[Act 1 Closer] Lt. JG Robin Hopper: Timenappers (Part 1)
Robin Hopper
((OOC – Sorry it’s taken me so long to get my Act 1 closer out; Act 2 opener following shortly - it’s been crazy with the holidays and all the errands to run here!))
((OOC – Altered Timeline Notes: Scotty and Robin are roommates; Scotty is not dating Evelyn Beake; Scotty did not have lunch with S’Raga, Robin, & Evelyn the other day; Kivik never came to Amity Outpost, Robin has served as the Acting Chief Science Officer since it launched; Rivi Vataix is the Hawlat Emissary, rather than Wil Ukinix; Robin in this timeline hates Disco; Science uses a “Quadcorder” instead of the Tricorder.))
((Amity Outpost – En Route to the Science & Research Center))
As Robin led the way out of the Ambassador’s office, towards the train that would carry them to the Science and Research Center, she felt the worry bubbling within her again. Typically, that bubbling feeling carried enthusiasm, excitement, or warm fuzzies… not today. Today, it brought with it fear – fear of the unknown.
Already so much had evidently changed. How much more would these disappearances have affected down the line? Physicists were keenly aware of the potential ramifications of the so-called ‘butterfly effect’ that could follow the chronometric ripples following timestream events. Worse yet – would she be able to adapt, if they were unable to figure out what had happened or how to reverse it? She decided to start probing Reade to gain a sense of how ‘different’ this timeline was.
Hopper: This might sound crazy, but, um… Are you and Evelyn still together?
Reade turned to her with a confused – no, a shocked expression.
Reade: :: shocked face:: You mean Evelyn McLaren? We were never dating, we are good friends still.
oO Evelyn McLaren? The geologist? Oo She shook her head in quiet despair. If that’s where his mind had gone, he probably hadn’t ever even met Evelyn Beake… the woman he’d been in love with for years… the woman who had taken a posting to the Delta Quadrant just to be closer to him.
Her mind raced, thinking of all the other relationships that might no longer be. Were her and Alieth still friends – better yet, what about Ikaia? Nathan? S’Raga? Bec? What if her sister had never been born…
She decided to try something even closer.
Hopper: Do you remember having lunch with S’Raga and I the other day…?
Reade: [I do not remember having any lunch.] Are you ok Robin?
oO No… Definitely not okay… Oo
Hopper: ::Shaking her head:: This is so #$%& up. I don’t know what’s “real” anymore…
They spent the rest of the train raid to the SRC in silence, Robin unable to bear the thought of uncovering any more ‘ripples’...
((Shortly Thereafter, Science & Research Center, Level 13 - Research Archives & Library))
She approached Nadeshiko, the android civilian analyst, and looked over her shoulder at the screens – the data moving too fast for her to even track with her organic senses. It would certainly be helpful to narrow down the list of possibilities… She thought back to what Kells had said about serving with Rahman before she had taken command of the Veritas.
Hopper: One thing I will say is that the changes we are experiencing – assuming that we can trust what little knowledge we have of how things ‘were’ before – is that the alterations all appear to be targeted. A group of officers, all of them associated with Captain – sorry, Lt. Commander – Roshanara Rahman, have conspicuously disappeared after congregating here yesterday…
She turned around, placing her hands on her hips and trying to think.
Hopper: Which leads me to think that this is some sort of deliberate, and specific, act – rather than anything ‘sweeping’. The larger changes we’re seeing, I’d guess, are derived from temporal rippling. Aside from the scans you recommended… are you aware of any other, um, ‘leads’ we might follow?
Nadeshiko: All of those are based off existing ship reports, or known to Starfleet Science, or in some cases, the Department of Temporal Integrity. I would also recommend a scan and analysis by the medical department to rule out the higher order possibilities.
Robin sighed, then nodded slowly. She had to admit that it was possible both she and Rivi were being affected by some sort of shared altered memory, rather than an actual change to the timestream – disturbing as that possibility might be. oO Then again, maybe that’s better… Fewer lives affected, after all… Oo
Hopper: ::Nodding:: Yes, I suppose Rivi and I should both be medically examined when it’s convenient… I wish our CMO were here and not running off to Beta– Hang on a second… =/\= Computer, who is the FDC First Secretary on Amity Outpost? =/\=
Computer: =/\= First Secretary Annamae Barberra. =/\=
oO Interesing Oo
Hopper: ::Lips pursed:: I take it they’re not off to Betazed, then. ::Sighing:: Doesn’t matter. Scotty, you and I will need to make the necessary preparations for the scans that Nadeshiko has recommended. If possible, I’d like to receive the results here in the SRC so that we can review them as a group. Nadeshiko, will you accompany us?
Reade: I agree, I think receiving the results here is the best choice.
