Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Sovrk (Chief Science Officer) in Main Sim - City

Posted by Lieutenant Kara Iliana (Chief Engineer) in Main Sim - City

Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in Main Sim - City
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

The ‘blueprints’ came up. The Machine was by any comparison a simple unit but the underlying power structure to support it was massive. By all indication what the Machine did was create a temporal link with the other cities in series, that link generating complex subspace folds almost like a chain but that ‘chain’ was linked to the power generator of not just this world but all seven of the cities in the line. For Bakkalia to have tried to leapfrog over would have taken tremendous power and would have generated a great deal of disruption in trying to bend and stretch and pull - almost like unsticking oneself from the mud.
Wookiee

Cochrane, CO

Sozi Zakene, Diplomatic Attache

Kaia leaned upwards to examine the blueprints, struggling to make out the details from her place on the floor. She let out a small huff of annoyance, looking for a ledge or a chair she could use to see things better. It was such a pain being a small person in such a big world. She glanced at Sozi, then sidled up to the diplomatic attache, feeling embarrassed. If this was Federation tech she could have linked it to her Remote Interface, but she didn’t want to offend these people by attaching unknown tech to their stuff. “Would you mind lifting me up so I can see the display better?” she asked softly. She was barely heavier than a domestic cat, and not much bigger.

Kaia, Engineer

Perhaps surprisingly it was Zoon who leaned down and picked Kaia up. His hold was surprisingly light on her as he essentially cradled her on one arm.

Juliet watched and listened. Cochrane was good. It was no wonder he was Captain of a deep space exploration ship. His diplomatic skills were something to watch and listen to. Juliet had some skill in that arena, but not like his. Her limited skill was more casual based. Because she listened to nuances, much like the CO watched, she tended to merely ramble on and listen for the cover ups of near slips to responses some didn’t want to give. Those slips lead to more conversation and more findings.

But, sadly, her training was more confrontational. She was used to being the brute force, rather than the gentle hand.

A thought occurred to her then and she took a slow deep breath. Opening her mind, she tried to read the surface thoughts of those around her, both human and non. Looking from one person to another, she tried to asses that everyone was well, not lieing, and ok with the situation as it was. If anyone nearby was a strong telepath, they would sense the ‘brush’ of her mind as curiosity and nothing more.

Juliet
CoS
((If anyone has a strong surface thought, (deception, anger, tired, happy, confused, curious, etc) Juliet would pick up on it. Not words, specifically, unless they were strong enough and aimed at someone in particular))

[[OOC; Kaia would be an exception to that. The emotions and thoughts of people of her species are opaque to telepaths]]
- Kaia

Zakene was somewhere between frantic and curious about the scene in front of them. He’d been on many a diplomatic endeavor, but there was something about this that made his pulse race, almost as though failure would backfired on them quite roughly.

Sozi Zakene, Diplomatic Attache

Zoon was intense. His features were outwardly calm, however he was focused. There was an anxiety present too but that could come from many a different reason.

Reauna was more anxious but holding a similar calm but with the anxiety was a soup of hate, fear and mistrust.

Her shoulders slumped. “Any change would wreak havoc,” she said. “I disagree,” Zoon said but said no more.

Wookiee

Shedda looked at both Reauna and Zoon, “Why?” Her question clearly taking in both their comments and asking both of them for an answer to the deceptively simple question.

Reauna replied first. “Each city, each world has generated its own reality but the power that keeps it going takes it from each world and that in turn has the energy streams interwoven with one another. To break one would break the stream itself and wreak havoc and could destroy it all. The machines are powered by a geothermal vent under each city. The Builders thought that sending a city back would be like a unit in and of itself. Isolated. As it turned out that the energy stream that sent it back in time linked with this one and their own.”

Zoon looked to consider that. “But then you are suggesting that should a city fail that everything would cease to exist by no one’s fault but a failure of a machine. No. The energy must be redirected. The Machines cannot last forever.”

Though her face never betrayed it, the lack of anything from Kaia surprised her. She made a mental note to speak to the woman about it later. The others really didn’t surprise her. They were standing here, across from stranger, both sides. They were all unsure what the other side was thinking, or wanted. And they all were sure the ‘powers that be’ had no true what was happening or at stake. These were common through most of the folks on both sides. And she agreed. This was a tense situation. And boots on the ground were rarely in the simple predicaments that those in offices millions of miles away had no clue about.

