Into the Nebula was the 36th novel of the Pocket Books numbered series of Star Trek: The Next Generation books, written by Gene DeWeese and released in July 1995.
Description[]
- While exploring an unknown region of space, the USS Enterprise encounters a strange nebular dust. Upon further investigation, they discover a planet called Krantin on which the plant and animal life, as well as the civilization, are dying.
- A series of explosions and a ship that simply disappears into thin air lead the crew to believe another group is causing the devastation of the planet. The leader of the planet's society, however, is wary of trusting the starship Enterprise crewmembers, and has the away team arrested. With time running out, Data must find a way to save his crewmates or watch as two worlds are destroyed.
Summary[]
The Enterprise crew's interest is piqued by a planet inside a nebula surrounded by a mysterious dust cloud. They respond to a distress call from a crippled pre-warp generational ship and bring aboard Koralus, a scientist from the planet, Krantin, who left nearly a century earlier and spent decades in suspended animation. The dust cloud, which the Krantinese, call a "Plague", was initially thought to be the product of industrial pollution. However, despite the industry being cleaned up, it has continued to increase to a point that threatens all life on the planet.
Travelling to the planet, the Enterprise discovers only five million inhabitants remain, sealed in an enclosed city. Scientist Zalkan and his assistant Ahl Denbahr are eager to accept help when Riker's away team contact them, but President Khozak is more suspicious. Furthermore, a number of ships are appearing and disappearing in the dust cloud and the crew suspect they are using a dangerous matter transmission technique to travel back and forth between another reality.
Picard eventually gets Zalkan to admit he is from another Krantin: The Directorate that rules there is using matter transmission to transport their industrial waste, with most of the population unaware they are dooming a world. The Directorate recently learned their transmissions destroyed their planet's dilithium deposits and ships are being sent through to locate deposits on this Krantin.
When Khozak reacts badly to the news, Denbahr is convinced by the resistance movement Zalkan is part of to transport Picard, Data, Troi and Koralus to the other Krantin. It is discovered the Directorate now intend to wipe out both the other Krantin and the Enterprise by breaching the city and by transporting the Plague gas into the Enterprise. Zalkan, already dying as the result of repeated transitions between the two realities, sacrifices himself by taking dangerous medication in order to programme the Enterprise weapons to disable and trap Directorate ships. Data, who has observed Spot reacting to any transference, manages to activate a blocking field that stops the Plague gas materialising aboard the ship, allowing the Directorate to be captured.
With the resistance movement now in control of the other Krantin, the Federation offers both worlds assistance in repairing their ecology: The other Krantin was in nearly as bad a shape, since the matter transmission was also robbing them of elements vital to survival. The inhabitants of the generational ship will also return home.
References[]
Characters[]
- Albrect • Beverly Crusher • Curtis (Ensign) • Data • Delmak • Ahl Denbahr • Guinan • Khozak • Koralus • Geordi La Forge • Ormgren • Jean-Luc Picard • William T. Riker • Spot • Strankor • Thompson (Ensign) • Deanna Troi • Worf • Zalkan
- Referenced only
- Alkred • Endros • Fido • Gammelkar
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Enterprise-D (Galaxy-class explorer) • Hope of Krantin
Locations[]
- Jalkor • Krantin
- Referenced only
- Rutia IV
Races and cultures[]
- Referenced only
- Ferengi
States and organizations[]
- Directorate • Federation • Starfleet
Technology and weapons[]
Other references[]
- CZ-fourteen • dilithium • earthquake • Elway theorem • government • Josarian games • nation-state • nebula • races and cultures • science • technology • weapon
Appendices[]
Background[]
Unused cover art.
- For whatever reason, a piece of artwork designed by Keith Birdsong to run as this book's cover was unused, and an alternate painting was instead printed.
- This was the last TNG numbered novel to feature the "title band", with the title between two thin lines, which had been in use since Ghost Ship. The next book, #37 The Last Stand, introduced a slightly different cover style where the lines were a rainbow, and one of the lines was just under the TNG logo, and the other line was just above the author's name.
- This book was translated for a German language edition by Heyne-Verlag as the 48th book in their TNG series. When the translation rights for new TNG material moved to Cross Cult, Heyne issued eBook versions of all their previously translated material, including this novel.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous novel: The Romulan Stratagem |
TNG numbered novels | Next novel: The Last Stand |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Second Sight |
Next Adventure: The Pet | |
| Previous Adventure: Inheritance |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) |
Next Adventure: Parallels |
Translations[]
- 1998
- German : Im Staubnebel verschwunden, translated by Uwe Anton. (Heyne)
External link[]
- Into the Nebula article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.