Part of USS Ahwahnee: Thoughts From Underground and Bravo Fleet: Sundered Wings

Infinite Monkeys

En Route to the Foshir System
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There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. The USS Ahwahnee travels at high warp into the latter; an imperceptible turn in the cogs of time, or the latest stroke hammered out on one typewriter of an infinite continuum that tells our story. The past becomes a shadow, frozen and inaccessible to all save the few that flit through this universe unconcerned. The future; an array of quantum unpredictability, anchored to the real by the actions of the now.  

We have surpassed relativity. Space twists and warps around us. Our spatial coordinates are fixed; our coordinates in time constructible. Intermix chamber annihilation, and the departure of matter from this universe, in turn annihilates possible coordinates for the unfolding of time. Yet still more, later destinations, are created. Branching quantum realities, ever fluid across infinite tributaries continue to open and close. Pulsating like mycelial nodes, they weave a gossamer web enmeshed in the fabric of existence.  

The continuum retains a viscosity. Slingshots, causality loops, wormholes all provide a spyglass through which the distant shores are seen. We possess the means to traverse these waters. To affect the past, to witness the future, unspooling uncertainty into concrete reality. What, then, would be the mystery of life? Locked on our path through the fourth dimension with the abilities that we possess, we could know all. New realities might be tailored, new paths woven.  

Temporal wars, the flapping wings of deterministic chaos, and the lived experiences of beings beyond our dimensional realm all show us that to alter our continuum is folly. Change must come from within. Through our philosophies and celebrations of progress, we control our present actions. We build on the past, and improve our future not through surgical alteration, but through steadfast adherence to our guiding principles.   

Foshir is reached. Two D’deridex class warbirds decloak; troop carriers. Thus we find ourselves at the mercy of events. We accept the monkey’s keystroke. The whims of the cosmic joker and capricious entities may prevail. For this reason we must remain the masters of our fate. We are, after all, the captains of our souls.  

Comments

  • Whoa, I'm going to be thinking about this one for a while. This one is a vibe, starting so strongly with "There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen." I love that. The title, "Infinite Monkeys", is wildly evocative too, and it has an odd kind of beauty in the phonetic reciting of the phrase. I'm most overcome by the ring of truth echoing from that fourth paragraph. In some ways, I suppose it's always been one of the central tenets of Star Trek, and yet it also strikes me as unlikely as a concept in isolation, at first glance. How can one choice be more impactful than Prophets and Qs? There's something really powerful about the idea that one personal choice has more power than transdimentionsal superbeings with reality warping powers or physics breaking mad-scientist technology that can alter the path of history itself. The narratives of Trek through the decades has been telling us this over and over, and telescoping out, it has startling ramifications for how we all live our lives outside of the narratives. This leaves me with the big question: who needs to learn this lesson? Will it be one of the people on Foshir or will it be a member of the crew of Ahwahnee? Who will have to make an unthinkable decision?

    July 4, 2022