Every Survival Requires A Solution – Star Trek Fanfiction (The Reality Paradox #6)

Aura not understanding something was not a good feeling.

She didn't appear to be having any good feelings at all. It was apparent she was struggling to grasp the experience of emotions.

And I had no idea how to help her.

By now, she had made her way to the floor, knees drawn up, head lowered, and arms covering most of her face.

Something you'd never see an android do.

I actually think my heart broke a little watching her.

How could Q have been so certain this was what was best for her?

What was he hiding?

The more I worried about Aura, the more the reality of our situation finally began to settle in.

We were stranded in a place that supposedly didn't exist.

I started looking around frantically.

First around the bronze alloy room, which contained nothing but a table and chairs made from the same strange material.

Then out the window.

The same view greeted me.

A barren field of dead grass stretching endlessly toward the horizon.

I was staring out the window, deep in thought, when I heard Aura stir.

Before I had time to fully turn around, she was already speaking.

"Captain, I no longer believe this location was constructed."

When I faced her, she was crawling across the floor, brushing away dust that appeared to have accumulated for years.

I couldn't tell what was beneath it.

"Then how did it get here?"

I knelt beside her and started brushing the dust away as well.

"I believe it emerged."

Then I felt it.

The floor was loose.

I started brushing the dust away faster.

Finally, the outline of what appeared to be a hatch became visible beneath the dust.

I sat back on my heels and stared at it in wonder.

Where did that come from?

I must have walked across this floor a million times.

I never felt loose flooring.

Aura was already searching for a way to open it.

"Emerged from what?" I asked as I watched her work.

She stopped searching.

I watched her lift a hidden latch from the floor, twist it, and pull open the square hatch.

"The paradox."

We both peered into the opening.

It was even darker than the dimly lit bronze alloy room we were already standing in.

Normally, anxiety would have kicked in full force by now. Anything less than full lighting usually bothered me.

But it hadn't since we arrived.

In fact, I wasn't afraid at all to discover what lay beneath the structure.

I reached inside the opening and felt along the inner wall until my fingers found a ladder.

Aura noticed my hand land on it.

We looked up and met each other's gaze.

Aura broke the silence first.

"I ran 535,452 scans of this structure. This never appeared on any of them."

She looked back down into the darkness.

Worried.

Or was she scared?

She was still too difficult to read.

It was such a strange feeling.

To worry about Aura.

She definitely wasn't the same android anymore.

Not just because of what Q had done to her.

Because I truly believed she had been the one who saved me.

And I felt like I owed her more than I could ever repay.

I reached over and touched her arm.

She looked up to meet my gaze, still carrying that same worried—perhaps frightened—expression.

I smiled.

"Nowhere else to go but down. Maybe we'll find something we need, Aura. I'm sure it'll be fine."

I released her arm, grabbed both sides of the ladder, and lowered myself into the shaft beneath the structure.

After anchoring my feet on the lower rungs, I began my descent into the darkness.

Aura followed without hesitation.

Her feet remained just above my head.

"Captain, that is what I am afraid of."

I chose to ignore the comment and continued climbing downward.

Fortunately, the faint yellow glow of her eyes helped illuminate the shaft around us.

"I should have gone first, Captain."

I started to get a little winded.

It felt as though we had been climbing forever.

Breathing harder now, I replied, "I can see just fine."

Every now and then, the glow from Aura's eyes illuminated the walls around us.

The bronze alloy was gone.

It had been replaced by silver metal.

I reached out at one point and ran my hand across it.

It felt like duranium.

Right when I thought we might need to stop and rest, I finally felt solid ground beneath my feet.

I stopped.

Aura immediately stopped as well.

I extended one foot carefully.

More ground.

Solid ground.

And plenty of it.

Slowly, I stepped off the ladder and pushed myself free.

I looked up at Aura.

She remained several steps above me.

I raised a hand, offering assistance.

There was something strange in her eyes.

Something I couldn't explain.

I'd never seen them look like this before.

Human.

Yet still undeniably android.

Both at the same time.

She hesitated.

Then descended a few more steps and placed her hand against mine to steady herself before stepping onto the deck beside me.

She stood next to me and looked back up the shaft we had just descended.

I followed her gaze.

The dimly lit bronze room was barely visible above us now.

We had come far deeper than I realized.

I looked back at Aura.

She was still staring upward.

Still worried.

"What's going on, Aura?"

"I just keep thinking about all the things Mr. Q said."

She ran her hand along the wall beside the ladder.

I did the same on the opposite side.

"Like what?"

I heard Aura blow dust from the wall.

I turned just in time to watch her brush away decades of accumulated grime from what appeared to be an ancient control panel.

She tapped several dimly illuminated controls—buttons I was fairly certain only she could see—and suddenly a long corridor to my right flickered to life.

What did we just find?

