Star Trek: New Worlds, New Civilizations

by Michael Jan Friedman

  San Francisco had become the gem in the crown of California, a big cosmopolitan city like nothing else west of the Mississippi. Then, as if things were going too well, disaster struck—not once, but twice.

  First, there was the cholera epidemic of the 1890s, which claimed the lives of thousands of San Franciscans without regard for age or station. Abetted by crowded and often unsanitary living conditions, it hung over the town like a black cloud until nearly the turn of the century.

  But the worst was yet to come. You see, San Francisco was built on a major geological fault line. In 1906, the blocks of bedrock along the line slipped a little and created a devastating earthquake, followed by an even more devastating fire. In those days, of course, there was no such thing as quake-proof construction.

  When the fires were finally put out, you could see there wasn’t much left of the town. But San Franciscans couldn’t stop dreaming. They rebuilt, using new methods and new ideas. And the next time a major quake came along, the damage wasn’t anywhere near as bad.

  Once the towers of the Golden Gate have been restored, work will begin on the deck. City officials are committed to using twentieth-century techniques in the reconstruction. In the distance the monument to the fallen of Donatu V is a silent sentinel.

  Boothby is the groundskeeper on the Starfleet campus and has been as long as anyone can remember. He has a first name, he concedes, but he says he prefers not to use it.

  He and I negotiate a path of cracked and broken macadam between the charred hulk of the administration building and the fluted façade of the Academy, which miraculously went unscathed except for a few burn marks. We skirt the edge of a giant pool that mirrors the unbroken blue of the sky.

  Before the Breen attack, there were a hundred different pools here, artfully shaped and separated by rocks and shrubs from a hundred different worlds. In obliterating those rocks and shrubs with their disruptor beams, the Breen destroyed Boothby’s life’s work.

  But he’s not bitter. At least, that’s what he says. “I can always replace the shrubs,” he tells me. “That’s not a problem. The problem is the officers and cadets who lost their lives. They’re not so easy to replace.”

  I ask him if he lost anyone close to him.

  “I was close with all of them,” Boothby says. Then he chuckles. “I know. You think that’s an exaggeration. But it’s not. I know every cadet that walks this path, whether the cadet knows it or not. Sometimes, someone comes back as a commander or a captain or an admiral and asks me if I remember him. And I always tell him I remember him perfectly.”

  I ask him if he’s going to try to rebuild what the Breen destroyed, knowing how big an undertaking it would be for a man his age.

  Boothby surveys the grounds and smiles a grim smile. Then he says, “What do you think?”

  In the year 2156, Earth became embroiled in a long and bloody war with the Romulans. It wasn’t until four years later, in 2160, that we won the Battle of Cheron and finally brought the war to an end.

  A year later, Earth and her allies formed the United Federation of Planets, partly to protect themselves against people like the Romulans. Starfleet was established at the same time, with a mandate “to boldly go where no man has gone before.” And to produce a supply of top-drawer captains for its new fleet, the Federation created the Starfleet Academy.

  San Francisco was picked as the place to house the whole kit and caboodle. Why? I don’t really know, though I’ve heard a lot of different stories from a lot of different people. My favorite is the one about the Arbazan ambassador who saw the compound on Alcatraz and said it was good luck to begin an enterprise in sight of a penance-house.

  One thing’s for sure—the city changed when the Starfleet folks came in, just as it had changed back in the gold rush of 1849.

  The population didn’t increase a whole bunch, but suddenly there were aliens everywhere you looked. And humans who thought they had seen everything found out they had hardly seen anything at all.

  Restaurants began expanding their menus, catering to the tastes of Rigelians, Andorians, and Dedderac. Clothing shops began carrying goods in the native styles of Dopterius, Arbaza, and Vobilin.

  Terran entrepreneurs flocked to San Francisco to capitalize on interplanetary business opportunities. Earth’s largest companies came here to establish mining and trade agreements. Universal translators wound up everywhere, from beaches to boardrooms.

  Suddenly, San Francisco wasn’t just the crown jewel of the California coast. She was the crown jewel of the entire planet, Earth’s gateway to new worlds and new civilizations.

  For better or worse, she was our link to the stars.

