Entering the Alien Starship...

After Josh Vincent ascended up the newly formed stairway into the entryway of the alien vessel, he carefully scouted around the areas immediately surrounding the portal to ensure the safety of the other senior officers. When he was convinced that there were no immediate risks, he leaned back out of the opening and signaled the others to join him. 

After they gathered into a rather volumous area, the four officers allowed some time and mapped out a plan to comb through the ship in a preliminary sweep.

Section-by-section, each segment of the ship was being carefully observed and categorized. Attention was focused on scrutiny while no contact with anything on the vessel was clearly maintained throughout the procedure.

With tri-corder in hand Rogers followed the trio of Phoenix officer’s through the myriad of ship’s corridors, making sure to meticulously scan in three dimension’s in order to get a very accurate map of the interior. Whilst doing so, his eye’s roved over the multitude of small, barely perceptible glyph’s interspersed along both passing wall’s. David’s engineering mind surmised that they were likely akin to the many panels on Federation ships, denoting perhaps entry nodes or even displays. But if there were such panels or doorway’s, they were unnoticeable to human eye’s. Even the spectrum enhancements that David tried revealed nothing. Suddenly, looking about him, David noticed that he had turned off and lost Syntron, Riker and Vincent.

‘Damn, pay attention to where you’re going Rogers.’ David berated himself silently.

The featureless hallway offered no indication now as to which way he had turned around. Pausing his tricorder, David retraced the mapping sequence on it. Ahead was fully mapped as shown on the traversing mini display, while behind him now was a short corridor and another branch where there was no map. It appeared that he was down and near the bottom of the ship, by the measurement’s showing on the small screen. David surmised that the branch would lead to an end to the corridors, if logic followed form. Of course, form in this case was alien, so logic would have to wait for the captain to surmise upon.

‘Fortune belongs to the brave,’ David smiled to himself, and about faced to enter the next branch of the corridor. One pace ahead was a featureless mirror like wall, but without a reflection. No handle or panel was evident, and neither were there any of the glyphs that had haphazardly adorned the other hallway’s. It appeared like a dead end.

“Damn!’, David muttered perplexedly.

The featureless wall in front of Rogers suddenly turned opaque and a profuse scrolling of glyphs travelled across in front of him, right to left. After a few seconds, the alien symbols stopped and a pale green light flashed across the hallway, not blinding him, but David jumped anyway at the abrupt appearance of this different action. Then, without a detectable sound, the opaque wall seemed to dissolve and a cavernous room behind it was revealed. From his vantage point just outside, David could make out what seemed to be thirty or so miniature spire’s, like the immense surface ones. But  each of these one and a half meter high towers was topped with what looked like polished gold dodecagon’s. Twelve sided polyhedron shapes. The nearest small spire’s dodecagon’s faces were covered with twenty or so small glyph’s that were pulsing with changing hues of green yellow and blue’s. The pattern caught the eye beautifully, and trance-like, David walked slowly forward, enthralled by the dazzling color pattern’s.

((Different parts of the ship can be visited and continue to be described by ChEng and others in the next thread))

When they entered an area in the lower back section of the vessel, a sizable alien suddenly appeared before them. As an involuntary reaction, Josh Vincent had his phaser instantly drawn and immediately pushed back the captain out of the room before he could utter a protest and then assumed a lowered crouched position facing directly toward this unusual being.

Commander Riker, who was a few steps ahead rolled behind the alien and pointed his phaser pistol at it.

He watched intently with his phaser poised to strike to see if the alien attacked, but it held its position exactly where it had first appeared. After a few moments, Josh pulled out a high-intensity flashlight and shown its concentrated beam harmlessly through the torso of the alien shining off of Commander Riker's chest.

He then stood up and stepped back into the corridor just outside the room.

"Sorry Sirs," he noted as he brought his eyes within the helmets visor from the first officer back to the captain.

"It was an instinctive reaction. It appears that we somehow activated some type of very realistic holograph."

"No need to apologize for fulfilling your duty Mister Vincent" the captain responded unemotionally before adding "Now if you don't mind, step aside and allow us the opportunity to see this holographic apparition for ourselves.

