"Not Just Another Game of Gin Rummy"

Posted on 15 Jun 2026 @ 9:54pm by Lieutenant Ryan Collingway & Lieutenant Commander Steven Remington

830 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Time After Time
Location: Chief Engineering Office

// Engineering Dept CEO Office //

Remington arrived a little out of breath, not out of exhaustion or exertion, but from excitement. Could it be called excitement. Awe was perhaps a better term.

“Collingway, I need to talk this out.” Steve tumbled in the door and set on a chair. “Got any coffee?” he asked, almost as an afterthought.

"Sure. Going at it non-stop right now," he said, gesturing to a thermos. He grabbed a spare cup. Remington's excitement wasn't lost on him. "Hopefully you are having better luck at figuring this out then I am.”

“Well, maybe not the whole answer, but some of it … maybe … Some old science fiction author, I think, said something like When you have exhausted all the possible answers to no avail, you have to realize that one of the impossible ones is the answer. So, if all these impossibilities on that fragment are happening and there is no possible explanation, something else has to be true. So, what if there is someone else manipulating this. Some entity or mind control, probably not even physical, that is playing with it, holding it in some kind of status quo. Why? Curiosity? Study? Experimentation? Who knows, but something is at work here, something of intelligence, that is keeping that fragment …..” Steve looked around the room, searching in the ethers for the word, “ … alive. What if we are dealing with a third party, but not one like we’ve ever encountered before. We have to look outside the box of the possible.”

Ryan took a moment to consider that possibility. "It certainly is not impossible," he admitted. "Because right now I don't have any good explanation for the Captain as to why gravitational plating is not smashing Sherman Oaks to bits. Even a time dilation effect would have signs that we are not seeing on the scans."

"But I would like some proof of that as well, beyond a removal of any other theory that makes sense," he added, focusing on Remington. "Surely something powerful enough to do that would also be aware that we are here? If so, why haven't they communicated?”

“Maybe not. Let’s brainstorm here. Maybe they're in the time warp, in some temporal well and can’t see us out here. Maybe they don’t care about us. We’re just a fly on the wall. We’ve shown no signs of interference. I’m not suggesting omnipotent, just able to maintain that scenario on that piece of a planet out there,” replied Steve. “We don’t know that’s there’s not a whole planet back in that reality, and this is some experimental dislocation or duplication of that section.”

Ryan thought about it some more. "Assuming that's true, then I don't see these experiments being benevolent to the people below," he pointed out. "Either they are testing to see how people will react to a frozen sun, or they are creating conditions in which the colony can survive what is happening despite natural laws saying otherwise. But if it fails, then those people are the casualties."

He paused. "We could potentially test this theory," he realized. "If something is out there we could try and signal them without alerting the planet. Make some noise, in other words. Perhaps start being of consequence.”

“If we tried to make contact, we’d need to send some kind of signal which people of Earth 1984 had no way to receive. Suggestions?” asked Steve.

"Usually our transmissions run too fast for the satelIites to pick up on. But I can add a little techneyon displacement to be sure," Ryan said. "I assume we should let the Captain know? Though, I'm not sure how 'this could be from some unknown deity, so let's try to contact it' is going to go.”

Steve nodded emphatically. “Like I said, I’m not talking omnipotent, just advanced enough to control the sun and the weather on that planet. And of course we take these thoughts to the Captain. But when we do, we need to have a researched follow-through as to what we recommend if our assumption is correct. It could very well not be, and we should continue to brainstorm other seemingly impossible scenarios in the meantime. But we need to let her know we are not just playing gin rummy down here while we wait for the atmosphere to follow through on the rules of physics and abandon that remnant."

"Agreed," Ryan said. Having some kind of plan was far better than waiting, and reacting. "So let's go through it some more and find some kind of viable options for the Captain.”

“Good idea, Collingway. We should take more than just one possibility, shouldn’t we. Back to brainstorming - together this time.”

"And call me Ryan, by the way," he added. "Everyone else does.”

“Ryan it is. Call me Steve."

~~~
LT Steve Remington
Zoologist
Acting Chief Science Officer

LT Ryan Collingway
Acting Chief Engineer

USS ARAWYN

 

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