Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax (part 2)
Posted on Mon May 16th, 2016 @ 10:55am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate & Lieutenant Illise Hale & Crewman E.M.H. Galen & Jethro Vance
1,139 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: Point of View
[CONTINUED]
[OLD]
Along with this latest development in the computer's abnormal behavior, Galen found that there was an ever-increasing amount of requests from the main computer to 'test' her holographic systems. She denied each, but the computer kept trying to access her protocols. Each time she shut it out, the computer would try again with a different pathway or command. The computer's probing seemed almost...intelligent. Galen pondered over this new data while setting a fracture of the left tibial shaft. The man looked at her warily, still sweating even though the analgesics had taken affect.
[NEW]
"I promise you that I will not grow a second head." Galen told him, but he didn't look all that reassured. "Please just try to relax. I will be finished in a moment."
"I suppose it's back to work," Drani said as she slid off of her desk, giving Arnon a quick kiss on the cheek.
[Deck 6]
After Sam finished speaking to Alexandra, she went back to the steam engine to do what she could to prevent it from being shut down by the main computer. There was really nothing she could do if the computer was determined to shut it down, but she could prevent a passive attack.
When she was done, she headed for the turbolift and back to the bridge.
[[Bridge]]
Jennifer Tate remained at the con on the bridge awaiting updates from Engineering on the power systems in addition to updates from science on what exactly caused the sudden loss of power. She had assigned an encryption specialist to scan the main computer in hopes of finding what was plaguing the systems. So far all comms were quiet.
Sam walked onto the bridge and noticed Tate. "Can you ask Mr. Vance to meet me in my Ready Room? I need to speak to him," she said.
Tate perked a brow wondering what could have precipitated such a need. She had already determined Morat had no involvement in the Calypso's current peril. She tapped her commbadge as her eyes remained curiously fixed on York. "Jethro, the Commodore would like to speak with you in her ready room."
"On my way." Came a reply as Vance did not seem at all surprised by the call.
This was not a meeting Sam particularly wanted, but it was one she felt necessary.
She stood and waited for Mr. Vance to arrive.
Jethro entered her ready room seeing no reason to ring the door chime as York had requested his presence. He walked towards Samantha whom was standing behind her desk with a disconcerting look on her face as if she had just seen something worrisome. He began to wonder what could have precipitated such a response but given the current situation the possibilities were boundless.
"Have a seat. I have news for you," she said, taking her seat behind her desk. This time, she was using her desk to give her some distance from the senior Vance to help her say what he was probably not going to like. "I spoke with your daughter."
"Amarylis? Is she alright? I haven't heard from her in quite sometime I was under the impression she had left the ship." Jethro replied.
Sam shook her head, then checked to make sure the room was secure. "Not Amarylis, Alexandra."
[Science Department]
Illise resisted the urge to throw her console across the room. She hated the word 'impossible', but the task of wading through the ever-growing amount of raw sensor data looking for anything useful, was staring to feel impossible. She tried to keep it in her mind as a challenge, something that she would be proud to have accomplished once this crisis was past. That thought, the fact that it would be less than helpful, and knowing how bad it would be for morale if the chief science officer lost it on her computer, kept her from doing something she would regret.
The gravimetric forces being expelled from the string has disrupted the warp core as they had passed near it, that much was obvious. Unfortunately, what was not obvious was, why, now that they were past the anomaly they could not get the engines back online. Illise supposed that the computer malfunctions might be playing a part, but if it was necessary the matter/anti-matter reactions could be controlled manually, by-passing the computer all-together. There had to be something else interfering with it.
She already had a headache. Illise rubbed her temple and took a step back from her console to stretch a little. She looked down at her equations and shook her head. Besides herself, several other scientists had been over the unusual signal that she had discovered hidden among in the cosmic string's typical frequencies. Embedded with in it was an energy signature that stubbornly refused to conform to every form of mathematics they had thrown at it. It deified the laws of, well, everything.
Illise continued staring at the screen when a thought occurred to her. If it did not conform to the law of this universe, could it perhaps be from another universe? Was the cosmic string hiding a dimensional rift? Cosmic strings were effectually defects in the fabric of the universe. One of her professors had once described it as the cosmic equivalent of the cracks that form in ice over a frozen lake. What would be the ramifications of another dimension intersecting their own along one of these weak points?
"Bleed over?" Illise asked aloud to know one. The nearest scientist gave her a questioning look.
"Chief?" he asked. Illise looked over at him.
"What would happen, she asked him, "if the gravitational-wave emissions generated by a cosmic string also included the residual properties from a dimensional rift?" He blinked slowly at her, then his eyes turned introspective and for a moment he was far away.
"If the other universe was similar to our own," he started slowly, "the effects would be minimal..." As he continued his thoughts gained momentum. "However if a universe diametrically opposed to our own was somehow 'bleeding over' into our own, the effects would be unpredictable. We could expect some distortion of the laws of physics in the vicinity of such a phenomenon."
"We would essentially be flying through a portion of another universe, or a combination of both, and the assumptions by which our warp drives function would be invalid." Illise postulated, following his thought. The other scientist started to look excited and several others within earshot had stopped working to digest this new information. Illise glanced around at them.
"All right people," Illise said so everyone could hear, "let's try a different approach."
OFF
Crewman Galen
EMH
Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Tate
Intelligence Officer
Jethro Vance
Guest
Lieutenant Illise Hale
Chief Science Officer
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