Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao

(snip)

Rand was used to waking early so by the time the chronometer said 0500, Rand felt like she was behind in her day. The fire was still going, though not as brightly and the lanterns had mostly been turned down. She sat up quietly, years of moving around to avoid waking Randy up made her very quiet. Everyone else was asleep. A glance at Roman however had her worried. His face was dawn and pinched. She wasn’t sure if it was pain in his leg or maybe a nightmare. She wished she could just hug him. She reached for the medkit and set it down between them, then shifted onto her left hip, putting her back to everyone else. Under the guise of searching the medkit she carefully reached over and squeezed his hand. Hoping it would ease whatever was wrong. She knew he wouldn’t want anyone to see him having a nightmare.

Roman shifted slightly as Rand began moving around but he did not wake up. In his sleep he had rolled onto his side, facing towards Rand. His hand twitched when she squeezed it as if to hold on to her hand, and then relaxed. Her touch did seem to help, he looked more relaxed than before. If he was having a nightmare, it must not have been a bad one at least, or he’d have tossed and turned more. There was also the possibility it was just his pain, or both.

The temperature had dropped again in the last couple of hours and it was only going to get colder, or that was Rand’s guess. She turned the camp heater up and started trying to piece together a hot meal from the rations. Her foot was aching and she figured it was the cold. The cold compress had helped a lot but now the cold temperature was making it ache. She tried putting a sock on, but it wouldn’t fit. She grinned at the idea of pilfering one from Roman, but instead she wrapped it and then tucked her foot back into the sleeping bag.

Once awake, Franks and Morgan went out to add more wood to the fire and make sure there were no signs of the cat returning. Over breakfast there was a lot of grumbling about nothing to do. “Why don’t you go spelunking?” Franks looked at Rand and grinned and then at Alden. “It’s not a bad idea as long as we don’t try to go up or down any levels. We don’t usually get to study cave systems on a first planetary visit.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman slept until Franks and Morgan came back from checking the woods. As he woke up he stretched and yawned. He joined in griping over breakfast about having nothing to study. The idea of spelunking made him smile. “On Earth, there are a number of species which exist entirely or mostly in caves. We might find something interesting,” he said. He wondered to himself if things in the cave would bioluminesce like deep-sea earth creatures. Everything else here was so colourful, he could see it working that way. Or maybe they’d be darker colours than the animals he’d caught footage of on the surface.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The idea seemed a hit, Franks speculated, “Cmdr. you and Rand could join us. The ground is dry and mostly flat, so far. With the large walking sticks we found, there should be enough support. As long as we’re careful. And you take the anti-inflammatory before hand, it shouldn’t be too bad. We can turn around if any time.” The swelling in both Alden’s leg and Rand’s foot had gone down significantly.

Rand shook her head, “No, I’ll stay here. I still can’t get my boot on and I’m not walking where I can’t see what I’m putting my foot on.” If she could have gotten her boot on she would have loved to go, but someone needed to keep an eye out on the cave. “I can stay with Rand,” Valos piped up. Rand’s mouth popped open in a small ‘o’ of disbelief. She started to say that she didn’t need a baby sitter, but the rule was everyone went in pairs. And if she said no then Roman would probably stay and she wanted him to get to do something other than sit. She also could have said Valos needed to go incase something happened with Roman’s leg, but that might make Roman embarrassed or upset. She tried not to stare at Roman for obvious help.

Of course Roman wanted to go, even if he had to take the meds first, nearly all he’d done the entire mission was sit in caves. He’d be slowing them down a little, even with the walking stick, but he did not want to miss out on it entirely. Then Valos spoke up and Roman hesitated then started, “I’ll st-” but Franks had already taken care of it.

Franks thought Valos really needed some R&R, get his head on straight. And before Alden clobbered Valos, Franks spoke up. “Nope you gotta come with us Valos. We might find some really cool cave moss or something back there. And Harvey you gotta come to. Make sure the air quality stays good.”

Harvey looked toward the back of the cave and then out the entrance. “I don’t know. The atmospheric readings I’m getting show a slow forming storm, but I’d like to be up here to keep an eye on it. And it will take me most of the day to get all the drones back and processed.” She looked up at Alden, “I can send a monitor with you that will alert if the air becomes dangerous.”

Morgan shook her head before anyone else spoke. “I’m staying, you three are all decent shots with a phaser, someone has to keep the fire going, keep an eye out for that cat, and watch Harvey’s back while she gets her toy helicopters in. And no offense, Rand, but with your foot, that isn’t you. And Rand can order us around on how best to pack all the gear up for transport when Sentinel gets here.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman nodded. “Then you three will stay here and we’ll go into the caves. We shouldn’t be gone all day. The caves may interfere with comms so both groups should be careful.” He said, and then looked to Harvey. “The air quality monitor is a good idea as well.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Harvey took one of the air quality monitors and set it up for continuous readings and to alarm if any of the gasses went above or below normal or if detected a chemical it was not familiar with. She handed it to Valos who would be in front with the sampling kit. Then would be Roman to set the pace and Franks was going behind so he could help Alden if necessary. He had a back with water and food rations and one of the small med kits. Before they left he passed Alden the hypo and then tossed it to Morgan with a grin. “Make sure our problem patient takes that.”

Roman caught Rand’s eye momentarily, holding the hypo like it was an overloaded phaser. He used it on himself before he talked himself out of it, and then handed it back. He couldn’t exactly explain the truth. Well, Rand was trying to make me cooperate because we’re dating and she knows I hate Sickbay was not something he’d be telling anyone, ever. But he knew Rand would shed the ‘problem patient’ rep when she wasn’t trying to make him comply.

Rand just kept working at whatever work she had given herself and didn’t look up. Really that wasn’t fair at all! She couldn’t say that though because then she’d have to explain she was bribing Roman to take his meds. Then she’d have to explain that. And then how she knew that would work and it went on and on and nope - not saying anything. She knew he was joking but had no idea what or if to say anything. If it was Randy she’d threaten to show everyone his stuffed giraffe he still had. Of course then he’d probably tell everyone about her stuffed kelpie, or heaven forbid tell them about one of the hundreds of times she did something totally embarrassing when out with a group of friends…or…UGH…his favorite story about Rand, a movie, and Arvin. Just thinking about that made her turn slightly redder. It didn’t occur to her to pick on Franks in return.

Soon the group had left and Harvey and Morgan were out taking care of the fire and checking about the cat and the weather. Movement near the door caught her attention…it was the lizard, or another lizard, from the day before. Rand grabbed the camera and took several pictures, using the flash once or twice to combat the darkness. It was very timid but seemed to want to get into the light inside the cave but didn’t like all the movement going on inside.

Yeoman Rand

With Valos leading the way, the group of three departed, heading deeper into the caves using flash lights for light. Valos and Franks held a light, Roman had to hang on to his walking stick. His pace was considerably faster than the night of the sinkhole, but nowhere near his normal pace. He used the stick like a cane or crutch, putting his weight on it instead of the leg as much as possible. So far, like Franks had said, the way was flat and dry. After a while of walking, it began gently sloping downward, the cavern becoming slightly narrower but by no means small. From somewhere deep within the cave system, they could hear water running.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO