Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade James Rowe (Scientist) in Side Sim: The Morning After (Lower Stellar Cartography)
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Khiryn nodded as he mentally evaluated Rowe’s idea and watched the display. “Thats a good thought. They are different enough from known fissures that I couldn’t make a positive identification, despite the correlation. They have more in common with an active fissue than the usual spacetime noise, though.”

Spacetime noise or “foam” was a general term that encompassed the trillions of subatomic fluctuations in spacetime that were too tiny to analyze individually. In theory, micro-fissures opened and closed all the time.... they were just too small and too brief to be measured.

“That being said… our data _could_be old, and we’re seeing the decaying remnants… or maybe its the opposite…and its just starting to form?”

He ran a quick analysis of the data they had available, but saw no statistically significant drop in the readings… not that couldn’t be accounted for by the sensor distance or astrometric contitions. “No.. that’s no good. If they were just forming, we’d expect the readings to increase in strength.”

He leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair. “So were back to your question of what could cause these spacetime scars. Some sort of inter-dimensional travel? A celestial moth gnawing on the very fabric of the universe?” Ensign Donivas was simply freethinking at this point… letting the ideas flow until something clicked.

Ensign Khiryn Donivas - Science Officer - U.S.S. Athena

“Better a celestial moth, than a celestial Godzilla…” Rowe said in an attempt at a joke, and then realized his error… “Sorry… Human cultural reference.” He shrugged slightly “Like they say, if you have to explain the context, the joke’s probably not worth telling… besides I’m not sure I can contextualize the human fascination with giant creatures leveling cities anyway.”

“I’m afraid we might be a little ahead of ourselves by asking what caused this, when we’re still not quite sure what this is.” Rowe said as he moved closer to the projection again, studying the scale markers around the hologram.

“I wonder if a probe could get us a better look, we’re a little far out… but I’ve got a buddy on the USS Sagan who owes me a favor… and he was always kind of a golden child, I bet he could sweet talk his superiors into at least squeezing in a high-res sensor pass.”

• Rowe

James’ comment sparked a memory. “Oh… were you able to pull any sensor data from this region from other vessels?” Right now they were working only in the data Athena collected.

Lt Rowe was right about needing better data from a high resolution scan… but more low resolution data would also be helpful. It could help fill gaps in the sensor data and might show a larger pattern they just couldn’t see with their limited data set.

It was unlikely, given their current data set, but it might also indicate when these anamolies started appearing.

Ensign Khiryn Donivas - Science Officer - U.S.S. Athena

James thought back on the previous day and a slight smile crossed his face. “I haven’t yet. I got a little ‘distracted’ after my shift was over yesterday.”

Taking another pull from his tea, Rowe considered the mystery before them. “It looks like we’re asking the same questions from different vantage points… So let’s do this…”

“I’ll reach out to the Sagan and start digging through Federation sensor archives. Even low-resolution data from ships that transited this region could tell us whether we’re looking at isolated anomalies or part of a much larger pattern.”

He glanced back toward Donivas.

“In the meantime, I’d like you to take the historical approach. If these really are scars, then every survey we find without them narrows the window for when they first appeared. We may never identify the exact event that caused them, but if we can determine when the scars weren’t here…” He shrugged lightly. “…that’s still a valuable piece of the puzzle.”

• Rowe

Khiryn nodded… trying not to blush at the reminder of his interruption. He was certainly a distraction yesterday, but it was unlikely he was the one James referred to. _Not when he’s smiling like that. _

“I like it,” he replied simply. While some might view such an assignment as boring, the Akaali knew that work like this often laid the foundation for future insight. Giving anything less than his best at this point could result in them missing an important connection later. Garbage in, garbage out, as they say.

He activated the holographic display on his glasses and started his research playlist. It primarily consisted of progressive rock from his home world. It was very popular when he was a teenager, and he liked the way it blended different styles and genres to create something entirely new. It reached his ears through tiny speakers in the temples of his glasses.

Ensign Donivas started typing away on the console, pulling up any archived data for this system that was in the database. “In this situation, I think it bears reminding that sensors have improved by leaps and bounds over the last century. I’ll prepare a time-weighted filter to account for that… but we’ll be able to see the raw data as well.”

Ensign Khiryn Donivas - Science Officer - U.S.S. Athena

Rowe watched with interest as the younger officer ‘locked in’ by activating his glasses. His old habits of studying people hadn’t died, simply took their rightful place on the back burner.

Setting his mind to his own task, James pulled up the computer’s interfleet communications interface. A warm smile crosses his face as he finds the name he’s looking for, fond memories playing across his mind.

Lt. Cmdr Renn Zhelek… ‘wow’ James thought to himself ‘Renn’s been killing the game’.

He types out his message, not wanting to disrupt Renn’s schedule. =^=Renn, it’s Rowe. Been a while… Congratulations on the promotion! Proud for you! I always told you that you’d get there long before I did. When you have a chance, I’d appreciate a call. Nothing’s wrong… or immediately urgent. I finally found something worth cashing in that poker debt for. Looking forward to hearing from you!=^=

Rowe took a long drink, finishing his Asaam, before moving closer to the projected holographic display. =^=Computer overlay sensor data for all known vessels transiting through our selected coordinates over the last six months using the same parameters we’re currently working with.=^=

James walked amongst the display as it began to populate the available information.

-Rowe

Khiryn turned up the volume of the music. If he didn’t, he knew he would get distracted by what James was doing. The man was a more than capable scientist, and their best move right now was exactly what Lieutenant Rowe had recommended: divide up the tasks and work on them in parallel.

As he pulled up older archives, what became immediately obvious was that despite the position of the system, it was not as heavily trafficked as Ensign Donivas had initially assumed. There was a fair amount of data available for historical comparison and trend analysis, but it was not the mountain of information he had envisioned.

Not a problem… we knew the more recent sensor logs from other ships would be more relevant anyway.

The Akaali scientist began plotting the data using the same algorithm they had used for their previous analysis, making the eventual merging of the datasets a simple affair.

Ensign Khiryn Donivas - Science Officer - U.S.S. Athena

As each layer of transit sensor data populates in the holographic projection, the scene becomes a bit chaotic.

Rowe studies the projection silently. He cocks his head to one side… then he physically moves to change the perspective. Despite the chaos, he felt like he was seeing some correlation. “The distribution isn’t even.” He said to himself.

One more change of perspective and a thought clicked. Reaching out to point at one ship in particular =^= Computer give me side by side projections. In the first I want to isolate all data from ships operating along the same vector as this one. In the other display the information from the remaining vessels.=^=

As the projection before him changed to reflect his instructions, James said aloud “Well that’s something, but what they hell does it mean.”

His reverie was broken by a chirp from the console. =^=Incoming communication for Lt. Rowe from the U.S.S. Sagan.=^=

James hesitated a moment as his brain tried to work through what he was looking at. Then he tapped his comm badge =^=Acknowledged, I’ll take it in just a moment.=^=

Prying his eyes away from the holographic display at last, James moved to one of the corner consoles to take the call.

-Rowe

Bump