No Time But The Present

Posted on Fri May 31st, 2024 @ 11:32pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Lieutenant JG James Phoenix

Mission: Man & Machine
Location: Planet

Shran, Deanna, and Phoenix accompanied the Connor contingent to the smoldering ruins of the Skynet complex. Deanna has made it clear that nobody should go inside until she had scanned the area to make sure it was safe. While John Connor didn't understand entirely what she meant, he had ordered his people to create a perimeter but not to enter.

As they approached the facility, Deanna opened her tricorder and began scanning. "Fascinating" she said softly as she gathered data.

Sam had cleared Phoenix for away team duty shortly before he was transported to the surface. He kept a close eye on everyone, but maintained a focus on Deanna and Shran's surroundings, since he was essentially acting as their security. "Ma'am?" he raised an eyebrow as his superior looked at her tricorder.

Deanna looked up over at Phoenix, "The chronometric particles are virtually nonexistent, as is radiation in this area." She looked to Shran, "We can proceed, though I still stress caution."

Shran nodded. He looked over to the Connor's "We are clear to proceed, cautiously."

"When dealing with the machines, there is no other way" John Connor replied.

They all entered the rubble, twisted metal strewn all about, some if it showing recent extreme temperature swings that scorched it in parts and left it melted in others. Very little of the interior seemed to remain, only aspects of the former superstructure, the bones of the building. Connor walked over to a Terminator skull and looked at it. It was partially melted, the casing that held the control chip visible. He reached down and picked it up and gazed at it for several long moments.

Deanna caught a glimpse of Connor holding the skull and said as theatrically as she could, "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times, and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is!"

Shran looked to see Connor holding the skull and offered a chuckle. "Shakespeare at such a time Deanna?" he questioned.

The skull gave Phoenix a sketchy feeling. He had heard stories of the Borg where they could still operate from minimal parts like this. He knew the dead terminator wasn't Borg and was probably completely dead for a machine, but nevertheless, it made him feel uneasy and thus he kept his phaser in his hand but not drawn towards anything. He continued walking before he stepped on something, which made him jump internally. He looked down and saw it was just a piece of metal. However, despite feeling uneasy, the Shakespeare comment made him feel a little less anxious about the situation at hand, and the skull for that matter.

Connor made his way towards the lone standing internal wall, a door that had a staircase behind it which led down was before him. He looked back at the others, his weapon drawn.

Deanna looked at her tricorder and then over at the captain. "Connor has located the way down to the area with the chronometric particles."

Shran looked to Phoenix, "Ensign, take the lead down. Slow and easy. Deanna will be right behind you."

"Aye sir" he said as he moved to the front the pack, with his phaser now pointed in front of him. He looked back to confirm Deanna was there, and she was. After confirming she was behind him, Phoenix began to descend the staircase slowly and carefully. He was ready.

Deanna was only a few steps behind Phoenix as they descended the staircase, her tricorder out and taking readings. Thanks to the destruction, sunlight illuminated the inside, reflecting off the polished metal inside. Deanna was engrossed in the sensor readings as she reached the base of the staircase before looking up at the remnants of the new area she was in. The facility shined as if freshly polished. It had the look of a laboratory, and at the center of the was a massive platform with a spherical globe that appeared to have a single entry point. Deanna also noted that surrounding the platform were pools roughly 5 ft in length filled with a substance that looked like mercury but was firing off substantially different readings. "Touch nothing" Deanna warned, "and avoid the pools. I am uncertain what the material inside the pools is, but I will take a sample for analysis, assuming I can determine a way to do so that won't endanger anyone."

As she finished speaking one of Connor's men tripped as he was walking and fell forward towards the pool. Another man who was next to him attempted to stop his fall only to be taken off balance as well. The first man landed next to a pool, but the second fell into the pool. He thrashed around trying desperately to get out. Everyone watched as the liquid silver substance began to rise up behind him in a gelatinous mass before taking shape to look like an exact replica of the man who fell in. Everyone seemed to draw weapons and take aim. For his part the man who fell in exited and crawled away as quickly as he could. Deanna though was bust scanning. "Fantastic. Fascinating" she mumbled aloud.

"Care to enlighten the rest of Deanna?" Shran queried.

"This substance. It has a memetic quality. It is a machine, but it is devoid of programing. It is a machine shapeshifter."

Shran's antennae raised fully. He looked at Connor, "You didn't mention the machine's having technology this advanced."

"We've never seen it before. We haven't seen any of this before" he replied defensively.

"Captain, this could be a prototype facility" Deanna offered.

James turned to Deanna and Shran, but kept an eye on the mass with his phaser drawn still. "Could that pool be attempting some form of cloning?" The Ensign asked his superiors, since the mass appeared to be evidence of that.

