PNPC Lt. JG. Gnai - Speechless
Lich
(( Holodeck 2 - Deck 2, USS Artemis-A ))
When Ens. Imril brought up the possibility of neutrino emissions causing the acceleration of the wormhole that had destroyed Galador, Gnai tensed slightly.
Gnai: It certainly could have been drawn to the planet by some form of emissions like that, yes…
That wasn’t a line of reasoning that Gnai was very thrilled to chase down, however. If the planet was emitting the particles needed to feed the wormhole and precipitate its own destruction… was it their fault that they lost Galador I? Had Galadoran technology drawn the wormhole in, destroying their home with their hubris?
Imril: It’s speculation, again, I know. I’m just looking for something that the computer will accept as sufficient to initiate a simulation at this point. We can swap in other factors after we get one.
Gnai: ::gesturing for its PADD back:: Wait, this might have something that would help. Galadoran technology is… slightly different from that found in the Federation. Perhaps it was something to do with that which produced the fuel for the wormholes rapid expansion.
Imril: This is fascinating stuff. Really. I’d have to study this form of computing, though, how it developed before and after the planet’s destruction, before I can work it into all of this. “”Tlaking to themself:: How can you improve upon a water-based computing by generating greater energy…?
All this technological talk was over Gnai’s head, so it waited patiently as Ens. Imril talked to themself, working out their train of thought. At least the information on the PADD had seemed to give them some inspiration, so Gnai didn’t feel totally useless in the conversation. Engineering was not its wheelhouse (whatever that meant).
Imril: All of those ships, full of all of that water, moving all of that mass… The only way these velocity numbers make any sense is if the ships were putting out power levels of… Fusion Engines! There’s your nuclear reactions right there! The more slapdash the build -- and I think we can safely assume your ancestors were building in a hurry -- the more neutrinos emitted as result of inefficient reactions!
Ens. Imril’s excitement was a bit contagious (one of the few things that was for Gnai, trapped in its own little suit and separated from the rest of the world), and Gnai found itself glowing with a bit of surprise.
Gnai: Oh, yes, of course! That would make sense, at the base of Anan City, which used to be one of the ships, there are a few large fusion chambers. For the voyage across the stars, even more power was needed than usual, or so the story goes…
Where it left off, Ens. Imril picked the thread of discovery right back up.
Imril: Cause and effect. The ancient Galadorans detect a wormhole, determine its a danger to the system, to themselves, and build up a fleet to survive it. A fleet whose very existence drew the wormhole towards their world like a hungry scavenger. Escaping the planet accelerated its destruction.
That was a mildly sobering thought, but it made sense.
Gnai: This presumes that gives you enough for your starting simulation?
It accepted the PADD back from Ens. Imril, stowing it away as they tapped commands into the holodeck. Apparently the humanoid assumption that all starships were flooded with gas had been the issue, as Galadoran ships would have behaved differently, especially with their fusion propulsion and power system.
Imril: Computer, initiate simulation utilizing the supplied aquatic starship parameters. Highlight all planets, planetary dwarves, and moons large enough to be spherical in the same manner as my journal program.
As they spoke, their platform turned into the surface of a moon, with a planet in the near distance, and the rest of the “sky” filled out with other planets, then stars, including the main star of this system, supposedly Galador I. Then, out of the darkness, ribbons of light unfolded, revealing the wormhole’s location before the destruction of the planet. Gnai shivered a bit in its tank, the tendrils that hung below its main body flicking every which way.
Gnai: ::at a loss for words:: It’s… wow.
Imril: Response
This was its true home planet, where the original Galadoran hive mind had been born, grown as a society, thrived, and then escaped from. So much history had been left there, and more had been lost in the immediate aftermath of the destruction, when the world had shattered the hive mind and left the Galadorans all separate from each other.
Gnai: Looking at the past like this… Galador I has been lost to Galadoran society for so long.
Sure, it was an important place for them, but it was also… minorly taboo. Most of the rest of the Galadorans were of the mind that the resting place of the hive mind should be left alone, at least until they’d achieved that status again, if they ever would. But Gnai, as a scientist, couldn’t leave well enough alone. That was part of why it had left in the first place, its eccentricities made it chafe against the rest of society, and it needed to leave to grow, just as the Galadorans had needed to do so many centuries ago.
Imril: Response
It couldn’t tear its gaze from the holodeck, even if it knew that what it saw wasn’t real, and was just a recreation based on educated guesses.
Gnai: This thinks that this is enough progress for today. Perhaps the next quest can be figuring out the sub-surface conditions, and recreating buildings and the like. ::pause:: But not today. This just wants to… take it in, if that’s acceptable?
Imril: Response
Lowering its tank down to the ground, Gnai “sat” in silence, looking out at the stars and the planets and the wormhole. It was, as it had said before, beautiful.
Tags/End Scene for Gnai! :)
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