Wave function

Posted on 07 Feb 2020 @ 1:41am by Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim
Edited on on 29 Jun 2020 @ 12:51pm

3,626 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Science Labs
Timeline: MD 03, 1000 hrs

[ON]

It was 0530 hours when someone kicked Matt out of the Science lab. He went back to his quarters and laid down on the bed. He was still thinking about the problem. How could it be that the effects of the Genesis Effect could be hundreds and hundreds of light years away from what was once the Mutara nebula? He fell asleep.

He awoke at 0930 hours and after taking a shower and putting on a clean uniform he went back to work. Entering the science lab, he greeted a few people and asked if he might use one of the terminals. After reviewing the residences of the sub-quantum states again, he was sure that the answer had something to do with how energy could propagate. He looked up and around the room and asked out loud, “Excuse me? Everyone? May I bother you for just a moment? Is there anyone here who is a specialist in the physics arena? I need help with a problem. A rather large problem dealing with energy and matter and the sub-quantum universe…anybody happen to study all those…things?” He searched their faces.

Kalindra was busy with her own work but the commotion that was being caused was enough to distract her. She pushed back from her area and turned to observe and listen finally to what was being said. A rather handsome man with blond hair and blue eyes and from the fit of his clothing indicated he worked out was making the commotion. She watched him for a moment before noting the pips. An officer, she realized and that was the final compelling reason to stick her hand up and say if a bit timidly, "I do sir."

One adjective that will rarely be found in the same sentence with scientists are the words, 'warm and inviting'. The look on their faces was enough to compel him back to the corner of his own little problem. Until, a hand went up. It belonged to Petty Officer 1st class Kalindra. Matt logged off the LCARS terminal at Science Lab 0405 and transferred the data he had to a PaDD and walked over to her workstation.

She had dark hair and pretty dark eyes and was willing to help. "Petty Officer Kalindra right? I'm Matt Plumeri. Thank you for any help you can offer." He said, "I'm not really good at quantum states or the sub-quantum states. I need help understanding how a very...unique waveform can propagate through space-time and end up hundreds and hundreds of light years from its origin point. Can you take a look at the data I have and listen to my theory? Help me fix the errors and help me understand a new approach?"

Ksalinda took the data and transferred it and then patted a seat next to her. "Sir, waves come in two forms. There is the linear wave, which dissipates as it travels from its origin. Then there is soliton waves. These waves are self-reinforcing and travel by the cancellation of nonlinear and dispersive effects of medium." She smiled shyly and said, "Think of an ocean wave as an example."

"Thank you. I was sure we had at least one expert on board." Swinging a leg over, he straddled the bench next to her and looked at her screen. He listened to her as she spoke and appreciated her smile. "Thank you, I am familiar with the electromagnetic waveform; like light. I understand that light propagates like an ocean wave. I remember at the Academy that light waves are regarded as a varying electric field coupled with a varying magnetic field at right angles to each other and to the direction of travel. When the magnetic field peaks and sublimates the photonic field picks up and peaks and so on and on and on to warp one." He pointed to her screen to the soliton waveform, "But this I didn't know. Tell me about this?"

"Well...," Kalindra replied with that soft quiet voice that betrayed her shyness. "There are two types of soliton waves, pulse phonones and vortices. You light waves are an example of the former. As a soliton (wave packet) advances, the randomly ordered fluid around it pushes back, collectively creating interferences that keep it from spreading out. This dynamic interaction (between the soliton and the surrounding fluid) results in a redistribution of the medium—which can be described as a linear wave whose magnitude dissipates with distance from the core of the non-linear soliton wave. This surrounding wave is called a “pilot wave” because it guides and directs the path of the soliton it contains.

Every soliton connects to the surrounding medium via a pilot wave, but pilot waves can exist without solitons. Pulse phonons, along with their pilot wave counterparts, represent bosons such as photons."

