ILLUMINARRPG: (4-2055) Drs. Gaillus Penn and Teller, a1/O CMDR Dieter Gregory, Lt Tegian Pex

[Al Muir]

Mission:  For Honor

Day: 04

Stardate: 2446.04.28


(USS Illuminar - Deck 6 - Laboratory of Drs. Gaillus Penn and Teller - Drs. Gaillus Penn and Teller, a1/O CMDR Dieter Gregory - 2055)


As Gregory entered the laboratory, he took in the sights, not that he could be surprised by anything these two eccentric, but brilliant scientists could do.


On one side of the room, the Tamarian, Teller was lounging in a chair, a glass with a bright reddish pink liquid in his hand.  He was focused on watching something on the screen in front of him.  Gregory realized it was equations.


Penn had been looking at the results of his experiment with regeneration of neural tissue over time displacement.  The idea of completely regenerating limbs and reconstructing neural damage had been his constant internal chatter for the last weeks.  If only he could get a live volunteer to remove a limb so that he could attempt to regrow it.  Alas, nobody was willing.


Gregory cleared his throat, “Good evening Gentlemen,” he began.  “I am in need of your unique skills and perceptions to help solve a problem.”


Teller looked up, “Clayton, the general,” he said, “Visiting Hot Lips.”  Standing up, he took a glass and filled it from a pitcher.  This was an electric blue color.  Offering it to Gregory, he said “Temba, his arms wide.”


Gregory had been studying his Tamarian, well as best any human could.  Taking the glass, he sniffed it, and took a polite sip before putting it down.  “Thank you,” he replied.  “Perhaps later, when I am off duty,” he added.  The drink was very strong, which was not unexpected.


“Let me wait till our new chief engineer comes over, so we can brief you both together.”


Penn stopped what he was doing and moved over to Gregory and Teller on the other side of the room.  “Patience is a virtue, Commander.  One required for true scientific discovery.”  He looked at him quizzically.  “Is your drink all right?  I could whip up a fresh batch.”


“Not at all, good Doctor.  It is a bit strong for me at the moment, since the Captain is planet side, and we have suffered an attack, I must keep my wits about me.  Another time,” he said with a smile.


Tegian stopped at the entrance to the lab.  “Permission to enter, Doctors?” he asked, not wishing to interrupt or assume that he could just stride into their personal space.


Penn laughed at the politeness of the request.  This was the bahamas.  Manners were appreciated but since the warning indicator was not turned on, anyone could enter.


“Mr. Pex,” he cried out jovially, and went to the door to shake his hand.  He snapped his fingers at Teller, indicating another glass of the electric blue drink.  “Please, come in.”


He took the CEO’s arm and pulled him towards the growing group.


Teller nodded, and poured a glass for the new arrival.  “Temba,” he said, holding the glass out to Tegian.


“Thank you, Doctor Teller.”  He eyed the glass, suspiciously, but took it.  “I anticipate that if I drink this without a hearty meal, after the shift I have just had, that I will be drunk very quickly.  You two concoct a very potent alcohol.  Do you have a name for this?”  He took a small sip, to be polite and set it down on a table, standing next to it.


Penn laughed and looked at Teller, “Dr. Jekyll, after the potion.  Bluto Blutarsky at the toga party.”


Teller’s laugh filled the room.  “The cat, under the table.  Talking hockey,” he replied.


Gregory took a lab stool and sat down.  “What I have to say and what I need to ask you is highly confidential,  I am sure I can trust your discretion,”


“We are the very paragon of discretion,” Penn said.  Teller choked back a laugh, and Penn nudged him.  “Besides, let’s be honest, who’d understand us if we spoke about it?”


“I knew as much, but had to say that,” he shrugged. “Now to the matter at hand.  It turned out that during the attack on the ship, some of the fire suppression systems didn’t function. Mr. Weston and Ms. Pel discovered a connection as to how the suppression system was shut off, and a suggestion as to who may have done the deed.  Mr. Pex here had one of his engineers independently, and I believe without knowledge of what Mr. Weston had found, has generated the same data.”


Gregory handed over a PADD. “This is the information that was generated by the two groups.  My question is, can we be sure that the commands came from that terminal, or was that spoofed as well.  I am asking you two, as I suspect you have a unique perspective on solving such a problem, different from the other two methods.”


Turning to the chief engineer, “Anything to add Mr. Pex?”


“It’s just that given the nature of the work, the fact that the person that engaged in the sabotage didn’t hide their tracks better is suspicious to me,” replied Tegian.  “Or perhaps that’s the point.”


Penn crossed his arms and rocked back and forth from his heels to his toes, “Indeed.  Very interesting.  Holmes to Watson at Baker street.”


Teller took the PADD and scanned the information before handing it to his partner.  “David Copperfield.  When the statue vanished,” he said, turning to his keyboard.


“Heisenberg,Schrodinger and Einstein in the car.  The police officer stopping the car,” he said as the data was uploaded.

Turning to Ensign Pex, “Benioff on the Turning machine.  Chuang, Gershenfeld and Kubinec on qubit computation.”


He sat back from the keyboard and took a drink from his glass. A spider appeared on the screen and started crawling over the monitor, every now and then turning green, or red, or yellow.


Gregory looked at Dr. Penn, “Can you please translate?”


Tegian hesitantly says, “I believe they are going to do a quantum computer search.  From Earth history, Benioff described a theoretical quantum computer..  The other three, I think, had something to do with fast quantum searches.  But, I’m curious.  What are you searching for?  I think the search criteria are why we’re here.”


Penn smiled, “Sokath, his eyes uncovered.”  He was impressed with the engineer’s knowledge base that allows Penn and Teller to communicate with each other so efficiently.  Most people don’t understand that the images and annectodates used convey so much more information than the simple words convey.  They also give emotional content and background.  As long as you share the cultural background, it really is a more effective method of communication.


Penn looked over the shoulder of his partner as he worked.  He recognized the algorithm he was using and nodded, sitting down at the console beside him.  He began to type with a blazing speed, to catch up to where Teller was.  Soon they were both working in synchronous typing.  In some ways it was as if they were playing a musical duet.


He looked over his shoulder as his hands continued to type, “Just watch the spider gentlemen.”  He turned to Teller and said, “Do you know how fast you're going?”  Then he laughed wholeheartedly

 and turned back to his calculations.  “We are looking for unrelated pieces of information that have a connection to the outcome of the situation.”


Tegian looked puzzled.  He ignored the question, thinking it might have to do with the policeman.  “I’m not sure how you even program such a search.”  Tegian’s eyes grew wide.  “Wait…  That’s a tremendous amount of information to search!  You’re literally going to search for everything that’s not fire suppression and the Ambassadors’ quarters starting before they arrive until the shuttle crashes and look for possible connections?”  Tegian whistled.


“Sokath, his eyes opened,” Teller said excitedly.  “Hawkeye and Trapper John.  Ho-Jon’s tuition.  The raffle.” he adds, raising his glass.


Looking at Tegian, he motioned with his hand waving them from Tegian to the scientists. “Kira at Bashi,” he said.  “The path to Kamata in spring.”


Tegian looked at the Tamarian, blankly.  “My apologies.  Lieutenant Bohb had suggested Earth Scientific History to study so that I could understand some of your communication.  But, I don’t know any of those references.”


Penn chuckled and stopped his work for a moment.  He looked at Teller, then picked up a small box, pointing in the direction of a view screen.  Suddenly the screen came to life with a scene of what appeared to be a 20th century Earth war scene, with helicopters bring wounded soldiers to some kind of mobile hospital.  “In order to find a common cultural reference point we found that old Earth telecommunications programming was very instructional.  The more we watched together the more we were able to communicate through a common analogy.  This one was called MASH.  It was very academic… and quite humorous.  The path to Kumata, in Spring, is a very peaceful and contemplative time. You should join us in that peace and relax.”


Tegian stared at the box and the show called MASH.  He did feel intrigued, but he knew that too much responsibility lay on his shoulders to take the night off.  “Thank you Doctors, but much of the engineering team is still attempting to repair the ship and I would be shirking my duties if I wasn’t either working or sleeping.  Could I do it another time?”


(Penn/Teller)



(Reply None)

(Posted by Al, Keith and Tim)



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://startrekfreedom.com/pipermail/illuminar-rpg_startrekfreedom.com/attachments/20221027/ced50a47/attachment-0001.html>