- For other uses, see Grounded.
Description[]
- From the back cover
- While answering a distress call from a scientific station in a remote part of the galaxy, the USS Enterprise becomes infected with a mysterious alien life form which feeds on and transforms inorganic materials.
- The Starship begins to gradually disintegrate, and Starfleet is forced to order its evacuation and destruction to prevent the dangerous infection from spreading throughout the galaxy. It's the end of an era for Captain Picard and his crew, who are scheduled for transfers that will split them up among different Starfleet vessels.
- But even as the end draws near for the Starship Enterprise, Captain Picard begins to formulate a desperate plan to save his ship and preserve his crew — a plan that will force him to defy Starfleet orders and lead him to a confrontation with a malevolent alien force which has the power to destroy the entire Federation.
Summary[]
The Enterprise answers a distress call from a remote science station on the planet Phaedra. On arriving, they find all the scientists dead or missing aside from the project head Doctor Adrienne Tillstrom, an old flame of Picard's, and her teenage son, Mikal: Adrienne is unconscious and Mikal is amnesiac. With nothing further to discover, the Enterprise sets off to its next assignment with the two survivors as passengers.
However, Picard and La Forge eventually discover that apparently inert mud brought on board by the rescue team is a sentient lifeform, capable of absorbing and mimicking any inorganic material. When an attempt to remove it from the ship fails, they head to Starbase 210, where the crew are evacuated bar Data, who remains in quarantine aboard the ship. Admiral Davies and his scientific adviser Doctor Chavez both want the Enterprise destroyed to prevent the infection spreading.
Mikal turns out to be under the control of the entity via a brain implant and briefly shuts down the quarantine. With Davies refusing to change the plan and evidence both that parts of the entity are loose and that it is vulnerable to fluctuations in Phaedra's magnetic field, Picard, Riker, Worf and La Forge beam aboard without authorisation to join Data in duplicating the conditions on the ship. With some small help from Penelope Winthrop, a teenager aboard the Enterprise who befriended Mikal and is able to use his link and her low-level psi-powers to distract the entity, they succeed and the entity becomes inert mud. The destruction order on the Enterprise is cancelled.
References[]
Characters[]
- Andrews • Beverly Crusher • Data • Davies • Lars Fredricks • Metrina Harcourt • Geordi La Forge • Michaels • Montgomery • Oblata • Jean-Luc Picard • William T. Riker • Adrienne Tillstrom • Mikal Tillstrom • Deanna Troi • Penelope Winthrop • Worf, son of Mogh
- Referenced only
- Kyle Riker • Ro Laren • Tasha Yar
Starships and vehicles[]
Locations[]
- Xerxes Gamma (Phaedra • Science Station Beta Epsilon) • Starbase 210
- Referenced only
- Roanoke Colony • Xerxes III
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
Science and classification[]
- air • alien • atmosphere • aurora borealis • computer • electromagnetic field • electron • gas • gauss • hour • ion trail • lifeform • light • magnetosphere • medical tricorder • orbit • oxygen • positronic brain • second • silicon • solar wind • starbase • starship • transporter • tricorder • VISOR • volcano • yard
Ranks and titles[]
- admiral • captain • commander • commanding officer • counselor • doctor • lieutenant • Number one • painter • scientist
Other references[]
- alkalis • basalt • clay • distress call • flood • history • magnesium • mountain • mud • palette • planet • quarters • quartz • rock • rock quarry • self destruct • soul • technology • volleyball • water • year
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Appendices[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous novel: Nightshade |
TNG numbered novels | Next novel: The Romulan Prize |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Captain's Log: Jellico |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next Adventure: A Matter of Dates |
| Previous Adventure: The Romulan Prize |
Next Adventure: The Inner Light | |
Translations[]
- 1995
- German : Die Epidemie, translated by Horst Pukallus. (Heyne)
- 1996
- French : Destruction imminente, translated by Bruno Billion. (Fleuve Noir)
External link[]
- Grounded (novel) article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.