Timeline Strings

Posted on 14 Apr 2024 @ 3:24pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin

3,629 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: USS Galileo-B - Deck 7, Astrometrics Lab
Timeline: MD 01, 1721 hrs

Previously, on Temporal Initiative...

"Commander," he said as he reopened his eyes, "I would be... reassured to examine the raw data for your 'ideal' model as soon as possible. I have no further questions."

Marisa nodded. "That can be arranged. Although your access will, of necessity, be limited. Specifically, you will be able to examine the raw data and use the program to assess how different manipulations will affect the overall time stream, but the core data and the program cannot be altered on this end. I will remain available to answer any questions and help you become familiar with the updated technology."

Vala gave the commander a sharp nod, his eyes perpetually narrowed, then glanced to Sofie, "I am ready to proceed if Lieutenant Ullswater is."

Sofie raised her eyebrows with a faint smile, an incredulous smile. "Of course, I would simply love to see a demonstration of this process."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

"There are four stations on either side of the lab. They are currently set to the time streams we've identified as directly affecting the current war," Marisa began. "If you touch one of the time streams, it will show you what event caused that stream and the direct ramifications of that event."

She entered a command so that each console showed the timeline and the wiggly lines of each time stream she mentioned. "This will let you examine what event or person caused what change and how it affected the future." Another series of commands and a 3D image of the same timeline appeared in front of her. She touched one of the time streams. An image of an event played in the room and on each console. Marisa used a command and the timeline moved ahead. Then she cut it off.

Wyatt then touched several of the multicolored shapes and a diagram of the main console with a number of patterns and what they did appeared on each of the screens. "These are the main controls you can use to change the base timeline to explore other streams. Consider it a type of shorthand. The main console allows us to move between images, graphs, and screens more easily and efficiently. The guide before you gives you all the controls you will need for your research. For your convenience, there is a purple button at each station that will toggle between the timeline and the list of commands."

Finally, she entered more commands and the 3D display dissolved. "Now each station will operate independently to facilitate your research."

Vala simply nodded and brisky walked over to take a station. As he sat and began tapping the console, he had to grudgingly admit that a great deal of work had gone into the front end of the system.

Efforts had been made to visualise potential timeline changes, rather than keep it in raw code or simple text. Time as it had occurred was represented as one line, and other lines showed variations and potential changes that could sprout and branch if particular actions were taken in the past. Various 'alignments' were listed, and in the default scenario 99.972% appeared as Wyatt had mentioned previously.

It was... a lot. The existence of the system, if it was real, constituted a massive progression in the understanding of temporal mechanics, particularly in causality. Assuming it was not some flashy gimmick to distract them, then it constituted a massive investment of resources and time by the Federation. It was far beyond anything Vala had encountered in his own work in the field. But could it be trusted? The only way to know was to test it out. He began examining practical scenarios that might prevent the war.

Ullswater stood gazing at the consoles for a moment, there was a lot going on here. It would be easy to get lost in the weeds of playing with a new toy but she didn't want her team losing focus here, if anything that would be what their kidnappers would want and she wasn't going to take their conclusions without a fight. She clapped her hands together, calling the attention of her three colleagues.

"Alright, we have three days to unravel what is going on here." She announced "That is not a lot of time so we will need to focus our efforts. We're dealing with a model that we haven't encountered before so before we can begin to interpret its outputs we need to understand it." She turned first to Vala "Vala, you're the closest thing we have to an expert of psychohistory or cliodynamics or whatever it is we're calling this. I want you to make a thorough analysis of the theoretical workings of the model itself. What are its limitations and what does the literature have to say about interpretation of its results."

With a half-deferential nod to Wyatt, she added "Commander if you could provide Lieutenant Vala with the relevant literature and answer any technical questions he might have that would be much appreciated."

Marisa nodded. "There is a more in-depth document on how to make use of the program. I will make sure Lieutenant Vala has a copy. And I will be available if you have any questions." It was an improvement on the demands of earlier and she hoped this was the beginning of a more amicable working relationship.

