Limit at Minus Infinity

Limit at Minus Infinity is the eighth episode of the fourth RIS Bouteina season.

Tagline

The past winners of the Lyran Imperial Science Fair Tournament are asking a mathematics question in Ten Forward when they are discussing the "ladder myth" in mathematical education. Something strange is about to happen afterwards...

Summary

Act One

In Ten Forward, Linde and Largo get to ask a mathematics question about a limit towards minus and plus infinity. They then proceed with their argumentation and they argument their answer by saying that, since F(X) takes finite values while their limits towards both infinities are plus infinity, there is a minimum. Stella finds that it is a sad race to nowhere while a cadre of World of Warcraft players are in a holodeck playing Annika Hansen's latest creation: an holographic program in which the players ambush the Army of the Forsaken, in an effort to lift the siege of Ironforge, with Napoleon-era troops and equipment.

Act Two

Before either Brianna Reiss or Annika could come asleep, there was someone who used the transporter to beam himself out of the ship. Vaebn Mairex senses something wrong because Brianna fell asleep before the beta shift started. Once she awakens, she screams that the chocolate wobble ice cream was haunted. Also, when Annika awoke, she requested Largo and Linde to be with her at the counselor's office for issues related to gifted education, especially pertaining to mathematics. They debate whether they should be mathematically accelerated or enriched but their desire of normalcy turned the tide in favor of acceleration.

Act Three

Brianna begans acting totally unlike her, talking about the World of Warcrack holodeck program while she wasn't even in the holodeck to run it. However, Zetra and Rihanna assumed that the ice cream was really haunted because of Brianna's behavior. To see how the ghost affected her, Pazzo proceeds to test her knowledge of academic cheating, saying that there are three undergraduate-level cheating courses given at Malachorian universities. Annika then comes out with surprising cheating knowledge that she wouldn't possess otherwise. The medics suspect that they are affected with a nanite infestation.

Act Four

Back on the bridge, Putal scans the surrounding area for the culprit, that he found in a ruins field. Among the possible locations of the ghost in the wreckage are hulks of Ber'taa-class and the lead ship of the QeylIS BetleH-class. They have ascertained that it was the ghost of a transporter chief. Also, when they analyzed the ice cream, they found nanites and Pazzo wanted to clean the ice cream of the nanites by replicating clean ice cream out of the contaminated food. Pazzo also suggested that, to cure the women affected, they could be beamed out to the listening post with the nanites considered as viruses.

Act Five

The commanding officer of the listening post was hailed by a Klingon ghost, claiming that Hydrans demeaned Klingons in history books. Ilyana pointed out that Lyrans were far worse than Klingons in their treatment of Hydrans. Also, they have pinned down the ghost in the wreck of the Ber'taa-class ship, beaming it up for interrogation. Upon returning to the ship, Annika writes up a lengthy log entry while Vaebn was having dinner with ice cream. Because everyone else became wary about the chocolate wobble ice cream, Dhiemm was alone to eat the ice cream; even Taev Radaik ate gagh rather than the ice cream.

External link

• Limit at Minus Infinity on the RIS Bouteina boards