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"Hey, have we got a surprise for you!" said J.M. "No, it’s not another all-expense-paid trip back to Earth… but it’s almost as exciting. We have a new data packet from Stargazer!" And Jacqueline stared at pictures of the alien Gror'iel in company with suited humans, or sometimes in the human areas and wearing breathing masks themselves.
"Cayla's disappeared into some kinda cult," Sikso commented, "and Jonathan into a mental hole and pulled it in after him. Can Hoshi C-Gate out by herself?"
"If he won't go with her," said Jacqueline, shrugging. "Like I said, I didn't see him at all."
With everyone brought up to date, Jacqueline headed out to report for galley duty.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpZVYYNN9qK
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One unwelcome disclosure came later. With all the other hassle, nobody remembered to tell Jacqueline she'd got mail while still in C-Gate lag; just by accident did she find several times in a lower, otherwise empty drawer of her desk. One came from Craigsville, and it should have been no surprise to open it and find notification of the death of Eartha Dolores Stuart-Lane, a little over 3 years Jacqueline had seen her.
Yet someone the news caught Jacqueline off guard. So did the fact that it made her cry. Not for long, and maybe not for the death itself; she cried, more likely, for the life her mom had lived. Maybe for the good fortune Jacqueline had had, that Dolores had somehow been denied. And since that was none of Jacqueline's own doing, her grief purged itself more easily than at first seemed possible.
As good as her word, Dolores had left Jacqueline a considerable sum of money. What good it'd do her, she had no idea, but at the computer she wrote a letter of acknowledgment to Nick De Caro, the lawyer named as executor and trustee of Dolores's will. At least her mom had dumped Lucius Gotham.
For no reason that she could pin down, Jacqueline's next thought was of Arthur Vinson---and what she'd realized, in Dolores's hospital room, about his true effect on her own life. Impulsively she composed another letter.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6rjjMNMF6
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Arthur Vinson:
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You didn't indent to, but you made me run away to the best place I could possibly be. Now that I know this, I don't hate you any more. I forgive you and hope that when you get out of prison if you aren't already, you don't do anything to get sent back.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyKosdSdxN
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Jacqueline D. Sisko.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJJGuROdUG
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Since she had no idea where to send it, she pulled up the earlier letter and added a postscript to Mr. De Caro, asking him to locate Vinson and arrange delivery of the sealed enclosure.
Before sending any of it she showed both items, along with the word of Dolores's dying, to Ben, J.M. and Marlena. The note to Arthur sent Ben's eyebrows up, then he grunted; Jacqueline didn't actually see anything, but guessed that Marlena had jabbed an elbow to his ribs. As to Dolores, both made consoling comments, but Jacqueline shook her head. "I've cried enough already, thank you."
"Of course," said Ben, one arm around her. "Let's all have supper together, 'kay. In---um---about 2 hours?"
"Fine," said Jacqueline. "I can get hungry by then."
"I'll see what Nick's got in, that's special," J.M. added.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77p2rl4fRb
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Two months later came word from Nick De Carto. Jacqueline's letter had been hand-delivered to Arthur Vinson at a downscale retirement home; family money or not, apparently he was still consistently on the cheap. He was at the time into his 3rd year of parole and not in much of a position to break it, due to inmate-inflicted injuries suffered during the 2nd incarceration. De Caro's letter concluded: "He read the letter in our representative's presence and rather vehemently rejected the opportunity to reply. I must decline to quote him directly."
Yeah, I'll bet....Well, she'd done her part.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsJ0zBLiC8
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Over the 6 months following Jacqueline's arrival Sisko found no evidence of further C-Gate malfunctions; finally he had to file her delayed emergence in the corner of his mind where nagging mysteries defied total forgetting.
Shipboard routine ran smoothly; velocity and position checks maintained their normal libration around the ideal nominal conditions of constant V and stable time ratio, and if crew members had any personal troubles they kept them under control. Or to themselves, at least; Ben would settle for that any time.
The only event of general note came close to midway of those months: day # 603, in fact. In the Yamato Ass appeared a brief message announcing that ship's approach, after decel, to its destination system. Sikso didn't recognize the captain's name and didn't expect to; this relief cadre would have matured more than 1 generation past his own time. What he found interesting was that time lapse sensor scans during the decel approach had located several planets, although orbital distances hadn't yet been pinned down too well. Stay tuned!
