The Nature of the Universe
Posted on November 5th, 2004 by Adam Drake

The ship shuddered as the biomass grabbed a hold of the USS Constitution. Engineering klaxons sounded immediately as the structural integrity began to skyrocket into dangerous levels. Obscenities circled the crew as it turned into an all out tug-of-war between the Starfleet crew and the space-dwelling life form.

“Have they reversed engines?”

Marine Captain Michael Jeddin nodded from his console, “Yes, Major, they’re working on rerouting all the power they can to the engines. I’ve opened as much of the auxiliary units as I can while still holding onto our structural integrity.”

“Excellent.”

“Not quite, sir.”

Adam’s head lashed around as he was heading for his office, “what?”

Jeddin made a fledgling motion to the screen and its contents. “The structural integrity levels on the lower decks are failing because the biomass is starting to take them under. From our calculations it is already eating into deck twenty-three.”

Moving to the console, Adam’s eyes quickly perused the findings and then he cursed under his breath. Whether it was the USS Atlantis or the USS Constitution, he could never seem to find a ship that would be just that – a ship. It had to be a beacon for Orion Pirates or a tasty late-night snack for some hunk of gelatin floating in space. One thing was certain, though, he was pissed. “Emergency forcefields?”

“It’s going through it as if they were nothing. The properties of this thing are unlike anything I’ve ever seen and I would expect science is boggled as well.” Jeddin ran a weary hand across the back of his neck, “I can’t think of anything to keep this thing from spreading.”

“I’m sure that the bridge crew is running over possibilities now, but I think that if we drop a low-level magnacite field on top of it then it shouldn’t spread.” Adam’s mind was racing with ideas of how to stop the thing from eating the ship. “We could reconfigure the forcefield generators on the lower decks to emit it.”

Michael’s eyes looked up at him, “Twenty-three went under, sir. Deck twenty-two is starting evacuation procedures and are being relocated to the saucer section.”

“Blackthorne’s going to separate and try and get away. Smart, but I don’t plan on losing this half of the ship to that thing. I never lost an encampment during the War and I sure as hell am not going to lose this ship to a ball of jelly.” Adam grabbed a toolkit and hollered over his shoulder as he parted the large durasteel doors of Engineering, “Michael, grab Alex and let’s go.”

Alex, who had been sitting patiently watching the dilithium power levels fluctuate due to the strain of the biomass, brightened and grabbed a kit herself and followed Jeddin out the door. “It’s about time. My specialities are required?”

Stepping into the turbolift, Adam smiled, “You can run fast, Alex, we may have to get off deck twenty-one in a heck of a hurry.” He wasn’t exaggerating the situation. Two decks were down and he was certain it wasn’t going to stop after that. If something happened the trio of engineers were going to need to get off deck twenty-one within seconds. “Deck twenty-one.”

The computer beeped oddly, “Gravitational stabilizers on this turbolift have gone offline.”

“Reason?”

“Biochemical interference with the output modules.” The computer’s dry voice responded without fail. If Adam didn’t know any better, and was a little less stressed, he would say that the computer’s response at that moment was almost cocky and taunting. Almost like ‘you’re screwed and I already know it.’

Pushing his way through Alex and Michael, he turned and stepped into the Jefferies tube junction room. Kicking open the ladder door that descended to the lower decks, Adam slung his pack over his shoulder. “Come on, we have some ground to cover. We’ll start on twenty and then work our way up.”

Alex and Jeddin, who probably weren’t fond of the idea, nodded absently and joined Adam on the ladder. The trio climbed in synch down the ladder. There was an awkward silence between them, but given the circumstances Adam figured that conversation was less irrelevant than saving the ship. The two just didn’t match up when weighed together. And, so, the group descended into the deeper bowels of the ship in complete quiet.

Adam dropped off the ladder after climbing down four decks and emerged out into the corridor. Looking both ways, Adam didn’t hear any screams of terror, but figured that the lower decks below engineering had probably already been evacuated. “All right, we probably don’t have much time,” Adam said as he flipped his tricorder to the active position, “it’ll overtake this deck in almost six minutes. Move. I’ll take the delta processors and you two take beta and gamma.”

Fanning out, Adam lost sight of Jeddin and Alex down opposite hallways. Clamoring to remove the deck plating under which he would find the processors, Adam’s mind wandered to the happenings above him. He had come from a place where people would succumb to widespread panic and hysteria in the wake of approaching doom. Starfleet’s finest? Right.

Running into problems with the conversion ratios, Adam clicked his combadge, “Drake to Jeddin.”

“Go ahead.”

“What are your conversion ratios for the biomatter displacement?” His hands fidgeted almost nervously with the controls of the forcefield generator.

