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Memory Alpha
Cover of original.
Author: James Blish
Illustrators: Kazuhiko Sano (June 1999 ed.)
Publisher: Bantam Books
Series: Bantam TOS
Published: January 1970
Pages: 118
Year: 2268
Stardate: 4011.9 through 4205.5
Reference #:
Cover of 1985 reprint.

An exciting new story of interplanetary adventure!

Summary

From the original book jacket
Captain Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise find themselves in the middle of an undeclared war waged by the Klingon Empire...
The Organians should be consulted about the war but their entire planet has disappeared -- or been destroyed...
Mr. Spock entered the transporter chamber. His image would be flashed to Organia by the huge machine's faster-than-light tachyons. But the experiment failed. Suddenly there were two Mr. Spocks. One of them had to be destroyed...
BUT WHICH ONE?
From the April 1985 reprint book jacket
Captain's log, stardate 4181.4. We are at war with the Klingon Empire.
Launching an unprovoked attack upon the Federation, the Klingons have broken the terms of the Organian Peace Treaty -- leaving the Enterprise stranded deep in uncharted space, cut off from the rest of the Federation fleet.
To find out what happened to the Organians, Commander Scott rigged an experimental modification of our transportation system designed to enable a tachyon replica of Mr. Spock to travel faster-than-light to Organia. But the experiment failed, and incredibly, left us with two identical Spocks: one of whom is a replica in every way the opposite of our first officer, a traitor whose continued existence poses a grave threat to the Enterprise and quite possibly the entire Federation.
One of the Spocks must die. But which one...

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Background

File:Spockmustdie.jpg

Reprint cover by Sano.

This was the first original Trek novel published by Bantam Books. It was a sequel to TOS:"Errand of Mercy" written by James Blish, author of the popular "Star Trek 1" and continuing series of TOS novelizations.

The Bantam novel series have a plethora of different cover images, the English version of this novel has been released with at least three different covers, a new one for each subsequent printing. There have been three US cover printings by Bantam (February 1970, April 1985 and June 1999). The 1990s edition cover is credited to artist Kazuhiko Sano.

The concept of transporter duplication was addressed in other canonical productions, TOS: "The Enemy Within" and TNG: "Second Chances". "Second Chances", in particular, is a later occasion of the transporter being used to create an identical duplicate.

An editor at Bantam copyedited Kirk's reference to McCoy from "Bones" to "Doc," apparently being unfamiliar to the reference to McCoy's oft-used onscreen nickname. Author James Blish wrote a piece about the error in the introduction of a later novelization.

Characters

File:BonesMcCoy2268.jpg

"Bones" McCoy.

James T. Kirk
Enterprise captain.
Spock
Enterprise science officer and exec.
Leonard H. McCoy
Enterprise CMO.
File:Scotty.jpg

Scotty.

Montgomery Scott
Enterprise engineer.
Uhura
Enterprise communications officer. She was considering spending a couple of weeks teaching a language to Lt. Purdy.
Hikaru Sulu
Enterprise helmsman.
Ayelborne
Organian.
Claymare
Organian.
Trefayne
Organian.
Purdy
Starfleet lieutenant statoned at Starbase 16, who wanted to be taught how to speak Eurish.

References

Klingons
Klingon Empire
Organia
Organians
Starbase 16
Federation starbase.
transporter

Timeline

Other Bantam series


First in series Novels
Bantam TOS
Next novel:
The New Voyages
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