Arrowprize was now traversing a region of space in which the stellar population was on a skinny side; since passing the system that greeted visitors with space mines, the ship had come no nearer than several light years to any but very dim stars, and only two of those. "Not much chance of planets," said Beverly Crusher. Nor enough high energy radiation at such luminosities. Ben gathered, to catalyze organic reactions in the seas those nonexistent planets probably wouldn't have, anyway.
So he wasn't to s hocked when no ships or beacons evidenced themselves. Not disappointed, either. A little peace and quiet suited him and Marlena just fine.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDIQsV7ktY
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One hour before her next watch, Jacqueline's alarm brought her awake from vague, uneasy dreaming. As she sat up, the blurred and rasping voice from her dream---a familiar one, it seemed to be, but somehow distorted---still droned at her.
Jacqueline shook her head. This was a true sound, not a dream. Where did it come from? Her sound system was switched off, and besides, the hoarse murmur didn't come from that direction. It wasn't the intercom, either. She brought the lighting up; the voice stopped, and at the same time she saw something unfamiliar, sitting atop a chest of drawers.
No, it was not just sitting. Emerging, swelling up. As she stared the bulge grew, forming itself into a kind of bust: crude at first, then with features differentiating, refining themselves in shape and color and texture, into a neck supporting a head.
Her head!
A forlorn shred of common sense insisted she was still dreaming; at the same time her critical faculty rendered judgments. The hair wasn't real; that part was really a solid mass, contoured and colored to look like hair. Why the illusion failed, Jacqueline wasn't sure, but it did.
The eyes stared blankly; the lips, slightly parted, didn't move. Not even when, quite clearly now, they spoke to her.
In a pretty close match to her own voice!404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyiMZMYxgcX
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With a string of polysyllables, some few making recognizable words, the approximation of Jacqueline's voice went on for maybe 1 minute. Then it passed, waiting.
"What are you?" Talking to some kind of plastic construct, was she? Jacqueline shook her head; as the simulacrum mimicked the movement, she had a thought. A very wild one, not just off the wall but past any edge she could imagine. "Was it you that screwed around with me during C-Gate lag?" Well, one of the words she thought she recognized was "dimensions...."
No answer; try again. "Where are you from?" All right so this was nuts; it was also happening, and not threatening her, so why gootz out? Unresponsive, the head-thing kept quiet.
Actually, only one question mattered. "What do you want?!"
The answer came as unintelligible gibberish, with just occasional recognizable words or phrases. "....volitional.....extrusion....sub-continuum....excess kinesis..." Jacqueline shook her head. "No! Try to make sense!" Because she was pretty sure this was real. Which meant she wasn't nuts, and whatever was happening here, it had to be important!
So she repeated, "What is it you want?!"404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgO1gW7BOvi
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Employment of a structural simulation of subject volitional, including samplings of its primary communication mode, evokes no meaningful content from it. At next, then, surface dimension sensors make insertion, to within the volitional itself. By adjustment, these may achieve response at nearness, in this sub-plenum so lacking of overall contiguity.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLP4A44FgD7
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A kind of gauzy film, barely visible, reached from the odd head to her own. Again, as when she C-Gated from Earth, a great chilling shudder struck through her. First came the wordless conviction that indeed she'd had previous contact with whatever this was. Then, over and through the droning, enigmatic tones, her mind perceived word sequences that seemed to hesitate and then form---or else dissipate before she could understand.
Still more confused than frightened, she did her best to follow. All right; the context seemed to be, why didn't she stay in her own space rather than invading its space? So this mental ventriloquist dummy was from the Time-Lost continuum, sure enough had to be. "We don't mean to. It's how we get someplace fast; we didn't know you were there."
The same question package reran several times but never quite the same. So Jacqueline also varied her answers, phrasing the idea as many different ways as she could devise. Then she thought to visualize what she meant; she brought into recall an illustration she'd seen; people ingating, passing through a vaguely depicted interspace emerging at the far end.
Finally the head nodded. How did it know to do that? The same way it mimicked her looks or voice; it just did, that's all.
