The Entropy Effect

infobox Book |
name = The Entropy Effect
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Vonda N. McIntyre
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Pocket Books
release_date = June 1981
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 224 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-671-83692-7 (first edition, paperback)
preceded_by =
followed_by = The Klingon Gambit

"The Entropy Effect" is a novel by Vonda N. McIntyre set in the fictional Star Trek Universe. It was originally published in 1981 by Pocket Books and is the second in its long running series of Star Trek novels (and the first original novel in that series; the first of the series is the novelization of "").

Plot summary

The "Enterprise" is engaged in an unprecedented scientific study of a naked singularity primarily by Spock's efforts, when a top priority message forces Captain Kirk to divert to a nearby system. The interruption ruins the observation cycle, making the time a complete waste of effort. Upon arrival, the high priority of the message seems to have been a mistake: the "Enterprise" was needed simply to ferry a single criminal to another planet in the same system.

The criminal turns out to be a theoretical physicist, Dr. Mordreaux, convicted of murder and unethical research on self-aware beings. Spock thinks he would yield insights on the phenomenon he'd been researching. The case against him seems very odd, with incomplete evidence, and Spock disbelieves that Mordreaux could be capable of the violence inherent in the crime. Prosecutor Braithewaite accompanies them on the journey, convinced that Mordeaux is dangerous. He also has a nagging feeling he's seen Spock before, though Spock is certain they've never met.

While at the planet, Hikaru Sulu meets up with his idol, Captain Hunter, who commands the ship that had been his first choice for assignment. As Kirk and Hunter are friends, he manages to arrange a transfer, leaving his friend and lover Security Chief Flynn behind.

While en route, odd things continue to happen, such as Scotty seeing Spock appear in two places at the same time. Suddenly, a disheveled Mordreaux appears on the bridge and shoots Kirk, Braithewaite, and Flynn with an old-fashioned slug-throwing gun. The slugs, however, contain a substance that seeks out and strangles nerve fibers, and are thus extremely deadly.

Flynn alerts security before she succumbs, but Mordreaux is still confined to his quarters! Kirk is rushed to sickbay where Doctor McCoy struggles heroically to save him, but he dies while Spock is mind-melded to him. The drugged Braithewaite later sees the two terminate the life support that was maintaining Kirk's brain-dead body.

As Braithewaite begins to put together facts to form a working theory of conspiracy, Spock determines from their incarcerated physicist that he has, in fact, developed a time travel device using the transporter. Since Kirk's death was committed through time travel, Spock modifies the "Enterprise" transporter to try to save Kirk, which results in Scotty's earlier observations. Spock then tries to go farther and farther back in time, to stop the damage to the timeline before it starts, only to be thwarted again and again by the inexorable tendency of the universe to follow the same paths as before. Spock, already haggard from weeks of continuous scientific observation, is pushed to the limits of endurance by the stresses of time travel.

In the present, the "Enterprise" falters from the power drain required by the time travel device. As Scotty struggles to brings systems back online, he is compelled by Braithewaite's evidence that some kind of mischief is afoot. However, McCoy tries to divert attention, so give Spock enough time to accomplish his plans.

Spock discovers that the Mordreaux that murdered Kirk is from the timeline in which he and Kirk had successfully defended Mordreaux against the earlier charges. When Mordreaux later discovered the time travels cause the entropic breakdown of the universe in mere decades rather than eons, he was driven mad and returned to take revenge on those he believed caused it to happen. The naked singularity was merely one of the first physical manifestations of this. Mordreauxs from other timelines had attempted to go back in time to stop himself from doing this, but just like Spock, they had all failed. During one of these trips, Spock encounters the younger Braithewaite, explaining why the lawyer found him familiar.

Ultimately, it is Mordreaux who convinces himself to halt the research. A version of the physicist from a period where the fabric of reality is being torn asunder jumps back to join Spock as he confronts the younger Mordreaux. The strain of so many travels is too much for his body and it disintegrates. The sudden realization by the younger scientist that he'd rather die than face the consequences lead him to destroy his device and his research. Spock returns to the "present" of the restored timeline to find that all is well, but that he has the memories of both versions of reality.

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