The Escape

(Star Trek: Voyager 2)
by
Dean Wesley Smith
and
Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Pocket, May 1995, 244 pp.
ISBN: 0-671-52096-2

Genre: Science Fiction
Subgenre: TV Tie-In
Reviewed: 10/16/1999

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

“There is something wrong here.”

B’Elanna turned her tricorder in the same direction and got the answer. The air coming in the open door was totally different from when they had come in. It had more organisms in it. And humidity. And it was warmer. Considerably warmer.

With Kim and Neelix at her side, she moved cautiously toward the entrance. When they reached the point at the top of the ramp where they could see out, they stopped.

And stared.

“Oh, my,” Neelix said.

“Where are we?” Kim asked.

Spread out in front of them was the same vast open area, only now most of the ships were gone. The pavement was covered with fresh colored lines. The buildings looked new. Tall, thin humanoids walked at different speeds to and from the ships and the buildings.

The people dressed in bright greens, red and purples. Most wore blue or yellow hats that somehow failed to clash.

Some humanoids walked alone. Others walked in groups. Some carried what appeared to be luggage, while others carried nothing.

Ten ships down, a door silently closed and a ramp pulled up. The ship lifted off the pavement and vanished.

None of the nearby humanoids seemed to notice at all.

B’Elanna took in the scene for a moment and then tapped her comm badge. “Away team to Voyager. Come in Voyager.

No answer.

Kim quickly adjusted his tricorder and then in a cracking voice told her what she already feared.

“Voyager is no longer in orbit.”

Synopsis

The USS Voyager is running low on supplies and the warp drive will not be available after another day. Neelix suggests that a planet called Alcawell may have the resources that they need to effect repairs. Upon arrival at the planet, they find hundreds of square miles of abandoned, ancient, tiny ships.

Upon entering one of the ships, Neelix activates the ship and they are thrown back in time 310,000 years. In doing so, they have violated Control Ordinance 852.61. After finding out that the punishment for this violation is death, they attempt to escape, which is another violation. All attempts to escape are thwarted when the police force, Control, jumps back to a time before they attempt their escape and stop them even before it starts.

Meanwhile, on Voyager, the crew is working frantically to figure out where their crewmates have disappeared to when the ship that B’Elanna and crew was in returns with a humanoid, Kjanders, onboard.

After taking Kjanders onboard, they learn about time travel and how it works on this planet. They also learn that their crewmates are sentenced to death. Janeway orders an investigation on the time ships to figure out how they can use them to rescue her people. While on the surface of this extremely cold and wind-propelled sand planet, a ship begins to hover and move around, frightening Tom Paris, but not Tuvok.

Unbeknownst to them, a Control agent, Drickel, has attached anti-gravity pods to the bottom of the time ship and is trying to scare them away. He has never failed before…and doesn’t plan on failing now.

The Escape is a science fiction book in the Star Trek: Voyager world and was written by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It is Star Trek: Voyager number 2.

Review

The Escape is the first original novel starring the crew of the USS Voyager. This story takes place during the first season of the show, so Kes is still on board and Seven of Nine has not yet joined the crew.

The characters are a little rough in this novel. Chacotay does some empath-like thing at the beginning of the story, like Deanna on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I don’t ever recall seeing that happen in the show, but it may have.

Another interesting thing is that the Doctor has a name. It is probably the name of his creator, but as I recall, he decided later in the show not to have a name because he couldn’t decide on one that he really liked.

Other then those two discrepancies, I did enjoy the story. It has an interesting plot and I had no idea how Janeway was going to rescue her crew. I also liked the way the whole time travel thing worked on Alcawell…it’s a pretty neat idea. Overall, this was a pretty good read. If you watch the show, it is a must read.

If you just like Star Trek, you will enjoy The Escape. If you just want some light science fiction, this novel could also be up your alley.

I rated this book a 7½ out of 10.