I'm Going Home

[Atragon9 0]

::Sitting at his desk in his Ready Room, he is looking over the plans and proposals from his Engineering and Science teams as well as reports from the Coxeter crew::

 

Computer, open Personal Log, Admiral Atragon-9, Commanding officer, USS Manticore, NCC-5852-A, password *********

 

[whirr, click]

 

So, it's all very preliminary and we have no idea how long it could take to get this constructed AND adapted to the Manticore, but it now looks like the Tesseract drive may have one more job to do - get us home.

 

The Engineering gobbledy-gook of how this drive works is way beyond me, but the Engineering for Command Dummies version I heard is that since they can fold time, just like the warp engine folds space, they should be able to fold dimensions. Yes, that's a really big "SHOULD," but I have latched onto this as our goal, our target, Our Mission. We don't belong here, no matter how close it is to our universe. There is no telling how much damage we have done to these other Universes with our travels, but I know we are not of here. The longer we stay, the worse our twisting will become. I'm sure that the psychological trauma that would result from people stepping into alternate versions of their lives would be catastrophic. I hope that Counselor Jaxa and the rest of the Medical team are working on how to deal with crew issues. I wonder if I should ask Jami to assist them? I suppose that we should also entertain requests for people to stay behind, on the Coxeter, especially if they came aboard since our last jump and this *IS* their world.

 

All of these are open to choices, but leaving the ship and the majority of the crew here - that is *NOT* open for any choice. We go home or we die trying. I also am going to be asking the Science team to assist the Engineers with their tests once the Hexaco engine has been installed on Manticore and... ::siiigh:: after our warp engines are removed. It is going to be quite a task to get our engines removed AND attached to the Coxeter, so that they can get out of the sector so we don't destroy them like they destroyed "their" Manticore. I'm glad that Captain Weyl is in agreement with me on this and that his crew is made of of so many engineers! I wonder if warp engines have ever been removed or added to a ship that wasn't in a drydock before. If this works, we can't tell anyone about it - too many questions. Weyl is also excited because he figures we will either take his engine out of his universe or destroy it, along with ourselves. No matter how it turns out, he wins! Then again, what if this engine is being designed in our Universe, too?

 

::He sits back and squeezes his eyes closed for just a moment:: I suppose I haven't really been sleeping too well, lately, but I want to keep the same hours as Weyl and keep up with him as best as I can - or maybe I'm just slowing him down. ::shakes his head and opens up his eyes again to look back at the PADDs::

 

All I know is that we need to get... Out of this place! Wow, I *MUST* be tired if I am suddenly thinking back to that classic Terran 2D vid of the late 20th Century:

 

"On the day I went away,

goodbye was all I had to say.

Now I want to come again and stay,

smile, and that will mean that I may.

 

Everywhere it's been the same,

Feeling like I'm outside in the rain.

 

And I realize... I'm going home."

 

Computer, EOM, EOT

 

[whirr, click]