Praise for
Christopher L. Bennett’s
Star Trek: Ex Machina
“Easily one of the best [ Star Trek] novels in print, Ex Machinais the proverbial must-read…. Bennett has woven multiple and often conflicting continuity threads in a tour de force that tells a fascinating story with flair, imagination, and weight.”
—Megan O’Neill, TV ZONE
“Attention to scientific detail is at the forefront of Bennett’s tome, as he carefully integrates scientific reality into the framework of the tale…. He’s got a solid grasp on characterization all the way throughout Ex Machina,and no one escapes his watchful eye or is considered insignificant. That’s the mark of a great writer, one who makes you care about all of the people in a story, and this is one of Bennett’s many strengths.”
—Bill Williams, TrekWeb.com
“Thought-provoking stories are one of the hallmarks of Star Trek,and stories rarely get more thought provoking than Ex Machina.…What Christopher L. Bennett has done with Ex Machinais to meld together…a story [that] cannot help but resonate with anyone who has ever read a history book or a newspaper.”
—Jackie Bundy, TrekNation.com
“Bennett has produced a glorious debut in full-length novel form…. This promising new author clearly has a lot of…character- and world-building skill. Highly recommended.”
—Daniel Berry, trekreviews.bravehost.com
“The plotting and pacing are unflaggingly excellent…. Ex Machinais one of the best of the best in Pocket’s long line of Trekfiction, launching Bennett to an instant place at the top of the writers’ pantheon.”
—Kilian Melloy, wigglefish.com
An OriginalPublication of POCKET BOOKS
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2006 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
Paramount Pictures.
This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 1-4165-1034-6
POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Cover art by Cliff Nielson; background image courtesy of NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STcI), and HEIC.
Cover design by John Vairo, Jr.
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
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To Shadow and Natasha,
predators extraordinaire,
who have saved me
from many menacing pieces of string
and wrapping paper.
Sorry about the “Hounds” thing.
Acknowledgments
I’ll try to keep it shorter this time…. Thanks first to Marco Palmieri for inviting me to come aboard Titan,and to Andy Mangels and Mike Martin for launching it on its way. Thanks also to the various authors whose characters, creatures and ideas I’ve built upon here, including but not limited to Laurence V. Conley, D. C. Fontana, Maurice Hurley, Robert Lewin, Gene Roddenberry and Jeri Taylor from televised Trek and Keith R.A. DeCandido, Robert Greenberger, David Mack, the aforementioned Martin & Mangels, and John Vornholt from the print side.
For scientific and sociological concepts, I owe inspiration to Thomas J. Barfield, Freeman Dyson, Fred Hoyle, Larry Niven, and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, among others. Alan Dean Foster also warrants a nod. Thanks to Nigel Henbest and Heather Couper, whose book The Guide to the Galaxyhas provided much insight into the geography of the real Milky Way, and Geoffrey Mandel, whose book Star Trek Star Chartshas done the same for the fictitious one. And thanks to the makers of the open-source Celestia astronomy simulator, which not only served as a reference but inspired my descriptions of Titan’s stellar cartography lab.
My research was assisted by too many Web sites to acknowledge, so I’ll just thank the whole darn Internet and the folks at Google in particular. Thanks also to the usual suspects at the TrekBBS, Psi Phi, and Ex Isle for technical assistance.
And thanks to Dennis McCarthy for making the star-jellies sing.
Historian’s Note
This tale unfolds from late February to late March, 2380 (Old Calendar).
Part One
Giants in the Sky
Beneath the sky’s triumphal arch
This music sounded like a march,
And with its chorus seemed to be
Preluding some great tragedy….
Begirt with many a blazing star,
Stood the great giant Algebar,
Orion, hunter of the beast!