Ensign Morton: The Ghost of the Aperture
James
((Cockpit, Runabout Kindred))
Commander Lhandon had assembled a small team of scientists to study the remains of the wormhole and investigate whether there was a way to send all the alternate universe people home to their own universes. Vala wasn’t too sure why she had been included - it appeared her work with Commander Arlill’s team had given people a false impression of her skillset. She was no kind of expert on wormhole theory, and she had somehow managed to muddle through with Commander Arlill’s team and contributed just enough to scrape through and help them get home. Here she was again, out of her depth, out of her comfort zone and surrounded by people with more experience and knowledge than her.
Morton: oO Well, it was a good run. Now I really am going to get found out for the fraud that I am. Bernadette will be thrilled. Oo
Yes, she had taken advanced Astrophysics and she had scraped through, barely passing the course. She understood the basic principles of wormholes; learned about Einstein-Rosen bridges, and general relativity. She could recognise when something didn’t make sense scientifically and consult with experts or AI databases to expand her knowledge in a mission-critical moment.
Morton: oO Look Morton, get a grip. You don’t have to be the premiere expert in the room. And you’re not working with nothing. You’ve got your secret weapons: perseverance and determination. Oo
The Butler was carrying a number of understandably frustrated people stranded in the wrong universe. Finding a way to send them home was a worthy pursuit so if Vala could help make that happen for them she would do everything she reasonably could to make that happen.
Nilsen: We've still got ten minutes until we arrive at the coordinates. Have you folks got everything?
Brzezinski: It’d be better if I had a neural amplifier and variable frequency subspace pulse generator.
Vala took that in for a moment. Ah yes, she had heard people talking about how Brzezinski had connected mentally with other versions of herself. The haliian wondered what that experience had been like? Was it like being part of a hive mind? Having access to multiple versions of yourself surely magnified your problem-solving capability considerably. Having never been part of a hive mind it was still hard to adequately imagine, but she did wonder if the neuroscientist was missing the link. Vala argued with herself enough already, she didn’t need more versions of herself to argue with.
Morton: I’m good.
Tasen: Response
Iliac: The equipment you have here is bad enough. If not used properly, you could easily tear a hole in the time-space continuum.
What a vote of confidence… Vala couldn’t speak for anyone else but she certainly wasn’t planning on using any of this equipment improperly, or irresponsibly. And she certainly wasn’t planning on tearing a hole in the time-space continuum. Vala was on-board with helping to return people to their correct universe, but the only way she could think of to do so would be to create more wormholes. She wondered if there was a way to get the crystal to help them with that. Doctor Nis had already proved that it could be healed. Maybe there was a way of using it in a more controlled manner?
Still Vala would have preferred not to have any people from other universes here in the first place. There was never any guarantee that this universe’s crew would be able to send them back. She wasn’t in love with the idea of leaving people stranded in the other universe given the issues with people trafficking but that didn’t necessarily make it their responsibility to bring all these people back here. Especially with no clear way to help them go back to where they belonged. If only those crystals hadn’t been smashed… The Haliian still hadn’t worked out what decisions she would have made. She could see the problem from multiple perspectives and was quite glad not to have been responsible for those decisions.
Nilsen: Well, we can't really turn back now, I think we can bash something together. V, I meant to ask, how did you end up with our lot?
Vala decided to take that statement loosely. She had no intention of ‘bashing something together’ as that implied they would be roughly assembling a solution. You could tell Lhandon was not a scientist. As far as she was concerned and especially with the stakes being so high, only exact, carefully considered work would do.
Morton: I was assigned here.
The tone of her voice suggested the answer to the question was surely obvious and why are you even asking? It was like when humans asked each other ‘How are you?’ but they don’t really want to know the truth. It was more of a social ritual. A way of limiting the silence between two or more people that they often seemed so uncomfortable with. The correct answer, she had eventually learned, was ‘Fine’, or similar. She certainly wouldn’t have had the audacity to request such a prestigious posting. This was a ship that could have its pick of the very best and brightest or an already excellent pool of candidates. Vala had no idea how she ended up getting so lucky.
Tasen: Response
Nilsen: That stuff in the OC at the end of the mission with the crystal sounded trippy. What about you, Tasen? Did you request the OEB specifically?
Vala nodded. It was trippy!
Tasen: Response
Iliac: I was assigned.
Brzezinski: I requested any Sagan-class. Artifact technology and advanced neurologic circuitry.
Nice. Vala could see the appeal and it was great that she got what she wanted, too. The Haliian was excited to be working with this group. Even if she had her doubts about what she could contribute to the effort.
Nilsen/Tasen: Response
Brzezinski: Is this a social hall or a science experiment? Let’s get the first point of triangulation defined!
Vala managed to stifle the chuckle but couldn’t keep the smile from her face. She adjusted her posture, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear and refocusing on the console in front of her. Outside, the viewscreen showed nothing but the starfield, cold and still. There wasn’t even the shimmer of a wake where the wormhole had been, just empty space, like the event had never happened. But Vala knew better. Wormholes didn’t vanish cleanly. Not completely.
Morton: I can begin a scan for residual gravimetric distortions. Even a collapsed wormhole can leave behind trace subspace lattice damage. We might be able to use that as our first anchor point. If there's anything to find, it'll be subtle.
Nilsen/Tasen: Response.
Iliac: Make sure that doesn’t go above two point eighty-three picometers per torus manifold!
She tapped a few commands into her panel, calling up a series of diagnostic overlays. The Haliian glanced toward Iliac’s station, then checked the corresponding readout on her own console.
Morton: We're holding at two point seven-nine, well within tolerance. I’ll flag an alert if it spikes.
Nilsen/Tasen/Brzezinski: Response
The readings were sparse, but there was something. A faint distortion. Not enough to be dangerous, but enough to suggest the wormhole’s signature hadn’t fully dissipated.
Morton: Picking up a weak echo near the edge of the event perimeter. Might be our point one. Want me to mark it?
Nilsen/Tasen/Brzezinski: Response
She watched the sensor trace stabilise, a barely-there shimmer in the data feed pulsing like an afterimage. Her brow furrowed as she enhanced the contrast and let the computer run a deeper spectral analysis.
Morton: There’s something strange about the signature... it's not just residual distortion. The waveform looks partially coherent, like it’s trying to stabilise into something, but can’t quite lock on.
Nilsen/Tasen/Brzezinski: Response
Morton: ::She leaned forward in her seat:: Hmm. Well. If the wormhole’s remnants are still interacting with local subspace, we might be looking at a fragment of the aperture trying to reassert itself. Could be dangerous. Could also be a potential access point.
Nilsen/Tasen/Brzezinski: Response
Science Officer
USS Octavia E Butler NCC-82850
O240205VM3