Dealing with the New Chief (Part 2)

Posted on Mon Jun 21st, 2021 @ 10:07pm by Lieutenant Vanessa Jackson & Warrant Officer Eitan Tuscadero
Edited on on Mon Jun 21st, 2021 @ 10:19pm

Mission: The Mentarin Effect
Location: Science Lab

[PREVIOUSLY]

Her head swung to Tully and then back to Vanessa. "I don't suppose either of you are in favor of that, are you? I mean, we can't really know how much it does until we test it, right?" she asked hopefully.

{CONTINUED]

Undeterred, Amelix continued, "Let's start with the basics. Transporters use matter-energy conversion to get things/people to where they need to be, right? Theoretically, pollution and metals should not offer much, if any deterrence because once matter is converted to the energy stream, the energy stream goes through the pattern buffer and is beamed directly to the location via the subspace domain. Since there obviously is interference, we need to find a way to clear the subspace domain or amplify the signal, as you suggested to be strong enough to survive deterioration through the matter it might travel through. I suppose the good news is that if we fail, the historical patterns would be saved in the buffer and we should not theoretically lose anyone if we're not successful the first time." Amelix beamed at that realization.

"So where was I again? Oh, yes, you came up with an idea, Vanessa, to breakdown the metals and pollution with a cocktail of chemicals.... Interesting. Do you know the complete chemical composition of what buffer soup that we would be beaming through?"

Vanessa nodded and pulled up both the composition of the atmosphere and the composition of the atmospheric antigen. "It's not only the amount of heavy metals, but the type. Some of them affect both communications and transporters."

*Annoyingly so," Tully interjected. "Transporters can't operate properly and all eyes end up on me," stated the man. "I'm hoping this cocktail does the trick."

"The theory's sound, as is your idea," Vanessa said. "I'm just helping boost the efficacy."

"Has anyone considered the possibility of creating a micro black hole to suck away the metals? Oh, wait.... That would not be good for the atmosphere. Well, it was a thought," Amelix replied with a shrug. "What's the cocktail made of?" Amelix asked curiously, looking keenly at it. Some of her "rock like" protrusions on her head started to refract light into Vanessa's eyes.

"No, a micro black hole would not be a good idea," Vanessa said, trying not to chuckle at the suggestion. "Besides, the atmosphere is only part of the problem. We also have the problem of the colonists creating the pollution that has to be resolved as well."

Amelix laughed. "One problem at a time!" the Tygarian stated, even though multi-tasking was practically the only way she functioned. "We cannot get to the people without beaming down, right? So, where did that jewelry come from and how did we find out that it amplifies signals?"

"We can take shuttles down and back," Vanessa said. "But it would be faster and more convenient to have a working transporter. The Captain wants it in case there's more trouble. As for the jewelry, it was initially designed to help locate personnel on a planet where they register like everyone else. It makes it a bit easier to lock on with a transporter beam as well."

"Working transporters right now would be spiffy," interjected Tully. He looked at Amelix still in awe of her appearance. She was very very different than the normal things you encountered. He wouldn't treat her like a thing though. She had a name and a rank, and right now that rank was a yes ma'am. "You are a strange one, quirky, but I like you. Us weirdos need to stick together."

"I'm not weird!" Amelix objected, seeming completely indignant before snickering. "Heck, I can't even pull that off for a moment! I'm even unusual for my species! Alright, so, the Captain has put this task upon us, so we must experiment and find out the answer! Do the metals have any magnetic qualities to them? We could pull enough away to open a window. As to the pollution, messing with an atmosphere is a tricky subject. Do we have any data from before the atmosphere was polluted, so that we know what it should look like?"

"The minerals are not magnetic. The best we've found so far is that this cocktail gives us an in creased chance of success for an hour. With Tully's probe, we can use transporters to and from the planet," Vanessa said. "A more permanent solution will take some time."

Tully looked at Amelix and shook his head. She's weird, but I like it he thought, though he opted not to call her weird. She had ideas that were just so far out there and even scary at times. He smiled. "I mean if we engulfed the planet in a temporal bubble and slowed time, we would have enough of it to come up with a solution." He looked at Vanessa. He was not serious about it.

"If wishes were fishes?" she asked, smiling at Tully. "I want to keep looking at the problem, to find something permanent, but for our purposes, something temporary is good enough."

"Oooh! A temporal bubble! Now that's the out of the box thinking that I like to hear!" Amelix replied with a smile. Some like caught one of the crystalline-like objects in her head and refracted like towards Tully. "But that's really not practical at this point. We don't have the power or time to create that. So, let's work with this temporary solution. In the meantime, my assistant here and I," she put her arm around Vanessa as she finished the statement. "We can continue to analyze the minerals and devise a solution that will not need such shoddy hamstrung methods for success, right Lieutenant?!"

"Lieutenant," Vanessa said, taking a cautious step away from her new boss. "We don't have the time. Our stay here is limited to a day or two. We need a stop-gap measure now. There will be time afterwards to work on something long-term. In fact, that's why I stepped down as Chief. I've come up with several theories, but they'll take time to research and test."

"You stepped down?" Amelix asked confused. "Another time! So, stop gap! Right! Bubblegum and whatever that wire humans call that thing when they use this analogy. What is the analogy again? Darn it! A repellant, then.... Something that can piggyback along the signal and push all the adverse elements out of the way...."

"Jury-rigged?" Vanessa asked. "That's basically what we're doing. Combining a probe with a transporter buffer and a chemical we seed into the atmosphere. The jewelry makes it easier to lock on to the people being transported. If you have something better, we'd love to hear it." She was repeating herself. Again. She moved closer to Tully, not sure if she wanted to give him support, or get it.

(To be continued...)