Star Trek Voyager: The Escape
By Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch
PP 244
First Printing, May 1995
DESCRIPTION:
The U.S.S. Voyager is in desperate trouble, her systems damaged, her warp engines failing. Without immediate repairs the starship and her crew will be trapped forever between the stars. Captain Kathryn Janeway must guide her ship to an ancient, deserted planet that could hold the key to their survival-a planet that is hiding more than one deadly secret . . .
ROGER’S REVIEW:
Alcawell, planet in the Delta Quadrant along Voyager’s course to Earth, that is over nine billion years old and home to a race of many a number over the age of the planet and all alive at once. Planet overcrowding is a thing of the past . . .
Watchman Drickel is called to duty once again: over ten years in Real Time since his last call. Where? A time-breach in Period 889. The time-jump-point is one hour after the planet-hoppers’ incursion. Another vacuum ship in orbit and it is Drickel’s job is to scare away the others – just as he has many times before. Torres, Kim, and Neelix board one of the many shuttles abandoned on this planet and accidentally activate it – they are sent to a time far away from their own. Voyager came to this planet in search of preciously needed raw materials on Neelix’s advice. Now they find their away-team missing and Tuvok, Paris, and Seska discover ghosts – just as Neelix warned. Captain Janeway must solve the mystery and retrieve the lost away-team.
Real Time. Planet-hoppers. Vacuum Ships. Temporal Disturbances. 800 Violations. 600 Violations. 400 Violations. Control. Old Pointed Ears. Black Period. Red Period. No need to fret, the vocabulary will come to you as you read along. Here is a poignant example of the dilemma facing our dear captain:
“Let me explain why you found an empty planet, you already understand paradoxes, but there is a level beyond paradoxes in time travel. A level that we didn’t discover for many years. About one hundred and fifty thousand years ago Real Time from here, we discovered that, for each decision point in Real Time, two or more alternate universes branch off depending on the number of solutions. Most of the time these branches simply blend back together like water running around a rock. But other times the branches form two or more distinct time lines. We discovered how to easily cross those boundaries between those time lines and in doing so discovered millions of uninhabited time lines.”
By far, one of the best-told stories in Star Trek literature. This story is so simple and yet complex – you will come away with a clear understanding of time-travel that, as such, this adventure will be the standard in which you measure all other time-travel stories. The story is light on action but rife with mystery and wonder. My rating is low when compared to other adventures, but this adventure is well worth your time. Roger’s rating: 3.5 of 5
Voyager
