“If there’s one thing you take from today, may it be that while the Underspace is closed to us for now, the learnings from recent events offer a glimpse at how we could, with further research, change the efficiency of superluminal travel by orders of magnitude,” Dr. Luke Lockwood offered as he drew his talk to a close. There was so much they’d learned from the labyrinth, so much that it had revealed. Now, all it would take is someone willing to close the gap, to take the mathematics and convert it to practice.

From the front row to the standing room in the back, the auditorium burst into applause. For a moment, he just stood there, taking it all in. It’d been far too long. The folk on the Polaris, they appreciated his genius for what it produced in the furtherance of its mission, but to be surrounded by his peers, actual scientists that could truly appreciate the brilliance of his mathematics, it was a delightful feeling.

As the applause died down, Ensign Snnar Vok, Dr. Lockwood’s colleague from the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity, approached. “Wow, doctor! Just wow! Where’d you ever learn the courage to speak to such a large room?” They spent their days playing with numbers in the lab, and the young subspace theorist clammed up even at the prospect of presenting to Fleet Admiral Reyes. To present to a room of over five hundred of the Federation’s most distinguished scientific minds, the idea was utterly terrifying.

“Back in the eighties, I used to fill a room many times this size,” Dr. Lockwood shared. Those had been the good old days, back when he held an endowed chair at the Daystrom Institute and served as an advisor to the Federation Science Council. “But I guess that’s neither here, nor there.” He was a department head on a Starfleet starship now, and as he’d been counseled many times, that meant his role was to offer guidance to those under him. “I guess what I can say is that, if your equations are accurate, let them do the talking. The math will set you free.”

That made some sense, Ensign Vok had to admit. “Maybe I’ll give it a shot, someday.”

“My friend, if you’ll remember, much of the math was yours,” Dr. Lockwood acknowledged. “When you’re ready, I’d welcome you to stand beside me on that stage.” A true academic, Dr. Lockwood had no issue crediting the works on top of which his were built. Those who described him as self-centered and egotistical were simply those who had nothing worth acknowledging.

Before either could say anything further, a woman approached. She, like Snnar Vok, wore the pips of an ensign, but as a human who appeared at least forty years of age, and a little sickly at that, Dr. Lockwood could infer from her attendance that she was most likely a researcher who came to the fleet later in life. They had a few like that within the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity on the Polaris, such as Lieutenant Sh’vot, a geophysicist with a prolific career at the Federation Terraforming Command before embracing the call of service, or Lieutenant Commander Linus Rhodes, who’d built a successful cybersecurity firm before enlisting in Starfleet. He appreciated the worldly knowledge they brought from the outside, the sort of stuff you could never learn at the Academy.

“Dr. Lockwood,” she smiled as she shook hands with Dr. Lockwood. “I’m Dr. Elizabeth Kynes with the Advanced Starship Design Bureau.”

Yes, definitely a scientist later turned officer, he thought to himself as she coughed lightly. Beyond her sickly middle aged physique, her other tell was the way in which she introduced herself. She’d led with her doctoral title rather than her service rank, much as he and many at ASTRA did.

“A pleasure to meet you, Dr. Kynes,” Dr. Lockwood offered, and then remembering himself, he looked over at his colleague. “This is Ensign Snnar Vok, my colleague from the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity.” Might as well start to circulate the young man’s name in academic circles.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ensign Vok,” Dr. Kynes smiled as she shook his hand. “Very inspiring work you all have done, out there on the frontier.”

“Appreciate it, doctor,” Dr. Lockwood acknowledged. “But what can we do for you this evening?”

“Your talk was truly eye-opening, especially the way you generalized the subspace-like hypersurface to support compaction of its foliations within a higher order manifold,” Dr. Kynes offered. “What I cannot wrap my head around though is how one achieves the excitation necessary to create an Underspace-like compression anthropogenically.”

“Ah yes, that is the great conundrum, is it not?” chuckled Dr. Lockwood. “It’s not unlike the dilemma our forebears faced when confronted with the works of Miguel Alcubierre and José Natário.”

Dr. Kynes and Ensign Vok looked equally lost. Neither had the time, in amongst their research, to study the history of their discipline itself.

“That is to say this is a problem where, as is often the case, the mathematics has outpaced our capacity for engineering,” Dr. Lockwood elaborated. “But that, Dr. Kynes, is where your friends at the ASDB come in. If they’re interested in pursuing this, my lab and I would be more than happy to assist.”

Dr. Kynes was interested. Very interested. But then the dizziness hit, and suddenly she felt hot and clammy. “Umm, yeah… that’d be great… I’ll reach out once I’m back…” Dr. Kynes said, stumbling over her words. “But I’m sorry, if you’ll excuse me.” 

And then she was off, making her way quickly out of the amphitheater.

Dr. Lockwood shrugged. “Was it something I said?” There were other scientists waiting though, men and women who’d come to the front to indulge themselves in his genius, and thus, without another thought, he turned and introduced himself to the next pair, a duo from the Orion Institute of Cosmology.

Dr. Kynes, meanwhile, stumbled as she made her way away from the auditorium and into the corridors of Archanis Station’s upper levels. This was like earlier, but worse now. The dizziness and the hot flashes were coming on with renewed vigor this time. It must have been something she picked up during the trip from Antares shipyards. It was one of the reasons she didn’t particularly like to travel.

Eventually, Dr. Kynes found her way to the turbolift. “Visitor quarters, junction Alpha Six.” As it began to move, she had to lean up against the wall to stabilize herself. God, she was burning up. She raised the back of her hand to her forehead. It was hot to the touch. Ugh, she really needed to lie down.

At long last, the turbolift came to a halt down on the visitor quarters level. Stepping out into the corridor, there were two ladies in evening wear standing there. They looked up at her, and worry fluttered over their faces. This woman they didn’t know looked an absolute mess, barely able to stand. “Ma’am, are you alright?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Dr. Kynes said dismissively as she stepped on by. She just needed to get to her bed and lie down, and the pair, late for a double date at a Bajoran bistro on the promenade, carried on without another thought.

Slowly, and stumbling as she went, Dr. Kynes covered the remaining distance to her quarters. The door opened, and she stepped inside. Her head was spinning, and she coughed again. Hard this time. A bunch of phlegm came up, or at least she thought it was phlegm until she looked down. No, that was blood. Why was she coughing up blood? What was happening to her? 

She reached for her combadge, but her hand never made it to her chest.

She collapsed onto the floor.

The lights went out.