Dyson Sphere

Star Trek: The Next Generation #50

by Charles Pellegrino, George Zebrowski

Two hundred million kilometers across, with a surface area that exceeds that of a quarter-billion worlds, the Dyson sphere is one of the most astounding discoveries the Federation has ever made. Now the USS Enterprise has returned to explore the awesome mysteries of the sphere. Intrigued by what is possibly the greatest archaeological treasure of all time, Captain Jean-Luc Picard hopes to discover the origin of humanoid life throughout the galaxy – or perhaps the ultimate secret of the Borg.

But when a neutron star approaches on a collision course with the sphere, a mission of discovery becomes a desperate race against time. The many sentient species inhabiting the sphere face extinction – can even the Starship Enterprise save them all?

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Fiction, Ebooks, Media Tie In, Fantasy

229 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Charles Pellegrino is a scientist working in paleobiology, astronomy, and various other areas; a designer for projects including rockets and nuclear devices (non-military propulsion systems), composite construction materials, and magnetically levitated transportation systems; and a writer. He has been affiliated with Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand National Observatory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, NY; taught at institutions including Hofstra University and Adelphi University Center for Creative Arts; a member of Princeton Space Studies Institute. Cradle of Aviation Museum, space flight consultant; Challenger Center, founding member. After sailing with Robert Ballard to the Galapagos Rift in the immediate aftermath of the discovery of the Titanic (in 1985), Pellegrino expanded from the field of paleontology “into the shallows of archaeological time.”

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a favorite of mine.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. A direct sequel to the episode where Scotty comes back. It's mostly technobabble and description, you feel like there's a story trying to get out somewhere. Not a good read.

[Sam Thorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Congratulations, GoodReads. You dumped my review of the most amazing Star Trek novel I've ever read, into the bitbucket. Here's a second attempt:

Although I typically read every one of my Star Trek novels repeatedly until it has long since fallen apart, I can't remember the last time I read the same one twice in a row, and considered reading it a third time in a row.

If you're not geek enough to be bugged when it becomes apparent that a Star Trek author failed to research the science, the culture, or even the Star Trek history and culture about which he's writing - or worse yet, you're oblivious to that - run along and read some light fantasy story, because this Star Trek novel was written by actual scientists who not only do their research; they participated in writing what there is to be researched.

To a geek, even the Bibliography contained in this novel is... dare I say, "fascinating". If you don't care, after whom the Neelix character in Star Trek: Voyager was named, run along and read that fantasy story; this isn't you.

A geek wants to see how CGI renders - or at least imagine for himself - a flying amphibious creature that grows jet engines underneath its wings. If this isn't you, run along and read that light fantasy.

A geek wants to see on a 3D movie screen - or at least re-create in his own mind's eye - the part of this story in which the Dyson sphere's sun is pushed so far off-center from the sphere that the orbit of the homeworld of the sphere's creators releases the planet onto the inside surface of the Dyson sphere as if it were a glorified bowling ball. If you don't want to see that - or worse yet, you don't have the attention span to read that far into the story - run along, you don't deserve to read this novel.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sequel to the 1992 Star Trek Next Generation episode Relics where Scotty was found surviving in a transporter buffer in a crashed ship on the surface of an intact, complete Dyson sphere. It occurs about a year later during a mission to further explore the inside of the sphere. From entry it's a wild ride during which we learn a bit about the structure of subspace. It reminds me of types of Golden Age space opera when imaginations were unfettered by science.

But it is Star Trek

7 of 10 stars compared to other Star Trek novels.

[Fatma · Rating 1 out of 5]

one of the worst STNG books I have ever read. I had to force myself to finish the book.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

If the film "Star Trek-Into Darkness" merely pays lip service to the superficial elements of Gene Rodenberry's philosophy, "Dyson Sphere" is at the opposite extreme. This is a novel that contains all the elements necessary to tell a fantastic tale, but ends up smothering the actual storytelling under stifling layers of overwrought philosophy & anthropology. For such a short novel, it feels rather interminable at times...and it doesn't quite have a solid grasp of the TNG characters. Guinan's sudden appearance towards the conclusion -- designed to do nothing more than sledgehammer emotions out of the prose -- doesn't assist this novel in any way. Puzzling and disappointing.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Dyson Sphere impressed me with the ideas that it contained, it is unfortunately marred by a lack of cohesion in the plot. Sadly, this would seem to be due to forces beyond the control of the authors, as there have been reports of some strange editorial decisions with regards to this novel. Still, it was an enjoyable read with some audacious science fiction concepts that are a lot of fun to explore.

Full review: https://www.treklit.com/2019/08/tng50...

[Tammy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was pretty bored. There was too much technobabble, and I lost interest.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was...okay. I didn't hate it and I didn't love it. And, no...it didn't answer any questions and only left things more unknown than before.

We learn next to nothing about who or what lives in the Sphere...only that some things do and probably a whole lot more than we are shown. We keep getting hinted that the Sphere was created by the species who would become the first of the Borg...but we don't really get that answered either...except a Borg ship does show up at the end...in the distance...and then disappears. We never learn who sent the Neutron Star after the Sphere as a sort of mega-projectile...just speculation about some possible ancient war maybe between ancient superpowers maybe...we are simply observers to events that make no sense and are never told why what is happening is happening...and then, at the very end, the Sphere just shrinks and shrinks and shrinks until it ultimately disappears from our perception...why? I don't know...it just does.

I was sad not to like this because I loved "Dust," one of the author's other novels. But this was no "Dust." I found it hard to follow the communications between the Enterprise and the Darwin and who was on which ship - I swear some characters seemed to teleport back and forth between the ships (and not in the actual Star Trek way, just in the way of bad narrative construction). The end itself was also just as absurd...for so many reasons: stars melting their way out through the wall of the Sphere, and then being magically reconstituted inside of it...or the "home world" of the builders rolling as a giant ball would along the inner surface of the Sphere...or the fact that the interior of the Sphere was just the planet's landmass arrangement projected on a larger scale - to name but a few. That last bit strikes me as particularly odd, especially since the author's take pains to establish their scientific credentials at the end.

Continents and/or bodies of water made that unbelievably massive would turn into colossally huge dead zones where nothing could live. On our own world, when we had supercontinents, the interiors were overly hot, overly dry, and presumably devoid of life. The middle of our oceans are likewise devoid of life. Life needs the interplay of water and land, both for climate and habitat, to thrive, multiply, and succeed.

I also don't get why a Starship would be made out of rocks to enable a crew of Horta to live upon it. Like, how does one even construct a Starship out of rock? I get that they eat rocks, more or less, and thus would have a supply of rock-food on board...but the whole ship to be constructed as such - and to appear cave-like on the interior? Really?? Also, the book was published in 1999, also - well into the Voyager era, and the USS Darwin was called a "Voyager-class" ship, which I'm wondering was that what the author's thought the USS Voyager was - or were told - even though it was an Intrepid-class?

As far as Star Trek books go - you can skip this one. The crew barely makes an appearance...and don't act in-character very much...like you, the reader, everyone is simply an observer to the narrative of incomprehensible events taking place around them...and ultimately leaving with no answers and more questions. Highly frustrating, to say the least.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picking up after the events of The Next Generation episode "Relics", the Enterprise is sent to fully investigate the iconic Dyson Sphere. Picard hopes to learn some archaeological knowledge from the massive construction, perhaps the origin of life in the galaxy or something about the Borg (this was a stretch and seemed inserted to project some tension into the proceedings). Assisting the Enterprise is a Federation ship composed solely of Horta.

Both ships stumble about in search of knowledge, much in the fashion of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, encountering things for which they have no explanation. There are discoveries that defy what they know about science and life, but they are left unexplained because the Dyson Sphere is going to be destroyed by a neutron star. The clock is ticking for both crews to learn something.

This is the most scientific Star Trek novel I've read because it is a quest for scientific discovery. It is somewhat exciting at times, but not often to keep me turning pages. The Enterprise crew is as one would expect, which is good, but they don't do anything beyond their normal routine, which is to stand and ask "What is that?" or "What could that do?", while Data spits out hypotheses.

I did enjoy the Horta crew, as they were new and brought an interesting perspective to what was discovered.

I found the ending to wrap things up concisely, but underwhelmingly. It does put a period on the whole investigation, but what has anyone really learned?

There are two afterwards by the writers which are interesting if one wants to learn more about the science involved with the novel and what is (was in 1999) thought about the massive spheres.

