"A Day of Study"

[Dox Maturin 0]

"A Day of Study"

Duty Log - 0705.22

 

The Question

 

Assistant science officer's log, stardate 0705.221. Lieutenant Copper has assigned me to oversee the sili-decim research project. I have forwarded the scan details of the Dominion transmitter to engineering, and so far they report moderate success in determining its use. After speaking with several members of the staff directly, several theories have emerged. Most interesting is that the chamber was built and operated by the Scorpiad. I intend to test this theory further.

 

The Debriefing

 

Assistant science officer's log, stardate 0705.223. With the temporary absence of chief science officer Craven, I have been ordered to lead the sili-decim research project for the science department. After checking the personnel records, I have enlisted the assistance of the newly assigned Ensign Xandrex Xoril to aid in the investigation. It is my recommendation that Xoril inquire into other departments to familiarize himself with the Scorpiad threat in addition to reviewing the available research materials. Science will be working closely with engineering on this project, and already many strides have been made.

 

The Number

 

Assistant science officer's log, stardate 0705.225. After hearing the report from engineering regarding the immense power output of the transmitter, coupled with the information that this sector had once been held by the Scorpiad, I pursued the theory that the chamber had been a Scorpiad facility, rather than Dominion. I came to realize that my interpretation of the transmitter panel had been incorrect. I believed that the transmitter would send a signal if it had not been reset every 108 minutes.

 

This number alone was quite odd, as it was not an even or significant number in the Dominion or Scorpiad number system. Humans for example, base many of their numbers on even divisions of ten. 10, 100, and so forth. 108 in the Dominion integer table would be a human equivilent of a sixteenth place fraction. Quite a peculiar number.

 

The Days

 

Assistant science officer's log, stardate 0705.226. I cross-referenced the number with the Dominion time chart. Their days are referenced by divisions within the day, rather than successive numbers. Their official days are also quite shorter. A translation of 108 minutes could in fact be 63 days. I then considered the Scorpiad influence. If it had been a Scorpiad facility, this new clock would have been insignificant for them. However for some reason, the panels and the labels were translated to Dominion prior to its evacuation. If I recalculate to Scorpiad time from the new Dominion time, we see that the transmitter was actually set to send a signal after 854 years with a margin of error based on a whole 108 number being less precise than the retranslated year, of 8 years. I do not understand the significance of a failsafe needing to be manually reset every 850 years. There is something here that I am missing.

 

The Radiation

 

Assistant science officer's log, stardate 0705.227. Engineering reported the transmitter was creating waves of dangerous radiation. How anyone could survive working in such a place was beyond me. Could it be possible that the transmitter was not a part of the original facility? Could it be that the transmitter had been placed there only after it had been abandoned, perhaps hidden there amongst the ordinary equipment to keep it from being tampered with? What does this do to my theory that the transmitter was an emergency failsafe for the facility workers?

 

The Evacuation

 

Assistant science officer's log, stardate 0705.228. The history of Avalon is an interesting one, although most of it comes from somewhat unreliable Dominion archives. It would appear that this sector had indeed been once controlled by the Scorpiad. Many of the indigenous populations had remained however, including a subculture of the Sumatris, the architects of the cavern chamber we discovered. It is quite possible that as the evacuation took place, the Scorpiad relabeled and reprogrammed the equipment there to appear Dominion, in case it had been discovered, to avoid scrutiny. I located a reference to the mass evacuation of Avalon after incursion by Dominion forces. 857 years ago.

 

The Transmitter

 

Assistant science officer's log, stardate 0705.229. I have compiled my report. Our first priority must be to decrypt the message that the transmitter was sending. Now that we know it to be Scorpiad, our decryption efforts may have more luck, and I have forwarded this information to engineering. The transmitter. I once assumed it to be an emergency failsafe for an obsolete facility long abandoned, long forgotten. I was wrong. The transmitter, so out of place in the room, had nothing to do with the facility itself. It was not an emergency failsafe. It was a timer that had been counting down for 850 years.

 

And it just sent its message.

Edited May 21, 2007 by Ens Dox Maturin