NationStates Jolt Archive

//OOT: This is a Future-Tech, Open RP, to which you may join without problems, and whenever you see fit. Certainly, the first post will not offer much grasping for entrances, so you may await if you please. Some old sisgardian nations, however, might remember when did this all began, a long, long time ago.

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"Now, as you were saying -Albert Lexington gently left his delicate tea cup over the small table- [i]the unfamiliar signal you received..."

He was interrupted by his companion, a young scientist by the name of Thomas Frost "A probe, a very, very, very old one" He spoke with an incredible speed "So old that we actually had problems to crack into it's system. Yes, we really had problems trying to do that. Trying to break into it's systems. Very hard..."

Lexington stopped his babbling with a hand gesture "Enough with your hellish mumblings. Tell me what you found, and do it concisely, if you may" He was a tad dizzy after the almost half of an hour he had spent hearing to Frost's endless talking.

The young man nodded "We don't know" He said, short and fast.

Lexington raised an eyebrow "You do not know? What is that supposed to mean, mister Frost?"

"Well, we did found information, very interesting information. But we don't know what it means" He seemed a bit nervous speaking to such an important man as Albert Lexington.

"You tell me it is interesting, yet you also tell me that you have not the slightest idea of what it is. How is this possible?"

"Oh, my mistake" He scratched his nose repeatedly "What I meant is that we know what it 'is', but we don't know what it 'means'"

This seemed to interest Lexington "What it 'means'?"

"Yes, yes" Frost's eyes sparkled "It is a signal, a very, very strange one, but a signal nonetheless" He gazed downward "But we can’t decipher it. Our systems are... unable to do so"

"Our computer systems are capable of calculating the chance of a sudden heart strike for every single inhabitant of this nation at the same time, and you tell me you have no manner of understanding a bloody signal?" Apparently, Frost's commentary personally offended Lexington. The man was, after all, FTR's Grand Master of Computronics, and he was the main responsible for the creation of some of the most impressive data-processing systems in the nations, such as the Eugenia supercomputer.

Frost nodded nervously "The signal is way, way, way beyond our capabilities. It is... -he leaned forward- ...backward"

Lexington seemed surprised "What? You can not understand the signal because it is 'backward'? Is this a bloody joke, Frost?!"

The young scientist almost jumped from his chair "No, no, no, that is not what I meant, not at all" He breathed deeply, calming himself down "The signal is backwards in a very, very, very unusual way, like if it ended before it started"

"What?"

"Lord Lexington, the probe we found came not from this universe... -the old man's mouth moved to complain, but Frost spoke first- ...but from the other one"

Lexington had heard before of that term, the 'Other Universe'. It was the colloquial term for 'Tachyonspace' that scientist used. A highly hypothetical place that was supposed to be some sort of opposite twin of this universe, a place where everything traveled faster that light and where time worked inversely. They had sent an experimental probe to that place, supposing there was a place like that to start with, over two centuries ago, but nothing was ever heard from it. The probe was thought destroyed, and the project canceled, which included the construction of a series of systems that could allow safe entry into Tachyonspace. But that supposed the capacity to jump from sub-light to supra-light speeds instantaneously, which no one even knew could be done. Personally, he had never believed such thing as a 'Tachyon', a particle that travels faster that light and that can reach infinite speeds, existed. And he didn't believe in it now.
"Are you telling me this mystery probe came from the hypothetical tachyonic universe, with a signal that 'ends before starting', and that you actually have access to it? Pardon my insolence, but this smells like rotten cabbage"

Frost alarmed "No, no, please, sire, this is the truth! We did not believe it when we first found the probe; we didn't even thought in the possibility. But when we inspected the probe, we discovered that it is the exact same apparatus sent by our own people in 2,607!"

2,607 of the Academician's Reckoning. The date when the Galimdronoth Probe was sent through that massive engine, the T-Catapult, to never be seen again. Lexington still did not believe in tachyons and that babbling, but could not help himself avoid becoming suddenly interested in all this "And you say it has a signal..." Could it be? The same probe? Well, of course it was the same probe, he designed the checking system they used for cracking the apparatus himself, but that still made it hard to believe. Perhaps some silly whippersnapper found the probe somewhere and decided to play a joke on them, but that did not seem likely... although the other option didn't either. However, he suddenly realized Frost had failed to tell him how exactly the probe was found in the first place, so he asked.

"Well, it just suddenly showed up, literally speaking" Responded Frost.

Lexington could not believe what he was hearing. A probe that 'appears'? "How did that come to happen?"

"Under the T-Catapult. The machine, which was stored deep within our storage facilities, suddenly came into activity, just like that"

"Just like that?"

Frost nodded "Yes, just like that, just like that. No power generators, no batteries, no wireless energy transmission, nothing, not even a plug. It came alive by it's own, spat the probe, and went dormant again"

"Mind-blowing! If what you tell me is true, then I have been left speechless" A two hundred years old machine that was never supposed to work as intended, with no energy to rely upon, had functioned all of the sudden and magically returned a machine thought destroyed, from a place that was believed not to exist at all. As he said, mind-blowing.

"If, if, if you wish, I can take you to the probe, Lord Lexington" Gently offered Frost.

Lexington soundes almost offended "Of course you will take me to it, swiftly"

"This goes... here. And this goes... over here" James Sawyer, one of the scientists who have been conducting -or trying to conduct- studies on the recently recovered Galimdronoth Probe, walked around the three-feet wide object, while connecting cables here and sensors there. They had been having so much difficulty cracking into the probe's ancient system that this seemed more like archaeology than computing sciences.

When he was done, the probe seemed like a scruffy-haired head, full of pulsating lines that grew from its surface and traveled toward a series of engines in the roof. The humming sound in the room was loud and repetitive.

A second scientist walked close to him "So, you think it will work this time?"

Sawyer arched an eyebrow "Are you kidding? I am only doing this to impress those people up there and make them thing we know what we're doing" He made a head gesture toward the windowed platform at the top of the hall, where two men -Lexington and Frost- watched them. Frost seemed to be explaining something to the old man.

The second scientist walked close to the probe and shook his head "I wonder if we will ever manage to know why this thing came back, and where it went, in the first place"

"Step back, Norton. We will initiate the process" Warned Sawyer, as he walked toward a control panel "In three, two, o..."

"Wait!" Norton shouted, making gestures for Sawyer to stop the process "Look!"

He pointed at the probe, which at first seemed completely normal. After a couple of seconds, however, a faint glow began to emit from all around it, getting stronger and stronger, until the whole artifact glowed like a miniature blue sun. A barely hearable sound, like that made by crystal bells, emanated from the probe.

"It never did this before" Commented Norton "Did it?"

Sawyer nodded "Never"

"What is it?" Asked Norton "It seems to be... glowing"

"Yes, I certainly can see that" He walked a few steps closer to the probe "Do you feel that?" He extended his hand closer "It is... cold, very cold"

Norton hesitated for a moment, but then proceeded to get closer "Hmm, yes, you're right. It is quite cold, like the inside of a refrigerator"

"What do you think is making th...?"

Sawer's words were suddenly interrupted by a massive burst of blue light, that grew like an explosion from the probe. A second later, the probe was getting dimmer, and the whole room was covered in thick, cold ice. The figures of both scientists stood like silent statues, stuck in a pose so natural that even the finest sculptor would get impressed. Sawer's last word was still half way in his mouth. The sound of crystal bells slowly went away, and the probe became once again opaque, standing as the only thing not frozen in that room. In the platform above, Lexington and Frost stood in silent awe.