nik

Here's some things I've thought of in the past week that people thought were bad ideas, but I think are good:

If you are a parent of a small child, why in the world would you push such a heavy stroller around? Why not make a remote controlled blimp that you can put the kid in, and then move him around with a small electronic device that weighs only ounces?

For hair stylists:

"Corn row" braids in hair styles really seem to be "in" these days. Hair sylists should take advantage of this trend and charge money to braid corn-rows into other masses of body hairs... beards, armpit hairs, back hair, etc.

The first guy who ate an egg.... what the heck was he thinking? ("See that thing coming out of that chickens butt? I'M GONNA EAT IT!")

It's also used in mathematics to mean "similar to" or "on the order of" For example,

if I indicate the size of an atomic nucleus as d, I might make a mathematical statement of the sort:

d~5fm

Meanin that the size of an atomic nucleus, d, is ABOUT 5 fm. It might be more or less, but is not 500 fm or probably not 50 fm, and probably not 0.1fm.

Can i join this RPG?, i saw all the pages and i would like to join in

Wow! Really! Did you even read the stuff while we were still Sea Trek? Those were some glorious seafaring days!

Jeanway tiring of all this mis-fortune befalling her brother-in-Law decides to visit him in the brig. She leaves her quarters and heads for the turbo-lift. "Deck four." She says as the doors close. All of a sudden an apperition of the "Claw Insignia" appears before her in mid-air. It revolves and begins emmiting sparks and speaks to her in an unfamiliar language." She flips on her mobile U.T. and it says. " Admiral Jeanway. You have the power within you to halt the events that will lead to the ultimate demise of Earth. Take the stone, it will guide you." Then the apperition dissipated. Again in a state of shock and confusion she taps her com-badge. " Nik and Captain Fenriz, I need to speak with you both immediately, meet me in Ten Forward."

"Aye Admiral-sama.... On my way."

A scientist.

Vanja the Gold plunges south from the icy north sea. The icicles weighing heavily on her sails and yardarms begin to melt and drop. After only a day of travel, Njyk has shed his furs. Yngvar the Iceblood takes the opportunity to sharpen axes in the warm air, while the Hakkon brothers take turns at the helm in the now calm seas. As Vanja plunges south, Bjorn Daggfin approaches Njyk.

"We are nearing the cloudy isles of the Eires." he grunts, and Njyk nods into the warm breeze.

"We will follow the winds around the isles and trace the penninsula of the Gaul's north." Njyk commands.

"Ayrrr." Bjorn growls, his long blond hair blows across his face. "Twill be glorious to breath the ice of the north again!"

Yngvar glances to the bow, does a double-take and drops the axe he is holding. He runs forward, and stands on the bowspett.

"Keptein!" He shouts, as he squints south. "Vessel on the horizon.... five degrees off the starboard bow!"

Njyk and Bjorg step forward and squint. Bjorn holds his lodestone up and watches it rotate as it hangs from it's wool string.

"A day's journey to intercept." He says.

"She's from the clouded isles!" Yngvar shouts.

"Well.... ", Njyk says, "Let's go and greet our pale neighbors of the isle." Njyk barks an order to Gjurd at the helm.

"May Odin's graces go with us." Bjorn mutters as the Vanja plunges forward to intercept.....

Nikkori takes the stone from the Admiral, and looks at it in his hand.

“It is bery pretty,” He says to Jeanway. “I would perform a class IV scan on it to further see what it’s purpose is.”

Nikkori walks across the room and places the stone on a small sensor pad on the table. A red mapping beam scans several times across the stone. Nikkori and Jeanway watch as the stone sits inert on the pad.

“Computer,” he says in English for the Admiral, hearing the characteristic chime. “Initiate biometric neural interface. Identify – Kamioka… Nikkori…. access code…. san-roku-nana-hachi-roku-ichi-go-nana-kyu.” The computer chimes and repies.

“Access granted. Activating neural interlink.” The computer replies in its feminine voice. Nikkori’s eyes glow red briefly as the computer identifies him and establishes the link.

