Researching the Artifact
Posted on Thu May 4, 2017 @ 11:12am by Lieutenant Commander Kelani Tetanal & Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Lieutenant Dalton McNamara
Mission:
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Location: Science lab 3, Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 10 || 1200 Hours
Kelani had transferred the ancient probe/satellite to Science lab 3 in order to begin her research. The device was an enigma--sitting silently its information just beyond reach.
Tapping her badge, she called, "Tetanal to Captain Aravan"
=^=Aravan here.=^=
"My team and I have determined that the artifact that was retrieved is emitting no energy or radiation harmful to the ship our her personnel. We are beginning our additional researches, attempting to download the information gathered."
=^=Thank you. Let Commander Weisz know when you have it downloaded and interpreted if necessary=^=
"Yes, sir. I will keep you apprised of our progress."
A moment later, her Assistant Chief came in and gave a nod. "What do we have here, Lieutenant?" he asked.
"An extremely old information gathering device, I believe,". Kelani replied. This promises to be an intriguing puzzle to solve."
McNamara went to the holographic console and initiated a sensor sweep of it and ran it through the records, a sound of surprise coming from him. "This isn't for gathering information, Lieutenant," he said. "This was made to provide information. It's an ancient Earth first contact probe."
Surprise battled with astonishment in Kelani's mind. "I have read of these devices, but the prospect of examining such an artifact is incredibly intriguing."
"I have to agree," McNamara said as he checked the sensors. "This thing dates back to the 1990's."
Kelani's eyebrows shot up. "Then it is even more amazing that it is still intact, I believe."
Turning to her team, she said, "Let's see what secrets this artifact holds."
Douglas was not part of the science team. Nor was he a scientist of any kind. However, he watched the thing carefully, wary of anything that seemed too innocent. Though, if he was honest with himself, he did have to confess a bit of curiosity.
McNamara worked with the team getting the casing off of it and once that was done, a black box with a powerful but small transmitter was seen in the casing. "Wow," he said. "Talk about primitive. This is the whole thing? Let's get that black box out and see what's inside that they apparently wanted everyone to know."
Kelani cleared an area to place the black box, then began to examine it.
"There are strange ports on this device--we must make some adaptations so that we are able to view the information held within."
McNamara ran his tricorder over it and then went to the holographic terminal and linked it. He looked the information over and started a search. "It'll be a minute, Lieutenant," he said. "It seems these things use something called solid-state memory boards. Here we go..." he paused to look at the information.
"Solid-state recorders are considered much more reliable than their magnetic-tape counterparts. Solid state uses stacked arrays of memory chips, so they don't have moving parts. With no moving parts, there are fewer maintenance issues and a decreased chance of something breaking during a crash."
"Data from both the CVR and FDR is stored on stacked memory boards inside the crash-survivable memory unit (CSMU). The memory boards have enough digital storage space to accommodate two hours of audio data for CVRs and 25 hours of flight data for FDRs."
"Black boxes are powered by one of two power generators that draw their power from the plane's engines. One generator is a 28-volt DC power source, and the other is a 115-volt, 400-hertz (Hz) AC power source," McNamara finished. "We're going to need a DC or AC power source to access this information."
"Hmmm. If I remember correctly, one of the methods for producing power of this type was with a turbine. Perhaps I can fabricate one that will provide the necessary power."
Douglas eyed the black box. Goddess, now I feel old. He remembered being on Earth in the late 1980s, early 1990s. He had some old bits of technology kept as nostalgia from those days; perhaps one of them could be useful. "How much power do you need for this? In layman's terms." he asked.
"Judging by the size of this device, I would believe not a great deal, but the supply must be uninterrupted."
Douglas frowned. "I have a few pieces of old twentieth century tech I kept for nostalgia. If any of it can help, you can use it." he offered. He handed over a PADD that contained a list of small tech items that had their own power sources.
McNamara looked at both of the two officers as they talked and suppressed a blink at the suggestions they were tossing back and forth. "Why don't we just use the industrial replicator to make generator capable of one or the other to power it up?" he suggested.
Douglas frowned, taking on an expression of slight embarrassment. Properly chastised, he put his PADD back in his pocket. "Good point. Sorry." He then fell silent and merely watched, ready should something go wonky and his skills be needed.
"There's no need to apologize, Lieutenant," McNamara said. "However, such precious items from that period of time are far too valuable historically speaking to use for something like this."
"Very true." Douglas agreed. "I only kept them for nostalgia, but you are quite correct about their intrinsic historical value. Thank you."
"I agree,". Kelani said. " If you possess artifacts from that time, you have treasures to be preserved. It is amazingly generous of you to offer them in this situation."