Then the questions changed---not just content but tone. More urgently, it asked of something that had---emerged? impinged? broken free? run loose?---and caused much harm. Just once, apparently, but the creature(?) seemed highly concerned about it. Wanted to know why, how, for what reason. And if it would happen again, keep on happening, continue from this beginning. Overtones of anger, here. And threat---but a threat totally unclear, incomprehensible. So she tried to ignore that part, to focus on what this was all about. 404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2E13thJVYF
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Content of response cannot be adjudicated in full certainty; while the sensory projection is designed, from scannings of the volitionals' own operational sequencing processes, to provide interface between disparate concept configurations and to operate at sub-continuum chronal rate, accuracy of transpositional mode can be assessed only by later analysis and behavioral result.
Initial exchange gives moderate basis for encouragement.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33C4Iq3gYs
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Why it took her so long to understand, she couldn't say; when she did, the answer was obvious. The damned bullet, fired by Arthur Vinson's boss bandit; it wasn't here or at Bolt Park. Nyota had guessed Time-Lost continuum; apparently she was right. Jacqueline tried to explain; it was an accident, mistake, error. Trying to visualize something in aid of meaning but without much luck. Anyway: it was not on purpose (in fact, she wasn't sure the precise timing could be achieved on purpose, but that idea was too complex to convey here). Not meant, not intended. Not to be repeated, won't happen again, once and only once. Apology, sorry, regret, grief (well, that was a little strong, but still on the right spectrum). And...
She wasn't sure whether the chime came from the door or the intercom until she heard Elyse Cawthorn's voice. "Jacqueline? It's time to be here for watch. Are you all right?"
She'd been talking with this damn thing for 1 hour?! And until now, hadn't noticed hunger rising. "I'm sorry. I---I'll be there in a few----as soon as I can, that is." Because the chilly shudder came again; her intent to move somehow blocked itself.
She cut the circuit. "Look---I have to go. If not....No change; she tried visualizing again. "People will come busting in here." Ben, red-faced and furious, waving---oh, inspiration!---a great big gun. Oops, maybe that wasn't a good idea after all; she'd said the bullet was a one-time accident. Deleting the gun from her imagining, she instead gave him huge fists and a set of fangs.
So when the film withdrew, and she looked around and saw him entering in person, for 1 second it jolted her that he seemed quite his normal self.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeu5ZiBtV7e
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Jacqueline didn't answer the door. But Sisko could hear her talking to someone, so being in a hurry he barged right in. And then he didn't see anyone else here. "What's going on?"
Her voice seemed to come from two places simultaneously and neither made sense; she herself stammered and the other source uttered a string of nonsense syllables. Looking for that one, on the dresser he spotted a fairly lifelike bust. Something new; if she'd brought it brought it back from Earth, why hadn't he seen it before?
The head turned to face him; he recognized his daughter's likeness. "Hey---not bad!" Clever toy.
As he walked over to take a closer look, Jacqueline said, "No! Wait!" but he'd already reached it. For 1 moment he touched a surface that tingled like something vibrating at high frequency; then, under his direct and sober gaze, the bust started shrinking. Oddly, the neck dwindled to nothing, leaving the head floating above a bulge of the surface below, each diminishing at a deliberate rate until both vanished together.
"What in God's name....?"
Her look was not accusatory but came damn close. She took a deep breath. "Ben---you're going to have trouble believing this. Because I can't accept it myself."
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Withdrawal at advent of second volitional was itself of nonvoluntary response mode and is deemed unfortunate. Yet exhaustive scrutiny of experimental results may be of utility at this chronal juncture; as action may not be undone, it must be accepted as if intended. Advisability of similar future experiment is reviewed; needs govern decision.
Partial replication of the volitional successfully drew and held attention. Earlier scannings are now studied more thoroughly; perhaps a more ambitious effort may prove superior in accrual of information and restraint on volitionals' actions. To this end, communications exchanged are subjected to examination and analysis; subsequent attempts must be given more accuracy.
