“That’s what an academy is for, Doctor. It may not be the Enterprise, but it’s still an adventure.”

Acknowledgments

Uhura’s storyline in this book builds out of Star Trek: “The Changeling” written by John Meredyth Lucas. Nomad’s erasure of Uhura’s memory in that episode was treated as an afterthought, with the personal consequences to Uhura completely glossed over, so I felt this was a story that was overdue to be told. I know of two prior stories that explored the aftermath of Uhura’s memory loss: “See No Evil” by Jill Sherwin in the prose anthology Star Trek: Constellations and “Communications Breakdown” by Christine Boylan and Bettina M. Kurkoski in the comics anthology Star Trek: The Manga—Kakan ni Shinkou. Both those stories focused on Uhura’s professional recovery, leaving room for me to examine the more personal consequences of her memory loss. Living Memory is consistent with both stories, though there are a few slight inconsistencies between the two (the ship is in greater need of repair in “Breakdown,” and both stories claim to be Uhura’s first away mission after Nomad).

Little has been established about Uhura’s family and personal life over the years. I’ve drawn on bits and pieces from various sources to build her biography and family, though I’ve assembled the ingredients in my own way. Uhura’s mother, M’Umbha, was named in a deleted scene from “The Man Trap” written by George Clayton Johnson and referenced in The Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble. Her name appears to be a variant spelling of the Zambian name Mumba. Her father’s name, Alhamisi, (Swahili for Thursday, presumably the day he was born) and her grandfather’s name Uchawi (Swahili for sorcery or witchcraft, perhaps a nickname) both come from Star Trek Log Ten by Alan Dean Foster. Foster also established that her birthplace was Kitui, Kenya, and that her brother was a doctor at “Makere” [sic] University Hospital, though his name was given there as David. The name Malcolm for Uhura’s brother comes from Star Trek II Biographies by William Rotsler, the source of Uhura’s first name, Nyota. Rotsler also established Uhura’s younger sister, though he named her Uaekundu, a name I could find no real-world origin for, so I went instead with Samara, the first name given to Lieutenant Uhura by the FASA Star Trek role-playing games in the 1980s. Rotsler proposed Damu Pua as Uhura’s father’s name, but as that apparently means “Bloody Nose” in Swahili, I treated it as a nickname.