The officers then entered back into the room and gazed silently at the figure displayed before them.

Within the life-like holograph appeared a rather majestically tall being. Vertical at about seven and a half foot, looking almost like an elongated humanoid-like being, but with two ominous glowing eyes gazed outward in a mesmerizing stare. In addition, this individual was bereft of a mouth, nose, or visible ears. One could speculate that those senses were handled in a manner rather different than humans or other similar species.

Extending back from the crown of the head, was a bony crest. Beneath it, emerging from the back of the head were possibly nerve cords of some type running below the line of its torso in a braided-like fashion. A broad chest and wide shoulders tapered down to an unusually narrow waist with a very slim midsection.

Below the pelvic region were powerful digitigrade legs jointed backwards compared to most humanoids.

Some areas of its semi-permeable skin were covered in lustrous aqua-gray scales and then overlaid with a type of colored sparse clothing. Below the strong yet slender arms were four long digits extended from their hands.

This was a very impressive specimen.

After a moment, Security chief Josh Vincent carefully walked back toward where the holograph appeared to be activated with his finger carefully poised on the trigger of his unholstered phaser.

Looking at the back of the alien Commander Riker noticed the rifle of the security chief pointed squarely at the hologram and the man behind it.  Speaking up Riker addressed Josh Vincent pointing to his left.

"Mister Vincent if you plan on shooting that hologram the beam will travel clean through it and hit me.  I appreciate your enthusiasm, but could you step about half a meter that way" 

With a slight smirk on his face and yet maintaining the position of his weapon, Josh Vincent countered "No need for concern Comander Riker. I can differentiate between you and this phantom alien."

As Josh Vinvent stepped his foot into a new position, an audio exerpt was suddenly heard simultaneously with an accompanying series of holographic glyphs suspended mid-air in front of the alien speciman.

Josh turned back toward the captain.

"I believe we just made first contact... well sort of..."

Syntron immediately engaged his com.

"Leeta, Friedman and Hunter report to the alien ship. Captain out."

The Vulcan then addressed the officers standing immediately besides him.

"Everyone hold your position until further notice."

Kalynda Hunter immediately responded to the captain's hail.

"Understood Captain. Lieutenant Leeta is with me and we are on our way now."

"Acknowledged Lieutenant."

Within a matter of moments, Kalynda and Alenis arrived followed soon after by Kathleen Friedman.

The captain wasted no time.

"As you can observe, we have activated a holographic program upon entering this section of the room" the captain explained, as the three women gazed curiously at the realistic representation of the intriguing specimen appearing to stand before them.   

"As you will note" he continued, "that when Lieutenant Commander Vincent moves closer, this triggers both holographic glyphs accompanied by an audio response. I am tasking you three with deciphering the message to determine if there is more that we can learn from this projection apparatus." 

Once again the same audio exerpt was heard simultaneously with the accompanying series of holographic glyphs suspended mid-air in front of the alien speciman.

Alenis studied the illuminated glyphs intently as she began to draw the symbols on her sketch pad. She did this first because it helped her to get to know the symbols more intimately than merely capturing the image; which she did afterward with her PADD. Then she cross-referenced these with the collection she had been acquiring since her arrival.

Once she found similarities among the symbols, she began to piece together ideas regarding the message itself.

She then glanced up at the captain.

"I am not certain Captain, but this appears to be some sort of training program. I would guess that if we could determine how to respond to this first message, that it would proceed onward from there. Perhaps this was designed to train their young, or in this case, to train a new generation of their species."

"I concur, Captain. This holograph is here to teach someone something."Kathleen smiled at Alenis. "I trust your analysis. You have been working with the symbols the longest and have made the most progress towards decyphering it."

"But how do we respond to this prompt?"Alenis inquired.

"Someone can try to touch one of the glyphs. Maybe that is a rundown of subjects? We won't know unless we try" suggested Kathleen.

Alenis then glanced up at the captain.

"Proceed Lieutenant"  Syntron concurred as he eyes traveled from her face back to the alien visage.

The Betazoid cautiously reached her hand into the vicinity of the holographic glyphs, and to her amazement, a scrolling of symbols began to present themselves.

