Life From Lifelessness

Posted on Tue Jul 14th, 2020 @ 2:08am by Galatea & Commander Ash Randall & Commander Sherwin Porter & Lieutenant Commander Lily Snow PhD, MD

2,573 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Exodus
Location: MTAC, USS Enterprise
Timeline: 2430-01-09, 13:00

Located not far from the Bridge, the Military Threat Assessment Center (AKA MTAC) was a small tactical cartography laboratory designed for Fleet engagements. When constructed it was intended that the Allegiance Class would serve as a Federation Battle Group Flagship and lead other ships into battle. With the intense resources needed to build such a craft it was rare that the Federation fielded the ships of the class for combat roles unless it was a truly dangerous situation. Usually an Odyssey Class ship would be assigned such a role or one of the Inquiry Class ships would lead the group.

The panels throughout the room awoke as she walked to the central workstation. Typing on the panel she waited for the arrival of the others.

Lily walked in reviewing all the available data about what is going on. She was also running a cross reference on the energy patterns.

"Hello, Commander," Galatea said as she turned away from the workstation where she had been working. "Thank you for joining me. Have you ever been to MTAC before?"

"I've been in a variant of the MTAC before, but it was arranged in Scientific in nature." Lily said without looking up. "What is going on."

"The Admiral has asked us to begin looking at methods to try to protect the Enterprise from Genesis should we become exposed to it," the hologram explained. "As the Chief Scientist I was hoping to receive your assistance on this project. Are you familiar with it?" The AI knew that Commander Snow had some experiences, thanks to her history, that others didn't. There was an elephant in the room, "I'd like to talk with you about something, something important, before the others arrive."

"I've studied the Genesis Project, that was ran by Doctors Carol and David Marcus." Lily said. "So what do you need from me?"

Right as Galatea was about to speak she noticed a newcomer had entered the room.

The Chief Medical Officer's eyebrows went up as he walked through the door. "Commander," he nodded to Snow. As he moved toward the center of the room, "Galatea, I see MTAC has gotten an upgrade since I last served on the Enterprise."

"To an extent," she looked around at the room, a little upset she hadn't gotten to speak with the Science officer. "The Admiral has gotten a little less persnickety about holographic interfaces in his old age." The hologram brought up a holographic replica of their surrounding area, "Can certainly come in handy though." She pecked at the replica of the Enterprise that hung in the middle of the room.

"So, the Admiral would like us to look into developing a defense for the ship should we encounter Genesis."

"Is that all?" Commander Randall asked while the door to MTAC slid closed behind her and smiled. "Commander Porter. Commander Snow. Commander Galatea." She said, in greeting and nod to each. "Not being there is the best defense." The chief engineer mused as she moved over near the holographic display. "Barring that option? Well, not being there is pretty much the only defense." She added, in a dead serious tone. "Mass conversion doesn't care. Energy...Matter...it is all the same to Genesis." She finished.

Galatea nodded, "In a perfect universe I'm sure we'd be at Casperia Prime enjoying martinis pool side. Unfortunately, the Admiral doesn't let us enjoy a perfect universe." She brought up the Genesis Matrix in the room amid the holoemitters, "Meet our enemy people: the Genesis Effect. Ours operated by reducing the target space body to subatomic particles, then reassembling them, according to the pre-programmed Genesis matrix. We can reasonably assume the enemy weapon operates in a similar manner."

"The Genesis Effect can built a planet of habitual nature. Granted the planet would be extremely unstable, as shown from the scans of the USS Grissom." Lily stated bringing up the Federation's version of the Genesis device. "This device was designed to instantaneously terraform a planet into a more comfortable eco system.

Commander Randall considered the display of the Federation version of Genesis while she mulled over what she could and could not talk about where her knowledge of Genesis was concerned. The Engineer had seen Genesis employed as a weapon before and been asked to devise a defense against it early on in her Star Fleet career. The trick was, while Ash had experienced and done these things this was not the, exact, timeline in which she had done them and, as a matter of fact, in this timeline she had done neither. It made explaining the how and why of her knowledge problematic without divulging things that were well beyond her pay grade to divulge but, then again, the man who was asking for a defense against Genesis was in the position to explain things if questions should arise.

