1stLt Samuel Woolheater – A New Axis
Radamio
((Liminal Station, a travel pod - Marohu III))
The alien technology was both wondrous and worrisome. And while recent events may have been to their liking, there were no guarantees here. These were different people who built this place and this world. They thought differently, and what was simple and clear 90,000 years ago was anything but simple and clear now.
The Colonel’s arms were folded as the geo-spatial hologram slowly spun on its global axis.
Thasho had activated something that looked like an interface. Dapsis was working to understand what they were seeing and sharing the results with the Colonel. The other Lance stood on the outside of the pod, still guarding the group by listening and watching. And Sam saw Jania Nis looking at the control console as well. He saw her differently now. He appreciated her differently. It was Greaves' voice that drew his attention back to the matter at hand.
Greaves: Must be waiting for us to select a destination.
There was a low rumble beneath his feet. The feeling of something massive that was waking up. A low rumble and the vibration that carried beneath their feet.
Nis: It’s a great point, sir. What about the dream part? That’s the part we haven’t done.
Woolheater: I don’t know how relevant this is, but, for some species, the dream world is just as real…maybe even more real than the waking world. What happens in one is just as valid and ‘real’ as what happens out here in the waking world.
Greaves: I don’t know about you, but I’m not thrilled about taking a nap down here in order to dream. Maybe it’s not so literal. Could we just imagine a place?
Even as the Colonel spoke with that unflappable, calm voice of his, the holographic map seemed to react. Or it was becoming impatient. With alien technology like this, how could one tell?
Samuel observed that many of the ‘stations’ on the grid were most active when they came to Greaves. And Sam cocked his head as a thought entered his mind. Knowing your destination was not guesswork. A physical place existed in three-dimensional space. Maybe one could “fudge” dancing, but imagining a location might have to be a precision kind of task. And that thought sparked another, travel, at least human travel, always came down to geometry.
Woolheater: It used to be, if you wanted to go somewhere, you had to know three things: where you were, where you were going, and how to get there. That’s three dimensions right there. X, Y, Z, simple geometry. Add time to that, and you’ve got the full map: when you leave, when you arrive. But, at the Academy, we learned how subspace changed all that.
All I need to know is when. The ‘where’ doesn’t matter anymore…it’s not even a real thing. The subspace relays made communicating over great distances meaningless.
Well…what if that’s how this works? You don’t move your body; you move your mind. You don’t walk; you link. You don’t arrive…you sync.
It’s like… ugh…I don’t have the words… It's like…bah....I dunno...the universe added another axis. It used to be space-time. Now it’s space-time…imagination…dreaming? A fifth dimension, made of signal and intent.
Nis: Response
Greaves: Even without knowing the location, maybe we can imagine a place based on these names. We know the tech here reacts to thoughts and feelings, and these location names seem figurative rather than literal. It should be enough if you’ve got a good imagination.
Woolheater saw the Colonel take a step back and wanted to say, oO Where you goin’? Oo
But, he decided against such a statement.
Nis: Response
Woolheater: Well, the “tracks” or whatever these are going on a few hundred meters up to those tunnels, and one would assume…out. We could go scan those tunnels and see where they go. Look, Sam indicated on his combat tricorder (CT) to a pathway between the tracks:: I can follow here. Get a scan…maybe…scout ahead. See what’s up?
Sam looked to the Colonel for the OK. And it seemed like Greaves didn’t dismiss it. But he hadn’t approved it yet either.
Greaves: I think this is a good time to go collect everyone from upstairs. This place is more defensible and hidden than the dome, and I’d feel better about trying this transit system all together.
Nis: Response
Woolheater: Copy that. We can retrace our steps, Colonel. Collect the rest in a group again. There might be some difficulty with the Algae area…but.
Greaves/Nis: Response?
As Woolheater was thinking about having to go back into the area with the algae-like stuff, a thought occurred to him. He stopped, inclined his head to the right as the idea formed. What if Doctor Nis could make the algae stuff into a wide and long enough conveyor belt-like…thing? The image in his mind was like one saw on the Starbase concourse. Not having to carry those people on their backs all the way down here was growing on him.
Woolheater: Welp, if we can’t fly, maybe we can hitch a ride.
Greaves/Nis: Response?
He turned and looked at both and then spoke to her.
Woolheater: Jania? Do you think you can talk to the algae…thing? I’ve got an idea of how we can move everybody from the dome to here. If they will help us? What we need is to make a conveyor belt. From the dome to this place. And if you can convince that algae folk to do that, well sir, maybe we earned out keep for today?
Greaves/Nis: Response?
Sam thought that Jania looked thoughtful, he could see the wheels turning.
He glanced at the ground again, where they had danced earlier.
Woolheater: ::muttering under his breath:: Back on the Starbase, they got those moving walkways. I always thought they were for lazy folks who didn’t wanna walk.
He gave the faintest grin, shaking his head.
Woolheater: Guess I finally found a good use for a 'lazy belt'.
::beat::
The floor pulsed once, like it had heard him.
Sam’s grin faded.
Woolheater: Oh hell. It understood that, didn’t it?
Tags/TBC
Scout Sniper / Infantry Officer
MARDET, Starfleet Marine Corps
USS Octavia E. Butler NCC-82850