The Rings of Time

The Rings of Time is a Pocket TOS novel by Greg Cox, released in.

Summary

 * Solicitation blurb
 * 2020 The U.S.S. Lewis & Clark, under the command of Colonel Shaun Christopher, sets off on humanity's first manned mission to Saturn. But the unexpected presence of a stowaway complicates the mission – as does a startling encounter with an alien probe. But when Colonel Christopher attempts to capture the probe, he suddenly finds himself transported across time and space to a future era of space exploration...


 * Stardate 7103.4 The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) responds to an urgent distress call from a mining colony orbiting Klondike VI, a ringed gas giant not unlike Saturn. For unknown reasons, the planet's rings are coming apart, threatening the safety of the colony and its inhabitants. Searching for a way to avert the disaster, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew investigate a mysterious alien probe that has just entered the system. But when the probe is beamed aboard, Kirk abruptly finds himself floating in space above Saturn, wearing an old-fashioned NASA spacesuit, with the Enterprise nowhere in sight...


 * Two missions. Two crews. And a time-twisting crisis that spans the centuries...



Background information

 * The novel was announced by Cox on, following the signing of contracts.
 * The name of the USS Lewis & Clark and the 2020 launch date of the Earth-Saturn probe, the first manned mission from Earth to Saturn, are both taken from the reference book Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology, ignoring the 2009 launch date from the Star Trek Chronology.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk
 * Spock
 * Leonard McCoy
 * Montgomery Scott
 * Nyota Uhuru
 * Hikaru Sulu
 * Pavel Chekov
 * Christine Chapel
 * Shaun Christopher
 * Alice Fontana
 * Marcus O'Herlihy