Search Worlds Without End

AN OLD ENEMY RETURNS

In the thousand-sun network of humanity's expansion, new colony worlds are struggling to find their way. Every new planet lives on a knife edge between collapse and wonder, and the crew of the aging gunship Rocinante have their hands more than full keeping the fragile peace.

In the vast space between Earth and Jupiter, the inner planets and belt have formed a tentative and uncertain alliance still haunted by a history of wars and prejudices. On the lost colony world of Laconia, a hidden enemy has a new vision for all of humanity and the power to enforce it.

New technologies clash with old as the history of human conflict returns to its ancient patterns of war and subjugation. But human nature is not the only enemy, and the forces being unleashed have their own price. A price that will change the shape of humanity -- and of the Rocinante -- unexpectedly and forever...

Something-or somebody-has left a series of satellites in orbit around various planets in the galaxy. Now a crew sets off to discover the origin of the satellites-and learn if mankind is no longer alone among the stars.

The stars were closed to Max Jones. To get into space you either needed connections, a membership in the arcane Guild, or a whole lot more money than Max, the son of a widowed, poor mother, was every going to have. What Max doeshave going for him are his uncle's prized astrogation manuals-book on star navigation that Max literally commits to memory word for word, equation for equation. When Max's mother decides to remarry a bullying oaf, Max takes to the road, only to discover that his uncle Chet's manuals, and Max's near complete memorization of them, is a ticket to the stars. But serving on a spaceship is no easy task. Duty is everything, and a mistake can mean you and all aboard are lost forever. Max loves every minute of his new life, and he steadily grows in the trust of his superior officers, and seems to be on course for a command track position. But then disaster strikes, and it's going to take every trick Max ever learned from his tough life and his uncle's manuals to save himself and the ship from a doom beyond extinction itself.

From the First Golden Age of Heinlein, this is the so-called juvenile (written, Heinlein always claims, just as much for adults) that started them all and made Heinlein a legend for multiple generations of readers.

Star Trek: The New Voyages was an anthology of novellas released by Bantam Books, edited by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath. It included a foreword by Gene Roddenberry and introductions to the stories by members of the original series cast.

Although published professionally under copyright, the stories contained in the anthology were all written by fans. The Acknowledgments also contained an address for manuscripts and feedback to be sent, with the intention of further volumes being produced.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword (Star Trek: The New Voyages) - (1976) - essay by Gene Roddenberry
• Introduction: The Once and Future Voyages - (1976) - essay by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath
• Introduction to Ni Var - (1976) - essay by Leonard Nimoy
• Ni Var - (1976) - shortfiction by Claire Gabriel
• Introduction to Intersection Point - (1976) - essay by James Doohan
• Intersection Point - (1976) - shortfiction by Juanita Coulson
• Introduction to The Enchanted Pool - (1976) - essay by Nichelle Nichols
• The Enchanted Pool - (1976) - shortfiction by Marcia Ericson
• Introduction to Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited - (1976) - essay by Majel Barrett Roddenberry
• Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited - (1976) - shortfiction by Ruth Berman
• Introduction to The Face on the Barroom Floor - (1976) - essay by George Takei
• The Face on the Barroom Floor - (1976) - shortfiction by Eleanor Arnason and Ruth Berman
• Introduction to The Hunting - (1976) - essay by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath
• The Hunting - (1976) - shortfiction by Doris Beetem
• Introduction to The Winged Dreamers - (1976) - essay by DeForest Kelley
• The Winged Dreamers - (1976) - shortfiction by Jennifer Guttridge
• Introduction to Mind-Sifter - (1976) - essay by William Shatner
• Mind-Sifter - (1976) - shortfiction by Shirley S. Maiewski
• Sonnet from the Vulcan: Omicron Ceti Three - (1976) - poem by Shirley Meech

Chatalia... a fantastic artificial world, inhabited by furry winged creatures with awesome powers. Here Kirk, Spock and their Enterprise mates, trapped, face terrifying death. And if by some miracle they escape, they will confront the roving killers of the Klingon Empire!

As Captain Kirk and members of his landing party are held prisoner aboard the alien planetoid, the Enterprise - ensnared in a trap - loses power and begins to descend on a collision course with the planetoid.

Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise face a foe of incredible power and intelligence - a nightmare image from humanity's past.

Captain's log, stardate 7505.6. This is being recorded by Science Officer Spock, temporarily in command.

The Enterprise is currently in orbit around an alien "starship" (actually an artificial planetoid approximately 217.352 kilometers in diameter) of unknown origin, aboard which Captain Kirk and a landing party of four are stranded. They are currently detained in a prison cell, awaiting interrogation.

Far more immediate is the condition of the Enterprise. The ship has been 'snared' by wires apparently composed of the same material as the alien craft (a substance harder than any known to Federation science) -- wires which are draining off our power reserves at an alarming rate. We appear to have the choice of remaining on board the Enterprise (and crashing to the surface of the planetoid once our power is gone), or joining the Captain inside the alien spacecraft. A fascinating dilemma.