[AMITY FINALE] Lt. Robin Hopper: Re-Boot
Robin Hopper
((Amity Outpost – SRC, Level 7, Starfleet Physical & Astronomical Sciences Lab))
With her check-in with Rivi complete, Robin took a deep breath. The situation, which had at first felt overwhelming and hopeless, was beginning to look more malleable. The entire universe was changing around them – shifting to suit this new altered timeline in which they found themselves. However, by sheer luck, both she and Rivi had remembered their previous reality and were aware that Wil Ukinix, Rahman, and the other special guests were conspicuously missing.
In a further stroke of luck, they had gathered enough information that it might, in fact, be possible to locate them and reverse the abduction… However, their success was not guaranteed. It would take more luck, a considerable amount of Amity’s power supply, and some intense number crunching.
With that in mind, she turned her attention back to her colleagues – Scotty and Nadeshiko.
Hopper: Status report? Any complications we need to keep in mind?
She looked over Reade’s shoulder as he completed modifications on the final quantum shield module – now being converted into a ‘time shield’, a partially-proven scientific concept which, if possible, might help protect them from any negative effects from further along the timestream.
Nadeshiko: It won't take a direct hit for long. ::Nadeshiko is peering at some sensor readouts:: The most recent theoretical models suggest we'd have a complex chronokinetic fractal surge - which to put plainly is: no one knows exactly what would happen. Presumably, we'd have yet another altered continuum.
Robin’s eyebrows crept upwards at the mention of a ‘fractal surge’ – which, given the subject matter, struck her as particularly concerning – but considering that this was venturing into the merely-speculative, she tilted her head side to side and shrugged.
oO I’m willing to take that chance. Oo
As Reade completed the work and returned the module to its wall panel, he spoke.
Reade: Everything looks good; only complication we need to keep in mind is a powerful draw to keep the shield running; we might need to shut down certain systems.
She nodded. Shutting down anything other than life support would be worth it, in her opinion. With the shield modifications complete, it was time to figure out their next action – or more accurately, what options were available to them to present to Rivi for her decision.
Hopper: Good work. With luck, this modified shielding should prevent anyone from another time from taking any ‘direct action’ against us, here and now… Though it’ll just be a temporary measure. ::Shrugging:: We’ll need to work quickly then. Fortunately, the labs on Amity were still upgraded with its Delta Quadrant launch. The new advanced holo-modeling suite should help us visualize the data we gathered earlier and make some determinations about it.
Nadeshiko: I think we should start by pinning down the when, but there's an interesting eddy.. ::Nadeshiko was doing some calculating work on a console, running through some equations and simulations.::
Reade: Agree.
Hopper: Nadeshiko, we’ve figured out when our Timenappers made their move. But are we any closer to locking in precisely ‘how’ it was done? Or where they were taken?
Nadeshiko: Current best hypothesis is probably simply removing them with a chronokinetic transporter beam, which then alters reality due to the chroniton surge, and a peculiar resonance of the quantum foam at impact in that timeframe. It's got some problems, so I am working on refining the model.
Robin couldn’t help but smile a little at how easily these concepts rolled off the Android’s tongue. Were the situation less dire, she probably would have enjoyed ‘picking Nadeshiko’s brain’ for several hours on the highly-theoretical subject matter.
Hopper: I understand such a feat would require extremely advanced technology. ::A look to Reade:: Is there any chance we can reproduce even a fraction of that capability here on Amity? We may need a way to ‘bring them back’ – or at least try to get a message through to them. I’m open to experimental ideas here.
Reade: ::thinking:: Hmm, yes I think we can. I know the mining operations on Amity have a long-range booster close to the station; we can tap into that and boost our signal. I'll need to get approval from Evelyn though.
Hopper: ::Nodding:: Let’s hop to it!
Everyone got to work. Robin took to a station and began modifying systems as necessary, in preparation for the incorporation of the mining operations’ long-range booster. Nadeshiko, working at a nearby console, offered some additional notes regarding the resonance system’s calibration.
Nadeshiko: Calibrate the subspace epsilon wave to 0.49151 THz. That appears to be the frequency of this effect.
Reade: Sounds good. I'll start making those preparations.
Nadeshiko: I'll continue to refine the model so we know what we're looking for.
Hopper: ::To Nadeshiko:: Great. ::Turning her attention to Scotty:: Any word back from McLaren?
