Product Description

First contact becomes an interstellar incident when the Starship Enterprise™ responds to a distress call from an unknown ship and saves the life of a man left to die by his own people. Berlis, member of a telepathic species calling themselves the Isitri, claims not to know why those from his homeworld want him dead. Captain James T. Kirk wants to believe him, but the damage is done: the Enterprise can neither leave the stranger to die nor turn him over to those who would kill him.

Berlis seems harmless, but his people say he cannot live among them: his telepathy is so strong that their wills are subsumed to his. The same fear that compels the Isitri to seek the death of one of their own drives the neighboring Odib people toward genocide. For every time a "troublesome mind" dominates the Isitri, the Odib pay the price in their own blood.

With Spock becoming erratic under Berlis's influence, and the Isitri begging Kirk to allow them to destroy the man who threatens their existence, matters take a disastrous turn when Berlis makes his way back to Isitra...and an entire world falls to his whims.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52828 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781439101551
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur are a writing team whose successful collaborations include Star Trek novels set both in the Voyager and the Next Generation universes.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
ONE

Tractor beam." Captain James T. Kirk spun toward his chief engineer.

Montgomery Scott turned from the engineering console and shook his head forbiddingly. "At this distance? Through that atmosphere? Impossible, sir."

"Their shields are failing." Spock was angled over his science station console viewer, its informative blue glow playing over his sharp features. "At the current rate of descent, their hull will be crushed in four minutes, sixteen-point-nine seconds."

"Mister Scott, set shields for atmospheric running." Kirk turned back toward the helm. "Sulu, close the distance. I want that ship pulled out of there."

"Aye, sir." Sulu's lithe fingers danced impressively across his console. At navigation, Ensign Chekov answered Sulu's movements. Moments later, the navigator said, "In range, Captain."

Kirk kept his eyes on the main viewscreen. Tension made his shoulders knot up. First contact with a new warp-capable race was exhilarating, but the distress call dampened any enthusiasm and caused concern. "Spock?"

"Radiation from the gas giant prevents a detailed scan, but sensors indicate storm currents are pulling them deeper."

Sulu must have felt his captain's eyes on him because he began reporting the closing distance. "Forty thousand kilometers...thirty thousand..."

Scotty positioned his hands over the proper controls. "Almost."

"In range..." Sulu gazed deeply into his scanner. "Now!"

"Scotty -- "

"Tractor beam engaged, sir."

Enterprise's tractors emitted blue energy beams that encased the alien vessel and pulled it slightly closer.

"Reverse course," Kirk ordered.

The engines struggled as Enterprise pulled the other ship through the tempestuous primordial gases. Kirk gripped the arms of his chair and seemed to transfer his will to the tractor beam to help tug the mass behind them.

On the main viewscreen, gas clouds eventually gave way to the dark vacuum of space. Kirk watched the starscape intently until the red lights on the helm began to flash. Chekov instantly checked his console, as the captain watched over his shoulder.

"Two vessels, incoming." Chekov looked back at Kirk expectantly but the captain flew out of his seat and toward the rail near the first officer's station.

"Spock?"

"Unknown design. Scanning energy signatures..." The Vulcan glanced up, making eye contact with Kirk. "They're charging weapons."

"Uhura, hailing frequency."

Slender brown fingers made well-practiced motions across the communication console. Uhura nodded quickly. "Open, sir."

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We are responding to a general distress call and engaged in rescue operations -- "

Uhura removed her earpiece and instead read her console screen. "They're responding, sir -- mathematically."

"Universal replies, Uhura." Kirk stepped up between his officers, but kept his eyes on the main viewscreen. "Spock?"

"Class eleven shields and weak disruptor cannons. And yet..." The first officer turned away from his scanner to impress upon Kirk the irony of the situation. "They appear to be warning us to leave."

"Don't they have sensors?" If they did, Kirk thought, they were fools. "We outgun them a hundred to one."

"Confirmed, Captain," Uhura said. "The message is a warning."

"Explain we're on a rescue mission."

Uhura checked the readouts on her board and shook her head. "I think they understand that, sir. Their message reads: 'Leave them to die.' "

"They're firing on the damaged ship," Spock reported.

Kirk ordered Scotty, "Extend our shields."

The chief engineer shook his head. "We'll lose the tractor beam, and they'll slip back into the atmosphere, sir."

"Another salvo, and the alien ship will lose cohesion," Spock said.

Kirk returned to his command chair and pounded the comm button. "Bridge to transporter room. Lock on alien vessel in tractor and beam all life-forms aboard."

As he watched the small vessel fade into the gas that surrounded the planet, Kirk wished he was at the transporter controls. He looked from the main screen to the speaker on the arm of the center seat and back again -- until he saw a bright flare against the sweeping maelstrom of colors. The ship was gone. Kirk's jaw tightened until he heard Kyle's report from the transporter room: "We have them, sir! Three individuals."

