.

Heihachiro Nogura, I think. I'll have to double-check this. I know he's been mentioned in relation to his tactical significance in the Errand books, but I think this is the first time we've seen him.

We caught a brief glimpse of Nogura earlier in the Lit-timeline, during the 2257 flashbacks in the Debt of Honor graphic novel, when Lt. Kirk returns to Starfleet Headquarters and is debriefed by Nogura following the Farragut's (mostly) destruction.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Edit function has been down for a while, I think. The last few entries, I've had to copy and paste my original post into an empty box, and then alter it.

I find it rather implausible myself. In the climactic scene, all Kirk had to do to destroy Landru was to say "You are the evil, you are hurting the society you want to protect." Even if you assume that the computer is simple enough that it blindly tries to process any data put into it (even "You are the evil and evil must be destroyed"), the question arises, why did nobody try that before? Given that Landru was presumably monitoring everyone and everything that happened on Beta III, perceiving it through the Lawgivers’ eyes and ears and probably through other means, then Landru should’ve heard many people expressing those ideas in the past — say, any time the Lawgivers came to kill or reprogram someone for their defiance and they spoke up in protest about how “the Body” was harming society. I just can’t believe that Landru spent 6000 years oppressing people and neutralizing dissenters without ever hearing anyone express the notion that its methods were less than beneficial. If simply exposing it to that idea was enough to give it a self-destructive existential crisis, why didn’t it blow itself up long before Kirk got there?

Oh, indeed, I myself agree that logically it's very problematic at best; dramatically, though, I actually found it very powerful myself. Given how Landru had been built up by the Betan resistance as a mighty presence that cannot conceptually be opposed even as it's practically resisted, having Kirk turn that power back on the source while being unwilling - indeed unable - to buy into the idea of its supremacy was quite affecting. Really, for me, the interesting part of the episode was more about how Reger and Marplom were prisoners of Landru in their own minds than about Landru-computer itself (although of course the former is due to the power of the latter, admittedly). The simplicity of the solution, while logically unrealistic and weak, was thematically quite effective, I thought.

As for the logic of it, yes, it's very silly. Hmmm. I suppose we might suggest that hearing the argument from an outsider meant more to Landru-computer than if he'd heard it from a Betan; perhaps it's programmed to view Betans as inherently in need of its guidance and is inoculated, so to speak, against dissent on their part? Maybe an "Archon" is inherently different and has greater success through bypassing some patronizing override that prevents a Betan from triggering any processing flaws arising from incompatibilities between Landru-computer's perception of its purpose and its program?

Or we could pretend that whatever local title translates to the Earthican as "Archon" referred historically to those who had great cultural authority that was respected by Landru, and Landru-computer thus is more receptive to the authority of an "Archon"? Or something??

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what the SCE story does in fleshing the situation out. I don't remember much from it.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Note that the first use of the phrase "Prime Directive" in science fiction was in Jack Williamson's The Humanoids, to refer to the androids' directive of protecting humans from themselves by coddling them to an extreme degree, doing all their work for them, and basically turning them into the crew of the Axiom

Interesting! I wasn't aware of that.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Holy crap, Nasat, just wanted to say that I am in awe of this whole project, and the effort you're putting into it, pulling all of the tapestry-threads together like this. Whenever I see it "upped" on the main forum-page, I know I'm never going to be disappointed. Always an outstanding read.

Thank you very much. Although I must protest that "pulling all of the threads together" is more my mind's obsessive desire to string things into patterns and make connections even if I have to ignore the actual intent. I just naturally like things integrated. Piecing it together, whether it's warranted or not.

It brings us harmonious consistency, and that is good.

We caught a brief glimpse of Nogura earlier in the Lit-timeline, during the 2257 flashbacks in the Debt of Honor graphic novel, when Lt. Kirk returns to Starfleet Headquarters and is debriefed by Nogura following the Farragut's (mostly) destruction.

Debt of Honor is not of the Body.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Foundations, chapters 10-16

This is the probably inevitable "Landru tries to come back" story (in fact it's the second on an SCE chronology, but that's another matter). Apparently Admiral Nogura didn't take kindly to Kirk "pulling the rug out from under (the Betans)", and so Scotty has remained behind with Lindstrom and other sociologist types to get the planet back on its feet. Al-Khaled and the rest of the SCE team from Lovell are helping with the engineering issues, which is Scotty's second team-up with al-Khaled.

