Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kiama Naim ((A) Chief Science Officer) in Graven XII - Science

Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Graven XII - Science

Posted by Warrant Officer Walker Darach (Chief Operations Officer) in Graven XII - Science
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Knots came to the machine and the doors slid back automatically along with steps folding out. She launched herself up the steps. “I am a qualified pilot, in case you are wondering,” she said. “It was one of the requirements when I did my post university schooling. My mentor did not want to drive and did not fly so I was required to.” She fitted a pair of goggles over her eyes that looked like a kind of WWI set of flying goggles only with thinner rims. “There is a webbing bar next to you. Just pull it over you and it will auto lock.”

Cool, Faye mused as she followed Knots into the flying craft. “I’m a good pilot myself, though I can’t say I’ve handled something like this,” she said, intrigued and most definitely going to observe closely. She found her seat and pulled the bar over as instructed.

Climbing into the machine after Faye, Kiama followed the instruction as well once she’d sat down. She’d never been on board anything like this and was wondering how it would feel like once they lifted off the ground.

She started up a sequence then turned in the chair that evidently swiveled. “The yield is about 30% on average from what we’d expect. However the grains are inedible. When you process them they lose all structure and are dust after the grinding. You can in places rub them between your palms and they just fall apart.”
- Knots

Faye frowned. Sounds like a chemical interaction in the cell structure of the seeds, but until I get a closer look I can’t be sure.”

~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist

Kiama nodded silently. Whatever was wrong with those crops, it certainly didn’t sound good. A lower yield was bad enough. But if the grain they harvested wasn’t even edible … While she felt bad for the people on Graven XII, she was also intrigued by it and more than a little curious; not to mention eager to start working and finding out what was going on and how they could help.

~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO

The craft was silent but for the soft sound of the wind cycling through the blades and it lifted off on a whisper. They lifted straight up until it cleared the Visitor Center then Knots turned it about. There was a brief settling then reorienting as the rotors underneath took up the slack as two of the upper rotors swung and shot the craft forward. Below they quickly crossed a greenspace that gave way to buildings. To one side the sea sparked in the sunlight on the waves. “That’s what we thought too. While the soil samples came up without that - but the soil had been .. altered. It was not so much dead as it didn’t have life in it, if that makes any sense.”

They quickly passed beyond the city where buildings gave way to forest and pastureland and fields. A gleaming river banked by trees could be seen off one side twisting toward the sea. Irrigation sprays could be seen on some fields.
- Knots

“Hmmm,” Faye pondered as she looked over the landscape that she had to admit was beautiful. It was harder than she thought to be here. Inhaling deeply, Calloway looked over at Knots. “A lack of microbiome. What are the neighbouring areas experiencing. Anything similar in the ecosystem?”

~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist

“Nothing that we’ve seen yet,” Knots replied. Their flight bounced a bit. Faye chewed a dark purple lip. “Headwinds. Hang on I’ll pull us up a bit.” At that moment the comms chirped.
Knots

=^= Darach to Naim. You got a minute Lieutenant? =^=

WO Darach - COO

Naim was staring out the window at the landscape below when the call came, tapping her combadge, she replied, =/\= Sure, how can I help you? =/\= Tearing her gaze away from the vista to make sure her focus was fully on what Darach had to say, she waited for him to continue talking.

~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO