Shadow of Heaven (Star Trek Voyager, No 21, Dark Matters Book Three of Three) (Paperback)

by Christie Golden (Author) "I'VE NEVER CONSIDERED MYSELF THE LITERARY TYPE..." (more)
Key Phrases: mutated dark matter, shepherd technology, wormhole technology, Telek R'Mor, Jekri Kaleh, Tal Shiar (more...)

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Product Description
An imbalance of dark matter has placed two realities in jeopardy, causing the separate universes to merge and threatening the stability of both realms. To preserve reality as it is known, the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager must defy a cosmic conspiracy and wrestle with shadows of the darkest degree!

"Rescued" by strangers who may prove to be more dangerous than his original captors, Chakotay struggles to convince his new hosts of the danger posed by the mutated dark matter -- and the killer, or killers, still hunting the villages where Tom Paris has been left behind. In their own reality, as Harry Kim loses his heart to an enigmatic visitor from the shadow universe, Captain Janeway and the rest of her crew continue their search for the hidden dark matter that could cause the entire cosmos to contract in a fatal convulsion. But whose side are the Romulans really on? And what surprising figure from Voyager's past holds the ultimate key to the fate of both universes?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

I've never considered myself the literary type. Well, I've now learned the hard way that when you're stuck so far from home that you don't even know where home is, in a civilization that's nothing like everything you left behind, you can go nuts without something that connects you to the life you used to know. So I started this.

The Culilann are a little bit nervous about this writing thing I'm doing. It sort of feels like I'm violating the Prime Directive with the ABCs. But the Culilann certainly know about advanced technology, they just choose not to embrace it. The Alilann -- well, suffice to say that if I were with the Alilann right now I'd be writing this on something resembling a padd, not on dried and stretched tree bark. I somehow think the captain would be proud of this.

Ensign Tom Paris paused and stretched his fingers, grimacing as they cracked. He was surprised at how badly his hand was cramping, but he wanted to get all this down. He used his hands all the time on Voyager, but he was learning that operating the responsive controls at his station and grasping a sharpened stick smudged with soot from the fire exercised very different finger muscles.

He continued: My fingers hurt, but here goes, trying to make a long story short. A few --

He paused again. How long had it been? This place, with its slow pace and repetitive days, blurred time for him. And of course, being injured for so long, he'd really been out of it for a while. He thought back to when the strange wormholes had been "following" Voyager, opening and closing like the mouths of some kind of space monsters. No one had suspected that it was the Romulan scientist Telek R'Mor, a man who lived in the Alpha Quadrant dozens of light-years and twenty true years ago, trying to find them at the command of the Romulan Tal Shiar.

What a weird tale Telek had told them, of powerful aliens called Shepherds, and of dark matter being mutated and causing terrible harm. They'd mistakenly beamed Telek aboard against his will, thinking he was in danger. What followed was one of the strangest adventures of Tom's life, and he knew he'd had his share of them. They had known something was dreadfully wrong when Neelix -- quite possibly the nicest person aboard the entire ship -- had tried to murder Telek R'Mor. It was the mutated dark matter, of course, affecting Neelix's mind. As it had affected Tom's own, as well.

He frowned, and scratched down his thoughts. My personal experience with the dark matter was frightening. It made me completely paranoid. I had hallucinations, lost my enthusiasm for things -- it turned me into someone I wasn't. Someone I really didn't like. And it damaged people physically, too.

He thought about the two Romulan scouts who had managed to get aboard the ship, the awful things the dark matter had done to them. He decided he didn't want to write that part down.

It might have been Telek who got us into this mess, but he was also the one to get us out of it. He was able to track down one of the so-called good Shepherds, Tialin. She removed all the dark matter from our bodies and put it into a small, glowing sphere. She told us that she could give us the technology to do this ourselves, and asked Captain Janeway if she would agree to take Voyager and gather up the rest of this dangerous dark matter. The captain consented. I don't think any of us believed she'd refuse.

Again he paused, and shook out his right hand, cursing. It was not cooperating. He would have to wait until later to describe being dragged by Chakotay into this strange place, injured and weak. The aliens here had not greeted them with overwhelming warmth. They had even put him and Chakotay into a pit for a few days. The "Ordeal," they called it, a sort of test to see if he and Chakotay were acceptable to their gods, the Crafters. He didn't remember a lot after that until he got better.

Most troubling was the events of the last few days. Chakotay had mysteriously disappeared and the spiritual leader of the Culilann, a gentle young man named Matroci, had died. The Sumar-ka, the villagers, attributed the death to asphyxiation. But Tom had seen the corpse before it was ritually burned; had seen the unmistakable mark left on Matroci's abdomen by some kind of energy weapon.

Paris knew he was not under direct suspicion of Matroci's death. They didn't even realize their Culil had been murdered. But the tragedy occurring on the same night as Chakotay's unannounced disappearance had made the Sumar-ka uneasy around him. The result was that Paris, who had just started to think maybe he had made friends here, was again feeling isolated and itchy to leave.

But first, he had to find out who had killed Matroci. He had not voiced his suspicions, but he was going to emulate Chief Inspector Tuvok and see if he couldn't do a little detective work on his own. He would start his investigation tomorrow. His first suspect: Trima. She was the one who directly benefited from Matroci's death. She got promoted, from a mere Sa-Culil to the Culil herself. And she was so icy and unapproachable, she had to be up to something. He tried to pretend that he wasn't pleased at the thought of spending more time with her, for cold as she was, she was gorgeous. It wasn't cheating on B'Elanna just to want to look at and talk to someone he found attractive.

Was it?

He leaned over on the pallet stuffed with fragrant ferns and blew out the lamp. He did not look over at the empty bed where Chakotay had slept.

Trima wondered if the Stranger Paris had killed Matroci.