"Holy cow!" was all that she could utter as the sheer volume of symbols and options began to overwhelm her.

"You can slow the display down,"Kathleen said, "Just touch the scrolling symbols with one hand to the side of the display and forward or rewind with your other hand one symbol at a time."

She entered some of the symbols into her PADD. "It should work the same as in the DNA chamber."

With a smile behind her visor, Alenis gave the method a try. It worked.

Not taking the time to figure out all of the various symbols and thus options, Alenis then randomly engaged one of the items displayed.

The holograph of the large alien then morphed into two smaller aliens engaged in some sort of physical interaction and activity. An indistinguishable audio track resonated during the brief presentation. Afterward, the holographic imagery returned back to the previous menu.

"What the heck was that?" Kalynda Hunter accidently murmured into her activated com for everyone to hear. 

Kathleen stepped towards the holograph. “Mmm...You know, if you enter all the glyphs into your PADD, record the sound with it, run it through the universal translator...who knows. Maybe that will do the trick.”

She put action to her words by doing the same.

“While we are at it, we may just as well record as much as possible to give the recorder a wider range of symbols and sounds to work with. If we are lucky, we will be able to communicate with the holograph in its own language in a matter of hours.”

Alenis smiled again.

"I applaud your optimisim Kathleen, but it may take a bit longer than that to accomplish such a feat. Nevertheless, let's give it a try."

“I always found that given enough data to work with, any computer can find solutions much faster than mere humans, amongst most other species, except perhaps Bynars.”

She returned a smile towards Alenis. “I will leave you ladies with it and good luck!”

Kathleen turned towards the Captain.

“Sir, would it be possible to talk to you?” she inquired as she glanced at the other men in the group,.

“In private, please Captain.”

With a slightly raised brow, the Vulcan commanding officer studied the expression on the Draylaxian's face behind the visor. The urgency was clearly evident.

"Perhaps we could step into one of the other corridors Lieutenant, if this would be sufficient."

“Thank you, Captain.” the Draylaxian responded.

Overhearing the Captain's comment on leaving Riker spoke.

"I will take charge here again while you are gone sir. If anything arises while you are gone, you will be the first to know."

Nodding, the captain confirmed. "Acknowledged Commander Riker. Carry on."           

Syntron then turned and headed back into the corridor as Kathleen followed the broad back of the Captain deeper into the ship.

“If I may, Captain.”Without waiting for permission, Kathleen set up her equipment again.

“I went back to the DNA chamber to ascertain that the embryonic life forms were in peak condition. I also recorded more data because it seems like the glyphs in the first chamber changed slightly from the scans we took earlier.”

She paused, suddenly uncertain how to proceed.

"Continue Lieutenant"  the captain responded, with as much reassurance in his voice as was possible for a Vulcan. He also closed the conversation in the com system to only himself and the Draylaxian to ensure the privacy that she requested.

Kathleen pushed a button on the console and a holographic display sprang up from her recorder. She adjusted the speed to a more normal setting for real time viewing. She turned back towards the Vulcan.

“I skipped a few images – mainly those that were from the early years of the species - because it isn’t relative to what is happening here. As you can see,”she magnified a side bar on the display, “this glyphic here, represent the elements represented in the images. Here, here and here,” she pointed at various glyphs.

“We can see what I presume to be small children and this”,and she pointed at a swirly glyph “is the sign representing them. You will notice as the time goes by, that the glyph eventually disappears, which gives me the impression that the species voluntary didn’t procreate in the last few decades before they took to space.”

She shuffled the images forward.

“This glyph, which represents the adults, also declined in number over time.  My deduction is that when the adults enter - I am guessing here - was either cryo containers, or else when they deemed it necessary, or by lottery, for their DNA to be harvested and then, either live out their lives in the new structure, or opt for euthanizing. The last option more probable because of the steep decline of the glyph in the last decade or so of this representation.”

Syntron continued to listen to the geneticist's speculations without interruptions.

“From earlier images it seems that the species harvest energy from their sun. Something apparently went wrong and the sun went nova. The last images on this recording show some kind of explosion, also guesswork, of their planet disintegrating and the ship, which I can surmise is this network of chambers and caverns, taking to space at a tremendous speed. The aliens harvested the energy of the nova to run the ship and power the computers.”

