The galaxy is on fire, and only the Enterprise can save it.—The Three-Minute Universe is a Star Trek: The Original Series novel by Barbara Paul. It was published in August 1988, the 41st book in the Pocket Books series of numbered TOS novels.
Description[]
- The Sackers. In all of Captain James T. Kirk's travels, he has never found a race more universally shunned and abhorred. Their mere appearance causes most Federation members to become violently ill.
- Now the Sackers have performed a deed whose brutally matches their horrifying exterior. They have stolen a revolutionary new scientific device—murdering an entire race in the process—and used it to create a rip in the fabric of space, a hole through which another universe is rapidly leaking. Unless Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise can find a way to stop the new universe's expansion, it will consume—and utterly destroy—our own.
Summary[]
The Enterprise has been sent to investigate an explosion of intense heat in the Beta Castelli star system, which has obliterated the homeworld of the Zirgosians. It resembles the state of a universe three minutes old. Since the only surviving Zirgosians are a colony on Holox, the Enterprise heads there. The crew discover some of the colonists have been poisoned and one of the survivors identifies the culprits: the Sackers.
The Sackers are a historically peaceful race whose physical attributes are repulsive to other races: Their appearances and smell make humanoids extremely ill—and worse, Sacker speech deafens, and their touch burns. They have established a structure on Holox which Scotty takes a team to investigate. The Sackers kill two security guards and badly burn a third, but leave Scotty alive when they learn that he is an engineer.
The Sackers agree to meet with Kirk, Chekov and Uhura for peace talks but this is a ruse to beam them aboard their ship and leave orbit. Scotty has also been brought onboard and the Sackers reveal their command personnel were killed in an accident: They want Kirk to captain their ship and the others to train personnel in their own specialties.
In fact, the accident was a drop in temperature which killed all the adults, leaving the children in charge. The adults caused the disaster in Beta Castelli, stealing both the machine which created the rupture and the machine that could seal it, from the Zirgosians. The children attacked Holox in order to set up a birthing cradle for replacements. With this knowledge, Kirk and the others seek to undermine their morale and subtly sabotage the ship.
The Sackers reveal their plan: Their homeworld died long ago and they sought out a replacement, only to be rejected by every world they visited because of their appearance. Thus, they plan to take over the Federation, which they will force to co-exist with them. Sacker ships are poised to take over all starbases: If Starfleet Command does not surrender, the rupture will go unchecked.
Kirk is able to direct the Enterprise to fire on the engineering section and takes control of the ship after threatening to reduce the temperature again. The baryon reverter that can seal the rupture is transferred to the Enterprise. The other Sacker ships disperse when the plan fails, and Kirk recommends that the Sacker adolescents (who reveal their species' real name is the Vinithi) be sent to a juvenile rehabilitation center for re-education. The Enterprise returns to the Beta Castelli system and seals the rupture.
References[]
Characters[]
- Babe • Berengaria (Lieutenant) • Blue (Sacker) • Bonesovna • Brownie • Christine Chapel • Pavel Chekov • Ching • Dorelian • Franklin • Green (Vinithi) • Hrolfson • Iris • Ivan • Jonquil • James T. Kirk • Kyle • Leonard McCoy • Misterma'am • Orangejuiceandwodka • Pinky • Quinlan • Rasputin • Rose • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Borkel Mershaya ev Symwid • Toots • Trucco • Nyota Uhura • Wittering
- Referenced only
- Rube Goldberg • T'iana
Starships and vehicles[]
- Babe in Arms • USS Enterprise (Constitution-class) • hovercraft
Locations[]
- Argelius II • Beta Castelli • Beta Castelli I • Beta Castelli II • Beta Castelli IV • Deep Space Station K-7 • Elas • Gelchen • Holox • Platonius • Sector 79F • Starbase 4 • Triskelion • Zirgos
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
- Gelchen Transgalactic Trade Commission • Klingon Empire • Starfleet • Starfleet Command • United Federation of Planets
Science and classification[]
- air-circulation system • alien • alkaloid • antidote • baryon • baryon reverter • blood • brain • communicator • computer • cryptoanalysis • deflector dish • dilithium • disease • display screen • eardrum • eyelid • fire • G class star • group mind • helium • hour • hydrogen • intercom • machine • minute • mortar • orbit • photon grenade • plague • plasmicophic ferangulator • poison • probe • proqualine • pulse • record bank • REM sleep • sensor array • sonic hypnosis-inducer • star • star system • stomach • supernova • telemetry probe • time • translator device • tricorder • tridocane • tympanic membrane • universe • viewscreen
Occupations and titles[]
- captain • doctor • lieutenant • trader • transporter chief
Other references[]
- alphidium • borscht • briefing room • chicken Kiev • colony • conference room • day • dilithium reactor room • dream • food • homeworld • hull • Immelmann turn • intensive care • landing party • language • main sequence • planet • sickbay • tree • uniform • water • year • zyroplex
Appendices[]
Related media[]
The idea of another universe beginning within our own was later included in DS9 episode: "Playing God".
Background[]
- Author Barbara Paul explained the story's origins: "I had the idea of the Sackers parked in a corner of my head for a while. I was wondering how human beings would handle the problem of dealing with an alien race that offended all five of the senses, a race that provokes such a strong physiological reaction that mere willpower just wouldn't do the trick. And I didn't know what to do with them. Then when the opportunity to write the Star Trek book came along, the first thing that popped into my head was, 'Somebody kidnaps Kirk to captain an alien ship.' That seemed like a good place to trot out my smelly aliens. And also it answered the question of what humans would do if they ever came up with such a race. I knew what Captain Kirk would do: He'd con them, he'd bully them, turn on the charm and trick them." (The Official Fan Club Magazine Issue 64: "Where No Man...: The Three-Minute Universe")
- This was Barbara Paul's only Star Trek novel. The cover artist is uncredited. The title refers to the state of a universe that is only three minutes old.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous novel: Timetrap |
TOS numbered novels | Next novel: Memory Prime |
| Previous novel: Timetrap |
TOS novels | Next novel: Spock's World |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Killing Time |
Next Adventure: The Cry of the Onlies | |
| Previous Adventure: Killing Time |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (2264 to 2270) |
Next Adventure: The Cry of the Onlies |
Translations[]
- 1993
- German language: Das Drei-Minuten-Universum, translated by Andreas Brandhorst. (Heyne)