Coding

Posted on Fri Aug 21st, 2020 @ 4:23am by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Commander Elias Walker & Lieutenant Kevin Chambers & Lieutenant Arev & Lieutenant Joshua Arras
Edited on on Wed Aug 26th, 2020 @ 10:08pm

1,440 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 3 - Coming Full Circle
Location: Science Lab

Cindy's long legs were visible when she came into the science lab before the rest of her body. Upon entering, she looked at Arev's busy lab. The Chief Engineer, her XO, and Chief Medical Officer also were all in the lab. In a slightly more serious tone than people were used to hearing Cindy speak, she called out, as she walked in, "So, how are we coming on the dimensional coding?"

Elias stood towards the back of the group to watch and listen. Coding wasn’t his area of expertise to he was eager to hear what the crew had come up with in answer to the current problem.

"We are making steady progress", Arev said. "The one major issue is obtaining the baseline of so many people so there is no variance due to the time we take the baseline and the time the markers are injected."

Kevin Chambers, still a little out of sorts after running into his counterpart on the other Legacy. The one the Captain seemed to have knowledge of. The only individual who might be a constant, perhaps the only constant in their present situation.

Joshua was on the meeting, why exactly he didn't know. The only thing he had to offer was medical advice, and at the moment, his skills weren't needed.

"It seems, or at least seems to me that when we do not hit turbulence, that we seem to have our crew here. That gives us a fighting chance of getting this right," Cindy offered Arev. "Josh, how quickly can you get these into our crew? Do you have some sort of protocol to get everyone quickly injected?"

"Maybe two hours, using my entire staff, or of we can aerosolize it, it would take 10 minutes, captain." responded Arras.

"Unfortunately, Josh, this is going to have to be done by hand. If we used an aerosol, we might erroneously code a non-member of our Legacy. Then again, we might do that anyways, given our own memories may not be able to be trusted." Cindy looked at Arev and the XO and asked, "Can anyone think a way around that problem?"

"We could have a mass assembly", Arev replied. "We could probably collect the baseline and inject the markers relatively quickly this way and shifts in personnel would be noticed right away."

Kevin listened carefully, wondering if the Captain herself might hold the key. Some sort of energy wave or particle that was unique to each dimension. Or timeline. They were existing simultaneously... how could that be?

"This works, so long as we do not have anymore dimensions leak in. However, it seems that we will not have any control over that. We will have to work quickly," Cindy replied.

"Agreed", Arev replied simply. "If each person had a hypo-spray, it would be as simple as injecting the person next to you."

"I doubt we have that many but the risks remain the same. Can we find any correlation between the time when we get the other realities mixing?"

"The risks do remain the same", Arev replied. "However, in a mass assembly and everyone working in unison, it should greatly reduce the risk. Of availability of hypospray units is an issue, we will have to do the best we can."

“Excuse me,” Kevin interjected. “Has anyone done any energy readings during our points of turbulence?” Nexuses could explain the crossovers, but there was no way to figure out who belonged where unless they determined which where was the [b]right[\b] where. “The other CEO from the other Legacy...” he shrugged, “I figured it was easier if we talked instead of her trying to shoot me.” And then he spun slowly to look at Cindy.

“It seems that you, Captain, knew my counterpart. Other memories intruded. You were a constant.” Looking around the room he asked, “Can we predict the next time wave?” He was sure it had a more involved and highly technical name that was hard to pronounce.”Because we might be able to determine the time shift by using the Captain’s energy output before, during and after one of those space speed bumps.”

‘Hey,’ thought Kevin. What could the suggestion cost him? He might or might not be with this crew when everything was sorted... one way or another.

"I could put a medical tag on the captain, that will allow me to watch her vital signs, and if she somehow changes timelines, I might, might, be able to still track her." Arras suggested.

"Why would I be constant?" Cindy asked, feeling like her theories might be blown. "There's nothing unique about me. At least, I don't think so."

“You’re the Captain of the Legacy in both timelines...” Kevin began. “You haven’t run into yourself, so it might be a good possibility that you are the constant point for The Legacy. That you are shifting like a fulcrum between our two ships in both times...” He started thinking that he might be full of it. But he couldn’t imagine not including this in his theory. “It just seemed important, Cap.” “Tain.”

"I'm a constant?" Cindy asked, wry humor in her voice. "I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at that thought. So, are you saying that I'm in several places at once?"

“Um.” Kevin stopped to consider his answer. “The simplest answer is yes.” Chuckling, he shrugged. “And no.” Rolling his eyes he began, “Let’s give the two timelines that are colliding the names, Alpha and Beta.” Scanning the group, he continued, “The Alpha CEO is me... and the Beta CEO is a woman who loves herself a phaser and some classical music. That information came from Captain Alpha... but how?” He warmed to his subject, “Because Captain Alpha is Captain Beta. And at certain points during the eddies of time we’re experiencing, we coexist with our Beta counterparts. So does the Captain.”

"But why me? Why not any of you?" Cindy asked at this revelation. "How does this make sense?"

Arras looked up. "Speaking as a medical man, it does seem that you," he looked at Cindy, "are somehow the central focus of the time shifts, why?...I don't know."

"It is widely believed that every choice we make or avoid, creates a new parallel dimension", Arev said. "It is also believed that some people's actions impact those dimensions more than others in some fashion or the other. I believe the scientist Armand called these people nodes within the space/time continuum. If we subscribe to that theory, you may be one of these nodes in one fashion or the other."

"A node?" Cindy asked curiously. "So, does that make me irreplaceable? And either way, what does that make all of you?"

"I think the term is 'canon fodder', captain." Arras looked around the room.

"I wouldn't put it so crudely", Arev said. "but it is pretty accurate. Not every individual's decision impact time and space equally at a given point in time. In additions, nodes according to theory are not necessarily permanent."

"I would not want to harm any one of you," Cindy replied concerned. "You're all valuable to me. And we need to make sure that you all stay that way."

“Agreed.” The First Officer said chiming into the conversation. “Is there anyway to test this node first?”

“Have we been monitoring the time shifts?” Kevin asked. Irreplaceable might be an overstatement, but he remembered that moment he stood on the precipice of a momentous decision. He guessed, or hoped, that his not being aboard the alternative Legacy was due to a decision of his own rather than his lack of breath altogether.

“Because time still moves in predictable ways, as would these eddies, no?”

"All space and time runs by a set of rules," Cindy agreed. "So, we must be able to solve it. Think. When do we experience the dimensional shifts? I think it is every time we're approaching the rift of another space time ripple. Does that coincide with your observations, everyone?"

Arev simply nodded. He wasn't going to speak of knowledge gained before their time if he didn't have to. Even his people, ambitious as they were, knew not to tamper with time when not necessary.

Cindy replied urgently, "Then we should be able to calculate when the next wave comes and get everyone coded before or after it. Let's work quickly, people. We're running out of time and we still have to figure out how to correct the problem even after we sort the crew out."

Arev nodded and said, "We will get it tended to."

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