Posted March 20, 2023, 10:41 a.m. by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) (Gene Gibbs)
Snip
Cullings turned back to El, “..Well no nothing quite like that. The crystal structure is too natural to by something done artificially, for that matter no known technology or science we know of or that the Vulcans or any trading partners we ran into with our merchant ships mention anyone having that either. Only possibility I could think of without seeing it first hand and with more specific tools from the ship brought down to analyze would be maybe something is actively drawing residual energies from the deposits? But if you didn’t see anything obvious like a reactor or generator in the area then I don’t see how that is possible. I mean if its not technology the only other idea which is impossible is something non-technological is feeding on it? But that’s just silly as your whole ‘alien stuff’ like with the Triangle, some kind of living organism that ‘eats’ dilthium/lithium crystals? Its stupid!” he said with a chuckle.
GM CockRoach
El looked at the data again. ‘Was’ the interference consistent all around the cave? If so it couldn’t be something artificial, could it? Drawing energy from the crystals in their natural state by artificial means? “We didn’t see anything that looked like technology, even a stone tool,” she said, “though we weren’t really looking for technology but trying to do a geological mapping.” She scolded herself for not considering looking for any technology. Surely there were other races about who may have ‘left’ something behind from a survey or something. They were likely not the only ones who had some kind of mineral survey. Had the Vulcans come here and found this deposit they would have turned their noses up even more than El was at the grade of the deposit.
She let out a chuckle, a rare smile creeping onto her features. “You mean like some kind of alternate life form, oh I don’t know, silicon based or something that is impossible, that eats rocks like worms? You’re right. Crazy.” In her mind, too, was that very old video that had originated from Japan in the early days of that medium, of a prehistoric creature named Godzilla, that fed off of radioactivity. The stuff of stories to scare people but were hardly real, like kilometers wide telepathic jellyfish swimming through space or superhuman beings that could alter reality with a snap of their fingers. She looked around her, feeling the breeze on her face, the fading power of the sun as the day ebbed away, the rustle of wind in the grass. It ‘seemed’ like Earth but wasn’t, so could she really expect things to remain ‘like Earth’, or were there things that were truly alien at work here? “You should have been along on this. The caves were wild.”
El, Eng
[C] Commander Grace, this is Captain Renault. What have you found over there? [O]
~ Capt Renault
GM CockRoach
Well that answered that question at least, Heather thought. She had been trying to keep up with El’s discussion with Cullings, while at the same time going through cataloging the samples she had brought back. It wasn’t going so well.
[O] Grace here Captain. We just made it back to basecamp with a couple of samples of ore. Not the purest, but still serviceable. We did find signs of what might have been a mining operation here previously, though definitely primitive. Scans from orbit didn’t pick up any native inhabitants, and we didn’t see anything on our scanners while we were down in the caves. But our scanning range was limited due to something in the cavern we found. I hope you had better luck then we did Captain. [C]
Cmdr. Grace - XO/CSO
El stopped talking and listened. It was hard ‘not’ to eavesdrop, even if it wasn’t quite that. She was curious what they found at the other site. Glancing around the campsite El thought that it could have been set up better. She was pleased that she was part of the expedition to the cave and to see this new world more. That was exciting and she tried to learn from it. It was a stretch for her. That said Cullings would have been better apt to answer the questions that arose than her, and, perhaps, the camp would have been better established with an engineer looking at it. But then both would have lost the chance to learn. El thought the expedition was more positive than the Commander presented it. Perhaps a better deposit would be found elsewhere where it would not interfere with the natural habitat of the big cats; certainly that was El’s hope.
She quietly rehearsed her own ‘failures’ while on this expedition. The lack of sample containers. Her not anticipating this and having some preparation relating to geology rather than her rudimentary metallurgy and dilithium knowledge based on the operation and maintenance of the Cochranes. On a personal level her not reigning in her attitude when she should have. Even if not spoken it was still there. They were all things that El felt she could have done better with. She knew she could learn quickly though had been focusing on the new ship and her systems. Even she couldn’t do it all so much as she tried. It .. kept her humble, to a degree, though humility was something that was supposed to be a part of her but even after years of training and discipline, it was still a struggle. She looked at others about her. They seemed to move in their own persons confidently and easily. On a good day El could be in the ‘zone’ but she needed to work at it. Her masters made it look so natural. While she was with them it came more easily to her. Once away it required her to work. She had an impulsiveness that wanted to ooze out of any cracks she allowed and she needed to plug those leaks both actively and during meditation. And she was due for that later today. Would they remain on the planet and camp here? What would it be like to be here at night?
El, Eng
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