Some Assembly Required

Star Trek SCE (ebooks) Novellas #12

by Scott Ciencin, Dan Jolley

STARFLEET CORPS OF ENGINEERS Keorga is a haven for artists and musicians, a place of contemplation and artistic appreciation. When their request for a planet-running computer is denied by Starfleet, they go elsewhere; unfortunately, the instruction manual is in a language they cannot understand. A team from the U.S.S. da Vinci is brought in to help them, but soon they realize there's more to this than a simple translation problem. The computer seems to be running a test -- one that the Keorgans are failing! If the S.C.E. team can't get the information they need out of the recalcitrant Keorgans and figure out how to stop the rampaging computer, Keorga may well lie in ruins!

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction

89 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Scott Ciencin was a New York Times best-selling novelist of 90+ books. He wrote adult and children's fiction and worked in a variety of mediums including comic books. He created programs for Scholastic Books, designed trading cards, consulted on video games, directed and produced audio programs & TV commercials, and wrote in the medical field about neurosurgery and neurology. He first worked in TV production as a writer, producer and director. He lived in Sarasota, Florida with his wife (and sometimes co-author) Denise.

(Also wrote under the pseudonyms Nick Baron and L.J. Oliver)

Reviews

[Crystal Bensley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of my favourite SCE books so far.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bart and Carol are quite the comedic double act in this, and that comedy is well balanced against real drama and epic-level story elements. The real focus is on Carol, a character that hasn't gotten a lot of development yet, and it does her a world of good. She's not that likable at first, but by the end, you're definitely on her side. She's all the more human for it. And while I do like the engineers, their dialogue does tend to spin into technobabble. The cultural experts speak my language for a change, and the Keorgans make for an interesting and fun ethnological puzzle. They're really the opposite of the Children of Tama from Darmok. And there are actually two cultural puzzles here, as the computer is an AI from another mindset entirely. It all leads to a huge climax. Great fun.

[Taaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hier bestand leider der ganze Plot daraus, eine Spezies mit neurodivergenten Eigenschaften als minderwertig und unterentwickelt darzustellen. Und wie bitte sollen sie Kunst schätzen, ohne Fantasie - also Schaffenskraft zu haben? Ja, auch Leute, die ohne Subtext kommunizieren, können fantasievoll sein!
Also ein Buch, das voll aus der Sicht von Neurotypischen geschrieben wurde, und vor allem aus Vorurteilen und Desinformation besteht - verpackt in SciFi. Besonders für Star Trek enttäuschend - wenn auch ob des tief mit Trek verwobenen Ableismus nicht verwunderlich.

[Nicky2910 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Trek: S. C. E.: #12 Some Assembly Required by Scott Ciencin & Dan Jolley Bart Faulwell, Carol Abramowicz and Soloman are sent to help a planet's population with installing their just bought planetwide computer system. The manual is quite incomprehensible - and the computer itself seems to have an agenda of its own.
 
This is an interesting tale that puts the until now little used Bart and Carol in the spotlight, trying to decipher the computer's instruction manual and its cultural background (and that of the planet that tries to use it). The inhabitants are, while scientifically advanced, very childlike and literal minded with no sense of subtext or imagination. Which is why they fail the computer's tests.
 
I'd have wished for a more in-depth exploration of the characters (why only hint at Carol's childhood?) instead of lots of technobabble. And the ending, again, was rushed. There's lots of potential in the characters and the SCE in general, but I still have to see it come to fruition.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like that Soloman is given a little more depth to play with here, but unfortunately the rest of the story falls short in my opinion. An interesting setup is marred by a rushed conclusion, and what could have been some real character development for Carol Abramowicz feels a little forced with not enough given to me to really make me care. I hope that the character work that was done in this story is built upon in the future, but sadly I felt that there wasn't enough here for the authors to play with.

Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2015/04/S...

[Rich Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm thinking the SCE/COE series is starting to level off. This novel/novella was a good science fiction novel, but only a borderline Trek novel. I liked that it gave Soloman a bit more personality and more to do, and the giant computer was interesting as well, but it didn't seem to blend together well as a Trek novel for me. Some great ideas though.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three of the team get sent to fix a computer. Only problem is they weren't told everything, and the planet is in danger. An ok story, that uses the linguist for a change. Not as good as previous volumes. A side note, who's doing the covers, this one looks awful. An ok read.

[John Barclay · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting idea, but a bit too fast a resolution for such a complex problem. Not a fully thought out story, but fun to see the SCE doing what it does best, thinking creatively.