SPEAKER_02 0:05

Welcome to Stories with Dice. This is Star Trek Magellan, a Star Trek Adventures second edition actual play podcast. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us. It really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode. It is the early twenty-second century. Four years after the founding of the United Federation of Planets. Five years since the end of the Earth Romulan War. Starfleet has renewed their mission of peaceful exploration. But something has gone terribly wrong at Cradle Station, a research outpost on the edge of Federation Space. The crew is dead, its lead scientist missing. The USS Magellan's mission? Unravel the mystery of Cradle Station and boldly go where no one has gone before. Last time on Star Trek Magellan, the crew uncovered a startling truth. The bioorganism extracted from an ice core at Cradle Station existed in a state of quantum superposition. This anomaly disrupted the researchers' synaptic functions, leaving their minds suspended between states, ultimately killing them. Beneath the ice, the crew discovered a monolith, one that delivered a chilling warning from a long-dead civilization. And now the continuation. Let's actually pick up in the lab with the good doctor. Dr.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Travis, which of these labs are you are you in? Lab number one seems a fair lab because it's right next to the infirmatory, so if I need anything from there, I can bring it across. So while they're messing about down underneath the uh ice, I'll go over to the lab and get things set up. I will request some medical equipment to be beamed down to my coordinates, and I will also request a assistant to help me.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Okay. Yeah, so the your vessel has a crew support of three. So you're using one of those to call down. Well, let's say you call down the head nurse. Shax, is it?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Shax, the denobulin, yes. So yes, we'll call him down, plus the equipment that is required for that. I believe that as the chief medical officer, I have to spend points to get equipment.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Yes. You have no momentum at the moment because it's a brand new scene.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

But chief medical officer allows you to have the reduce of that opportunity cost is by one. So it takes if it's one, then it goes down to zero. That also kind of helps with the tasks and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

That is good enough for me. So the the one of the main things that you notice in this lab is that a lot of the equipment is broken. The walls, again, are scorched from energy weapons fire, but you do see containers that have bones in them. There are three containers, each labeled specimen one through three, and this is specimen one.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Okay, yes. So I am now seeing what I would call is a miniature humanoid skull.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

The note here is that the note is that it's an indigenous humanoid species, classified as Iridani, because the planet is Iridonis. And the notes say that among the remains, this skull belongs to the indigenous species of the planet, though its size suggests it may be from a young individual, or perhaps this was typical for the species. Carbon dating confirms that the remains are over 700 years old, providing a glimpse into a time when this species flourished on a world far different from the frozen one that it has become. So that is specimen one. This is specimen two.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Okay, so I am looking at another skull which has got a lot of prominent brow ridges, quite thick skull around the edges, and a very kind of like, I would say from that, looks almost reptilian-like, potentially. If you put some skin on it, maybe I don't know. It's got quite a long, elongated skull as well on the back.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Right, so the species here says unknown, classified as species name pending. And the notes say discovered alongside the first set of remains, the skull exhibits distinct cranial ridges. The bone density is significantly thicker than that of the indigenous population, see specimen one. And an analysis suggests an evolutionary adaptation to extreme environments or perhaps genetic modification, more advanced than known science. Origin unknown, remains do not match any known species within Federation records. Okay. And then this is specimen three.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Okay, so this is a very different skull. This has got a very flat, long, elongated skull. It's very kind of dare I say demonic looking and has a lot of what looks like uh air sacs or something on along the sides of its head and to the rear of it as well. Looks like there was some kind of void in its skull. It looks like it's got these large mandibles or something that it has as part of its jawline.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Quite scary. And the so the the age of all three of these are roughly 700 plus years old. So the notes here, also again, this says species unknown. So the notes here say this skull displays an elongated shape with multiple hollow recesses where eyes would be. The structure suggests a species possibly adapted to low light environments or even some form of perception beyond standard vision. Fragments of DNA extracted from the remains show partial matches to the Proto-Mentis recovered in the ice core sample. The origin of this species is unknown. The unique physiology raises questions regarding its interaction with the indigenous species and its role in the planet's history.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Interesting. Very interesting. Hmm. Okay, so those those weird sockets on the sides would have been eyes, so it would have had one, two, three, four, five, six eyes potentially. Weird. Okay, thank you. Well I get fascinated by that and end up forgetting about what I'm doing. I very quickly get distracted. I will scan everything to make sure there's no pathological vectors in the room, and I just try and clear as much as I can. We'll will not take anything out of anything that's sealed. We'll definitely leave that, but I will make a log of it so that we can potentially catalogue it and to give it to Starfleet and when it's required. But yes, so I guess myself and Chucks, while the others are down there, will go and pick up a body. Or would I be able to get I guess this is Star Trek, right? So I can get someone to beam it from there into the lab so the ship can beam something, a body from from the snow down into the lab. Yeah. I will prepare. Does the lab have the ability to generate a shield to kind of keep any pathological things in? Yes. And I will go about doing that and doing whatever you need to do to kind of in in Star Trek terminology, would you wear a suit or would you just wear like a little mask? I don't know, whatever, protect me from any kind of pathogens while working with a shield.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

