The IDIC Epidemic

Title:	The IDIC Epidemic
Creator:	Jean Lorrah
Date(s):	February 1988
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The IDIC Epidemic is a Star Trek pro novel written by Jean Lorrah.

front cover

See List of Star Trek TOS Pro Books with Fan Connections.

Summary

From the book jacket: "I.D.I.C. - Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination. More than just a simple credo, for those of the planet Vulcan it is the cornerstone of their philosophy. Now, on the Vulcan Science Colony Nisus, that credo of tolerance is being put to the sternest test. For here, on a planet where Vulcan, Human, Klingon and countless other races live and work side by side, a deadly plague has sprung up. A plague whose origins are somehow rooted in the concept of I.D.I.C. itself. A plague that threatens to tear down that centuries-old maxim and replace it with an even older concept... Interstellar War."

From the Author

February 12, 1988 is the official publication date for THE IDIC EPIDEMIC, my new Star Trek novel from Pocket Books. I hope you will all enjoy this one as much as THE VULCAN ACADEMY MURDERS, to which it is a sequel. I did a lot of fun things in it, some of which will be apparent only to fen (justasyoufoundwithVAM). ButIalsogottodosomeinterestingfore shadowing, such as providing the first step in Federation/Klingon cooperation —knowing there was a Klingon in the crew in ST:TNG (I wrote the book last spring and early summer), I simply put the rationale in the book, including the first Klingon accepted to Starfleet Academy (no, Worf isn't the first; it happened in Kirk's day), and Paramount passed it without a hitch. In fact, I never have any problems with Paramount; I doubt any author does who knows Trek as well as I do. They wanted "Dr." put in front of "McCoy" in one line—big deal! I had a scene in which at the end of a chapter a teenage boy may or may not have escaped an explosion, and they asked for more hints that he escaped—a bit peculiar in that they weren't bothered by Wesley Crusher being graphically run through with a bayonet in "Hide and Q"! Perhaps Paramount's standards people distinguish between old and new Trek in levels of sex and violence in print as much as on screen. That could make new Trek very interesting to write! Anyway, my two experiences say, if you really know Star Trek, Paramount is not going to give you any hassle. Pocket's current Trek editor, David Stern, is another matter. He seems to take his job more seriously than some, but he's a bit overzealous about revisions. He had a whole raft of change she wanted me to make, one of which I agreed made a major improvement in suspense. Many of the others, though, would have ruined the structure or violated established Trek fact. Fortunately, he is willing to accept the author's integrity when she explains the why's and why not's. All in all, he's a good editor who put his finger on one flaw that I'm glad didn't go through. That made it worth a bunch of trivial changes that made no difference whatsoever, and having to argue and explain to maintain my original where changes would have spoiled the book.

Cameos

The book contains recognizable cameos of the original cast of Blake's 7 (as the Enterprise's quarrelsome "Landing Party Seven") and Starsky and Hutch (as ambulance drivers).

Another pro Trek book that includes media cameos is Ishmael.

Reactions and Reviews

1987

Incidentally Ms Hambly is not the only published Star Trek author to include 'other series' characters into Star Trek stories. Ms Lorrah has also managed it. In the 'IDIC Epidemic' the ambulance attendants described during the evacuation of the hospital strongly resemble two L.A. cops normally known as Starsky and Hutch.

1988

The plot is quite simple. There is a mutative plague on colony world Nisus. The Enterprise takes a medical team to the planet to.combat it.

That's the bare bones. Unfortunately the bulk of the book then consists of bits of other stories that go nowhere.

Also, the three main characters introduced in her previous book, The Vulcan Academy Murders, are back again. If you want to read about Kirk, Spock, McCoy etc., you won't find them in here except in the background, and rather out of character. Once again, the story is about her own created characters within the Star Trek universe. And for good measure she adds a LOT of mixed race characters, and tries to add a touch of moralising about racialism by blaming them for the plague. (ie in a hybrid, the plague mutates into other, more deadly, forms which can affect persons of either of... its parent races - hence the "IDIC" epidemic. If their parents hadn't intermarried, the plague would not have happened.)

It rings about as true as a tribble-loving Klingon!

I HATE the way she tries to write Scottish dialect for Scott, and has Chekov calling Kirk "Keptin".