Overall, this was a good attempt at a pure discovery adventure, but it just wasn't thrilling. If this were an episode, it would be one that would be skipped. You're better off picking up RwR.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Drier than the Sahara at noon.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Dyson Sphere" is a book, at its heart, about the insignificance of humanity against the enormous forces brought about by nature. Yet the authors fall into the technobabble trap early on and struggle to escape by the time the final chapter all too quickly comes around.

The Enterprise is rendezvousing with the U.S.S. Darwin captained by the Horta Dalen. The mission: an archaeological survey of the interior of the massive Dyson Sphere. A time limit is soon imposed on the adventure when the Enterprise detects a neutron star on a collision course with the Sphere.

Much of the first few chapters focus on Picard ruminating about the origin of the Dyson Sphere, and leaping from one baseless assumption to the next. The shallow ruminations continue when the Enterprise detects a neutron star heading through a wormhole in a trajectory which will impact the sphere. Picard's operating theory is that the neutron star was launched cannonball-style by an ancient species who are either attempting to defend or destroy the sphere. Oh, and he's also convinced that some proto-Borg ancestor built the sphere. Evidence? None at all. But these assumptions quickly turn to accepted facts in a bizarre progression of narrative which left me feeling as if I'd missed several chapters in between.

The story then swings through several rather horrid chapters of technobabble mixed with more guesswork, as we are presented with a hybrid of pseudoscience and lite quantum mechanics to explain away the Dyson Sphere's weird impact on subspace. Horta Captain Dalen makes a rather bizarre link to Sarpeidon (TOS: "All Our Yesterdays"), and manages to obtain consensus from her Horta crew that the Big Bang might have been engineered by an ancient race playing with subspace. Confused? Me too.

It's as if the authors sensed they'd gone too far at this point and pivoted to some narrative inside the sphere. I actually really enjoyed the notion that the sphere was somehow alive, and responding to the presence of the Darwin as if it were an unwanted virus infecting an organism. This concept is sadly underdeveloped and we never get close to establishing what actually controls the Dyson Sphere.

The discovery of life in the sphere was to be expected, but I was left underwhelmed by Picard's reaction to it. He gives up any diplomatic curiosity with the newly encountered Dooglasse rather quickly, and we learn next to nothing about them. Indeed, after first contact and a joint away team mission to the smaller Dyson planet (where they contribute nothing), they are pretty much forgotten about. Speaking of the Dyson planet, I liked the concept of planets within planets within planets, as scientifically implausible as it is.

The authors indulge in a bit of creative repetition in the latter half of the book, as the Darwin crash lands in one of the giant oceans on the sphere's interior only to encounter another alien species (only known by Picard's name for them, the sea swifts). Guinan, who conveniently comes along, seems able to communicate with them telepathically. Yet all the information we glean is that they're an ancient species. Much like the Dooglasse, we encounter them, learn a couple of facts, then forget about them.

The root of the problem with "Dyson Sphere" is the rapid introduction and abandonment of ideas. There are some really cool concepts sprinkled throughout the book, yet the authors dash between them so quickly that nothing is truly developed to its potential. Likewise, nothing is really resolved, and the number of threads left hanging is high. And that's a real shame... the literary fodder in a well structured argument about the prime directive issues here would be worth the price of admission alone. Yet its glossed over in a couple of paragraphs.

Character moments are limited in this tome. I've heard other reviewers mention that the TNG crew's presence is perfunctory and any old group of officers could have sufficed. I'd tend to agree... "Dyson Sphere" is 95% concept, 5% characters.

Unrealised potential aside, if you are a fan of high-concept science fiction then you'll enjoy this one. As a physicist I could get some kicks out of the (something questionable) science here... perhaps you might too.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the more intriguing Trek novels I've read, as it combined two concepts from two of my favorite Trek episodes: The Dyson Sphere that was featured in "Relics" on The Next Generation (which featured a guest appearance by Jimmy Doohan as Captain Scott) and the Hortas from "Devil in the Dark" on The Original Series (the rock-eating and tunnel-creating 'monsters' that inspired the McCoy line "I'm a doctor, not a brick-layer").

In this story, the Horta (or I should say a group of them) have their own Federation starship and are archaeologists and scientist who join Picard and the 1701D to explore the Dyson Sphere, a galactic edifice that was built around anc completely enclosed a star. Unfortunately, there's a neutron star on a collision course and there are some interesting things discovered about subspace itself...