She pointed to the wave he was showing feeling funny that her finger was almost next to his. "This on the other hand is vorttice soliton. This type of soliton is made up of waves that twist together to form stable quantized vortices, that is they whirl about on a closed loop path in whole wavelength multiples—matching phase with each loop. This stabilization condition leads to vortex quantization. These vortices can persist indefinitely, so long as they are not sufficiently perturbed. That is, once stable vortices form in a superfluid, they do not dissipate or spread out on their own. So your wave here could travel with full force for a very long way and be as potent at its journey end as at its start."

Kalindra had a soft spoken voice that was pleasant to listen to. Matt followed what she was saying and when she finished speaking he nodded his head in understanding. He was quiet a moment - longer than he meant to be - as he thought over the situation.

"OK....ok...nkay..." he said as he thought it through. Eyes closed. "Huh. I understand what you're saying. About the waves and how they can propagate in the vacuum of space. But...how does a bit of pre-eminent matter get caught up in such a wave? How can it retain it's own properties...???" He used his left index finger and touched the bridge of his nose, tracing it to the end of his nose as he tried to wrap his mind around the problem.

He opened his eyes and dropped his finger.

"The problem is that I have two different kinds of waves. One is stable and self-sustaining. Let's say for right now. But the other is short lived and trying to alter the matter in it and around it - unless - hmmm..." His lips formed the "W" long before the "What if" was sounded. "...what if...something got caught...in the waves? Maybe something small? That was undergoing transformation all the time it was suspended in the matrix? Wouldn't it have to drop into sub-space? I mean...how could it maintain cohesion even if it was travelling at light speed?" He was looking at the screen. Then he looked at her.

"If it is stable in one of the self sustaining vorticies then it would be stable for quite a bit. It is possible that it fluctuated as you say between various quantum states such as sub-space. Such an item would last like that until as I mentioned the soliton is disturbed sufficiently. Then that wave dissipates like a linear wave, strong in the middle and attenuating quickly as it spreads out."

"Yes but...it is very likely, very unstable. The particles that comprise this wave are unstable and is a state of metamorphosis for seconds at a time" he said annoyed. He took a long breath and let it out slowly. Like a tea kettle that had just been taken off the fire. "I'm annoyed. I'm frustrated because I can't wrap my brain around this problem. It's certainly not you petty officer." He looked around the lab and then back at her, "I was up late last night trying to get an answer to Ullswater's problem. And, so far, I can't. How does a piece of starship caught up in the Genesis wave end up here in the Latari system? Hmm? That's what we're up against. And all I know right now is that waves make it possible to move and the only medium that makes sense to me to move through would be the quantum residences of sub-space. And I don't know how we can get from here to there with such an unstable particle in flux." He put his hand to his forehead and then rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

"What is a Genesis wave?" Kalindra asked innocently. "Perhaps if you explain further I might be able to help further."

He lifted his head and opened looked at her. Resting his hands on his lap, he considered her question. Starfleet seemed to have its fair share of 'dirty little secrets'. Lately it seemed like Starfleet was willing to put three crews and a colony through the meat shredder to keep their secrets. He considered telling her; let her know that the odds on this one were a long shot. But why destroy someone's pride and accomplishment? Maybe even their identity? He didn't know her very well at all in fact. He was making a lot of assumptions. Matt decided to take the 'middle-way' as best he could and answered, "Decades ago, Starfleet Command and the Federation Corps of Engineers, a group of scientists...a think tank really, worked on a project to try and terra-form lifeless space bodies; moons, you know. Tried to activate these forms so that they could become life-sustaining. A little bit life sustaining or a lot life-sustaining they weren't sure. The project was tested and after some disastrous effects was abandoned. It looks like a piece of the original project test vessel and perhaps some of the effects of that test have been located on the colony. Ullswater has a theory about how that happened. But she hasn't proved it yet. Our job is to either prove her theory or disprove it. Ullswater suggests that the 'Genesis' effect lasted long enough to reach the Latari system on a piece of starship that was damaged. Blown up. It landed here. We have to figure out if that is even possible. If it isn't then someone might have stolen the technology and either the Tholians did that or they stole it. Either way, the Tholians don't want us here and they aren't too fussy about killing all of us and the colonists to make that a reality. They killed all the crew of the Trial to try and get their hands on the data. I can say for a fact that they have the data and the only reason they haven't launched an all out attack is because they must be trying to unencrypt it or they don't yet understand what they're looking at. One more thing. The clock is ticking."