You've brought down along with whatever in the equipment that you brought down was whatever protective gear you may need to perform in the autopsy.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

And then this isn't my usual thing, so I'm gonna perform an autopsy and scan as I go. What would you like me to do, Mr. GM, sir? Give me this is gonna be control and medicine. I don't think I've got any talents that can help me or any focuses really that can help me. So actually, nope, I've got a focus called hazard awareness. So I guess that will help stop anything from spreading, or if I'm gonna get too close to kind of releasing any proto metasaur or maybe something else, if I could use that, then that'd be fine. If not, I will allow it. Cool. So now if I have a focus that allows me to be used during the course of a role, that means that I get a better chance at getting a critical, is that correct?

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yes. So you're using you're using a focus, so that means that any role below your department, in this case medicine, which is four, so any role four or lower becomes a critical instead of just a roll of one. So basically a 20 is bad, it's a complication, it's a failure. A one is considered two successes, it's a critical. Yeah. Cool. Sort of the inverse of DD, right? And if you're if you're using a focus, then that critical expands to be anything above or below your department number.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Okay. How many successes do I need? One. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Shaq's assisting on the task.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Uh Shaq's is assisting. Shaq's is assisting. Would somebody like to roll for Shaq?

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Douglas, maybe? Yeah, I I mentioned it, so I guess I can roll for Shaq's. Uh, would it just be uh assuming control and medicine as well?

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Yes. Okay. Well, I got two successes. Shaq's got one. Okay, so you have generated two momentum. Excellent. What do I find out? You find out that it essentially your initial scans were correct. They died of hypothermia. The reason for their behavior is due to the damage to their synaptic pathways. And that the synaptic pathways, even in death, their synaptic pathways appear to be in a state of quantum superposition.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Hmm. Are they really dead? I asked myself. Well, this one definitely is now that I've cut them open.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Uh, if you want to spend one of those momentum, I can perhaps give you some information that might help determine what caused this.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Think you'll find that I'm gonna want to have some momentum spent, so I'll just spend one, okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

Okay, so you know that the human brain relies on bioelectrical signals, ions moving across synapses that transmit information. So, if the alien DNA sample, the Protomentis, the so-called Protomentis, exists in a state of quantum superposition, it might emit a quantum coherent bioelectromagnetic field. These fields could have caused the neural pathways of the scientists to become entangled in superposition, leading to cognitive dissonance, which would then lead to erratic thought processes and the behavior that they exhibited that led to their death.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Would that mean that if someone was of a science bend, you'd be able to link that frequency to the quantum bioelectrical field or all the equivalent to be able to scan and therefore find said protametist? Possible. Okay, cool. Yeah, I I guess we'll just take our time, make sure we we do everything as thoroughly as we can. And yeah, I guess me and Shax get on quite well, so we will happily have a chat while we do such things.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Okay. So let us return to the Ice Corps platform, the chamber beneath the Ice Corps platform, I should say. When we last left the three of you, your chief engineer did something. Neither one of you quite understand what or how he did it, but you received you heard it a message transmitting through the science officer's trichorder. Since I'm holding the tricorder, can I figure out where this message is coming from? Yes, it's being transmitted from the monolith through the trichorder.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

Okay, so if I point it out towards the monolith it gets louder, and if I point it away, it gets quieter kind of thing. Yes. Captain, looks like this is coming from the monolith itself, but can I grab my other tricorder and scan it to see if I detect any technology? Because it didn't detect anything previously. Correct. And yes, you can't still can't detect any sort of like transmitter or anything in there?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

No, there you're your own tricorder registers no known technology. There are no wires, there are no there's it's just a solid piece of stone. Relay that to the captain and to the science officer. But you didn't hear anything. It's just emanating these vibrations that you're that the science officer's tricorder that you repaired appears to be picking up and translating for you that you don't know why or how.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Okay. So can we find the source? So do you say the source is the monolith or looks like it.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

I saw a shed like right next to it, so that's maybe where like all the equipment is.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Go and see if it's before we tamper on the monolith. I think uh it would be better to check with the Starfleet just in case. You know, we are in front of remains of an ancient civilization, I wouldn't want to defile it.

