The Ithaca: Her Future Past?

[Annabelle O'Halloran 0]

Sitting at the pool table in main engineering, Wade was in his usual posture: chair back as far is it would go, feet up on the desk and data PADD nearly touching his nose. Most of the empty space on the pool table was littered with PADDs, stacked and parted in a such a way so as to easily get at the consoles and readouts. The engineer’s lips moved quietly as his eyes scanned the document.

 

Anna sat across from Wade, busily tapping out the correction for the simulation program she was about to run for the umpteenth time. “It should have worked,” she said flatly and to no one in particular for at least the fourth time since she’d come to Main Engineering right after breakfast this morning. She wasn’t referring to the simulation, which so far wasn’t showing much promise that she was on the right track for getting the Ithaca truly stabilized. She was still highly irritated and somewhat confused as to why the deflector shields’ exciting of the chronometric particles hadn’t created the correct intensity required to create a time vortex. A time vortex that should have stabilized the Ithaca to the same time frame as the Reaent. Actually, what was irritating her so much was that she was so confused. She wanted to have options ready for McQueen and Ridire. The Reaent was more powerful than the Ithaca's Saber Class. If they entered the time bubble to match the same time would they be trapped or would they be able to collapse the bubble and rejoin the normal time stream? Could the Ithaca be stabilized? If so, could the time passed be reversed? Where was the Ithaca crew?

 

Murray leaned against a console near the pool table. He wasn’t quite sure what exactly he could contribute to the project, but this was far from a normal mission--not that the crew of the Reaent would call many of their missions normal--but this one was extra special. To try and pull a ship out of a localized time pocket wasn’t something that was performed on a routine basis, and they had to cover all the bases.

 

“So what exactly do we have so far? I mean, they got in there somehow. Surely we can get them out. But how?”

 

Wade dropped another PADD on his ‘finished’ stack and lifted his feet off the desk, sitting forward. “As far as I can tell there is absolutely no precedence for this kind of phenomenon. Was hoping someone else would’ve done my work for me already.” Sighing, he picked up a mug of coffee and took a sip. “Manipulating space and-slash-or time requires a lot of energy, we could just lack the capacity to have any effect. Was there any change in the anomaly on our attempt, even in the slightest to suggest that we were on the right track?”

 

Glancing up, Anna frowned at Wade across the console, or at least would if she could see him. Reaching over, she shoved one of his PADD stacks to the side. “There was a huge change. Huge! Just not enough. Almost enough, but just not quite there.” She could hear the frustration in her voice and took a deep breath before adding, in a calmer tone, “The Ithaca logs put her 25 years out in front of us. The maneuver yesterday with the deflector shields got her to maybe just less than two percent off of the mark. Two percent and then, we could attempt to reverse the process which would actually serve to reverse the aging.” Anna turned to look at Wim.

 

“Commander Ridire asked if we had probes on board that could be programmed to do robotic tasks, I think what we’re going to have to do is set up a probe that can breach that bubble as a sort of test.” She stood up and stepped back so she could see both Wade and Wim at the same time. “The Ithaca’s logs are very damaged in some spots and unfortunately, one of the crucial areas is at the beginning, before and then directly after, they became trapped. I think we may possibly have to get over there and try to find out that information if we’re going to have a hope of stabilizing her.”

 

Murray nodded. “Yeah, Class IV probe is typically used for stellar encounters, but there is a modification package that will allow command routines to be programmed or transmitted. That gives it some more maneuverability, so to speak, in an unknown atmosphere.” He paused for a moment, thinking of the immediate results of using the probe. The probe itself could do little to nothing, though some sensor readings wouldn’t go amiss. More importantly, though, how would the Reaent be able to send a team over? It’s not like stepping from one room to another, not through a temporal plane. What if the “physical” state of the pocket is in flux? One could end up half in the pocket, half out - that wouldn’t be dangerous at all, right? And then...

 

“Okay, here’s a thought.” Murray paused for a moment to gather his wits for this - time travel is tricky like that. “What exactly do we tell the Ithacans when we go over there? ‘Hi, we’re from your past and present all in one. We’re here to take you back 25 years into your now-past to rejoin us where you belong. Everything you have just experienced is an anomaly. Time to leave behind everything you’ve done since then and come back to the present...erm, past...back then now.’ Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to be easy to deal with.” He stood in thought for a moment and moved his lips, repeating part of what he just said to make sure it made sense. It didn’t, but that was kinda the point.