Kathleen continued to switch screens as she spoke.

“At the time this planetoid was found, the process of terra forming was here,” she pointed at the roots of a tree-like representation of DNA rebuilding, not much different from an image of a cell dividing after conception, “several species of bird, animal and fish were already in the process of growth, but at a very slow rate. If my assumptions are correct, that stage will accelerate when the computer determines that the environment outside is fully acceptable to trigger the automatic response to let them be ‘born’. The plant life and insects are ready to be 'seeded'. This will be the first stage of populating the planetoid."

She changed the display again before continuing.

“From this we can gather that there are still several centuries left before the planetoid becomes viable for life and natural selection of...survival of the fittest. No humanoid species will be triggered unless such evolution has run its course.”

“We know this because this, Captain, is the sequence of events programmed into their computer. And this,” she pointed at the complicated algorithms running in the display,"is the program itself, running autonomously and adapting towards changes inside and outside this environment.”

Syntron swiftly studied and analyzed the algorithms in his mind and processed the information as she continued speaking.

“What bothers me most is that between the time of the 'accident' and the automatic correction after it, this sequence speeded up.”

She looked straight at the Captain. “In a matter of minutes, what should have taken at least another eight to ten centuries, now appears will be able to be implemented in just three.”

The captain changed his focus from the display screen to the face of Draylaxian geneticist visible behind her visor.

"Specify what you speculate caused this acceleration, and what would you hypothesized could be the ramifications of such rapidity within this environment?"

Kathleen suddenly looked nervous. She wished that her hands were available to chew on her nearly non-existent fhinger nails. What the heck, she will even chew her claws before she have to relay her findings to the Captain. But this wasn't the time to panic. Things needed to be said.

She called up an image to the screen.

"Captain, do you recognise this?"

The captain gazes intently into the screen.

Noticing the frown emerging on his face, Kathleen magnified the image several times.

After studying the imagine carefully for another moment, the captain responded.

"It appears to be one of Lieutenant Decatur's nanites. Is this somehow connected to our situation here on the planetoid?"Syntron inquired skeptically.

Kathleen magnified it again and zeroed in on a faint marking on the nanite.

"Yes, Sir, it is and it does. That marking is the trademark of Lieutenant Decatur. She marks all of her inventions like that."

With a slight scowl forming, the captain dug a bit deeper.

"Perhaps then Lieutenant you could explain where you obtained this sample of her nanite and how this is relevant to our current situation."

After a moment of hesitation, the geneticist responded.

“I am trying to do just that, Captain. I am a scientist; I don’t believe in coincidences, lucky strikes or windfalls. There are always scientific solutions for even the most mundane of problems."

Looking around for a moment, she then gazed pleadingly at the captain.

"May I?"  She inquired as she motioned towards the floor and the wall and thankfully sat down with her back supported by the wall.

“I’m sorry; I still suffer from bouts of fatigue after the accident."

"Continue on Lieutenant" Syntron added stoically, as he focused carefully on everything she was striving to convey.

“From the very start of this expedition, or mission, things apparently went wrong. The first time was when the nanites were integrated into the ship’s secondary and then primary systems.”

She shifted to a more comfortable position. “That in itself wasn’t the problem. According to the ship’s records, problems started when the QSD was engaged. That was when the systems started heating up.”

She rubbed at an imaginary spot on her visor.

“Instead of disengaging the drive, the ship entered the Nebula, which exacerbated the problem to such an extent you had to open sections of the ship to space. Inside a Nebula. With nanites running amok.”

She stood up, stretching her back.

“Tell me, Captain; how did you keep track of the nanites? Were they monitored in some way?

"This,” Kathleen pointed at the image on the screen,“tells me that some of them were voided into space and the planetoid’s system picked it up with its next sweep for elements.”

With a slightly raised brow,  the captain remarked "Disengaging the quantum slipstream drive Lieutenant was not akin to merely flipping off a simple switch. It was a delicate series of procedures that required time and technique in order to curtail potential repercussions to ship's systems."

