Name: Corona
Author: Greg Bear
Publication Date: 4/1984
Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #15)
Page Number: 192
Historian’s Note: This story takes place after the
third season of classic Star Trek but before the first season of Star Trek: The Animated Series.
Cast of Characters: Captain James T. Kirk Commander Spock Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA
“Bones” Lieutenant Commander
Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”
Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Lieutenant Jan Veblen Lieutenant Wellman Lieutenant Anauk Lieutenant Devereaux Lieutenant Grake Lieutenant Harauk Lieutenant Yimasa Nurse Christine Chapel Ensign Pavel Chekov Ensign
Edward Olaus Ensign Pauli Crewman Elias R. Rostovtzev Crewman Jonathan Shallert Crewman Wah Ching Admiral Hiram Kawakami Rowena Mason T'Prylla Grake T'Kosa T'Raus Radak Corona
Prime Commodore Uligbar Dar Zotzchen
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Galileo
NCC-1701/7, Black Box Nebula Station One, unnamed Kshatriyan
vessel
Planets: Yalbo
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The book opens
with the Vulcan scientist T’Prylla who is on a
research mission with her own family as the research team. That seems kind of nice until it appears they
are going to be attacked by their own children.
The Enterprise arrives at the planet Yalbo, a human Federation colony, where they pick up a reporter named Rowena Mason. Mason comes from a very isolated world and has not much contact with nonhumans. As a result, she is not comfortable around them. She talks of humanism, which is now a human supremacist ideology and Uhura shuts her down with as she explains how things go on the Enterprise.
 |
| Kirk welcomes the reporter to the Enterprise |
One of the things Mason is reporting on is new technology that the Federation is employing for this mission. One is experimental transporter data that in theory could allow each of the crew to be cloned or perhaps fundamentally altered. That is not the main thing, however. The big news story is the monitors, AIs that are designed to monitor the actions of the entire crew up to and including the Captain, and if the AI disagrees with the action, it is to take over the ship and counterman the order. Each of the monitors is programed with the minds of Starfleet officers who were considered to be the experts in their respective fields. Kirk meets with Mason and sets up interviews for her with all the important people in her story.
 |
| The Monitors taking over |
Suddenly the ship gets an emergency
call from the Vulcan scientists in the opening chapter. Spock points out that the mother of the
family is a relative of his. Kirk asks
Mason if she would like to leave. As much
as she would like to, she is a reporter, and she was duty bound to stay. On their way to the Black Box Nebula to
answer the distress call the engines are given a test, and Kirk competes his
interview where he gives the poor reporter a number of non-answer answers.
While on their way a Kshatriyan
vessel tries to intercept them. Kirk has
some words with his counterpart on the other ship, this gets his counterpart to
allow them the safe passage the Kshatriyan government already promised
them. Kirk solves the problem with the
monitors’ complete approval.
It takes a couple of trips to find the Vulcan
science team. Once they do Spock notes
how odd it is that the children seem to have authority over their parents. This is very unusual for a Vulcan family;
Spock feels that something is off. In
addition to the Vulcan science team, they have a number of people in suspended
animation. McCoy wants to use the new
transporter technology to wake them up, but the monitors shut down that idea
because the participants in suspended animation have legally died. This pulls a lifesaving situation out of
McCoy’s hands.
Mason goes to talk with the officer
in charge of the monitors, Lt. Jan Veblan.
Veblan is defensive about his work and thinks the monsters in the
long-term will support future space exploration. Because of nearby stars this area of space is
full of Ybakra radiation, and after an attempt to bring Mr. Chekov up from the
station causes a delay. Kirk restricts
transportation to just shuttlecraft back and forth. What the crew didn’t realize at the time is
that an intelligent entity called the Corona uses the Ybakra radiation to
transport its essence to other life forms.
Although he got to the Vulcan science team easily, he had to wait for
the humans to be in transporter mode for it to work on them.
Chekov and the Vulcan children
sabotage both the ship and the station.
