Ensign Meris: Listening to the Dark
Meris/Brian
OOC: Removing Ral tags since Jason indicated they would be unavailable 11/13 to 11/25.
(( Bridge, USS Thor ))
Meris felt the tension shift from confusion to possibility as the Thor scaled back its subspace output and the anomaly continued to drift with quiet, sedentary movements. The more they watched, the more it felt as if the ship had stumbled onto something alive, or at least patterned enough to give that impression. When the probe’s pulses were echoed back with the same deliberate spacing, Meris felt a cautious spark of wonder rise beneath the unease. Whatever this phenomenon was, it seemed to be listening, and that possibility gave every decision an added ounce of importance.
Meris: Commander, I suggest we switch to a mathematical sequence to test the sentience of this... of what we have detected. We can transmit the first six prime numbers. If they are sentient, they should recognize that the sequence is non-random and can continue it, demonstrating an understanding of divisibility and critical thinking.
Herrick seemed to weigh the suggestion.
Herrick: Do it. Lieutenant, bring the comms system back online. Just enough power for a transmission.
Meris’ fingers glided over the console, keying in the modulation sequence. A low hum filled the air as the transmission array cycled back to life.
Meris: Two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen.
Seconds stretched. Then a full minute.
Meris: No response from either patch. I'll transmit again. Two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen.
The bridge was still around them. It seemed everyone on the command deck was curious to see what would happen.
Meris: Commander, we are getting a return message. Two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen.
Herrick: That’s not an echo, is it? Check for latency in the signal chain.
Meris: Wait... there’s more coming through... seventeen, nineteen, twenty-three, twenty-nine, thirty-one, thirty-seven. Commander, I believe we have made first contact.
Herrick: If they’re still transmitting, they might expect us to reply in kind. Though we should ante it up beyond maths.
oO Beyond maths? Math is the universal constant. What else do they expect us to try? Oo
Meris: I could try transmitting linguacode...
Herrick: Do it. Slowly. No sudden power jumps. We don’t want them thinking we’re posturing. Let’s see if they keep talking... or if they’re waiting for something else.
The pilot's hands moved carefully across the helm console, isolating the outgoing carrier wave and aligning it with the lowest stable subspace band. They were a capable Operations Officer but they were no replacement for a trained and certified linguist or communications specialist. They adjusted modulation strength, watching for any spike that might be a telltale sign of distress from the radiation patches. Satisfied that the transmission would not cause the potential entities any undue stress, they initiated the linguacode sequence and monitored the sensor feedback for any sign of reaction.
Meris: Transmitting now, Commander.
The navigational sensors briefly registered something but then quickly blinked out. A faint vibration rippled through the hull. It was not violent, but strong enough to signal that it originated from outside the Thor. The helm console flickered in front of them as the bridge lights also flickered and then went out.
Herrick: What just happened?
Meris: I briefly detected something from the direction of the nearest two radiation patches before navigational sensors were knocked out. I'm resetting them now.
Herrick: Response.
Meris was surprised to find that some of the ODN conduits powering the sensors had ruptured, causing them to go offline. They rerouted the power flow, bypassing two overloaded sensor clusters, and forced a manual reboot of the nav array. The console flickered, recalibrated, then resolved into a navigational grid repopulated with starfield markers and telemetry. They ran a quick integrity check, confirming that the readings were genuine, and then set about validating their location by comparing their current position to known astrometric charts of the region.
Meris: Commander, our relative position has changed. Distance to our probe has increased by over 2,000 light years, and our position relative to VX-LON-3 has also changed. ::pause:: Commander, I believe the radiation patch has... repelled both us and our probe from its immediate vicinity.
Herrick: Response.
The J’naran pilot had accessed the probe’s systems once again as Commander Herrick spoke. What they found surprised them.
Meris: Sir, our probe is no longer transmitting though I do still have control of it. I suggest we recall and recover it. Examination of the probe might provide valuable clues as to what happened.
Herrick: Response.
(( Tags/TBC ))
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Ensign Meris
Helmsperson
USS Thor
A240207M14