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Unhuman
Chapter 21: Telar
Captain’s log, Stardate 57450.3 - We are on route to Telar, one of the founding worlds of the Federation from our own universe. The Raider that previously visited this reported signs that they were in the early industrial era. But surface investigation is required to make a full evaluation.
Deep Space - USS Argos - Boomer’s cabin
“You want to tell me what happened?” asked Boomer, of Starbuck, who had finally stopped crying.
“I got kicked out of the Borg,” sobbed Starbuck.
“What do mean ‘got kicked out . . you didn’t let them . . .”
“Yeah, I did. I thought I could join them temporarily, make officer, then quit,” said Starbuck. “And it worked! Once I was a member of the Borg I had access to all the other Borg memories, including Commander Kim’s. I knew everything he knew about Starfleet and was easily able to pass the officer exam! But once I’d joined the Collective, I didn’t want to leave. They made me leave but they had access to all my memories. There will be a copy of my memories and personality floating around in the Borg Collective forever! And I knew how badly Sam would take it if he found out I was Borg. And I had become all of them. They kicked me out to save my marriage. But I didn’t want it! You can’t imagine how good it feels to be connected so many people so intimately!”
“I might have some idea,” replied Boomer. “On the Base ship there is a device that would allow me to connect to all the other Cylons of my model. But even connected, we were still individuals. So how much of that knowledge did you retain?”
“I don’t have many of Kim’s personal memories, just his ones of being a Starfleet officer and the knowledge he needed to do that. But I do remember how he was stuck being an ensign for years while his friend Tom got to be busted down to ensign then regained his Lieutenant pip multiple times. I also remember bits and pieces of the Cylon memories of committing atrocities!”
“So If I joined the Borg, I could be a pilot again . . .” mused Boomer.
“But you wouldn’t be you anymore,” explained Starbuck. “Once you are in, you cease to be an individual. I don’t think you would want to leave once you were in there. I had Sam to help me leave. Who do you have?”
“You’re right,” said Boomer. “I don’t think my relationships with Luziana or Medi are serious enough for me to feel I needed to come back.”
Telar Orbit - USS Argos - Transporter Room 2
The landing party were preparing to beam down to the surface. It consisted of Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Svino, Lieutenant Pua’a, and The EMH Doctor, whose appearance had been altered to make him look Telerite, like the other two. It was just a coincidence that the transporter operator was also Telerite.
“Energize,” commanded Svino.
The instant they were on the surface, there was a signal from the landing party:
“BEAM US UP! BEAM US UP! BEAM US UP!” screamed Svino.
The Telerite crewman reactivated the transporter to bring them back. When they appeared, only the two Telerites returned, and both of them were laying down on their bellies. Of the EMH, only the scrapped remains of his emitter returned. Fortunately, there was a back up copy of his program on the computer. Svino leaped to his feet and started screaming at the Crewman assigned to work the transporter. The Telerite language has nine times as many attack words, those words that in English are called ‘curse words’ as any human language. So many that the universal translator sometime has difficulty translating them all.
“YOU IDIOT!” screamed Svino. “YOU BEAMED US DOWN IN THE (untranslatable)
MIDDLE OF NO MAN’S (untranslatable) LAND! HOW THE (untranslatable) DAMN FUCK DID YOU (untranslatable) DO THAT? (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable)!!!”
“(untranslatable) Sir!” replied the Telerite Crewman. “I only (untranslatable) beamed you down where you (untranslatable) told me too! It’s not my fault you were too (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable)“
Deep Space - USS Argos - Meeting Room
“When we beamed down, we found ourselves in the middle of one of the World Wars, sir,” reported Lieutenant Commander Svino. “My people are not known for being warriors, but in the distant past we had more wars amongst ourselves than even the humans did in their past. Eventually those wars grew to engulf the whole planet. We had more world wars than the Humans did in their primitive era. And many Dark ages between them. It was when we finally developed atomic weaponry that we realized we could not long afford to make war on ourselves and we started attacking each other with insults instead of weapons.”
“So you would not recommend we make first contact with your home world?” observed Captain Data.
“Not at this time, sir. Not for a long time to come, sir,” replied Svino.
“Stand by . . .” said Lieutenant Commander Kim of Borg. “Captain, a Talosian Ship has just warped into Kobol space. The Kobolians are alarmed about it.
“At this distance it will take us three days to make it there at maximum warp,” observed Lieutenant Hex.
