Name: The Galactic Whirlpool
Author: David Gerrold
Publication Date: 10/1980
Publisher: Bantam Books
Page Number: 223
Historian’s Note:
At the very end of this book Kirk orders the ship to the K-7 Space
Station. This led me to believe that
this episode was a prequel to The Trouble with Tribbles. However, earlier a
character makes a tribble joke and there are characters only seen in Star Trek:
The Animated Series. Therefore, I would
say this book takes place sometime between The Counter-Clock Incident and The Motion Picture.
Cast of Characters: Captain James T. Kirk Commander
Spock Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
AKA “Bones” Lieutenant
Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”
Lieutenant Commander Lasker Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Lieutenant Kevin Thomas Riley Lieutenant Arex Lieutenant M’Ress Nurse Christine Chapel Ensign Pavel Chekov Ensign Specks Ensign Susan Kelly Crewman Munker Crewman Mante N'Komo Crewman Micah Omara Crewman Ussef Stokely Katholin
Arwen AKA Katwen Captain Frost Captain Jesus
Garcia Gomez Marilyn
Garcia Dr. Hobie
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701,
The Wanderer
Planets: None
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is exploring a region of
space that is near the border with the Klingon Empire. It is feared that the Klingons will become
active in this region that is of great strategic importance. The sensors pick up an unknown object. Fearing it might be some Klingon ship or
weapon, Captain Kirk orders that they investigate.
What they find turns out to be a gigantic ship. As they look closely, they discover it is a non-warp capable vessel. Since it can only travel under light speed it becomes clear that if there is a crew then this vessel is most likely a generation ship. The crew that launched knew they would not live to see their destination, and their immediate descendants for multiple generations would live and die on the ship. As the Enterprise continues to observe this discovery, they find something not good. Large parts of the ship have been damaged. Three out of four power plants aren’t operational. Spock theorizes that at one point there may have been a civil war aboard the vessel. Perhaps arising out of munity due to disagreement over their destination.
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| Enterprise finds something big |
Lt. Riley leads a boarding team to
the strange craft. They enter through an
outer hull and proceed through a secondary one.
When they get in a security team shows up to oppose them. To everyone’s shock they are human beings
both on clear appearance and tricorder readings. There is a brief phaser fight
and one of the locals is stunned. It is
a young woman; Riley decides to bring her back to the ship.
The fact that they are humans
raises some interesting questions, such as when was this ship built and when
did it leave Earth? Scotty is adamant
that Earth never built or launched a vessel such as this. Spock points out that it is nevertheless
here. They consulted the ship’s
historian, Ensign Specks, for his idea.
The reason Scotty didn’t remember this was it was originally not
supposed to be a ship at all but rather an off-world colony that was to help
produce energy and resources of the great Earth powers at the time, the first
and second world countries. Called a LV, the colonists eventually sought and
gained their independence. They decided
to leave Earth and its problems behind and set off for the stars. McCoy is concerned that such isolation is
going to lead to culture shock once they recounter the rest of humanity.
The woman that the boarding party brought back with them wakes up in the sickbay. We learn that her name is Katholin Arwen and she goes by Katwen. She is considered to be a warrior in her culture and works as part of the ship’s security. The ship is named the Wanderer and Katwen thinks she is still on it. She is convinced that she is on the lower levels that are currently held by the mutinous rebels. Convincing her that this is not the case is going to take some doing. In any traditional Star Trek story this would be the time where Captain Kirk would turn on the sexiness and seduce the young Katwen to their way of thinking. However, Kirk will not take the center seat for this part of the adventure. That will be filled by Lt. Kevin Riley. Lt. Riley is a good choice to turn on the sexiness because he feels a natural attraction to Katwen, as she wears her hair more loosely and really light on the makeup. That last part is important because women shouldn’t look made up. Riley shows Karwen the Enterprise inside and out. He is able to convince her of the truth.
 |
| People on ship are humans |
While Riley is turning up the
sexiness, Ensign Chekov is stuck doing the unsexy science work normally done by
Spock. There Chekov discovers that the Wanderer
is on course to hit the galactic whirlpool, basically two black holes orbiting
each other ripping all sorts of space apart.
Unless the Wanderer changes course in less than two weeks then
they are doomed.
The information is given to Katwen
and she decides to return with Riley to the Wanderer via transporter to
try to get her people to cooperate. When
they beam over there, she tells Riley that before they try to see the Captain
the will contract Dr. Hobie the Chief Science Officer. The reason for this is Captain Frost is a
religious zealot, who won’t believe them.
We learned earlier that the once 30,000 crew of the Wanderer has
been waddled down to a few thousand people aboard. The surviving population continued civil war
has caused the government of the upper levels to become run by fanatics such as
the current Captain. By recruiting Hobie,
she hopes he will be able to reach out to Frost.
This turns out to be a
mistake. Hobie, although sympathetic, is
within the Captain’s clutches. Both
Reiley and Katwen are taken prisoner as spies for the rebellion. They are repeatedly tortured but do not
change their story. The Captain decides
to execute them but before that can be carried out the floor opens up beneath
the two prisoners and they two slide down to the lower levels. 
torture!
Katwen is afraid of the lower level
“savages”, but Rieley feels he has to try to reach out to someone. Fortunately, these poor souls do listen more
closely than those on the higher levels.
