ONE: FIRE

Here are some of the things I thought might be of interest about the so-called technobabble (how I hate that word) and other things that are unique to the book.

I’ll try to take things in order but don’t hold me to that.

As people ask me questions in real life, I will add those answers to this page that I deem necessary and helpful. THERE ARE LOTS OF SPOILERS HERE SO, if you're not done with the book, STOP READING NOW.

So. Let’s begin.

EPILOGUE

Well. Obviously, as this story involves some time travel, I tried to place things in an order that jumbled up the normal cause-and-effect flow. Some have found this confusing, yes, but most, the vast majority, it seems, have enjoyed it.

JAZA

Jaza Najem’s history with the Bajoran Resistance is alluded to in the previous TITAN books as well as in WORLDS OF DS9 Vol. 2.

His family dynamics were never described beyond his having children so I filled in some of those blanks.

His mother died of Orkett’s Disease. His father was a doctor. His wife died during the Occupation. He has two adult children, Esola, his daughter and Kren, his son.

MODAN



Y’Lira Modan is the second representative from the planet Selene to be depicted in Star Trek fiction.









The first was Captain Y’Lira Medoxa of the USS Anansi(DS9: PROPHECY & CHANGE Chiaroscuro).



















SELENE is an M Class world in the Alpha Quadrant. It is fourth of six planets that orbit an adolescent star and is slightly larger and more massive than Earth. The dominant life form is not naturally humanoid but rather a chimera species displaying characteristics corresponding to terrestrial simian, marsupial and arthropod species.

Seleneans are fantastically adept at genetic manipulation with representatives, POD MOTHERS, designing subsequent generations based upon the consensus of members of the current one. Selenean society is organized into extensive family groups called COVENS.

Selene has no single ruler. All decisions are made by the Pod Mothers through group consensus.

While Seleneans are, technically, a neuter species, reproducing asexually via group linking and pod generation, the current generation has been designed with humanoid, Klingonoid and Vulcanoid gender characteristics in order to facilitate easy acceptance by the dominant species of the Federation. Whether this modification is merely cosmetic or induces true genetic similarity with the mimicked species is not known.

All Seleneans, when threatened with physical attack, revert to their original chimeric form until their safety is restored. The chimeric form is extremely durable with armor-like dermal plates, prehensile jaws and fangs as well as razor sharp claws on all ten digits. In this form Seleneans are formidable hand- to- hand combatants.

Selenean families, or crèches, are designed by their Pod Mothers with specific traits hardwired into them- the Y’Lira crèche is coded for curiosity, durability and adaptability as well as certain uniform height an weight specifications. Once out of the crèche environmental factors can create great variety even among “sisters” who began essentially identical in every way.

Selenean brains have five lobes. No matter what form they take, all Seleneans have two unvaried identifying characteristics. They all have skin that appears to be made of polished gold and a minimum of two bulbous, turquoise eyes that have been said to resemble large gemstones.

Seleneans do not cry. Nor do they blink involuntarily.

Seleneans are chemopaths, using “linking spines” to directly alter the chemistry of connected brains in order to share information and to breed.

There are seventeen Seleneans in Starfleet from various crèches with a diaspora of 2500 more spread out among the worlds of the Federation.

While not as stoic as Vulcans, Seleneans are extremely analytical, preferring reasoned action over intuitive. They are naturally polite, seeking never to offend any being under any circumstances if they can avoid it. This may be a cultural characteristic rather than genetically hardwired.

Seleneans do not lie. Not because they have a moral aversion to it but because their natural means of communication makes it impossible. The closest word they have for “false” etc. is “incorrect.”

PART ONE

The poem is, of course, taken from STAR TREK: GENERATIONS. Dr. Soren, the insane El Aurian, asks if Picard has heard the phrase “Time is the fire in which we burn.”

Again, as this story is about various forms of time travel (memory counts as time travel), I thought it was such a nice line that it would be fun to flesh out the phrase.

Ironically, it turns out the phrase was taken by the film's writers from an existing poem, “Calmly We Walk Through this April’s Day.” By Delmore Schwartz.

This was brought to my attention (after the fact) by a reader called Don Tremblay (thanks, Don!)

You can read the original poem here.

While it’s a good poem, if I had seen it, I wouldn’t have used it for SoD. Odds are I would have written something else.