Lt. Connor Dewitt - Artifacts from the Future

[Tim]

((Ancient Space Station, Reactor Compartment))

As Connor reached for one of the metallic holding bars at the edge of
the reactor compartment's entry bulkhead, the almost familiar feeling
flash appeared. It took Connor a second to reorient himself. A couple of
pieces of debris floated between him and his crew mates. They were
clearly back to their own time. As he tried to push himself towards his
crew mates into the reactor compartment, Connor noticed that the
metallic bar he held was no longer attached to anything - another sign
of the worn-down station.

Before he could let go of the metallic piece, the next flash took them
right back into the past. For only a brief moment, he imagined to be
seeing the outlines of other humanoid bodies... or something similar.

Zenno: Did… did you all see it too? It was right here, not even half a
meter in front of me!

Orsalen: I think I saw it too, something alive!

Dewitt: ::nodding:: It was very blurry... How many were there? Three,
like we are?

Zenno: I don't know.

Dewitt: Any idea if those were Sheliak?

Zenno: I couldn't recognize the species. But I am certain that it was
not a Sheliak, or at least not any kind of Sheliak I've seen in the
records. If they have different forms, that would be news to me.

Connor could not tell if this calmed him down or not. But for his taste,
he had enough contact with Sheliak for a lifetime. He took a deep
breath, trying to calm down again and not concern himself with things
beyond his control.

Dewitt: Let's get to work then...

Zenno: I concur. Let's get to work. This is clearly an Engineering and
Ops situation. How can I help?

Connor pushed himself forward again, only to realize that the handle he
was still holding was not attached to anything. He turned around to look
at it. Next, he checked the position where it should have been attached.
Another handle was sitting there, firmly attached to the bulkhead.

Dewitt: This... ::moving his hand with the handle in front of his viewport::

Orsalen: Lieutenant, I've checked out the chroniton data you gave me,
I've isolated a potential sequence. That last jump gave me what I needed.

He turned his head to Ensign Orsalen, pushing himself into the reactor
chamber with his foot and the firmly attached handle, still holding his
artifact of the future. Connor took a look at the offered tricorder
data, still thinking about the loose handle in his other hand with half
a brain.

Zenno: Responses?

Dewitt: Fill me in...

Orsalen: Whoever that was that Zenno saw in here caused a time shift
just like we did. I think there must be other boarders in other time
periods, the shadows Dr. Ohnari saw, and they trigger a shift for
everybody... I think. This time travel stuff really messes with you.

Dewitt: You're saying somebody or something from another timeline is
controlling what's happening to us? Are they aware?

Zenno/Orsalen: Response

Connor took another look and the tricorder and pushed a couple of buttons.

Dewitt: The shifts seem to occur about every 7 minutes, don't they?

Zenno/Orsalen: Response

As it was pointed out, Connor looked at his hand and brought the handle
forward again.

Dewitt: I grabbed it in this timeframe... As we were transported to the
future, it was not attached to the station anymore - coming back here -
I still had it in my hand...

Zenno/Orsalen: Response

Connor looked at the officer and a smile formed on his lips.

Dewitt: That's a brilliant idea!

He nodded and pushed his communicator.

Dewitt: =/\= Dewitt to Adyr. Ensign Orsalen has a theory about the time
shifts that will be of high interest to Chief Coll... ::short pause::
Jacin. I think the important part is that the time shifts seem to occur
about every 7 minutes. =/\=

Adyr/Any: Response

Dewitt: =/\= There's something more... I brought a floating part of
debris from the future back here... It was suggested that we might be
able to leave something in the future that sends some kind of message to
the Arrow - Maybe a Tricorder or communicator could work. =/\=

Adyr/Any: Response

Dewitt: =/\= Understood. We'll start work on the Thrusters... =/\=

Refreshed by the new opportunities, Connor turned to his comrades.

Dewitt: So to come back to your question, Lieutenant... Please monitor
the stability of the fusion reactor as we start working on the
thrusters. If we draw too much energy and there are no safeties
installed, the reactor might overheat and damage systems we are going to
need.

Zenno/Orsalen: Response

TAG/TBC
--
Lt. Connor Dewitt
Engineer
USS Arrow
A239901CD3