Question About Where Time Stands Still **Slight Spoilers**

[Quimby]

I am not finished with this story (which I am enjoying quite a bit so far) but I am a little confused by exactly what is happening in the rift.

It is said that time moves slower within the rift, which I assume would mean something like one day within the rift=1 year in our universe (just arbitrary numbers I picked there)). But if that is the case shouldn't the people inside the rift all feel as if they just recently arrived there even though there was a great deal of time between pop ins?

However it is stated that the situation in the rift doesn't work that way. Instead, ships in the rift seen to acknowledge time just as we do but do not age. In fact it appears it is this great deal of free time they have that led to their peaceful society. Is that the case? Or is something else happening?

I suppose this question would be better asked of the people who wrote the TAS episode the story was a follow up to but I have no way of reaching them.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Question About Where Time Stands Still **Slight Spoilers

Quimby said:
I suppose this question would be better asked of the people who wrote the TAS episode the story was a follow up to but I have no way of reaching them.

Why not seek out the adaptation of the episode in "Star Trek Log Four" by Alan Dean Foster?

He fleshed out many details of "The Time Trap", although he gave different species for the makeup of some of the Elysian Council (ie. Berikazin for the Kzin-like creature, Edoan for the Andorian, Gorin for the Gorn, and Tallerine for the Tellarite.)

 

[foravalon]

Re: Question About Where Time Stands Still **Slight Spoilers

I believe the situation is pretty much as you describe it, the consciousness of the sentients within Elysia operate in "real time", likewise their day-to-day movement and lives seem to as well. I'm not sure if the eating or sleeping habits of Elysians are ever addressed but certainly their bodies do not age in the same way as "our" space-time. It's kinda like the idea of purgatory actually.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Re: Question About Where Time Stands Still **Slight Spoilers

Time has no meaning there. It is static, but they seem to use an approximate stardate-like calendar to mark the passage of real time. There is no "real time" on starships but there is an artifical day and night to simulate it. I would presume they do the same in the rift.

 

[Dayton Ward]

Quimby said:
It is said that time moves slower within the rift, which I assume would mean something like one day within the rift=1 year in our universe (just arbitrary numbers I picked there)). But if that is the case shouldn't the people inside the rift all feel as if they just recently arrived there even though there was a great deal of time between pop ins?

It's been a while, but as I recall, our understanding then was that time is essentially stagnant while inside the rift. Everything proceeds as normal, and you're aware of the passage of time as you go about doing whatever it is you do, but the aging process is slowed to an imperceptible crawl. "The Time Trap" didn't show any real difference between the passage of time inside the rift relative to outside (i.e., spend an hour in the rift, a year passes outside, etc.), so we followed the episode's lead, going by what was said in dialogue, etc.