I started toward the newly illuminated corridor when I felt Aura grab my arm.

I turned back to look at her.

She still looked worried.

"I have been analyzing probabilities since we woke and discovered we had arrived here."

I nodded and waited for her to continue.

"If I understand Mr. Q correctly, reality has encountered a contradiction."

I raised an eyebrow, interested to see where she was going with this.

At the same time, I was becoming increasingly impatient to find out what was down the corridor.

"A person who should not exist continues to exist. An android linked to that person continues to exist. The universe was required to place us somewhere while it attempts to resolve the error."

I frowned.

I had no idea reality could become this complicated.

"So it does what reality always does," she continued. "It creates a solution. Except the solution is imperfect."

I glanced down the ancient silver corridor I was itching to explore.

"Very imperfect."

She squeezed my arm to regain my attention.

"The bronze structure could literally be the first thing reality produced. I have been unable to establish a consistent position."

I hoped she didn't notice I was only paying half attention.

"Relative to what?"

"Everything."

That got my attention.

"Explain."

"The stars do not align. The planet is not in orbit. The structure possesses no geological history. There are no fossils. No tectonic activity. No erosion. No evidence the environment ever formed naturally."

She paused.

"It is as though it simply appeared."

I blinked.

"Those 535,452 scans revealed quite a lot."

I must have had a crazed look in my eye.

Her worried expression was slowly becoming frustration.

I attempted to hide my amusement.

Instead, I made it worse.

"It sounds like a lot of assumptions, if you ask me."

She rubbed the bridge of her nose.

The gesture should have looked ridiculous coming from an android.

Instead, I found it strangely adorable.

"Mr. Q stated that nothing here was real. What if this structure exists because we required shelter? You needed a breathable atmosphere. What are the statistical chances we would arrive on a world possessing the precise atmospheric composition required for Human respiration?"

I looked down at the deck beneath my feet.

It didn't feel artificial.

Not like a holodeck.

But it didn't feel natural either.

Aura was making entirely valid points.

"I agree this is far too coincidental," I said. "And it's probably connected to Q somehow. But Aura... what else are we supposed to do?"

I sighed and shrugged.

The truth was I was exhausted.

I agreed with her.

I simply didn't care anymore.

I wanted out of this dreary place.

I wanted to wake up in my quarters aboard the Rutledge and discover none of this had happened.

The lights down the corridor suddenly flickered.

Both of us immediately looked toward them.

After a moment, the lights stabilized.

Aura continued staring down the corridor.

"Captain, I do not believe this is Mr. Q."

I looked at her.

"Then what is it?"

She turned toward me.

For the first time since Q had left, she looked genuinely uncertain.

"I believe I know why things keep changing around us."

Then she paused.

For dramatic effect.

Which was perhaps the most unsettling thing she'd done all day.

"This structure is not finished."

I stared at her.

"What does that mean?"

She looked down the corridor.

"Reality is still writing it."

I sighed.

"Then let it keep writing."

I gestured toward the corridor.

"Because there's literally nowhere else to go."

She continued staring at me.

Still worried.

"And now there is."

I reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Then let's follow it and see where it leads."

I started walking.

She remained where she was.

I tugged gently.

"Try embracing your new Human side a little more."

She looked down.

"Stop analyzing everything."

Aura bit her lip.

Another first.

I wasn't sure whether to be concerned or impressed.

I tugged her hand again.

This time she followed.

The architecture around us began to change almost immediately.

The walls no longer looked ancient.

The materials no longer looked ancient.

Everything felt newer.

More deliberate.

I reached out and brushed my hand across the wall.

At first it felt like duranium.

Further down the corridor, it felt more like tritanium.

The materials themselves seemed to be changing.

Even the shape of the corridor evolved.

Eventually we arrived at what appeared to be an airlock.

A large hexagonal hatch.

I released Aura's hand.

Together we studied it.

A control panel sat beside the door.

I stepped forward and tapped several controls.

To my surprise, the hatch hissed and slid open.

Definitely an airlock.

And somehow Federation controls were still functioning.

We stepped inside together.

Almost immediately I felt the depressurization cycle begin.

Apparently whatever this place was, its technology still worked.

We stood silently and watched each other as the cycle completed.

The atmosphere vented.

The chamber vibrated.

Then the inner hatch hissed and slid open.

Aura stepped through first this time.

I followed close behind.

The corridor beyond curved gently away in both directions.

A clean hexagonal design.

Familiar.

Very familiar.

There was an overhead.

Bulkheads.

A deck beneath our feet.

Everything felt unmistakably Federation.

A starship.

Or perhaps a station.

Although if it were a station, the presence of airlocks made far less sense.

Aura looked around.

Then back at me.

Waiting for answers.

Instead, I offered a suggestion.

"Why don't you scan for life signs?"

"I do not believe there are any lifeforms hiding down here."

I shrugged.

