[snip]

Scans took a bit to process, the strange ‘something’ was indeed putting out a lot of energy in fact it was quite similar to the strange energy source that the landing party had just shut down. Though in this case on a far higher level. The hull composition was of an unknown type, but readings could discern it was quite strong in composition. Interestingly despite this seeming advanced strength the actual hull’s thickness was not much more than an inch or so! Why this was so was anyone’s guess. Scans for any life signs came up negative, as best as could be devised, the entire massive structure was one massive power source, with what seemed and equally complex communications and sensing array. Again for what purpose was anyone’s guess. But it was a pretty safe assumption this was NOT a construct by either of the major powers on the planet below. Nor was it of any known race’s construction methods.

Damien said, “Hull is tough, and thin. I don’t think that was constructed for interstellar travel. More like a big battery to power communications and sensors. But to talk to what?”

“Local?” she asked.

Damien shook his head. “No. Not them and not anything the computer recognizes. This is new. And no life signs. Maybe it’s just the mother of all buoys?”
El felt a thrill go through her. The planet below was alien but still had a familiarity to it that made her at home but not at home. This, however, was different. She squinted at the lights. She smacked Damien’s shoulder lightly. “Mother of all buoys. But pregnant with what?” She chewed a nail for a minute as she stared at it. “Communications you say. Sensors. Is it scanning us? And run those flashing lights through a translation algorithm. If it is computer controlled maybe it’s trying to chat mathematically. Is it transmitting ..” She waved her hand. “.. out there?” Or just trying to give her a headache.

As this all was taken in the strobing lights on the top and bottom of the structure were now an almost blinding blinking speed. But no signs of any type of power build up or known weapons were in evidence, so again what this meant was once more anyone’s guess!

GM CockRoach

Galen came into engineering; El heard his boots on the decking not to mention the way he whistled through his teeth. His whistling stopped as soon as he saw the screen. “Well that’s something you don’t see every day,” he said, emitting a short appreciative whistle as though to emphasize that. “Looks like some kind of ark waking up after space cleared.” He shrugged. El turned to him with a brow raised and arms crossing.

“How do you know that?”

“A sci-guy was all excited. Passed him in the corridor. Sayers. You know him? Little guy, real excitable. Said he was using macro-b’s on the planet looking out the window from his cabin and then it cleared up suddenly. Like mist burning off a lake he said.”

El looked at the thing. Unmanned. Not from here. She suddenly had a bad feeling. “Okay, here’s a what if. These Serpents are foiled by the Greyhound, one of our ships from out of our near future that somehow got back into the past. Our boys set up this kind of defense where ships can’t go faster than light but these Serpents send this thing .. big engines, unmanned, able to travel for a long time in that soup at high impulse to the planet to wait for the field to dissipate then it wakes up and sends out the signal that it’s all clear.” El knew there were holes in that as she could not jive that with the sudden appearance of the planet and field but neither could she quite put all the temporal pieces together yet.

The others turned toward her. “Sheesh, El, you really know how to cheer a girl up,” said Rosa from her station.

El, Eng

El heard a notification bleep off the panel and her eyes flickered to it, as did the others. Damien, the one seated there, reported, “They polarized the hull. Power stable. Focusing sensors on that thing.” His fingers moved to magnify the ship in his small viewer. Galen whistled a tune quietly between his teeth which sounded louder in the quiet area broken only by the thrumming of the engines and machinery. El chewed a nail, then looked at it, remembering what the doctor had suggested, then went back to it.

“Is there a way of getting a quick sensor sweep out on a 360? See if there’s any other surprises around us?” She wondered about Elm and if she could see it out there and if she knew what it might be from her lore.

“Will try, El,” he said, working the controls.

El turned to Galen. “Galen, run to the galley and look for a girl there, a native of the world. Her name is Elm. There might be another person there. A soldier from the world. I don’t know his name. Take a pair of macros along with you. Ask them if they might recognize that thing. The soldier is yum.. is just out of sickbay. Elm is shy so don’t go in with guns blazing but if this is part of the tech that fought the Greyhound, we need to know sooner than later.”

“Right, El,” Galen said, moving to a locker and rummaging about for the binoculars.

“Call if you find out something,” El called out as Galen closed the locker and headed out.

“Cinderelli, Cinderelli, all the day it’s Cinderelli,” Galen said between whistles as he exited Engineering.

El, Eng

Scans on a 360 degree view within the short range limits of the Bonaventure came up negative off hand for anything else unusual.

GM CockRoach