 

Throughout the conversation between Anna and Wim, Wade’s expression had turned to something of a blank stare. As silence set in while Wim considered his words, Wade set his coffee cup down with a click and folded his hands in front of him. “Have you guys considered whether what we’re doing here is the right thing to do?” He asked the question slowly, dividing his gaze between those he shared the center of engineering with.

 

It had occurred to her, as well, that a lot could happen over twenty-five years. The logs were patchy in places but she’d seen the birth of at least one child noted, and that boy, she couldn’t remember his name, but he would be thirteen now...well, approximately. “I don’t think it’s our question to answer,” Anna said quietly, sitting back down. She looked blankly at the work screen in front of her before swiveling her seat so she could see both Wade and Wim.

 

“We know they abandoned the Ithaca to try and escape the time bubble. We don’t know if they were successful. Right now, McQueen’s orders have us trying to stabilize the ship so that we can find out what actually happened over there and if there’s a chance of retrieving the crew. I don’t know at this point if it can be stabilized, let alone what happened to the 168...169,” she amended, thinking about the young boy. “I don’t know how they could have escaped the bubble, but they currently aren’t showing up; maybe they figured something out---twenty-five years later.” She shrugged, having no answers; all she could do was repeat what she’d already said, “I think if we do find them--it has to be up to them.”

 

Wade’s face contorted into a slightly sour expression as Anna spoke, sitting upright. “And why wouldn’t it be our place to question the morality of our actions? At this point we are the ones with the power to provide salvation or damnation to the crew of the Ithaca, and as far as I’m concerned we have a responsibility to question our ethics.” Wade paused and took a deep breath; it wasn’t like him to get so heated. “As I see it, in the twenty-five years they have spent in this anomaly, they have undergone the natural processes of life. Whether or not it has been in a natural environment is irrelevant. People have undoubtedly died in that time, and if I know humanoids, more than one child has been born. By reversing the flow of time they have experienced... Well, you see my point.”

 

Murray’s brow furrowed as he concocted his retort. “I think there’s plenty of morality to go around here. I agree that yes, we must consider carefully the actions we are about to undertake. Personally, I tend to agree with Anna that the ultimate decision should lie with those from the Ithaca, as it is their lives that will be affected. However, ultimately it is not for us to be the morality police for the entire ship, ours or theirs. That responsibility, heavy as it may be, rests squarely upon the shoulders of Captain McQueen. It is our responsibility to raise the point with him and Commander Ridire and possibly Counselor Curtis. It is the Captain’s decision by which we should abide. Until such time, however, it is our duty to carry out our orders and present the Captain with all available options.”

 

Murray exhaled as he completed his argument. It wasn’t like him to get very serious, and he was very much afraid that if this got around the ship that perhaps he’d get a reputation for it. And that just wouldn’t sit well with him. Perhaps next time he should make the argument while wearing a clown nose.

 

Back to busily working at the console, though not on the simulation; she’d ditched it; it wasn’t going to work, Anna listened to both men, smiling to herself as another side to Wim was revealed. It was nice to hear him get passionate about something besides baked goods. It was Wim’s earlier question of how they might possibly get aboard the Ithaca without becoming trapped in the time bubble, that she was now researching. Wade’s current perch on the soapbox wasn’t at all surprising to her--she knew him well. Pausing for a moment, she raised her head and glanced at him across the consoles.

 

“Wade,” she asked mildly, “Is it your belief that the Ithaca should not be interfered with in any way? That the years that have passed for that crew should stand as they are without any input from them?”

 

The engineer shook his head, taking up his previous position at ease with his feet propped up on the surface of the pool table. He folded his hands over his stomach as he thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m adopting a no interference policy here. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t want to just float aimlessly through space for the remainder of my life. I’m an explorer, and I would venture to guess that most of those aboard the Ithaca aren’t that different. It takes a certain breed of person to want to be out here in the black.” He paused again, carefully choosing his words. “However, the idea of undoing nearly three decades of experiences and memories makes me queasy. Not to mention the fact that by bringing back the Ithaca crew to their earlier existences, we are essentially altering time. I just don’t see that we have the right to exercise such powers, even if we can.”