  I sit on a gray marble bench in a little green park and consider a three-meter-high spire, also made of gray marble. The park is a monument to those who died fighting the Klingons more than 130 thirty years ago in the Battle of Donatu V.

  I used to come here with my grandmother Fanny, who lived in one of the pastel-colored Victorian Nob Hill houses that surround the park, and read the names of the dead inscribed on the monument’s base. But when my grandmother died, I stopped visiting the place.

  For some reason, I felt a need to come here now. Maybe it was something Boothby said about remembering everyone who went through the Academy, or Charlie Katcavage wishing he had learned the names of those Bolian lieutenants … I don’t know. In any case, here I am.

  As if I were a boy again, I approach the monument and kneel on the grass at the base of the spire. I didn’t remember there being so many names carved there. There must be two hundred of them, set out in small but precise letters that speak of dignity and courage and devotion.

  Aaronson. Adrian. Albemarle. Andujar …

  A hundred and thirty years ago, the Klingons were our worst enemies. We thought they were too bloodthirsty to be trusted. Now they’re our staunchest allies, an honorable people who would sooner die than betray their friends. Times change, I reflect, feeling the breeze off the ocean caress my face and bring a salt-marshy smell to the air.

  Bienville. Brown. Buscema. Casparitis …

  No doubt, we’ll put up a monument just like this one to those who perished defending Earth against the Breen. And someday, people will kneel as I’m kneeling and read the names they see on it, wondering what it could have been like to see death raining from the sky.

  Chen. Chandrasekar. Crenshaw. Crespo …

  A handful of white gulls fight the wind in the air above me, raucously crying out their complaints. A cable car bell rings stridently in the distance, its route apparently undisturbed by the Breen assault. The laughter of young children issues from a window in a pastel-colored house that might have been my grandmother’s.

  Dallessandro. Desai. Digby. Dugan …

  Despite everything, life goes on in this city by the bay. It always has and, with a little luck, it always will.

  Rising from the ground on knees that creak a little more than I care to admit, I leave the past to the past. I’m alive, I remind myself. I’m a survivor. I’m a San Franciscan.

  And damn it, I have a city to rebuild.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The author feels honored to have worked with the talented and distinguished collection of artists whose efforts grace this book. He would like to thank Gary Halsey for his smoldering vistas of Vulcan's Forge; Greg Spalenka for his lavish display of Hebitian treasures; Dru Blair for his fiery perspective on Bersallis III; John Mueller for his fierce depictions of our favorite warrior race; Brian Horton for his deft maneuvers in the Delta Quadrant; Kent William for his atmospheric homage to Ferenginar; Phil Hale for his stylized renderings of Danula II; George Pratt for his haunting exploration of the Badlands; Jamie Tolagson for a solemn look at the caves of Mak’ala; John VanFleet for an intriguing glimpse of Forever; Thom Ang for his unique take on Romulan dignity; Paul Lee, who set our feet on the path of the Emissary; Dave McKean for an unsettling insight into the world of the Q; Jon J Muth for frightening our biological components to
death; James Wang for his touching treatment of the Horta; Doug Drexler for sprucing up Starbase 11; Sonia Hillios For giving the tribbles a lush new home; Tim Earls for showing us the courage in the heart of twenty-fourth century San Franciscans; and Alan Kobayashi, whose maps make us feel like we’re there. And to Patti Foster and especially Allen Spiegel at Allen Spiegel Fine Arts who pulled too many rabbits out of his hat to count.

  The author would also like to express his appreciation to Andre Bormanis for his invaluable assistance in setting the tone of the book; to the editors Margaret Clark and Marco Palmieri, whose imagination and diligence made an entire universe come alive; and to Deb Schuler and Carol Bobolts at Red Herring Design, who melded words and illustrations into a spectacular creation.

  ABOUT THE ARTISTS

  THOM ANG is a former lead artist for Disney Interactive. He has won a Gold Medal and Choice of Show from the Society of Illustrators-Los Angeles, and also received a Gold Award from Spectrum. He has done more than seventy-five illustrations for X-Files-related projects. Event X-Files video released by Fox Home Video has included a collectors' illustration by Thom. He has also worked for a number of publishers, including Random House, Jim Henson Studios, White Wolf, Topps, Marvel Comics, and Amazing Stories magazine.

