
The engineer replied from his station. "Energy transfer to braking power is set. Ready to apply initial braking thrust. I hope that beastie makes the jump at warp ten. The heat from the tractor couplings is building fast. We're almost at the critical level now."
Everyone on the bridge was staring at the main viewscreen and preparing mentally for the coming jolt. Kirk switched on the intraship communicator. Instantly his voice began to echo throughout the decks of the starship. "This is the captain speaking. All hands prepare for braking power shock waves in approximately one minute. Fire and damage control parties stand by. Kirk out."
"Captain, our speed is now warp nine point six. Sensors show a great deal of space displacement readings ahead," reported Spock.
The bridge crew saw the effects that the science officer reported on the viewscreen. Just ahead of the shifting green miasma that was the animal and the pink tow line that was the tractor beam, the area of space they were converging on was beginning to flow like heavy black tar.
Spock interrupted their thoughts. "Speed has increased to Warp nine point nine. We have ten seconds to go...nine...eight..."
The tar now showed lightning bolts of pure silver as the black sheath parted to reveal the subspace corridor.
The Enterprise was suddenly engulfed by a universe of almost pure silver. From their rear scanners they still had the view of their own star-speckled universe, but the view ahead was more awesome. The creature's continuum, as Spock theorized, looked indeed to be composed of energy. The Enterprise was plunging toward a disc of silver and gold energy patterns.
"The creature will leave the corridor in exactly four seconds...mark," said Spock loudly.
"Stand by, Scotty," said Kirk as he and everyone else grabbed at consoles and chairs for support from the coming shock.
"Now!" shouted Kirk.
Scott immediately applied braking power. Everyone on the bridge was thrown forward in their seats as the momentum of the ship abruptly ceased. Then a low rumbling noise intruded onto the bridge. As it began to grow in intensity, Scott reported, "The creature hasn't disengaged the beam, Captain. Strain on the intermix chamber is building fast and the heat levels have risen to intensity four!"
Kirk looked at the viewscreen. The animal was not visible, so there was no real target for him to vent his anger against. They were doing all they could to let the animal live. Why couldn't it somehow comprehend! Kirk scowled at the still-visible tractor beam. It looked like a bridge leading to infinity. If the creature did not release the beam soon, the Enterprise would see infinity sooner than anyone wanted.
"The strain on the chamber is too great," said Scott quickly. "It'll blow in about thirty seconds."
Kirk fiercely set his jaw and glared at the viewscreen. In futile disgust, he slammed his fist against the arm of the chair and, as if in response to this, the tractor beam suddenly disappeared and the Enterprise was jarred out of the corridor, back into its own universe.
The breakout concussion, resulting from the transfer of the tractor's energy to braking thrust, sent people all over the ship flying to the floor, The final injury count from Doctor McCoy was four broken legs and about twenty cases of badly bruised bodies.
On the bridge, everything was back to normal and Kirk was observing the calm beauty of his own universe with thanks when Spock came over.
"Captain," he intoned quietly.
"Yes, Mister Spock. What is it?" asked Kirk, reluctantly snapping out of his reverie.
"I have the final damage report from engineering. No major damage was done to the intermix chamber. A number of control circuits burned out, however, and Mister Scott informs me that the entire tractor beam assembly will have to be overhauled. That will require a minimum of two days at a starbase."
Kirk did not really hear this report. He was still preoccupied with the events that had taken place.
"Something on your mind, sir?"
"Hmm... What?" asked Kirk tonelessly.
"The creature, Captain?"
"Yes, Mister Spock. The creature." Kirk sighed in a manner which was tinged with...awe? "Something completely opposite to life here. Directly opposite." Kirk shook his head with slight disbelief.
"And a direct necessity," said Spock.
"We have seen many parallel universes. Some paralleled ours quite closely and some diverged from ours to a great extent, but none ever diverged from ours completely. I suspect that every continuum the Federation ever encounters will diverge from ours by a greater and greater degree with this one being the direct antithesis of ours."
"I still don't understand, Spock."
"Picture it this way, Captain. A set of scales with the universes that singly resemble our own on one pan and those that are completely different on the other. A balance must be maintained in order to preserve matter and energy integrity, and to keep contacting dimensions from annihilating each other. Since we have seen so many universes like our own, it is logical to assume one like this being totally different in order to keep the balance. I'm sure you remember this theory from your days at Starfleet Academy."
Kirk sat there with his eyebrows knitted together in deep concentration. "I don't seem to recall it," he admitted, rather embarrassed.
"Borsson's Theory. Sometimes called the 'Balance of Nature' Prospect," hinted Spock, hoping to jar the captain's memory.
Kirk unravelled his eyebrows and shook his head.
"Fascinating," said Spock as he returned to his post.
Kirk smiled and turned back to face the screen. "Mister Sulu, lay in a course for Starbase Twelve. Ahead Warp factor three."JP Morgan's Imran Khan runs some numbers on the impact of Microsoft's (MSFT) new search deal with HP (HPQ), which replaces the PC giant's old pact with Yahoo (YHOO). Conclusion: Pretty much a non-factor all the way around.
- Microsoft may gain up to 1% of search market share -- but that's based in part on an assumption that an increasing number of PC users will use their machines' default search engine. Khan doesn't explain his rationale for that.
- What ever share MSFT does gain will come from Yahoo, but Yahoo's margins should increase, since they no longer have to fork over acquisition costs to HP.
- Not mentioned once in Khan's report: The impact of the deal on Google -- because there won't be any.
See Also: Microsoft's Non-Google Killer
Get the latest Google stock price here.Sony has scheduled a presentation at GDC 2014, “Driving the Future of Innovation at Sony Computer Entertainment,” and popular thinking suggests it will feature the reveal of the long-rumored PlayStation 4 virtual reality headset.
Since September rumors have swirled about a Sony-designed VR headset for the PS4. Most recently, we heard that it would finally be revealed at GDC 2014. Now, according to the GDC 2014 session scheduler, Sony will, in fact, be in the house and talking the future.
“Join Sony Computer Entertainment for a presentation on innovation at PlayStation and the future of gaming,” the simple presentation description states.
While it could mean an array of topics, including Gaikai’s cloud/streaming integration with the PlayStation 4, it’s the people who will be giving the presentation that suggest it will bring big peripheral news. Shuhei Yoshida himself, President of SCE Worldwide, will take the stage along with senior software engineer Anto Mikhailov and senior R&D man Richard Marks. Marks, PlayStation fans might recall, is the creator of the PlayStation Move motion controller.
One more bit of speculation about the presentation: we’ve heard that the first game to utilize the PS4 VR headset will be Evolution Studios’ racer, DriveClub. Driving the Future… DriveClub… I could be grasping at straws here, but it would certainly fit.
Stay tuned. Sony’s hour-long presentation is set for Tuesday, March 18 at 5:45 p.m.My first father-daughter weekend was freshman year when my dad and I didn’t really know what to do for the weekend and we ended up hanging in my apartment all weekend. When he came up the following year, we had more of a game plan. You may want to check out this blog if you too are wondering what to do.
It is very popular to take your dad to tailgate, except my dad isn’t the type of guy who wanted to go. Instead, we went downtown to World of Beer to watch the game. Being in Orlando, a central hub of entertainment, there are so many options of things you can do. So far, my favorite thing I have done with my dad is going to NASA and actually seeing a launch. NASA posts on their websites all of the launches coming up. Kennedy Space Center is only a 45-minute drive away and UCF even has discounted tickets. You can also get discounted tickets for any of the Orlando theme parks.
When my dad used to come up to visit my brother, the two of them loved going to either Orlando City Soccer games or the Orlando Magic Basketball games. They have never made it to an Orlando Solar Bears game, but I have heard those are a lot of fun as well. For a more active weekend, you can reserve a bay at either Drive Shack or Top Golf – both of these places have a bar and full menu and you can golf. Or, if you want