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

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)

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

Rand watched the lizard until it scurried off when Harvey and Morgan returned. She’d scribbled several notes on her PaDD as she watched. Apparently she had learned a lot from reading all those reports and helping with Nibbles. They weren’t long, but concise and specific. She flipped through the pictures and looked up to call Roman over to see and then remembered they were gone. Instead, she waved Harvey over and showed her. The flash on the camera had made the lizard turn reflective. Roman would be excited she managed to get the picture and then stress over the fact it had gotten so close to her and they didn’t know if it was dangerous.

The group stayed busy, but also spent a great deal of time just sitting. Harvey flew the drones back, Rand helped record and save the data and pack them away, and Morgan played escort back and forth. The last drone took a long time to retrieve. The wind had started to pick up again, huge gusts that forced Morgan and Harvey to choose to dose the fire in sand and dirt to put it out to avoid a forest fire. Morgan remade the fire much much smaller right inside the entrance, as a precaution.

Yeoman Rand

The cave narrowed further, and they had to take a left to avoid a steep drop off Roman wouldn’t be able to climb. There had been nothing moving so far, Roman suspected their lights and the sound of their footsteps was scaring anything that might be there away. He’d collected a few samples of animal waste.

A long ways into the cave, Valos made them stop to look at a wall climbing moss that gave off a faint yellow glow. The moss looked soft and covered a portion of the wall. Careful not to touch it with bare hands, they gathered a sample of it before moving on.

Roman’s pace slowed as they continued on, the use of his leg making it worse. Finally, he had to ask for a break and he sat on a short rocky ledge to rest.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The wind was really picking up again bending the trees this way and that and creaking and groaning could be heard from the trees. Harvey shook her head, “If they want to colonize this planet they better build some really sturdy buildings.” Rand thought it was a little sad to build a colony on such a unique planet, to modernize it and add synthetic materials, buildings, and alien people to it. To possibly contaminate it and alter it, but what did she know.

Rand was slowly packing up equipment, the samples cases were mostly done except for whatever Roman brought back. Every so often she glanced at the cameras to see if there was anything interesting going on. One time she looked and thought the camera had gotten turned upside down to look at the stars, but the trees would have blocked them out. Instead what she was looking at was akin to Earth’s glow worms. She didn’t have time to zoom in and try to watch, she wouldn’t know what to observe for anyway, but the power pack was fresh and the data disk had plenty of room. She found the case for the cameras and then glanced the monitor, “How are we going to get the cameras? If we can’t go out to study, how are we going to get them?” Morgan and Harvey looked at each other. They weren’t supposed to leave anything behind. “I could probably use one of the collection drones to go get them. It would take awhile, one at a time, but that’s probably the safest way.”

It was a tedious process given the wind. The last drone was returning with the camera and the wind knocked it into a tree. Morgan and Harvey left with a stern word for Rand to stay put and take her meds. Rand was watching them from the camera mounted by the cave entrance…when she heard it…that growling purr from before. She flipped her communicator open. =C=Morgan the cat is back. I can hear it but not see it yet.=C=

=C=Yeah we can hear it. We’re almost back.=C= Rand stared out the entrance waiting, listening and watching. Harvey appeared first and darted inside the cave followed by Morgan who had her phaser out and was backing quickly toward the cave. But no sight of the cat. Morgan moved past the fire, facing out, watching. “We didn’t see them, but could hear them moving around.”

“Them?” Rand asked and Harvey nodded, “two of them.” And then they appeared. The green and blue iridescent cat was back with another larger cat. Not much bigger, but enough to notice. Orange and yellow iridescent. It was like looking at depictions of the moon and sun in cat form. Rand grabbed the camera to take pictures. The rubbed and head butted at each other and Rand guessed they must be mates. Unless the children stayed with the parent to complete maturity. The cats glanced at the smaller fire but only seemed interested in the remains of the larger one. The smaller cat wouldn’t go near it. The larger cat batted at the coals almost growling at it. Until it uncovered a still hot coal. It leapt backwards hiss and spitting and swiping at the dirt around it as if to show it was brave. Rand marked out the last part. It wouldn’t do to personify the animals. After several minutes the cats left again, turning once the larger cat hiss/spit at the fire again and then disappeared into the trees.

Yeoman Rand

Roman sat for several minutes, rubbing the sore part of his leg. While they waited, Valos and Franks investigated the immediate area for anything more interesting than plain, solid rock. The tunnels must have met up with the surface somewhere else because as the wind picked up, it could be felt even through the part of the caves they were in.

Finally, they started moving again, starting to head back the way they came. Roman was quickly glad he’d agreed to turning around. The way forward had begun to slope more steeply downward, and the uphill on the way back was hard enough.

Valos stopped, holding up a hand to indicate to the others to stop as well. About fifty feet ahead of them, it appeared the rock was moving. They crept closer for a better look. It was like a giant worm made of mineral, going right through the solid rock. Where it had been was a new cylindrical hole, the size of the worm (or maybe snake)’s body. The hole was about the size that Roman could army crawl through it if he had wanted to. They got a quick picture of it while they waited for it to pass.

The rest of the way back was uneventful. Besides the glowy moss, the rock snake, and the droppings, they hadn’t found anything. Roman would consider the rock snake by far the best find though he wished he could’ve done more than snap a quick picture. When they arrived back at the cave they had been sheltering in, Franks took the sample cases they’d brought with them to put with the others.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

The women were sitting and watching. Harvey and Morgan talked back and forth. Occasionally they got Rand to join in, but they never pushed the shy young officer.
Morgan would admit she was curious about her assumptions about Alden and Rand, but she wouldn’t press. It was more of a ‘good for them’ kind of curiosity. Everything was packed and stacked up neatly, except for the rations. They were set out waiting for whoever wanted them and Rand had hot water waiting on the small stove. It seemed the temp would continue to drop as the night went on.

Hearing the approach of foot steps Rand looked up, relief on her face. They hadn’t heard anything from them, the storm and caves making the comm signal weaker. Any long term observation team or colony was going to need signal amplifiers. Valos appeared first, “What’s with the fire?” And between Harvey and Morgan their story unfolded. Rand didn’t contribute, preferring to stay quiet and not attract more attention. She just really wanted to show Roman the pictures and notes she took. She was excited about them, but also know the sooner he saw and could ask questions the more likely she was to remember something she didn’t think to write down at the time.

Yeoman Rand