Step Into Chaos

Fast on the retro-rockets of Delta Search and In Alien Hands, Shatner's third, warp-paced entry in his Quest for Tomorrow series finds Jim Endicott under scrutiny by the Hunzza and the Albans, alien races who fear humanity will suddenly make the leap to godhood via Jim's genetic encoding, which was secretly altered at birth. The superintelligence known as Outsider also has an interest in Jim, teleporting him and his friends Char and Harpy to the starship Albagens Pride. No sooner does the transport-hum fade than an Albagensian star fleet sweeps into the solar system; before Jim can assume command of the ship, he is killed by an assassin. Outsider easily defeats the rest of the invading fleet, however. While the aliens distract Earth with overtures of peace, Char and Harpy learn that millennia ago, the Hunzza transplanted Neanderthals to another planet, Gelden, where they eventually evolved into god-like beings. Jim suddenly appears on deck, back from the dead, and agrees to work with Outsider; the pair have detected another superentity, the god that evolved on Gelden. Now Jim must decide whether to force Terra to make the dangerous leap to godhood. Shatner's narrative is breathless and often perplexing, but it's peppered with enough bar brawls, gun fights and space chases to satisfy his fans. (Feb.)