Kalindra was still not sure she quite understood whatever this Genesis effect was but she understood the problem. "Of course, here let me show you a model." She tapped a bit into the computer a sort of generic Star Fleet style ship since she was not aware of what exactly kind of ship it had been but it did not matter. She was not sure the property of that Genesis energy but made some assumptions. She then set things into motion. The ship exploded but as it did and an energy wave formed, a piece of ship and wave formed. She put in a planet but anything dense enough might do. "Here as this piece of ship and wave encounter at just the right time another object, a planet, a bit of nebula something with just the right density, you can see that it can form a bubble. That bubble here becomes a vortex soliton that dips into and out of subspace moving at hyperlight speed. Because it has become a vortex solition it maintains its energy and structure as it moves." A planet came into view, the Latari III A in fact on the model. "Here this planet if on just the right trajectory is dense enough and the soliton wave could break down or it might just maintain itself but in precarious balance needing only a little disturbance to collapse. It then becomes a regular wave, strong in the middle and dissipating with distance. Whether it did so naturally or the Tholians or heaven forbid the colonists if they came upon it set it off could have been nothing but a tragic accident."

Matt listened and watched as she entered the data into the computer and ran the simulation. He asked her to run it three times more just to be sure. Each time, there were variances but the outcome was the same. It *was* possible that under ideal conditions and at the right moment a piece of the starship Reliant could have been caught up in the Genesis effect.

"May I..." he idicated he wanted to access the simulation directly. When Kalindra shifted slightly, Matt moved closer to the LCARS interface to access the keyboard. Their legs were touching now. He started typing into the computer some more data, "Stardate 8130.4....that was the date of the causal event. I am asking the computer to...create some variances and to account for stellar procession. The movement of comets, asteroids. Gravitational and other anomalies it can access via the Union of Galactic Astronomy database." He continued typing rather than speaking. "There. OK. Run. That." he said as he entered the last few commands and hit the execute key. The computer whirred and the "working" display came up. They had to wait another twenty-two minutes for the computer to look for and assemble such a large request.

"We have some time to wait." He turned to look at her, "You really helped me today. Thank you. I appreciate it." He smiled at her and looked her in the eyes. She had pretty, dark eyes. And a nice smile.

Kalindra was trying not to blush as she felt his leg and especially his kind words. "You are most welcome sir. I am glad I could help." She replied in that shy way but turning to look at the screen to help hide her face said, "while this runs perhaps some breakfast if you have not had any. This will take a little bit."

"I could eat. Could really use some coffee too" he said. Matt got up a little bit slower than he usually did. The soreness from being a Tholian version of a 'hackey-sack' would be with him a while longer. "Are the replicators working on this deck?" he asked Kalindra.

"Coffee it is, and perhaps something else, and yes they seem to be working quite well. While we are all science crew several have a bent for engineering as well but do not let other know so they will not get roped into crawling around in the tubes since we are a bit short on engineering staff."

Matt nodded affirmatively, "Right." Standing before the replicator he asked for a coffee, "Coffee please, hot, double-strong. And a Yuulian breakfast bun."

The replicator replied, "This unit is calibrated to the Celsius scale. Please specify temperature."

Matt replied, "Eighty-two point two please." And the replicator came to life and his coffee materialized without too much more fuss. Alongside it was a warm and buttery biscuit looking thing with eggs and cheese.

"Can I order for you?" he asked politely while retrieving his food.

"That sounds perfect to me," Kalindra replied. She stretched getting the kinks of sitting too long in one spot out. She then added, "there is not officer and enlisted mess here if that is alright sir." She knew some officers cared about such things, others did not, but no use making an assumption.

