Post : Back to Normal
Author : David Hewlett
Date : September 25 2385
Location : Gamma Quadrant

Commander Hewlett and First Lieutenant Grata walked back through the
city towards the room where Grata had first discovered the Commander
working and all their problems had started.

"Commander…there's something I don't quite understand." She announced
as they walked on. "If we are in a higher dimension, then why does the
city still exist here ?. I mean apart from the orange sky and the lack
of any interference, this is an identical city to the one we left.
You're certain this is the same city and not another city built
exactly the same as the one we left somewhere else ?"

Commander Hewlett just waved his hand to get her to stop speaking and
carried on walking, looking down at his tricorder every few seconds.

"And another thing……" Grata continued, ignoring the Commander's hand
gestures.

Finally Commander Hewlett came to a stop, causing Grata to pause in
mid-sentence.

"I've been wondering about that myself." Commander Hewlett announced.
"Now that I can scan the city properly I'm getting some very unusual
readings. I don't know if it's because we're in this higher dimension
and the tricorder is not functioning correctly or that these readings
are correct, in which case what I'm seeing is amazing."

The Commander adjusted his tricorder for a second and then looked
across at Grata.

"Sorry go on." He said, diverting his attention away from the tricorder.

"I was going to say that it's much warmer here as well." Grata
continued. "What sort of reading are you getting on your tricorder ?.
Are they life-signs ?. Is whoever built this city upon a city still
here ?"

"I'm not getting any life-signs no…." Hewlett replied. "But I am
getting some readings and they appear to be coming from the floor. I'm
picking up both light and heat, but I can't explain how either are
being generated. There's no sign of a power source."

"What about the rest of the city ?" Grata enquire. "Are you getting
any other readings ?"

"The material the city is made of is amazing as well. It's far denser
in this dimension than our own and it doesn't fully registering as
solid on the tricorder, but that could be down to the tricorder not
working the same here. It's as if the walls are in a state of quantum
flux somehow. I'm guessing but I would say that whatever material the
city's made of, it exists as solid matter in both sets of dimensions,
which would explain why the city is identical in both."

"So the city was only built once ?" Grata suggested. "Using this
material."

"Most likely." Hewlett replied. "Or it could have been rebuilt using
this new material at a later date. Let's get back to the transporter
room…I'd like to get back to the survey ship and analyse the data
we've collected."

---------------

They reached the room they had first departed from and Commander
Hewlett started to examine the console once more. In this dimension,
the console was intact showing none of the rewiring he'd performed on
the console in his own dimension.

*So not everything in this dimension is the same as ours.* He thought
to himself.

Using the tricorder reading he'd taken from the other console, he
started to enter commands into the console, working on getting them
back to their own dimension.

"Good" He announced. "Our patterns still appear to be in the system,
with a little time I think I can get us back to our dimension."

----------

It took nearly an hour for Commander Hewlett to figure out all the
controls, but finally he stepped back from the console and smiled.

"I think I'm done." He announced. "I've managed to create a
sub-routine which will transfer us back to our own dimension without
sending us to another pad."

"And you're sure it will work ?" Grata asked.

"Yes....." Hewlett replied hesitantly. "Just step onto the pad and
I'll activate the sub-routine."

Lieutenant Grata picked up the Commanders backpack and cautiously
stepped onto the pad whilst Commander Hewlett activated the console.
He then grabbed the tricorder and joined her on the pad.

"Nothing's happening." Grata announced.

"Wait…I had to put a time delay into the sub-routine." Hewlett
replied. "Because both our patterns are still stored in this pad, we
both need to be stood on it for this to work."

"And you're sure it will work ?" Grata asked again.

Commander Hewlett didn't have time to answer, as they were both hit by
a sudden feeling of nausea. Then the room started to spin and they
were enveloped in a world of blinding light and deafening sound,
forcing them to close their eyes and cover their ears. For a brief
moment before he closed his eyes, Commander Hewlett saw several
"figures" looking back at him.

Suddenly they both felt their stomachs drop and the sound level drop.
Lowering their hands from their ears, they tentively opened their eyes
and looked around. A few feet away stood at the console were two
figures, slowly coming into focus as their eyes re-adjusted to normal.

"It worked." Commander Hewlett announced, as his sight returned and he
recognised one of the figures. "Commander Vex, what are you doing here
and who is this ?"

Lieutenant Grata stepped off the pad and looked around, just glad to
still be alive and in one piece.

"It did work." She announced.

The two figures at the console just stared at the new arrivals.

"Why are you looking at us like that ?" Commander Hewlett finally asked.

"Where have you been ?" Commander Vex enquired. "We've been searching
the city for days looking for you and then you just suddenly appear
from out of nowhere."

"Days !" Commander Hewlett exclaimed. "But that's impossible. We've
only been gone a couple of hours…three at the most."

"Commander, you've been missing for the past five days." Commander Vex
replied. "We've had every member of the survey team and the ships crew
searching the city room by room. We'd better get you back to the
central tower; you can tell us all about where you've been then."

The four of them headed out of the room and down the corridor towards
the central tower.

"Lieutenant Seamus Harper." Harper stated holding out his hand to
Commander Hewlett as they walked back toward the central tower. "I'm
looking forward to working with you."

"You are ?" Commander Hewlett replied, puzzled by the remark.