“Even a madman’s world, though distorted, isn’t entirely unreal…”
Stardate: 6527.5
As the Enterprise approaches the Galactic Core, Captain Kirk is reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace (as recommended by Chekov), when suddenly the crew encounters a shuttlecraft from the USS Rickover in deep space carrying a man named Thomas Clayton. He just so happens to have been Kirk’s roommate for two years at the Academy. However, as Kirk says, Thomas Clayton was kicked out of the Academy when Kirk exposed him for cheating on an exam, and Clayton then became rich in the interstellar trading business before disappearing in this sector some five solar years ago. Now he appears to be a raving lunatic, claiming he is “Jesus Christ,” and a prophet of a deity called “Ay-nab” on a planet called “Lyra.” He ominously believes “the people” will soon be destroyed.
As Thomas Clayton is beamed aboard the Enterprise and sedated, a strange phenomenon takes hold of the ship and the Enterprise is unwillingly brought to a rogue planet called “Lyra,” apparently with a star at its center, it appears to be a “dyson sphere,” an object first theorized by a twentieth century scientist which suggests: “All the planetary matter of a solar system wrapped around the dying central sun. A means for preserving supercivilizations in their extreme old age.” (20). Bones compares the planet to “Pellucidar,” from an Edgar Rice Burroughs children’s book.
The Enterprise becomes entrapped by this planet and an enemy band of renegade Klingons have also become entrapped by the planet, led by Captain Kree of the Imperial Klingon Fleet, and Princess Kyanna, supposedly the legitimate heir to the throne of the Klingon Empire. Her uncle, the present illegitimate emperor, has sentenced these Klingons to die for treason so they have rebelled against the Klingon Empire (or so we are led to believe).
Since the Enterprise is trapped on Lyra, Kirk organizes a landing party to investigate the surface consisting of Kirk, Sulu, Uhura, Nurse Chapel, and two security personnel (Kaplan and Boggs). Upon arrival, the crew discovers their weapons do not work (neither do the Klingon weapons). Wandering through squat trees in the jungle, they encounter a species of small naked creatures like chimpanzees with white fur, flat nostrils, and bare faces, along with other creatures like big carnivorous grizzly bear creatures called “Kova.” Kirk rescues one of the little chimpanzees from a Kova and she immediately becomes enamored with him: “I am Ola of the world of Lyra. I am most pleased to make the acquaintance of my only husband.” She takes the crew to her village called “Tumura” where they meet the local Domo.
Meanwhile the landing party also connects with the Klingons (they agree to a truce of sorts since no weapons are functional) and Thomas Clayton escapes captivity aboard the Enterprise, kidnapping both Spock and Bones, and bringing them down to the planet with him. Along the way, the crew learn many things about Lyra, like that there is a hidden weapons cache on the planet, there is a dark place where the planet can allegedly be destroyed, the locals are afraid of the dark, and everyone seems to be afraid Ay-nab, the telepathic sun god who has total control of everything on Lyra and who feeds on souls of “Strangers,” including Uhura (there is an interesting scene of Uhura reflecting on her childhood in Dakar and her father who was a practicing Muslim, but not necessarily a believer).
Kirk and Spock discover that Lyra is a solitary world moving through space, and it is shockingly a mere 93 solar hours away from headed straight into a black hole! In the end, Kirk relaxes himself and somehow manages to make a telepathic connection with Ay-nab:
“I am Ay-nab. I am all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful. I am eternal.”
Ay-nab shares that he has been on a two-to-four-billion-year journey sending Lyra through space to arrive at its final destruction in a black hole. But Kirk manages to reason with Ay-nab, reminding him of humanity’s capacity for compassion. He pleads for the life of his crew, as well as the Klingon crew, before Ola suddenly appears in a vision and offers to sacrifice herself for her “husband” Kirk. Somehow this appeal to mercy works and Kirk awakens back on the Enterprise. Everyone has been saved, including Ola and the Klingons, and they watch the planet Lyra disappear into the black hole. The novel ends with Spock telling Kirk about recently receiving a telepathic message, he wonders if Ay-nab was some sort of super computer, then they play three-dimensional chess together.
“This is an immensely puzzling universe in which you and I live, Mr. Spock.”
“But an interesting one.”
Final Thoughts:
The Starless World is a fairly middling Star Trek novel in my view. Once again, a godlike alien being is on a maniacal quest of self-destruction (apparently he is suicidal?) before he is inexplicably persuaded to be merciful –all of this is predictable and sorely lacking. I mean, who built the Dyson Sphere? Why is Ay-nab suicidal? Why wouldn’t he simply destroy Lyra with his otherworldly powers instead of waiting billions of years to arrive at a black hole? These and many other questions are unanswered in the novel. But with that being said, this is hardly one of the worst Star Trek books I have encountered in the clumsy Bantam era of “Star Trek Adventures.” In fact, it is one of the better installments. And at least there are some amusing little moments of character development in this novel, from Uhura’s familial memories, to Sulu’s card trick, and even Spock and Bones debating theology. In many ways, all the characters feel true to the original series (which is more than can be said of other Trek stories) and I imagine The Starless World would have fit-in nicely with some of the lower budget Season Three episodes of TOS.
Eklund, Gordon. The Starless World. Bantam Books, New York, New York, fourth printing 1978 (originally published in 1978).
Gordon Eklund wrote two Star Trek novels, with The Starless World being his favorite. He later claimed he was never really a fan of the television show, though he would occasionally watch it at friends’ houses.