My one complaint about this book is that there are times that the narrative is a little choppy; you're not always sure who's talking or thinking what you're reading. But the concepts in this book are very intriguing and, naturally, you'd never see these on the TV shows - the special effects budget would be drained for the whole series, much less the season.

[_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the "Big Dumb Object" trope, or perhaps even subgenre, of science fiction, so the premise of this novel intrigued me. Unfortunately, the execution was something of a letdown. The protagonists were given little to do but passively marvel at the immensity of the eponymous structure, lament its seemingly inevitable destruction, and rejoice in the literal Deus Ex Machina ending. The extremely optimistic afterward detailing the scientific aspirations of the authors seemed out of keeping with the fatalistic tone of the novel.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poetic, epic sci-fi novel. Very beautiful and interesting.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Few Notes on Star Trek The Next Generation: Dyson Sphere by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski

The last of the five novels co-written by Zebrowski (not chronologically, but just the way it worked out in my haphazard reading order). This is that very rare beast of a ‘hard science’ Trek story. Hard science is very nice when it shows up—and from what I remember of reading this book years ago it was a fantastic story—but ultimately I’m glad that Trek is more middle-of-the-road in the spectrum that ranges from ‘hard’ science fiction to complete science fantasy as one of Trek’s main foci is to address the human condition through allegory. That can get difficult if one is concerned with getting the science 100% all the time.

This is the sequel to the TNG episode “Relics”. Like when I read the book before I was sorry that Scotty couldn’t make it, but with the setting being only a year after the TV episode, I assume he’s still getting adjusted to the 24th century and catching up on reading the updated editions of his beloved technical journals.

However, as one door closes another opens—in this case, while we have no Scotty, we do have…HORTAS!!! 😊😊😊 Those rock eating life forms first encountered by the original Enterprise crew in the TOS episode “Devil in the Dark” are back! This book can be considered a spiritual successor to a plot point in Diane Duane’s Rhiannsu series that gave us a lone ensign Horta happily tunneling through alien worlds because now we have a complete starship, the USS Darwin, that is almost exclusively staffed with Hortas.

The set up is simple—the Enterprise and the Darwin are assigned to go back to the Dyson Sphere in order to study it. As luck would have it, they are not going to be able to do so in peaceful isolation. There are circumstances both external and internal to the Sphere that call for both ships to cut their investigation from a matter of months to less than two weeks so they can be safely out of the area when disaster will strike. It’s a fair bet that this expedited investigation will in turn develop complications of its own…

One of the things I enjoyed most was that the authors took the time to present significant chunks of story from the Horta point of view. Not only did it help flesh out specific Horta characters, it also gave insight into their philosophies and attitudes and how they behave as a group.

Characteristically of the novels co-written by Zebrowski, there lies no true villain. Most of the tension derives from the drive to explore in the limited timeframe and then turning around to deal with new problems that arise once discoveries are made. That’s not to say there are no bad actors in the book, but mainly those agents remain as mysterious and cosmic as the Dyson Sphere itself. In a way this book reminds me of Arthur C Clarke’s Rendevous With Rama. In both stories, the crews explore amazing, far-from-“dead” relics of civilizations long vanished with no chance of understanding even a significant fraction of what there is to discover. Of the two books, I do believe that Pellegrino and Zebrowski seem to capture the dilemma of the mission, of being torn between the thrill of fantastic discovery and the absolute pain of knowing there’s a whole universe of knowledge that will forever be withheld from seeking eyes

In some ways the story is a special version of the Kobayashi Maru for Capt Picard—he goes through the motions of reacting to the situations around him, but unable to change the inevitable outcomes. I can see where a few readers might be annoyed with this type of story, where the protagonist is powerless to affect any change in his environment, but this is what I enjoyed so much about it. I enjoyed living vicariously through the crews of Enterprise and Darwin, watching them discover, watching them survive crisis after crisis. And of course reading about all the weird science! 😉

The ending is quite climatic, even if it doesn’t cover what becomes of all the characters we meet along the way. Fortunately, despite the finality of the story, there is room for a sequel of sorts, though admittedly it would not be a Next Generation story. Unfortunately, it seems that enough time has passed since initial publication that the possibility of a part 2 seems unlikely at best. Pity…

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

Been awhile since I have read a Star Trek novel that had the makings for a better TV show, than novel. The concept of this story was great, as it takes place not long after the episode Relics.

