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TEMPORAL TRANSPORTER

close-up of ceiling lights above transporter close-up of ceiling and ceiling lights above transporter

The Bridge's temporal transporter, which is situated to the starboard side of the main work stations, allows personnel to be beamed into and from the past. The temporal transporter is one of the most significant design differences between the 29th century vessel and its earlier counterparts. The positioning of the temporal transporter on the Bridge means that personnel can beam aboard and enter the command center immediately after transport, rather than travel from a separate transporter room. In the event of any hostile transportee or a potentially threatening situation arising from transport, or even just as a security precaution as when Lieutenant Ducane beams Captain Braxton aboard from the 2372 time frame on Voyager in order to arrest him, then Bridge crew armed with hand-phasers can quickly reach the transporter chamber, and it is extremely likely that a forcefield can be employed if necessary. In design, the transporter chamber maintains the familiar circular booth design installed in previous Starfleet starship classes. The Relativity's transporter chamber's outer walls consist of a number of black panels inlaid with a series of connect blue vertical indicator bars. The central section has a black circular dais which is split into six equal sections around a smaller inner circle. Each of these segment features glowing blue surface circuitry. Directly above the dais is a ceiling-mounted unit which consists of concentrically-placed turquoise- and white-coloured emitters which project the transporter beam downward into the centre of the dais on which the transportee materialises. Before a transport is initiated USS Relativity's shields are raised (presumably to protect the timeship from being affected by events in the time period to be travelled to; the same principle relates to Annorax's weapons ship in [#76 and #77 Year Of Hell]), and the target time and place is programmed. The stardates employed are more precise than those used in the 24th century and earlier, with two or even three more places after the decimal point. Lieutenant Ducane to the Relativity's crew: "Raise shields. Time frame: Stardate 52861.274, Delta Quadrant. Spatial co-ordinates: eighty-seven theta by two seventy-one. Target: USS Voyager." Lieutenant Ducane to the Relativity's crew: "Raise shields. Time frame: Stardate 49123.5621, Delta Quadrant. Spatial co-ordinates: twenty-one alpha prime by nine thirty-six zeta. Target: USS Voyager." The screenshots show the process of beaming someone (Janeway) onto the USS Relativity. When a person or object is about to be beamed aboard, they are said to be "approaching the temporal threshold". ST:M says the transporter is designed to transport one person at a time but at the end of [Relativity] both Janeway and Seven stand on the transporter pad at the same time. Perhaps they were transported one after the after? It seems that the transporter incorporates the mechanism by which more than one embodiment of a person (due to being extracted from a time frame, or several time frames, more than once) is re-integrated as Ducane assures the 2375-Janeway that there will eventually be "just one Seven of Nine". Too many time jumps can cause neural damage or even temporal psychosis. When Seven makes more than four jumps she begins to suffer sensory aphasia.