  DRU BLAIR began his career as a commercial illustrator airbrushing t-shirts. In the 1980s he established himself as a full-time illustrator. In 1998, Dru won the National Airbrush Excellence Award. He also teaches and produces how-to videos. Besides being a Star Trek artist, Dru’s talents also encompass aviation and advertising art.

  ANDRE BORMANIS is the science consultant for Star Trek: Voyager. He has also worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and three Star Trek feature films. Andre serves as a consultant to the San Juan Institute, a nonprofit planetary science research laboratory in San Juan Capistrano, California, and the Planetary Society, a nonprofit space education organization in Pasadena, California. He is a pianist and an avid photographer. Andre is also the author of Star Trek Science Logs for Pocket Books.

  DOUG DREXLER is an Academy Award®-winning makeup artist who always wanted to be a graphic designer. He composed graphics on all seven years of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where he had the time of his life. His other Star Trek credits include makeup work for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and graphics for Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. Doug, who is a big fan of the late, great Frank Sinatra, says the biggest thrill in his career was helping to re-create the classic original Starship Enterprise for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode, "Trials and Tribble-ations." Doug designed illustrations and diagrams for The Star Trek Encyclopedia and is a coauthor of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, both from Pocket Books.

  TIM EARLS is the son of an Irish mother and an American father. He spent his early years living in Japan, then England and finally in the United States. Tim worked in the architectural profession, but after seventeen years Earth-bound, Tim went into space. He became a set designer and visual effects art director for Babylon 5 and the short lived sequel, Crusade. Currently, Tim is a set designer for Star Trek: Voyager. He also freelances as an illustrator and conceptual designer.

  PHIL HALE has won a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators-New York and a Gold Award from Spectrum. He worked as the artist for Stephen King’s Tower of the Gunfighter II. Phil’s work has graced many publications, ranging from Playboy to Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Donald Grant Books, and White Wolf.

  GARY HALSEY has worked as an illustrator, muralist, and painting restorer on a full-time basis for the last eleven years, and done so intermittently for years before that. He has illustrated for Pocket, Penguin, and Vintage, among other book publishers, and for magazines, including Ms. Thanks to the G.I. Bill, graduate scholarships and assistantships, he studied drawing, painting, and human anatomy at the Art Student’s League of New York, Wright State University, and the University of Cincinnati. Gary’s experience lies largely in book covers, having worked on classics like Steppenwolf and more contemporary literature like The Guide of the Perplexed. Recently, he has worked on science fiction/fantasy jackets, such as The Moon and the Sun and Star Trek: New Worlds, New Civilizations.

  SONIA R. HILLIOS is an award-winning painter and illustrator of science fiction, fantasy, and environmental subjects. Her work caught the eye of an editor at DC Comics, who commissioned a Star Trek cover. Since then, Sonia has built a highly successful career as an illustrator and painter of cinematic subjects. Sonia is known for her close attention to detail, when she painted the Millennium Falcon for the Hamilton Collection Star Wars plate series; fans were captivated by the tiny images of Han Solo and Chewbacca visible through the cockpit windows. Her work has been commissioned by the Hamilton Collection, Pocket Books, DC Comics, Lucasfilm Ltd., Paramount Pictures, SkyBox International, Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, and many others.

  BRIAN HORTON was formerly an artist at Disney Interactive. He now works with DreamWorks. He has also worked on a set of collectible cards illustrating the horrific worlds of author Clive Barker. Some of Brian’s other noninteractive works have been for White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, Dark Horse Comics, and Marvel Comics.

  ALAN KOBAYASHI has the distinction of having spent time on most of the starships in the Star Trek universe. He worked on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the features Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: Insurrection. He also contributed to Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas, the Star Trek World Tour (Edinburgh, Scotland, and Dusseldorf, Germany). And from his two and half seasons as a graphic artist on the television series Babylon 5, Alan is proud to have served in both Starfleet and the Earth Alliance. He also wants to let everyone know that he is not the inspiration for the Kobayashi Maru in Star Trek II, but is flattered by the question. He is also not related to the character Kobayashi Souza in The Usual Suspects, but was an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington D.C., before he joined Starfleet.

