The Concept Hole

The Audacity is a starship that investigates the fringe sector of the Milky Way galaxy. Scanners pick up a strange anomaly and the ship investigates.

The Audacity was commissioned to search out the the outer area of the galaxy. Its five year mission, to seek out strange happenings and to expand our knowledge of what is possible.

Even before the Audacity's mission, the fringe was notorious for being a place of weird inexplicable happenings. It was a place where you could travel in a single direction and find yourself back where you started. A place where gods roamed and played with ships like toys. A place where the very space itself could end and you could fall off the edge of the universe into another dimension.

Captain's log star-date 7523.2 long range scanners picked up a growing anomaly in the fringe 12-6 sector. It appears to be of extra-dimensional origin.

"Anomaly in our sights, standing by for orders captain," said helmsman Accuda.

The captain stared into the shape-shifting, color-shifting blob before him. What was he dealing with? Scanners showed it to be a living entity one moment, then inanimate the next. Temperature readings read over a billion degrees. Yet at a distance this close, it would melt the ship. Nothing about this anomaly made sense. Everything about its structure determined it was unstable or impossible.

Helmsman Accuda had passed Starfleet proficiency tests by cheating. He employed a cheating algorithm that was developed by a more capable friend of his, who was forced out of Starfleet academy due to a heart condition. Accuda passed the proficiency test with one of the highest scores ever achieved by a human member of the federation, and as a result, was given a position on the Audacity, the newest ship in Starfleet. It was a position he was, in fact, ill equipped for.

Not two days into their maiden voyages into the fringe sector he could tell the captain's patience with him was wearing thin. His worries about being found out, his family, full of distinguished scholars in their respectable fields, would not take the news well. He had hoped he could fake just long enough to learn the controls. Never mind the lives he was risking.

"Accuda, have probes and containment on standby to deploy,"

"Aye, aye captain,"

"Deploy probe,"

The helmsman pressed a button on his console. "Probe deployed."

"What are the readings on that probe's sensors?"

"Scanners must be malfunctioning. The readings don't make sense."

"What do they say?"

"Temperature readings inconsistent with our own, they say there is nothing there. Probe is entering the anomaly"

"Captain, the probe has been lost."

"What is a probe?" asked the captain bewildered.

"I don't know sir. Standing by for orders,"

"My orders are to contain the anomaly,"

"Deploying containment."

"Our containment is surrounding the anomaly," the helmsman as he gave unsure looks at his reading of the console. "There's some attraction to the anomaly, containment will not hold." he said, while giving a puzzled look to the captain.

"Call containment back," the captain ordered.

"Our containment is failing to comply. Containment is falling into the anomaly." the helmsman gave the captain a look of anxiety. As he watched the containment fall to pieces, "containment is lost."

"What is containment?" the captain asked again as if unsure of himself, "What does that mean?"

"I haven't a clue sir,"

"Ready weapons,"

"Weapons primed,"

"Fire weapons,"

"Weapons fired sir,"

"What are weapons?"

"Never heard of them sir."

"Helmsman I'm getting a strange feeling like there's some missing time,"

"I have the same feeling captain,"

"How long has it been since we arrived at the anomaly?"

"It shows that we've been here for over fifteen Earth minutes captain."

"But it feels like we just got here... How is that we've lost all this time, when we have just one obvious course of action? It is not as though we have been deliberating all this time, all we have is a transporter to investigate this thing, and perhaps we could send an unmanned shuttle craft full of our intentions of peace. It didn't take me more than a few seconds to decide the correct course of action is to transport a part of the anomaly on board. So what did we do in that time?"

"it could be a malfunction in our clocks, the anomaly did interfere with our sensors maybe it can interfere with our perception of time."

"That would seem like the most logical possibility. I'll contact our engineer Verang and get him to ready to the transporter, you have the con,"

***

"Verang, I am going to ask you to transport a bit of that anomaly on board,"

"Captain that may be a difficult task, if the substance is too dense it may rip through the floor and do permanent damage to our artificial gravity," said engineer Verang

"Then take just a small piece,"

"Will do, captain," He said while sighing while muttering something about how density is the same for small things as it is for large things.

"Transporting now, the transporter is materializing some of the substance on board, but it's overloading our transporter," Verang said as his panels fried and disappeared. "The transporter is destroyed captain."

