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Wesley's childhood fears come to life… and take over the USS Enterprise! – Boogeymen was the 17th book of Pocket Books's numbered series of TNG novels, written by Mel Gilden.

DescriptionEdit

Eric Baldwin is the Federation's premier exologist, a specialist in all manner of alien lifeforms—and one of Captain Picard's oldest, most trusted friends. But Baldwin's discoveries have made him enemies across the galaxy, and now he wants Picard to help him by erasing all traces of his existence.

But Picard soon finds himself with little time to worry about Baldwin's problems. For the USS Enterprise has suddenly become a strange and dangerous place—a ship where assassins lurk in every corner, and even old trusted friends are not what they seem. Threats all masterminded by the strangest race of aliens Picard and his crew have yet encountered…

SummaryEdit

Wesley Crusher's personal log, stardate 43747.3: I don't seem to be making any progress in my pre-commission course. I'm proficient in science or math, anything for which logical thinking is all that’s needed. But when it comes to command, I don't know if I have what in the 20th century they called "the right stuff".

Commander Riker tells me that being a good commander is at least half intuition. Generally, the more important a question is, the less data you have available to answer it. He says that the skills one uses to decide correctly are more likely to be learned playing poker than chess. Maybe it's too bad I’m such a good chess player.

Commander Riker assures me that even Captain Picard, who likes to do things by the Starfleet book, is as successful as he is only because he knows when to ignore the book and go with his gut feelings. He expects the unexpected. When I told Data about this, he said that expecting the unexpected was, by definition, impossible. Sometimes Data is too literal to get the point.

What about Data? Being a machine, he has no intuition. At least, that's what he tells me. But he is a very complex machine, and the vast number of circuits in his positronic brain—a number that approaches the number of synapses in a Human brain—allows him to manifest behavior that sometimes looks like intuitive thinking. Are appearance and reality ever the same thing? How do you know? Not Mom or Riker or Geordi or even Data can give me a satisfactory answer.

Therefore I have to believe it's possible to learn to be intuitive. Or, if I can’t do that, maybe I can gain so much experience that it will look like intuition. But how can I get experience running a starship? I had a hard time convincing Captain Picard that I belong on the bridge. What are my chances of convincing him that I should sit in the center seat? I have two chances—slim and none. (That's kind of a joke. I'll have to see if Data understands it. He always appreciates an opportunity to understand humor, even when he fails.)

Leaving the Enterprise and going to Starfleet Academy is out of the question. I'll have to go eventually, but right now—

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ReferencesEdit

Shipboard localesEdit

USS Enterprise-D: bridge • holodeck • quarters (Wesley's)

Races and culturesEdit

android • Axerii • Betazoid • Boogeyman • d'Ort'd • Human • Klingon • Romulan • Tantamon IV natives
Referenced only: Borg • Benzite • Ferengi • Iconian • Orma • Trilg • Vulcan • Yahk Shimash

States and organizationsEdit

Federation • Starfleet

Technology and weaponsEdit

android • circuit • combadge • computer • deflector shield • intercom • isolinear optical chip • musical instrument • navigational deflector • PADD • phaser • photon torpedo • positronic brain • sensor • starship • subspace radio • torpedo • turbolift • universal translator • viewscreen • warp drive

Ranks and titlesEdit

cadet • captain • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • commanding officer • commissioned officer • counselor • doctor • ensign • Federation Starfleet ranks • Federation Starfleet ranks (2350s-2360s) • first officer • flight controller • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • mission operations • officer • operations manager • science officer • security chief • senior staff • specialist • tactical officer • yeoman

Other referencesEdit

alien • animal • assassination • atmosphere • away team • Borders Scale • brain • cat • chess • command chair • communications • ear • empathy • energy • exology • first contact • galaxy • government • hailing frequency • humanoid • humor • hyperspace • hypnotism • insect • joke • kilometer • kitten • Kobayashi Maru scenario • lifeform • light • light speed • log entry • logic • mathematics • measurement • meter • music • nation-state • personal log • planet • poker • psychology • races and cultures • randy yeoman • rank • recreation • science • space • star • star system • stardate • Starfleet regulations • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2366-2373) • subspace • synapse • technology • telepathy • time • title • tooth • uniform • universe • weapon • year

ChronologyEdit

19th century: Poet James Thomson lives.
20th century: The term "the right stuff" is in common use.
2366: Enterprise explores Omega Triangulae.

AppendicesEdit

ImagesEdit

ConnectionsEdit

published order
Previous novel: Contamination	TNG numbered novels	Next novel: Q-in-Law
chronological order
Previous Adventure: Captain's Holiday	Pocket	Next Adventure: Tin Man

External linkEdit

Boogeymen article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.

NOVEL
Boogeymen
Cover by Keith Birdsong
Attribution
Series:	The Next Generation, No. 17
Author(s):	Mel Gilden
Publication information
Publisher:	Pocket Books
Published:	paperback - 1 July 1991
ISBN:	ISBN 0671709704
Chronology
Date:	2366
Stardate:	43747.3

Wikia

Boogeymen

Contents

DescriptionEdit

SummaryEdit

ReferencesEdit

CharactersEdit

Enterprise personnelEdit

HologramsEdit

Starships and vehiclesEdit

LocationsEdit