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Fair enough. Mind if I go check out that shed while you're doing that?

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Maris, can you perhaps check how old is this monolith?

SPEAKER_03 13:58

Yes, and I agree, I wouldn't want to try and take a piece off of it just yet. We don't know how it's going to react if it is some sort of device that we're unaware of. Can I um can I roll a science and a reason then?

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so uh you get your tricorder back from from the engineer, the message has stopped playing. So a roll of reason and a science. And what do I need for that? This difficulty is zero, so you lose that generating momentum, yep. Okay. You can just roll a 20. That also can happen. With with a complication, that's okay. So this chamber was built over 700 years ago, give or take. The monolith itself also dates back to around that same time. And then your tricorder shorts out and is no longer functioning. Smoke and sparks just kind of like come out of it.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

I'm gonna drop that sucker fast. I'm trying to wonder if this monolith is kind of a communication device or recording device or kind of a repository of the knowledge of this civilization. What do you reckon, Maris? I mean, what do we have in front of us? Is this dangerous?

SPEAKER_03 15:05

Undetermined, but it it could very well be a recording device, it could very well be a repository of ancient civilization's knowledge, it could be the source of the vibrations that could send things into superposition and and maybe they actually help the DNA to cross back and forth again. We're not sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

We don't have enough information. Yeah, it could be for me, it's crucial to understand if the Proto-Mentis has any link to this monolith. It seems to me that they're two different things.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Yeah, there could be two different things, but they one one could serve an overall purpose. I don't have any reason to believe that DNA in and of itself can be put into a state of superposition without some sort of mechanical device, as what happened to me in the transporter accident. I didn't do that by myself. The mechanism did that for me. There is a very good possibility that this monolith is, in fact, some sort of device that can allow this Protomentis to cross back and forth. Like a quantum bridge? I would assume so, yes. That's a very logical deduction.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Hmm. So this could be potentially dangerous.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

It could be, particularly if there is an unknown species, the message did say they will hear us. Well who is they? We're not sure. This could be this could be the doorway to who they are. And if it's listening, they could hear us, and the frequency was obviously attuned to their uh hearing sensitivities. That'd be my assumption.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Too many questions we don't have an answer. I don't know. How should we proceed, Maurice? What should we do?

SPEAKER_03 16:33

Well, I'm not against trying the ESP one more time, but the danger the danger is would they hear me? Would they hear us through me? Um because I'm not gonna be using my I wouldn't be trying to use my tricoder again. That's definitely not gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

So I'm happy to do that, Captain, if you think it's worth the risk. I don't know, I know. Let me think about it. Uh let's see what we get from the chief medical officer and if we get any more information regarding this produmenti, and then we can reevaluate if necessary. Okay, agreed.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

So are you calling up the doctor? Yes. Okay, so Dr. Travis, your communicator is beeping. I answer it, Captain.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Doctor, I would like to understand a little bit more what we have here. Have you found anything interesting on the on the scientists?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

We have, but we've also found something very interesting in the lab. We have got three skulls, which it looks like there are three separate species on this planet around well, I give or take, 700 years ago. It might be worth you coming up here to have a look when you are free. I can then also give you a rundown of the pathology.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Let's do that. Maurice, let's go. Rhodes, please don't touch him on any until we are back. Roger that, Captain, and I'm on my way to the shed.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Okay, so as Chief Engineer Rhodes is on his way up the ladder to the shed, the two of you are on your way up the ladder and to the lab, one of the labs, to meet up with Dr. Travis and his head nurse.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Can I ask a question, Marco? You may. On the way to the shed, are the bodies still there? Yes, except for one of them. One of them is missing. And there's no signs of like it no being dragged away or anything. It's just gone. Correct. There's just a uh an indent in the snow where it will used to be. That's going to unsettle Roots a bit, just because he's like, well, the doctor didn't drag it away out of the what? And but he's just gonna be like, I'll ask the doctor when I get to the lab, and I'll carry on to the shed. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

