Once again Chris woke up in sickbay. He sat up to find, once again, no headache. “Doctor,” he called over to the chief medical officer, Kara.

She walked over to Chris’s bio-bed, and said, “This time half of the crew lost consciousness!”

“What,” Chris asked in astonishment.

“I’ve performed in-depth scans on each effected crew members this time. Every time we jump, it effects several parts of the brain. And every time we jump, its effect is more severe. That’s why each time we jump more crewmembers are effected.

“Chris was about to get up when Kara continued. “Captain, I’m worried about the long-term effects this might have. If this keeps up, the next time we jump, we may all be effected…some may even die!”

Chris thought a moment, and said, “As much as I hate to say this, I am afraid that the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.”

“What if our next jump takes us to a hostile dimension and we are all effected,” Kara asked.

Chris stood up, and said, “Let’s just hope after we take a look at this dimension, we’ll be able to return home again.”

Chris hated sounding so cold, but he really had no choice at the moment. “If you’ll excuse me doctor.”



“Status report,” Chris ordered as he sat down in the command chair. The ships counselor, Terry, was the only senior officer, other than Kara, that was not effected by the last jump.

“Both ships have made it through OK,” Terry reported. “Chronometric readings are very similar to our own galaxy, which should make it easier to determine how to recreate the proper anomaly.”

“Good,” Chris said. “As soon as all crew members are awake again, set a course for the closest system.”

“Aye, sir,” the chief helmsman James Trikal replied.

Chris stood and headed towards his ready room. On the way through the door, he said, “You have the bridge, counselor.”

Chris immediately had the replicator replicate a cup of Earl Gray, and then Chris went to the aft window once again. Chris realized that since this ordeal had started he hadn’t been to his quarters. What time Chris had to sleep he spent sleeping on the couch in his ready room.

Suddenly Chris thought of something. He had noticed that the secondary science officer on the bridge, who was a Vulcan, as well as Terry, a Betazoid, were never effected by the jumps.

“Harriman to Doctor Trieal.”

“Go ahead,” Kara replied over the comm system.

“Doctor, have any Vulcans or full Betazoids been effected by our jumping?”

After a minute, Kara replied, in an astonished voice, with, “No sir, none have been effected!”

“Investigate this further, please,” Chris ordered. “Harriman out.” Chris tapped his comm badge to deactivate. He then proceeded with his thoughts as he stared out the aft window of his ready room.



“How is the ship holding up,” Chris asked the ship’s chief engineer, Kalia.

“Minor structural and gravitational stress on the hull, warp cores are doing fine with no problems at all…I’d say she’s doing quite well, considering the stresses we’ve put her through,” Kalia reported.

They were in the briefing room off to the starboard side of the Bridge. The amount of chairs around the table was enough for the senior officers as well as two other guests. There was, how ever, a larger briefing room on deck six, which was meant to accommodate two ships worth of senior officers.

“Doctor, any progress on figuring out why Vulcans and Betazoids are not effected by our jumping,” Chris asked.

“Actually, yes,” Kara replied. “It is quite obvious, really. Betazoids and Vulcans are telepaths, and so have some degree of mental shielding. They have to, really. After I thought of this fact, I realized that the jumps mostly effected our mental pathways.”

“In actuality, every one has some degree of telepath powers, but they are so weak, that they can only be read by others and can not use their telepathic powers. That being the case, the anomaly, when passed through, effects the weakest minds. As in the minds that are the least protected.”

“How come half Betazoids are effected,” Chris asked.

“Well simply because they don’t have full protection. Their mental powers usually can only sense emotions and not full thoughts. As for half Vulcans, despite their half-and-half heritage, they always seem to prefer to go on living as full Vulcans, and so get full mental training. So, they have the full mental protection.”

“How ever, I’m not sure even the strongest Betazoid will be able to withstand too many more jumps.”

“Tom, can we recreate the proper anomaly with current information,” Chris asked.

“Not yet,” Tom, the ships chief science officer, replied. “How ever, if we explore a small portion of this dimension, we should be able to.”