Recall :: Part 2 :: Reconfiguration
Posted on 01 Jul 2026 @ 12:32am by Lieutenant Commander Steven Remington
614 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission:
Time After Time
Location: Library, Sherman Oaks
Snip from Part 1
Science Department, Chief Science Officer.
Steve froze for a moment and immediately closed the window. He waited.
He felt the hair on his arms prickle and lift as a shiver mounted his spine and shuddered his whole frame.
His mother used to say of that sensation “A rabbit just ran over my grave.” That seemed to have a deeper meaning today.
He looked away and swallowed hard.
End snip
Part 2 :: Reconfiguration
“Ok, calm down,” he said, forcing the breath to deepen and slow down. “Think. Gotta think.”
He looked at the anomalous book cart and spoke aloud.
“Ryan. Ryan doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for my existential identity crisis.”
Priorities shifted. His past could wait. Ryan could not.
“Can you help me get my friend out of jail?”
“Please define the operational objective.”
“I need to break one person out of the jail in Sherman Oaks without anyone getting hurt.”
“Operational objective acknowledged. Please define mission constraints.”
Steve blinked. “Mission constraints?”
“Specify desired outcome, available resources, acceptable risk parameters, and operational limitations.”
His mind shifted into another groove and he replied quickly, as if he’d done something like this a hundred times. “No fatalities or permanent injuries. Avoid detection if possible. Use only equipment on hand. Prevent pursuit.”
“Conventional assault is not recommended.”
Steve chuffed a laugh and smiled slightly. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Electronic security systems present the highest probability of non-lethal exploitation.”
“How can we disable them?” He wished he had Ryan here to figure out the engineering.
“Current hardware configuration is incapable of producing the required field.”
He sighed. “Can it be made capable?”
“Affirmative. Reconfiguration required.”
“Inside you,” he whispered. “Okay.”
Without thinking about what exactly he was doing, his fingers began to explore the surface of the unit until he touched something unseen that caused the unit to click. He opened the casing.
Inside was a nest of tiny pastel colored, crystal isolinear bars neatly inserted into a motherboard on the bottom of the unit. He moved without hesitation, astounded by his own mindless cooperation. He knew what to do after his fingers led the way. Muscle memory was choosing the actions. He was recognizing them.
One clear crystal lifted effortlessly from its slot and he exchanged it with a light blue bar from the other edge of the board. He rotated another ninety degrees before he could figure out what his own fingers had done. A third bar, pale yellow, slid into the receptacle where the blue bar had been removed.
His hands stopped moving. Every bar had been rearranged. He knew it was right, every last crystal.
“How do I know this?” he murmured.
“Please clarify the inquiry.”
Steve smiled despite himself. The computer hadn't changed. It still answered only the question it had actually been asked.
“How did I know how to do that?”
“Procedure corresponds to introductory Starfleet Academy engineering curriculum.”
Steve looked back down at his hands.
“What did I just make?”
“Current hardware configuration: Electromagnetic resonance generator.”
“What’s that mean?” he queried.
“Please specify desired application.”
He laughed softly and replied, “Breaking Ryan out of jail.”
“Application identified. Current configuration is capable of disrupting all electrically sensitive equipment within the effective range.”
“Lighting?”
“Localized interruption probable.”
“Locks?”
“Affirmative.”
“Alarms?”
“Affirmative.”
“Radio communications?”
“Affirmative within the effective range.”
“How long will the effect last?”
“Until continuous operation exceeds thermal design tolerances.”
Steve smiled faintly.
“In English, please.”
“The device will become inoperative.”
“After how long?”
“Twenty-two minutes and forty-four seconds of continuous operation.”
“Shiny,” replied Steve. “Let’s go bail my partner out of jail.”
TBC -
~~~
LtCmdr Steve Remington
Chief Science Officer
USS Arawyn
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