"What is a transporter?" Asked the captain.

"No idea captain, why do you ask?" Asked the engineer.

"I don't remember." said the captain. "Hey look at that." the captain said motioning to a small blob hovering in the air in a floor of space that used to be a transporter.

"What is that?" asked engineer Verang.

"I don't know I think it might be a bit of the anomaly... How did it get here?" wondered the captain. "It is so strange, we ought to give that thing a name."

"I've got a good name for it. 'Amalgoo'"

"That's a perfect name."

"What's a name?" said Verang bewildered.

"I'm not familiar with that concept. I've got to get this Amalgoo to the bridge and decide what to do with the rest of it."

***

The captain walked up to take the con speaking to Accuda "We somehow have a part of the anomaly aboard in the unknown room, Helmsman Accuda, you are relieved of command of the Audacity please return to your post."

"I was keeping it warm for you captain," said Accuda with a smirk.

"Thank you Accuda, but the seat at the helm is growing cold,"

"Do you have any idea of what we are doing here?" asked the captain.

"We came to investigate this anomaly." replied Accuda.

"With what? Our eyes? What can we do with this thing?" asked the captain.

"We could send the anomaly a shuttle craft with our intentions of peace, like a welcome wagon." suggested Accuda.

"We might as well since we are here." said the captain.

"Aye captain, deploying unmanned shuttle." said Accuda watching his console. "Our intentions of peace have entered the anomaly."

"What is peace? some kind of trick you're trying to pull?"

"Captain, I see what you are trying to do. You're trying to frame me for something."

"I can see the bloodlust in your eyes. You piece of garbage you're plotting to kill me."

The both started walking up to one another.

Captain's log, Stardate 7523.3 we were heading on our way to investigate a growing black hole in the Remashlin sector when we got a call from the Audacity, a newly commissioned ship on its maiden voyage.

"We're getting a message from the Audacity."

Captain Bosh of the Audacity had a look of terror "I need your help killing the crewman aboard, but now I realize I can't trust you, you're just like the rest of them." The transmission ended.

"Sulu plot a course for the Fringe 12-6 sector." said Kirk.

"Entering warp now captain, arrival in approximately 1 hour." said Sulu.

There was only one conscious survivor that we found he was hitting his head against a wall over and over again. Kirk was forced to incapacitate him with his phaser.

They entered the transporter room and there was a blob floating in it but no transporter equipment.

"Check the captain's logs."

"There are no reports of use of phasers or containment probes even though those would be the first they would have tried to use on it."

"Any insights Spock?"

"I searched the logs of the ships manifest. It seems the ship has no weapons, or shuttle crafts or probes or long range sensors anywhere in the system. It seems that every ship who's crew lost the concept of long range sensors were in sensor range of the anomaly. And every ship that has lost concept of weaponry were within firing range of the anomaly. Perhaps every mode of interaction with this anomaly causes whatever crew to loose concept of whatever they've done to it. if you move it you lose all concept of movement, if you touch it you loose all concept of touch."

"How come they haven't gone blind?"

"Sight does not require action, they eye does not do anything to what it sees. it merely observes photons which have acted on the object."

"Good, they've isolated the anomaly in the transporter room, all we need to do is transport the anomaly back to itself and the anomaly will lose all concept of itself and it will disappear as if nothing occurred."

Kirk took out his communicator "Scotty, there is a piece of an anomaly on board the Audacity's transporter room, I need you to find a way to transport it from here to the anomaly, can you do it?"

"Captain, I'm unable to get a reading of the substance, transporting it may damage the transporter."

"Give it a try anyway."

"Transporting now captain."

The crew of the Audacity and the crew of the Enterprise stood bewildered.

"Spock, I'm going to ask you a strange question."

"Go ahead captain,"

"Do you have any idea how we got here, or what it is we are supposed to be doing?"

"I haven't the faintest idea."

© 2017 Andrew Leister-Frazier

Author's Note

I encourage all forms of review and criticism. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and review my work.

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James Keller

A humorous and intriguing story. The only technical criticism I have is that you don't need to inform us of whose talking on every bit a dialogue like you did during the interactions between the Audacity captain and the helmsman.(It's good to trust your readers to keep track of that on their own) Though you got better with that in the end.

All in all, I liked it.