A sigh rose in Kirk's throat but he wouldn't let it escape. Instead, he asked Spock, "The hostiles?"

"Breaking off, Captain. Retreating toward the inner star system."

Sulu's hands hovered on his console, ready to engage a course that Chekov had no doubt already plotted. "Pursuit, sir?"

"Negative. Continue scans and maintain red alert. Uhura, security to transporter room. Have medical standing by." Kirk hurried to the turbolift. "Spock, with me. Scotty, you have the conn."

"Jim, I don't think we'll need them." Doctor Leonard McCoy's tone was laced both with annoyance at the security team near the doorway and pity for the three unconscious souls in sickbay.

Familiar with McCoy's attitude and recognizing that the three aliens didn't pose much of a threat, Kirk sent the guards away. As they retreated out of sickbay, the captain got a closer look at the most colorfully dressed alien who appeared to be the leader.

Dressed in a medium-blue tunic and loose gray trousers, the being to whom McCoy attended was humanoid, slight of build with a bone-white complexion under a pinkish fuzz. He had no hair exactly, but the fuzz on his head was thicker and crest-shaped. He had large eyes that bulged even when closed, and flat nostrils without a pronounced nose -- an interesting evolution.

A nurse removed a device from the being's wrist, and Kirk noticed that the even distribution of fuzz made it seem as if a pale child had been crossbred with a peach.

"How are they?" Kirk asked as McCoy scanned and reviewed the bio-bed monitor.

"Coming around, I think," the doctor grunted.

Before them, the peach man stirred, his bulbous eyes fluttering open. He was so delicate that Kirk wondered about his planet's gravity and makeup. Did his people, like the Vulcans, hide incredible strength in their slender forms?

The alien flailed his arms then pointed and gestured while looking pleadingly at McCoy and the nurse.

"Is he trying to speak? Is he injured?" Kirk came closer.

"He's not trying to speak," McCoy said, glancing at his Feinberg scanner. "No vocal cords."

"Captain, I believe he wishes to use the device taken from his wrist." Spock gestured toward the apparatus on the table to the left of the alien.

Kirk nodded and said, "Analysis."

The Vulcan scanned the device with his tricorder, then picked it up and inspected it closer. "A computerized communications device. No inherent threat."

Kirk made a gesture, ordering that the unit be returned to its owner. The alien sat up in bed, and relief flushed his pale countenance as Spock returned it to him. The alien placed the device on his wrist and began gesturing again. This time, however, a flood of tones emanated from the device.

The other two aliens began to stir. They looked panicked and unsure at first, but then, suddenly and perfectly synchronized, they grew calm and centered. Kirk found it curious, and filed away the thought for later consideration.

The universal translator began interpreting, replacing bleeps with words once the Enterprise's computer learned the alien language.

"Can you understand us?" Kirk asked the alien who ad come to first.

The peach man took in a breath, not quite a gasp. Kirk wondered if the reaction was the equivalent of a nod, but then the alien gestured at him. The translator took over: "Understand I. You make sound. Hear I and communicate."

Kirk nodded slowly and the alien mimicked the gesture as if attempting to duplicate a greeting.

"You who?" the alien asked, looking around the room and addressing the question to them all.

Kirk took a step forward and said, "James T. Kirk, captain of the Starship Enterprise, my first officer, Mister Spock, and Doctor Leonard McCoy. We responded to your distress call."

The alien looked from Kirk to the others -- including his own people -- then back to the Enterprise captain.

His slight features, which seemed even smaller in relation to his bulbous eyes, were excited and relieved. "I possess no knowledge of you, but you interesting very very. I called Berlis Aknista from Isitra Colony First. Excuse language barrier. We communicate thoughts. When travel space, device necessary for deliver information give you."

"Telepaths, Captain."

"Yes, thank you, Mister Spock."

"Do you have a written language?" Spock asked Berlis.

"Writing recent. No need past."

Spock nodded as if confirming a theory to himself.

"But you developed a manual language?" McCoy asked.

"Yes. Not all people think together. Some alone, single -- disabled. They signs created -- ideas communicate difficult but possible."

The syntax wasn't alarming to Kirk, though it was already improving thanks to the universal translator. There must have been something in the way Berlis was gesturing or the manner in which the device interpreted these gestures into tones that the translator still didn't understand. With time it would improve.

Kirk wasn't certain if he should avoid moving his hands when he spoke. He was concerned about gesturing in a manner Berlis and his people might find insulting, or that would accidentally convey the wrong thing, so he kept his arms at his sides and spoke as evenly as possible.

"Someone wanted you dead. Why?"

Berlis's face wrinkled with confusion as he said, "Why?"

"That's what we'd like to know. Why?"

Berlis and the other two aliens simultaneously looked at Kirk anxiously, as if the captain would be the one to soon supply them with an answer.