Reade: Robin, can you tag along with me once you explain everything to Rivi?
Hopper: If this works, they may not recall needing an explanation. But, yes, if things don’t work out I will come along…
oO Either way, I should drop by McLaren’s office and give her a bottle of wine or something. Even if she has no idea why I’m there. Oo
Reade: Great.
Vataix: Hello, everyone!
Robin turned to see Rivi, Iovianus, and Carter entering the lab space. She smiled broadly, pleased that the situation was moving considerably further away from ‘hopeless’, and stepped away from her console for a moment to greet them all.
Reade: Oh, hello Ambassador. We have everything ready here.
Nadeshiko: Almost ready.
Robin glanced back at Nadeshiko, running between multiple consoles. Looking back at the newcomers, she swung her arms back once, then clasped her hands in front of her.
Hopper: ::A little breathless:: Yes… Almost ready. Assuming we’re following the right temporal breadcrumbs… it seems we might be able to put the loaf back together.
She squinted and screwed up her lips for a moment.
Hopper: That’s a weird metaphor.
Iovianus: So how did this happen exactly?
Hopper: Long story short, this didn’t just “happen”. Someone “did” this. The timeline was altered, we believe, by a ‘timenapping’ incident. A temporal transport. I guess someone from the future has a grudge against Commander Ukinix – or, more likely, against the former crew of the Veritas. Maybe if we are able to get them back we can ask them ourselves.
Reade: Response?
Carter: Really? So the games' been rigged...
Iovianus: Do we have any idea why the two of you were solely moved between timelines?
Nadeshiko: Proximity to the location the effect was fired from in uptime.
Robin turned to point a finger of agreement at the android woman, then looked back to Iovianus with a nod.
Nadeshiko: Secondary analysis suggests this is a weapon, not originally meant to preserve the life of the target, and based on the gamma radiation decay, the epsilon sequence scans, and the tertiary quantum harmonics, it was a jury rig. How it directly works is beyond our science, but the principles are known to us. ::Nadeshiko pauses::
oO Even I didn’t know that part yet. Oo
Robin wasn’t sure if it was her look of surprise, or Rivi’s empathic abilities, which gave away that this was new information – but, either way, she asked an important question.
Vataix: When you say not originally meant to preserve life... does that mean Wil and the others might not... have survived?
Hopper: That doesn’t appear to be the case here, no. We’re currently working under the.. um, informed assumption that they’re still alive. As Nadeshiko pointed out, based on our scans we believe this system was, in fact, able to ‘pluck’ them out of the time stream and move them elsewhere in time and space. We’re still a little fuzzy on the exact mechanics.
Reade: Response
Carter: That would be unacceptable...
Iovianus: Response
Vataix: So what have you come up with?
Robin clapped twice and the lights dimmed. A little smile formed on her face. oO So I made that modification to the lab in this reality too… Hm. Oo Nadeshiko, meanwhile, enlarged their holographic model and began running a simulation, demonstrating their plan.
Nadeshiko: There is a sixty five percent chance of the primary outcome - both timelines are completely reset, as the inciting event never happened. There would be a corresponding downtime effect, in this exact spot, at exactly one-hundred-eighty-two years ago. It would be an increase in the ambient galactic radiation, however. There is a thirty-three point eight seven nine percent chance that the people kidnapped would be brought into our reality, with no reset of the chronological timeline. The third possibility is that people from one reality may end up in the other. I do not think it likely, but since any effect requires us to use the chroniton wavefront to reach the origin of the chronokinetic surge, these are the highest-order possibilities. There is, however, a way to increase the primary outcome, and it is to send a holographic projection forward. Maintaining it will become more difficult as we are currently moving away from that spot at roughly two hundred sixty kilometers a second and have been since the effect occurred. We have a narrow window, and it would be a severe strain on any person being projected.
Robin turned to look at the others with a face that simply read, “did you get all that?” then placed her hands on her hips and smiled. Nadeshiko was nothing if not precise.
Vataix: I suppose bringing them back to this "reality" is better than nothing at all.
Carter: Life, no matter how complicated, life is better than death or temporal non existence...
Vataix: You said sending a holographic projection could increase the primary outcome. What exactly do you mean? What kind of holographic projection?
Carter: Is this projection something like a transporter beam, with the same power of transmission?