"If I had them, I'd put them on display," McNamara said. "If you would help me get the generators from the industrial replicator Lieutenant Mallory, I'd appreciate it."
Douglas smiled just a bit sheepishly. "I don't have them on display, but I do have them preserved in air-tight, elements-proof containers." he admitted. At the request for help getting the power supply from the industrial replicators, he nodded and followed the science officer. They were right, and he felt a little foolish now for having offered the devices. But he pushed it aside, pulled his well-trained facade into place, and got on with the duty at hand.
Kelani watched the two men leave, then returned to her scanners, analyzing the exterior elements of the device as well as the no functional propulsion units.
A smile stole across her face, disappearing the next moment.
~That was quite a noble, unselfish offer that Lieutenant Mallory made.~she thought.
She continued her studies while she waited for the men to return.
Once they were in the industrial replicator rooms, McNamara headed over to them. "Computer, I need a compact generator capable of putting out a 28-volt DC power source, and another for a 115-volt, 400-hertz AC power source."
He looked at Mallory. "The closest I've come to something like that is having a rock from something called the Berlin Wall. It's been in my family for a few hundred years."
"That's literally a piece of history." Douglas said. "I remember when they tore that wall down." A moment's hesitation, and he chuckled at his own age. "Hell, I was around when they built it. Damn, now I feel old." he joked. In truth, he was much older than that, but he didn't really feel old most of the time. His lovely wife saw to that.
"How old are you?" McNamara asked as he lifted the first two foot by two foot generator off the industrial replicator and set it aside. "If you don't mind me asking, Lieutenant."
Douglas chuckled a bit. "I don't mind at all. But if I answered that, you'd likely think I was either pulling your chain or barking mad."
"With all due respect, Lieutenant, you just told you were around when they built the Berlin Wall. I have seen many things in my time in space and personally know a six hundred year old El-Aurian, so I doubt I'll view you that way."
Douglas was not offended; he shrugged lightly. "All right. I am one thousand and thirty four."
At that time, the second compact generator appeared and McNamara gave an impressive whistle. "You don't look a day past your thirties, Lieutenant. Here I am forty years old and losing my hair. I envy you. Could you get the second generator, please?" He bent and picked up the first one.
Douglas smiled and picked up the second generator as requested. "Thank you for the compliment on my appearance' we Marai tend to look far younger than we are. Would you believe that my mother doesn't look any older than I do really?" He paused to adjust the generator in his hands. "And I wouldn't worry too much. I've known people who lost their hair much younger than you."
Dalton looked at Mallory in a bit of disbelief, then he chuckled as he headed for the exit. "Some people just have the right genetics. The rest of us get to shine our heads and blind them with our baldness."
Douglas followed McNamara out, chuckling with him. He liked people who, like himself and his family, were not afraid to poke fun at themselves. "And me without my shades. Damn." he joked as they walked.
"Here I thought Security was ready for everything," McNamara quipped as they headed back into Science with the generators. "Lieutenant Tetanal, we have the generators."
Douglas chuckled again. He might have said more, but the other man changed the subject, and Douglas was not against the redirect back to what they were supposed to be doing. Time for fun was over for the moment; there would be other opportunities, though, he was sure.
Kelani turned at McNamara's call. "Excellent. I have prepared the black box to receive them."
She watched as the two men set up the two devices, then moved to the black box, examining first it, then the two generators.
"i fear we shall have only one chance-- there is no room for error."
Once he got the computer's instructions on how, McNamara hooked the generators up. "Which one do you want to try, Lieutenant?" he asked Tetanal.
Kelani thought for a moment. "If memory serves, AC was most commonly used during that time period. We will try that one first."
She thought very privately ~I hope this device is not damaged in this attempt...it is quite old and therefore possibly fragile.~
McNamara took a moment to study the schematics on the holographic display, then got the proper connectors and handed them to Kelani. "Here you go, Lieutenant," he said. "It should be all ready."
Kelani took the connectors and turned to the device. After another examination of the connecting apparatus, she attached the connectors. After a moment's pause, she searched for the activation key.
"It appears to be powering up....". She said
McNamara held his breath. "During that time period, they mainly broadcasted in digital signals, so we may need to connect it to our computer to get anything. Fortunately, we have the connections for that. Do you want me to do that, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, if you please. I wish to monitor the artifact closely,". Kelani replied. " If it becomes apparent that I chose the wrong frequency, hopefully I can disconnect it before the artifact is damaged."
McNamara made the connection to the main computer and held his breath. The artifact began to slowly power up as current from the generator flowed through ancient connections to the solid state drives in the black box. A low hum began to play and an ancient dialect of English came from the speakers.
