Strangers from the Sky

The epic novel of first contact between man and Vulcan!

Summary
Strangers from the Sky is a 1987 book by author Margaret Wander Bonanno detailing the first contact between Humans and Vulcans.


 * From the book jacket:
 * James Kirk didn't normally pay much attention to this thing – a best-selling book, and a controversial one at that. But Strangers From the Sky had piqued his interest – and everyone else's, it seemed.  For the book disputed a fact well known to every Federation schoolboy: That Earth's first encounter with alien life had occurred when the UNSS Icarus came upon the humanoid people of Alpha Centauri in 2048.


 * Strangers claimed that history was wrong... that humanity's First Contact with another sapient species had taken place years earlier. And that when the two races met, something happened.  Something so climactic, so dangerous, that it had been wiped from the records and kept secret by both worlds for almost two centuries.


 * But when Kirk read the book, it triggered strange dreams... nightmares that threatened first his health, then his sanity. It was only when he discovered that Spock also shared those dreams that the Admiral began to wonder:  Could there be more to this book than he or anyone guessed...?

Background Information

 * The premise of this novel (a Vulcan scoutship crashing and forcing Vulcans and Humans to interact before the "official" first contact between the two races known to history) was reused in a very similar manner in.
 * The framing sequences of this story are set prior to and between  and.
 * The "author's foreword" of the novel within the novel puts the "official" first contact between man and Vulcan as occurring in the year 2065 (some 17 years after first encountering beings from Alpha Centauri in 2048). These events were contradicted by those seen in.
 * The book was re-released as part of the "Celebrating 40 Years of Star Trek" novel series from Pocket Books, with a new afterword by author Bonanno.
 * The audiobook adaptation was performed by George Takei and Leonard Nimoy, and was released on cassette and as part of the Star Trek 25th Anniversary Audio Collection CD set.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk
 * Spock
 * Leonard McCoy
 * Nyota Uhura : Kirk met Uhura in Earth Spacedock who was in company with Cleante al-Faisal.
 * Dr. Krista Sivertsen : A former student of McCoy's who attended his lectures when he was still married. McCoy visited the psychiatrist to talk about Admiral Kirk with her.  Krista was also the roommate of Elizabeth Dehner during their internship and exchanged letters until Dehner's first space mission after Aldebaran.
 * Purdi : The Troyian Purdi owns a bookstore on Earth where Kirk bought Strangers from the Sky.
 * Cleante al-Faisal : Kirk met her in Earth Spacedock. She was the decisive factor why Kirk bought Strangers from the Sky as she claimed a character from the novel was an ancestor of her.
 * Cleante is a character from the author's novel Dwellers in the Crucible.


 * T'Shael : Vulcan with a blood disease who needs to consult Dr. M'Benga on a regular basis.
 * T'Shael is a character from the author's novel Dwellers in the Crucible.

Vulcan crew

 * T'Lera : Commander of the mission. She had no contact with her son's father Sotir for a long time.  Together with her son, she is one of two survivors of the crash-landing in 2045.
 * T'Preth : Helmsman and linguist.
 * Savar : Prefect Savar established the rules of interstellar exploration and was the father of Commander T'Lera. He observed the last two major wars on Earth.  In 2045, he died at the age of 221.4 years.
 * Sorahl : Navigator aboard the Vulcan explorer and son of T'Lera.
 * Selik : Astrocartographer of the mission. Selik was a member of the Vulcan High Command and would act as representative if contact was established with Earth.
 * T'Syra : T'Syra monitored Earth's radio signals and acted as the healer and xenobiology expert on the mission. She was Selik's partner and accompanied Commander T'Lera in all but their first mission.
 * Stell : Sociologist and musician, who also worked as a technician.

Argo III inhabitants

 * Yoshi
 * Tatya Bilash : A "full-figured" woman of Ukrainian descent.

USS Enterprise crew (2284)

 * Tran Van Ky : Communications officer who received three commendations during Spock's training missions.
 * Mathee : Lieutenant

USS Enterprise crew (2265)

 * Gary Mitchell
 * Elizabeth Dehner : Psychiatrist aboard the Enterprise who died after in the first year under Kirk's command. Elizabeth Dehner was a student of McCoy's and was once the roommate of Krista Sivertsen during her internship.  Until her posting aboard Enterprise, she worked at Aldebaran.
 * Lee Kelso

Delphinus crew

 * Jason Nyere : Captain
 * Melody Sawyer : First Officer
 * Henry Moy : Ensign
 * Reeta Patel : Lieutenant

Timeline

 * Note: The timeline of this book was originally based on the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology.
 * 1823 : Savar is born.
 * 2028 : Melody Sawyer participates in the tennis finals on Goddard Moonbase and finishes second.
 * 2045 : The Vulcan scoutship crash-lands on Earth.
 * 2048 : The Icarus arrives in the Alpha Centauri system.
 * 2055 : Major breakthrough in warp technology research.
 * 2065 : The Amity rescues the crew of a disabled Vulcan ship in the Solar system. This marks the official first contact.
 * 2265 : Kirk, Spock, Kelso, Mitchell, and Dehner beam down to M-155.
 * 2284 : The novel Strangers from the Sky is published.