Successive problems from this dimensional sector, measures taken in alleviation, and nowtime status: all are reviewed from beginning, and evaluated. Adjustments have been made to accommodate both momentary and contiguous vector grouping, and it's been shown that the degree of its spatial-chronal curvature narrowly obviates any real peril from reverse dangers, proves to be only a minor disturbing factor. But cessation of latest infringement, the loosing of high kinesis mass beyond the boundaries of artificially produced fields within the deliniated combination of sub-plena, must depend on agreed restraint by the volitionals themselves.
The one approached seemed comprehending, yet among the noncontiguous, how can any one have decisive control over actions of many? Should adverse demonstration be needed to obtain the needed concurrence of all, unfortunate for the volitionals.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMDBRAHWWY
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"It swelled up out of the furniture and tried to talk to me; I told you that already! Then when Ben came in, it went away." She'd told about the communication, too, what she thought she understood of it, repeatedly. But the group---most of the crew, gathered in the lounge now---kept on asking questions until, on balance, she'd just as soon be talking with the Venus de Milo again!
"But didn't go back the same way," Bruno Eustace put in. "Wasn't that w hat you said, Ben?"
Sisko nodded. "I didn't see it come up, only going away. When the head got small it just shrank in place, not connected to anything. I can't see how..."
"I can." Talia Winters stood beside an upholstered chair, from behind it she reached a hand up. "Watch." As she lowered the hand, first her wrist went out of sight, then the palm. With just her fingertips showing above the chair back, she paused and wiggled them. "See? No visible connections."
Sisko snorted a fast laugh. "Okay. Nyota, Jacqueline says you called it right about the bullet; apparently it raised hell in Time-Lost and these things are pissed-off about it. Understandably."
"I told it, that it was an accident. And seems to me the timing'd be so touchy it couldn't be done on purpose, but I don't think I could have explained that to the---whatever it was. Of course, I don't know how much it understood, of what I did say."
"Yup," said Ben. "Moreover, that concerns me. Look; I'm going to hand Earth a full report on all these anomalies. Your double C-Gate lag, Jacqueline, and then this----this apparition we saw----or whatever we want to call it."
"Timeloster," said Talia.
Ben's brows pulled down as he peered at her. "What?"
"Inhabitant of the Time-Lost continuum. Timeloster. Sounds good to me."
Sisko shrugged. "Me, too." but Jacqueline bet herself he wouldn't use the term in his report.
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What with the Timeloster mystery, Sisko fell behind on reading his mail. It was J.M., when he came to relieve him from watch, who jumped down his throat about it. "You could at least check out the dispatches from Yamato."
Yeah sure; feeling bothered and realizing he shouldn't, Ben said, "I'll do that right now; pass 'em over."
He read into the document two pages, then shook his head. "They say it looks as if all three of the Triad Planets lie in the star's biozone. Now how can that be? Orbits far enough apart not to interfere with one another, you'd think the incident radiation energy differences have to be prohibitive. It seems to me it'd be hard to place even two, that would have water consistently in the liquid phase."
He looked further along in the paper; maybe Yamato's destination was a multiple star system with tight spacing. "Don't they say anywhere in here, what the layout is?"
J.M. shrugged. "That must be in an earlier report, but I don't find it anywhere. We could ask."
"I think I will. Okay, the board's clear; you're relieved."
"Thanks." He left. After checking sensor logs, then finding nothing urgent in the line of ship's functions or personnel problems, Sisko called up a graphic mode on a side screen and began trying to work out a planetary system, configured around a reasonably durable sun, that would accommodate 3 planets in a habitable temperature range.
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As acting chief of the Cochrane Memorial Labs at Columbus Conservatory, Dr. Rose MacGregor took her work very seriously. Now she reread the summary of her researchers' reply to a report from Captain Benjamin Sisko, aboard the Arrowprize, detailing certain anomalies with regard to C-Gates and the Time-Lost Continuum.
It started fairly well, she thought. ".....find no reason why, if one quantum of time in 'Time-Lost' approximates two Earth years, our C-Gatings should uniformly match that continuum's quantum points. But this caveat presumes that time quanta throughout an entire universe are always 'in step.' Such an assumption is not necessarily valid. More probably, the advent of matter from our universe into theirs initiates a uniform time quantum step inside the bounds it occupies. Experimental data support..."
