| abstract | - The planet Aluwna lays in the path of the Genesis Wave, though their resources cannot possibly save all of their population. Overseer Tejharet frees political prisoner (and his former lover) Professor Marla Karuw and agrees to make her regent if she can work a miracle. Her plan is to hold tens of thousands of people (though still only 10% of the population) in transporter pattern buffers on hundreds of satellites and tow them to safety, only rematerializing those people after the danger had past. Young street urchins Farlo Fuzwick and Candra work their craft on the streets of Aluwna. They pick the pocket of a Vulcan, finding a unique perfume among their prizes. Soon after, both thieves are arrested and a genetic scan of Farlo reveals that he is a 96% match to the first Aluwnan monarch. Seeress Genoset quickly makes Farlo her consort in a bid to seize power from her husband, Tejharet and cementing Farlo’s position in the royal family. The lowborn Candra looks to her own survival during the Genesis crisis and makes contact with Regimol, who trades her safe passage for the stolen perfume. The “perfume”—actually a genetically engineered cocktail designed to fool the Aluwnan genetic purity scans that keep their society stratified—was concocted by another Aluwnan dissenter, Vilo Garlett. The Wave reconstitutes the surface of Aluwna into an untamed jungle. Ambassador Worf and the crew of the I.K.S. Doghjey (including Alexander Rozhenko and Jeremy Aster) aid the Aluwnans, working to eradicate the monstrous plant creatures and moss impostors with little success. The Klingons are largely able to resist the influence of the moss creatures’ illusions, but Regent Karuw is deceived. Aster is injured and sent back to the Federation for medical treatment. Alexander is made the Klingons’s liaison to the Aluwnan government. Tejharet is murdered by an unknown woman, and Genoset’s other consort, Paadrin, ascends to leadership. He relieves Karuw and places both women under suspicion of the assassination. Leah Brahms, the Federation’s de facto expert on the Genesis Wave, arrives to help with the restoration of Aluwnan society on the planet, and she is joined soon after by the Enterprise, Regimol, and Raynr Sleven. The remaining transporter systems are found to be disastrously defective, having been infected by the moss. Farlo discovers that Garlett tricked Candra into poisoning Overseer Tejharet, but keeps her safe from discovery and punishment. Garlett and Karuw also work in secret to unleash an experimental chromosynthesis procedure on the planet, which they hope will overwrite the Genesis matrix. However, the process goes horribly wrong when executed—the untamed surface becomes even more unforgiving, and a shockwave radiates out into space. The Enterprise is severely damaged and the Aluwnan flagship Darzor is destroyed with all hands, including Overseer Paadrin and Seeress Genoset. Picard and Sleven, working in Brahms suits, manage to save the Enterprise by ejecting its breaching warp core, though Sleven is fatally wounded. A Klingon task force arrives to offer further aid, helping the Starfleet crew and the Aluwnans to conquer the reordered planet. Candra escapes prosecution for her misdeed. Karuw, feeling great guilt for the chromosynthesis failure, volunteers for a dangerous experiment to reset all the transporters to operation. The test is successful, and the majority of the Aluwnans held within pattern buffers are rematerialized, though Karuw’s pattern is lost. Farlo, the only surviving member of the royal family (despite his false genetic purity), ascends as sovereign, ushering in a new era for the Aluwnan people. The events of this book take place concurrently with The Genesis Wave, Books I–III.
|