With a slight change in his posture, the captain continued.

"Secondly, due to the affects of the QSD, our sensors and viewscreen were inoperable while it was engaged. Therefore, our position within the nebula was not ascertained until exiting out of the slipstream. At that point we had to deal with debris and trace amounts of Thalaron radiation surrounding the ship while simultaneously compensating for the rising temperatures of nanoprocessors and its effects on the ODN within compartments of the ship."

He then unknowingly looked rather sternly at the Draylaxian.

"It wasn't until we were able to navigate through this region that we were able to determine that we had traversed all the way into the Great Bloom Nebula in the Tarod sector of the Iota Pavonis sector block. Then we were able to finalize repairs to the Phoenix while we searched for your missing shuttle, the Sagan."

Looking at the image of the nanite for a moment, the captain then turned back to face the geneticist.

"To answer your question Lieutenant Friedman, although these nanites were accounted for by Lieutenant Decatur after these incidents were resolved, it would appear that perhaps some of these managed to be released into the nebula during the venting process that occurred to reduce temperatures in those specific compartments."

Then with concern Syntron inquired "For what purpose would these inert nanites now serve to the systems on this planetoid?"

“Far from inert, Captain. It seems that the planetoid’s computers recognized what the purpose of the nanite were and integrated it into its systems... and even went so far as to adapt and duplicate it. That is one of the reasons the terra forming is speeding up.”

Pondering for a moment, Kathleen took a couple of additional deep breaths within her environmental suit.

“There is also a strange set of coincidences that I still have to resolve” the geneticist noted as she stepped towards the chart. “I confirmed with Lieutenant Muller and Ensign Philips that the Phoenix’s position was about here when it was voided.”

She looked for confirmation from the captain, yet his face remained expressionless.

“Then, not even a minute after that, the Sagan entered a bubble space anomaly here. Next, this planetoid, previously undetected, suddenly appeared on your sensors though at that time, no one was certain what it was.”

She drew a connecting line between the three positions.

“Notice that the planetoid is centered roughly in the middle between the Phoenix and the Sagan. I have no doubt that the nanites being scooped up by the sweep of the planetoid’s computer and it being integrated with it, are the reason that a theoretical space anomaly suddenly appeared right in front of the Sagan and in turn made the planetoid visible in a minor way.”

With a slightly raise brow, the Vulcan uttered"Intriguing. Continue on Lieutenant."

Kathleen gave a self-deprecating laugh. "And here I thought he will ask the obvious question" she thought; reminding herself again about making assumptions.

“At first, I couldn’t explain the time differences. It took the Phoenix nearly two weeks at Warp 9.4 to reach this position. Giving nature its course, it will take hundreds and thousands of centuries for the type of anomaly we were caught in, to come into being. Even then, if it existed before, why was the Sagan the only object caught in it? Our sensors should have picked up the no-echo and adjusted its course around it. But it didn’t. I found the explanation by accident. When I scanned the glyphs in the DNA chamber, I noticed their slight variation in form and color.”

She called up three images next to each other. “This is my first scan.”

Pointing at scrolling numbers, she said, “That is our time and right next to it, are the glyphs representing the planetoid’s time.”

“The one next to it is the scan taken earlier today and the next one, right before you requested our presence here.”Kathleen pointed at the Federation time displays.

“Different times for us, but...”she pointed out the other timeline, “the exact same time display for the planetoid. Yes, I am quite sure it’s time noted because I looked at the other scans and it showed the same time displacement. Not on all of it, but enough to convince me.”

She brought back the star chart and utilized it as she continued.

“This is the sweep spread of the towers dragging elements out of space and in this area here,”she pointed at the Nebulae where the red haze pulsed over it, "are the busiest. The Spires that are turned off have affected the continuity of the sweep, making it irregular where the blank lines are.”

She then added the scan images.

“The display on the star chart is the same as the first scan’s Federation time. Note the rhythm of the pulse.”She pointed at what looked like small waves, a new wave forming with each pulse. “Every time a new pulse starts, the planetoid time resets.”

Kathleen turned back to the Captain, looking him straight in the eye.