He and the one called Chakotay had come from a strange and far-off place, been accepted by the Sumar-ka, and then the same night as Matroci's death Chakotay had vanished. She had made certain that Paris's alibi had been investigated. He had led them to the tree and shown them deep, fresh gouges in the trunk that could have come only from the claws of an iislak, and a large one at that. Smaller footprints confirmed his story of a mother and cub in the area. Still not completely satisfied, she had shinnied up the tree herself. Sure enough, there were fresh breaks in the trunk, still oozing sap, in places where someone Tom's size could have been supported.

She felt his eyes on her as she climbed and was fairly certain that he was looking at her legs. This Tom was one for the females, it would seem, though he had never behaved improperly. Trima thought she had heard Yurula, who found both Strangers quite handsome, say something about Tom having a partner back in his old life. But Trima knew that ties loosened their hold on one after enough time had passed. One day, Tom would truly realize that he was to spend his life here in Sumar-ka, and set about looking for a mate among the Culilann. She imagined he would have his pick of willing females.

So his story had been verified -- he had indeed been treed by an angry predator until the morning. But what if he had been treed while trying to flee with Chakotay, after they had murdered Matroci? Why was he still here while his friend had gone?

It seemed a sound theory, but for one thing: the reaction Paris had had to the dead body. She had been watching him keenly when he approached the pyre to pay his last respects. She had seen Paris notice the burn mark, seen him express shock and horror, seen those emotions quickly covered as he realized that no one else would recognize the mark for what it was. Would a murderer so give himself away as to react to the sight of his killing, especially if no one else even realized that murder had been committed? It did not make sense. So now she was confused, and not a little frightened.

Because of her position, first as Sa-Culil and now Culil proper, Trima could not express much interest in Tom's origins. One did not quest

Product Details

• Paperback: 261 pages
• Publisher: Star Trek (November 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671035843
• ISBN-13: 978-0671035846
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #679,000 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting Conclusion!, December 11, 2000

By	Jacqueline Bundy (Calabasas, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

An exciting and extremely satisfying conclusion to Christie Golden's "Dark Matters" trilogy. Golden manages to keep you on the edge of your seat as you turn each page. The various story threads interweave skillfully as the adventure builds to the end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As only Christie Golden can..., March 11, 2002

By	"ladychakotay" (USA) - See all my reviews

This is a fantastic trilogy! The third book was as engaging as the first two, I simply could not put it down. Not only were the Voyager regulars beautifully written, but the Romulan characters were excellent. Jekri Kaleh was absolutely captivating, and I came to really care what became of her.

I've heard several comments from various Star Trek fans who feel there were flaws with technobabble. And I also noticed the slip up where someone speaks to Paris on the bridge, when he had been missing since early on in the story. But to be completely honest, I don't see the big deal. When I saw Tom being addressed in that scene, I simply smiled to myself and went on. It didn't distract me from the story. Why? Because the story isn't really ABOUT the technobabble. It's about the hearts of these characters that I have come to love and adore so much.

Christie Golden has a way of capturing the essence of the Voyager characters that seems to elude most authors. She gives them depth and a realism that many Voyager novels lack. I recommend this book to anyone who loves Voyager not only for the space battles and futuristic technology, but for the heart and the character interaction.

Shadow of Heaven is a wonderful conclusion to a brilliant story. If you love Janeway's wry humor mixed with her deep devotion to her crew, or B'Elanna's Klingon temper toned down by her newly found sense of belonging and acceptance, and all the things that make each character unique ... if you love action, humor, and emotion all rolled up neatly into one story - this trilogy is for you.

Kudos to Christie Golden! Once again, she wrote a book that touched my heart, and took my mind off of reality for a short while. What a gift. Thank you, Christie!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STV #21 Shadow of Heaven Dark Matters III - A great trilogy!, March 27, 2004

By	K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Shadow of Heaven" is the wonderfully well told conclusion of Christie Golden's Dark Matter trilogy! Of the several Star Trek Voyager books I've read to date, I would definitely have to put this particular trilogy at the top of any list of Voyager novels and well into the top ten of any list of top Trek novels in any series!

Where "Cloak and Dagger" and "Ghost Dance" established the trilogy and furthered it along, "Shadow of Heaven" quickly takes shape in the beautiful "Trek" fashion of wrapping up the many strands that make up a great story! Christie Golden's skills as a writer, in setting up a very plausible premise, carrying an exceptional pace and imbedding a highly intriguing twist or two all shine through brilliantly in this trilogy, making this third novel one that is hard to put down until you've reached the last page.

One extremely minor note of caution in this third novel is that there are some fairly glaring mistakes in where people are but I would highly recommend dismissing those editorial misses as I did, all in favor of the overall excellence of this exemplary tale!

The cover art for this third and final novel in the Dark Matters trilogy is in keeping with the other two in that they're a cut above the rest of the novels published in the same time frame.

The Premise:

Where the first novels established the premise and furthered the story, Christie Golden does an exceptional job of wrapping up the many threads of this wonderful Trek tale where we finally become privy to the rogue Shepherds plot and the good Shepherds role; the exceptional character of the Romulan chairman of the Tal Shiar, Jekri Kaleh and the conclusion of her intriguing tale; the troubles that Chakotay and Paris go through in the Shadow universe and ultimately, the trials that Captain Janeway and her remaining crew aboard Voyager must go through to conclude this extraordinary chapter in their journey home...

Overall, I highly recommend this entire trilogy to any and all who are fans of great Star Trek fiction that more than capably makes up for the lack of these series airing on a weekly basis for our viewing enjoyment. Additionally, I'd highly recommend any other novels written by Christie Golden as she is an exceptional author whose work "must" be acknowledged as among the best in the world of Trek fiction! {ssintrepid}