A blast from the past

Posted on 14 Feb 2016 @ 1:35pm by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.

2,366 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: Akkaida and elsewhere
Timeline: MD46 1800

ON:
Allyndra lead the way into the archives. As the doors to the elevator opened they were revealed. Long, long rows of rooms, glassed and controlled each sealed with doors. And inside shelving, and on that most were books, real books and looking very very old.

She stepped into the hallway. "The archives of Warraquim. The knowledge of my people, stored and all but forgotten. Tuula you will be able to store the data here and other than yourself and the main archivist none shall be able to access it. Trust me, we keep our secrets safe here. "

"Isn't it accessible to those who wish to learn from or about the past?" Wintrow asked as he looked around with wide eyes. He was clearly impressed with the size.


"Allyndra, I have a question," asked Tuula as she looked in awe at the knowledge collected before her. She was a little apprehensive, as clearly this knowledge was highly prized and treasured by the Akkadians. "Why do your people keep this data tucked away under lock and key? I've seen some of your technology; the information in this library could advance our scientific knowledge by leaps and bounds. Not to mention the rich cultural history of Akkadia which deserves to be shared."

"Very few have access here, not even most of the House of Warraquim." Allyndra replied. "A long time ago it was discovered that certain individuals had the ability to make great intuitive leaps. Like others, the ability to take seemingly small bits of data and put connections together to make a great advance. However, here it was found that the trait could be passed on, and so we bred for it. We called them the A'burab'atu. It means to do things quickly. We rose fast but the A'burab'atu while making great advances never saw the consequences of what they learned, what they made, just what next leap could be made. In the end, we went far, but we fell fast. We are children of the tides, and suns, so much of our physiology is tied to our world. We could not survive elsewhere for long and instead turned back to home which was already over populated. All that vaunted technology we turned on ourselves and nearly we destroyed both ourselves but also our planet. The A'burab'atu became know with a new name, A'ksu. It means dangerous. Out of the chaos and survivors it was deemed that we needed to go back to much simpler times, to start again." Allyndra waved at all the books. "Every school child here is taught, that we put away the past in order to preserve the future. And so here it is, all the past. While I think it is time for us to take some of that past back, we must still be careful and I will show you why."

Allyndra lead them to the end of a long corridor and entered a code into the lock. This was unlike the rest. There was a door but no glass walls. The door slid open and Allyndra walked inside. A great silver disc occupied the chamber. "Tuula was on one, but she never got to really see one of the Fold Ships. Win, I will think you will enjoy this more than most."

Wintrow observed the disk, and the way it seemed to glow. Cautiously, he approached it, and reached out. "Can I touch it?" he asked, as he studied the disk. "Is this a ship?"

"Yes of course. It is safe." Allyndra replied. She waited a bit and then made a series of complex musical sounds. Silently the ship shimmered a moment and then an opening appeared. "Now let me show you why we have to be careful with what was in the past." She walked on and into the opening. Decks extended off around the central hub which was open like an atrium and Allyndra turned and waited for her companions.

Slowly and curiously, Tuula pushed herself forward towards the ship. Her curiousity was piqued; this ship was like nothing she had seen before.


The plate they stood on lifted like on anti gravs floating upward toward what would be the central bulge of the disc and and came to a halt in what was obviously the control room or the equivalent of a bridge on a star ship. It was a bit different, while there were stations set with blank screens the near middle was a seat with a series of crystals and Allyndra headed for that.
"Make yourselves comfortable," she waved to a chair for Win. She touched the crystals and made again a bit of musical sound and shielding slid away to reveal windows which looked out on the cavern. The screen in front of the crystals revealed what appeared to be a barred spiral. She tapped the screen and said, "Where would you like to go? Orion? The other side of the galaxy?"

Tuula paused for a moment, still in awe. Without thinking, her mouth opened. "I could go for a glass of Tulaberry wine; perhaps Dosa II in the Gamma Quadrant," she uttered without even thinking about it.

"I've nowhere special I'd like to go," Wintrow said as he looked around in equal awe, sitting down in the indicated chair. "These are extremely comfortable," he noted with a smile, "I might never get up."

"Win, watch and listen carefully. She placed her fingers on the display and moved it zeroing in until she found the star in the Gamma. She touched a sport near it and then placed her hands on the crystals and hummed a tonal series. There was something like transporter effect, that odd feeling of being here and there for just less than a second, hardly even that and the cavern had disappeared and a star lay just ahead visible through the regular windows. "The Dosa star, we just crossed seventy thousand light years. Now do you see why we cannot just reveal everything from the past? And also why we can protect the secrets we have."

Allyndra leaned against the chair. "This ship can not only travel like that, but we can phase into a sort of secondary time space. A planet and star, we would just slip through like a ghost through a wall."

Tuula was flabbergasted. "Allyndra," she said, barely able to contain her excitement, "do you realize the potential of this technology? We could explore the galaxy, make contact with thousands of species, open up new exchanges of cultural and scientific knowledge..."

"And destabilize several fragile political alliances. Akkaddia has been so closed and lived so much as you have seen it that they would not be ready either for the attention nor could I imagine what thousands might feel that a fiction has been put upon them for a generations." She sighed. "For many, you two have been some of the first off worlders they have ever seen. The Council will have to prepare the future in order to reveal the past. It will take time. The A'ksu still weight heavily, not looking at consequences. I hope not to repeat their mistakes."