“The computers on the planetoid are collecting elements in outer space for their needs here, by going back in time. They are folding space to accomplish this, Sir.”

Looking seriously concerned, the captain inquired "I am assuming that you have confirmed this aspect of these findings and subsequent hypothesis with astrophysist Anita Muller?"

"Yes, Sir!" She replied as she then pointed at the screen again where a small speck was steadily blinking. "Even that. It wasn't there as little as twelve hours ago. Anita Muller confirmed that there is definitely something happening there. That was the position of the anomaly the Sagan was caught in."

"Are these widespread events that you are citing posing a potential danger to our time-space continuum?" the Vulcan questioned after processing the answers provided. 

“That was my first concern Captain. When I wanted to check the data pertaining to the condition of the planetoid, I was unable to find anything monitoring the cloud cover or even the planetoid’s surface.”

She picked up her PADD. “I took the liberty to arrange with Ensign Phillips to maintain a continuous scan of the developing cloud cover overhead. He set-up a full-spectrum scanner just outside the opening of the caverns, since the ship's scanners are unable to measure beyond the layer of clouds. This device will measure the air composition and temperature outside and the note any changes occurring on or within the surface of this planetoid."

Kathleen to a moment to glance back down at the information of the display.

“It’s only been a couple of hours and I never make decisions or draw conclusions with such a small amount of data. For sufficient data, I need more time, which we don’t have.”She nodded towards the star chart. “I don’t think the ship will be in any danger, Sir. It’s outside the sweeping zone. I can’t say if it will be the same after the Spires are turned on again.”

With what could almost be perceived as a smirk lurking behind the captain's visor, the Vulcan noted "That is not a reassuring conclusion Lieutenant. However, since the ship was not in danger while all of the spires were previously active, it would seemed logical to perceive that this aspect of this situation has not changed."

Kathleen stood ramrod straight, hands hanging loosely by her sides. Now is the time to bring out the real reason she wanted to speak to him privately.

“Sir, this planetoid is unique in several ways; the most important being that it is terra forming from scratch. It’s using elements from space to supplement and even replace, to build this planet; to initiate a breathable atmosphere, a habitable environment for a species we know nothing about. Everything,”she swept her arms sideways, “Everything that goes on around here, are for those aliens still just a few cells and centuries from being born again.”

She bowed her head and took a deep breath before looking up at the Captain again.

“This is a unique opportunity, something that never have and never will happen again and we are in prime position to observe the process. We need to record and monitor every moment. We need to down load the computer programs to see how it is done. Just think, Captain, what this information will be worth for future generations!”

“Please let me stay behind to do just that!”

The captain considered the unusual request for quite a while before responding.

"That is a rather unexpected proposition Lieutenant Friedman. One in which I am unprepared to give you a favorable response to... at this moment. There are many ramifications and technicalities to consider,  in addition to the fundamental plausibility of such a decision itself."

The captain then gazed back to where the other team members were working with the holograph, even though they were out of view.

"We will need to see what transpires during our remaining time here before such a decision is made. Meanwhile, you will  need to consider and submit an official proposal; stating all of the materials, resources, personnel , and equipment required for such an expedition to occur, along with a timeline that includes extraction from this planetoid for this proposal to even be considered."

Syntron's expression then turned even more serious.  

"The details contained within your proposal will need to be comprehensive in every aspect conceivable Lieutenant, to have even a margin of chance for consideration."  

“I understand, Captain. You will have it on your desk by the end of the day.”

"Acknowledged Lieutenant" the captain replied stoically.

Kathleen packed up her equipment dejectedly. What did she expect? The Captain to agree immediately with her request? To write up the proposal is nothing, but who in their right minds will want to stay down here for an unspecified time?

With a nod at Syntron, she exited the corridor. On her way to the entrance of the ship, she paused for a few minutes to observe the progress of Kalynda and Anita, before leaving for the transport point.

Noting the somewhat dishearten expression as she began packing her equipment, Syntron realized that he had not seen his chief engineer since before they had stumbled upon the holograph.

He opened up his com channel.

"Captain Syntron to Commander Rogers."

Despite several attempts there was no response from his chief engineer.