Portents of Portia

Posted on Fri Feb 10th, 2023 @ 12:04am by The Narrator & Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci & Lieutenant Commander Meilin Jiang

Mission: S2:4: If Not Like A Mirror
Location: Engineering Lab 3, Hazardous Material, Deck 278
Timeline: MD-3 13.30

The engineering drone hovered in the containment field. Vaguely waspish in appearance, with six tool-tipped mechanical graspers festooned about its thorax, and its abdomen filled with an acne of reaction control thrusters and fuel pods, it looked like the sort of thing that should be contained behind a layered assortment of forcefields.

But the nondescript block of material held in its two fore grippers was the real reason for caution. It looked like part of a load-bearing beam, the sort you couldn't walk three feet without having to duck in the engineering deck. Painted a matt black, either end of the beam was a glossy silver colour where it had been cut from its home. But if you looked closely, the edges of the glossy silver cuts were furred with bifurcating growths, like moss or lichen.

Portia. It might be a solid block of Tritanium B, but the molecular machines of the Portia nanotech were impregnated throughout its matrix. And judging by even the mild reaction to being cut away, the layered safety barriers really did seem like the barest amount of caution.

"Secondary field stabilisation check: complete. All field safety checks have been completed at this time," the computer chimed happily.

If Meilin were prone to anxiety, this would be the perfect time for it to come upon her. As it was, she had the calm serenity of a fatalist despite the possibility of unnatural demise before them.

"Ready to initiate the preliminary stage on your mark," she said coolly to Mara. It was, after all, a feat of engineering. The science role at this point was to advise and assist.

Mara shrugged. There seemed to be no reason to prolong this. They had taken as many precautions as they could think of and there was nothing else left for it. "Mark," she said simply.

On that command emitter plates slowly rose from the floor, pressing against the containment sphere.

"Program Template Test 1 Alpha, commencing," the computer intoned. The block of cut material in the drones manipulators suddenly seemed to fritz like a holographic illusion, becoming a fractal geometric shape before finally snapping into a more recognisable form: that was a structural support beam, but this one braced at a T junction. "Test 1 Alpha complete. Object fidelity at 89%."

"Initiating stress tests," Meilin said. "50 petahertz burst away." It was the equivalent to a weaker x-ray.

"So much so soon?" teased Mara in feigned shock.

Meilin shot Mara a cross look, but her lips twitched in a smirk. "While it would be harmful to any of us, it is only a drip compared to what the material would receive if successfully compiled and put into position. If it can't handle an x-ray, then we're back to the proverbial drawing board."

“Okay, fair enough,” admitted Mara with a wave of her hand.

The beam remained suspended in the containment field, sensor readings detecting the spike in relatively soft X-ray bursts. Nothing happened externally, but the sensor readings did show the internal crystalline matrix of the beam's construction was shifting slightly. The fidelity index went up to 95% as a result, the Portia nano machines carefully adapted their new configuration into something able to weather the radiation without ill effect.

“They’re compensating,” commented Mara almost dryly. “Kinda makes me wonder how fast they can do that under more extreme conditions.”

"Well, that's promising," Meilin said. "Preparing gamma burst. This will be the moment of truth."

"Test Alpha 2 initiating. Gamma-ray burst in 3...2...1." The computer intoned emotionlessly. The lights in the control room didn't change, there was no dramatic dimming of any of the electrics. But something did happen within the containment chamber. Because one moment there was a repair drone holding an excised piece of metal in its claws, and the next the containment bubble had something else within it.

Spherical in shape, a silvery orb hovered where the drone and sample had once been. Sensors were screaming in the booth that there was nothing there, and yet the combined mass of drone and sample within the containment bubble hadn't changed.

"Test Alpha-2 complete. Object fidelity at 0.5%. Multiple errors in remote sensing. Spectrographic and radar imaging are scattered."

Meilin's mouth tightened into a thin line. "That is not ideal..." She looked at Mara. "Can you reconfigure the scans to compensate?"

“Already working on it,” replied Mara as she punched several buttons. “Got anything yet?” she asked, still punching buttons.

"Rendering," Meilin said. "Allegedly. So far, the sensors can't seem to agree with one another."

“Hm,” replied Mara, frowning at the console. “Let me try something,” she added, diving underneath. A few seconds later, a panel emerged and was tossed gently aside as Mara began checking isolinear chips and gel packs. She swapped a couple of chips and then popped back up to punch a few more buttons. "It occurs to me that we could just place a beacon broadcasting the station ID next to the false station," she added, still working. "But, then we have no idea what our enemies' sensors are like. Anything yet?" she asked.