There was a long pause, “I don’t know, I haven’t figured it out yet. I called Alex just a minute ago and she was having the same problem. It appears, at least on our scans, that the levels of biogenic compounds are different in places. We’d have to predict and calculate an entire field to protect the Constitution.” Uncertainty rang in his voice.

Adam shook his head, “We don’t have time for that.”

“Alex to Adam and Michael,” Alex’s communique pierced through their contemplation, “I have a breach. Down the hall in section 22 Delta. It would seem that not only is our biomass punctual, he or she prefers to be ahead of the game.”

“Let’s go, both of you back here,” Adam ordered as he closed up his tricorder and stuffed it back into his engineer’s work kit. Slinging it over his shoulder, Adam waited by the door. Jeddin ran around the corner with his kit dangling chaotically behind him. Pushing him up the ladder, Adam’s eyes drifted back for Alex.

Time passed and Michael had already scampered back up to deck eighteen. Alex still was nowhere to be found. Adam’s eyes began to search frantically down both corridors. He was screaming internally for her because he wanted to get off the deck as fast as possible.

Her blonde hair rushed around a corner as she sprinted into the junction room. “Thanks for waiting. This thing is moving quickly,” her words were cut off by an explosion of a collapsed bulkhead down the hall. The lights flickered maniacally and sparks were the only illumination to death’s destruction. “Time to move.”

Adam followed her up the ladder and dropped out onto deck eighteen. Michael was there waiting for him, “The Admiral has evacuated everyone up to deck sixteen and ordered that all non-engineering personnel vacate the engine room.”

It wasn’t surprising, but he knew that the engineering staff wouldn’t be happy with having to remain. It was in the Starfleet protocols, however, that engineers had to hang out to monitor the power to the escape pods in the event they were launched. But, in the event that the saucer section was detached, he didn’t want to be left behind.

“This forcefield idea, Adam, isn’t going to work.” Alex finished his thought for him.

He nodded his consensus, “Agreed.”

“My idea would be to get back to engineering and wait for Blackthorne’s command to separate the saucer section from the star drive section.” Jeddin looked uncertain about his idea, “I don’t want to abandon Engineering more than the next person, but it may be called for.”

Alex interrupted, “Engineering, let’s go.”

Adam and Michael exchanged smiles – often lost in times of battle or great stress – and followed her up the ladder to deck sixteen. She had a natural leading ability, Adam thought, but it was her lack of morals and ethics that left him craving more. Other than that, she was mighty fine woman. “Yes ma’am.”

When they erupted into the engine room, a skeleton crew was left. Three of them to be exact. An ensign, who was obviously new to the job, ran over to him. “The Admiral has ordered the separation of the saucer section. We need to get to deck ten or higher.” And, with that, he and the others took off.

“The warp core isn’t going to last if we get taken over by the biomass.”

“I concur. Computer, seal Main Engineering with a level ten forcefield. Authorization Drake Sierra One Nine Alpha Seven.” The computer toned out an acknowledgment as the troika ran into the corridor and into the Jefferie’s tube access port. “Enable.” In the back of his mind he realized that it probably wouldn’t do much of anything, but anything at the current moment would help.

After traveling up six decks, and picking up fledgling crewmembers along the way, Adam reflected on his duty and his time attempting to save the Constitution. It was such a shame to say goodbye, and he knew that they’d be saying goodbye, to the good ship, but such is life and you roll with the punches. They would build another one, and it would have all the new upgrades that the current one wasn’t fitted with. It was the nature of the universe. Yes, Adam thought, it wasn’t a total loss.

After the last person emerged onto deck ten, the separation sequence began. Within mere moments of the Constitution’s separation, it shuddered under the pressure of another tentacle. People were swearing up a storm again, but this time it brought a smile to his face rather than a frown. “All right, what now?”

“All hands, abandon ship.”

Adam packed thirteen people into the escape before initiating the launch sequence. The pod detached and drifted away from the soon-to-be lifeless Constitution. Though his tour of duty onboard was short-lived, he was happy he had the time to get to know her. The quirks of Starfleet’s newest weapon and he had the privilege of looking at her up close.

The small ships engaged engines and moved away just as the Constitution lit up. White fragments were catapulted away and blue and red lights brightened the blackness of space. Then there was an unworldly silence as the people in the escape pod thanked whatever God they believed in for getting them out alive.

He thanked Vice Admiral Blackthorne.

Since the Dominion War, and during all the bloodshed that he lived through. After all the people that he saw get slaughtered, after all the friends he covered with those white sheets of infamy, after all the worthless rocks that he was transported from where anarchy ruled, Adam came to the conclusion that faith was worthless. That was the nature of the universe: death.

There were no Gods.