Recently Read: The Sorrow of Empire

Star Trek Mirror Universe: The Sorrows of Empire by David Mack is an example of the best kind of Star Trek novel. It weaves a new story that is firmly anchored in the established mythos without contradicting it. Not only does it adhere to the "facts" established in the various TV series and movies (with the exception of last year's "reboot" film), but also it picks up details from several of the better novels.

There is, however, one source which isn't directly acknowledged by the author: Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels. Consider (Warning! Possible spoilers!):

• both deal with empires on the brink of decline
• one individual (Spock / Hari Seldon) has a plan to shorten the inevitable dark age following the empire's collapse (moreover both plans are based upon probability calculations, although Seldon calls it psychohistory)
• both Spock and Hari must make allowances for random elements which might adversely impact the predicted path of collapse and rebirth
• Hari Seldon creates a hidden Second Foundation to preserve the knowledge of psychohistory and to modify the plan; Spock creates Memory Omega to preserve the Terran empire's science and culture through the dark age
• the Foundation saga features the immortal robot Daneel Olivaw; Sorrows of Empire features the immortal Trill symbiont, Dax

How to account for these parallels? It may be that Mack drew (unconcious?) inspiration from Asimov's Foundation. However, given Asimov's statement that Foundation was based on Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, it's possible that Mack drew instead on this common source. Further, given that Asimov's plots were (dare I say it) eminently logical, it stands to reason that Mack might independently arrive at similar solutions to the plot points of an empire in decline.

Warning! Definite spoilers ahead!

One of the features of Mack's tale that I liked best was that the Mirror Universe seen in DS9 episodes was not a failure of Spock's vision, but a necessary part of it.

I also loved many of the character touches: characters that were essentially the same in both universes but still had telling differences. For example, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk encounters Saavik in the turbolift with her hair down and she comments "It is still regulation, Admiral". In The Sorrows of Empire, Saavik has her hair sheared off in the masculine plebe style.

I was thrilled to read Spock confessing himself as despot, tyrant, and murderer. For Spock, the ends do not justify the means. We even see Sarek acknowledge the necessity of Spock's matricide without absolving Spock of the crime. The ethical quandries of this tale are not easily set aside. Mack has given us a tale of the ultimate benevolent dictator who is ultimately nothing more than a dictator.

Once I get past my tendency to admire the mirror Spock, I find questions lingering in my thoughts:

• Can free will truly exist when one's choices have been guided by another?
• If accurate foreknowledge of the most desirable outcome were possible, would it be ethical to guide a person or persons to that outcome?
• At what point does acting on behalf of the welfare of others become inappropriate interference in their freedom to choose?

If you haven't already done so, I strongly suggest reading Asimov's Foundation series: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth, Prelude to Foundation, and Forward the Foundation (listed in order of publication).

You might also be interested in the Foundation books written by other authors after Asimov's death:  Foundation's Friends: Stories in Honor of Isaac Asimov, Foundation's Fear, Foundation and Chaos, and Foundation's Triumph.

As always, Wikipedia is your friend: Wikipedia: Foundation series.

I also heartily recommend a Trek fan video: Starship Farragut: For Want of a Nail in which the mirror universe is spawned  by alien technology. (I know many devout Trekkies/Trekkers suggest that the time travelling Borg of Star Trek VIII: First Contact spawned the mirror universe. I disagree. It's not the alteration of the first contact between Vulcan and Earth that causes the rift--it's the extreme xenophobia of Earthers that alters the terms of that first contact. This fan video offers a suitable explanation for that xenophobia.)