At this point, I was becoming less and less surprised by anything.

Especially now that Q was involved.

Or was he?

Aura activated her internal sensors.

A moment later she frowned.

"My scans indicate there are no biological life signs in the vicinity."

I spread my hands.

"Then we should be safe, right?"

She glared at me.

I found it increasingly difficult not to smile back.

Being the first person to witness Aura navigating emotions was beginning to feel like a privilege.

Confusing.

Fascinating.

And occasionally entertaining.

I gestured for her to follow.

Then I took the lead and started down the corridor to the right.

We didn't travel far.

Only a short distance around the curve before we encountered another set of doors.

These looked familiar.

Very familiar.

Turbolift doors.

Both of us immediately began examining the surrounding panels again.

Aura located the controls first.

She pressed a sequence.

Barely a second later, the doors slid silently open.

At this point, the fact that Federation controls continued to function was becoming genuinely unsettling.

We exchanged another look.

Then I stepped inside.

Aura followed immediately.

This time there was no argument.

No hesitation.

We stood practically shoulder-to-shoulder as the doors slid shut behind us.

The turbolift felt noticeably smaller than any I had ever used before.

I looked around.

No handles.

No control panels.

No visible interface at all.

If the doors opened...

And there were no controls...

Then the vessel must still possess a functioning computer core.

Aura apparently reached the same conclusion.

"Computer, locate primary command facilities."

The turbolift immediately began moving.

Up.

I frowned.

We must have descended much farther than I realized.

Then again...

Perhaps the corridor had gradually sloped downward and neither of us noticed.

No.

Aura would have noticed.

Wouldn't she?

Q had me questioning everything.

The turbolift continued its ascent for far longer than expected.

Then it finally stopped.

The doors parted.

Both of us gasped.

Beyond the threshold sat a bridge.

A small bridge.

Immaculate.

Pristine.

And undeniably Starfleet.

Whatever Q had done to Aura, one thing was certain.

She had become much easier to read.

The look of wonder on her face mirrored my own.

Together we stepped onto the bridge.

For a moment neither of us spoke.

We simply stared.

Then we separated and began exploring.

Ancient, yet perfectly maintained consoles surrounded the command center.

Some stations appeared familiar.

Others didn't.

I found myself studying the vessel schematics displayed along one bulkhead.

Aura soon joined me.

The ship's design was unlike anything I had ever encountered.

Small.

Powerful.

And filled with systems I had never heard of.

I turned toward the nearest console.

"Computer, identify this vessel."

The response came instantly.

"USS Paradox. Registry NX-0911. Paradox-class experimental explorer."

Definitely Starfleet.

Or at least something closely related to it.

"Computer, when was this vessel commissioned?"

"Commissioning date unavailable."

I frowned.

That was highly unusual.

Federation computers rarely failed to provide basic vessel information.

Especially information as fundamental as a commissioning date.

I exchanged a look with Aura.

Then I tried a different approach.

"Computer, where is the command crew?"

"No command crew is currently assigned."

Of course not.

As far as we knew, this vessel was buried beneath the surface of an impossible world.

Still...

Something about that answer bothered me.

"Computer, who is currently operating the vessel?"

"The vessel is operating autonomously."

That explained why everything appeared functional.

The lighting.

The environmental controls.

The computer systems.

The maintenance.

Everything.

I stepped closer to the console.

"Computer, confirm this vessel is capable of conducting all primary functions autonomously."

"Affirmative. USS Paradox is capable of autonomous navigation, tactical operations, scientific analysis, engineering control, damage mitigation, and mission execution."

The bridge suddenly felt a little smaller.

Aura spoke before I could.

"Captain, the vessel effectively serves as its own command crew."

By then she had moved toward the helm.

I joined her.

The technology was familiar.

Yet somehow ancient and advanced at the same time.

Then I noticed something in my peripheral vision.

Aura's expression had changed again.

The worry was gone.

The uncertainty was gone.

What remained looked disturbingly close to fear.

She stared at the helm.

Motionless.

Then quietly murmured:

"Unresolved paradox."

I looked toward her.

"What did you say, Aura?"

Her gaze never left the controls.

"Unresolved paradox, Captain."

Finally she looked up at me.

"This vessel was not here before. That should be impossible."

My stomach tightened.

"Yet it exists."

Aura nodded slowly.

"And it is coincidentally named the USS Paradox."

Silence settled across the bridge.

The hum of unseen systems suddenly seemed louder.

More noticeable.

Aura's eyes drifted toward the forward viewscreen.

Then back to me.

"Every time your survival required a solution, reality provided one."

I felt a chill run through me.

"That's impossible."

"Yes, Captain."

"It should be."

Aura held my gaze for several seconds.

Longer than usual.

Long enough to make me uncomfortable.

Then she quietly added:

"I am beginning to believe that reality disagrees."