"Hm?" he said as he replicated some breakfast for her as well. With a wave of his hand and a firm shake of his head, "I don't care nothing about that." He looked around the lab at the other science crew working. "And who cares what anyone else thinks of that too?" He looked at her and smiled, "We're a team you and I" Matt answered as the replicator finished with her breakfast.

It was a bowl of what could best be described as oatmeal. It was a small portion, steaming and thick with a wonderful aroma. Fresh fruit of berries and Ithacan pomegranate and a slice of pineapple. Two slices of sourdough toast on the side and a mug of coffee. Matthew handed her the plate and said, "Breakfast of champions that is" and then he indicated to a small table where they could sit and monitor the science station progress.

Taking a chair out for her and then seating himself he asked, "Tell me about you huh? What's a genius like you doing below decks anyway?" he asked as he took a hungry bite.

Kalindra looked down as she felt a bit of blush. "Not a genius by any means though I did well for my class. My family comes from...," she was not sure exactly how to say it and if he would understand. "A lower caste. A socially lower position. I know supposedly such things are not to happen but one can say one thing, cultural norms stay in place. Anyway," she shrugged, "we did not have much and me being a girl well signing onto service in the Fleet was probably my only way to improve my situation. So here I am." She had not touched her breakfast and was not sure how he would take any of that or if he would even understand much of it. One never knew where beings came from and even if human or part what their upbringing was like.

Plumeri listened as she spoke and detected her apologetic tone in her voice. If it was one thing the human species was good at it had to be classifying and labeling things. Determining the 'pecking order' of life. He decided to take a different approach though. He took a swig of coffee and asked her, "So here you are indeed. Isn't it amazing too? Very few people, very few...I'd venture to say that you are in a very select group in Starfleet and even on this ship that are in a position to really appreciate the act of redefining who you are. You came in with a set of expectations. People had expectations for you. You are a scientist. And now that you are here, now that you have a different reality and a different set of information what are you going to do with it? Where will you go from here yeah?" He asked her as he hungrily took another bite.

Kalindra just sipped at the hot coffee the rest of the breakfast more or less forgotten. The lieutenant was nice and he certainly gave her good praise which just seemed to make her even more shy. "Well sir, thank you, but I was fortunate to manage to learn enough. My family knew I was bright and avoided putting me into an arranged marriage unlike my other sisters. All of this is for them sir. As I said, we are a poor family and this helps. As altruistic as Earth has tried to become there are still needs. Oh my family does not starve and there are doctors but it is, was a bare existence. What I earn here helps for education for my younger brothers. So from here? Stay and work as hard as I can and help the rest of my family. I know not much ambition but it is what it is. And you sir? Have you family?"

"You sound like a great sister to have. I...", Matt started to answer when the computer beeped and said, "Analysis complete." Matt looked over at it and he said, "OK, now we're getting somewhere." He shoveled another mouth full of food and said, "Mmcome, MMmon" and stood up from his seat and went to the LCARS terminal.

There it was. It looked like...like a beautiful line drawing. The way the curves met the graphlines. The way the fill of the arcs created more patterns underneath. The white and blue, the soft, muted reds and yellows of the different energy levels. It could have been some weird fractal like coffee table goo-gaw. But when you see the beauty of it. You know that this is real and its science.

There on the was the proof that Ullswater's theory, under these conditions and those similar to the Latari system could have drawn a piece of exploded matter from the Reliant and have it caught up in a matrix and deliver it here, hundreds of light years away.

Matthew, after a long gaze, looked at Kalindra. "You may have just saved the ship and all of our collective asses."

Kalindra made that shy smile. "I am only doing my job sir, happy I could help." she replied quietly again seemingly about to vanish into the background again.

"Come on, we've got to find someone else to check. No time to argue. Let's go Petty Officer Kalindra. Accompagnami" Matthew smiled, "Your ship needs you!" he said with an open hand until she joined him. Together, they went looking through the labs on Galileo.

[OFF]

--

PO1 Kalindra Sherazi
Scientist's Mate
USS Galileo-A
[NPC Warraquim]

LTJG Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

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