Gathering the Lost Part II
Posted on Tue Jul 2nd, 2024 @ 6:52pm by Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren & Lieutenant Ja'sol H'ros & Lieutenant Commander Elen Diari & Lieutenant Junior Grade Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke & Lieutenant Vura & Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Tue Jul 2nd, 2024 @ 8:26pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 15 - The Evil That Lies Beneath
Location: USS Pioneer - Bubble Universe
Timeline: MD007 1000 hrs
Neil was silent as the others commented and nodded. "It's Rowena. She's been point in all of our stories. For me, she found me in the Morgue when I was setting up a keyhole communication with the Brigadier. Right now, we have to decide how best to interact and shake the trees as it were. The sooner we start the sooner we get back home. Ideas?"
"First, we need to determine where we are," Alyssa said. This was science, and focusing on what she knew would help her stay calm. "We're somewhere like a bubble universe or possibly a parallel universe. If we can determine the parameters, it will give us the data we need to start calculating how to get out. If this is a small space, it increases our chances of success. Since I'm not getting much from the sensors, I'm leaning towards a pocket or bubble universe, but I want to run some more scans first." She went over to the main console and ran an internal scan of the astrometrics system.
After several minutes, it came up with an error: insufficient data. She checked the long-range sensors from here. Nearby, she could get readings, but when she tried to look farther out, there was nothing. The computer itself lacked a large amount of information she knew was there yesterday. "I'm leaning towards a bubble or pocket universe."
"OK, so how do we get out of one of those?" Vura asked.
"The two ways I know of are to create a force field around the pocket or bubble universe and squeeze until it deflates, or use antimatter to collapse the universe," Alyssa replied. "And hope it sends us back to our own universe." Or kills them, but she wasn't going to add what happened if they failed.
Neil folded his arms and thought. He was no scientist but he knew how to blow things up. "Perhaps first we need to determine what, if anything, we can directly interact and effect. For instance, we know helm control and sensor data is being blocked from us. If we're in a cage, then everything else is window dressing and we need to be able to directly affect the cage. There's power of some type creating the cage itself. Can we do something with that? There has to be some sort of tether to the Pioneer. Or our universe if we're in limbo. How do we see past the smoke and mirrors?"
"I don't think we're in limbo, per se," Alyssa began, pulling up some data on the Astrometrics computer. "This doesn't seem to follow expansion theory, but it does involve quantum mechanics." A three-dimensional image of the Pioneer in the nebula appeared in the center of the room. "In layman's terms, it's my belief that whatever being has possessed Rowena created another Pioneer in a temporal bubble and sent us here. This pocket dimension is near but not in our own universe." A ghostly image of a second Pioneer inside a bubble appeared near the first. "To get back, we need to do something to collapse this dimension and force us back to our original ship in our original universe." The holographic bubble burst, causing everything inside it to disappear. "We'll need more data to know exactly how to do this successfully."
El stood in the doorway of Astrometrics, holding a cocktail in half a coconut, "try looking in the logs, about stardate 72780-ish. This isn't our first Reality jump, so just sit back, relax, and wait for the wormhole out, I say." taking a long slurp from the straw.
"Elen!" Vura exclaimed excitedly. "Tell me that you made one of those for me, too." She then paused and said, "I'm not sure whether I am happy or disappointed to see you here."
"You seem to have made yourself at home, Elen." Hermia said with the hint of a smile.
Alyssa wondered how many more of the senior staff were here now, or if they'd be joining them. "This pocket dimension seems to be created by an alien entity. I don't think a wormhole will rescue us this time." Still, she was curious, so she pulled up the logs to check Stardate 72780. It was there, but the log wasn't. Every log was empty.
"This is a prison," Neil repeated. "Most information we'll get can't be trusted at face value. We have to assume the entity has access to all the information she'd have, which is pretty much everything. That also means it will have taken steps to keep us away from it. More than likely we'll have to look to the edges. Power is typically fed from the engines but in our case, there almost certainly aren't engines. So, how do we track the power it's taking to maintain whatever this is. Once we find where the power is coming from...the focal point, we can maybe rig something to deal with that."
Neil's gaze focused on the Chief Engineer. "Lieutenant Diari, did you have that with you when you were dropped in here or do the replicators work?"
Skeptical of Neil after their last encounter, if it was the real Neil, Vura was pained to agree with him. "So, how do we find the power if we cannot trust anything here?"
"Well, the cup's from my office, and the orange juice was in the breakroom, so didn't use the replicator. Have noticed a few things are off, like displays looping and showing slightly wrong information, like misspelt labels, or the wrong numbers. Our power system is separate from the engines as a safety feature, so easy to track power with a tricorder- if it all goes to one place, then that's the source, unlike our numerous reactors" Elen explained.
"Did you come here with a tricorder, Elen?" Vura asked curiously. "Or do we have only the tainted objects here?"
"Nope, sorry, darling," Elen apologized. "I must have been in bed when we moved, didn't notice until I got to engineering as it was empty, I was on my way up here to get the latest physics journals to read."
Neil let the conversation lag for a second before asking Vura, "Counselor, you are you picking up anything telepathically that might indicate a link to this entity of Rowena's? Is this just a jail cell or do they have some sort of mental connection to it? How are they monitoring us. I doubt it's a constant thing, though I suppose it's possible we're all here in some sort of dream state. If the entity has some sort of mental connection that we could exploit..."
Vura swallowed hard when she had to admit to herself that she did not try telepathy but Deltan telepathy generally only worked with Deltans without touch and touching another non-Deltan, well, that was quite something else. She explained, "Deltan telepathy generally only works with Deltans and is not normally strong outside small distances. Could you imagine how we Deltans would go insane if we could hear everyone's thoughts being projected around us all the time? In any case, most of it tends to be images and sensations. It is difficult to explain. It is one of the reasons why people are so attracted to us. Now, if I were to touch you, I could create a strong telepathic link for us to communicate. I would also, quite likely drive you insane. Though, Hermia seemed to survive a lengthier touch." The Deltan gave the doctor a meaningful wink. "I could try and reach out and send something but just because I send out, does not mean I will get a response and does not mean that I could link with whatever."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Commander Alyssa Maren
Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Commander Hermia O'Rourke
Chief Medical Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Elen Diari
Chief Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
Major Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Commanding Officer, The Cure
Lieutenant Vura
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Thex sh'Zoarhi
Assistant Chief Operations Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Ja'sol H'ros
Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Pioneer
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