Out of Space, Out of Time
Chapter 1
"Mr. Harper, how long do we have to wait for this week's miracle?" asked Dylan, who, once again, would rather be doing something more constructive than waiting for Harper's latest gadget test. "Hold on, boss, just gotta tie a temporal flux limiter into the main computer matrix." Harper said, excitement easily noticeable in his voice. "Right, what you said." Beka muttered, also growing impatient with Harper's tinkering. "What's he building, anyway?" asked Trance, never quite sure about anything Harper built. "It's supposed to be a temporal rift generator," Rommie said knowingly, "but if it's like previous Harper temporal experiments, which I don't think I have to mention, I'm sure it's going to become something quite different." "Okay, boss, all finished. I'm gonna hook it up now," Harper said, "activate it whenever you're ready." Dylan watched closely through the monitor screen as a faint, blue beam was fired out into empty space. "Okay, now I need you to redirect as much AG energy as you can at the point where the temporal beam starts to dissipate, and once you've done that, add a five-second neutrino pulse." said Harper. As Beka followed Harper's instructions, a loud, roaring sound seemed to come from all around the crew. "What is that?" asked Dylan. He was quickly answered by a powerful shock wave that knocked the entire crew over and threw the Andromeda back with the force of a dozen point singularities. When Dylan finally got up, he looked through the monitor and saw it-a temporal wormhole.
Chapter 2
"Rommie, report." said Dylan, still a bit shaken from the effects of the opening of the wormhole. "Well, we didn't take any long-term damage from the shock wave. Preliminary scans show that the wormhole is perfectly stable, which is a first for artificial wormholes." "See, finally, physical proof that I'm a genius." Harper interrupted. "Anyway," Rommie continued, "I've also concluded that it's not just a temporal wormhole, but somehow it's also a spatial wormhole." "Any idea where it goes to?" asked Dylan. "Well, I've sent a probe in but it hasn't sent any signals back to the Andromeda." "I'll go in!" said Beka energetically. "Beka, you don't know where it goes to. It could be some sort of alternate universe. You could have no defense against the weapons that exist in there." said Dylan. "Yeah, let me go," said Harper, practically out of breath from running to the Command Deck from his Machine Shop, "it's my creation, I should test it. And if it gets dangerous, we'll head back here." Dylan sighed heavily, and then said, "Well, as much as I don't like this idea, I don't think I can discourage you. Go ahead, Harper. You, Beka, and Trance can check out the wormhole in the Maru, but if you're so much as threatened I want you all back here." The three of them nodded and headed for the launch bay. As Trance walked past Dylan, Dylan stopped her and said quietly, "Trance, you've got better judgement than either of those two, so keep an eye on them, huh?" "Why, Dylan, I had no idea you trusted me so much" Trance said with a look of false surprise on her face. "Don't flatter yourself." Dylan said with a smile. Trance returned the smile and ran to catch up with Harper and Beka.
Chapter 3
As the Maru left the Andromeda's launch bay, Harper got a huge smile on his face. "Man, I can't wait to see what's in there," said Harper, "Beka, Trance, you don't seem to excited." "Yeah, that's because I remembered the last time you experimented with time. Remember, we had Kalderons from CY 14000 on our case, attacking us with their matter eraser particle cannons?" Beka said. "Okay, okay, every genius makes mistakes, but we survived that and I corrected my mistake, so the whole thing doesn't matter." Harper said, annoyance easily recognizable in his voice. As Harper finished speaking, Beka could hear Trance laughing behind them. Beka looked at her and said, "Oh, you think this is funny, don't you? Aren't you even the least bit afraid something is gonna go wrong?" Trance replied, "I don't have to be", and looked at Beka with a very Trance-like look. "I hate it when you do that." said Beka. She was about to say something else when she looked at the ship's sensor readings. "Okay," she said, "We're within ten light-seconds of the wormhole. You two ready for this?" The concerned look on Trance's face and the excited look on Harper's face answered her question. "Good, me too." she mumbled, and within seconds the Maru entered the wormhole and faded from view.
