Ensign Gavrin Tarsan - What Has It Got In Its Pocketses?
Sean Sabbage
(( Hazardous Materials Lab, Deck 11 – USS Artemis-A ))
They were starting to make progress with the mystery box, when Vito raised an important point.
Silveira: Just out of curiosity does it still read any power? It was attached to a hybridized drive?
Bancroft: There is an internal power source, yes. Rapidly depleting. Battery backup, perhaps, though it isn't behaving like one that merely keeps the lid shut. It’s maintaining something.
Cole: That means opening it wrong doesn’t just damage the container. It could destroy the point of the container.
Breys: I’m seeing the signature too, it’s barely coming through, but the resolution of our scanners can see it.
That was worrying. What would happen when it ran out?
Tarsan: ::increasing the forcefield’s power, just in case:: Strengthening the brace point…
Silveira: I wonder what is it’s function.
Bancroft: My first instinct would be preservation. My second would be concealment. Given today’s general theme, I hesitate to develop a third.
Breys: Concealment would make the most sense, their shielding methods already imply they’re hiding something.
Bancroft: It may be worth having an external source ready before we finish opening it. If the internal cell collapses while the contents are still depending on it, we may lose whatever state it is preserving. Or whatever trace was left behind when the state was interrupted.
Cole: Then we do it in sequence. External power ready first, before the next seal.
Cole handed a power cell to Tarsan, the engineer nodding as he looked at it, starting to consider how he’d connect it up.
Cole: Here. If this thing starts dying, I’d rather we’re ready before it gets problematic.
Breys: This thing was eating power from a singularity core, are we sure a normal power unit will be enough?
Tarsan: I have no idea, but I really don’t think we should plug it into the warp core.
Silveira: Curious…
Bancroft: Alright, that is one seal down. ::patting himself down once, clinically:: All major appendages accounted for. How many more?
Cole: However many it is, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
Breys: It seems like the outer casing shows one more “seal” on it, I’m pretty sure whatever is inside will be in a secure container as well though.
Tarsan: ::looking over the scans:: Yeah I think you’re right on that front.
Silveira: Response
Bancroft: Everything looks stable on my end. Breys? Tarsan? Nat?
Cole: Looks stable enough to continue. Not stable enough to get comfortable.
Breys: My adjustments should be getting me a clearer view of the internal parts, but the power source is growing more dim on my scans. I can’t see anything without the radiation of the source to contrast against.
Tarsan: I guess… that’re we’re going to have to connect this up…
Silveira: Response
An alert started to flash red as Gavrin started looking at how on earth he was going to plug t
Bancroft: Internal power is reaching critical depletion. Whatever it’s holding together, hiding, or remembering, it’s running out of time. Is the backup supply ready?
Cole: Backup first. Then the next seal. Let's not let the mysterious box make the decisions.
Breys: I think I see a spot we can pipe it in right… here. The conduits are made for Romulan tech but I think you can make it fit.
Gavrin swallowed as he looked between the cells and the point Breys was pointing at but nodded in agreement.
Tarsan: I can make it fit. Anyone got a hammer? ::holding up his hand:: Joking, joking!
Silveira/Bancroft: Response
Gavrin continued to work, rapidly recalibrating the power supply and finding a way to interface it with the box. He was about to plug in the cell when Cole stopped them.
Cole: Wait. Something in there just shifted.
Tarsan: When you say… shifted?
Silveira/Bancroft: Response
Cole: Grandpa Dorian used to say the worst machines were the polite ones. The ones that kept working right up until they decided not to. This feels like one of those.
Cole looked from the group to the box, and back.
Breys: ::quietly:: What is she doing?
Tarsan: ::shrugs:: I don’t know… but we haven’t got long until the power gives out.
Silveira/Bancroft: Response
Breys: May I ask what you are doing, sir?
Cole: Response
Breys: You don’t have to do that alone. I think I can help from here. I can give you a higher resolution image of what you’re working with as the scanning frequencies slide into place.
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole: Response
Gavrin stayed quiet, waiting for the discussion to finish so that he could clip in the power supply. He’d got it as ready as he could, at least.
Breys: This inner layer is the Multi-Adaptive shielding the tricorders found, it’s like cloak lite for sensors. Once Lieutenant Cole finishes with her inspection, I'm going to try an antiproton scan.
Breys: With permission of course, sir.
Tarsan: Sounds good to me - not that you need my permission ::grinning wryly::
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole: Response
Once Cole was finished with her work, Gavrin stepped in as Breys started scanning the interior, connecting up the power supply as quickly as he could without interrupting her.
Breys: Activating antiproton scan now, we should be getting a clear outline of internal components soon, no details though.
Tarsan: ::breathing a sigh of relief:: Power supply stable again - don’t think it’ll last for more than an hour or two but it gives us some breathing room.
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole: Response
As the outline of something started to form on the screen, Gavrin felt his stomach plummet. He had a very bad feeling about this, and the structure was starting to send chills down his spine
Breys: I’m no Engineer, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Do any of you recognize what we’re looking at? Are we even sure it's technology?
Tarsan: I really really hope that’s not what it looks like… ::checking the scanner, confirming some readings::
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole: Response
Breys: Any ideas on how to get a clearer picture on what this thing is before we open the box completely? Maybe a probe?
Gavrin was aware that everyone was looking at him now and he swallowed. Time to put his engineering degree to good use. He tweaked the scanner parameters again and nodded, his face pale.
Tarsan: I don’t think we need to - I know what it is. I’m picking up neutrinos. I am… very sure that’s a repurposed spatial trajector.
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole/Breys: Response
Tarsan: So uh, remember how I thought there might be an intelligence in there? You’d need somewhere to store the neural matrix. I think rather than using it as a transporter, they’ve used it to fold space in on itself to make a sort of… dimensional pocket.
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole/Breys: Response
And that was the crux of the issue, the thing that was worrying Gavrin the most. He gestured to all the readings, the image of the technology that Breys had managed to obtain with the antiproton scan.
Tarsan: I don’t know. It’s possible the pocket will crumple in on itself and destroy the entire thing. Or uh.. It might turn itself inside out and everything inside the pocket would try and… inhabit the same space as everything around it.
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole/Breys: Response
Tarsan: Yeah uh, the metaphor kinda falls apart there.
Just like the pocket would.
Silveira/Bancroft/Cole/Breys: Response
Tags/TBC