Nikkori examines the rock in his mind, pacing around the room slightly as he considers it. The rock grows in his mind and pulsates as he examines it. Its inner structure scintillates as it magnifies into a weblike network. He rotates it in his mind, and sees its multidimensional structure. He speaks to the Admiral as he examines the rock.

“Admiral! The rock is actually larger than we can see in three dimensions. It exists as a bipolar tachyon flux in the fourth, fifth, and sixth dimensions – bery similar to dilithium’s existence in four dimensions, but much more complex. I believe that the stone is some sort of multidimensional data solid. The data actually changes with time. It contains a pionic exchange network interfaced with the tachyon flux. I habe neber seen anything like this before. I beliebe that we can actibate the data projection to interface with the stone….”

As Nikkori speaks, the stone pulsates from red to green to yellow, and appears to grow slightly. The lights dim, and the lab is transformed into a holographic projection of deep space. Suddenly, an image of the Elusive appears in the middle of the room. It surges forward in space. It’s shields flare as it crosses the shock wave of a supernova in a familiar setting similar to Nikkori’s simulation of the black hole time-jump scenario. The scenario plays out as before with the Elusive jumping through the time conduit created by the quantum torpedo explosion on the event horizon – a single Evader shuttlecraft well out of range of the black hole.

As the Elusive disappears into the wormhole, the Evader craft shimmers slightly, disappears, and is suddenly replaced by a Xindi vessel as it orbits the black hole.

In a spectacular display of lights, the black hole recedes into the distance, and the image shifts rapidly across the galaxy to a familiar system – Sol. Jeanway and Nikkori watch as they are carried across the solar system to the Earth and it’s moon. As they appear to float across Earth’s moon, they see several bases of odd design. A large black scar crosses the face of the moon, several thousand kilometers long, and about fifty kilometers wide. They see the wreckage of several earth vessels on the moon – including the Enterprise, her broken hulk long since scavenged for parts.

Nikkori and Jeanway are whisked rapidly to the surface of the Earth, where they are shown an image of San Francisco, but not the one they know. The buildings are dark and jagged, and the sky has grown red. Several Xindi shuttles skim the sky. The Golden Gate bridge lies broken in the water, and rubble from what was once Starfleet Command lies strewn in the streets. As they are carried into the building now occupying Starfleet Headquarters, they see not the usual council. A gruesome insignia in the shape of a gnarled eagle’s claw hangs above the darkened chambers, and the computer translates the words at the base of the flag – “Imperial Sol Headquarters of the Xindi-Kazon Alliance.”

At the sight of this, they are suddenly transported several kilometers below the surface of some odd planet to a dim cave, where a multitude of humans are chained to the walls. Several are tortured with shock rods by Xindi reptilians while others are forced by the same reptilians to mine dilithium.

The images suddenly vanish. The room’s lights come back on, and the stone grows dark….

On the other hand, I would argue that "jumping" to the future would be quite easy. For example, if I sit at my desk and concentrate really hard for an hour, I can jump 60 minutes into the future from the point I started.

I once had a cloak made of cotton that did a really good job of keeping me warm on cold nights. I wouldn't say it was perfect because it had a small hole in the shoulder, and it wasn't waterproof, but it sure was nice.

Favorite book of all time? Tough one. It's a toss-up between the following.

"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu

or

"Classical Electrodynamics" by J.D. Jackson

Yep.  I'm a scientist, a physicist.  Completely absorbing, long hours, great pay, and very enjoyable - like getting paid to play!

Lucky! That's what I want to do

It's great fun! Make sure you do well and school now, and brace yourself for some hard work in college. Among physics majors, there's about an 80-90% attrition rate - it's very competitive, but very rewarding.

Yep. I'm a scientist, a physicist. Completely absorbing, long hours, great pay, and very enjoyable - like getting paid to play!

Jeanway answers. " I'm aware of the situation, Lieutenant, do you know something I don't ?"

Nikkori hears the Admiral's reply in his head.

"Then by now, you must have a primary suspect," he 'says'. "However, I believe

that the suspect is not acting alone. There are a few suspicious events that indicate that he is collaborating with or working for somebody else."