But she then glanced at Cochrane. While the uneasiness of the Diplomat was a bit disconcerting, she wondered what the Captain was feeling. She left her mind open to feeling him, but was more than careful about keeping from intruding. The last thing she wanted to do was distract him, or make him mad, merely because she wanted to be sure they were all safe.

Juliet “Jewels”
CoS

Cochrane was, surprisingly, excited in a kind of joyous way. His emotions were light, non-invasive to the calm his mind was in… but there was something else. Almost like a spring under tension. The potential for action was there… but it was just potential. There was no preparation.

“We must work on the assumption that as each city was moved away from this timeliness, they entered a wholly new and unique one. One where they were able to exist, develop, and create their own path.” Cochrane said to all present. “No one reality is more or less important than any other. By this point, each is unique and has developed as they needed. So we need to make sure all are safe… and remain that way.”

Cochrane, Co

Sovrk stood off to the side mostly silent. The Vulcan male would fiddle with his tricorder some, do some scanning then fiddle with it more. Even though he was trying different settings each scan he stood there his face passive his emotions felt unreadable. The Vulcan’s eyes turned up from the tricoder and looked around the room. He then looked back to the tricoder for a moment and then put the probe away he put his tricorderback down at his side. He took a few moments before he headed over and looked at the blueprints. He crossed his arms as he studdied them.
Lt.J.G Sovrk, CSO

In essence the Machine was on the surface simple. It was powered by an extremely deep and interlaced series of geothermal conductors that drew energy from the planetary core in a web not unlike the root system of a tree. That powered a temporal subspace tunnel with adjoining cities wherein their energy strands were interwoven, and that all in a chain. In a way, with the link, each city in some way looked to power or reinforce others.

Temporal theory was not anywhere close to Shedda’s area of expertise. The closest she came was marking things on a timeline. She looked at Kaia and Sovrk. “Theorize, the machine creates subspace folds. What would happen if we disconnected each of the linked power sources, leaving each city with their own power but no longer connected to the chain? Would the cities safely survive in their own universe? If we shut the machine down in sequence that it was started would they all return here or be cut loose?” Any solution that might put any of the cities at risk wasn’t a solution. Not unless things became desperate. Shedda would rather not consider that, yet.

She looked at Zoon, “You said that your city was trying to become an anchor point because you thought everyone here was dead. What made you think that, other than the sun was supposed to have gone nova?”

Mal’athar, XO

“The home world was supposed to be dead. Long ago. We had no reason to think otherwise until recently when the Eternal Emperor sought to rejoin the city with the homeworld. It was then that what was discovered was that it was not dead but a separate universe altogether that the Builders had caused to be formed.”
- Zoon and Reauna

Sovrk let out his breath in a small huff before drawing it in again. “Each one is a distinct possibility.... between the three, I would believe that it would be more likely that in shutting them down it would cause the sepperation of each city in the fold. Depending on how dependent structure is to the fold… seperating them off would most likely cause their destruction in my opinion. Without analytical data and being able to run the possibilities on simulations we can not say for certain however which event is the most likely to happen and my aswer is purely speculation. I would think… that…” Sovrk pauses a moment. “Given the right amount of time.... and technology… and the realities compatibility with one another we may be able to bring them into a singular phaze.”

Zoon frowned. Reauna gazed at the display narrowing the data as she went. “Time may be something we don’t have,” she said at last. “Look here.” She pointed to the energy streams between the cities which had been tight but now tendrils were emanating from the city sources. The intertwined blue threads had twinges of green and purple. “This began according to the system not an hour ago. When you came.” Her smooth gesture that may have been seen as a general movement that they did as a people and which the team had grown more used to looked more accusatory now even though there was little discernable difference in it. “There is a power disruption in the streams. Multidimensional in nature. Whatever it was you did to come here is causing instabilities from one end to the other.”

The Vulcan rubed at his temple for a moment as he continued to think. “I believe that for this to be possible each city would have to have existed in this reality before they brcame their own.. if so it should be relatively simple to bring them back into this reality.. if not, then it still may be possible, though it would take alot more thought, theory, and calculation.”
Lt. J.G Sovrk, CSO

“Perhaps, but easy is not assured,” Reauna said.

The emotions around everyone rose no hackles on the Security Chief. She listened to everyone then chimed in as the voices lulled while everyone was pondering. “I’m no scientist, but is there a way to travel to each city and see what their situation is? I mean, you all speak that everyone is attached to the machine. But what if not everyone is? I mean, perhaps their ‘energy’ is still tied in, but what if they found ways to function separately? Then the machine wouldn’t be an issue to them. Sure, no more energy would come from them. But if they aren’t relying on it, then it wouldn’t hurt them and would take them from the equation.”