She skipped ahead. Comment on the young Sisko woman's inexplicable doubled C-Gate lag steered clear of the kind of bold speculation MacGregor liked to see, the kind that often led to unsuspected truths, instead, it waffled.
She checked the names appended to that section; Hutch and Daniels definitely needed spinal transplants. So did the team assigned to derive some kind of theoretical basis for the odd "visitation" related by Sisko's junior and senior. Granted, that group had little to go on; still, something other than "insufficient data for speculation " would have been nice....
All right, onto the bullet thing. Although enjoined from recreating the ballistic situation, Lorne Hubbard had done a number of experiments with local-return C-Gates; what did he say here? "..exact boundaries of the C-Gate having never been sharply defined by previous experiments, several approaches...."
Yes, all right---but most of them didn't work. Or didn't prove anything. The color flares foiled any attempt at catching on camera the cutoff point of, for example, a jet of liquid spurting from within the C-Gate. Colored smoke was useless because the air in the C-Gate recess didn't go anywhere anyway (Why? Even after decades of usage, there was a lot nobody knew about C-Gates.) So---grumbling, she set several more sheets aside, before she saw something fascinating.
One of Hubbard's assistants had conceived a new line of attack. Slim rods of various materials had been utilized: wood, plastics, numerous metals as well as nonmetallic compounds, each extending from the C-Gate's surrounding inner surface and reaching toward a central point, the lot arranged in a dense, uniform pattern. Further, from a framework facing the C-Gate recess a similar pattern of rods also extended into the space under study.
A picture taken before the C-Gate activation could've been labeled "Porcupine Hollow." The After pic was quite different. Inside the recess, floor and curved shell alike showed every rod, regardless of its composition, sheared off cleanly at the surface delineated by the tips of the C-Gate's activating circuit elements, arranged in the usual array of interlocking polyhedra.
No shock there. However, the rods reaching into the C-Gate from its open front told another story. Those truncated ends defined no smooth surface, but a randomly wavering boundary. Moreover, not all stubs were neatly cut; some ends featured a ragged, eroded look. "In other words," MacGregor mused, "without a physically enforced boundary, C-Gate fields tend to waver a bit."
Skipping to the report's last page, she shook her head. No definitive summary, just more hedging. Though the conclusion to be drawn was clear enough. Frowning, she added a few lines herself, wielding her stylus to print in letters large and bold.
"SINCE THE UNBOUNDED FIELD AT THE OPEN FRONT OF A COCHRANE GATE IS NEITHER STEADY NOR PREDICTABLE IN ITS EXTENT. THE EXPECTANCY OF AN OBJECT ESCAPING AT HIGH VELOCITY DURING A GATING CANNOT BE CALCULATED."
ROSE MacGREGOR, D. SC., COCHRANE LABS
Now, it probably wasn't what Captain Benjamin Sisko wanted to see, but he'd just have to make it do.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BboJeMUrh
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Coming off watch, Sisko woke Marlena when he entered quarters; then he set up the coffeemaker. By the time he'd showered she was fully alert and fit to talk to. "We think we know how those Triad Planets Yamato's people found work," he told her. "Not everything, but mostly."
"Well, good for us," Marlena said. "Did we win an award?"
Repartee aside, though, he knew she did have some interest in the puzzle, just like the others. "The latest report still doesn't spell it out," he said, glopping up a fresh piece of toast with 3 kinds of jam, "but we detectives know how to work with clues. Okay, there can't be two independent orbits in the star's habitable zone, let alone 3. But there's a big momma rolling around that track. So either two of the Triad are moons of the major rock---maybe tide-locked and leapfrogging---and the 3rd's in Trojan position 60 degrees off, or the other way around."
"The other way? Oh---a single moon, and the pair riding in the Trojan slot. But why can't we tell which?"
He handed her the readout sheet. "Because the asshole who wrote this thing probably composes tax forms for a living, that's why!"
After a moment she nodded. "Or bank loan contracts."
Ben was going to expand on the possibilities of the Trojan system when the intercraft sounded. "Sisko here."
"Ben?" It was Jacqueline. "Could we talk a little? I mean, is this a good time?"