Hopper: Think of it like a “guide”. The projection is an interface through which the correct individuals can be identified, for reverse-transport, since we don’t have proper signals to ‘lock onto’ from this side. But, as Nadeshiko points out, they’d be ‘inhabiting’ two points in space-time simultaneously, which could be very strenuous.
Reade/Iovianus: Response
Vataix: Are there any risks?
Nadeshiko: Not being a medical professional, I can only say it is likely sensory aphasia, and a form of psychosis. The exact reports and papers are considered classified by the [Department of Temporal Integrity] and I do not have enough datum to presume more.
Carter: Sounds like a very technical crap shoot...and sensory aphasia doesn't sound very pleasant for a Betazoid...
Hopper: Or anyone, for that matter.
Reade/Iovianus: Response
Nadeshiko: I would not be prone, no. It would require more power, however, and we are already using a significant fraction of station power. ::An alarm went off.:: It.. appears this may be irrelevant. We're detecting a chronokinetic surge. ::She dashed off to a console:: Working to set up an inverse pulse. If we do it just right, it'll invalidate both events. Lieutenant Reade, Lieutenant Hopper, I require assistance to set this up.
Vataix: Wait! Ms. Nadeshiko, based on what you've said, it makes most sense for you to project yourself. Once we've established the connection, then you should initiate the pulse.
Robin couldn’t disagree with the logic. As much as she’d like to think of herself as the ‘best person’ for a job like this – the truth was that Nadeshiko could run the numbers faster than she could, wouldn’t be subject to the potential neurological effects of the projection procedure, and would likely be more adept at ‘guiding’ them back through the reverse time effect.
Reade/Iovianus: Response
Carter: Ms. Nadeshiko, it is completely up to you whether you do this extremely dangerous thing. You're not Starfleet, so no one can order you. It has to completely be your decision. Otherwise, one of us gets the short straw.
Hopper: I agree with Rivi’s assessment. Nadeshiko, if you’re willing…?
Nadeshiko: Response
Vataix: If we're going to do this, we need to do whatever gives us the greatest chance to get them back.
Carter: Agreed. Looks like we only have one shot at this, so we better choose wisely...
Reade/Iovianus: Response
Nadeshiko: Response
Rivi looked around the faces in the room and then nodded.
Vataix: Do it.
The next moments felt to Robin like the time between your last waking memory and sleep – the blurred edge on the precipice of consciousness and the unknowable moment when you slide from one state to another. There had been a flurry of activity, she was sure, and had a vague recollection of shouting numbers at someone – but as they neared the ‘moment’ of reversal, things became less and less clear until they disappeared in a bright flash which, in hindsight, she could only describe as “seemingly infinite.”
oO And did I see a Koala? Oo
((Chief of Mission's Accommodations, Beijing District, Amity Outpost))
She knew that boot had to be somewhere… But why exactly she had found herself standing in the Vataix’s sonic shower was beyond her. The last few moments felt like a blur and, for a moment, she chided for getting so drunk – only, that wasn’t it at all.
oO Did it work? Oo
She stepped awkwardly from the shower, seeing herself in the mirror once more wearing the same green ‘space girl’ outfit she had worn to the party yesterday evening (sans her left boot, her prosthetic foot bare against the tile floor). She removed the right boot and tucked it under her arm, so that she could walk evenly once more, and moved out into the quiet household – soft music still playing over the sound system.
Ensuring the door closed behind her, she turned around and found herself face-to-chest with Tidrid.
Hopper: ::Startled:: AAH! Oh my god…
Tidrid: Response?
Hopper: Sorry… ::Clutching her boot:: I… I’ve had a crazy da– um, last few minutes. But I’m fine now. I’m just on my way out.
Tidrid: Response?
Hopper: ::Glancing down at the boot in her arms:: Oh, um, no luck I’m afraid. I may need to come back in the morning, if that’s alright.
Tidrid: Response?
Hopper: Thank you Tidrid. Good luck with that red wine stain! I hear club soda helps!
As the somewhat-confused Betazoid man made his way through the home, Robin found her way towards the exit and was heartened to see Wil and the others back. She breathed a sigh of relief and took another step forward to say something to them – only to bump her foot against something made of a familiar hard rubber.
Looking down, she saw it – a green go-go boot wedged in-between the sofa and the bookshelf, only the toe-tip sticking out. She wiggled it out and slipped both boots on.
Hopper: ::To herself, pleased:: There… Things are already better this go-around.
END MISSION for Hopper