Chapter 1
"Mr. Harper, how long do we have to wait for this week's miracle?" asked Dylan, who, once again, would rather be doing something more constructive than waiting for Harper's latest gadget test. "Hold on, boss, just gotta tie a temporal flux limiter into the main computer matrix." Harper said, excitement easily noticeable in his voice. "Right, what you said." Beka muttered, also growing impatient with Harper's tinkering. "What's he building, anyway?" asked Trance, never quite sure about anything Harper built. "It's supposed to be a temporal rift generator," Rommie said knowingly, "but if it's like previous Harper temporal experiments, which I don't think I have to mention, I'm sure it's going to become something quite different." "Okay, boss, all finished. I'm gonna hook it up now," Harper said, "activate it whenever you're ready." Dylan watched closely through the monitor screen as a faint, blue beam was fired out into empty space. "Okay, now I need you to redirect as much AG energy as you can at the point where the temporal beam starts to dissipate, and once you've done that, add a five-second neutrino pulse." said Harper. As Beka followed Harper's instructions, a loud, roaring sound seemed to come from all around the crew. "What is that?" asked Dylan. He was quickly answered by a powerful shock wave that knocked the entire crew over and threw the Andromeda back with the force of a dozen point singularities. When Dylan finally got up, he looked through the monitor and saw it-a temporal wormhole.
Chapter 2
"Rommie, report." said Dylan, still a bit shaken from the effects of the opening of the wormhole. "Well, we didn't take any long-term damage from the shock wave. Preliminary scans show that the wormhole is perfectly stable, which is a first for artificial wormholes." "See, finally, physical proof that I'm a genius." Harper interrupted. "Anyway," Rommie continued, "I've also concluded that it's not just a temporal wormhole, but somehow it's also a spatial wormhole." "Any idea where it goes to?" asked Dylan. "Well, I've sent a probe in but it hasn't sent any signals back to the Andromeda." "I'll go in!" said Beka energetically. "Beka, you don't know where it goes to. It could be some sort of alternate universe. You could have no defense against the weapons that exist in there." said Dylan. "Yeah, let me go," said Harper, practically out of breath from running to the Command Deck from his Machine Shop, "it's my creation, I should test it. And if it gets dangerous, we'll head back here." Dylan sighed heavily, and then said, "Well, as much as I don't like this idea, I don't think I can discourage you. Go ahead, Harper. You, Beka, and Trance can check out the wormhole in the Maru, but if you're so much as threatened I want you all back here." The three of them nodded and headed for the launch bay. As Trance walked past Dylan, Dylan stopped her and said quietly, "Trance, you've got better judgement than either of those two, so keep an eye on them, huh?" "Why, Dylan, I had no idea you trusted me so much" Trance said with a look of false surprise on her face. "Don't flatter yourself." Dylan said with a smile. Trance returned the smile and ran to catch up with Harper and Beka.
Chapter 3
As the Maru left the Andromeda's launch bay, Harper got a huge smile on his face. "Man, I can't wait to see what's in there," said Harper, "Beka, Trance, you don't seem to excited." "Yeah, that's because I remembered the last time you experimented with time. Remember, we had Kalderons from CY 14000 on our case, attacking us with their matter eraser particle cannons?" Beka said. "Okay, okay, every genius makes mistakes, but we survived that and I corrected my mistake, so the whole thing doesn't matter." Harper said, annoyance easily recognizable in his voice. As Harper finished speaking, Beka could hear Trance laughing behind them. Beka looked at her and said, "Oh, you think this is funny, don't you? Aren't you even the least bit afraid something is gonna go wrong?" Trance replied, "I don't have to be", and looked at Beka with a very Trance-like look. "I hate it when you do that." said Beka. She was about to say something else when she looked at the ship's sensor readings. "Okay," she said, "We're within ten light-seconds of the wormhole. You two ready for this?" The concerned look on Trance's face and the excited look on Harper's face answered her question. "Good, me too." she mumbled, and within seconds the Maru entered the wormhole and faded from view.