"Raine, T'Lin," Ullswater turned her attention to the others "A model is only as good as its dataset, so that is where you will focus your efforts. Prepare a report on the dataset, we need to know where it is detailed and where it is limited. Check for any oversights that may be relevant. T'Lin additionally I want you to compile the relevant information from the dataset that we can use to direct our investigation. Anything about the cold stations, how they are run and what they are doing, all details of Romulan intelligence operations within Federation sciences, information on the political backgrounds within the Romulan and Klingon diplomatic spheres. Things that might help us start to construct a new theory."

"We have only three days so let's get this right." Her gaze flicked between the three of her subordinates, her people. First day on the job and she'd already been thrown into the future, a trial by fire one might say. "Questions, concerns?"

"Very well," T’Lin replied in her cool way.

Vala gave Sofie a respectful tilt of the head, "Nothing from me," then turned back to his screen.

He began by modelling some of the more obvious possibilities, ones that had previously been mentioned by Saalm or Wyatt. If a particular admiral had done this, if a diplomat had done that. These paths led nowhere.

The surgical nature of what the Galileo-A was expected to do posed problems too. They really could only make a small change, and it would have to be something within the realm of possibility. Showing up and telling the President of the Federation that X events would unfold leading to a war would see them all sent to New Zealand before they could meet his secretary.

With this in mind he turned his attention to the Cold Station. It was isolated and within the Galileo's power to affect. Getting the program itself cancelled or defunded were options, but he couldn't simulate anything that actually succeeded. It seemed like when it came to this research, where there was a will there was a way. No matter how he approached it the research would be conducted and predictions would spiral out of control.

Assassination was the next order of business. Once a Rihannsu, always a Rihannsu, he supposed. Killing different members of the research team or support staff did not have the desired effect. Nor did torpedoing the whole facility to dust. It was an exceptionally sticky point in time.

Inevitably he was forced to conclude that the information itself had to be a target. He ran a few simulations examining how disrupting the research getting into the hands of the Rihannsu spy might affect the diplomatic outcome.

But something was... off.

Every simulation to do with the data was slightly out of alignment. It was almost like a datapoint was missing.

"I have something unusual here," he said softly to the science team, "I'm sending each of you a profile of several simulations I have run. I cannot put my finger on it but something is disrupting the data." He glanced at each of them, "Can you please check it over."

"Unusual or interesting?" T'Lin asked.

"Certainly the former," Vala responded, his eyes affixed to the flows of the timeline, "and the latter if it has any impact on our objective here."

He ran a few more simulations, cross referencing different aspects of the timeline. There was a slight disruption to things at some point between the Galileo visiting the Cold Station, and the files being deleted.

Frowning and tapping his foot with some agitation, he drew the simulation back to the original timeline, the one they existed in now. Was the same disruption occurring there?

Moments passed as he ran through the data.

Yes. It was.

In all the simulations it seemed to create a phantom string that almost echoed that of the data that Tarin and Blake had deleted.

"See here," he pointed at the console in front of him, "there is some kind of echo of the Cold Station file string." He traced along the anomalous reading, "It's hard to catch but it looks like a copy of the files... That they weren't fully deleted?"

"Deleted is a relative term. It means that the computer system has not fully written over the files. Still, at this point, what good would it do to revive them? What is done is done. So, we have the files, the Klingon-Romulan forces aren't going to concede that they got the data and all is well. I contend that there was more to everything than what went down. I believe the so-called hidden files was simply an excuse to something else going on," T'Lin offered her opinion.

Marisa walked over to them and raised an eyebrow. "I believe that occurrence was noted, but no one could find any evidence that the data appeared anywhere else. For it to have an impact on the timeline, you will need to find who took the data and what happened to it. The program will then need to show that it had a negative impact on relations and was instrumental in starting the war." It was possible that the Galileo-A scientists would have some knowledge that future scientists did not.