Looking up into Allyndra's eyes, Tuula could see how serious she was. "I understand," she replied, remembering the Prime Directive she had sworn to uphold. If the principle of interference with pre-warp cultures was something that she was sworn to uphold, then perhaps it would be wise to respect that principle when applied to technologies of others that are beyond her comprehension. "It would not be wise to introduce new technology to those who are not prepared to it."

"And a world that has been lied to for generations. We teach that there was something bad in the past, but not quite how far we went. Many see the ships come in, and though contact is limited it begins to open the minds of new generations in what they might have." Allyndra replied

tag Win (thought you might mention Wyndi here)

"Secondary time space? As in...time travel?" Wintrow gazed at her with wide eyes. "Or we could save stranded vessels within seconds...then they wouldn't have to wait weeks before a ship might come their way."

"Not exactly," Allyndra replied to the Cadet. "The universe in order to work has hidden little dimensions of time and space. Part of what makes this ship able to make one point merge temporarily with another. In turn though it can slip into those normally hidden away dimensions." She shrugged. "We could sit in the middle of yonder star without any effect, since we could be there but not quite be there." She touched the Cadets shoulder very gently knowing how sensitive he was to touch. "Well we can come back for tea, but if Tuula will indulge me. If I remember isn't it your birthday?"

Except her touch was one that was familiar and didn't have any bad feelings associated with it. He smiled shyly, feeling oddly pleased that she knew. "Yes ma'am...my twentieth..." No longer a teenager.

"Then I give you the chance to fly this ship, if one really calls it that. As far as I know and I am probably pretty safe in the assumption you will be the first person that is not Akkadian to get to fly an ancient Fold Ship. Happy Birthday."

"Seriously?" Tears sprang in the youth's eyes as he turned his head. "I can fly this ship?" On impulse, he wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her cheek. "Thank you," he breathed, "that's the best gift in my entire life." He beamed up at her as he slid into the pilot's seat. "Can you run me through the how again?"

Allyndra was a bit startled and hugged him back. "Of course, something simple since Tuula wants her tea."

"And a bottle of wine or six," added Tuula, only half-seriously.

Once everyone got settled Allyndra used the map on the display. She picked the nearest star and touched the display. As before small lights appeared in different colours. "These are tones, not unlike your own musical tradition, red is equivalent to a semitone, yellow to a tone, so this would be..." She hummed the small sequence. "The crystals respond to the tones. Now you try."

Though not as on key as Allyndra had hummed them, Wintrow echoed the notes and repeated them a few times.

"Good, now do the same while touching the crystals." Allyndra said.

Placing his hands on the crystals, Wintrow hummed the tune again, his face a mask of anxiety as he hoped all would go well.

Tuula smirked at Wintrow's attempts at rhythm. "You know, if you need a co-pilot, I did play Mabel in Starbase 178's production of The Pirates of Penzance."

"I don't know who that is ma'am," the youth replied tightly, while trying to keep his concentration.

There was that sort of transporter effect, a moment, less than a moment and the view was replaced for a moment with a blinding light before being automatically dimmed.

Allyndra chuckled. "Well you got us there sort of. I believe we are sitting in the star not in the space near it. As I said, the ships can slip into another time and dimension. We are fine as we are not quite in the same time, and same place as the star." She reached over and made a series of tones and the spot they started from reappeared. "Try again?"

Nodding, and feeling a little more secure now that he knew what he was supposed to be doing, Wintrow tried again. The notes sounded a little clearer now as he closed his eyes in concentration, trying to remember the sequence. The crystals glowed under his hands, casting an eerie glow on his face.

A blue white star blazed away outside the port. "Much better. Now then," she hummed the tones like she had before but with just a small variation.
"That should get us to the world so Tuula can get her refreshments." Allyndra waited for Win to repeat the notes and then send them back across the tiny bit of twenty light years.

While she waited she asked Win, "So this Sky Ship Captain. What did you say her name was again?"

Wintrow smiled at the two women. "Wyndi," he replied, "and she was quite...energetic. She told me that here, men don't become pilots, but she let me fly her ship anyway. It was quite fun."

"That is true. It has to do with the eyes. Most Akkadian males do not have the specialized fovea in order to focus properly. It limits the spatial perception. Your eyes are built quite different." Allyndra nodded and said, "Wyndi, very good. I will make note of that. Part of all this is to begin to push the world and if she is interested perhaps it is time for her to learn to fly out here as well. That I wish we could just bring these ships out, the time is not right yet. Now repeat those notes as close as you can."

Less than a second of time it seemed and ship was sitting in a field. Allyndra nodded, "There you go, we shall be unobserved here, but go get your tea and wine and I will wait with the ship. When you step out, there will be something like a little shiver as we are not quite in the same time space. You will be fine."

"I actually suggested to her that she should come visit the Galileo sometime," Wintrow answered brightly as he got up. "Do you want anything?"

"No, I am fine. Enjoy you two." Allyndra waved them off.

It took a bit but finally the two showed up again and Allyndra let Win do a few longer jumps before taking over and settling the Fold Ship back as though it had never left deep in the cavern from where it had rested.

OFF:

Lieutenant JG Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support craft pilot
USS Galileo
pnpc Tyrion

LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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