However, McCoy and Spock find a way to block the Ybakra radiation and
doing so rescues Chekov from the entity’s control. They do the same with T’Prylla, and she
informs them that her children will be harder because they have been under
control longer. Kirk tries to take the
landing party back to the ship via shuttlecraft, but it malfunctions due to the
sabotage. Kirk orders and emergency beam
out but Spock and the reporter Mason did not make it out. While the others went back to the ship those
two were relocated somewhere in the space station. 
Vulcan Family as research team!
On the Enterprise the crew
works to free the rest of the Vulcan family, while on the station Spock and
Mason are assessing their situation. Spock
is fighting to remain in control of himself and not be taken over. He mind-melds with Mason to absorb some of
her strength and give her information for her to fight Corona.
Mason is able to contact Corona, she learns that it is a sentient energy that was born at the beginning of the universe. At the time there was lot of sentient energy floating around. As the universe expanded the other sentient energies faded away. Corona desires to restart the big bang so it can have friends again. Mason tries to convince Corona of the value of life in the current universe. Meanwhile, Kirk convinced the two of the Vulcans to allow Corona to control them again so he can talk directly to it. Kirk also tries to get Corona to drop its attempts at using the Nebula to restart the big bang so it can have its people back. There is no guarantee of their return, but it will destroy all the life in the current universe, some of whom Kirk points out are non-corporal like itself. While these arguments are ongoing the monitors decide that Kirk is taking too long and take control of the ship and begin to attack that station to no avail.
 |
| The Monitors have the Enterprise attack |
Corona is convinced by both Mason
and Kirk not to destroy the universe and gives in. The universe is saved. The crew of the Enterprise agrees the
monitors were dumb. The Vulcan Science
Council invites the Vulcan research team back, admitting that they might have
been right about a few things. Reporter Rowena Mason is allowed to go
home.
Additional thoughts: The overall story here was
creative. When we think about advanced
intelligence, we don’t think about lifeforms that might have developed at the
early stages of the universe. Given the
condition of the universe, I can’t see any intelligent life forming. However, since Star Trek already dealt
with noncorporal beings it makes some sense that they would have been some of
the first intelligences to evolve in the universe.
Despite that this story takes place
in during the original five-year mission we do see later Star Trek
contributions on to this story. Most notably the gender-neutral use of the term ‘mister.’ With Captain Kirk calling Rowena Mason,
“Mister Mason.” The funny part is Mason,
herself didn’t seem to be too keen on its use.
Maybe it’s just a Starfleet thing.
The whole we can make copies from
transporters is straight out of the Omne storyline in The Price of the Phoenix and The Fate of the Phoenix. That wasn’t my favorite storyline, so I am glad the author chose to go
down a different route. Also,
journalists in the Federation. I don’t
recall journalists being mentioned in the original Star Trek or the Animated
Series. Nor were they present in the
first two films. And I don’t recall
reading about them before now. I do
remember Commodore Mendez referring to “subspace chatter” in the first part of
“The Menagerie,” but no talk of journalists.
So, this might be a first.
Yeah, the Enterprise cannot
go Warp 11, at least not under its own power.
I don’t care what tricks Scotty is pulling.
I was disappointed that M-5 was
never mentioned in this story. As soon
as the monitors were mentioned my first thought was “The Ultimate Computer.” Starfleet didn’t learn its lesson
and still wants to put machines in charge of living beings. Computer programs over human instinct. Someone should have brought that up, but no
one does.
I like how “Humanism” which is
typically considered to be a progressive philosophy gets perverted and ends up
invoking human supremacy. It just goes
to show you that anything can turn rotten in the wrong hands.
I like how no one was surprised
when the saboteurs turned to mind controlled.
They have seen better mind control, like Landru and Vaal. I also liked the part when McCoy learned
that one of his former instructor’s minds was used to build the medical
monitors. It was funny for him to argue
and old score with the machine.
Should it be canon: I see nothing in this story that
contradicts anything in the main series, (outside of the warp 11 thing) so I
have no objection to it being considered canonical.
Cover Art: A Vulcan woman who is a scientist named
T’Prylla is in the center of the cover.
Mr. Spock is to her left holding her arm and Kirk is off to her
right. Above Kirk is the Enterprise
flying away from the viewer. The cover lies by having Kirk and Spock in their
Motion Picture uniforms while the story takes place during the original series.
Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5