"Early in my career, myself and Cmdr H'wii, were asked to consider how to defend against a Genesis attack." The Tuansee stated. "We concluded that the best defense was to not be there and suggested several ways that might be accomplished." She added with a little chuckle. "Our conclusion was greeted much the way Galatea responded to my earlier pronouncement. On the face of it, not be there, sounds pretty flippant but there are ways of not being there while you are, actually, there." She concluded, with a little smile and a look to Lt Cmdr Snow.

Sherwin caught the look that Commander Randall threw toward Lilly, flashes of Organia crossing her mind as she remembered back to Commander H'wii and that time. He wondered if Randall knew the truth about the Admiral. It wouldn't have surprised Sherwin if Ash did; the Commander was brilliant, and not much got past her.

"Honestly," he addressed his comments to Galatea, "I have to agree. There isn't anything from a medical perspective that I've ever seen that would counteract a strong molecular shift of that magnitude. We should be nowhere near it or risk succumbing to it ourselves."

The CMO paused a moment as a thought formed, "the only way to stop it might be to alter the weapon before it was deployed. That would mean infiltrating the source and destroying...or modifying it."

"We are aware of medical applications of the Genesis Device," the hologram accessed a wall unit and a Starfleet Intelligence logo appeared central in the room hovering. A second later security footage, looking like it was from the Sickbay of the old Enterprise, appeared.

"This data was obtained by Starfleet from a secured source," Galatea explained as it played. "It was discovered that Genesis, when exposed to unshielded targets, also caused cellular degeneration. These personnel were onboard Enterprise when it escaped the Genesis detonation in the shuttlebay. Their cells destabilized, causing their limbs to revert to childlike forms. How this did not happen now we do not know."

She sighed, "Under the Genesis Nonproliferation Treaty we have to try to find a solution. Doctor Porter's recommendation is not without merit, nor is Commander Randall's, the question is what avenues could be used?"

"The Genesis wave released with the detonation of the device, back in the day, was without parameters and the wave propagated as far as it had matter from the nebula to propagate through. The device detonated on the world below had parameters and propagated no further than those parameters allowed." Ash observed, quietly, while she viewed the recording presented by Galatea. The explanation was an oversimplification but would do for the moment. "Temporal shifting would be one way to avoid being effected by genesis. Against the rules, of course, but that would be one option. Phase shifting would be another option. Hiding in a static warp bubble is still another option." The chief engineer listed off, thoughtfully. "We could modify or neutralize the wave as Doctor Porter has suggested as well. An anti-genesis wave, so to speak." She suggested.

The hologram crossed her arms as she thought about the Chief Engineer's comments... could it have been so simple? The comment triggered a thread opened by her recent experiences and deep into the secured databases. A critical event kept hidden under the auspices of the Treaty. "Your comments have triggered something, Commander."

The nearby display awoke with an image of a world known as Seran. It was an old recording, circa the end of the Dominion War, involving a test of engineering equipment incorporating an interphase generator. Due to its nature a phase generator was a perfect device for testing because of the immense diversity it produced in capability. It also wasn't restricted by Treaty.

On the screen a wavefront slammed into the planet in the background, beginning the Genesis effect on the helpless world. It didn't stop there though. The wave continued outward toward them, coming perilously closer. The sounds of screams could be heard as it hit, but they gave way to an eerie silence. The wave passed right through.

"Doctor Leah Brahms survived," Galatea explained.

"I believe if Doctor Brahms is awake and available to talk, we should have a chat with her." Lily stated for sure.

Galatea smiled, "I am afraid I am unaware of Doctor Brahms present location, Commander. She left the Theoretical Propulsion Group in the late 24th Century for a private engineering career. At last report she lived on Norpin V."

The AI looked at the assembled, "Perhaps the interphase generator does offer a possibility?"

Sherwin tilted his head as he considered. "It could, but it would have to be done very intricately. If it wasn't, the results could be even more devastating..." he trailed off as images of massive physical and mental deformations filled his head.

"We're going to have to be exceptionally careful with whatever course we take. Regardless, however, whatever course we take with Genesis could result in death. We must exercise caution."

