What Did We Hit?

Posted on Mon Jan 30th, 2023 @ 9:01am by Captain William Maddox & Lieutenant Commander Javiylah MacArthur & Lieutenant Commander Aarix Teral & Lieutenant JG Fox Jasper & Ensign Asami Inoue & Master Warrant Officer Gamze

1,931 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: World Wide Web
Location: Science Lab 1
Timeline: Day 2, a little after Interstellar Pot Hole

"Fascinating."

The hologram above the science lab's central console displayed the dilithium crystal. For something as fundamentally extraordinary as the medium by which the antimatter reaction in the warp core was mitigated, it didn't look all that impressive; a prism-shaped block of milky blue/white crystal. Shaped and cut to exacting geometries, so that as the opposing deuterium and anti-lithium streams collided, the energy they released was controlled and regulated. In fact, the crystal was housed in an adjustment cradle that could do that in real time depending on need.

The crystal then shattered, breaking apart into a million fractional pieces and flying out in all directions. T'lyn reached out, her fingers slipping into the holographic controls and wound the image back to the point of fracture, and then forward slightly to the point of fracture.

"The time code matches perfectly Captain with when we collided with an acute gravimetric tidal eddy," the Vulcan science officer explained.

"I've gone through grav waves before at warp speed, gravity being the weakest force in the universe it's usually a battle a starship going at warp speed wins without rippling a teacup," Maddox gestured to the hologram. "And yet we did, and have a cup and a half of blue icing sugar."

"An acute grav wave, Captain. We collided with it at such an angle that we were exposed to it along force lines that aligned with the internal matrix of the dilithium crystal. That set up a sympathetic vibration that shattered the crystal unimatrix structure, resulting in the catastrophic fracturing event," T'lyn said stoically.

"That's....helpful," Maddox turned from the Chief Science Officer to look at the other science officers. "I come from an engineering background, spanners, wrenches, titanium hull plates, anyone want to give me the small words version of that?"

Gamze let out a hum from her communicator, a sign that it had been activated. "Every object known to interact within the electromagnetic spectrum oscillates in a resonant frequency. This is one way in which matter organizes itself within a complex system and through which bonds are formed from quarks to atoms to molecules." Her anterior protuberances fluttered with excitement. It wasn't often that she got to explain things to the captain. "The whole of the material universe can be viewed as merely layers of such resonant harmonics. What appears to have happened is that the acute gravitational wave which struck the ship matched perfectly the resonant frequency of the dilithium crystal matrix. It would have made a beautiful musical note to the proper ear evolved enough to hear it, but unfortunately it also seems to have compromised the structural integrity of the dilithium crystals at the submolecular level."

Maddox pursed his lips, nodding, and turned to look at the final science officer: Ensign Asami Inoue.

"Don't make me roll out a baseball metaphor. It's not something you want to experience," Maddox said gravely.

"If you're suffering from an onset of acute sesamoid metatarsalgia, I would be happy to treat you," Gamze offered.

"I'll keep that in mind," Maddox said slowly.

Aarix, who was standing next to Maddox, blinked in a clear lack of understanding at the two explanations. Maybe he should have brought Sara along, she was the warp core specialist and maybe she'd understand this gibberish about vibrations and frequencies better. "Are you saying the crystal... vibrated itself apart?"

"No, sir," Gamze said. "The crystal took no action itself, but was acted upon with the resultant outcome being what it is now: disintegration through harmonic resonance. It should be said the probability of the gravitational wave carrying the same precise resonant frequency as the dilithium crystal lattice is astronomical, at least by natural causes."

"To put it in baseball terms Captain it would be like the probability of a ball striking a player in the chest at just the right moment to stop their heart." Asami offered, drawing on her rather recent knowledge of the game.

"See, wasn't that easier? To think of all the words that died so valiantly in your explanations, all the sonnets that could have been made from the twisted remains of metaphor," Maddox said with a smile. To be fair he was channelling from one of the great starship captains of all time, but that's what the greats had to put up with.

"Of course Captain," T'lyn said, gesturing to the hologram again as it switch from a situation of the exploding warp core crystal to three dee map of local space. The usual handful of stars scattered within it. Threading through the centre of the map square was a shivering false colour ribbon, red at its centre fading out to a darker blue at the edges. "This is the gravimetric eddy we struck, though calling it an eddy is a misdemeanour. To use metaphor it is more in keeping with a rip tide. The Reef Stars were theorised to have such gravimetric currents, though Starfleet models suggested far weaker. It would be weighted conjecture to suppose the entirety of the Reef Stars surrounding the galactic core is riven with such anomalies."

"So even if we get to warp again we could just run into another of these gravity rip tides? With the same effect on our warp drive?" Maddox asked.

"It was astronomically unlikely for a rip tide to have disintegrated the dilithium crystal in the first place," Gamze said, "so it is statistically improbable for it to happen a second time."

