Beginnings of 2020 - Daria - Online Tales - Esteem of the Cynic Chick

Esteem of the Cynic Chick
‘I have low esteem for everyone else,’ Daria thought as she entered the sanctuary that was her room, repeating what she had told her family down in the kitchen. She went to her computer and opened her email.

How is the new town so far? BrCheerNot

It was from another cynical teenager who she had been corresponding with on and off for the past two years. A lot of what she had seen of Lawndale so far reminded her of what BrCheerNot had described about her town. She opened the email.

Hi,CynicGal
We have arrived in the new town, which so far seems quite like your town, very suburban. Not to digress, my sister and I have started at the local high school. The principal gave us a tour, focusing on the sports, read: football, and other non-academic nonsense. But to top it all off the quack of a school counsellor thinks I have low self esteem.
Needless to say, I don’t have low self esteem! I have low esteem for everyone else.

Daria paused, that was still on her mind. That and Quinn’s predictable reaction.

So now I have to attend a special class for a few weeks. But there was a highlight. The History teacher is a high strung, but he knows his stuff, even if constantly annoyed by idiot football players.

Daria signed off, she didn’t have much else to say, and she wanted to get started on the homework.

The Engineer and the Time Lady - Lost v0.1

8. Lost
The Baffin went to warp. But something happened at the same time, and the ship shuddered and then dropped out of warp again. “Report!” Emerson barked through the red alert klaxon.

“We were at warp for just over a second,” Andersen reported. “We're still relatively close to the planet.”

“According to sensors, the anomaly did close in on us and the shuttle just before warp was initiated,” Lu added.

“Do we still have the shuttle?” Emerson asked.

“Yes,” Lu answered.

“Full scan,” Emmerson reported.


On the Montreal, Hernandez recovered after that jolt. “Are we still in the tractor beam?” she asked.

“We are,” Albert confirmed. “We'll be back aboard in 20 seconds.”

“That's good. That was a close call,” Hernandez said.

“It may be closer than you realise,” Lawson stated.

“You mean, we didn't escape the anomaly?” Hernandez asked.

“According to the sensors, the anomaly closed in just before the ship went to warp,” Albert said.

“That probably wouldn't be good,” Hernandez murmured as she saw the shuttle re-enter the shuttlebay.

After the shuttle landed, the away team went back to the bridge.

“Preliminary results from the scan are ready,” Lu said.

“Let's hear it,” Emmerson ordered.

“Divergent Quantuum Signature,” Lu confirmed.

“So, we're in another universe?” Hernandez asked as she entered the Bridge.

“Yes,” Emmerson answered as Hernandez and the others took their stations.


It took an hour for the scan to complete. During the time Emmerson had informed the crew of the situation they were in.

“As soon as the scan is complete we're going to try to contact Starfleet as it exists in this universe,” Emmerson said.

“That would be better than us trying to do it by ourselves.”


The scan data showed that the the planet in this universe had been as affected by the phenomenon as the planet in their home universe had. They had then tried to contact Starfleet. There was no response.

Eight hours after the transition, Emmerson made another decision. “We have not received a return signal from Starfleet Command. Therefore we need to go to Sector 001 ourselves.”

“If Starfleet is not there, we don't know what state we would find Earth in,” Hernandez said.

“That's true,” Emmerson conceded, “but it would be more foolhardy to go anywhere else. We'll send probes in the direction of other Federation worlds as we approach.”


The Baffin made preparations to make the journey. But first they sent a probe back to Tanarexa IV with information on what had occurred. It soon disappeared into another anomaly, but scans on the destination were inconclusive. They placed a warning beacon and then went to warp.


“Personal Log, supplemental. The situation hasn't fully hit me yet. The Baffin is lost more than what Voyager was. The chances of finding our universe again is remote, astronomical even, and it seems we're in a universe where the Federation either doesn't exist, has yet to exist or has fallen.” Hernandez paused. She wasn't sure where that line of thought was leading. Some of her ruminations were confused. She changed tack. “We have set course for Earth at Warp 8. We're not using Slipstream as while Dilithium can be recrystalised, Benamite cannot.”
Warp 8 is also the speed at which the engines are most efficient. We won't need to slow down. Without unforseen events we should arrive in twelve days.


Six days later, Emmerson came onto the Bridge. There still had been no response to the hails to Starfleet the previous evening. “We're about to send the probes in the direction of Qo'noS and Romulus, Commander,” Hernandez reported.