“You have much yet to learn about the man I might have been, and am –and about the price of the Phoenix” (175).
Stardate: None given
A textbook case of early Star Trek “slash fiction,” The Price of the Phoenix is a fairly ridiculous Star Trek novel in my view. It was based on a reworked piece of 1970s fanfiction, and in those days, Star Trek fanfiction was rife with all manner of goofy plots, nudity, and veiled homoeroticism. There was apparently a fan obsession with the idea of a budding romance between Kirk and Spock –imagine that! I would recommend this one to only the most devoted Trek completionists. Otherwise do yourself a favor and skip it.
In The Price of the Phoenix, Captain Kirk has tragically died while rescuing a young woman and her child from a burning building on a remote planet, a “miserable outlaw planet” near the Romulan Neutral Zone. As his charred body beams back aboard the Enterprise, Spock beams down to the planet to find the murderer: a towering, fearsome being named Omne (later we learn his full name is “Omnedon”), a huge, hulking Vulcanoid figure who wears an all-black jumpsuit and is twice Spock’s weight. He is often surrounded by Romulan guards. Omne is obviously intended to echo the strength and power of Khan Noonien Singh, only far superior in every way. Omne despises the altruistic auspices of the Federation, and he holds a special hatred in his heart for Captain Kirk. He has designed his outlaw planet to be a refuge from the Federation, a Wild West world where everyone is encouraged to carry six-shooters. Here, there is “no law but challenge.” Omne believes that the Federation is destroying the galaxy with “Creeping do-goodism. Maudlin meddlesomeness. Smothering benevolence. I have established a refuge here from goodness. Deliver us from virtue –especially the virtuous who prescribe virtue to others” (15).
Since Kirk has died, much of this novel is told from Spock’s perspective, but in a notably uncharacteristic manner, Spock is often depicted as being fragile and emotional, always fighting back tears over the death of his beloved captain. When Spock beams down, Omne takes him deep into his massive underground lair where he reveals that he has developed a new starship transporter technology which allows him to create a duplicate person at just the moment of death. It is called the “phoenix process” (much like a mythical phoenix rising from the ashes). Why has Omne done this? Because at one point, his home planet was peaceably contacted by the federation, but after a few minor deviations from the Prime Directive, it degenerated into civil war and barbarism, thus Omne conceived of a new technological way to conquer death. Using the transporter scan he recreates “every cell, every molecule. And now –every thought, every memory. Identity, Spock, indistinguishable identity. Immortality” (19). Omne then takes Spock to a duplicate he has created of Kirk who is lying naked surrounded by flowers and candles –Spock “felt a slender bond stretching between them like a strand of steel and gold.” Here, the somewhat hilarious homoerotic subplot is not-so subtly conveyed, and it continues for much of the rest of the novel. For example, later we see Kirk rubbing healing lotion all over Spock’s naked body.
Spock named the new Kirk “James” in order to distinguish him from the real Captain. And together, they are joined by the unnamed female Romulan Commander from the classic TOS third season episode “The Enterprise Incident” (her name remains anonymous, however we learn it can be translated to mean “dawn of springtime” and her name is eventually revealed in the sequel novel The Fate of the Phoenix). She has been conscripted by Omne in an effort to unite his forces and the Romulan Empire against the Federation in a conference of “strange delegates, outlaws, renegades, revolutionaries, governments in exile, dissident factions” aimed at breaking up the Federation. But the unnamed Romulan Commander soon joins forces with James and Spock anyway as they attempt to flee from Omne’s dizzying underground fortress maze (a place with a confusing numerical system, such that Omne himself hasn’t even visited some sections in decades). As they escape together, The Romulan Commander falls in love with James (unsurprisingly).
However, the trio soon learns that the real Captain Kirk had never actually died after all when they find him located deep within the lair. Omne confesses his desire to “dominate” Kirk until Kirk begs for mercy (there is plenty of sado-masochistic material and lots of “Alpha Male” references throughout the novel). We are burdened with laborious passages of endless hand-to-hand combat between Kirk and Omne, and then Spock and Omne. What does Omne ultimately want? He says the price is Spock and Kirk’s “soul… honor… home… flag” (30).
Ultimately, Omne fights Spock, and when Spock proves valiant and tries to erase his memory, Omne shoots himself in the head. The four are then able to escape –James, Jim “The Human,” Spock “The Vulcan,” and The Romulan Commander. They beam back aboard the Enterprise and decide that the duplicate Kirk, “James,” will be cosmetically reconfigured like a Romulan so that he may join The Romulan Commander aboard her ship (he is given cosmetic changes to his ears, eyebrows, and a subcutaneous injection of Vulcanoid skin pigmentation producing cells). But not before Omne suddenly appears on the bridge. He has used his own technology to regenerate himself and after yet another brutal combat sequence, Kirk pulls a gun and shoots him. As he dies, Omne’s body disappears (but has he truly died this time?) He vanishes as if being transported back down to his planet. At the end, the duplicate James and The Romulan Commander depart for Romulus, pledging to help build an eventual alliance with the Federation. And so ends a bungling, clumsy Star Trek novel.
This novel took me two attempts to finish it. I just couldn’t resonate with any of the characters or plot. For example, at one point, we see Kirk shaking and sobbing after losing a fight to Omne, at another point we see Spock tenderly embracing his dear captain who is fully nude. There are several different love triangles, and all the violence and constant sexual innuendo is off-putting for a Star Trek adventure, and the incessant references to “Alpha” and “Beta Males” come across as utterly ridiculous (or maybe it’s just a result of the braindead political climate we currently find ourselves in). There were at least a few interesting continuity points, such as the inclusion of The Romulan Commander from “The Enterprise Incident,” and a nod to the Great Age of Deneb Five (from the TOS episode “I, Mudd” and the TAS episode “The Pirates of Orion”). Sub-Commander S’Tal makes a brief appearance (The Romulan Commander’s second in command) and the “Queen to King’s Level Four” move from Star Trek’s three-dimensional chess is mentioned –plus Spock makes a reference to when he thought he killed Kirk on Vulcan in the TOS second season opener “Amok Time” (throughout the novel, the phrase “Gates of Hell” recurs for some reason and the whole square off between Omne and Kirk/Spock is frequently referred to as a poker match). At any rate, The Price of the Phoenix also has no scene-setting captain’s log at the outset, which I found jarring, and the novel is often mired in inane, dreary, endless dialogue-heavy scenes that force the reader’s eyes to simply glaze over. At least, there is an interesting philosophical dialectical between arms and letters –a debate between power and persuasion—but all things considered, this was a terrible Star Trek novel that I would not soon revisit. At some point, I will likely be compelled to read its sequel, The Fate of the Phoenix, which was published a couple years later in 1979. But I’m not really looking forward to it.
A final note: after being indirectly involved in the novel Spock, Messiah! (1976), Gene Roddenberry reportedly personally approved of The Price of the Phoenix (this brings to mind his obsession with all the sexual innuendo in various Star Trek episodes, particularly on display in the first season of TNG). Perhaps we’ll never know the full story behind this novel, but Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath are both apparently alive today and they reportedly named their German Shepard dog “Omne” after the character they invented! They once attended Star Trek conventions in the past, however neither has published any fiction nor granted any interviews in many decades.
Marshak, Sondra and Myrna Culbreath. The Price of the Phoenix. Bantam Books, New York, NY, reissued in February 1993 (originally published in July 1977). Dedicated to Carol Frisbie.