By Howard Ho
Daily Bruin Contributor
Before Isaac Asimov, the science fiction genre was similar to
the horror genre, providing a chilling vision of something that
might exist. After Asimov, however, science fiction writers became
more like historians, documenting a future consistent with itself.
Asimov’s own history of the future spanned from 1996, a time
that he predicted would see the invention of human-like robots, to
tens of millennia later when the Galactic Empire would come under
the power of the Foundation.
Perhaps the only other future history more daunting than
Asimov’s is Gene Roddenberry’s. Star Trek has created a
universe so complete that Klingon is considered a real language. In
this tradition comes Andrew Robinson’s “A Stitch in
Time,” a novel about Elim Garak’s coming-of-age.
Robinson, who played Garak on the TV series “Star Trek: Deep
Space Nine,” provides insight into alien culture and helps
further clarify the minutiae that define the Star Trek
universe.
Garak is known to most casual Star Trek fans as the tailor on
DS9. But as later episodes reveal, Garak was an instrumental figure
in the Obsidian Order, the Cardassian version of the CIA. Garak,
exiled on DS9, returns to a fallen Cardassia where he constructs a
memoir for Dr. Julian Bashir, an esteemed cohort from DS9.
“A Stitch in Time” is Garak’s story, told in
three converging narratives. The first is the present Garak, trying
to make sense of the ruins of Cardassia. The second is the Garak
prior to Cardassia’s liberation from the Dominion. The third,
and most compelling, is the young Garak, trying to make his mark in
society.
As expected, Robinson lays out many details of Cardassian
infrastructure. Cardassia itself consists of a capitol surrounded
by six “spokes” of varying purposes. Garak begins life
among the farmers of Tarlak, the administrative spoke of
Cardassia.
The “Cardassian mosaic” consists of little social
mobility, but when Garak gains entrance to the prestigious school
of Bamarren, he finds access to power and a future in the
government. Bamarren’s ruthless training techniques make
college seem like a walk through the Mandara Valley on Tohvun III.
It is here that Garak finds friendship, love, betrayal, and, most
importantly, himself.
Robinson borrows much from popular literature. The account of
Garak’s trek through the Mekar Wilderness reminds one of
Frank Herbert’s brand of spiritual discipline, especially
when he starts to learn the stealthy ways of a regnar lizard. The
truth behind how Garak was able to attend Bamarren despite his
social standing recalls Dickens’ Pip in “Great
Expectations.” Robinson’s Shakespearean plot line even
garners irony from Garak’s own description of Shakespeare as
“politically misguided” and not making much sense.
Robinson uses these literary allusions to evoke classic themes
in a new setting. Indeed, the charm of the novel comes from its
settings deep within Cardassia, a place that is light years away
from Shakespeare’s England. While much of the Star Trek
universe is Federation-centric, Robinson delivers a world where
humans are careless, good-intentioned meddlers, and Cardassians are
the characters the reader must identify with.
The conflicts between the Federation and Cardassia reflect those
of our world. While Cardassians are superior to humans
psychologically, they have yet to learn about the virtues of
democracy. Similarly, many countries today struggle to find
democracy after centuries of dictatorship.
In the tradition of the Star Trek that deals with issues of
today, Robinson challenges readers to understand different cultures
and ways of thinking. Though Robinson’s book is essentially a
novelized version of a TV episode, it is not an episode of special
effects or outlandish romanticism, but of genuine spirit and strong
characters.
Despite obscure references to characters and events in the TV
series that appeals to diehard fans, “A Stitch in Time”
proves that Star Trek is, and always has been, about bridging the
gap between peoples in a universe of infinite possibilities.