Address to the Science Department

[Joy 0]

Address to the Science Department

Joy Twelve

 

 

OK, everybody. I have some projects. I'm going to assume we're here for a long term stay. Might be a false assumption, but it seems prudent to plan long term than to assume problems will go away. In my experience, energy beings will occasionally do one a favor, but one shouldn't count on them, shouldn't become dependent on them. Thus, let's work the basics.

 

One objective is bread. We have a surplus of grass and grains, from here to the horizon, in every direction. I know vaguely that the seeds can be ground to powder, mixed with water and other stuff, heated, and be converted to bread. Doing so requires containers for mixing and heating, ovens and fuel. I'd like one team to figure out what we have, what can be improvised, and what we can do without.

 

I'd like a second team to survey local wildlife. Grass evolves on most planets specifically to survive getting eaten. Cut it off right at the root, and it will grow back. There would be no need for such an ability to evolve if there was nothing around eating it. Thus, if we are in a naturally evolved ecology, there ought to be something similar to mice, cattle or vegi-saurus wandering around. And if there are mice, cattle and vegi-saurus, there ought to be hawks, wolves or meat-saurus. And if there are not, we might well not be in a naturally evolved ecology, and I'd like to know that.

 

I'd like a third team thinking about technology and resources. This much grass, and there ought to be water about. How do we get at it? Is there a stream or pond nearby? Would anyone know how to recognize a flint deposit, or how to shape it if they found it? Can we find any sticks worth sharpening? Are there any useful ores nearby with low enough melting points that we might refine metals?

 

I have work for stellar cartography. I want a small basic stonehenge style observatory. I want a pole in the ground, and someone to mark where the shadows traverse. After dark, I want to find the pole star or the pole constellation. I want to note exactly where the sun rises and sets over a period of several weeks, perhaps longer. Basically, the weather seems quite pleasant right now, but we don't know how far we are from the equator, or how strong the axial tilt is. I want a guess as to what winter is like. I'd also like people to find the Milky Way's disk and Andromeda. I hope we are somewhere near Bajor, but would like to confirm it. Also, I'd like to draft anyone native to Bajor who might know their night sky. If they can recognize bright stars and constellations, we might learn a bit more of our location.

 

I'd also like ideas on locating or building medium small mirrors or lenses. I seem to have survived without damage, but every phaser and tricorder seems dysfunctional. I'm hoping the phasers are functional enough to use their solar recharge ability. If so, I can run indefinitely. If not, you will have me for a week or so. A few mirrors or lenses might amplify the sunlight sufficiently to hasten recharge. Without them, I will be conserving energy. If necessary, call on me for truly heavy lifting, but that would rapidly deplete my power.

 

Many of us, at least on the bridge, had either visions or hallucinations while we were in the wormhole. Someone ought to be talking to everyone here comparing notes about what each of us saw and heard. The more we all saw and heard the same thing, the more we can say visions rather than hallucinations. My working theory is visions. The obvious source would be the Prophets. While normally, as a rule of thumb, I assume intervention by energy beings should be reserved as a last resort explanation for any phenomena, I am at a loss for mundane explanations for why we are here and how we got here. Be my guest. Come up with alternate theories. From what little I heard in wormhole, we have a task to perform, or a test to pass. Conjecture on the nature of the task or test might be a background task.

 

That's what I've got. I'm open to suggestions on what I missed. Beyond that, let's form teams by specialty and start at it.