"An Enigma Wrapped in a Puzzle" is the first of four short stories from the air portion of the New Worlds, New Civilizations anthology released by Pocket Books in November 1999. It was written by Michael Jan Friedman and illustrated by John VanFleet. In this story, a reporter interviewed the Guardian of Forever.
Description[]
- An exclusive feature on the long-rumored Federation time portal.
Summary[]
In the year 2371, Starfleet declassifies some of Captain James T. Kirk's log entries. A reporter studying them notices a lot of information has been redacted, and spies similar holes in the logs of his associates, apparently items related to Federation security. The Federation Council is willing to declassify more of the logs under the Freedom of Information Act, but only if the reporter requests something specific. Finding a clue about a flower named "Edith Keeler" in Hikaru Sulu's personal logs, the reporter reaches out to Admiral Leonard McCoy, who explains what happened when the USS Enterprise visited Gateway in 2267.
The reporter asks the council for permission to interview the Guardian of Forever for the post-Dominion War book project New Worlds, New Civilizations. The council grants permission, which will make the time portal public knowledge in 2376.
Starfleet has recently given the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations oversight of the Guardian. The reporter is escorted by representatives Marion Dulmer and Gariff Lucsly. The Guardian answers questions and displays Earth's past, including Neil Armstrong walking on Luna, Khan Noonien Singh during the Eugenics Wars, and humanity's first contact with Vulcans.
The Guardian confesses that time has been altered on all but six times out of hundreds that it has been accessed. The reporter speculates that it seems not to be guarding against but rather welcoming alternate realities, and asks if its purpose is to preserve the overall time-stream by inviting the prime reality to be changed once in a while. It replies only by saying that it is the Guardian of Forever. The reporter seems satisfied with the answer.
References[]
Characters[]
- Marion Dulmer • Guardian of Forever • Gariff Lucsly • Leonard McCoy
- Referenced only
- Neil Armstrong • Edith Keeler • James T. Kirk • Khan Noonien Singh • Spock • Hikaru Sulu
Starships and vehicles[]
- Referenced only
- Apollo XI • car • USS Enterprise • T'Plana-Hath
Locations[]
- Gateway
- Referenced only
- Asia • Earth • Luna • San Francisco • Sanctuary District
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
- Federation Council • Federation Department of Temporal Investigations • Office of Temporal Investigations • United Federation of Planets
Science and classification[]
- botany • gun • hypospray • PADD • space probe • subspace communication • sword • time portal • tricorder
Occupations and titles[]
- archeologist • captain • doctor • first officer • officer • reporter • senator • social worker
Other references[]
- 1930 • 20th century • 23rd century • alien • army • atmosphere • beam • Benzite dream-of-darkness • century • cordrazine • decade • Edith Keeler • empire • Freedom of Information Act • history • Homo sapiens • iron • Klingon fireblossom • landing party • life • log entry • meter • mineral • moon • PADD • paranoia • personal log • pyramid • Regulation 21, Section 6, Paragraph 4 • rock • spacecraft • time • time-stream • war • water • wood • World War III • year
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS episode: "The City on the Edge of Forever" – First appearance of the Guardian of Forever.
- DS9 episode: "Trials and Tribble-ations" – First appearances of Marion Dulmur and Gariff Lucsly.
- TNG episode, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek: First Contact – Arrival of the T'Plana-Hath amid World War III humans.
- TOS - Crucible novel: Provenance of Shadows – Edith Keeler's life in the alternate timeline where she didn't die in 1930.
Background[]
- The story's title was inspired by a quote by Winston Churchill in 1939: "It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" referred to his inability to predict what the Soviet Union might do in the Second World War. (Riddle wrapped in an enigma article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
- The Federation Council declassified all of James T. Kirk's logs in 2371, though it redacted some items for the sake of Federation security.
- No known lifeform was ever named Edith Keeler after 1930, except for Hikaru Sulu's flower hybrid.
- The story implied that Sulu was no longer alive by 2376. The reporter contacted Leonard McCoy, whom he described as "one of the few people alive who might have known what Sulu meant".
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: Aversion |
New Worlds, New Civilizations | Next story: Paradox of Virtue |
| Previous story: Aversion |
Other short stories | Next story: Paradox of Virtue |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Aversion |
Pocket Books Timeline | Next adventure: Paradox of Virtue |
| Previous adventure: Aversion |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Paradox of Virtue |