"The interphase generator does offer a possible solution." Ash confirmed. "Stability is a concern, of course, and with good reason. Small fields are inherently stable, suite based, shuttle sized, not much to it. Enterprise sized, field distortion comes very heavily into play as not everything stays in phase with everything else. It all would remain safe from Genesis but we could end up destroying the ship and, at the very least, losing some crew members as they just pass through bulkheads and the hull as the ship moves and they don't or end up lodged inside a bulkhead if they modulate back into frequency with the ship." The engineer explained. "It's doable." She added. "But a lot more dicey than a small, temporal, shift even if it is against the rules." She finished.

Galatea chuckled, "I really don't want to die... almost as much as I don't want to deal with Temporal Investigations when we get home..."

"I don't wish to die either." Lily stated. "I also, don't wish Temporal Affairs up my bloody arse. She said with her British accent. "So how do we stop Genesis without the time travel?"

"We go small but on a large scale. An interphase generator that will protect a single person could be as small as a golf ball and everyone would just have one on their person, at all times, while we're in peril as we are. Small fields are stable and are easily tuned to a specific phase and every generator would be tuned to an identical phase. The combined, many, smaller fields within the larger field generated for the ship, in theory, would tend to stabilize the larger field and keep it in phase as well. The primary issue we'd face in such an implementation is, an interphase generator small enough to be carried at all times, will only have sufficient power to generate a field for a few minutes, at most." Ash explained, quietly. "We can go larger with the personal generators but, to significantly increase the life of the power cell, we'd have everyone carrying around something the size of a brick and, at that point, may as well put everyone in a suit." She added.

"Well the power pack or packs can be attached to a backpack." Lily said still reviewing data on Genesis. "Also we can make adjustment to make everything more energy efficient."

"I think that this is a good plan for us and may have some merit. Can you two work on this project?" Galatea asked looking at the Science Officer and the Engineer. "Doctor Porter and I can work on the biological aspects."

Lily looked up and cocked an eyebrow at the AI's avatar. "If you need my specialization in genetics let me know." She stated. Then she looked at the Chief Engineer. "I guess I will need a crash course on engineering protocols."

Ash smiled. "Five-nines, pretty much, covers it." She replied.

Sherwin looked at the others, "I for one am excited to begin work on this. We could save so many lives." He smiled, "and not to get ahead of ourselves, but you do realize the utility of this could reach far beyond the implications here."

Lily just sighed heavily. "Dr Porter, we are to stop a weapon of mass destruction. That is why the Federation shelved the Genesis project and banned it development." She said. "So we need to keep focused and not hope for glory and fame."

“Commander, you misunderstand my enthusiasm,” Sherwin replied. “My entire life has been dedicated to saving lives. I’m excited about the further medical application possibilities of this if it works, which I desperately hope it does. Glory and fame are the furthest thing from my mind. I apologize if my thoughts led you to believe otherwise.”

The CMO turned to Galetea, trying not to let the slight affect him. “Perhaps we should get started. Time is of the essence.”

The hologram nodded, "Agreed, Doctor. We could transfer your expertise with us, Commander Snow, in the biological aspects?" She glanced at the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Engineer for an objection.

Commander Randall blinked a couple times, not sure she hard right, but, after a couple seconds. "No objection...I think." She replied. "The engineering aspects are, fairly, straight forward. The technology is not new, or novel, in design. Implementation; exposure limits, field strength vs molecular saturation, genetic anomalies and more..." And the engineer looked to Dr. Snow and Dr. Porter at this point. "...is where the difficulties are involved." She observed.

"Understand." Lily said. "Commander Randell if you wish help, I can still assist you."

"I would greatly appreciate your help, Dr. Snow." Ash replied, nodding as she did so and then tilted her head and smiled. "Your lab or mine?" She asked.

"My labs have all the needed equipment for the science aspect of this reverse engineering." Lily said. "This will also make both of our teams available to the other, and I'm sure Dr Porter and Galatea will be using one of the science labs themselves?"

"Sounds good to me." Ash replied. "R and D, design analysis, proof of concept, produce a prototype and test." The Chief Engineer added, knowing that each 'step' was a long process in itself and would need to be carefully thought out. "Testing may be the most difficult part of this." She admitted.

Galatea nodded, "I am certain of your abilities though to accomplish these objectives. Let's do it."

"I'm ready," Sherwin noted to Galatea as he headed out. "I'll meet you in Sickbay."

RSS Feed