Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? II
"I reviewed the logs made during the last twenty-four
hours while you were having your meal." T'Pol informed them once they returned
to the bridge.
"And?"
"It was not noted in the logs made last night,
but in the sensor logs, I found indications of a temporal disturbance,
through which the Enterprise passed."
"What kind of temporal disturbance?"
"It is difficult to say, but whatever it may
have been, it could be responsible for our situation."
"How far away is it?" asked Tucker.
"At our present speed we should reach the
coordinates in thirty-six hours."
"What if we returned to warp four?"
"Inadvisable. It may be moving. We could miss
it if we were traveling at such a speed."
"But thirty-six hours ..." said Trip, shaking
his head.
"You seem to forget that I am in command.
The risk of not finding this disturbance is too great at a higher speed.
It is my decision to remain at warp two."
Trip felt his temper rising, but Phlox spoke
before he had the chance: "Thirty-six hours is not so long, commander,
in comparison with seventy million years."
"Of course." Tucker conceded.
"So if we're in the past, where do you suppose
the rest of the crew went?" asked Trip, glancing up from his turn at the
helm. "You don't suppose they're just floating out in space back in our
time, do you?"
"It is possible, commander, but it is necessarily
so." replied T'Pol from the captain's chair. Phlox looked up from his seat
at tactical where he was out of the way, expecting to see sparks fly.
The commander chose not to pursue that avenue
of inquiry. He decided that it was in no one's best interest to contemplate
their crew-mates' deaths.
"Any theories as to what might have happened?"
"None that I may present without substantial
speculation."
"We don't mind speculation, do we, doc?" chuckled
Tucker.
"Not at all." agreed the good doctor.
"Very well." said T'Pol, arching one eyebrow.
"Upon what part of our present situation do you wish me to speculate?"
she questioned.
"What will happen when we go through the temporal
disturbance again?"
"In theory we should be returned to our own
time."
"And the crew?"
"If we are sent back to the moment when we
vanished, then nothing will have happened as far as they are concerned."
"You mean, they won't have vanished?"
"Speculatively, from their perspective, we
won't have vanished."
"And the ship?"
"I am still ... working on that question."
"Ah."
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