LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - Synthesis Through Completion (Part II)

[Tim]

((Museum Row, Dangan Prime, Alpha Isles))

They stopped before a large structure whose signage resembled interlocking shapes. Connor tilted his head slightly.

Museum of Jigsaw Puzzles Across the Quadrant. He blinked. Jigsaws were still a thing? He could not remember the last time he has had the luxury of dedicating hours to assembling something that was not broken.

C. Dewitt: If we’re looking for something constructive, there’s an engineering exhibit three buildings down. ::pause:: Structural design across frontier colonies. Might be more… applicable.

Another pause. Maybe not everything had to be productive.

C. Dewitt: But Jigsaws sound fun, too.

Nicholotti: As long as it doesn't have anything to do with politics or changing governments or the like.

Naxell: After you!

Connor stepped aside slightly, gesturing toward the entrance.

C. Dewitt: Lead the way, Admiral.

The door slid downward, becoming part of a shadowed puzzle beneath transparent flooring. Connor glanced at it briefly, assessing the mechanism automatically before stepping inside.

Nicholotti: At least they are creative with it.

Naxell: Responses?

Connor scanned the lobby, four colored wings branching outward.

Nicholotti: Pick a color, any color.

Connor’s eyes drifted across the options before settling on yellow. It was no conscious choice.

C. Dewitt: Yellow.

Naxell: Response

Connor shrugged.

C. Dewitt: Seems efficient.

The Admiral grinned and stepped in that direction.

Nicholotti: Off we go then.

Connor followed, hands clasped loosely behind his back without realising how much he must look like this father like this.

Naxell: Response

((Museum of Jigsaw Puzzles Across the Quadrant, Dangan Prime, Alpha Isles))

The yellow wing opened into a chamber far less static than Connor had expected.

Instead of glass cases and placards, the room was divided into three recessed alcoves arranged in a rough triangle. Each contained a suspended puzzle. One mechanical, one holographic, one kinetic. Above them, the ceiling curved into a dark dome, currently unlit.

A placard near the entrance read: Synthesis Through Completion. Solve Three to reveal more than their sum.

C. Dewitt: Poetic.

Naxell/Nicholotti: Responses

Connor stepped toward the mechanical one. Interlocking metallic segments floated within a containment field, rotating along the same axes. At first glance, it was just a three-dimensional jigsaw, but the interior edges carried faint conductive lines.

C. Dewitt: It’s a puzzle. ::pause:: But also a circuit.

Naxell/Nicholotti: Responses

The pieces resisted until aligned correctly. When two segments clicked into place, Connor immediately felt rewarded. He adjusted a third, watching the internal conduits line up. The moment the final segment locked, a clean pulse of light traveled along the seams.

He grinned. Genuienly.

C. Dewitt: That completes the power connection for something.

He glanced upward at the still-dark dome above them.

C. Dewitt: I’m guessing the other two feed into whatever we’re meant to see.

Naxell/Nicholotti: Responses

His hands slipped back into his pockets as he watched the faint energy flow stabilize within the mechanism, then he turned toward the other two alcoves watching Nicholotti and Naxell.

Connor exhaled slowly. Three systems. One result.

TAG/TBC

LtCmdr Connor Dewitt
First Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3