“Object Fidelity 0.02%. Sensor scattering effect is 99% effective. Objects mass has been converted into a carbon lattice with a optical throughput rating of [error!@].”

So not what they wanted…but a good sensor hiding material. Ands given the Concordances regressive technology, adapting what they conquered and making do with less, a mass with the right sensor shadow might do it.

“This might just work,” mused Mara, still frowning at the screen. “I’d like something more concrete, but, as it were…” she trailed off pointlessly.

"Concrete would be a dead giveaway." Meilin gave Mara a teasing smirk. "For our purposes, I think this will last as long as it must."

The joke took half a moment to register, but then Mara rolled her eyes. “Very funny,” she replied. “But yes, it should work.”

The work following that was rather tedious and consisted of them adjusting he test parameters and recording the results. They worked in silence for a bit, only speaking when increasing the radiation output or changing the programming on the nanobots. Eventually, the tedium became too much for Mara. “Did I ever tell you about Bela?” she asked Meilin, her mind drifting to three nights ago.

"I don't believe so," Meilin said as she continued to monitor the readouts from the computer. "Is that a furry friend for Ravioli?"

Mara grinned, making another adjustment on her console. "No," she replied. "Well, yes. Halfway, anyway. Minus the furry part. Sometimes, I think he likes Ravioli more than me." She grinned again. "He and I dated when I was assigned to the Odysseus. But then I was assigned to the Palatine and he was assigned to... I can't remember. Neither of us was willing to give up our careers, so we called it quits."

"Now that you mention him, I do think I recall a previous mention," Meilin said before glibly adding, "in the long list of your former boyfriends." Her mouth formed a faint teasing smirk.

“Long list!” repeated Mara with a bark of laughter. “Remi and Bela. That’s a long list?”

"And Spires," Meilin cut in. "And whoever you met at your jazz performance. I can't recall his name either."

“Christoph wasn’t a boyfriend,” replied Mara. “He was a one-night stand that should never have happened. He’s such a nice guy, too. A little drab personality wise, but to be honest, that’s really not an issue. Anyway, never mind that.” She double checked the console she had been working to make sure everything was still fine and then turned to face her friend. “Bela showed up in my office a couple days ago,” she said.

"Never mind the one-night stands because they don't count as boyfriends or because they should be counted as boyfriends?" Meilin asked, looking at Mara with a challenging arch of her eyebrow. She rolled her eyes and went back to monitoring the readout data. "So what did Bela want?"

“Help with his ship,” answered Mara, turning back to her console to continue monitoring the tests. “He’s captain of one of the defiants that patrol the area. Hopefully we’ve got it sorted, but only time will tell.” She hesitated a moment. “We also had dinner,” she admitted.

"And dessert," Meilin subtly suggested.

Mara couldn’t stop the mischievous grin that spread across her face. “Of course,” she replied. “It’s not as if we hadn’t done it before, after all.”

"Mmmhmmm..." Meilin didn't bother fighting back the knowing smirk. It wasn't gloating when it was the simple truth.

“Anyway,” replied Mara. “We decided to give it another go. He’s usually in dock every couple of weeks, so it could work. If we both want it to.”

"Have you ever tried searching for peace and satisfaction from within?" Meilin asked.

“Meilin, when the universe drops the man you regret leaving into your lap, you don’t turn your nose up at him,” Mara replied seriously.

At first Meilin said nothing, but after a moment, she said, "Of course. The universe. Right into your lap."

“Are you telling me that if a certain Carcosian Commander turned up in your office and wanted to have dinner and dessert, you’d pass?” Mara teased.

Meilin stifled a harrumph. "Absolutely I would," she said tersely. "That was an example of flowing through adversity on the tide of inner peace."

“You seem to be operating on the assumption that I’m looking for happiness,” replied Mara. “I was happy before I met Bela. And to be honest, I’m pretty sure Spires was the rebound guy. I think I was trying to forget Bela. He’s everything Bela isn’t and nothing that he is. Regardless, I can be at peace without Bela. I’m just glad I don’t have to.”

"If I pointed out all the shifting goalposts in everything you just said, would it matter?" Meilin dropped the teasing act and gave a sincere smile. "I'm happy that you're happy, Mara. I hope it lasts."

“Thanks Meilin,” replied Mara. “I hope so, too. And if it’s meant to, it will.”

Meilin's smile broadened. "Why, Mara, if I didn't know better, I would think you were appealing to wu wei."

“I know that hanging out with you for as long as I have means that I should know what that means, but I really don’t,” answered Mara.

"Sometimes it's better that way," Meilin mused aloud. "Well, I think we can report to Captain Ingram that our initial findings are more than promising. What do you think?"

“Yeah, I think we’ve got as much as we’re going to get this time around,” agreed Mara.