It could be because they are desperate everyone Riley sees is
malnourished and no one is old. They
take him to the “true captain,” a man named Jesus Garcia Gomez. Captain Gomez points out their situation that
they have to take the upper levels to get to the control room and that having
been denied a basic education, they don’t know how to fix the engines
anyway. Riley is able to connect Captain
Gomez with Captain Kirk and the two negotiate an agreement about regime change
on the Wanderer and the Enterprise lending its medical staff for
the poor souls on the lower levels.
A joint attack is carried out on the higher levels from all sides, personally led by Captain Kirk. However, despite the technological edge the allied forces are driven back with experience and adapted battle tactics. Kirk then conceives of a plan to turn all of the Wanderer’s interior lights on and magnified. His own side uses special glasses to protect themselves and pushes on the attack. Kirk himself has a showdown with Captain Frost on the bridge of the ancient ship. It becomes anti-climatic with Frost vaporizing himself by accident. Dr. Hobie surrenders as Captain Gomez convinced his former adversary that Captain Kirk can be trusted to do the right thing.
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| Kirk and Spock can be trusted to do the right thing! |
Despite going past the deadline to
save the ship, Chekov thought of a way out. They can use the gravity of a nearby star to
sling-shot the Wanderer to safety.
Since they are going sub-warp drive there is no time travel risk. Lt.
Reilly has to do the traditional Star Trek good-bye to his lost love Katwen, the
girl is nice, but he has a destiny with the stars.
Additional thoughts: This was an enjoyable, well done
story. The premise of the story may be a
little overused. We have seen the
“people on generation ship not understanding that they are on a ship or that
other worlds exist”-thing before. It is
what the Enterprise encounter in the episode “For The World is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky” and in the earlier Trek novel The Starless World
by Gordon Eklund. However, it is still
different enough to remain interesting.
It also takes full advantage of the novel from allowing us to get into
the heads of the important characters.
There is something that I want to address: Julius Caesar was not a Roman Emperor; he was a Dictator. The first Roman Emperor was Augustus. This makes Tiberius the second Emperor not the third. This can sometimes be confusing, but it is important. The office that Caesar used was an extraordinary office of the Republic that had been used before. Augustus created the Principate headed by the Princeps. Princeps simply means “First Citizen.” All the Roman Emperors until Diocletian held that office.
 |
| Augustus, Roman Emperor #1 |
My general rule on this blog is to
review everything based on where the franchise was when it came out. So, in this case I can only use elements of
Star Trek that were around back in October 1980, when this book came out. I am going to violate that rule slightly
because there are some interesting things that I would like to note. So, Captain Kirk was referred to Starfleet
Academy by Admiral George LaForge.
LaForge, that sounds like a familiar name. According to the book, the Admiral comes from
a long line of Starfleet officers.
Hmm. I wonder if there will be
any more of them. Also, they discovered
that the original destination of the Wanderer is Wolf 359! Okay I won’t say what is going to happen
there in a future Star Trek episode but let’s just say it’s like reading about
a person in the 1990s who got a brand-new job at the World Trade Center.
One part about this book that makes
it fun is how the author will randomly dive into these little bits of untold
history of the characters. Some might
criticize the book for these distractions from the main story, but I like the
added depth. Since the author is one of
the writers of classic Star Trek it also feels more authentic coming from
him. The best one of these little trips
down memory lane happens in Chapter 15. I
first read this book back in high school and this chapter was the part I
remembered the most clearly as I re-read it this last week. When you come to that chapter it is a gem.
Lt. Kevin Riley returns in a major way. It is ironic that he falls in love with a woman named Katholin. Riley was a fun character, and it is nice to see him used. This is the story his character has been waiting for. In addition to Lt. Riley getting some time in the sun, Ensign Chekov shines in this episode as well. In the book, Chekov is seen as a reliable officer and scientist. He is noticeably absent of his traditional jokes. At no point does he try to claim the Wanderer was a Russian design. He both discovers and solves the Wanderer’s deadly course heading.
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| Kevin Riley |
I thought it was weird that the
author decided to give Kirk a personality quirk of repeating his middle name to
himself. He didn’t do this show so what is the point of adding it? Also, at one
point Kirk refers to Uhura as the fourth-in-command, but she isn’t, Sulu is,
and after him is DeSalle.
Lastly, I wonder why Kirk and his
command crew just didn’t choose to abandon the Wanderer and just
evacuate the population. They were
supposed to settle on planet anyway and I am sure there are plenty in the
Federation that they could settle. Kirk should just ask Starfleet to send more
ships and begin taking people out of there.
Take the people in the lower levels first, as they don’t want to be
there, then focus on trying to convince those in the upper levels. Without their adversaries they might start to
become more willing not to knuckle under the leadership of Captain Frost
anymore. If you can somehow save the
ship so you can stick it in a space museum that’s great but not important.
Well, that probably would be a less exciting story, but it would have made more
sense.
Should it be canon: Given the author is David
Gerrold, who is one of the original series writers I would say yes. The history given maybe altered by later
canon, but the timeline is flexible after all Khan and his crew were originally
from the 1990s.
Cover Art: The cover art has Captain Kirk on the
viewer’s left near the top talking on a communicator. Uhura is on viewer’s right near the bottom
with her normal earpiece. On the top
right is an image from the battle where the upper levelers were using
gliders. The cover is a bit of a lie as Uhura doesn’t
really play much of a role in the story, the cover should have probably
featured Kevin Riley.
Final Grade: Final Grade 5 of 5
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