Enterprise, meanwhile, is picking up Ambassador Fox (who we've met previously negotiating with the Klingons) in order to carry him to his next assignment; they're picking Scotty up on the way through. This is offstage, as it were; the ship and the rest of the crew don't appear in this one.

Unconventional as it may be, we get to see what, in essence, a Federation relief mission looks like. The Betan hospitals are being stocked with Federation medical supplies (which I would guess include technologies), so it seems that in terms of medical relief exemptions are made on the "sharing advances" front. Then again, "contamination" issues don't really seem to matter anymore in this case, and there's talk of Beta III possibly becoming a ship repair facility, so it seems they've gotten around their non-interference issues by essentially treating Beta III as a colony. It would be interesting to know exactly what the legal status of their mission here is; what the folks back home are cataloguing it as, etc. From what we've seen of the Federation government, they like their paperwork and prescriptive categories.

Dr. Jane Hamilton makes her appearance, soon to be leaving for the CMO post on Defiant.

The number 47 shows up; Starfleet Ration Pack #47, to be precise. I should really keep track of these (e.g. Vanguard, I may have forgotten to mention that).

Next Time: I was going to do the short story "The Avenger" next, but Foundations made it clear that the Enterprise's very next mission is "A Taste of Armageddon", so that comes first. The campaign against the computers continues, then. The Cygneti must have really gotten under Kirk's skin.

(On a personal note, I'll be away without internet for a week, so I'm afraid it'll have to wait until then).

 

[ryan123450]

Next Time: I was going to do the short story "The Avenger" next, but Foundations made it clear that the Enterprise's very next mission is "A Taste of Armageddon", so that comes first. The campaign against the computers continues, then. The Cygneti must have really gotten under Kirk's skin.

I'm glad you pointed that out Nasat. I will have to adjust my timeline for December 2266 to take that into account. Thanks for the info!

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"A Taste of Armageddon"

Adding to the list of possible mission types for a full-fledged starship, here we have the Enterprise on assignment to establish permanent diplomatic relations with another civilization, which is something I don't believe we've seen before. The ultimate purpose is to establish a Federation port in the region to provide security and bring some stability to what is apparently an under-policed area. Extension of Federation infrastructure is the motive; this isn't first and foremost about the cultures at NGC-321 at all. Perhaps that explains why Fox is assigned, which might seem odd given that the novels have presented him as on-and-off grappling with the Klingon delegates during this timeframe, which one would think required him to be on call whether the talks are currently on or not. If the UFP has some larger socio-political agenda here his presence makes more sense, I suppose?

(The remastered TNG episodes will suggest that there was eventually a Federation starbase placed in the region, at Eminiar VII itself).

Eminiar VII is apparently using codes compatible with those of the Federation. It has explicitly been contacted before, fifty years prior, and so perhaps may have been introduced to a Federation-specific or maybe truly international series of signifiers at that time? That, or the Enterprise computer is assigning familiar code status to foreign messages as part of some translation of intent? I assume it's the former, but I'd be interested to know if Eminiar was given the codes by USS Valiant fifty years prior, and if this is standard procedure when first establishing contact with civilizations not protected/interdicted by the Prime Directive.

(As an aside, ships named Valiant seem to fare almost as badly as ships named Columbia).

As for Eminiar VII and Vendikar and their virtual war, it's an interesting idea. Recalling some of the logical protests made against the Beta III situation, it does perhaps seem unlikely that this degree of cultural conformity and acceptance could exist, that at least a sizable minority wouldn't rebel against the idea of marching into suicide booths or seeing family members do so. That cultural expectation would surely spark civil unrest and violence and so defeat the entire purpose of a clean and culturally non-disruptive approach. I'm aware that many civilizations accept all manner of norms that seem completely to disregard any stability or protection for the individual, but still, this seems rather excessive and difficult to accept. Logical objections aside, though, I do appreciate the depiction of characters/officials like Anan 7 and Mea 3 as reasonable and measured people within the confines of their system. Mea's acceptance of her duty and obligations is quite affecting in its genuine nobility, for example, which we can choose to read, I suppose, as a acknowledgement of how easily people embrace the good qualities supposedly brought out by war. Even those who are unflinchingly anti-war like to stress positive qualities in those involved; the old "bringing out the best and worst of human(oid) potential" idea. I've always been leery of that myself, but it's a common angle to take. It helps that the proud morality on display goes some way - not much, admittedly, but some - toward making the apparently near-total acceptance of their suicide customs more convincing. Almost. I do appreciate, though, that the Eminiarians are pretty consistently a reasonable and thoughtful people within the constraints of their strange assumptions. Their antagonism is based in no actual hostility, and that's always interesting.