So the shed, by the way, let's just stick with you for a second. Inside you find supplies for repair and maintenance, and there's a workbench with some tools cluttered about. There's also a landing platform just outside the shed, which is where the station's transport was. It is not there now. And information inside the shed lets you know that the transport's top speed is Warp 2. There is also a land vehicle here. So the land vehicle is there, the transport is missing, which tracks with the information you all received or you all gleaned from the Dr. Corby's office that he was taking the transport to go to the Corella system.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Can I give give the the the uh the bland vehicle a quick survey and just see if it's like working? It is in perfect working order. You know, I'll just have a poke around the shed and just see if there's anything. Is it is it look like the equipment that they used for like the ice core stuff is here? Yes. I'm gonna see if I can find like the the thing they use for core samples. Is that here? Yes. I'll uh is that like big enough to like carry around? Yeah, you can carry it. I'll pick that up because I might need that later. And then once I finish backing around, eventually I'll head towards the doctor and that sort of thing. But probably in a while.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Yep, no problem. So, Maris and Captain, you are in the lab with the doctor and the nurse. Take it away, Dr. Travis.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Captain, I've kind of covered over the body of the um scientist, I guess. So I've uh performed an autopsy, and absolutely as we initially expected, they died of exposure and hypothermia. There was still specific damage to uh somatic pathways. Interestingly, those pathways are still in flux with a quantum cohesive bioelectrical field, which I'm afraid uh I was never my strong suit when I was uh at medical, a staff medical, so I will probably look to you, sir, and I look at Lev Maris to probably explain that in more detail. Essentially, though, it looks like as we suspected, whatever it was happening with their somnatic pathways caused them to lose whatever common sense they had. Whatever they were seeing or whatever they were experiencing led them to going outside and and and unfortunately perishing in the cold. Interesting enough, if you look behind me, I take them all to the uh the three skulls. This one looks like is the uh Iridani, which is what they've called the the species, which looks like to be the native species to the planet. We have another species which is unknown, and then a third species which is unknown. The third species, once I'd scanned it, appears to have the I guess the the leftovers of the Protomentus in them. And you can see it's a very strange creature. It's got multiple eyes down the side of its head. I can only imagine what it would look like had it have skin on. It looked odd uh very odd. Come with date, is this called? So about 700 years. Whatever happened, if they all died about 700 years ago. Obviously, I won't be able to tell you what. I can't. See anything visually on the on the skulls to say there was any damage to the skulls. Looks like they're all perfectly fine. There's no that I can see. I guess, Marker, there's no sort of like blood force trauma to the skulls that I can tell.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

No, none whatsoever. But as you're as you're having this conversation with the captain, the the corpse on the s on the table sits up, the sheet covering it falls to its lap, and the di and the the dead scientist says, They're awake. And his eyes open.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Yeah. This is exactly what Jonathan says. And points to the body that's that's just set up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

And the ratings? What is it going on? Very it's very likely that this is is some quantum superposition activity going on here. Whether or not that's the voice of the actual scientist or is it the voice of someone else is uncertain.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

But your tricorder's busted, so you're gonna need to use either the captain's tricorder or the medical officer.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

I can give him mine. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Yep. Okay. So we'll go with reason and science again? Yes. Okay. And I shall perform a role.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

You're gonna need you're gonna need three successes. Right. So you have one momentum left if you want to buy a die. You can also give you threat now. You can also give me give me threat to buy dice, yes. Is that a better option?

SPEAKER_03 23:27

You know, you don't generally want to give me threat now. No, no, no. I mean I just momentum to buy, use use the momentum first. Use the momentum, yeah. So then I go to three dice. Okay. Alright, ready to roll. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

There you go. Yeah, you're registering. So the the this ostensibly dead person, this corpse, their the their synapses are firing. When they died, part of their consciousness was perhaps still in the whatever other place they were in in you know while being in superposition.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

We could try vocalization and see if it actually hears. It may only be only only operate one way.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

I moved for in front of the corpse and I could pose a simple question. Who are you? Morrow. Where are you? Scientist? Where are you? I I do not know. What do you see? Nothing. Where are you? We are in cradle station. Who's in cradle station? Are still at least your body? Who are they? Are they with you?