He looked to Marlena; she nodded. "Sure. Come on over."404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt2dTWg96C4
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".....suddenly it feels so final," Jacqueline was saying. "Because of Talia, really. She just got word her father's dead. See, it's nearly forty-five Earth years since she saw him. And she's been in touch with her folks; not like Dolores and me, with no contact for years there. So Talia hadn't thought, until now. Also, her mother, she'd be nearly the same age, so it can't be much longer. With the time ratio and all."
Ben wasn't sure what her point was. "I'm sorry about your friend." First he'd wondered why Talia's lost wold trigger Jacqueline when Dolores's death hadn't, but her words explained all that. "Would you like one of us to talk with her?" What he could say was a total mystery to him, but still...
"No, she's going to be okay. Thanks, though." Then, after 1 pause. "It's me, really. Ben---I'm lost to Earth. It's not even there for me; I don't know anybody back home."
All over, it seemed, she shuddered. "I feel so cut off."
Going around Jacqueline's shoulders from one side, Sisko's arm had to counter and slip Marlena's coming the other way. "You're not alone, Jackie."
"Bloody right now," said Marlena.
"You---you both feel it too?" Did she sound a little better?
Ben sighed. "Long since; hell, I forgot when it was."
"I don't," Marlena said. "When word came in about the Gror'iel; remember? It was all Earth's celebration and none of ours."
Ben nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Anyway, I knew Earth had no part of me anymore, and that it went both ways. Yes, it hurt, for sure, but we did come here on purpose, didn't we?"
"All of us," said Marlena. It looked as if she meant it.
Jacqueline considered, then nodded. "Maybe not at first. Because I didn't know, then. However, I do now." She frowned a moment before her expression cleared. "All right. The ship's my home and it's a good one. At destination---well, the colony could be it, or maybe even another ship. I'll have to wait and see."
So she'd be all right. With a little bit of luck at all. Anyway, though Ben, destination was no longer a matter of the far future. Today was number 750 of the ship's crewed period. The 1st contingent would ingate, 25 days before the onset of decel, in just about 9 more months.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡczZWvXniGB
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During chronal progression ensuant to the partial success in exchange of meanings with the noncontiguous volitionals of the erstwhile troublesome sub-plenum, caution is maintained. Further experiments await additional study, at nowtime undertaken.
Analysis of the direct sensing within and adjacent to the sub-plenum itself produces information previously unknown. Volitionals of the greater plenum neither design nor require devices of nonvolitional mass for manipulation of continuum parameters; thus, such objects in the sub-plenum are a source of bafflement and, early in attempted understanding, even dismay.
Within a relatively brief chronal period, however, the devices under study become capable of being understood, and a strange fact is observed. Whether by purpose or by random accessibility, in expanding to obstruct outside their initial sub-continuum the volitionals have opted additional dimensions of less than optimum utility. In particular, the chronal-prime vector of the annexed grouping is maximally disadvantageous to the volitional's stated purpose of moving between noncontiguous loci with minimal chronal displacement.
Alteration of such choice would appear a facile solution. Yet within the sub-plenum, it's soon realized, exists no viewpoint from which to make selection. Nor means of doing so without guidance from outside the entire dimensional packet.
Two opinions conflict. Positive: could these other volitionals somehow be given capability to elect such choices, obtrusions would each have lesser effect on the overall plenum. Negative: were their devices altered to be of more efficient chronal utility, usage would increase dramatically. Overall effect in the greater plenum is a matter of contention. Ergo: effort towards providing such capability waits upon further evaluation.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwmZjoa2o5I
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When Jacqueline turned fourteen, bio, three weeks after Ass reached 20, Arrowprize had been running crewed for just shy of 28 months, ship's time. And although Jacqueline herself had missed roughly four of those in gatelags, still she'd done enough real living to change considerably from the girl who wasn't chubby now; instead she definitely wore woman's shape. Nothing flagrant: modest breasts and a round little butt once past some early embarrassment, all in all she rather liked the effect.
By Earth's calendar, though, she had in-C-Gated at Bolt Park a bit over 61 years ago. The compulsion that drover her to calculate that figure was something like needing to scratch a mosquito bite; she dreaded the answer but had to know it anyway. Sitting before her terminal she stared for a few moments, then shut the screen down. Ben and Marlena were putting on a spread for her; it wouldn't do to show up late.
