Too Close For Comfort

Posted on Mon May 10th, 2021 @ 4:07pm by Ensign Evelyn Moro & Lieutenant Aemilia "Millie" Stepanova

Evelyn hurried through the corridors trying her best not to look COMPLETELY panicked. She stopped at Millie's office door and composed herself before hitting the chime.

Millie looked at the chronometer on the wall, confirming that it wasn't an appointment. "Enter," she called out, stepping out from behind her desk.

Evelyn entered, happy there was noone else in there. "So, uh, I have a problem. Can you come with me to my quarters?"

Millie raised an eyebrow. "I'm--in the middle of my duty shift." She gave a grin. "But I don't have any plans this evening."

Evelyn's expression showed quick mental math. "By then it'll be a conjugal visit. I really need to show you something."

Millie's brow furrowed and she set down the PADD in her hands. "Is everything okay?"

"Well......"

-------

A few minutes later when they entered Evelyn's quarters the problem was evident. A bright blue ball about four foot circumference floated in her living room where her couch had been. There was no sign of the couch.

"Oh gods--" Millie instinctively took a step back. "What--what is that?"

"As best I can tell it's a pocket universe. I was...tinkering and I created a particle which became self sustained and then its gotten bigger every eight hours. It's the reason the ship's grid has been fluctuating. I estimate that in about three days it will come in contact with the wall and cause complete structural failure of the ship. It also ate my couch."

"You--you need to tell the Captain. Right now." Millie took Evelyn's hand.

Evelyn put on the brakes. "Whoa whoa whoa. First, he'll kill me. Second, he'll probably kill me again after that."

"Ev--you have a small universe in your quarters. If you don't tell him, then I have to." She gave Evelyn's hand a strong squeeze.

------

A few minutes later they stood in the Ready Room. Henry glanced between the two of them. "You have something you wanted to tell me?"

Evelyn swallowed and stepped forward. "Sir, I know why we have disruption in the power grid."

"Oh thank God, this has been driving all of us crazy. So can we fix it?"

"Well........"

..........

Henry stood in Moro's quarters staring at the blue globe which now and then sparkled with energy. "So let me get this straight. You conducted an unauthorized experiment which created this thing which as you noted absorbed your furniture and every eight hours it grows?"

"Yes Captain. Thats why the timing of the disruptions can be tracked. It absorbs energy from the ship and expands. When it hits the wall over there it will absorb that portion of the hull which will lead to structural failure if the ship is moving."

"And if we stop our movement? and power down the ship?"

She looked to Millie, contemplating. "That could work, unless this thing finds a new power source."

"Unfortunately we can't stop we're on our way to drop off an important piece of hardware. You made the damn thing, just...unmake it. Can't you reverse something, like drain the energy from it and make it go away?"

"It's a universe. There could be billions of lives in there."

"Ensign, the only lives Im concerned with right now at this moment are the ones on this ship. You need to handle this."

Evelyn looked to Millie for a silent opinion.

Millie took a quiet breath. "How close are we to the nearest outpost or Starbase?"

Henry looked to Millie. "What're you thinking?"

Millie looked up at the Captain. "That you need to prepare for the possibility of abandoning ship, and that you're going to need someone else to deliver this cargo."

His expression wasn't a poker face and he turned to Evelyn. "Can you revese this process, yes or no?"

She hesitated but nodded. "Yes, I think I could, though I'd like to be on record saying I think this is genocide."

"So noted. Get it done." He walked past them and out of the room.

Evelyn looked to Millie and sighed as she walked to a table with component parts laid out. "Am I making too much of this?"

Millie quietly came up behind Evelyn, wrapping her arms around the other woman's waist. "I think this has the potential to have a less than desirable outcome no matter what happens." She let her cheek rest on the back of Evelyn's neck. "And this is where both of our jobs become very difficult. I need you to not solve this problem alone, okay?"

"He wants me to fix this, so I will." Her hands assembled the components as she accepted Millie's embrace. "I'm going to have to drain this energy and we can use the deflector dish to expel the energy. If you want to help I'll take it."

"Ev?" Millie gave a quiet sigh. "Don't destroy it. See if you can slow down its growth." She paused for a moment, letting her eyes close. "I'm going to go make the Captain very angry at me."

"Join the club." She looked over her shoulder. "If I can measure how much it's draining from the ship and feed it back into the system we wouldn't have a noticible power drop and it ought to be stablized but we can't have it just live in living room forever."

Millie caught the word 'we', but knew this was probably not the time to question Evelyn's choice of words. "I'm about to go tell him that the Prime Directive is going to make him give up his ship." She leaned up on tip-toe to give Evelyn a soft kiss on the cheek. "Bring in the chief on this." A sobering thought crossed her mind. "And if there's anyone in this universe you need to call in for a consult, you tell me. I'll call in favors."

"Favors?"

Millie made herself smile. "You just tell me what you need to make this happen." She gave Evelyn a squeeze around the waist. "Go talk to the Chief. I'll talk to the Captain."

She nodded then got back to work on the new stabalization plan.

Lieutenant Aemilia "Millie" Stepanova
Chief Counselor, USS Mercutio

Ensign Evelyn Moro
Computer Systems Specialist, USS Mercutio

Captain Henry Crow
Commanding Officer, USS Mercutio