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| Cover art courtesy of the great Boris Vallejo |
Greg Bear has written novels in other people’s universes,
such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Halo.
At first, this seemed rather strange to me. As he has built a successful career
with his imaginative Hard Science Fiction stories, he can no doubt commands large advances and royalties. On the other hand, books written in media franchises typically pay an author a smaller advance,
and little or no royalties. When I met him at the World
Fantasy Convention in San Diego in 2011, I asked him why he would solicit or accept such a work-for-hire project. He responded that he does this because he’s a
fan of these franchises, and writing a novel gave him the opportunity
to explore them in greater detail.
In the case of Star Trek, his love of the franchise is
evident before one even starts his novel Corona. In the Acknowledgements, Greg Bear mentions
that he contributed illustrations for the original edition of Bjo Trimble and
Dorothy Jones Hedyt’s Star Trek Concordance.
“Does this make me a trekkie?” he asks.
“You bet.”
In Corona, a team of Vulcan scientists becomes stranded on a
distant outpost when the infant stars they are studying give off radiation that
interferes with their ability to send and receive messages. By the time the Federation receives their
distress signal, ten years have passed, and they are presumed dead. Nonetheless, the U.S.S. Enterprise is directed to
investigate, and rescue any survivors they may find. This turns out to be a fortunate coincidence. The ship’s sickbay has just been upgraded
with a Transporter Emergency Recovery (or TEREC) unit.
By comparing a person's originally transmitted body pattern with his or her present
one, Doctor McCoy can repair injuries and cure a person's illness. (Needless to say, Bear wrote this novel years
before Star Trek: The Next Generation explored the concept further). This TEREC unit could prove useful, as the
infant stars’ radiation has damaged some of the Vulcan scientists who were in
cryogenic suspension, and can no longer be revived successfully. But Dr. McCoy’s ability to use the device may
be limited, as it comes with protocols and safeguards that could limit the use of TEREC in this particular case.
How much power and judgment should be allowed starship
captains and their crews is one of the themes Bear concentrates on in Corona. Unconstrained use of TEREC could allow Dr.
McCoy to make unlimited copies of a given individual, as with cloning. Alternatively, he could use TEREC to improve
everyone aboard the Enterprise, cure all their bodily deficiencies, supercharge
their muscles, brains, or immune systems, or even return their bodies to an
earlier period of their lives (and by doing so repeatedly, grant them immortality).
Meanwhile, an observer aboard the Enterprise is comparing Kirk’s actions
and decisions to computer recommendations.
Kirk’s judgment has often saved the ship, but no man is infallible. Computers can sort through an
infinite number of options quickly, and perhaps make a more informed
choice. So with this mission, the future
of command is being determined, and Kirk, as the Defendant, represents all his
fellow starship captains.
I’ve got more to say about Greg Bear’s novel, but time
marches relentlessly on. So with reluctance, I must sign off for today with the
promise that this post will conclude tomorrow.
If only I had a TEREC machine, and could constantly rejuvenate myself, and enhance my brain’s functioning, so I could write more, better and faster!
Maybe I'll telephone Dr. Rudy Wells, and order up a bionic brain.
Dragon Dave
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