Nadeshiko: I can do that. ::Nadeshiko got up, resetting the screens to default as she did so.::
Hopper: I’d also like to run some detailed scans of the Beijing District. The party was held at the Vataix household – and Both Rivi and I were ‘shielded’ from the effect somehow. It stands to reason that, maybe, if we’re going to find anything here on Amity, we’d find it there.
Reade: Maybe we go by [our apartment?] Scan some results there, it may give us some clues into what’s going on.
Robin squinted, trying to figure out why Reade’s apartment would be affected. Then it dawned on her. When he said “Our Apartment”... he meant their apartment. oO Another change… Does that mean Kivik never came to Amity, then? Oo
Hopper: ::Sighing:: I guess we’re looking for temporal breadcrumbs.
Reade: Looks like it sadly.
Robin set her hands on her hips, then looked from face-to-face. Reade seemed sympathetic, if confused by the entire thing. Nadeshiko seemed unfazed – perhaps curious, if any emotion could be applied to her expression.
Hopper: Right. Okay. Let’s… Let’s get going then.
((Several Minutes Later – En Route to Habitat Ring))
Reade: Was she always assigned to Amity? I do not remember her being here with the original crew.
Reade spoke softly to her, though Robin suspected that her heightened senses would likely be able to pick up Scotty’s question.
Hopper: Well, not in the timeline I’m familiar with, anyways… Nadeshiko joined us just a few days ago, working as a civilian analyst. ::A glance to the android woman:: I take it you two haven’t yet had the chance to get acquainted.
Reade: Hmm, maybe; I am always down in engineering these days with Nathan being off on some off-quadrant mission.
Hopper: Nathan’s on assignment – in the Alpha Quadrant? Hmm. ::Blinking:: Good to know at least a few things haven’t changed.
((Habitat Ring – Beijing District, Outside Ambassador Vataix’s Residence))
The trio had once again spent much of the train ride back to the Habitat Ring in relative quiet. Occasionally, Robin chimed in with a question about some key event – trying to deduce what had changed and what had stayed the same. So far she had learned:
[Kivik indeed had not come to Amity Outpost, but remained in the Delta Quadrant. Instead, Robin had taken the assignment 8 months earlier, filling that void… Which explained why she was still a Lieutenant JG.]
The Hawlat had still arrived shortly after the station’s launch, and things had played out similarly, only [Ambassador Vataix herself had been declared their “Emissary”, after they had learned she could communicate with the creatures telepathically.]
[Apparently, following some sort of “Bad Experience” during her University Days, which she refused to elaborate on, Robin in this timeline hated Disco.] oO This truly is the darkest timeline… Oo
She was somewhat grateful, then, to arrive at Archer Station and walk the rest of the way to the Beijing District, where Rivi lived. Her own apartment – no, former apartment – was just around the corner. Rather than trying to fill the silence with questions and their unwanted answers, she was instead able to fill the silence with data.
While she used the unusual tricorder – No, [Science Quadcorder] – to the best of her abilities, to run scans – Reade worked on attempting to analyze the data. While his expertise was likely more mechanical than theoretical, the Engineer still should be sufficiently learned to understand most of the relevant quantum mechanics, or at least to notice ‘oddities’.
Having Nadeshiko along was practically like having an additional science team accompanying them, as she ran her own scans and analyzed them simultaneously – more quickly and more thoroughly than either of her organic counterparts likely could. oO But can she tell good curly fries from bad? I’d like to see her try. Oo
Reade: Seeing nothing on my PADD that is unusual.
Hopper: ::Frowning:: How can that possibly be? ::Shaking her head:: Try examining different wavelengths. Run a full-band scan if you need to. If there was some sort of localized anomaly, there should be some sort of latent energy readings to back that up.
Reade: Good point; let me change my PADD’s scanner frequency.
Robin glanced to Nadeshiko, wondering if she had yet found anything – but she appeared to be focused, quietly working away at her own scans. oO I guess I did say we’d review our findings back at the SRC… Oo Really, the chatter was to keep her focused on the task at hand.
Hopper: And if I can figure out the trick to this “Quadcorder” – We can all agree that name is silly right? – ::Not waiting for an answer:: I’d like to be able to send you unprocessed data. By this point, we could be looking for minute particles. The device should have the sensitivity to pick them up, but… Oh wait, is it this knob here?
She twiddled the dial. Her device beeped angrily at her. Which she took as a good sign.
Hopper: ::Shrugging:: That apparently did it?
A few more minutes passed, before her quadcorder started pinging. Reade’s PADD as well.
Reade: Picking up something here. Seems like a temporal displacement.
Hopper: Oh! OH! OH MY GOD!!!
Robin launched herself towards Reade, embracing him in a hug that she wasn’t entirely sure he was comfortable with – certainly not prepared for – before letting go of him just as suddenly. She examined her quadcorder, then looked a the more streamlined display on his PADD.
Hopper: Yes. Yes, I see it! ::A huge sigh of relief:: Minute distortions in the chronometric particle field… centered on this area in space.
