Star Trek Online hands out Back to the Future hoverboards

This one works over water, too

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Are you tired of hearing news about Back to the Future day yet, especially now that it’s technically over already? If you are…well, I’m sorry, but hey, this one might even be cool, because it comes from even further into the future – the 25th-century timeline of Star Trek Online, to be exact. 

From yesterday until October 26th, just before the launch of the game’s big Season 11 update, players that log into the game can claim a free Back to the Future-style hoverboard, complete with an evocative pink color scheme and royalty-free “Future Flyer” branding. There’s even a cute bit of flavor text from the game’s Temporal Investigations NPCs explaining just how strange artifacts from the 21st century got themselves into the 25th.

In case you aren’t willing to download a fat MMO to get your taste of 2015’s top toy, there’s a picture of the item,  as well as some hot quantum-teleported lore, below. 

Player: I heard about some kind of unexpected temporal anomaly?

Temporal Agent: The broad availability of time travel technology in the early 26th century has resulted in the increased potential for abuse of that technology. As a result, the Temporal Investigations Bureau has been monitoring temporal incursions. We’ve discovered unauthorized uses of crude flux capacitance technology throughout the late 20th century, and one of particular note that took place in the early 21st century.

Some of these infractions were catastrophic enough to potentially require our intervention, but the perpetrators inexplicably managed to correct the timeline, and their temporal manipulation device was destroyed shortly thereafter. Some minor fallout from this situation has been detected. The perpetrators brought anomalous technology with them across multiple time streams, and the destruction of their time travel gear coincided with the destruction of the anomalous tech.

The rapid decay of their flux capacitance technology, combined with the destruction of so many items with different quantum signatures, resulted in a phenomenon known as a quantum snap.

When a significant number of objects from disparate timelines are destroyed simultaneously, the timeline quickly attempts to correct the phase displacement, often forcibly. This particular quantum snap resulted in a single ripple of information passing rapidly through time, and the subsequent temporal disruption it caused could be detected by anyone with the appropriate technology.

This displaced information is mostly harmless historical data. However, some Ferengi working at the resort on Risa discovered plans for an item that is anomalous to our timeline, and have managed to reproduce it using current technology.

Interestingly enough, they even managed to solve a design flaw that limited its use on water. The item is now freely available to utilize on Risa, despite some concerns from the TIB on the matter.

We will, of course, remain vigilant for any future temporal infractions.


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Josh Tolentino
Contributor - When not posting about Japanese games or Star Trek, Josh served as Managing Editor for Japanator. Now he mostly writes for Destructoid's buddies at Siliconera, but pops back in on occasion.