He'd broken the ship. That was the thought that repeated in Fox's head as the science-buffs discussed process in minutiae, ironically with considerably big words. He'd got the point without the baseball reference, but he'd kept silent, guilt seeping through his brain silently even as he knew there'd been no way to really guess this would happen. Even if the giant brains hadn't expected it.

Still, wipeouts were rarely fun, and definitely not with a broken board.

"We have a spare crystal, right?" Fox asked, hopefully. "Now we know 'bout these powerful rips, we can work with them." He frowned, allowing his thought pattern to coalesce as he spoke. "We ride them right, even if they are stronger than us, we can avoid breaking the crystal. Just like surfing the big breaks on Earth. Ride the rip out, surf us back in-line and keep pushing forwards..." Though with considerably more people and a really really expensive board.

"I guess it's possible..." Asami but her lip still not feeling comfortable speaking up in a room full of Senior Officers, even ones she's already embarrassed herself in front of. "But we'd need to find a way to protect our remaining crystals or we're stuck and on emergency power. Because despite how improbably hitting the same anomaly again is, if we do the remaining crystal will shatter as well."

Hitting the science problem with a physical solution maybe wasn't a fit resolution then, considered Fox. Here, surrounded by eggheads and science, he felt like the dumbass of the room, but this was far from the first time that had happened and he'd learned to find ways around that ego. Everyone's perspective was important, useful, even if you were just a bad example. So he thought back over what he could fathom from the others' input and landed on Gamze's explanation.

"Music," said Fox. "What if we could counter that 'beautiful musical note' before it hit our crystal?" How? Fuck knows, but all questions were valid input to the big science brain machine, right?

Gamze's protuberances fluttered at Fox. "We would need to consult with Engineering to ensure the shield harmonics could support both the frequency and the resultant 'discord' if you will."

Fox gave the Phylosian a friendly smile and wondered if it was fair to focus on her sensory stalks as if they were eyes. It was difficult to look at them both at the same time, so he took an involuntary step backwards in order to minimize the oddness of his gaze. "I reckon it's doable," he said, working with little engineering knowledge and considerable optimism.

"Also need to know how to detect the frequency, can't discount the odds, that there's more than the specific frequency we'll have to adjust for." Asami offered.

"That we can definitely do," agreed Fox. "Now we know what to look for, just a matter of narrowing the search parameters and setting a warning range."

"Sounds like the beginning of a plan. But it also sounds like we'll need a few spares to throw into the reactor if we hit another of these riptides," Maddox mused. He turned to look at MacArthur. "Go through the crew roster and pick out anyone with necessary skills in mining or prospecting raw dilithium. I'm sure T'lyn can provide you with the names of any of her science departments with a geo or astrophysical background. The same goes for Chief Teral, I'm sure somewhere in our logistics base we have the means to refine and produce propulsion-grade crystals. And if we don't, let's get it set up."

"Aye, Sir," Javi nodded, having been a silent observer in the back of the area for the preceding discussion. She wasn't sure if anyone had such skills but they could definitely improvise if necessary.

"Mister Fox, once engineering has installed our spare crystal into the warp drive I want us heading towards our target star system at the safest possible speed we can maintain. It does no good for us to get there with only dust in our tanks if we can't then go anywhere else. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast," Maddox ordered. He nodded towards Asami. "Liaise with Ensign Asami here if you need to, in regards to plotting a course through any more of these anomalies."

"Safe and steady? No problem, Captain," Fox agreed, amicably enough. "I'll get the warnings set up, while the science team work on the shield harmonising. I can run some test programs through the sim while they work, test my reactions time, volume etc." The pilot looked to the science officer and canted his head to the side. "How long will it take before you know if we're looking at multiple bad frequencies?" He asked, needing to know the extent of the problem to enable testing.

"A few hours I'd guess?" Asami fingers twitched uncomfortably. "We'll need to analyze our readings to figure out what kinds of resonance frequencies are being immitted..." They could start running simulations on the holodeck, but the true test would be experimenting on what was left of their original crystal... and really only those pieces that couldn't be regrown.

"I assume that you will want us to work on a harmonic resonance program for the shield emitters?" T'lyn enquired in usual Vulcan brusqueness.

"Correct. And whilst I don't want work taken away from the science teams working on interpreting the data from our probes, I think having a safer means of traversing the Reef Stars would be an ideal to strive for. Don't you agree Mister Gamze?"

"I am available for whatever is needed," Gamze replied. "If I am unneeded in Science, I am happy to supplement any Medical preparations which may be needed."

"If you wanted to assist with sensor analysis I'm sure the team wouldn't mind sir." Asami said awkwardly, still not used to addressing all the seniors in the room.

"See, there you go. Cross-departmental cooperation, enough to make you cry," Maddox said with a smile. "Okay, people. Let's get our house in order so we don't have to pull over again to change a tyre."

 

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