"I would say that is exactly what it is for" Shran replied. "They are making a more efficient and effective killing machine."

"It wouldn't surprise me that the machines were seeking a new way to kill us" John Connor added. "Take a look at this thing. It would be the ultimate infiltration unit. And if it could mimic anything beyond people, it would be deadly."

"For us all" Phoenix added. He scanned the replica of the man with his own eyes intently. It certainly was fascinating. But the real question was if the replica was currently active. "Could the shapeshifter be activated?"

Deanna scanned the machine. "It could, but it would require a CPU. As it stands it doesn't have a processor. It is essentially a blank slate with no operating system."

"We have plenty of chips from destroyed Terminators. I would wager they use the same processor chip. It is a good thing you came along when you did. I can't imagine how we would combat these" Kate Connor mused.

John Connor rose his weapon and fired a burst, hitting the creature a half dozen times. Everyone watched in amazement as the bullet holes slowly closed until it looked like new once more. Deanna continued scanning it. "Captain, with the exception of this being a machine, I would say this is the closest nonbiological I have ever seen that compares to the Founders."

The implications sent a shiver down Shran's spine. "I think it might be best if we destroy this thing before it becomes a problem" he suggested.

Deanna understood. "I'd like to take a sample back for analysis. This is certainly of scientific merit. I'm sure Inara would find this equally fascinating."

"Very well" Shran agreed. "But then I want this thing destroyed. We have this larger contraption here to study."

Deanna carefully took a large sample, gathering up nearly a full liter of the substance from the liquid metal machine. As she placed the specimen into her bag she looked to Phoenix, "I believe a sustained blast at setting level 10 from your phaser will properly rid us of this machine."

"Aye Commander" The Ensign turned the setting to level 10 on his phaser. He aimed it directly at the machine and fired. The creature disintegrated swiftly in a blast without harming anyone.

"I suggest we avoid touching any of the other pools. Now, I think I should take a closer look at this large platform. This is where the chronometric particles were coming from, and I need to know why" Deanna noted.

John Connor accompanied Deanna up onto the platform. Deanna was happy to have him with her as his knowledge and familiarity with the technology could prove invaluable. As the two of them looked over the equipment, Shran looked over the room himself. The room was massive, with polished metal he looked, though some scorch marks and dust and debris was around in areas where the ceiling had come down when the torpedoes hit. Shran took note of the area where the tricobalt device hit, detecting remnants of the subspace rift that had been open for a few seconds. She scanned the area with his tricorder. He took note that the air in the area was noticeably cooler, at least 20 degrees cooler than in the rest of the area.

Suddenly Kate Connor shouted out, "I found a functional computer terminal!"

Everyone seemed to rush to her position to look at the computer terminal. John Connor took the point position, burning his way through the security codes to get to the files. Finally, he brought up a directory. Deanna scanned it as she had her tricorder begin to download the entire hard drive. She didn't let anyone know what she was doing. She didn't want to alarm anyone, but she thought it a good idea should they need to take a closer look at things back on the ship. She noted something of interest. "Try temporal displacement" she suggested, seeing it as a file heading. As she looked at the information that came up, she gasped. "We need to leave this facility immediately. I suggest we transport this device to the ship for further analysis with our equipment, and nobody be allowed to be in here until I've given the all clear. This is a dangerous device."

Phoenix looked concerned and turned to the Captain and Deanna. "What would you like to do about securing the area sirs?"

"We should send security in EV suits to cordon the area off while we deal with this. I will very much like to have the Connor's or other science officers of their choice join us on the ship as we look over this material in closer detail" Deanna replied.

Kate looked at John almost pleadingly. Deanna didn't need to be a telepath to know how much she wanted to agree to this. John looked to Shran, "That sounds like a reasonable idea captain, so long as some of the security personnel watching this area are some of our people. I'll be happy to have myself and Kate assist you aboard your ship."

Shran knew Deanna wouldn't want something like this unless she was truly concerned about something, but she had managed to present the idea in a way that disarmed the locals. He wasn't going to interfere with something like this. "Very well. We can transport this device immediately. I will have the ship make preparations. I believe, considering the size, that we should set up cargo bay 2 for it." Shran looked to Phoenix, "Ensign, speak with Ayana to arrange for the security personnel to be transported down here for temporary duty. I suspect we can have security down here within the hour."

"Aye sir" Phoenix reported as he sent Ayana a page with his communicator. He'd probably loop in with her anyway once he got back aboard, but the less time the area was without guard the better.

"Right, everything is settled. Let's get out of here before we stumble onto something else that isn't as forgiving as that memetic goo" Shran noted.