  PAUL LEE first garnered widespread attention with his painted book, Dhampire, for Vertigo. He has also worked on Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man, which was done for Marvel Comics, and a host of more traditional comic work. Paul’s work also graced a special illustrated book, Art of Star Wars, which was created by Topps, and he worked on Amistad Rising for HB. Like any other professional illustrator, Paul has had a wide range of clients, from White Wolf to Playboy, Penthouse, Wizards of the Coast, Fitness Magazine and Princess Cruise Line.

  DAVE MCKEAN has created countless illustration for numerous publications. Mr. Punch, Signal the Noise, Arkam Asylum and a children’s book, The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, were done with author and longtime collaborator Neil Gaiman. Dave designed and executed all the covers during Gaiman’s critically acclaimed run of the Sandman series for DC Comics, which were then collected in a special book called Dust Covers. The Week Before was a short film that was directed by Dave, and he has two other films in development. With author Iain Sinclair’s words as his guide, he illustrated Slow Chocolate Autopsy. Then, Iain and Dave created The Falconer for British television. Among his many awards are the Eisner Award for Best Painter and Cover Artist, and the Gold Award from Spectrum. Dave was selected as the artist for Nike’s Project Alpha advertising campaign, which is still being talked about in the ad industry. More than one hundred CD album covers have borne the creative vision of Dave McKean, including works from Alice Cooper, Fear Factory, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Buckethead, Skinny Puppy, Tori Amos, and Front Line Assembly. His photographs have been published in the books, Black & White Lies and Option Click. Dave also provided the illustrations for Stephen King’s Wizard and Glass.

  JOHN MUELLER has always wanted to be an artist. Since he was old enough to scribble with a pencil, John has been scribbling the landscapes and characters of his imagination. His first work appeared on the covers of Swamp Thing for DC Comics. He also did covers illustrating the British antihero Judge Dredd, and covers for the alternate
comic The Crow. In 1995, John published the first installment of his opus; Oink: Heaven’s Butcher. For that first foray, he received the prestigious Spectrum Silver Award for Best Cover and at the same time was graced with a nomination for a Harvey Award in the category of Best New Talent. John has returned to his Oink series; Oink: Blood and Circus was recently printed.

  JON J MUTH has, for the past fifteen years, concentrated his illustration work in the area of comic books. His comics work has been published by DC Comics, Vertigo, Eclipse Books, Donald Grant Books, and Kodansha of Japan. Articles about his work have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Print, Speakeasy, In Fashion, Carpe Noctem, New American Art, and American Film magazine. In 1988, Jon founded The August Company, an organization to provide for the development of the arts, which has produced a critically acclaimed CD and published the work of several new writers. For the BBC, he created a short graphic story, Sharif Augustus, for which he also produced the music and narrated. Jon was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, as part of their centennial celebration, to paint a portrait of music director Maestro Jesus Lopez-Cobos. He created Imaginary Magnitude, a surreal comic strip based on his relationship with his son, Nikolai, which ran in Japan for three years. For Scholastic Books, he illustrated the work of author Karen Hesse, for the children’s book Come On, Rain.

  GEORGE PRATT astonished the comic book industry when he reawakened interest in the golden-age character Enemy Ace, with his evocative illustrated novel Enemy Ace: War Idyll for DC Comics. He also has created many covers featuring Batman for the DC Comics series of the same name. George was one of the artists chosen to contribute to the illustrated book, Art of Star Wars, created by Topps. He has also worked for Marvel Comics, Random House, Tundra, White Wolf, Wizards of the Coast, and Scenario magazine.

  GREG SPALENKA is a multifaceted artist whose work appears across a range of media, from Sports Illustrated to Time magazine, from Health magazine to illustrations for NFL Properties. Greg was one of the artists who created the story, art, and music for Visions of Vespertina. He has won numerous Gold and Silver Medals for his work, from both Society of Illustrators-Los Angeles, and Society of Illustrators-New York. Greg was also honored with a Gold Award from Spectrum. He has worked for DC Comics, Avon Books, Business Week, Random House, Viking, Penguin, Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, and Scholastic Books, to name a few.