Using the neural interface, Nikkori spends time iterating through dozens of time-jump scenarios and contingengies, altering parameters slightly with each simulation and "feeling" his way through the results to optimize jump parameters. As he works, he feels an odd tingling in the periphery of his concentration. Pausing breifly, he turns his

attention to ships sytems and takes a quick "glance" at operations and sensors.

He notices that two gelpacks in jeffries tube #25 have been short circuited, resulting

in a power loss to six transporter rooms. Deciding to probe further, he "looks" through

the ship's log scanning events leading up to and following the unusual short-circuiting.

He gasps, slightly. Without tapping his comm-badge, he "thinks" a message to the

Admiral.

"Admiral Jeanway-sama. Lt. Nikkori. I believe that the malfunction of the gelpacks in jeffries tube #25 was not an accident. Somebody attempted to dishonor the Elusive

on purpose!"

Cool! Yeah, I do a lot of distance riding (just finished a fundraising ride in Maryland, total 125 miles over 3 days. HILLS) and tried racing. Only did one race. Won. And lost. Being the only girl in my age group, all I had to do was finish.

 

I've been thinking of doing a triathalon, but I don't run. :blink:

 

Good luck with it tough!

That's great! I haven't done too much riding this summer. I've been so busy at work that I've only been able to put in between 35 and 60 miles a day. However, things are

easing up a bit, and I might be able to take a few days off for a good trip. I was planning on a nice trip around Lake Michigan this summer - 1300 miles in two weeks, but I may have to settle for a 600 mile trip in five days. I try to take at least one long trip per summer. I just got a new bicycle computer for training intervals, and I might replace my 23mm slicks with 19's for a little extra speed!

Yeah, I don't think the men have it too bad either, between the female joggers and the cyclists who unzip their jerseys really far...I don't think they're complaining

 

Just out of curiosity, why kind of riding do you do? Distance? Racing....?

Mostly distance. I also own a mountain bike, but I love the speed and silence from a road bike. However, I also run a lot, and have participated in a handful of marathons, so I'm thinking about training for a triathlon to get the best of both worlds.

"Computer," Nikkori says, "Initiate time jump simulation sequence thirty-nine. Start at program time index 1643."

The lights dim and the hologram creates an image of the Minkowski supernova remnant filling the entire room. The Elusive (uncloaked for the purposes of teh display) floats just outside of the gaseous cloud with a dark center.

"As you know," Nikkori begins, "The Minkowski supernoba is only two years old. It's formation has been predicted precisely by Federation scientists studying the precursor for seberal years. They were able to pinpoint its formation to within a single minute. "

The hologram of the Elusive surges forward. Her sheilds flare as she crosses the outgoing shockwave, still penetrating the depths of space.

"As we approach the black hole, a single shuttle whose pilot is equipped with the biometric neural interface will be able to monitor the precise moment of the jump."

As the simulated Elusive approaches the black hole, a shuttlecraft exits from her stern shuttle bay. The shuttle pivots in space, motionless as the Elusive continues towards the center of the black hole. The Elusive appears to elongate, turning red as it nears the black hole.

"At the precise moment, the shuttle pilot wil trigger a patterned burst of quantum torpedoes towards the ebent horizon. Surface micro-fractures will trigger gravimetric feedback mechanisms, initiating a space-time causality flux reversal as the torpedoes explode near the ebent horizon. This will open the temporal wormhole that we need to make the necessary jump."

As Nikkori speaks, a burst of eight torpedoes are shot from the HT01, fanning out into space as they near the black abyss before it. They elongate into a network of

red streaks near the black hole, and explode into a flash of light creating an energetic vortex just above the surface. The Elusive springs forward into this vortex, which explodes into a shower of sparks, accreting into the black hole.

"We must keep in mind," Nikkori continues, "that the Minkowski black hole will not exist in the time that we are trabelling to. We must find another way home."

"Admiral Jeanway-sama." Nikkori begins. "Pinpointing time jumps with a nanosecond margin is bery difficult. Howeber, using the biometric neural interface and a natural grabimetric distortion, we may be able to effectibly increase that window to seberal seconds.

"I habe noticed that our course brings us to within four light-years of the Minkowski supernoba remnant, which has a ten solar mass black hole at the center. I beliebe that if we can pilot the Elusibe through the outgoing shockwabe, we can take adbantage of the time distortions present near the ebent horizon. A remote pilot on board a shuttle utilizing the neural interface will be able to accurately bisualize the grabiton flux, triggering the time jump at the correct time.

