Ensign Hriss
(Caitian female) security guard
Chief Petty Officer Bralik
(Ferengi female) geologist
Crewman Ellec Krotine
(Boslic female) security guard
T’Pel
(Vulcan female) civilian child care specialist
Noah Powell
(human male) civilian, son of Alyssa Ogawa
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, thanks go to Marco Palmieri for commissioning this novel and initiating the Titanseries. I’m indebted to those who have come before me, including Andy Mangels, Mike Martin, and Geoffrey Thorne, and to those who offered advice on the manuscript, including Kirsten Beyer, Keith R.A. DeCandido, William Leisner, and David Mack. The President Bacco quote that opens the novel is from Destiny: Lost Soulsby David Mack. President Bacco was created by Keith R.A. DeCandido, as was Admiral Masc (mentioned in “The Ceremony of Innocence Is Drowned” in Tales of the Dominion War) and the Alrond colony (from A Singular Destiny). Information on Arkenites comes from the FASA and Decipher role-playing games. Thanks to Theodore Sturgeon for inspiring Lumbuan linguistics, and to the Freefallwebcomic for inspiring Doctor Ree’s philosophy on the power of smiles.
The concept of an ocean planet as depicted herein was proposed in 2003 by Marc J. Kuchner and Alain Léger (independently), with Léger coining the name. I am indebted to their papers on the subject: Kuchner, “Volatile-Rich Earth-Mass Planets in the Habitable Zone” ( The Astrophysical Journal LettersVol. 596, 10 Oct. 2003, pp. L105–L108) and Léger et al., “A New Family of Planets? Ocean Planets” ( IcarusVol. 169 Iss. 2, June 2004, pp. 499–504), for providing the basic information I needed to create Droplet. For more detailed calculations of Droplet’s size and internal structure, I relied on Christophe Sotin et al., “Mass-radius curve for extrasolar Earth-like planets and Ocean planets” ( IcarusVol. 191 Iss. 1, 1 Nov. 2007, pp. 337–351). More details were provided by “Ocean planets…soon” on the Crowlspace.com blog, February 4, 2007. Hal Clement’s novel Noiseprovided useful information on the meteorology of a world without land masses. Martin Chaplin’s Water Structure and Sciencewebpage at www. lsbu.ac.uk/water/was helpful for determining the behavior of water and ice under extreme pressure. The University of Rhode Island’s Discovery of Sound in the Seapage at www.dosits.org/helped fill in details about the deep sound (or SOFAR) channel. For the effect of extreme pressure on biology, I am indebted to Anurag Sharma et al., “Microbial Activity at Gigapascal Pressures” ( Science22, Vol. 295 No. 5559, Feb. 2002, pp. 1514–1516) and Christoph Hartmann and Antonio Delgado, “Numerical Simulation of the Mechanics of a Yeast Cell under High Hydrostatic Pressure” ( Journal of BiomechanicsVol. 37 Iss. 7, July 2004, pp. 977–87). Aspects of Cethente’s biology were suggested by Jean Schneider, “A Model for a Non-chemical Form of Life: Crystalline Physiology” ( Origins of LifeVol. 8 Iss. 1, April 1977, pp. 33–38).
This book is dedicated to and informed by the memory of my cat Natasha, who passed away on June 20, 2008, at the age of 17. I’ve lived with many cats over the years, but she was very special to me, one of the greatest sources of joy in my life. She is deeply missed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher L. Bennett is the author of two previous works of Titanfiction, the novel Star Trek: Titan: Orion’s Houndsand the short story “Empathy” in the Star Trek: Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadowsanthology. He has also authored such critically acclaimed novels as Star Trek: Ex Machina, Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Buried Age, and Star Trek: The Next Generation: Greater Than the Sum, as well as the alternate Voyagertale Places of Exilein Myriad Universes: Infinity’s Prism. Shorter works include Star Trek: SCE #29: Aftermathand Star Trek: Mere Anarchy: The Darkness Drops Again, as well as short stories in the anniversary anthologies Constellations(original series), The Sky’s the Limit(TNG), Prophecy and Change(DS9), and Distant Shores(VGR). Beyond Star Trek, he has penned the novels X-Men: Watchers on the Wallsand Spider-Man: Drowned in Thunder, and is also developing original science fiction novel concepts. More information, original fiction, and novel annotations can be found at http://home.fuse.net/ChristopherLBennett/.