“Let us return to our posts,” ordered Data. “Bridge? Set course for the Kobol system.”
“Aye Captain,” said Worf, via the computer.
Captain’s log, Stardate 57454.4 - we have arrived at Kobol only to find that the planet is not longer on alert. The Talosian delegation has made friendly contact with Kobol and their Representative has joined the Federation Council. At the same time, Talosian scientists are sharing their knowledge with the other members of the Federation. I have been informed by Lieutenant Commander Kim that The Cylons have been alerted by the Borg member on Caprica and the Cylons are sending their own people to learn the new science and technologies.
Kobol orbit - USS Argos - Meeting Room
“Beings, I would like to go over the technological levels of the various members of the Federation as they are starting to share their knowledge with each other,” began Captain Data.
“The Colonials, Kobolians now, had the lowest level of technology, less than they had a hundred year ago,” began Lieutenant Hex. “Their wars with the Cylons have forced them into a Dark Age of sorts. This was due in part to the Cylon expertise in computer warfare, which forced the Colonials to adopt more primitive technologies.
The Cylons have mostly the same level of tech. They are slightly more advanced in their Jump Drives and Computers. Also they are more advanced in cybernetics, with the ability to make Raiders, Centurions and download into new bodies via resurrection tech.
Both civilizations use Jump Drives instead of Warp and this allows them to travel greater distances in a few jumps than we could in months at high warp. Caprica, Kobol and Tarquinus are too far away from each other and from Mars and Talos to be a part of the same government without the use of Jump Drives. But the Jump Drives are not compatible with Warp Drives so any ship would have to choose which kind of propulsion it uses.”
“The Vulcans are in the early use of Warp drive,” reported Lieutenant Commander Svino. “They had a series of off world colonies in their own system, all of which were destroyed in the recent war and their ships were not capable of exceeding Warp 1. When the Tarquinians left Vulcan, they took all of the Freighters with them. The Tarquinians do not have replicators, transporters, phasers or shields. In the war they used photon torpedoes for space combat and Vulcans were only beginning to experiment with subspace communication when the Tarquinians left. The freighters that the Tarquinians left Vulcan with were completely unarmed.”
“The Talosians of this era are at a technology level similar to Earth’s in the 22nd century in our home universe,” reported Lieutenant Solon. “Their ships are capable of reaching Warp 4 and are equipped with phasers and shields. They have small transporters capable of transporting a single being. But the technology is not thought safe for the transport of living things. They do not have torpedoes or missiles as the technology has not occurred to them. They also do not have subspace communication as we tend to use telepathy instead of radio for communication over distance.”
“In theory, the Borg have all the technology of both the Argos and the Cylons,” reported Lieutenant Commander Kim of Borg. “However since we only have Cylon level tools, we are currently building the tools we need to make the tools we need. This is in addition to our efforts at building a habitat on Mars and refitting the Tarquinian freighters with Cylon Jump Drives so they can travel the long distances needed for interstellar travel in a timely manner. Eventually we plan to make a Borg Cube for the defense of Mars as well as the gestation of new members of the Borg Collective.”
“Another issue is some of the Humans are not patient enough to work their way through Starfleet training,” said Doctor Salar. “Recently once of the Crewmen from Kobol, a Kara Thrace, asked to be assimilated into the Borg, just so that she could become an officer. After she became an officer, she then left the Borg.”
“See that she is re-tested to make certain Ensign Thrace is still qualified to be an officer,” commanded Data. “If she is, this may be a way to more quickly integrate the people of the Federation worlds into Starfleet.”
“No one who has experienced being Borg ever wants to return to being an individual,” pointed out Kim. “This is not a problem for us Borg. But other races may see it as threatening to their individuality.”
“Perhaps my people could help?” suggested Lieutenant Solon. “On Talos, our usual method of long term data storage are devices that telepathically send the information directly into your mind. Perhaps the technology could be adapted for other races?”
“This brings up another issue,” replied Data. “Has there been any progress on our efforts to return to our home universe?”
“We could easily travel to another universe,” reported Lieutenant Commander Kim. “But we still have no way of finding our way back to the specific universe from which we came.”
“I see,” said Data. “I think the time has come to face the fact that we are stranded in this universe, with no hope of returning. Perhaps the time has come to share our technology with the rest of the Federation. The Talosian information sharing device could be the key to making that happen.”
