The Zygnian mind-network was down. Their communal mind, their home planet, those cooperative stars, there was no more sharing of information. Maybe the Zygnian were still not up to the task of handling such a powerful source of energy. They feared the worst as their observations recorded something seemingly impossible.
The scintillas, being multi-dimensional, existed simultaneously in more than one location. What they had just discovered, is that those locations were not restricted to just their own universe. The unfortunate effect of the Zygnian fabled new engine was a cosmic calamity of multiple universes converging in a single point of space-time, the location of the nebula created by a vanishing TSD-1 vessel.
Suddenly, a brief sparkle occurred somewhere in the ZQ9 quadrant. The communal mind immediately assumed it was their crew, as they were targeting that exact location. The telepathic link was still down, and they had no luck in establishing contact with any of the crew members.
Meanwhile, the vessel appeared in an unknown location. The crew was alive, but completely lost and cut-off from their mind-network.
"Vorta, A’Meki, are you still with me!?" Celeste yelled.
A’Meki was emotionally devastated, as he attributed this tragedy to his own shortcomings. "Yes Celeste, still here. I am sorry for this. I should have been able to control the engines."
"First of all, this was nobody’s fault, especially not yours," Celeste replied. "You did a splendid job and handled yourself in a calm and logical manner. I am the captain of this vessel and if anyone should take the blame, it should be me."
Vorta was unresponsive, as she hit her head against the navigation panel which rendered her unconscious. Soon after Celeste started calling out, she managed to regain consciousness. Apart from few bruises and a nasty headache, she came through unscathed. "Still here Celeste. A bit bruised but given the situation, I’m lucky to be alive. I was trying to figure out where we are. No luck. All our systems seem to be malfunctioning or showing some contradictory data. I guess I’ll have to do it the old fashioned way, by gazing at the stars with my own pair of eyes."
The ship seemed undamaged, save for the garbled sensory and navigational data. Vorta stood up, and started observing the constellations which were clearly visible against the dark background of space. There were no planets nor stars in their vicinity, nothing that could serve as a more prominent point of reference. After some time spent in contemplation and mind bending calculations, Vorta came to a shocking conclusion. She turned to Celeste and said, "This is not our universe, and by the looks of it, we have much bigger problems."
Celeste stared at her, without knowing how to respond. "How, What? How can this be? We know about the existence of parallel worlds but we never assumed it was possible to travel between them."
"Yes, exactly that. The Scintilla drive is both spatial and temporal. What we didn’t know is that those properties apply to all connected universes. As you’re aware, each Scintilla particle occupies multiple dimensions at the same time. We always assumed that this multi-dimensional property is limited to our own universe, just as our telepathic reach is bound by our own galaxy. We were wrong.
"And to make matters worse, by using our engines we created a rift in the fabric of inter-dimensional membrane between universes. It is impossible to tell. Each particle can be present in who knows how many universes. And the worst–"
"Don’t tell me there’s more bad news."
"–part is, another repercussion of our ’marvellous’ endeavor is the gravitational disturbance causing all the connected universes to converge in one location. My guess is that this convergence point is our point of origin, where we first fired up the engines."
"Is there anything we can do to stop this? Do I really want to know what happens if this convergence occurs?"
"I think you can imagine the grand finale. We can’t know anything for sure anymore. This failed mission of ours is also a reminder that we are not as omniscient as we thought we were. Highly evolved we might be, but all of this proves that both our singular and communal minds still lack some essential information about the universe and its laws.
"Since we can’t return to our point of origin, we will have to somehow patch this rift from this side. You asked about the convergence? If it happens, all the connected universes will annihilate each other in one massive super nova explosion. This rift must be closed. Even if it means..."
"I understand. Thank you Vorta. Let me think about it. There’s no point in establishing a connection to our communal mind, as we are in a whole different universe, right?"
"You’re probably right about that. It might be possible if we ended up in one adjacent to our own, as our telepathic link might be able to pass through the rift. Honestly, I think it’s just a waste of time, and time we don’t have. Whatever is about to happen, it’s going to happen soon. Our priority should be to find a way to close the rift."
A’Meki listened to this conversation and made peace with the fact that this was a mission of their own demise. He was convinced that closing the rift was possible, but surviving the process was not. Although still in shock, he was able to find his inner engineer and start to ponder. While Celeste was discussing a few ideas with Vorta, A’Meki finally woke up and said, "I might have a solution."
"A’Meki! I’m so glad you’re back," Celeste said. "We could really use your expertise on this."
"While I was in shock, I was still able to listen to your conversation and contemplate the question of closing the rift. You might not like my idea, but I’m convinced that it’s the only way to know for sure. Well, we won’t be able to know anything, but it will work. I think you understand what I’m implying. When we reach the convergence point, the gravitational forces will be immense. Let’s hope this ship is really as sturdy as they promised.
"Our engines are, believe it or not, in perfect condition. We still have an abundance of scintillas, and since we aren’t in our own universe, we can use that to our advantage. All those universes connected to Scintilla particles are being drawn to the convergence point which was created in our universe. If we fire up the engines at the same location in a different universe, we should be able to stop the convergence, and close the rift. On the upside, we will witness a unique show of cosmic savagery during our final moments."
And then there was silence. All three of them, being highly evolved and intuitive, knew deep down that this mission was their final one. In the true spirit of Zygnian society which valued communal advancements over personal ones, there was nothing odd about what A’Meki had proposed. Before proceeding, they decided to send a message, not a telepathic one but an old fashioned radio signal.
The message was the following: "We have come to revere ourselves as masters of our galaxy, the climax of evolution, and have come to believe that there is nothing more to be known about the universe, its brilliance, its precision, and all the laws that govern this true pinnacle of unknown origin. We did something horrible and meddled with a source of power we do not fully understand. Scintilla drive should be destroyed, and the underlying power source banned until we reach a post-utopian level and fill in the knowledge gaps still present in our communal mind. Celeste, the captain of TSD-1."
Vorta set a course for the very center of the inter-dimensional rift. The crew contemplated in silence, and were preparing for their final destination, the end of their life cycle.
"Something’s odd," Vorta said. "We seem to be experiencing some sort of a time dilation phenomenon. It must be a side effect of the convergence. I can’t even begin to comprehend the sheer brutality of combined gravitational influence of multiple universes."
"Oh no. This’ll be the ultimate punishment. Not only that our sacrifice will be final, it’ll take aeons until our life force has finally been extinguished. Nothing we can do now Vorta. Keep going, set the speed to maximum, and let’s hope this works. It’s been a pleasure being on this voyage with both of you. My only regret is"–Celeste sighed–"that it will also be our last."