"Howeber, there is a danger. Inertial dampeners aboard the Elusibe will only hold the ship together against the tidal forces for only a few seconds as we approach to within two astronomical units of the ebent horizon. Several crewmembers aboard the Elusive will be able to compensate for local bandwidth variations in the inertial dampening field - if they concentrate.

"After the Elusive is in place, there will be a two-second window aboard the shuttle to trigger the jump. It will be a bery dangerous proceedure.... and the shuttle pilot will be left behind."

And who says it isn't sexy? How can you beat young, strong men in spandex? And usually tasteful (if that's possible) spandex

I'm a cyclist, and if I had a nickel for every woman who whistled at me out the window of her car or from the sidewalk, I'd be able to buy a few more bikes. They like the spandex and cut up legs, but I think they also find something exotic about a guy who

shaves his legs..... I don't know.... maybe not.

Yes, I've been following it. If every stage is like today's, it's going to be an exciting race.

The Shinto shrine glows eerily in the moonlight and the flickering candles. Nestled in a thick forest, the mists rise slowly and intertwine themselves about the treetops and golden

Dragons which festoon the eaves of the shrine. Its stone courtyard is empty. A break in the trees reveals Fuji-yama between the large wooden torii which opens to the shrine. A light breeze waves gently through the paper strips hanging from the cherry trees circling the courtyard. At the tops of the steps leading to the inner shrine, several bald monks kneel facing the inner shrine. They are silent. In the center of the stage leading to the inner courtyard, Akiko Shimehara kneels facing the courtyard, the torii, and Mt. Fuji. She wears a black robe tied with a gold cord. She plays slowly on the shimasen – an ancient, three-stringed Japanese instrument strummed with a handled tool. A large taiko drum is set on its side two meters away. Nikkori stands beside the drum. He is shirtless, and he wears billowing black pants, his bare feet are spread wide as he stands motionless facing the courtyard in the dark. A green dragon tattoo encircles his right arm. His hands are held rigidly in front of him, and he holds two thick staffs 50 centimeters long. He pivots towards the drum, and in a broad circle brings the staffs to the center of the drum, where he begins tapping almost inaudibly. This continues for several more minutes, each time growing in intensity. Bringing his right arm far back, he beats hard on the taiko as he shouts. Akiko’s playing grows in intensity as she pivots her shoulders to better grip her instrument. Nikkori jumps slightly as he now beats furiously on the ancient drum; its sound resonates in the forest. In a surreal appreciation of the event, the monks occasionally shout as the primal rhythm penetrates the ancient wood of the shrine. Nikkori and Akiko are now playing furiously, each coordinating their shouts with the rhythm of the stringed instrument and the drum. Facing the drum head on, Nikkori pivots his body hard as he appears to beat it with all his strength. Veins spider across his arms, neck, and chest as he continues. Akiko rocks back and forth slightly as she continues to keep pace in an eerie, ancient animal rhythm.

Suddenly, all is silent. Both stop playing. Nikkori is breathing hard, and sweat drips off his face and down his chest. He looks at Akiko, who bows at the waist. Nikkori places his feet together and bows.

“Computaa, tomate kudasai.” He says out of breath. The shrine, courtyard, forest, and Mt. Fuji are replaced with the usual yellow gridlines of the unprogrammed holodeck. Nikkori and Akiko are silent as they exit. As they leave, Nikkori notices Lt. Buzzkill

walking towards the holodeck.

“Excuse me!” Nikkori says excitedly. “Are you to be using – “

“NO!” Buzzkill says quickly, and continues walking. Nikkori and Akiko grin slightly to each other as they leave, ready to continue their remote testing on the new interface they are using.

Nikkori is kneeling on the tatami mat facing the large window as the stars streak by when he receives the Admiral's communication. Akiko kneels on the mat about one meter away facing a point halfway between the viewport and Nikkori. A small tray of green tea sits between the two, as the light from the lit lanterns flicker off their faces.