"Greeting from the people of Earth, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight. We are from the third planet in the Sol System and this is our message of peace." The message began to repeat in every major language of Earth and images, music files, visual files of art, humans of every nationality and more began to upload to the computer and was displayed on the holographic interface once the computer translated them.
As he listened to the recording, Douglas found himself remembering things long past and people long gone. In 1998, his eldest son Aidan was only eight years old, only six years before his accident. His second wife, Dekotah was still alive, and they spent part of their time on Earth to give their children knowledge of that part of their mother's heritage.
Shaking himself from his memory, Douglas approached the probe they had removed the black box from and looked over its exterior for any markings that would indicate which probe it was. Earth had sent out several in those years. Not that it truly mattered except that knowing its name would allow him to look it up in the Federation's historical database to see what information existed on it. As Security, he needed every scrap of information he could get.
Whatever marking had been on the exterior had long since been worn off through countless hits by space debris except for the remnants of red and white stripes and the letter A above it. The name of the probe itself was long gone and would require a spectrographic analysis it on a molecular level to see what had been on the exterior.
What was left of the emblem reminded Douglas of the emblems emblazoned on spacecraft belonging to the United States around that time, a large "U.S.A." above a set of wavy red-and-white stripes meant to represent their flag. He really wanted more information, though. He glanced at Lieutenant Tetanal. "Lieutenant, is there a way to find out what craft this was?" he asked.
Leaving McNamara to monitor the black box, Kelani moved to the ancient satellite, a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Perhaps," She said slowly. "I can scan this craft and compare those results with the historical records of the time." She paused for a moment, then continued, "And perhaps the composition of the primary fuel source will become apparent. It cannot have had a large amount of fuel aboard, thus the need for the solar panels."
"Indeed." Douglas stared at the craft again. "Could we see what was here by running a spectrographic analysis of its exterior?"
Kelani smiled at Mallory's observations, telling him, "Many times, the best answers are found by those who do not consider themselves to have opinions or observations that matter."
She nodded at Mallory's question , "We most certainly can. It will be good to discover that. Again, if memory serves, each country had their own design and their own blend of fuel......"
So saying, she began the scan, Mallory watching, Kelani initiated the scans
As the scan results appeared, Kelani smiled appreciatively, "Quite ingenuous. The fuel used was a low burning, high yield type of fuel. They undoubtedly did not use it constantly--very probably in preprogrammed bursts--or as needed as determined by their rather primitive sensory equipment. This was a very efficient method of propulsion."
She frowned then, asking, "Did you have another question, Lieutenant? I became so absorbed in the fuel analysis that I cannot remember,". She admitted, abashed.
Douglas shook his head. "I had asked what was printed on the side of the craft, not about the fuel." he corrected with a kind smile.
"That should be easy to determine," Kelani replied with a smile. "I shall run spectrographic analysis as well as other scans. It should not take very long."
Douglas nodded and stood back out of her way.
The type of satellite was determined to be a Beta class robotic class probe named Voyager IV from the spectrographic analysis as well as the types of fuel used and other questions they had. While they were running the scans, a digital handshake occurred between the recordings on the black box and the ship's computer and a language matrix was interpreted and used. From there, a program was compiled and launched, all without setting off a single alarm or leaving a trace of itself in the system.
Kelani smiled as she straightened from the scanner she had been using. "I have some answers for you, Lieutenant,". She said. " This particular device--satellite?--was a Beta class robotic probe named Voyager IV. I am afraid I am still uncertain about its point of origin. Is this helpful to you?"
Douglas thought about that for a moment. "Indeed it is. I believe that one belonged to the United States of America, one of the countries the world was divided into at that time. I don't really know anything else about it, but its name confirmed my thoughts when I noticed that." He pointed to the remnants of the marking on the probe's side. "I may not be a Scientist, but it is fascinating nonetheless. Thank you for sharing your findings even though my only function here was supposed to be making sure there was no threat."
Kelani smiled, saying, "It was my pleasure to help. You may have been here merely as protection, but your questions were quite valid and relevant.". She gave a soft chuckle, continuing, "As a wise man told me some years ago, all questions are valuable."
Douglas nodded. "My mother taught me that is how we learn." He then stepped back and let her get on with her study of the artifact.
McNamara looked at Tetanal. "Now to put all of this together and go show the Captain and Exec?" he asked her.
"Exactly, Mr. McNamara," Kelani rep!ied. "We have a great deal of information to organize, so let's begin.".
So saying, Kelani led the way to an empty worktable near the back of the lab.