Zoon frowned. “We believed that our trip here was one way only, that there was no return. Thus we are the Dead.”
Reauna glanced over to him with a glare that was the epitome of ‘if looks could kill’. “According to this it may be possible to return. But that travel is a strain on the power. Like he said. It is possible to go. Maybe not to return. We may have a chance of one trip.” She seemed to ponder what Juliet said. “Perhaps,” was her reply.

She wasn’t sure it made sense. But everyone was speaking like the umbilical cord, effectively, being cut would mean death for those not still tied in.

Juliet
CoS

Reauna turned and said, “We may have to travel to the end. This disruption has generated a phased energy feedback disruption that is cycling from the end city to this one, oscillating back and forth. If this is not halted everything could be destroyed. Right now it is drawing energy from other sources in each city as some form of automatic defense to attempt to stabilize itself. Even here.”
- Wookiee

Defenses

That was something Juliet understood. “So, it’s like everyone is on a web bridge. And everyone is making it wobble, threatening to topple the whole show. So, my guess would be that, chances are, one place is having issues. Ripples usually start from an origin and wave out from there. Since there isn’t an ‘out’, per se, it’s merely rippling up and down the line like water caught in a tipped over tube. So how do we go to each place to see if it’s the one causing the ripple?” She glanced around. “Or is that the crux of this? We don’t know how or can’t?”

She had been trying to follow along, but till Reauna had placed it in terms that made sense, she had been lost on trying to figure the science out.

Juliet
“Jewels”
CoS

“One location appears to be the .. problem. But which one?” Reauna mused.

“It’s like a pond. If you drop multiple pebbles in at different spots, the center will ripple more, in an attempt to stop the others.” Zakene said, nodding. “Stop the outside, the inside eventually stabilizes as well.”

Sozi Zakene, Diplomatic Attache

Shedda listened to the back and forth. “Zoon, can you tell us what your world did to try and jump forward on the line? If we can add that information to what we know, we might understand better what to do.” She looked back at the temple building and then the screen again. “Reauna you said that people have gone through the portal but can not return. You didn’t say their movement caused any disruption before, so why has the arrival of Zoon’s group done so?” They may not know now but it was an important point to consider. Or maybe Shedda had misunderstood when they said that people had traveled to the other cities.

Mal’athar, XO

Zoon frowned in thought. “What we did was a brute force attempt in gathering sufficient energy to bend the power stream,” he said, pointing to the linked power cable between the cities. “We thought that if we had enough energy applied into our Machine we could bend the stream to bring us ahead of this one. Would it work? We didn’t know. It failed. The power link to our sun was strained and caused an instability resulting in many solar flares. What happened was that instead of bending over and leap over this it moved the city along the line of the power. What we didn’t know was that there was a temporal aspect to this and we were moving along the stream and, at one point, intersected with this city. It overloaded our power.”

Iliana had so far remained quiet, taking stock of their options but a question occurred to her. “What exactly did your readings indicate had changed? As Commander Mal’athar has suggested, this doesn’t seem to have been a problem before but if we are to try and fix it now, we need to know exactly what has changed this time?”

Lt Kara (CE)

Reauna answered. “From my understanding the energy should simply be flowing from each city source to the ones closest to maintain the link like a conduit. I am working on what I have been told. I’ve never had need to look closer. But now the stone that has been dropped into the water as you said is causing a feedback ripple oscillating from one end to the other and back and drawing more power from wherever it can. If it continues it could simply .. erupt.”

Sovrk had remained quiet for a moment as he continued to think. “That is the question… what is the difference? The only thing that I can think of right now is the rapid succession of pings… one group traveling through so close to the other… it is possible that it could have set off a rapid chain of events… one ripple causing the other to cascade.” He turned to look between Zoon and Reauna. “With your permission I would also like to take scans of the both of you, maybe if time permitted a blood draw as well to see if there is a different composition between your bloods… as you both come from two different realities right?” Sovrk for once looked troubled, some worry leaked through that very carefully put together mask of emotionlessness.
Lt.J.G Sovrk, CSO

Zoon thought the last request odd, but shrugged. With the existence of reality at stake a sample was of little matter. Reauna, too, wordlessly assented.
- Reauna and Zoon