¨
Chapter Seven
«
I've run two complete tests on each of them, captain. » Lieutenant junior-grade
Davies said, she had tied her hair tightly in a pony-tail behind her head. She
looked very nervous. « Nothing...I can't find any physical sign that could
explain their visions. »
«
Maybe because it wasn't a vision… » Stevenson suggested, the engineer had been
healed from his injuries but he still had a device attached to his left
shoulder to reinforce his formerly broken bone.
«
Had another idea, lieutenant? » Kline asked.
Stevenson
opened his mouth, but didn't have a chance to begin his sentence. A commlink
was established and a male voice said: « This is Ensign Wong in engineering, we've just reactivated the ship's internal
sensors. »
«Good
work ensign. » said Kline. « I believe that lieutenant Stevenson will be
joining you soon. »
«
Aye, sir... Engineering out... »
Kline
turned back to Stevenson: « Your officers are quick, lieutenant. So, what were
you saying? »
Again,
Stevenson opened his mouth but the voice of the computer interrupted him: « Warning,
ship's internal sensors have just detected that one crewmember is missing.
»
«
Missing? » Kline frowned. « How is this possible? »
«
That information is unavailable. »
Kline
sighed: « Who has disappeared? »
«
Lieutenant junior-grade Tessa Evlington… »
«
What was her last known position? » asked Kline.
«
Dormitory eight…
Kline
pointed at Stevenson and Davies, and gestured for them to follow him.
* * *
The
doors of dormitory eight opened and the three officers entered. Stevenson was
holding a tricorder; Kline was holding a hand phaser.
« Lieutenant? » Kline asked.
Stevenson
moved around the room, his tricorder brandished before him: « This is bizarre.
»
«
What is? » Davies asked.
Stevenson
shook his head: « It looks like there's some sort of...of subspace
distortion...Subspace is resonating. I've never seen anything like i... »
There
was a loud static-like sound that lasted half-a-second. And a man was standing
there.
Kline's
eyes went wide: « Jack ? »
Captain
Kingston, commanding officer of the
«
Jack! » Kline grabbed the captain in ragged clothes and laid him on one of the bunks.
« What the hell happened? »
«
Yeah...Yeah it's me. » Kline nodded. « Tell me, Jack. What happened? »
The
captain blinked a few times, as if trying to refocus, and then he said: «
Alan...I was on my ship...The ship...The Hydra it...flashed and we were in... a
subspace fissure or something... Then everyone was disappearing. » He was
becoming more focused and coherent. « Our engineer had a theory about why
people were disappearing. But he disappeared before he could explain...It had
something to do with subspace displacement...Then, we were all disappearing and
appearing all the time, they were all going insane...I disappeared once...I was
in a place...There was noise, deafening noise and lights, images everything...I
needed to close my eyes. But I couldn't, I couldn't feel my body anymore...I...I...
»
«
Stevenson, we need to get him to sickbay. Help me. » Kline said.
Stevenson
was a bit distracted, Kline repeated and the engineer snapped out of it: «
Uh...Oh yeah, sorry captain. »
Captain Kline's
Log, supplemental.
It
is our twenty-fourth hour in the subspace pocket. Three crewmembers have
disappeared; we still have no idea of their whereabouts. But a clue to what
exactly is happening has just joined us: Captain Jack Kingston, the former
captain of the
Chapter Eight
«
He's okay. » Tarses said, referring to captain
«
How can this be? » Eskina asked.
«
I think I have an answer. » said Stevenson, to whom all eyes turned.
« Really? » Kline smiled. « You're only having illuminations
these days, lieutenant. »
«
I've been thinking about this since we found captain
«
So? » Sutter urged.
Stevenson
explained: « We've hypothesized that something in this subspace pocket is
causing all of us to...to phase from our normal-space state, to a
subspace state. »
Eskina frowned: « You mean...We're being integrated
into subspace? »
« Yeah... » Stevenson nodded. « Somehow, our physical
selves are being transferred
into subspace… Since we are a small piece of normal space
inside an infinitely large subspace environment, the subspace influence is
causing our metabolisms to integrate themselves. »
«
And...Why do the people who phase entirely to subspace go insane? » Asked
Reeves.
«
Well, subspace is what everyone uses to send messages and communicate from
across the quadrant. When we enter subspace, we can see everything that's going
on inside it. All the noises, all the videos, all the communications; It's
surely enough to drive someone to insanity within one or two hours of exposure.
» Said Stevenson.
«
Can we get the crew of the
Stevenson
took a deep breath and said: « I have no idea...It should be possible,
but how? »
«
What if we go get them in subspace? »
All
eyes turned to Yasmin Reeves who had just suggested. She shrugged: « Well...Why
don't we go into subspace and pick them up. »
Stevenson
thought a moment, then smiled: « It might sound naïve and dumb to all of
you...But that's one helluva good plan. »
«
Explain. » Kline said simply.
«
If we integrate ourselves purposefully into subspace, we could pick up the
crewmembers of the
«
And how do we do that? » Burnel asked.
Stevenson
opened his mouth, closed it. Frowned; then sighed: « You know...I really believed
in that plan for a second. »
Mantion
suddenly said: « How about we expose ourselves to the subspace environment? »
« How? » Burnel asked again.
«
We can create a subspace field inside the Valiant. The field will grow a
million times faster than it normally would. And it would be accentuated by the
pocket in which we presently are. » Mantion said. « The subspace field would
grab the ship and send it into subspace. Then, when we enter subspace, we can
activate a normal-space field around us by using our deflector shields. And
that should keep us in subspace for at least an hour or so... »
« And after that? » Kline asked.
«
We'd be exposed to subspace. Our ship, and the whole crew will be integrated
into subspace, and if we're outside the limits of the subspace pocket. We'll be
stuck in there...forever. » Mantion said.
No
one said anything for a while.
Stevenson
said: « Unless we activate our warp engines whilst in the subspace environment,
thus rupturing the subspace field and sending us back to normal space through
the fissure we'll provoke. »
Then
Reeves asked: « And how will we find the crewmembers. »
Stevenson
nodded: « Yeah, I thought about that. Subspace doesn't have any human
signatures. The crewmembers will show up as defects in the subspace
environment; then we'll simply use our pre-existing subspace transporter
program to reassemble them on the pad. »
Sutter
rubbed the bridge of her nose: « This is crazy. We're hypothesizing about the
hypothetical crewmembers that have hypothetically been transferred to subspace
because of a hypothetical subspace pocket. Pretty hypothetical isn't it? »
Kline
nodded: « It's the only chance we've got... If we stay here without doing
anything, we'll become like the crew of the
«
Warning, » The computer said. « Five
crewmembers now unaccounted for. »
Kline
sighed: « Let's get to it, people. Subspace doesn't sound like such a cozy place to stay... »