Stardate 69109.7

Posted on 24 Nov 2018 @ 7:36pm by Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri

556 words; about a 3 minute read

[ON:]

“Science Officer’s Log, stardate 69109.7. LTJG Matthew Plumeri recording. The Galileo received a message from Admiral Jurgis and a lot of data regarding Federation colonists living in the Latari system. I was on Beta shift along with senior cadet Jemima de la Cour when the transmission and the data stream came through. Captain Saalm was called to the bridge and shortly thereafter she along with most of the senior staff left the bridge for the Astrometrics lab. I can’t help but wonder if this is going to be a rescue mission or just a downed transmitter? There is already noted in my log the Voxhal stellar nursery which is very pretty to look at, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Because of the sheer number of stars that are being formed in there the area for some forty light years experiences micro-gravity fissures. That’ll make for a bumpy ride unless we slow the ship down. The interstellar version of a well-worn road with potholes is the best analogy I can liken it too. Trouble is they don’t stay in the same place all the time. ‘Cause the stars that are causing the fissures are themselves in motion; they only look stationary. Expansion, contraction – gravitational lensing to throw off the sensors – yeah; it’ll be a real bumpy ride. Could go around them I suppose? What’s another 15 light years and some change in the grand scheme of things? If we do then we’ll get a closer look at good ol' "KAH-1521-S*". That’s a small black hole with an enormous appetite. Small is, of course, relative; I’m talkin’ ‘bout a super-dense object two-hundred fifty meters across and the same gravitational pull as Earth’s moon. In the space of ten minutes, I saw it belch out four extremely high yield x-rays.

Cadet de la Cour is doing fine though. She’s excited; I can tell, to be on the bridge. She’s on Science II station and I’m right next to her on Science I. She is very accurate and by the book. But you know, so were we all. If you must start somewhere then I guess it’s best to start there and know how things ought to be. How things are supposed to be – as opposed to how things turn out to be. Every star you see, every planet you come across is unique. ‘Oh? You found a class M world? Not the right size? Not in the right orbit, retrograde you say? Too far out you say?’ Yup. That’s space for you. The rule book isn’t there to tell you how the universe works; only how we thought it works. The Universe wants us to chase it and learn about it. And just when you think you have it all figured out? Bam! There’s something new that you never imagined was possible. And I’m not just talking about planets and stars and galaxies. I’m talking about the unimaginable reality of one Fontalan scientist seated next to one New Jamaican senior cadet onboard a Federation starship.

What are the odds of that happening?

Computer, end log and store.


== END SCIENCE OFFICER LOG ==


[OFF:]

Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer – Historian
USS Galileo-A
NCC-80010

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