"It is a possibility." Marisa glanced at Sophie. "I kept a copy of the Tholian data to ensure that it not conveniently disappear. I shared it with an Admiral in Federation Sciences. Could something like that have happened at the cold station? Or was someone else there? If you can find that, it might alter our options." She wouldn't guess at the odds, but she was curious to see if they could find out what that was as they were there not long ago. It was worth a closer look if for no other reason than to rule it out.

Vala gave a curt nod, "Well it seems to originate in the days between the Cold Station and the system test that brought us here," he pointed to the screen, "So it is present in every iteration of your projections that involve preventing Commanders Tarin and Blake deleting the data." He glanced back to Wyatt, "It certainly occurred on Regula."

"I do not know if it was examined when the temporal strings were set up, but we can check it now." Marisa looked at the temporal data for a moment. "So you do not believe I am manipulating anything, I would like you to flag that abnormality in the time string. Then go back through the temporal strings you looked at and see if any of them affect that event. Begin with assassinating the Romulan spy and end with Morgan and Scarlet turning over the Cold Station information when they return to Regula I. By flagging that particular anomaly, you will see how the different events affect it." She suspected someone kept a copy because that's what she would have done, but she had no way to verify her theory. And, she knew that anything she tried to do in an effort to help them would be suspect.

Vala did as he was instructed, modelling out the different scenarios. If anything, this ghost of data made him slightly more inclined to trust the Galileo-B science officer. It was not an easy thread to find. He traced it through a scenario the Rihannsu spy was killed, and it still seemed to doggedly have its impact. Similarly, when the data is handed over, as was intended, it seemed to track its own path after the Galileo's stop at Regula.

"It is aberrant," he said simply, looking once again to Wyatt, "A variable that potentially allows us to reassess some of the simulations you rejected. If we can pin it down."

"It is definitely worth a look," Marisa replied. "This could lead to a greater understanding of what happened." She looked at Vala for a moment. "And if it leads to another solution, we will explore it. Continue through all the known variables and see if and when that echo changes. I am curious to see if any of them, including the one the scientists in my time recommend, have any effect on it or if they can be ruled out." There were still a number of possibilities, but this anomaly could lead to something important in their search to prevent the war.

"There might be problems in fully isolating things. Chaos theory would argue that missing even one little detail could still cause changes that we might not even understand. The whole a butterfly flaps its wings and the weather changes in Tokyo," T'Lin offered.

"Butterflies..." Vala said slightly wistfully, "Hmm." His long fingers skittered over the console, bringing up the simulation of Wyatt's temporal scientists. He located then traced his finger along the anomalous line, "In this timeline, where the data is not deleted, and released to the public... The string just seems to dissipate..." He trailed off and frowned.

"But..." He tapped the console bringing up the timeline as it had played out. The past of this 2317. "Here is the data coming from Regula and crashing into various parts of history." He glanced at T'Lin, "A butterfly effect as you say."

He went quiet for a few moments, whispering under his breath, then his eyes widened, "Commander, could this... could this be the copy of the data that eventually got leaked in 2393?"

"It might be worth exploring or at least taking to the higher-ups," T'Lin shrugged.

"It's impossible to say which event led to the war without further information," Marisa said. "Do you know of anyone on the Galileo-A or on Regula I who knew of the data and could have kept a copy?"

Vala shrugged, "Before my time," he glanced at Wyatt, then admitted, "I would have had I been there."

Marisa couldn't help smiling. "As would I." She'd mentioned to Sophie once already that she had kept the evidence about the Proto-Tholian, although she never released it to the public. Sometimes it was more important to learn from one’s mistakes than to remove evidence that it happened.

"As far as I am aware, only the senior personnel knew the full data. It would have taken a command decision to have it erased. Thus, it might take a command level decision to have any of it recovered, if at all possible," T'Lin replied.

"Well at this stage the who does not matter. Security can investigate that I am sure." Vala pointed at the screen, "Commander, if we are to build a projection off intercepting this anomalous data, either before or soon after it is transferred on Regula, perhaps that will satisfy the objectives of your mission."