Once she got there she shook her somber mood quickly and enjoyed the party a lot more than she thought she would. After all, in 5 more months (subjective) she'd go into the local C-Gate---and next thing she knew, pop out to see what lay at the far side of Arrowprize's decel period.
Assuming Ben picked her for the advance contingent. She started to ask him, but he was busy talking, so she dropped it.
".....wanted to get back to her on that," Sisko said. "But I didn't get the chance before she left for watch. Anyway, J.M., why don't we figure out the listings right now?"
"Just so it doesn't take too long," J.M. replied.
Ben put the roster onscreen. That file displayed all of the vital parameters; individual specialties, pairings, and so forth. After looking for a moment Ben said, "The original idea, back at Bolt Park, was for half the crew to go ahead and the other half wait 'til the final moment."
"And?"
"That would not be smart. When we outgate at destination, after decel, won't we want as many as possible, to get things going?"
"I think you're right," said J.M. "All we need staying behind until decel is the core group best suited to set it up."
So Ben started moving names and their associated data blocks around on the screen. And after 2 mild arguments with regards to qualifications, he and J.M. agreed on a pair of assignment rosters. "Unless someone raises a really valid objection," J.M. hedged.
"Valid, or violent?" J.M. promptly hit the printout button.
"I've listed pairs together," he said, "regardless of rank. Easier to keep track of who's who."
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ADVANCE AWAY TEAM:
Benjamin Sisko, captain, pilot/navigator with Marlena Moreau, assistant hab-C-Gate tech
Nyota Uhura, 3rd officer, DM commander with Alfred Nightgazer, drive tech
Nick Leger, galley chief, ship's service maintenance with Odessa Vangelos, supplies chief, galley aide
Talia Winters, instruments and maintenance backup
Jacqueline Sisko, cadet (drive, DM, navigation) 404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXV6Nc4wnNi
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DECELERATION OVERSITE TEAM:
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Elyse Cawthorn, 2nd officer, instruments with Charles Tucker, backup pilot
Yasmin Armiger, drive chief with Bruno Eustace, (DM, navigation, hab-C-Gates)
Paul Stamets, assistant drive chief (theory) with Beverly Crusher, instrument chief404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapdhACF3aU
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"I'm shorting the stay-behinds in the galley department," Sisko said, "but it's not my fault how everybody paired up. And I don't see how we could aske either Nick or Odessa or Hikaru and Quela to split up, all at that time."404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKffuafopiJ
"Only 25 days for the decel party, but 21 months for the advance team," J.M. said. "Are you going to suggest it, anyway?"404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAMudqFM0m
"Not unless someone insists. Of course, maybe we'll put some gripes anyway, on other grounds. But I can't see why."404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxIZC6zKIn
As it so happened, several seemed shocked at the assignments but nobody complained.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnezuQ7dWb0
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With destination so imminent, the last 5 months dragged interminably. When day 1020 finally neared, Jacqueline felt there should be something in the way of ceremony. But there wasn't even a need to pack for the "trip"; they'd be coming right back into control, after all.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZ98rGVLfL
What they did have to do first, a seemingly endless task, was button down everything loos in preparation for decel. They couldn't bring the rotating belts to rest yet, of course, that was a job for the 6 remaining, who would also secure their own quarters and control. But everything else needed careful evaluation and treatment. Luckily there were lists to follow.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfJyr6PVfnE
To ease the decel team's plight, Hikaru Sulu prepared and stored a supply of varied meals designed to mitigate the monotony of standard ration packets. "Space 'em out a little," he said, "so you don't run out too soon.": On a quick guess, Jacqueline figured everyone got on special meal per day. Of course, those who wanted to could try their hands at cooking up their own treats....404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRrufDjZbym
Eventually, after goodbyes which for obvious reasons meant more to the advance team than to the others, the ten forerunners lined up and went into the local C-Gate two by two. "I feel like Noah," Ben said, stepping into the recess hand to hand with Marlena. "Or maybe one of his chosen animals."404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgt2d3XLdlp
What with the brief C-Gating intervals, Jacqueline and Talia as last in line departed just a few minutes later.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUI7prJiPBM
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Pearl McCarty worried. As the new director at Bolt Park she was barely getting the feel of the place, and here came the agency saddling her with new developments. "Aren't we going to be a little late with this?"404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS37rxSLYI7
On the phonescreen Dr. Rose MacGregor looked younger than her age. "It can't be helped. The tests began when they began; you can't rush C-Gate lag. But by sending pre-activated units in knockdown form, we can have hab-C-Gate capability to the destination planet itself, at least 2 years ahead of time."
