He looks like he’s trying to appear fascinated as someone gives him their completely wrong opinion but he’s trying to keep from telling them how wrong they are.
This novel was the second original full length novel to be published after the series, (after Spock Must Die!) published in 1976 by Bantam Books (and republished 1977, 1984, 1994)
The writing is flawed at best, downright insulting at worst. Basically they’re doing a cultural survey of a medieval society using an experimental form of neural link, collected by newcomer ensign george. She’s collected over 200 samples of these links and best matched them to the crew who’ll be doing the survey mission. But Ensign George is a woman invested in her work, methodical and with a secret crush on Spock. She spies the neural pattern of a belly dancer (their doppelgangers are called dops) and she decides to go with it, someone completely opposite of her and bam. Now she’s exuding sexuality as well as other things. Under the influence of this dop she decides to do the same with Spock and match him with someone with a high libido. Except this dop she’s chosen is also highly paranoid, meglomaniac, delusions of grandeur and a…yep messiah complex. We don’t know any of this at first of course, only that Spock stole some precious dilithium (trilithium actually ) crystals from the Enterprise, they can’t warp out and a radiation storm will render her uninhabitable in a little over a week. Kirk, McCoy, Chekov and Scotty will try many times to rescue Spock from this new personality whose set himself as a holy leader and with intents of cleansing the planet - with logical precision.
Below are some *choice* diaogue excerpts (some funny, some grating)
Chekov, a miserable expression on his face, was braced against the control console, his Kyrosian shorts down around his ankles. McCoy finished applying an antiseptic spray to one bare buttock, then sprayed a layer of flesh-colored foam that hardened to a thin, flexible sheet. (…) “What happened to you?” Kirk demanded with a grin. Chekov pulled up his shorts and turned so that Kirk could see a jagged tear in their seat. “Damn (pack animal) bit me, sir.”
psi-stone
peachyfirefly
suckmymara
metalgearinformer