If you could steal a ship and bring it home with you...

[tarinzix]

Okay, so a friend of mine got into this philosophical discussion earlier this week about what we would do if one of us got transported to the Star Trek universe for a period of, say, 48 hours and could bring anything back with us when we returned, what, if anything would that be? What would you do with it once you got back into THIS universe?

I'm curious to see what everyone would do. I'll reveal my own thoughts on this once later on...

[Stern]

Interesting question, and something I had actually thought of in the past.

Honestly, it is likely that, while some of my favorite ships are the smaller ones (like the fan-made Seeker), I would much rather take a larger more exploration-oriented starship. Of course you run into the usual issues of even knowing how to operate the thing, let alone maintain it and keep it running smoothly, but pretending that we figure all of that out and I bring it back the first thing I would do is probably contact friends and family to help fill stations. I would be selective though; when you have something like that, it is amazing how easily it is to have it slip out of your grasp if someone else wants it. After that I would use it for exactly what it was intended; long range and deep space exploration.

One of things that I, like I am guessing many people who get wrapped up in science fiction, wish, is the ability to see other worlds and more of the universe than I ever truly will. Handed a starship, and that is exactly what I would set out to do. I'd leave rather quickly as well, because even if the world governments can't really get up into space where I are, they can certainly try and find ways to, even if at the very least all they do is open fire on it.

Likely I'd never come back. Life is short and if I had a starship I would rather spend the remainder of my days seeing everything I can possibly see before I die.

[FruitLoop]

I would bring back a replicator. It can make anything, so anything I need, I just need to ask.

[Juuls]

Medical cures... for things that I know my friends are sick with and would have been cured of in the Trek Universe. Oh and a really kick-butt music selection probably all instrumental as words can get in the way of the true gift that people have.

[Stern]

One other thing that I would want to bring back, and this actually finds itself more or less rooted in real scientific advancements rather than anything presented directly in the show, is the ability to manipulate our genetics. It has been suggested that at some point in our future as we continue to evolve we'll more or less take control of our own evolution by controlling our own genetics. Some really fascinating things have been suggested by this, and I see the Star Trek world, especially around DS9/Voyager era, as being close to, if not able to, begin to do a lot of that. They may not due to ethical reasons, or perhaps they do but it is in a more subtle way, such as extending lifespans, which would be one of the main things I would want to use it for.

[tarinzix]

Yes they have, but they also came with some pretty strong warning labels... I think Kirk said it best over the communicator.