Pearl frowned. "They'll be preparing for decel by the time these arrive. Do you really think they'll have time for all the extra work?"
"We'll hope so. If not, they can install while in orbit."
"Which would delay launch of the Deployment Module."
"That's the chance we take," said Rose MacGregor.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2g73UlNzWM
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To Yasmin Armiger the ship seemed deserted; the 6 still aboard came nowhere giving it all a lived-in feeling. Over the remaining days she checked and rechecked drive parameters until she could have recited them in her sleep. If anything went wrong, well, they couldn't blame her, now could they? To Yasmin's relief, Paul Stamets checked her results out clear, all the way.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm81jxd9eLJ
Yamato had reported a strong chance of planets from half a light-year out. Well, their star didn't sport a dust halo about five times as wide as Pluto's orbit. Here at maybe a tenth of a light-year, all Arrowprize could make out were some fuzzy indications that didn't prove very much. Still, the general feeling was that prospects looked pretty good.404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡafHYSXdAqp
Everyone seemed satisfied, in face, except Beverly; more than not, the instrument chief was seen frowning over her work. At last in the galley she explained her worry. "The mass detector figures don't jibe with our vee/distance reckoning. And they're out of line with the observed values for luminosity---magnitude, if you wish---of our destination star. According to the mass spotters we're closer than we should be. By quite a lot, in terms of slow-end velocities."
"Of these instruments," said Elyse Cawthorn, "in which do you place the greater trust?"
Crusher frowned. "I have to vote with the massers. Over our whole route there've been so many fluctuations in velocity and time ratio; we try to cancel them out, but the reckoning is still approximate. And our luminosity readings; variations in vee can screw up the the relativity corrections. So to be on the safe side I think we've got to start decel sooner than the schedule reads.
Since for obvious reasons the ship was aiming between one and two A.U. wide of the star anyway. Yasmin couldn't see how a little long or short in the distance figure could hurt a whole lot. But that, after all, was Beverly's department.
"I've got to leave word," Crusher said. "This change we're making, for the advance team. So if things aren't the way they expect, they'll have some idea why." Only when she'd punched her message into the main console terminal did she sigh and relax. "We're starting decel nearly a hundred and fifty-eight minutes ahead of schedule. That's almost 66 hours at the far end. Luckily the glitch wasn't in the other direction; we wouldn't dare correct for it." Because delaying decel could have the advance team emerging into 5G stress. Safety switches were all well and good, but obviously Beverly didn't want to run any risks.
Over the last few days prior to ingating, the six finished the job of preparing for decel. Then, carefully, while Beverly crosshaired three major reference stars, Bruno Eustace operated the twin pairs of yaw thrusters, one to initiate rotation and the other to halt it, swinging ship until Arrowprize's nose aimed directly back along the ship's drive wake. Not until the rear sensors, now spotting the three beacons, confirmed the move's accuracy, did Elyse Cawthorn pronounce turnover accomplished.
And so finally, with everyone lined up and waiting, Yasmin rechecked all her settings including the delay needed to permit all six to C-Gate safely, and punched the decisive button.
"Banzai!"404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQ39Bens41
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As the flare died, Jacqueline saw the bridge crowded with those who'd come before her, mostly looking bewildered and talking at cross purposes. Moving away from the C-Gate she turned to see the screen that seemed to have everybody's attention. Along with a few dim specks appeared one bright object, pea-sized in this depiction. It didn't look all that interesting, but...404Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanh9R2JHtT
Reaching Ben's side she grabbed his arm. "What's that?" And what's wrong with everybody, but she didn't bother to ask that.
"Our destination star, Jacqueline." His voice sounded dead flat. "Something screwed up. We've finished decel, all right. And come to rest, nominally. But we're about 40 billion miles short."
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