The U.S.S. Valkyrie was entering an unchartered area of space on a routine mapping mission. It was during this that some of the crew took time out to relax. Four members of the crew, Pendragon, Magus, Amarus and Singh were doing this at their regular poker game. Magus was dealing. It had been a difficult past few weeks, and each of them were looking forward to this chance to unwind.
Magus sat in his chair tossing the cards to the others. He dealt the first cards face down, as is the custom in poker. He then started to deal the rest of the cards. It was then that each of them began to get a strange feeling. Magus was about to deal the cards when he saw the strange looks on their faces.
“What’s wrong?” asked Magus.
“I just have this strange feeling that I know what cards you’re about to deal.” said Pendragon.
“Me too.” said Amarus.
“Please, continue dealing.” said Pendragon.
Magus began to deal. Pendragon looked surprised at the card he was given; a three. He then dealt the card to Amarus, another three. Singh also received a three.
“Odd.” said Pendragon. “I could have sworn I knew what you were going to deal.”
Magus continued to deal. This time he dealt a four to each of the others. The symbol matched those of the cards that had been dealt to them previously. Magus continued to deal. The others were each given a five.
“Three of a kind, for everyone.” said Magus.
Then Singh got another strange feeling. He activated his communicator.
“Singh to Sickbay. Has commander Lom come in in the past few minutes?”
“No Doctor. I haven’t…wait. Commander Lom has just come in. He said he’d like to see you.”
Singh got to his feet.
“How did you know Lom was about to enter Sickbay?” asked Pendragon.
“To be honest, I have no idea.” replied Singh.
Singh entered Sickbay and saw Lom sitting on the examination table. The nurse handed Singh a tri-corder. He then approached Lom. Lom told Singh of how he felt dizzy while doing repair work on a high catwalk in Engineering. Singh at first diagnosed an inner ear infection but could find no trace of one. After carrying out more tests on Lom he contacted Watt. A few minutes later Watt entered Sickbay.
“What is it Doctor?” he asked.
“Commander Lom here came in complaining of symptoms similar to those of an inner ear infection, yet when I carried out tests I could find no trace of one. I then carried out more tests and found the root of the problem. As you know, the Insectoid eye has a completely different structure to that of the human eye, and it is able to pick up much more. Commander Lom was seeing a strange form of energy pattern that only he could see. The pattern was too much for his eyes, which made him feel dizzy.”
“What sort of energy pattern?” asked Watt.
“I couldn’t really tell.” replied Lom. “To me it seemed like some sort of ghost.”
“Carry out a full internal sensor sweep, Commander.” ordered Watt. “Work with Commander Sutek.”
Watt was about to leave Sickbay when he suddenly stopped. He turned around and looked at Lom and Singh.
“What’s wrong?” asked Singh.
Watt paused for a moment.
“It’s nothing. Carry on.”
Lom and Sutek began their work in Engineering. Sutek sat at the front of the main engineering panel. He was busily feeding orders into the computer. A confused looked appeared on Sutek’s face. After noticing this Lom joined him at the panel.
“How odd.” said Sutek. “I fed the orders into the computer to start the sensor sweep and I got this.”
Lom looked at the screen. He, too, was confused. The screen was covered with the number three.
“Strange.” said Lom.
Lom then pressed the computer panel and got the same result. Then Lom got a call from Singh.
“Singh to Lom. Are you in Engineering?”
“Yes Doctor.”
“I’ve got something that I think you’d be interested in.”
“I’m sure Commander Sutek would help me.”
“Good. I’m on my way.”
Lom was about to look back at the computer screen when he heard the noise of breaking glass over the communications channel. It was coming from Singh’s quarters.
“Are you okay Doctor?” he asked.
There was a short pause before Singh answered.
“I’m okay Commander. I’m on my way.”
Singh soon arrived in Engineering. Lom and Sutek then spent the next half hour or so analysing Singh’s recording.
“This is most puzzling.” said Sutek. “I’ve never heard anything like this before.”
“It may be possible to filter out the noise, but it may take time.”
“We have all the time in the world.” said Singh. “This may also have something to do with those strange energy flows.”
Singh paused as he thought for a moment.
“As strange as it may sound, but to me it sounds like a load of voices.”
Watt sat in his ready room, one of his many books in his hand. He had been meaning to read this particular book for some time but had not managed to get round to it. He leaned back on the sofa and opened the book and began to read. After about a minute he stopped and began thumbing through the book. He had a strange feeling that he had read the book before, but he knew that he hadn’t. It was a feeling of deja-vu. It was very strange.
It was seven o’clock the next morning at the daily meeting of the senior officers. The main topic of discussion had been the routine mapping mission they were currently on. After the discussion about the mapping mission the subject changed to that of the strange occurrences.
“Ten others, apart from those here, have reported getting strange feelings of deja-vu and hearing what appeared to be strange voices in their quarters.” said Singh.
“I understand you managed to get a recording of this noise.” said Watt.
“I have spent a lot of time analysing the recording.” said Sutek. “When played at once they are inaudible, but with the help of the computer I have managed to separate them. Altogether the recording included a thousand different voices. I have managed to break them down. They included five acts of love making, three hundred general conversations, seventy six songs…”
“Be brief Commander.” said Watt.
“Yes Captain. There were two recordings which I managed to isolate which I found relevant.”
Sutek pressed the computer panel on the table. A crackling noise appeared over the speakers. Then they heard Amarus’ voice.
“The sensors have picked up a temporal disturbance in the space-time continuum.”
