On the bridge of the Orville, Isaac, the robot engineer, and John, the chief of engineering, were explaining something to Captain Ed and First Officer Kelly with troubled expressions. Annie, who had either heard the news and followed them or was somehow involved herself, stood off to the side, watching with bright-eyed curiosity.
"Captain!"
"We repaired and upgraded the time device, and then some problems came up."
"We talked it over and decided we really ought to tell you."
"After all, you're the captain. We didn't think we should keep it from you."
John first exchanged a glance with Isaac, then spoke with some difficulty and embarrassment.
"??"
"That's not right!"
"John! Didn't I warn you not to conduct those dangerous time experiments again?"
"I don't remember approving this!"
"Have you lost your minds? Was the trouble you caused last time not enough?!"
At John's words, Ed panicked. His expression changed at once, and he loudly scolded them.
He'd been given a severe dressing-down by Admiral Halsey over the last accident, and he still hadn't recovered from it. And yet, only a few days later, these two had gone and done it again?
"Captain!"
"We didn't!"
"We only upgraded the time device so it could be used to communicate with targets that had previously been time-anchored."
"That's right."
"We didn't use gravitational waves to activate it again. We started up another function that wouldn't cause a temporal mess."
Seeing that Ed was about to blow up, John and Isaac hurried to explain themselves.
"Speak plainly!"
"What exactly did you do?"
"Yeah!"
"I have no idea what that means!"
"Neither do I!"
At Captain Ed's gesture, Gordon, Tala, and the others on the bridge, who had been following the exchange, joined in with dissatisfied complaints, urging the two of them to