Ensign Kayla Drex: A Spark Lights a Fire PART TWO (BACKSIM JP with Ens. Eleanor Alexander)

[Kayla Drex]

((PART 2))

((Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth - Cadet Drex’s Dorm Room, Stardate 239411.28))

:: Composing herself, her expressionless demeanor soon returned, again her mother's voice echoed in her mind Oo Eleanor, a lady does not conduct herself in such a way. Oo Then her Grandmother's voice Oo One does not act such a way in front of the commoners my dear, think of the family, your reputation. Oo ::

Alexander: My apologies ::Before quickly moving on:: And yes, the little model pieces your calculations, I would love to know what you have been working on.  

Drex: Apologies? No way! El, with me, you never have to apologize for anything - least of all finding joy in the little things.

::Kayla grinned ear to ear at her friend, then reached over to grab her bag where the pieces of her model were still stored. Thinking quickly, she asked Eleanor if she’d like to sit on the sofa, as that would probably be more comfortable, and make looking at the model together a bit easier. She seemed relieved to relocate to this seat, and after settling in, Kayla plowed on ahead.::

Drex: So, my theory operates on the premise that there are what I call Quantum Currents. These currents are like a breeze, but made out of time. Since we now understand time-space to be something that can be interacted with under special conditions - usually some kind of subspace anomaly caused by energy transfer between black holes in parallel realities or something like that - we can take the next logical step and presume that this Current interacts with everything it flows around within its own timeline/universe/reality. I plan on developing a kind of sail propulsion that will utilize this constant flow, enabling us to completely abandon warp travel forever.

::She took a breath, looking at the young implacable woman seated beside her.::

Drex: That’s where this ship comes in. I give you The Zephyr. She’s going to be my ship one day, El. I just need to get the science right, but the nacel positioning wouldn’t even get me full impulse in the standard position. According to my calculations, they need to be much, MUCH closer together. But I’m no engineer….

:;Eleanor paused for a moment, taking in everything that had just been explained to her, and it was certainly a lot to take in, a new form of travel that would allow the federation to abandon conventional warpl::

Alexander: You certainly have lofty goals, but what data supports your theory :she asked raising an eyebrow in curiosity:

Drex: I’ll show you.

::Kayla abruptly dashed from the room, practically diving into her bedroom. Not 20 seconds later though, she was back and carrying a stack of PADDs. There had to be thousands of pages of information contained in this stack alone. She set them reverently on the sofa between her seat and Eleanor’s, took the top PADD, handing it to Eleanor.::

Drex: This is what started all this. It’s an ancient story told to children in the Tau Ceti system. It speaks of ancients (so … doubly-ancient) who sailed among the stars. There’s a lot of historical degradation of course, but it got me thinking. That led to this rabbit’s hole. ::indicating the rest of the stack.:: At every turn, there is one more piece of the puzzle. When I started applying the math to it, they started looking like the same story.

Alexander: So your theory is based on a unverified children’s story, please don’t tell me that next week we are going hunting for Santa Claus?

Drex: Not at all, but since you brought up His Jolliness, let’s start there. There are several verifiable records that indicate all the Santa Claus/Sinterklaas/Kris Kringle/St. Nicholas mythology was based on a living person. Granted, he didn’t visit every good girl and boy in one night, but it is confirmed that the real individual did kind things in such a way as to be anonymous - seemingly magical in his ability to come and go undetected you might say.

::The fervor of her defense was kicking in now. Kayla took a breath and carried on.::

Drex: Now, as a scientist, it’s literally my job to either prove or disprove a hypothesis, or at very least report that the data can do neither at that time. In the case of mythology, lore, and in this case, fables told for the purpose of imparting a culture’s morality to the next generation, wouldn’t you say it’s reasonable to pursue the possibility the stories are based on fact if there is so much independent corroboration?

::Eleanor pondered again for a moment, she certainly seemed passionate and she didn’t want to seem disrespectful::

Alexander: Yes, but much is also written to allude people, look at the bible, the promise of an everlasting life after death, is it so, or something that religion made up to comfort people, arguments exist for both and neither can be proved or disproved. ::Picking up another padd and glancing over the data: but you are right, it is worth exploring, as an engineer the excitement of thinking things or something new always peaks my interest and a new way of interstellar propulsion definitely peaks my interest.  

Drex: To that, I’m afraid I can only answer there is not enough data to extrapolate a verdict. Take the Bajoran religion though. While, granted, there is a lot of religiosity and mysticism that has built up around it in the last several millennia, but that doesn’t negate the presence of some verifiable phenomena at its core. The focus may be … off ::she didn’t want to say “misguided”::, but in the case of the wormhole near Bajor and Deep Space 9, there are lifeforms there that have been assigned new names by those that have observed them. As for the science of this new propulsion though, THAT I can defend more definitively.

::Kayla and Eleanor spent the next 4 hours poring over the equations, algorithms, and various geometries involved in Kayla’s research. It wasn’t until nearly 0100 Kayla brought out the model starship again.::

Drex: So, what do you think? Am I way off?

Alexander: Certainly not, it warrants further investigation and research, and we will need holo recreations and such and we have plenty to be getting on with ::She said, not in the sligests bit tired, her eyes fixed to about four PADDs::

::The two young women tossed ideas, theories, practical roadblocks, and solutions until the sun started coming up.::

Drex: ::looking out the window at the blushing eastern sky.:: Woah. We pulled an all-nighter, El, and it’s not even finals week! What do you say we pick this up in the holosuite in the Commons? I can check what time slots are available this afternoon.

:: Eleanor looked out of the window, indeed the darkness had turned to light, the best thing was she wasn’t even tired.::

Alexander: Mind if I take a couple of these PADDs with me :she said picking up several: I’m going to read them over breakfast, then I have a class but I’m free to head to the holosuite after that.

Drex: Please do! I have all these backed up, so take whatever you need.

END

Simmers:

Ensign Kayla Drex

Science Officer

USS Eagle, NCC-74659

Writer ID: E239510KD0

Ensign Eleanor Alexander

Engineer

Embassy Duronis II / USS Thor

C239509EA0