“That was not the only voice I singled out.”
Sutek again pressed the panel. This time Watt’s voice could be heard.
“All hands abandon ship! All hands…”
“Those were the two most significant portions.” said Sutek.
Watt sat back in his chair and began to stroke his chin.
“What about those strange energy patterns, Commander Lom?” asked Watt.
“The sensor sweep could not detect them.” replied Lom. “But with the help of Sutek I adjusted the internal sensors. They were not energy patterns, they seemed to be some sort of ghost-like image.”
“There is one other thing, Captain.” said Sutek. “Since last night the number three has been encountered an abnormally high number of times. In all, one thousand, two hundred and sixteen.”
“Could this have something to do with the other occurrences?” asked Watt.
“I am unable to say.” replied Sutek. “It may, and it may not have.”
Watt continued to sit back in his chair. He now appeared deep in thought.”
“Your theories please, gentlemen.” he said.
“I have encountered something like this before.” said Magus. “Apart from a few variations this seems like a quantum causality loop.”
“A what?” said Pendragon.
“A point in the space-time continuum where everything repeats itself.” said Sutek. “I have read about such phenomena. I would tend to agree with Ambassador Magus’ theory.”
“Then if we are in such a loop it’s obvious to me we are going to be destroyed.” said Pendragon. “I recommend we pull out of this sector.”
“I disagree.” said Watt. “That is what we may have done in the previous loop. But then again, we may not have.”
Watt looked around at his senior officers.
“Does anyone else have a theory?” he asked.
“I still think we should pull back.” said Pendragon.
Before they could discuss anything else the ship shook violently. The red alert alarm sounded. A call came through from the bridge.
“Captain Watt report to the bridge.”
All those present got to their feet and left the conference room.
A few minutes later they entered the bridge. Watt took up a position just in front of his chair.
“Report Mr. Amarus.”
“The sensors have picked up a temporal disturbance in the space-time continuum.” Amarus reported.
Those who had been in the meeting turned and looked at Amarus.
“It just appeared out of nowhere.”
The ship again shook violently. They found it hard to keep their footing. The lights then went out. The back-ups kicked in a few seconds later.
“It’s happening.” said Pendragon.
“Main computer is down.” reported Lom at the engineering station.
“Casualty reports coming in from all over the ship.” reported Singh.
“Helm isn’t responding.” said Tompkins.
Pendragon looked at the image on the screen. It showed the rift getting larger.
“Look!” said Magus. “Something’s coming through!”
On the screen they saw another starship coming through the temporal rift.
“She’s heading straight for us!” said Magus.
“Evasive manoeuvres!” ordered Watt.
“Warp engines are down!” reported Lom.
“Captain, if we decompress one of the shuttle bays the pressure may be enough to push us out of the way.” suggested Pendragon.
“Maybe not enough.” said Magus. “I think the tractor beam will be more effective.”
Watt thought quickly.
“Activate the tractor beam.”
Suddenly something strange happened. Magus saw what appeared to be a ghost-like image standing in front of him. The image resembled himself. He could hear it say one word over and over.
“Three. Three.”
Magus looked around. It appeared that only he could see the image. Then something inside his mind clicked. Magus raced over to the tactical position and pushed Amarus out of the way. Amarus fell to the floor as Magus began operating the controls for one of the shuttle bay, decompressing it. The force of the decompression pushed the Valkyrie out of the way as the other starship moved past the port side engine, missing it by a matter of inches. Then the lights came on and the computer came back online with partial power. Watt turned and looked at Magus.
“What happened?” he asked. “Why wasn’t the tractor beam operated?”
“It’s a bit hard to explain.” said Magus. “I received a strange message, if you can call it that, on a sub-conscious level, telling me that my suggestion was wrong and that Commander Pendragon’s was the right decision.”
“What told you this?” asked Pendragon.
“The number three.” replied Magus. “The message I received consisted of only one word: three. My quick thinking told me that it referred to your rank insignia Commander. That is when I came to my conclusion that your idea was right.”
“Then it appears we have broken the loop.” said Watt. “Mr. Amarus, contact the nearest starbase so we can find out how long we’ve been in this loop.”
Amarus was getting to his feet. He frowned when he saw Magus.
“My apologies, Lieutenant.” Magus smiled.
Amarus huffed. He fed the orders into the computer.
“Ship’s clock is off by seventeen days.” he reported.
“Then set it right Mr. Amarus.” said Watt.
“Captain, we are receiving a signal from the other starship.” said Amarus. “It is a Constellation-class starship.”
“On screen.” ordered Pendragon.
The image of a bearded man in an old-style Starfleet uniform appeared on the screen.
“This is Captain Edward Johnson of the U.S.S. Hermes. Are you in need of assistance?”
“Captain Johnson, I am Captain James Watt of the Valkyrie. Your offer of help is appreciated.”
“Your ship design and uniforms are unfamiliar to me.” said Johnson. “Is there anything wrong?”
“We’ve been caught in a causality loop, Captain. We’ve been in the loop for seventeen days. Have you experienced anything similar?”
“We only left Starbase Eighty-Six two weeks ago, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened.”
“What is your star date, Captain Johnson?”
“An odd question. By old time we are in 2278.”
A slight smiled appeared on Watt’s face.
“I suggest you beam over here, Captain. I think we have a lot to discuss.”
“Agreed. You can expect me shortly.”
The screen went blank.
“It’s going to take some explaining.” said Watt. “How do I tell a man he’s travelled in time through nearly six decades?”
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