She gripped Reade’s PADD with her left hand as she looked at it closely, examining the extrapolation with keen interest. Perhaps he felt ‘trapped’ there with her, as he tapped his combadge to communicate with Nadeshiko – who was just around the corner of the house.
Reade: =/\= We have seemed to find something Nadeshiko. Sending you some data. =/\=
Hopper: ::Continuing, distracted by the data:: …They seem to be decreasing in frequency, like waves or ripples calming after an initial disturbance…
Nadeshiko: I'm right here. ::her tone is dry.:: Lt. Hopper asked me to accompany you. ::She looks at the sensors on her quadcorder:: PADDs are an insufficient tool for this kind of work. ::She left out pointedly that standard Starfleet training was tricorders, not PADDs.:: I am not detecting temporal displacement in this time at all, but there is a definite chroniton-wave front. There's an oddity here. Tying in internal sensors to examine some epsilon harmonics. ::she tapped a scan sequence into the quadcorder.::
Robin finally turned her attention away from the data for a moment, curious what Nadeshiko was seeing. She had to admit, the data didn’t appear to represent a temporal displacement – but a chroniton wavefront, especially one so faint, could be indicative of a pinpointed chronokinetic surge event. Given the circumstances, that seemed close enough to run with.
Hopper: What are thinking, Nadeshiko?
Reade: Response
Nadeshiko: Temporal displacement is to use the common term 'time travel', or where elements are displaced uptime, or downtime, from their original starting point. Based on the statement by Lt. Hopper, this cannot be such a phenomenon. ::The quadcorder beeps:: Based on the data, I would posit an uptime effect. The chronitons are behaving in precisely the opposite ways we would expect, and are being actively generated from this spot... approximately ninety-one years, two hundread and eighty days, fifteen hours, thirty three minutes and twelve seconds with a margin of plus/minus twenty years from now. By that time, of course, this spot would be deep space.
Hopper: Right. Ukinix, Rahman, and the others weren’t simply ‘displaced in time’... They were taken out of the timestream at various points and taken elsewhere. Almost like some sort of ‘temporal transporter’... ::Getting ahead of herself:: …But where? ::Eyebrows raised:: And why?! ::Brow furrowed:: And by who?
Reade: Response
Nadeshiko tilted her head and after a brief moment of thought, explained.
Nadeshiko: Uptime effects, or to use the common term 'anti-time' effects are uniformly never natural. They alter time, and it's entirely possible there's a temporal displacement to their time, but I would suspect there's no such intention to displace things in this time. More analysis is needed to refine this hypothesis. I would recommend, as an order of priority, we attempt to stabilize temporal space somewhere on the station. Eventually, we will have to file reports, and any actor uptime will almost certainly have access to them, and if this is an attack or intentional effect, they could fire this effect at us at any point in our history. ::And Nadeshiko knew full well the sheer number of possibilities this would be.:: This is, of course, assuming this is the effect. There are still four other effects that are possible, but are now very low-order probabilities. I would recommend returning to the SRC as the other scans run so we can properly review the results.
Hopper: Yes… Yes, I agree. The last thing we want is to turn our own investigation into this matter against our own best interests. Ugh. Time travel is so… ::Waving her hands in irritation:: Annoying.
She never thought she would utter such words. But it was true. She was finding this entire thing thoroughly annoying. Fascinating, certainly. Even intriguing. And, surely, once it was all over she would look back on it wistfully and wonder about how her life might have been in this ‘other time’... But right now? No. Uh uh. No way.
Reade/Nadeshiko: Response
Robin wasn’t waiting around for any further ‘phenomena’. She began walking, and waved for them both to follow.
Hopper: Nadeshiko, Scotty, is there any way we can work together to modify the quantum field shielding in the astrophysics laboratory to create a ‘temporal shield’ bubble? Somewhere we can work without fear of being, mmm, ‘plucked’ away by whatever entity started this whole thing off?
Nadeshiko/Reade: Response
Hopper: Good. That’s a top priority then. Once that’s done, we can work a bit more securely. Meantime, since Nadeshiko has already managed to calculate our ‘when’, I’m going to work on the ‘where’. ::Smirking:: I think we might be in luck on that front… Nadeshiko, correct me if I’m wrong – but the concentrated nature of this chronokinetic surge suggests that we’re likely dealing with a single point of transport.
Nadeshiko/Reade: Response
Hopper: It means that our ‘Timenappers’ are lazy… Or at least, efficient. It would, of course, reduce the effect on the timeline to take them during a moment they were all together. As they were leaving the party, the entire group was taken from one time and place to another time and place. Which means we only have to trace a single interdimensional rift.
Nadeshiko/Reade: Response
Hopper: If we’re right about this… It means we may well stand a chance of undoing what was done, and maybe even turning the tables back on whoever did this!
END Act 1 for Hopper