SPEAKER_02 24:32

They are terrible! And then he just screams. And then as loud and as horrifying as that scream was, he he stops like like somebody just turned the volume off. His tail is standing up. He's still sitting up, yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

I'm gonna obviously check to see that he's actually dead, because he was dead when he came in and he's been cut open.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

So he's guessing 100% dead. There is no heartbeat, nothing, but there are synapses firing in his brain.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Yeah, okay. The cortical stimulator, the cortical readings or whatever that I've got on his head is probably showing that.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

But yeah, there's brain activity going on, but there shouldn't be. Like every every bit of medical science you know tells you that this is not possible. I think it may be time for a risk.

SPEAKER_03 25:21

Maybe I could use the extrasensory perception on the doctor. Okay. How does it work?

SPEAKER_02 25:27

At any point again, at any point during play, you can ask me for hints or insights about a current situation. Similarly, at any point during play, I can give them to you for threats, but you could refuse to accept the hints and therefore not take the threat.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Okay, well, Captain, I will defer to you. There's a great possibility that this could endanger us all, but I would risk it if you're willing to.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

And we must. We need to understand where they either is a bigger risk, unless I mean I don't want to put you to risk, so please pull out as soon as you can. Whatever you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Absolutely, Captain. Acknowledge. So, Maris, you are you're getting this flash of insight or this sort of strong feeling that Dr. Morrow, his mind is being shared by some other intelligent entity. There's someone else there in his head beside him, and they're speaking to you from some other reality. Am I understanding what they're saying? You're understanding Dr. Morrow, his voice is in your head, and he he tells you that they destroyed the Protamentis sample and the ice core sample that it it came from, once they realized it's danger. But they were too late. The damage to them had already been done. Well, relay that information to the captain. And then you hear another voice that says we are coming.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Captain, there's definitely a a third personality. Originally there was a duality. It was a the doctor's voice, but somebody else was speaking through it. Now there is a direct threat. They said they're coming.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

No record of it at all in any any Federation database.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Should we ask them again who are they?

SPEAKER_01 27:27

Perhaps with your connection now, my work.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

We're not worried that whoever they are will be honing in on where we are. So it's a possibility.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

They'll be doing it through me as the c as a conduit.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

We don't even know what's going on here. We don't even know if they can travel through through this quantum realm and appear. Is this like a teleportation?

SPEAKER_00 27:52

I don't know, but I look at the the skull that's got the multiple eye sockets and everything else. Why do I feel that the bad thing looks like that? I think your instincts would be correct.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

But I'm wondering if these things and this Protomentis isn't native of this location. You know what about Corella?

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Well, you I think we said they were not native. Is that correct? Correct. Protomentis is not native for this planet.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Yeah, they were native from Corella, or at least they came from Corella.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Or a quantum realm? I look over at uh Lieutenant Kamala Maris.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

It isn't it wasn't native to Corella, but they found the same bones as Specimen 3 on Corella. Yeah, so that's the ink. Right, exactly. It's a link. Lieutenant Commander Maris, you you asked you had asked to Dr. Morrow a question. Was it I can't remember what it was. Do you remember? Who are they? Who are they? Okay, so again, you hear his voice in your head, and he appears frantic, perhaps, frightened, in pain, and he he says, I I don't know. And then you're spending two threat here, suffer a psychic attack and collapse to the ground. If you want to avoid this injury, you can take force stress. Otherwise, the injury will incapacitate you. So if I take force stress, then what happens to me then? It just means that you have, I mean, you still have the injury, but you're not going to be incapacitated. Right. Okay. So I'll take the st I'll take the stress track then. So you see, Lieutenant Maris, you you sort of get like you fall to your knees holding your head in your hands, and he's like in agony, screaming in agony.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

I will jump straight over to uh OTM and use the scanner, see what's going on, and get a hyperspay ready if there's any way to dull the pain, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Yeah, your scanner's not really detecting anything other than really high, unusual synaptic activity going on in the in the brain, and corpse falls back down onto the swab.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Yeah, there's nothing I can really do for him at the moment. He's uh he's having the same issue that the corpse has had, which is his synaptics are being uh targeted. Well, I don't really have anything to do for that.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

And you give him something to aren't himself.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

I'm getting sedative. I I I look at Lieutenant Commander Maris.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Yeah, he seems to be it seems to be subsiding. He's kind of shaking it off a little bit. Commander? But he's gonna have one hell of a migraine.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

Here, take two of these and call me in the morning. Just give him a like the the equivalent of a very light painkiller. That's that's what I'll give him. That's the other easy way.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

I'll help the Lieutenant Commander to his feet. Thank you very much. Thank you, Marais. I know that was not easy for you. No, it wasn't, but it was necessary. Still remains a question. Who are they and what do they want? What do they did what did they did to these the people in this planet?