"Only in part. There's no way to determine for sure if either this data leak or the one by the Romulan spy--or both--is responsible for starting the chain of events that led to war," Marisa clarified. "According to the time streams you looked at, both occurrences can adequately be countered by having the Galileo release the information." Which brought them back to the initial assessment. "Thanks to your work, we now know there is a second possible catalyst, even if the solution is the same."

"Agreed," T'Lin said.

Vala narrowed his eyes, his tone taking on more of the coldness that it had exhibited earlier, "That as it may be Commander, but our intention remains to find a solution that does not involve the dissemination of these files." He locked his eyes onto Wyatt's, "Can your systems not model an outcome where we return and simply prevent this data leak?"

"Do you think we haven't tried everything we could think of? Hundreds of scientists across the quadrant have been searching for anything to prevent this war, to save us from extinction. We've only found one option that meets all criteria." She knew he was likely to freeze her out again, but she could only tell him what she knew. "There are no guarantees, but every model indicates that going public with what you learned about the cold stations and releasing the information before the Romulans and Klingons can put their own spin on it has any hope of success." She sighed. "We're not trying to control them or use them for our own ends. We want them gone forever and the only way to do that is to tell the universe about them and the consequences of repeating their folly."

She took another deep breath and returned his stare. "The program only allows you to input data and see how it alters the timeline. How successful have your attempts been?"

"This anomalous data changes the path to those criteria," Vala stated. To him it was self-evident, a fact. If this variable had not been accounted for then all bets were off when it came to causality, "I will run simulations to see whether an interception of this data has a tangible impact."

Marisa nodded. "You've already deduced that this anomaly disappears if the data is not destroyed. You can look at what impacts it may have, but remember that time is limited."

Vala did not respond and simply continued working through different scenarios on the console, examining, confirming and re-confirming conclusions as he went.

Some time passed as he went through the motions. Good science was usually a slow process and this was no exception. Time was, of course, of the essence but everything had to be checked in order for conclusions to be drawn.

Ultimately he turned back to the Commander, his face inscrutable, "As far as my analysis goes, it seems clear that this anomalous data has as much impact as Commander Tarin's actions in deleting the files. The existence of this other copy allowed the Federations deceit to be exposed."

"If we have the opportunity, I will pass the information on to the temporal science team. But even if you cannot determine whether it was the Romulans or this new source that leaked the data, based on your earlier exploration of the timeline streams, if the Galileo goes back and releases it, both data leaks disappear, which leaves us with the same initial conclusion. Check the timeline threads again if you need verification," Marisa said. But to her the evidence was clear. The Galileo-A had to go back and make the information on the cold stations public.

"Well, I am afraid we return to our initial issue in that case," Vala said with a little coldness returning, "Our preference is for the data to remain deleted. If a viable path exists to ensure that is possible then we wish to pursue it to its end." He glanced at the different projections on the screen, "Perhaps you can take this information to your team, and the A's science team can also reflect on it separately. Then we can reconvene once our options are clearer?"

"My team is on Andor Prime," Marisa replied. "And we are a long way from what is left of Federation territory. If you can find a viable option that proves the data can be deleted without instigating war before our time is up, I will take it into account. However, from what I have observed, none of your calculations remove the Romulan leak as a probable factor. In addition, it is quite possible that this second leak was also caused by the data being deleted and thus the original conclusion remains the most viable."

She sighed. "Lieutenant, the damage was done and because of it, mankind is facing extinction. You may prefer that outcome, but I do not. And regardless of whether it was the Romulan spy or someone on Regula I who leaked the data, it was leaked and we are at war. The solution has not changed. However, as time is passing to get you back, I believe it is time to show Admiral Saalm and Commander Tarin what you have learned so far and see what they have to say."

[OFF]

--

LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO1 T'Lin
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

LTJG Sofie Ullswater
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Commander Marisa Wyatt
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-B

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