"Thank you for your interests, Admiral Jeanway-sama. It would appear that the neural interface is successful. We were able to overcome the lag time using existing transporter technology and alpha wave feedback monitoring debices with passive resonant synaptic monitors. In this sense, the computer becomes a literal extension of the controller. In this way, the user does not have to consciously think of his actions; he simply does them. In the case of the shuttle, I do not have to think, "Fly up." I just do it. It is no different than raising your arm, blinking, talking, or anything. The same is true for sensors. The user can "see" what the sensor sense. There are no ill effects if the debice is deactibated during a connection; the user simply ceases to control it, like dropping a sword that you are swinging. As you can tell, the debice was able to be used to control multiple bessels. With some work, remote control is also possible."

After the report, Nikkori and Akiko take a sip of tea.

"Tanoshkata ne....." Nik says lowly.

Akiko grins slightly. "Hai!" She agrees

They continue to look at the stars streak by, and engage in a relaxed, whispered conversation.

Nikkori, Akiko, and Nurse Ratchet stand in the shuttlecraft bay before the

Evader class craft as it is prepped for launch. A few of the engineering crew perform checks on the systems. The craft has been modified slightly – it’s windows are now opaque and her pilot console readouts have been deactivated. Nikkori would by flying blind, deaf, and dumb. As well, a modified Mark V torpedo tube casing has been affixed to the hull just above the port nacelle.

As Nurse Ratchet affixes a probe to Nikkori’s right arm, an engineering ensign approaches.

“Sir,” he says crisply, “the craft is ready, and the drone has been affixed. To release it you just – “ Nikkori stops him by holding up his hand.

“Bery good, ensign. Let me figure out how to release the drone.”

“Yes, sir!” The ensign runs back to the craft.

“Well…” Nurse Ratchet says, “Don’t go getting yourself killed!”

“Thank you for your concern, Ratchet-san.” Nikkori says. “Lt. Shimehara will monitor

craft systems remotely, and conbey reports to you….. It is grateful that the Elusive has pulled out of warp long enough to allow such a test.” Nikkori nods slightly to Akiko

Shimehara, who smiles self-consciously at him.

The door to the craft opens, revealing an unusually black interior. Two engineers enter with lights. Nikkori enters the craft, and the engineers wait while he straps himself in. The engineers leave the craft and stand beside Lt. Shimehara and the Nurse. They watch as the door to the craft closes. The deck officers voice can be heard over the intercom.

“Launch sequence requested. Opening shuttlebay doors.” The klaxon sounds as the wide doors ahead of the craft slide open revealing the vast, cold vacuum of space dotted with many shimmering stars.

The shuttlecraft rises and follows the landing bay lights to the exit where it crosses the containment field and leaves its mothership. At that point, it surges forward in a glowing streak. Passing out 5 kilometers, it spins sharply and drives hard to the Elusive. It spirals quickly about the Elusive’s starboard nacelle, and skims effortlessly over her saucer section, where it then dives straight “down.”

“Can the craft take that?” Ratchet asks.

“Inertial dampeners holding…” Shimehara reports.

The shuttle thrusts aft of the Elusive where it is put into an end-over-end spin, toppling like a thrown toy. Shimehara examines her PADD as the engineers gasp.

“Do not worry.” She says. “He did that on purpose.” On queue, the craft pulls effortlessly out the spin. Ten kilometers from the Elusive, the shuttle comes about. At that point, the torpedo tube casing is released. Both craft fly in a synchronized pattern, spiraling about each other as they return to the Elusive. At one kilometer, the tube casing shoots upwards while the craft dives. Both perform a long sweeping loop and approach each other head on, where they narrowly miss. The shuttle comes about.

“Mark V control released. Converting to attack mode.” Shimehara says, touching a control on her PADD. At that point, the torpedo swept about and reverted into a collision course directly for the shuttle, which sat strangely still aft of the Elusive. As the torpedo approached, the shuttle went to a rapid tailspin and edged quickly out the way of the torpedo, which came about for another pass.

“They can do that?” The engineer gasped wide eyed.

“The pilot can do that.” Shimehara corrected him.

As the torpedo approached, the shuttlecraft rolled sharply and dove into a split-S, coming side-on towards the torpedo, where it then reversed roles, and began tracking the torpedo. After several seconds, the torpedo’s program ended, and it came to a stop in space, conceding defeat.

The shuttle returned to the Elusive, where it righted itself, and pivoted as it approached the bay doors, coming to a gentle landing exactly where it started. It’s doors opened, and Nikkori exited smiling.

“No problems here.” Ratchet said as she scanned her PADD. The engineers rushed to the shuttle to examine it and Nikkori and Akiko spoke for several minutes.

“Thank you doctor.” Nikkori said. He and Shimehara left the shuttle bay together.

A fully functioning application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) silicon detector control and acquisition system.

Nikkori stood at his tactical station looking at the viewscreen. The admiral was kind enough to afford him an hour of simulation time to test the biometric neural interface that he and Lt. Akiko Shimehara had been working on for some time. Nurse Ratchet was there as well watching her tricorder as Nikkori worked – or rather appeared NOT to be working.

A simulated very dense asteroid field was projected on the forward viewscreen. The simulation was more of a game really. The object – navigate to the center of the asteroid field and beam out the ten survivors of a freighter crash before three Romulan warbirds got there – or to the vessel – first. In this simulation, the Elusive was modified so as not to be cloaked, thus giving it a disadvantage against the warbirds. Akiko watched her

PADD as Nikkori appeared to be concentrating – sometimes closing his eyes for several seconds. As the simulated Elusive entered the field, its phasers lanced out in several directions, vaporizing many of the smaller asteroids in its path. It moved forward, banking hard to port and executing a barrel roll about an asteroid skimming between its warp nacelles. Nikkori spoke to the ladies standing beside him.

“Sensors habe located the stranded bessel. Zero point 86 AU, fifteen degrees mark fibe. Romulan warbirds detected at 35 degrees mark twelbe, forty degrees mark 15, and 70 degrees mark nine-two….. two approaching the bessel, one on an intercept course. Raising shields. Increasing speed to zero point 35 impulse.” Nikkori continued his report as Akiko and Nurse Ratchet nodded approvingly at their PADDs.

The Elusive rotated 180 degrees and dove sharply. Some members of the shift crew turned away from the viewscreen as their eyes tricked them into motion sickness.

“Preparing for emergency transport.” Nikkori spoke as the approaching warbird shimmered into a cloak on the screen. Several photon torpedoes were ejected from the Elusive and fanned out to where the warbird was. One struck an asteroid, many missed, but one found its mark. Immediately, the Elusives phasers targeted and lanced out at the explosion. Arcing violently, with flames shooting from its dorsal section, the warbird turned into a retreat.

“Within tractor beam range; lowering shields.” The two warbirds began firing on the surface of a large asteroid. “Surbibing crew transported successfully.” The warbirds began approaching the Elusive, as she performed a split-S – her phasers taking out several asteroids in the process. As the warbirds approached, they shimmered out of sight when their cloaks activated. A volley of eight photon torpedos sprayed out of the Elusive’s stern, all aimed at a very large asteroid in her wake. The surface of the asteroid erupted into a spray of rocks, which electrified the shields of one of the nearby warbirds. Immediately, the Elusive’s phasers targeted at shot, slowing the warbird down.

Leaving the asteroid field, the Elusive immediately sprung to warp speed, narrowly missed by a volley of torpedos from the remaining warbird.

“Simulation complete.” Akiko said quietly. Akiko and Nikkori both looked at Ratchet.

“Well,” she said, “the only change I noticed was that you appeared to be concentrating – you could have been playing chess for all I knew.”

“It would appear then” Nikkori began, “that the neural interface works. I beliebe we should present our results to the Admiral and request a shuttlecraft for testing on an actual bessel. Thank you for your time Nurse Ratchet.”

“Well, I’m just happy you didn’t end up bleeding this time.” Nurse Ratchet smiled and left. Nikkori nodded to Ensign O’Hornery, the tactical crewmember on his staff as he entered the bridge for his shift. He then walked into the turbo-lift with Akiko.

“Ishoni, bangohan o tabetia desu ka.” Nikkori asked.

“Hai! Ikimashoo!” Akiko smiled and the two went to the galley together.