PAT (cont.): “. . . screwball planet, but it all fits.  The atmosphere is composed — by and large — of nitric oxide—”

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  “Talk to Ann Popplestone.  She’ll tell you why it won’t work.”

PAT:  “Oh, I have a degree in biochemistry.  I can back it up.  I can bulls**t better than anybody!”

WINSTON:  “The thing I had to worry about was when I started getting away from Uhura . . . one of the things I was doing was the ‘Ebony Prince’ novel*, based on a character I used to do at costume calls.  And in the story, I started getting involved in politics and economics in the Federation.  I set it up to mirror what goes on in our real world, in the various strata of the Free World, the Communist World, and the Third World . . . the various economic things, with each side pulling and tugging against the others, even though they are a Federation.  And it became more and more ‘human’ as I looked into it, as to how all these worlds interact with each other . . . Why they went through that problem with the Coridan Question in ‘Journey to Babel’ . . . why the Tellarites didn’t want these people who were being constantly ripped off to be given protection — because the Tellarites were going to rip them off some more.  It’s sad and it takes some of the shine off our nice shiny twenty-third century STAR TREK universe, but it’s real life.  It shows that for money, people will do anything.  And that’s one of the main things I’m dealing with in the story:  that everyone is struggling for power; everyone wants —”

PAT:  “A piece of the action?”  (Laughter)

WINSTON:  “Not just a piece of the action, but also they want to be on top . . . Yes?

AUDIENCE MEMBER#4:  “. . .  In STAR TREK we are sort of fixed in a specific time period, but I’m sure that even in the twenty-third century that there are external forces and internal forces trying to pull the Federation apart . . . all this back-and-forth-back-and-forth, and there’s hardly anything to band together about, other than the Klingons.  And episodes like ‘Babel’ just give hints at the internal problems, but Wow!  There must be some real internal problems!  And look at ‘Amok Time,’ how T’Pau turned down a seat on the Federation Council.  You have to ask yourself ‘Why did she turn it down?’ ”

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*The EBONY PRINCE is now scheduled to be the fourth volume of the Swahili Series, to be published after THE STARWITCH.