Windows on a Lost World by V.E. Mitchell (Star Trek #65, June 1993).

The Enterprise takes an archaeological team to the planet Careta IV, where signs of an ancient civilization have been found. The site promises to be a big find, and excites the scientists with the scope of the ruins. Soon a puzzle develops. Areas of the planet are resistant to scans, and scans from orbit are different from tricorder readings taken on the ground. A shielded area is found, and when unearthed contains a large artifact that looks oddly like a window (hence the name of the book). It is when people go through the odd devices and disappear that confusion starts.

The crew and scientists are apparently gone, but new crab-like creatures have appeared on other parts of the planet. When Spock discovers that these creatures have the same mass as the missing people, work begins to find a way to recover the changed humanoids.

Mitchell writes her second original series novel here, after a poor debut on #51, "Enemy Unseen." That was a poorly written effort, and things have improved here on the newer book. But there are still holes. Spock is also used this time, after being written out of the earlier book, as he and Kirk get most of the attention.

There is an attempt to use "real science" here, especially regarding archaeology, and with references to the physics of motion. However, some very important physics is not used, the science of scaling. To size creatures built like crabs up to the mass of humans would not create creatures that are people-sized but scuttle about like crabs, but would instead be beings that could not move due to their own weight. Higher mass requires sturdier support, which is why giant-sized insects are not real. As strength doubles, weight quadruples, until the creature collapses under its own mass. Elephants have those large, thick feet for a reason. If you were a crab, walking on pincers would be impossible.

The other point which becomes difficult to manage suspension of disbelief is when the alien device converts humanoids into the aliens, because it does not accept that thinking creatures could be any besides its own species. So if any creature wandered into the device by mistake, it would be converted into a crabby patty? Seems unlikely. Yet we have to accept that to make the story work. It's a bit too much.

There are things to like here. The look into a very alien race, extremely xenophobic, patterned after the Aztecs, is interesting. The usage of contentious scientists is a relief from the usual maniacal officials. And putting Captain Kirk into a difficult situation makes for good drama. But these touches are buried under mediocre writing. Mitchell still has not learned to tie the threads of her story together. The craft of writing seems to elude her.

There is some good stuff here, but not enough that I feel good about recommending this book.