However, well versed in science the authors are, and may be well renowned in other literary works, they did not do a good job with the story and how the main characters in Star Trek are portrayed. The story was very choppy, and mishmash. Of course, there were some moments of tension/drama, but overall, this book was a flop for me, and taking from a thought Picard had toward the end of the book and paraphrasing summarizes this one for me. "Leaving me adrift in unfulfilled expectations."

Dyson Sphere was a hard one to grasp my mind around.

2 stars instead of 1 for the concept and some good/tense moments.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spännande bok med mycket tekniska beskrivningar och starka filosofiska anspråk, men boken har ett stort fel. Felet är att den inte förklarar tillräckligt tydligt när förändringar eller vändningar i boken sker. Plötsligt står man där med en ny situation och hur mycket man än läser om de sista styckena så finner man inget som förklarar vad som hände. Jag är mycket besviken. Även om boken tog sig rejält mot slutet, samtidigt som den "lugnade" sig litet, är jag benägen att inte ge mer än 4/10 i betyg.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the smartest Star Trek book that I ever read which is no surprise since one of the authors is an actual scientist. Some moments seemed a little too heady for me to grasp but the creativity of certain aspects of the book was very interesting. I always wondered what happened to the Dyson Sphere and what the Federation would do with it so it was nice to read what they think happened. Overall I enjoyed it and was a breath of fresh air to the other Star Trek novels I had read as of late.

[Gavin · Rating 1 out of 5]

A dyson sphere is a fascinating sci-fi concept, but you need more than a concept to create a story. A 5-minute video could easily cover more information, and in a more compelling format. Instead, this book asks a lot of questions, provides few compelling answers, and follows characters who ultimately have no impact on the events around them.

This also turned out to be a terrible read during the COVID-19, as the plot of the story is basically: protagonists encounter an unimaginable and overwhelming catastrophe, and despite their best efforts can only really watch as the disaster unfolds, powerless to make any real impact.

Not a fun or uplifting read.

[Richard Archambault · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book stretched my ability to suspend my normal disbelief to its breaking point. Halfway through, I wanted to stop reading because it kept getting too outlandish. Which is strange, as once you read the authors notes at the end, you realize the they have long experience with science and physics. I just didn’t enjoy this book, and the characters were annoyingly one-dimensional (Troi and Worf in particular).

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dyson Sphere was an interesting book in the TNG universe that revisits a story/object explored in the TNG show. This book tended to focus more on the science aspects of the story than traditional Star Trek story lines. It was an interesting story/concept to explore but I felt the book would have been able to do a better job exploring those concepts if it were longer. It feels like the book needed more length to explore the ideas in more depth. Overall it was an enjoyable quick read!

[Robbert Groeneveld · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not giving it a high rating, not because it isn't a good story, it is not a good Star Trek story. If you would have removed the Star Trek reference it would have been a good book, but sadly the authors haven't seen enough episodes to make a compelling Star Trek book. By this I mean that there are easy and obvious mistakes in the tech. Not recommended for the serious Trekkie.

[John Nichol · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's a kernel of a story in here, but the authors managed to bypass it completely and instead produce this. It could have been an adventure to rival Larry Niven's Ringworld, as the Enterprise crew explore the Dyson Sphere. They chose instead to write a threadbare plot with no characterisation, and ideas that could have been the entire book discarded in a couple of paragraphs. Ugh.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-used good-quality techno-babble enhances a grand Sense of Wonder SF story that happens to take place in the STTNG universe, which is a good fit for it. I will look for more by both authors.

"Time is the fire in which we burn." (Delmore Schwartz)

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great imagery and descriptions from inside the Dyson sphere! Very rare to see the Horta included in missions, which is a nice change of pace. Well written and kept me on the edge of my seat - Just like a TNG episode!

[Curtis · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Dyson Sphere episode on Star Trek TNG was one of my favorite episodes. When I saw this book I knew I had to read it. Sadly it turned out to be one of the worst books I have personally ever read. The storyline was just horrible. Luckily it wasn't a long read.

[Cweb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fascinating story, which could have a better ending. Perhaps it will have a sequel someday.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found this book interesting I feel like it was an idea cut short. So much more could be done. I also had an issue visualizing and understanding the ending of the book.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

If these two coauthors set out to write a novel that was all science fiction, utterly devoid of drama, mission accomplished!