Chapter 21: Telar
Captain’s log, Stardate 57450.3 - We are on route to Telar, one of the founding worlds of the Federation from our own universe. The Raider that previously visited this reported signs that they were in the early industrial era. But surface investigation is required to make a full evaluation.
Deep Space - USS Argos - Boomer’s cabin
“You want to tell me what happened?” asked Boomer, of Starbuck, who had finally stopped crying.
“I got kicked out of the Borg,” sobbed Starbuck.
“What do mean ‘got kicked out . . you didn’t let them . . .”
“Yeah, I did. I thought I could join them temporarily, make officer, then quit,” said Starbuck. “And it worked! Once I was a member of the Borg I had access to all the other Borg memories, including Commander Kim’s. I knew everything he knew about Starfleet and was easily able to pass the officer exam! But once I’d joined the Collective, I didn’t want to leave. They made me leave but they had access to all my memories. There will be a copy of my memories and personality floating around in the Borg Collective forever! And I knew how badly Sam would take it if he found out I was Borg. And I had become all of them. They kicked me out to save my marriage. But I didn’t want it! You can’t imagine how good it feels to be connected so many people so intimately!”
“I might have some idea,” replied Boomer. “On the Base ship there is a device that would allow me to connect to all the other Cylons of my model. But even connected, we were still individuals. So how much of that knowledge did you retain?”
“I don’t have many of Kim’s personal memories, just his ones of being a Starfleet officer and the knowledge he needed to do that. But I do remember how he was stuck being an ensign for years while his friend Tom got to be busted down to ensign then regained his Lieutenant pip multiple times. I also remember bits and pieces of the Cylon memories of committing atrocities!”
“So If I joined the Borg, I could be a pilot again . . .” mused Boomer.
“But you wouldn’t be you anymore,” explained Starbuck. “Once you are in, you cease to be an individual. I don’t think you would want to leave once you were in there. I had Sam to help me leave. Who do you have?”
“You’re right,” said Boomer. “I don’t think my relationships with Luziana or Medi are serious enough for me to feel I needed to come back.”
Telar Orbit - USS Argos - Transporter Room 2
The landing party were preparing to beam down to the surface. It consisted of Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Svino, Lieutenant Pua’a, and The EMH Doctor, whose appearance had been altered to make him look Telerite, like the other two. It was just a coincidence that the transporter operator was also Telerite.
“Energize,” commanded Svino.
The instant they were on the surface, there was a signal from the landing party:
“BEAM US UP! BEAM US UP! BEAM US UP!” screamed Svino.
The Telerite crewman reactivated the transporter to bring them back. When they appeared, only the two Telerites returned, and both of them were laying down on their bellies. Of the EMH, only the scrapped remains of his emitter returned. Fortunately, there was a back up copy of his program on the computer. Svino leaped to his feet and started screaming at the Crewman assigned to work the transporter. The Telerite language has nine times as many attack words, those words that in English are called ‘curse words’ as any human language. So many that the universal translator sometime has difficulty translating them all.
“YOU IDIOT!” screamed Svino. “YOU BEAMED US DOWN IN THE (untranslatable)
MIDDLE OF NO MAN’S (untranslatable) LAND! HOW THE (untranslatable) DAMN FUCK DID YOU (untranslatable) DO THAT? (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable)!!!”
“(untranslatable) Sir!” replied the Telerite Crewman. “I only (untranslatable) beamed you down where you (untranslatable) told me too! It’s not my fault you were too (untranslatable) (untranslatable) (untranslatable)“
Deep Space - USS Argos - Meeting Room
“When we beamed down, we found ourselves in the middle of one of the World Wars, sir,” reported Lieutenant Commander Svino. “My people are not known for being warriors, but in the distant past we had more wars amongst ourselves than even the humans did in their past. Eventually those wars grew to engulf the whole planet. We had more world wars than the Humans did in their primitive era. And many Dark ages between them. It was when we finally developed atomic weaponry that we realized we could not long afford to make war on ourselves and we started attacking each other with insults instead of weapons.”
“So you would not recommend we make first contact with your home world?” observed Captain Data.
“Not at this time, sir. Not for a long time to come, sir,” replied Svino.
“Stand by . . .” said Lieutenant Commander Kim of Borg. “Captain, a Talosian Ship has just warped into Kobol space. The Kobolians are alarmed about it.
“At this distance it will take us three days to make it there at maximum warp,” observed Lieutenant Hex.