Could such naïveté be genuine? Kirk and Spock exchanged a glance, but the Vulcan offered only a curious expression.

Pushing out a breath, Kirk steeled his gaze. "Who attacked you?"

"Our people from Isitra Zero: homeworld."

Spock's eyebrow lifted in surprise at the i...

Customer Reviews

Excellently Done
I am deaf, and I enjoy Star Trek stories, so when I heard that there was a novel being published that featured an alien race with a large deaf population and communicated through telepathy and sign language, I figured I'd check it out and see how big a mess the author would make of deafness and deaf culture.

Hoo boy, was I surprised.

The author absolutely nails the intricate of a gestural language and does a great job of portraying how conceptual such languages tend to be. I loved how the author chose to portray the sign for "different." It's not the same as the ASL version, but since it's an alien language it makes perfect sense.

The story itself was also well done. There's an old saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." The author does a great job of showing exactly how one seemingly correct action -- saving a ship being fired upon -- can have such grave and unintended consequences. There is also a great "no-win" scenario presented in the novel. You can completely understand where both sides are coming from and why they are doing what they did. There are no evil, mustache-twirling people here, just two sides of a conflict with the Enterprise caught in the middle.

I highly recommend this novel.

The One About A Very Satisfying Read Featuring My Favorite Vulcan.
As a fan of all things Star Trek, and Vulcans, especially Spock in particular, I was eagerly anticipating the release of Troublesome Minds by Dave Galanter. I was not disappointed. Set during the Kirk's initial five year voyage as captain of the Enterprise, the book introduces a new race of telepathic aliens, that present captain and crew with a unique moral dilemma. One member of the race is so powerful that he may unconsciously suborn the rest to serve his every whim. In attempting to find a solution that safeguards everyone, Kirk inadvertently risks not only the life of Spock, but the safety of the entire Federation.

Mr. Galanter manages to create a "villain" who is more victim than victimizer, and a moral dilemma for which there is no easy answer. This to book to my mind is a perfect example of Star Trek at its finest.

I will admit that the ending felt a bit abrupt, but I am hoping that perhaps Mr. Galanter will be permitted to revisit this story, in a future novel as it seems to cry out for a sequel.

Great TOS Adventure!
After recently watching the new Star Trek movie - TWICE! - I wasn't surprised to find myself wanting to relive some childhood days with some Star Trek The Original Series (TOS) goodness. However, that seems to be in short supply these days. However, I found the new Star Trek TOS novel, TROUBLESOME MINDS, in my local bookstore and picked it up as an impulse buy.

Over the last couple dozen years, I've read several of the tie-ins, but few of them, although often well-written, seemed to catch the characters of Captain James T. Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy as I was convinced they were to be portrayed. The mix never seemed to be really right, and after the movies came out, everyone seemed determined to write prequels or sequels to them film.

I honestly missed the feeling of the original five-year mission episodes, where everything seemed new and the crew was still learning a lot and hadn't seen it all. TROUBLESOME MINDS really hit the spot because not only did the author David Galanter really nail the three main characters, but he also introduced a radical concept regarding telepathic societies that I hadn't considered.

Star Trek, the television show as well as the novels, is always at its best when it seeks to shed some light on the human condition and play fairly with the conceits all the way around through the crew. The decisions people make aren't easy, and they aren't easy in this novel.

Galanter opens the novel up with some great action, employing Kirk in the captain's chair acting to save a doomed ship. As soon as he succeeds in his efforts, he's rewarded by being attacked by the world he's come to meet. As a diplomatic mission to introduce the emerging space race to the Federation, he becomes an immediate failure.

In short order, Kirk and the Enterprise crew learn about the danger the Isitri (the dominate civilization on the planet) seek to avoid. One of the men aboard the doomed ship is Berlis, what they call a "troublesome mind." I loved the concept of one mind being strong enough to take over an entire telepathic world. I hadn't thought about what it would be like to know the secrets of everyone on a planet, or about how easily that kind of society might be able to be subjugated.

(Okay, maybe there was a message in there about advertising and people looking for infallible leaders, for those readers seeking such things, but I chose to look at the plot problems and remain firmly entrenched in the entertainment side of things.)

The author does a wonderful job of pushing the pyramid of major characters (Kirk, Spock, and McCoy) into various confrontations that stem from their personalities and the situations they get into. I loved the dialogue and the emotional arcs that took place within the framework.

In addition to the spot-on characterization, Galanter succeeds in amping up the risk and threat thresholds. The taut, tightly-written scenes are short and direct, and beg the reader to turn the pages quickly, which I did. I figured most of the plot out as I went along, but that just made the read more enjoyable. There are twists and turns aplenty, and enough new thinking thrown at you to keep you guessing.

As it turns out, Galanter has written other Star Trek books, but I hope he gets the chance to write another TOS book. I'm going to look for his others, but I'm going to cross my fingers that he gets to pen another early adventure of the Enterprise's first five-year mission.