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Wasn't able to gather that information before the psychic attack. While they're um while they're chatting, I'll stick like a cortical monitoring device on the the back of the tank commander's head, and I'm just gonna link it to my medical tricorder so I can monitor that. I'm a little concerned that he's opened up a gateway from wherever the hell it was to him. So I just want to keep an eye on his cortical synapses to see if they continue to work in a similar way that I think I've seen the others do it. Just on the off charts.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Okay, no problem. Um just a question. I don't know about this, Marco. Can I send a message to another ship? Let's say that is this Dr. Coru, the death, or this other planet, Corella? Dr.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

Corby, yeah, yeah. You can set you can send a message, you can inform your ship to contact Starbase 12, or you know that there's a mining facility on Corella, so you could also contact the mining facility. Not from your communicator, though, you would have to do it from the from the bridge of the uh of your ship. Imagine.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

And with the ship, how long would it take us to get there?

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Uh so Corella is one light year away, so it would take you three days at warp five, which is your like maximum safe cruising speed. Okay, so we should be able to get there quite fast, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

I'm just concerned. Um I've shared this with these people, I mean, with Commander Maris, Dr. Travis Rhodes, if around. I'm concerned about the safety of the other doctor that is traveling to Corella. I mean, I don't know if he's aware of the danger he's running because he left before anything happened here. Just ask him for your opinion on uh you know that I I think that we've we've found most of the information or important information that is relevant to the other expedition moving to Corella, and I'm afraid that if we don't reach them on time, you know, something similar might happen to them or even spread to other locations and you know there's a mining facility on Corella. So I think we must travel. We probably are the closest ship.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Well, there's still some questions to be answered here. I I would agree that for the safety of the other expedition, we would need to contact them immediately.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Yeah, I don't know if yeah, we can do both, but I think we probably should take off as fast as possible and at request the Starfleet to check the rest of the facility if necessary and share all our information.

SPEAKER_03 33:31

Agreed. I transported it from outside inside. Right. Are you sure you like the transporter kind of like messed with the biology of the body? He's a doctor, not an engineer. Damn right, Jim. I am an engineer, so I know that the transporters are not at this point 100%. Bad things happen of transporters still. Are you suggesting it's the same thing happened to to this corpse that could that had happened to me a few years ago? Well, as far as I'm all the other bodies and done anything, but the only body that did anything was the one that you used the transporter on.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

We're currently indoors rather than outdoors, so for all we know, the other bodies are already doing whatever they're doing, but we're not there.

SPEAKER_03 34:18

I walked past them.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

They were not doing anything when I walked past them twice. But he wasn't doing anything until you were here. Sorry, Captain. Yes, I think it's a good idea that we should uh try and find the doctor to make sure he's okay. I agree with Lieutenant Commander that yes, we should definitely get in touch with Starfleet to get in touch with the previous people that arrived on the planet. I think that we should definitely check the other labs and any other remaining rooms here before we go back. I suppose, Steve, maybe we get a shuttle back if you're worried.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

As as as I say, it's it's sort of the logic of transporters is yeah, if you think about it, you you're technically looking at a copy of the body almost. So I've seen read stuff about like things changing during transport and psychosis and that sort of thing. Sorry. What do you mean a copy of the body?

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Steven's like, do I really want to get into this sort of this sort of ins and outs of like and then I realized that I'm speaking to Steve and realize that I could probably be here for quite a few number of hours.

SPEAKER_03 35:26

Steve doesn't particularly like transporters per se.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

We'll wait till a bottle of scotch and we're we're we're we're traveling to wherever we're traveling next before we have that conversation.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Yeah, I think we are moving out, guys. Um, I mean, guys, gentlemen, I think we we need to move on. Quick check the other two laps in case there is anything that we missed, but I'm afraid we should be leaving this location and moving rapidly to Corella.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Captain, what do you want to do with all the samples?

SPEAKER_01 35:55

What kind of samples did you recover? Do you mean the skulls and all this?

SPEAKER_00 35:59

And the bodies and anything else we haven't to find?

