A Wrinkle in Time

[Cmdr JFarrington 0]

A Wrinkle in Time

 

“Chroniton particles?” Had Jami Farrington been in her right mind the computer’s response to her off-hand question may have made sense.

 

Or not.

 

Chroniton particles had a nasty habit of showing up with temporal anomalies and certainly should have been present during their time shifts, but chroniton particles were not supposed to affect humans or humanoids; they were not supposed to lead to scrambled-brain syndrome. They had been known to lodge themselves in ship’s hulls and create all kinds of havoc with the systems of the ships that used cloaking and phasing devices. But to the Commander’s knowledge they had not been using their cloak. Or maybe they had and didn’t realize it, like when they fought the pirates in the 19th century, or maybe when they tried to keep the Japanese Zeros at bay.

 

Did I mention that Jami was confused?

 

“The crew is suffering from chroniton degeneration,” continued the computer. “The cure would be flooding the ship with antichroniton particles, which should suffice until the next temporal disruption.”

Until the next one. Great. She looked at Dr. Mele, who seemed to be just as confused as she.

 

“Oh. Wait,” he said, with a facial expression that reminded Jami of her lab partner during Academy finals. “Computer, the next temporal distortion. When will that be?”

 

“There is insufficient data for that determination.”

 

Great. Just great.

 

“Computer, can we . . . um . . . release some of that stuff into the air?” said Kyle.

 

Jami turned to him, nodding, “What it said.”

 

“The ah . . . what it was?”

 

“Let’s do that thing.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Computer, do it!” Jami shouted, looking rather like a third grader who had just gotten the correct answer.

 

“Yeah,” said Kyle.

 

Did I mention they were both confused?

 

“Please specify the action you wish to perform.”

 

Ye gods...

 

“What you just said! The anti-time-travel thing. Chromosomes?” Said Kyle, hopefully. But when the computer did not respond, he added in exasperation, “You remember! Check your logs!”

 

“You wish to flood the ship with antichroniton particles to counteract the affects of time jumping?”

 

Jami scrunched up her face, “Is that what we want to do?”

 

“Yes, computer. That one!” Kyle was triumphant.

 

Within seconds the ship flooded with anti-chroniton particles and the mental state of the crew reached a more balanced state – not to be confused with a totally balanced state, which is seldom reached aboard a black-ops ship. It was definitely a lesson learned, and Jami made a quick note of the problem and solution should they need it again before their time trek ended.

 

In her more balanced state she realized that this time-jumping had better come to an end very soon. The computer’s statement until the next temporal disruption led her to believe that every time they jumped they ran the risk of mental aberrations. And that, quite frankly, was unacceptable.