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Well, you had good points on the other stuff, and I'm running out of material so I guess...and I can't believe I'm saying this and I'm sure you won't either...points conceded. Hey, that didn't even leave a foul taste in my ...oh wait there it is. Kinda sneaks up on you.

Rochey wrote:

There's a difference between investigating and playing chicken.

And just what the hell would you do, then? Ignore it. Stay too far away to get proper readings, even though there's no indication that closing would make anything bad happen? Let this completely unknown and apparently advanced spacecraft pass by your borders without trying to contact it?
Doing your job and investigating something new is not "playing chicken". Investigating things is their job. It'd be a bit hard to do that if you ran away the moment you encountered anything new.

So since this is the only part I'm still interested in I'll respond to this. If I were the Saratoga's captain I would've launched a probe to get information on the probe, or at the very least determine what response it would have to a potential threat.

As for the playing chicken, that's what it looked like to me from the onscreen stuff.

If I were the Saratoga's captain I would've launched a probe to get information on the probe, or at the very least determine what response it would have to a potential threat.

I would have done the the same. Probes are made for that purpose.

I'm not sure, but is this the first time that any of our debates have ended in a concedence rather than agreeing to disagree?

Don't press the issue.

No joke.

I believe we should all back away very quietly and not make any sudden moves for fear of reigniting the thread.

Well, you had good points on the other stuff, and I'm running out of material so I guess...and I can't believe I'm saying this and I'm sure you won't either...points conceded.

Thank you.

Something occured to me last night. The probe was transmitting in the language of the Humpback whales in some mannor that could be detected by other space craft. And according to Rochey's theory the probe had some sort of advanced sensor system that could pick up water vibrations from intergalactic distances. However, if the whales have no subspace connection or something similar in nature, how was the probe expecting them to recieve the signal before it reached Earth?

Considering that Starfleet didn't find Data's head under San Francisco until the 2300's, I'd say it's possible that the Probe Builders (for lack of a better term) had some kind of transmitters on Earth somewhere. The deep ocean is almost entirely unexplored at this point, and apparently it's still unexplored in 'Trek's 23rd and 24th centuries.

I always figured there was some sort of long range telepathic component to the whale song and the probe's transmissions.

Oh christ, not again.

Something occured to me last night. The probe was transmitting in the language of the Humpback whales in some mannor that could be detected by other space craft. And according to Rochey's theory the probe had some sort of advanced sensor system that could pick up water vibrations from intergalactic distances. However, if the whales have no subspace connection or something similar in nature, how was the probe expecting them to recieve the signal before it reached Earth?

This has already been answered.

Rochey wrote:Oh christ, not again.

Something occured to me last night. The probe was transmitting in the language of the Humpback whales in some mannor that could be detected by other space craft. And according to Rochey's theory the probe had some sort of advanced sensor system that could pick up water vibrations from intergalactic distances. However, if the whales have no subspace connection or something similar in nature, how was the probe expecting them to recieve the signal before it reached Earth?

This has already been answered.

Well, then I'm sure there's no problem with you restating the answer.

Fine, but I'm not going over all this again.
The probe was transmitting from the moment a ship came into contact with it, and proceeded to continue to transmitting throughout its journey, and also when it arrived in orbit. The logical conclusion is that it was broadcasting the signals from the moment it set course for Earth. If it could broadcast its signals from, say, the Klingon border, there'd be no need for it to jump into Earth orbit. The fact that Earth's atmosphere didn't start getting messed with until the probe was in orbit further indicates that it didn't have the range to reach Earth from that distance at all.

Tsukiyumi wrote: and apparently it's still unexplored in 'Trek's 23rd and 24th centuries.

What makes you say that?

I don't know, the Atlantis project in the episode after BoBW made it sound a bit like research had been slow going. A World War may have stalled the research a bit.

Rochey wrote:Fine, but I'm not going over all this again.
The probe was transmitting from the moment a ship came into contact with it, and proceeded to continue to transmitting throughout its journey, and also when it arrived in orbit. The logical conclusion is that it was broadcasting the signals from the moment it set course for Earth. If it could broadcast its signals from, say, the Klingon border, there'd be no need for it to jump into Earth orbit. The fact that Earth's atmosphere didn't start getting messed with until the probe was in orbit further indicates that it didn't have the range to reach Earth from that distance at all.

Why would it broadcast if it the people it was trying to talk to can't recieve it? Also, the effect on Earth's atmosphere could have been a side effect of one of the probe's other functions, like the effect that disabled the ships it encountered.