But back to the book. The plague attacks ALL the colonists, be they copper-based, iron-based or even silicon-based lifeforms (At this point my science gave up - if it was THAT catholic, NOTHING on the planet would survive!) ((Crossbreed Hortas?!!!))... The Enterprise is carrying a group of Vulcan rebels who believe in "survival of the fittest" into exile when they are diverted to Nisus... Ambassador Sarek and Lady Amanda are passengers on the ship as well... Once they reach Nisus, Amanda catches the plague... Spock catches the plague... The exiles take over the engine room (!) and threaten to wipe out anyone who does not beam down to the planet within half an hour (until one of their number catches it, then they surrender....sure!)

Meanwhile on the planet, there are now four different forms of plague. (Huh? But there are only Carbon base. Copper base and Silicon base lifeforms - what is the fourth which has caused THIS mutation - and HOW?!?) (No, and Spock has had total systemic failure back on the Enterprise! ("He's dead Jim." - or he certainly ought to BE!) Virtually all the Nisus medical staff have been wiped out, so it is up to McCoy and the emergency medical team. There is a dam that is about to break because of ice coming down from the mountains. There is a Klingon scientist in residence whose blood can provide an antidote for the plague in the form that attacks iron-based lifeforms - and his two half-human sons have the same factor! (At this point Spock recovers!) There is a Vulcan girl (who is actually a Romulan, but doesn't know it!) who has a factor in her blood that can cure the plague for the copper-based lifeforms. There is an Orion who wants to sell this plague to the Klingons to use as a weapon, and an Orion female who just happens to be the wife of the Klingon mentioned previously, who doesn't.

Contrived? You will be...

And tough luck for the silicon-based lifeforms! After mentioning them at the beginning of the book, they are conveniently forgotten thereafter. Same goes for the Vulcan exiles after they surrender the engine room.

Then a couple of pages from the end, a Klingon battleship arrives to identify this mysterious plague as the Klingon equivalent of chicken pox, and offer a synthetic cure'-- free!

And they all lived happily ever after.

The main criticism of this book is that there is too much in it, and nothing DONE with it. The ingredients were there (the WHOLE KITCHEN IS IN THERE! never mind just the ingredients! ) but she forgot to put it in the oven. What the hell, borrow a copy and read it for yourselves. It is that kind of book. It has to be read to be believed.

1989

direct sequel to The Vulcan Academy Murders. A mysterious mutating plague on Nissus, a science colony with residents from dozens of species, interrupts the Enterprise's assignment to transport a group of dissident Vulcans to found a new colony. The disease is particularly troubling because it mutates into newer and more deadly strains in the bodies of mixed-species people, which seems to question the viability of the basic principle of the Federation: strength in diversity.

As with Lorrah's previous novel, this is technically well written, with smooth narrative flow and engaging characters. However, there are several flaws. First, there are simply too many characters to do them all justice; I would have preferred to leave Sarek, Amanda, Corrigan, and T'Mir out altogether -- not because I dislike them, but because that would have left time and space to develop T'Pina, Beau Deaver, Seela, and Korsal's sons into more three-dimensional characters. [Korsal is the one original character who gets enough page time, IMHO. And I'd leave Sorel and Sendet in, because they actually get tiny story arcs, whereas the other carryovers from The Vulcan Academy Murders are just there to no purpose.]

Second, Lorrah is far too concerned with tying people up in tidy romantic pairings. I grant you, everyone she ties up is Vulcan to some degree; she's established Vulcans as meddling matchmakers and biologically driven to find a bond in order to stave off pon farr; and the mess around T'Pina helps illustrated the IDIC principle -- but still. It annoys me, because life is not that tidy and I was far more interested in the plague than in Lorrah's not particularly compelling romance subplots.

Third, the ending flat-out doesn't work. It's too rushed; it doesn't explain anything. How did Klingon Imperial Plague get to Nissus in the first place, for example? Why did it mutate in such a curious pattern? The Klingons can't use it as a bio-weapon, but what about the Romulans? Will the people of Nissus be able to repair the strained bonds of their society? Lorrah provides a cure and resolves her romantic plotlines, but leaves everything else hanging, which I found extremely frustrating. YMMV, obviously!)