 

“It would make them queasy, too,” Anna answered matter of factly. “In fact, they could expect to endure a severe shock to their cerebellum, something that Dr. Matthews is already very aware of. We can’t know exactly what would happen, if in fact, we actually do find ourselves in the position of being able to return them to their correct time,” she said, looking pointedly at Wade. “When you talk about altering time, you are talking about a minuscule pocket...a bubble, an aberration. They are in a closed universe in that bubble, according to their logs. A quarter of a century spent desperately trying to get....anywhere.”

 

She looked over at Wim, and nodded to him. “You’re right. It’s up to the Captain...our captain, what our actions are. But the Ithaca has a CO, too. Captain Fitzgerald is at least 82 by now, and his XO, Susan Dahl, is in her early 60’s, and they are still in charge of the Ithaca’s fate. Either way,” she looked back to Wade and smiled affectionately, “It’s not going to be up to us. It’s our job to try and find the answers that McQueen and Ridire asked for. I really feel we have a better chance of that, even with my current level of frustration, than we do of answering what should be the fate of the Ithaca’s crew.”

 

“A minuscule bubble of time is still a distinct timeline. If you consider the multi-verse theory, you could even say that our ‘time’ is insubstantial when compared to the big picture; just one small series of events in an inconceivable cornucopia of time lines. My point is, with all of this, is that perhaps we should explore alternatives to the reversal process we’ve been trying to achieve.” Wade sighed, slumping in his chair a bit, his brow furrowed. “I won’t deny that these people need to be able to get on with their lives, just so long as it’s their natural lives and not the lives we have designated for them. I would just be able to sleep better at night knowing I didn’t contribute to a quarter of a century of history being undone, however aberrant.”

 

Murray groaned, as morality debates were one of his least favorite parts of being a Starfleet officer. “I think, then, that’s all the more reason that we need to gather all the data we can, then present the issue to the Captain with all available alternatives to leave him make an informed decision. I mean, I don’t want to give the impression that we should be washing our hands of all this by foisting it upon him, but it is our duty to do so. All concerns should be voiced and every option explored. However, that said, I feel like someone is going to come out of this less than enthused with our chosen course of action. And thus the secondary issue with a moral dilemma such as this, arguably just as important as the primary issue: personally dealing with the consequences of our actions.”

 

He stepped forward and crossed his arms. “Clearly, we are at the point now where we’re thinking big picture. I think we all acknowledge each other’s feelings and opinions on the matter, and we can all agree that it is not an easy task before us. Our duty now is to do our best work, to carry our current orders and present all of our findings to the Captain in due course, including our morality debate and all options and consequences it may entail. Yes?”

 

“Yes, of course, Wim.” Anna said pleasantly, biting back that she already knew her duty. She knew what he was saying and it wasn’t his fault that she was feeling irritable because she didn’t have the information that McQueen wanted. She shot a look to Wade, as she downloaded some data into a PADD before getting to her feet and walking around to his side of the pool table. “I’ve got to get up to the bridge, though at this point, I think the probe is our next best chance at testing the waters on the other side of the bubble.”

 

She held out the PADD to him. “Wim, was right--we need a way to get over to the Ithaca if the probe shows we can breach the bubble without catastrophic results--by which I mean---something really bad doesn’t happen to the Reaent. In the database, there’s a case with a somewhat similar situation, where the personal transmitter bands were modified to create what basically amounted to a skintight phase discriminator force field around the user by using the subspace emitters in the bands. Here’s the information..might be a good idea to modify a few in case the captain authorizes a field trip.” She grinned suddenly, her voice taking on a teasing note. “I hope that if it does come down to it, Wade...you don’t lose that sleep you’re so worried about.”

 

Wade nodded and flashed his normal roguish smile at Anna as she handed him the PADD. “Well, if there’s anything I know how to do, skin tight would definitely be in the description.” He took the PADD, glancing over it and then setting it down with the rest of his collection. “I can have a working prototype in a couple of hours, but it’s only going to be testable in simulations. I can’t think of an analog for time bubbles.”

 

“From what I read, it’ll work because the armbands have a type 7 phase discriminator. I’m leaving it up to you to figure it all out,” Anna said breezily, before turning and heading for the turbolift. “Thank you for your time, gentlemen,” she called over her shoulder. “See you on the bridge.”

 

Murray rubbed his temples. All this serious talk made his thinker-box hurt. Definitely cause for a doughnut break.

Edited February 10, 2011 by Annabelle O'Halloran