SPEAKER_01 36:02

We'll transmit the cell fleet to pick any anything here. I think our mission is elsewhere to try to save Dr. Correu. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Okay, so you're you're leaving the the bones here, you're leaving the bodies, just taking the data, the physical the data that you've acquired on your on your tricorders, and you're returning to the ship.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Yes, we'll we'll check quickly lap two and lap three, I guess, just in case there's any other specimen around that's you know, like quickly in the Yep, you do a thorough quick search of the rest of the outposts and you find nothing.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

You don't find the Proto-Mentis sample, you don't find any of the ice core samples that they drilled, so perhaps the corpse was telling you the truth when he told you that they destroyed them.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

Before we go back to the Magellan, does uh do we still have the broken trichord? Yes, as far as I know, you do. So I wanted to figure out diagnose the trichord to figure out what actually happened. Okay. Because if there's like weird frequencies going on, that stuff can mess with transporters and things. Okay. Yeah, so it's checking if there's any relevant focuses. Uh, would jury rigging count? Because I'm trying to analyze my jury rig?

SPEAKER_02 37:16

I will allow it. It's a little bit of a stretch, but I'm feeling generous. You need two successes. Holy smokes. I got four successes on that. I'm you did at my job. So you have two momentum before you beam away to use. You'll lose one when you beam away.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

You want to use them to ask? I was gonna say, would I be doing this back on the ship if we're trying to beam away? Okay, yeah, no, I was. I just want to make sure we we didn't like Mars just didn't chuck on the floor and leave it.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Right. Okay, no, no, I was confused. I thought that was something you wanted to do before you beamed away. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:48

It was before we start the next scene or whatever, flying off somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yep. Okay, so yep, so you've beamed back to the to the Magellan. We can say that Mr. Rhodes are in there's probably an office somewhere on near main engineering where you're doing that job. Will you do that? Yeah, yeah, through main engineering. You're doing that work. Everyone, you can just move your guys around to wherever you want to be. I imagine maybe you guys want to be on the bridge. So, Mr. Rhodes. You've been you have been tinkering with the with the tricorder, with Maris' tricorder. And the monolith was emitting vibrations at certain frequencies. And when you repaired the tricorder, when you jury-rigged it, those frequencies somehow took control of the device. You you don't really understand how it did it. And again, the the monolith was just a piece of stone, it wasn't even a machine, as far as you could tell. But the monolith somehow co-opted the tri the the the tricorder, used it to enhance its the frequencies that it was sending out so that they were audible, and then also translating them into your language, and all of that burnt out its circuits. So whatever is on that planet has the ability to co-opt other technology if it's tuned correctly. That is a good estimation, yes.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

But can I just spend one momentum of the one that two that I got just to rule out that it would that it could mess with the transporters or signals or that in any sort of way? You cannot rule that out at all. No, I can't rule that out. Yep, you're gonna stay very paranoid. Okay, I guess once I've got that, I'll send that information up to the captain and also probably the comms officer to see if like they can figure out some sort of like translate into the universal translator or something like that.

unknown 39:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 39:53

It was obviously like the frequencies were equaling some sort of language as it was. So I'll send all the data. I will inform the captain that yes, the thing was co-opting our tech, as in it was taking control and modifying it on the fly. So if we come across something like else, be beware, because you know the technology might not necessarily be telling us correct information.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

Maris, could you mind working with Miss Yamamoto to send all the relevant information to Staffit? So they are aware of the situation and they can send a crew to clean up a station Cradle station, please. In the meantime, uh wanna send a message to the mining station in Corella to basically try to see if they can intercept the ship of Dr. Coriou. Tell them to contact us as fast as as soon as possible and to stay in orbit and do not go to the planet. Well, he's been there for over a month, so Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

Yeah, yeah. Because his his transport vessel is significantly slower than your starship, so it took him like a month to get there.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

Yeah, I miss that. Okay. I'm gonna ask Jancom, which is our navigator, to input the coordinates of Corella and you know to start the preparation.

SPEAKER_02 41:18

So the the scene changes to an exterior view of the Magellan breaking orbit, space is bending around it in waves of light. Its course is set, three days at warp five, moving fast on the Corella system. And then the we get an interior shot of the bridge, we settle on the communication station, and a distress signal crackles over the comm. The transmission is distorted, barely holding together across the vast distances of space. A frantic voice. This is Crusada City, operated by the Orpheus Mining Authority to any Starfleet vessel. We are under attack. And then there's a sudden burst of static, and the message fractures, overwhelmed by interference, words slip through and broken gasps. Anomaly, they're coming!