Chapter Four
Chief
Medical Officers Log, supplemental.
After
our encounter with the probe, our power systems began draining. Lieutenant
Stevenson was running a check-up on the dilithium
chamber hatch when there was an explosion. He took the full blast in his face
and is now being treated in sickbay. His burns will be easily healed but he is
still unconscious and the readings I am getting from him are rather odd. I will
file a copy of these scans to Starfleet Medical to see what they can make of
it.
End
log...
Doctor
Tarses' face blinked off the screen. Stevenson was frowning deeply.
The doctor had sent
a file to Starfleet Medical, Stevenson would probably be able to find them
somewhere in the computer. After a short moment of searching, he found the
file. He opened it and a whole lot of information appeared on the screen,
information that was meaningless to Stevenson's engineer mind.
"Computer, can you
explain to me what exactly is displayed on the screen, please?"
"Bio-scan
logs for Lieutenant John Stevenson."
"What's
information is given about me on this screen?"
The computer took a
moment to process the request, and then said: "Files indicate several
burns along the upper-body and unusual fluctuations in subject's molecular
cohesion."
He blinked:
"Molecular cohesion? What could have caused this?
The computer
pondered a moment more, probably extrapolating data from different sources,
then said: "Prolonged exposure to a transporter beam..."
No. He thought.
"...Phased
energy blast at high-intensity..."
Neither.
The computer beeped
to signal it had finished its search; a search that was useless in Stevenson's eyes.
"Okay, computer." He said. "I want you to access the theoretical
database and to tell me if there are any theories that could explain a
fluctuation in a subject's molecular cohesion."
This time, the
computer beeped a lot of times, processing the data, and after one minute, it
said: "Theory of space-slices, by Andrew Sevelin."
"Display on
screen." He said excitedly.
The information was
displayed on the screen of the doctor's laptop, Stevenson read through it
quickly...
From what he
understood, "space-slices", as they were called, were different
levels of space-time with coexisted in the same quantum universe. Doctor Sevelin suggested that there were several of these 'slices'
per universe and that they could each be the house of an entirely different
universe, but in the same quantum universe as ours, simply on a
different level. This theory could explain the "interphasic"
phenomena that kept arising here and there in the Federation.
"Space-slices..."
Stevenson said. "Computer, how could these...these slices affect a
person's molecular cohesion?"
"According
to theoretical database, passage between space-slices would manifest itself as
would a transporter beam. Molecular cohesion would slowly fluctuate until
subject's molecules are transferred to another space-slice."
That
was the answer!
But it also meant
something else: If he was the one that had had a molecular cohesion
fluctuation...
Then he was the one
in another space-slice...
Now
he knew what was going on...Somehow, the 'probe' that Tarses had mentioned in
his logs had affected the power systems of the Valiant and sent parts of
the ship into another space-slice. The ship had been separated in two, part of
it had been transferred to one space-slice, and another had stayed in its own.
And Stevenson, who had been hit by energy from an explosion at the precise same
moment that the probe had acted, had been sent into the same space slice as
some of the pieces of the ship! That was why the power wasn't working; the ship
had been shattered into hundreds of thousands of little pieces and spread
across two different levels of space-time!
Everything made
sense; the specter of the captain was probably a piece of the captain that had
been captured in the other space-slice as where Stevenson was. The reason why
some of the consoles worked and some didn't was because some of the consoles
were in one space-slice, and others were in another!
But now, the
question was, how would Stevenson get back? And how would he bring the
shattered pieces of the Valiant back with him? There had to be a way.
"Computer, hypothetical
situation: I am sent to another space-slice along with some pieces of the ship.
How would I get back to my own 'slice'?"
The computer
pondered, and then said: "Hypothetically, one would have to expose
one's self to a failing in molecular cohesion and reassemble one's molecules in
another slice."
Disassemble...Reassemble...
The
transporter!!!
"Computer…is
there a way to modify the transporter to allow space-slice
transportation."
"Modifications
to the transporter are possible, but chances of success are one out of fifteen.
Attempting such a risk is not recommendable."
"Where's your
sense of adventure, computer?" Stevenson sighed. "Well...Tell me how
to modify the transporters, I'll do it."
* * *
An hour later,
Stevenson had managed--with the help of the computer--to modify the transporter
so that his signal would be purposefully misaligned and he would be sent to
another 'space-slice'.
Everything he was
doing was theoretical and he had a good chance of getting killed, but if he
stayed in this strange environment any longer he would probably go insane and then
kill himself...So he preferred taking the risk.
He stood on the
transporter pad and said: "Computer, on my mark, I want you to drain power
from every available system so that the transporters can work. Then you shall
execute Stevenson transport program one and pray for me."
"Affirmative,"
"Thanks."
He smiled. Then he took a deep breath: "Mark!"
He began to
dematerialize...
Please let this
work...He thought.