So, Eminiar and Vendikar have - very ironically - behaved in accordance with ideas of compromise and diplomacy and established a system that avoids excesses of war while permitting them to remain culturally and psychologically invested in the sense of being at war, being under constant threat, and being martyrs (if their insistence on a peaceable and "non-barbarous" culture is read in a certain way, plus their apparent need to have massive casualties). In a twisted way, it's very elegant, and I think it does speak to that desire in people and in cultures to want affairs like war even as they honestly dislike it. Enduring suffering is virtuous, so it's all too easy to start operating on the assumption that suffering itself is virtuous.

The Discordians have a little fable that is a favourite of mine, in which Goddess tells it like it is:

One day Mal-2 (what a nicely Eminiarian name!) asked the messenger spirit Saint Gulik to approach the Goddess and request Her presence for some desperate advice. Shortly afterwards the radio came on by itself, and an ethereal female Voice said YES?

"O! Eris! Blessed Mother of Man! Queen of Chaos! Daughter of Discord! Concubine of Confusion! O! Exquisite Lady, I beseech You to lift a heavy burden from my heart!"

WHAT BOTHERS YOU, MAL? YOU DON'T SOUND WELL.

"I am filled with fear and tormented with terrible visions of pain. Everywhere people are hurting one another, the planet is rampant with injustices, whole societies plunder groups of their own people, mothers imprison sons, children perish while brothers war. O, woe."

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THAT, IF IT IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?

"But nobody wants it! Everybody hates it."

OH. WELL, THEN STOP.

At which moment She turned herself into an aspirin commercial and left The Polyfather stranded alone with his species.

There's also something interesting in having Kirk reference the Federation's capacity to make war, and threatening violent consequences. It reminds me of the humorous yet provocative situation of "The Cage", in which willingness to embrace primal hatred was an important part of the ultimately successful resolution, and it reminds me too of Kirk's pretty well-made point in Inception that some cultures consider military preparedness to be essential in a manner beyond the merely practical, and that building peaceful and productive relations with others sometimes necessitates initially counter-intuitive approaches. All of this, naturally, is easily tied in with The Klingon Problem which has been one of the defining thematic issues of this stretch of the Trek timeline.

The United Federation of Planets is a military superpower that likes to pretend that it isn't, and sometimes the Klingons actually have a point somewhere amid their hypocrisy and belligerency; one can't help but wonder if they view the Federation the way Kirk and co might view Eminiar. Of course, no-one could call the Klingon perspective on such matters reasonable or indeed sane, but then as Spock so wonderfully says in this one: "I do not approve; I understand".

Nal khomerex, khesterex. Eminiar perhaps tries to disprove this and achieve a static state in which it neither declines nor expands, progresses nor reverts, and this is intolerable to Kirk. I can see why Kor will like him.

What is "the Federation Central"? Another of those early Trek terms that were never used again and now seem awkward, of course, but I like to assume that it's a loaded term that emphasises the divisions I've previously speculated on between those political groups who are fighting to consolidate and standardise the Federation and those who prefer it remain hands-off and more like a loose alliance than a traditional state. There's no basis for this save my own preferences for crafting a metastory of sorts out of TOS, though.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

Stretching the idea of "important" to its breaking point, perhaps, and they never actually "appear", but tri-cobalt explosive devices. Vendikar uses a virtual one to take down the Enterprise.

 

[Christopher]

As for Eminiar VII and Vendikar and their virtual war, it's an interesting idea. Recalling some of the logical protests made against the Beta III situation, it does perhaps seem unlikely that this degree of cultural conformity and acceptance could exist, that at least a sizable minority wouldn't rebel against the idea of marching into suicide booths or seeing family members do so. That cultural expectation would surely spark civil unrest and violence and so defeat the entire purpose of a clean and culturally non-disruptive approach. I'm aware that many civilizations accept all manner of norms that seem completely to disregard any stability or protection for the individual, but still, this seems rather excessive and difficult to accept.

But what was the alternative? If either side didn't play by the rules, they'd call down real retaliation that would devastate their world. They accepted the status quo out of fear of annihilation. It was a Cold War allegory.

Anyway, given that their surnames are numbers, that suggests a fairly regimented mindset to begin with.

portant" to its breaking point, perhaps, and they never actually "appear", but tri-cobalt explosive devices. Vendikar uses a virtual one to take down the Enterprise.

Sounds like an ad slogan. "Regular nukes not getting the job done? Try cobalt explosive devices!"