The “Milli-Cochrane Caper” {Act 3.1a}

Posted on Thu 26th Aug, 2021 @ 10:17pm by Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Commander Andrew Eberstark & Lieutenant Commander Alora Baro & Lieutenant Commander Dallas Briggs & Renato Solis & Sipov Boros

1,194 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Waging Peace
Timeline: MD4 1830

Act 3 scene 1 revised and fully complete check it out here first: https://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/1838

-Start-

previously

"...simply force that pattern any time he rematerializes in that one transporter? That's how I would do it," Paul said. "But perhaps that is so obvious an idea that transporters have built-in fail-safes against attempts to do such a thing."

Yet, Velasquez wondered, would that be enough for this man? Just to duplicate and change himself?

...And now part two...

{Reigate Conference Lounge Deck 7}

Alora nodded, "You are correct, Dr. Graves; the entire design from the ground up is meant to protect the sentients who go through it from arriving different than they left. Now, there have been some notable errors as energies and the like interfered with transport, but they've only hardened the design more since then. The buffers themselves are entirely a safety feature.”

She paused looking thoughtful, “You’d have to figure out a work around, which is not impossible if one is familiar enough with the concepts behind the technology. Though even if you did, you would still age at the normal rate afterward even if you could find younger versions of yourself you wanted to use, were able to store, keep them and hope nothing happened to set them loose. You would need to always have access to that technology. You couldn’t be without it, which would make you more vulnerable. I think that’s why he’s trying for something a bit more permanent and is not willing to try it on himself until he’s sure it will work. And, sorry, but I take it telomeres and senescent cells are something to do with aging?" She tapped on her PADD, “We found some biological data, but I’m more of an equipment person.” She handed the PADD to Paul.

Paul skimmed what appeared on Baro's PADD screen. "Telomeres are non-coding DNA sequences located at the ends of chromosomes," Paul explained. "They protect against aging, so the more repetitions of them a chromosome has, the less likely a person is to noticeably age. Senescent cells are normal cells that have stopped dividing, but instead of dying and being reabsorbed into a person's body, they begin to secrete substances that compromise tissue regeneration and repair--so they contribute to aging. But we need them because they also inhibit cancerous tumor growth."

Renato gasped, "He is trying to impart his own consciousness... Could it be, he goes through the transporter, and duplicates himself, only to see his own image as before from his own eyes. He is stuck to his own body, and the memories which are the core of his being are stuck there with him. He can store a younger body yes, but the cloning process leaves that man with only as much knowledge as was recorded in the first place." The pieces fell together and the rush came over him, he was solving the case!

Paul's eyes widened. "So if he saves his pattern at age 35, he can't reproduce his memories from after that age." His voice trailed off. "Yes, I see the problem. He can't acheve significant longevity this way."

Pacing the room now, Renato continued, "He has created perhaps a version of immortality, but in failing to achieve success he must dispose of his clone. There are probably a dozen species out there who deal with telepathic memory transfer, so he would test the clone, and if it couldn't remember data past its creation point it would be disposed be of. And how else to do it, but the same way he created it. Dematerialization... now, my good science-minded friends, would that create a non corporeal telepathically broadcasting spectral entity... theoretically?"

Paul looked sickened. "Are you saying he's murdering his own clones because they are failed experiments? Because they are not a telepathically-broadcasting spectral entity? That's as callous and monstrous as--anything I've ever heard of." His expression became closed for a moment, like a door slamming shut. At last, Paul let out a breath. "Perhaps his experiment is not succeeding because Boule is not himself telepathic. A transporter cannot give a passenger abilities that did not originally exist." He paused, glancing at Baro. "Can it?"

Alora considered, "No," she replied, happy to be firm on this point. She had to be fully honest though, "...but that could be another reason why his experiments have a bent leaning toward using the process of transporting as a way to genetically reprogram someone." She looked thoughtful, her mind whirling as she considered. "It would have to come from somewhere..." She said slowly, "The transporter cannot recreate, it can only move people and things, but if he has the genetic material to mix and match...not impossible. Some systems would have to be rebuilt entirely, the safety features built in would hinder him, but..." She shrugged and sounded a bit horrified by the realization.

"Or he could build his own transporter, using only the safety features he wants," Paul said.

Alora looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "It's difficult because the hardware is purpose built with natural cut-offs etc. that support the current crop of software security features. He would have to redesign, in some cases from the ground up, difficult but not impossible to rebuild one with lesser safety features, depending on the feature you're trying to override..." She admitted, "And then he's still locked to the technology with the issues that entails plus the barriers Renato mentioned because the very nature of a transporter device. Even with modified safety protocols can not create biologic raw material. It would have to come from somewhere. This could just be the easiest way he knows of to toss material...people..." she reminded herself, "together to see if he can get the effect he's going for."

"It does make me wonder if he's got a polymerase chain reaction machine somewhere multiplying his own DNA--but even that wouldn't create the sort of raw matter he needs to create adult clones from," Paul said.

Renato was happy to supply the rest. "He is reclaiming the same materials, when he de-materializes it to recycle. But the imprint of what he has done lives on in some fashion. We found a body, it was a clone and it tried to escape. They are alive. When he kills them they are screaming. It's the imprint of what is being seen by all of us. He wants to create a machine which can take his ego and stream of consciousness and input it into a new body, and de-materializes the poor soul when it can't remember so he can try again. Except these... apparitions seem to be determined to get back to a place within Brown Sector, if we can follow them, or lay eyes on where they are going we can skip a grid search entirely..." Renato was itching to get out there, he finally had security and people to go in force to root this bastard out. The idea of remapping Brown Sector was tedious and fraught with a whole different peril.

To be continued...

 

RSS Feed