Killer DTI fic idea

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I know I don't have the chops to do this, but:

Suppose that after the events of "Second Chances" (the creation of Thomas Riker), some rogue historians go back in time multiple times with a ship and deliberately create transporter doubles of famous people, leaving the individual there and the timeline intact, but also having a version to bring back with them to the 24th century. They place them in a holodeck on a top secret station that mimics the time they came from and interact with them, pretending nothing has happened. When they have been fully mined for information, they are killed (euthanized, perhaps by transporter scattering) and discarded. But some who died young may be allowed to live and craft new inventions/philosophies/works of art, which may be misrepresented as being created in the past and undiscovered until now.

Maybe one of them finds out what is happening, or a crew member discovers and dies (mysteriously) before they can blow the whistle. Perhaps a woman they double and bring back was pregnant at the time of her death and nobody knew - her offspring may be in peril or is now old enough to do something about it . Any number of things...but anyway, somehow, the DTI gets wise and must go after them.

(Oh, please, don't let this already be a Treklit story; I hate being the second person to think of things...)

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Thoughts?

 

[Cyfa]

I quite like the idea, and can easily imagine this as a Treklit story, but it would have me thinking those age-old questions: "well, why doesn't anyone use the transporter as a weapon, or to prevent ageing, or filter out disease etc?"
Perhaps instead, the time travellers could beam up the subject just before death, heal them with 24th century medical science, and replace her/him/it with a non-living duplicate ( a bit like in Millennium )?

Spoiler: TTN: Fallen Gods transporter spoiler

(While I can't think of a Treklit story the same as this, in Titan: Fallen Gods, the Titan's Andorian crew are duplicated via transporter and abducted by the IGW Shantherin th'Clane...)

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

That doesn't work if, say, they want to do social/science experiments, such as taking a younger version of someone who died old and change a variable about their lives and see how their thinking would change. Or create a child of two smart people who didn't live in the same time/place.

 

[Cyfa]

That's true, you're right. I think I need to rewatch Millenium to get it out of my system (love that film!) before it colours any further thoughts I may have

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Kind of takes the ethics of using people as experiments to a whole new level...

 

[Little_kingsfan]

Well, I think this particular idea sounds interesting, and would love to hear/read more about it.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Maybe the idea could be used in combination with the temporal cold war with one or more of the factions using this strategy for reaching their goals.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln might also figure in to this...

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Has this been done in non-Trek fiction?

 

[Little_kingsfan]

(Oh, please, don't let this already be a Treklit story; I hate being the second person to think of things...)

Yeah, I hate that, too. It's so hard to come up with an original idea these days because almost everything has already been done; the trick is to take something that's been done and do it differently enough that it tells a good story.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

The Nervala effect (following the "Alfa effect" from "Foul Deeds Will Rise")

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Prior to Thomas' defection to the Maquis, an agent of this group accesses/observes/participates in his post-transfer physical, maybe ordering tests on him to determine the feasibility of such a project.

 

[SolarisOne]

Excellent idea. Now that I think about it, the circumstances surrounding my MC's life are kind of similar to this, only without the use of transporters, since his people don't use those. I'm thinking specifically of this part:

taking a younger version of someone who died old and change a variable about their lives and see how their thinking would change

.

I'm thinking this could have Krenim-level implications, if played right.