Scientific Sleuthing (Part 1)

Posted on Wed Aug 7, 2019 @ 12:24pm by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Civilian T'gan & Lieutenant Jason Haines

1,510 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: DS5 Various
Timeline: MD 10, 1800 Hrs

[ON]

T'gan put together as much of Jason's data as she could, then, using the information at her disposal, filled in the gaps. He was postulating if the temporal portals could extend into space, and if so, how far. It went against everything she'd learned about the portals, but the accident on the holodeck didn't fit into her calculations.

She decided it was time to bring Alanna in. Even though she wasn't a temporal scientist, she had good instincts.

"T'gan to Wells."

"Wells here. How can I help you, T'gan?"

"I would like you to come to Astrometrics. I have something to show you."

Alanna wasn't sure what T'gan wanted, but she was curious. It was rare for the Vulcan to call her in for anything. Most of her work was temporal. She decided reading reports could wait--she didn't enjoy reading them anyway--and headed to Astrometrics.

When she walked into the lab, T'gan had the 3D image of DS5, Pangaea, and the space around it, on display. "What's this?" she asked.

"Your Mister Haines has been doing some research in the lab."

He wasn't her Mr. Haines, but she wasn't going to argue the point. "About what?"

T'gan started the program. "He deleted his work when he left. This is all I was able to save." She gave Alanna a minute before adding. "He is looking at the possibility of extending the temporal portals into space."

Alanna shook her head. "That's not possible. Stretching the portals, even if you could, would distort them enough to make passage too dangerous. Plus the energy needed to even make that workable would be...astronomical." She shook her head. It would take a sun or black hole, and neither was nearby.

"True, but did you know that an unstable wormhole appeared briefly at the same time the Raddon facility exploded?"

Alanna's eyes widened as she absorbed the information. "That could cause a temporal tremor strong enough to explain the holodeck malfunction."

"Indeed."

"Send what you have to my personal computer in my office. Let's see what we can learn when we add this to the portal data." There was a reason she kept all the data on the portal complex out of the main computer or any of the labs. It wasn't even on her desk computer, in case anyone looked.

T'gan nodded. "Do you want me to remove this from the computer here?"

Alanna thought on that for a moment. "Yes, but back it up to a data rod first. I want to see where we can go with this before we bring Mr. Haines in and ask him some questions."

It took them the rest of the day to try one theory after another. Finally, they agreed that it was time to call in Jason.

"Wells to Haines. Could you please come to my office?"

Jason was running in the gym. It was one of his least favorite forms of exercise, but he knew he had to do it at least once a week to stay in decent shape. He had just reached a point where he was at a comfortable pace and rhythm when his combadge tweaked.

Jason moved to the side of the track and tapped his badge back.

"Sure, I will be there in a few moments", Jason said.

After a quick shower, Jason headed to Alanna's office wondering what she needed. He hadn't been in her office since his first days here.

"You wanted to see me", Jason said, as he stepped up to her open office door.

"Actually, T'gan and I did. Come in and have a seat," she said, indicating the couch and chair back by her bookshelf. "You'll get a better view from there." She was polite and professional.

"Sure thing", Jason said with a smile, pausing to look at the books before he sat down.

Despite the smile, he was suspicious of the 'aura' that Alanna was giving off. It was very formal, even for being on duty and in her office. T'gan was joining them, so more likely than not, it had to do with their conversation earlier, after he came out of the stellar cartography lab. He doubted they had called him here to be part of their knitting circle.

He chuckled at the thought a little.

"I hope you are well today", Jason said.

"Well enough," she said. "But we do have some questions for you." She pushed a button and a small 3D image of DS5 and Pangaea appeared in the air. It wasn't as big or as adaptable as the one in Astrometrics, but it would do what Alanna needed it to do. It was an exact replica of the one Jason used. Along one side scrolled the formulae he had been working with.

Jason had figured it was about earlier, but he didn't realize his data hadn't been erased as he instructed the computer to do, or at least not all of it. He spotted some holes in the formula. He let out a barely audible sigh.

"So, what are your questions?", he asked.

"Before we go into the holes in your theories, I'd like to know why you didn't ask us. And why you're working on this in the first place."

"I didn't realize I had to ask to conduct my own research", Jason said with a smile. "And I am working on this because I have orders."

"No, you don't need permission," Alanna said, "but when you delete your research, it does tend to raise red flags."

"Orders from whom?" T'gan asked.

"I deleted what was there because it is classified and I have it saved elsewhere", Jason replied. "And no offense T'gan, I am not at liberty to tell you who my orders come from."

That was what Alanna was afraid of. "T'gan's been concerned about your questions, too," she said. "And that you're trying to do this on your own without all the information. Your theories are flawed because you lack key data." Data which only she had, and only T'gan and Brianth knew about. As scientists, they understood the need to keep some things to themselves until it was needed. Fortunately, few people cared to really look at the teraquads of scientific data that was utilized on a regular basis. Granted, most of what they did was experimentation, and so of no value until perfected, but it gave Alanna and her team more wiggle room to study Pangaea and the portals without attracting attention.

She changed the image. "Pangaea has periodic time fluxes that affect portions of the planet. Call them temporal tremors. Sometimes they open a pit of skeletons, or release some creature from another reality. Sometimes they show ghostly images of former inhabitants. In essence, they're minor and generally harmless. As far as we can tell, there was a temporal flux on Pangaea at the time the Raddon Corporation did whatever it did. We still aren't entirely sure if they tried to tap into the portal energy or duplicate it. Either way, you saw the results."
The data from the temporal flux was added to the image. "And, close enough to be relevant, an unstable wormhole opened nearby. It wasn't large enough to be seen from a distance, but it was enough to release energy into the flux at the time of the explosion." More data was added to the image, showing the chain of events. The new formula included a jump in the power of the tremor by several magnitudes and built to what amounted to a temporal quake which rippled outward to include DS5 about the time of the holodeck incident. It only lasted a few hours, then it dissipated. "This effect could not be reproduced without an enormous amount of energy, equivalent to that of a star or black hole."

"These events cannot be predicted or recreated," T'gan added, taking up the explanation. "The portals themselves are fixed points on the planet. As you know, if you try and stretch a temporal rift or, in this case, cavern, you fundamentally alter its basic structure and will no longer be able to predict where it will lead--if it leads anywhere. At the same time, you destabilize it by making the portal itself brittle. Any object passing through at this point will be damaged, if not destroyed." The image now showed a temporal portal being stretched from Pangaea and a ship trying to fly through. The damage to the ship and crew when it came out the other side was significant. More than half the crew would not survive and the ship was too damaged to withstand a return trip. "The temporal fluctuations are more flexible, but they are of a nature that they would become so thin as to render anything that passed through to lose both substance and mass. Again, there would be no returning from such a journey."

(To be continued...)

T'gan
Temporal Scientist
Deep Space Five

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

Lieutenant JG Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space Five

 

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