“Let us return to our posts,” ordered Data. “Bridge? Set course for the Kobol system.”
“Aye Captain,” said Worf, via the computer.
Captain’s log, Stardate 57454.4 - we have arrived at Kobol only to find that the planet is not longer on alert. The Talosian delegation has made friendly contact with Kobol and their Representative has joined the Federation Council. At the same time, Talosian scientists are sharing their knowledge with the other members of the Federation. I have been informed by Lieutenant Commander Kim that The Cylons have been alerted by the Borg member on Caprica and the Cylons are sending their own people to learn the new science and technologies.
Kobol orbit - USS Argos - Meeting Room
“Beings, I would like to go over the technological levels of the various members of the Federation as they are starting to share their knowledge with each other,” began Captain Data.
“The Colonials, Kobolians now, had the lowest level of technology, less than they had a hundred year ago,” began Lieutenant Hex. “Their wars with the Cylons have forced them into a Dark Age of sorts. This was due in part to the Cylon expertise in computer warfare, which forced the Colonials to adopt more primitive technologies.
The Cylons have mostly the same level of tech. They are slightly more advanced in their Jump Drives and Computers. Also they are more advanced in cybernetics, with the ability to make Raiders, Centurions and download into new bodies via resurrection tech.
Both civilizations use Jump Drives instead of Warp and this allows them to travel greater distances in a few jumps than we could in months at high warp. Caprica, Kobol and Tarquinus are too far away from each other and from Mars and Talos to be a part of the same government without the use of Jump Drives. But the Jump Drives are not compatible with Warp Drives so any ship would have to choose which kind of propulsion it uses.”
“The Vulcans are in the early use of Warp drive,” reported Lieutenant Commander Svino. “They had a series of off world colonies in their own system, all of which were destroyed in the recent war and their ships were not capable of exceeding Warp 1. When the Tarquinians left Vulcan, they took all of the Freighters with them. The Tarquinians do not have replicators, transporters, phasers or shields. In the war they used photon torpedoes for space combat and Vulcans were only beginning to experiment with subspace communication when the Tarquinians left. The freighters that the Tarquinians left Vulcan with were completely unarmed.”
“The Talosians of this era are at a technology level similar to Earth’s in the 22nd century in our home universe,” reported Lieutenant Solon. “Their ships are capable of reaching Warp 4 and are equipped with phasers and shields. They have small transporters capable of transporting a single being. But the technology is not thought safe for the transport of living things. They do not have torpedoes or missiles as the technology has not occurred to them. They also do not have subspace communication as we tend to use telepathy instead of radio for communication over distance.”
“In theory, the Borg have all the technology of both the Argos and the Cylons,” reported Lieutenant Commander Kim of Borg. “However since we only have Cylon level tools, we are currently building the tools we need to make the tools we need. This is in addition to our efforts at building a habitat on Mars and refitting the Tarquinian freighters with Cylon Jump Drives so they can travel the long distances needed for interstellar travel in a timely manner. Eventually we plan to make a Borg Cube for the defense of Mars as well as the gestation of new members of the Borg Collective.”
“Another issue is some of the Humans are not patient enough to work their way through Starfleet training,” said Doctor Salar. “Recently once of the Crewmen from Kobol, a Kara Thrace, asked to be assimilated into the Borg, just so that she could become an officer. After she became an officer, she then left the Borg.”
“See that she is re-tested to make certain Ensign Thrace is still qualified to be an officer,” commanded Data. “If she is, this may be a way to more quickly integrate the people of the Federation worlds into Starfleet.”
“No one who has experienced being Borg ever wants to return to being an individual,” pointed out Kim. “This is not a problem for us Borg. But other races may see it as threatening to their individuality.”
“Perhaps my people could help?” suggested Lieutenant Solon. “On Talos, our usual method of long term data storage are devices that telepathically send the information directly into your mind. Perhaps the technology could be adapted for other races?”
“This brings up another issue,” replied Data. “Has there been any progress on our efforts to return to our home universe?”
“We could easily travel to another universe,” reported Lieutenant Commander Kim. “But we still have no way of finding our way back to the specific universe from which we came.”
“I see,” said Data. “I think the time has come to face the fact that we are stranded in this universe, with no hope of returning. Perhaps the time has come to share our technology with the rest of the Federation. The Talosian information sharing device could be the key to making that happen.”
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