Posted by Ensign Kalani Kāne (Science Officer) in Vespa V - A Need to get Away
SNIP

Kalani looked up as the small child-sized creature chattered and pointed up.

“I am fairly certain the ability to create nets indicates sentience… or at the very least advanced intelligence… very seldom to species learn to make tools like this that don’t become sentient at some point…” Jarred said as he began to inspect the rope carefully.

“So are we discussing this because it is turning into a First Contact thing ooooooooorrrrr are you expecting us to climb up this thing,” Kalani looked at Jarred skeptically.

“Seems… sturdy, I mean it carries their weight… I don’t think you and I combined even weigh as much as one of them… think of it as rock climbing, you like rock climbing right?” he asked her as he turned back to see what she was feeling in this moment of choice to climb giant ropes up a tree.

Alindor, CE

“And yet when I suggested this you looked at me like I was crazy,” she crossed her arms and look at him.

“You said I make a rope out of seaweed and wet twigs! This is twine, a process… you have to work to do this… the Blue Lagoon had beauty and not much else… you try making a rope with soggy timber next time,” he said as he looked at her with a stern glance. These creatures clearly had time, time he hadn’t been giving.

“I think I used the word engineer a way out of the cenote and you acted like it was impossible yet the fuzzball next to me drops it down from the tree and suddenly you are ready to scamper up the thing and embrace your inner Tarzan.” She might sound angry but her face was fighting back the smile trying to form on it. Jarred was such a mystery to her. One moment he was pure Starfleet where he barked out orders and was the consummate officer. An hour later he was on the couch in a pair of sweatpants eating a pizza with his feet propped up on the coffee table watching a game with one of his junior officers. Here Jarred flip-flopped between mountain man and glamper. Well, the glamping was totally for her benefit but it was a weird situation where she felt like there were two Jarred’s here and instead of good Jarred and evil Jarred it was Tarzan Jarred and Glamper Jarred.

Kalani Kane Science

“Woman… twine and rope… rope! That’s it when we get back I am going to make you watch ‘Travels With Rick’ staring Rick Erins. He will show your sorry ass just how to do these processes and why dry timber is a must-have… and just be grateful we had a freshwater lagoon, I didn’t try to get you to drink my pee as he has!” Jarred countered as he began putting some weight on the rope.

Kalani broke out laughing. “I am following the rules of three on that one baby. Three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food,” she ticked them off. “Since we are at the start of our rela…friendship,” she blushed slightly realizing her punch line veered one hundred and eighty degrees from body humor jokes to slipping out her inner thoughts. Putting a hand up to her eyes like a sun visor she averted her gaze to look back up at the tree trunks towards the sky. There wasn’t an ounce of sunlight but it allowed her to slightly obscure her face.

“It’s awfully high,” she commented as the first of the tribe as she would soon refer to their hosts began to scamper up them.

“Come on…” he said as he turned around, and like that he was going to be back in control as he offered her his hand. He knew she still had a head injury, and he wasn’t going to let his love try this without a steady hand guiding her. “It’s just one foot in front of the other… like that old Christmas song you like.... bout Santa and the dancing penguins.”

Alindor, CE

Gripping the rope she stuck one foot in the net and reached up with her hand pulling her body off the ground. “The penguin song is about Peter and Penelope Penguin calling the North Pole from the South Pole. Penguins are not indigenous to the North Pole,” she began to lecture him about the ancient and little known Christmas Carole. “Put one foot in front of the other is that stop anima,” she froze climbing and looked down. Jarred was only about two feet below her climbing up. “Are you staring at my butt,” she asked him playfully.

“Did you not want me to? I mean of all the beauty on this island… that is the best thing. Side note, there is a penguin in that film… he has that penguin with the scarf… he got lost okay… really lost.” Jarred said in a teasing tone as he kept pace behind her as the pair climbed to the top.

As she focused down on his face she began to see more than she liked. Mainly how incredibly high they had gotten and how incredibly far they still had to go. Her complexion faded to a slightly grayer tone as the blood began to rush from her face. Kalani licked her lips and then blew out a calming breath through pursed lips. “You…um…sure this it like…engineeringily....sound?” Kalani doubted there was such a enginerringly but right now she was trying to stop the sensation of vertigo creeping into her body. The minor chit chat Jarred had engaged her in to get her moving evaporated from her mind like acetone poured into a beaker to dry up bits of water. A nervous laugh escaped her lips as her hands instinctively gripped the twine more securely. “I shouldn’t have looked down,” she admitted through bits of nervous laughter. “How hhhhh…hhhh…high,” she couldn’t control the laughing as she talked betraying how calm she wasn’t. “Phew....fifty feet?” Right now she was not in danger of falling but she was also frozen to her twine like a marble statue with only her lips moving as her eyes focused on the ground below and nothing else.

Kalani Kane

“Hey, baby just focus on my voice… these creatures climb up and down these ropes all the time. It’s not gonna break easily I suspect… you can do this love....” Jarred said as he shifted as he climbed to the left so he could get up next to her. There was enough room for them on either side, and he knew his hand on her would help calm her down.

“Just breath, I’m right here love… you don’t have anything to fear baby,” he said softly as he tried to coax her from her spot.

Alindor, CE

“Only your engineering assessment. Suspect? Suspect,” she looked at him now that he was next to her instead of below her. “Is that your standard way to report to the captain that the warp core is broken beyond belief and that we are all going to die. Sir,” she imitated the deeper tone of a man when she spoke trying to be a bit playful even though she could feel her temperature rising. “I suspect the warp core is gonna make it but whhhhheeeeelll,” she released her grip slightly to give a slight hand wiggle indicating that she was not sure of the assessment. Now that her hand was released she moved it up not at far as she could have but there was forward motion. “Where exactly did you graduate in your class?” The banter was helping her focus on him and not the possible imminent death from a knot unraveling.

“Baby 90% of my job is eyeballing it and going ‘Yep that’ll hold’ and then running a diagnostic to see if I was right. Engineering isn’t an exact science… science is science… engineering is like some kind of black magic with rules that change every other week.” Jarred said as he took a deep breath as he looked over at her. He could tell she wasn’t going to do well here. She wasn’t the height adventure type, she liked firm feet planted. He was often surprised she even wanted to be on space ships. Yes, they had artificial gravity, but all that was under the bulkheads was black and darkness.

Immediately she stopped climbing and stared at him dumbfounded. “Black magic,” she said with a smile on her face. “So your warp cord is a crystal ball. Do you shake it to find out what is wrong with it,” she joked rolling her eyes before climbing higher up the ladder.

The more they talked the higher they climbed. As long as Jarred continued to ramble about things she was both interested in and topics she care less about, it allowed her to put one foot in front of the other just like the song. “So babe, how um....further you think we got. I am not sure looking up or daaaahhh owwwwn,” she squealed as a small juvenile form scampered up next to her like they were running on the ground. The rope ladder swung slightly like a towel on a clothesline during a gentle summer breeze. One hundred feet off the jungle floor however, the motion felt like a nine-point earthquake.

“Hey baby, don’t look up okay? Listen to my voice keep focusing on me.” Jarred said as he took his hand and placed it against her lower back as he tried to give her a sense of support. This was made tricky by him trying to keep all his weight on his left arm but he needed to keep her focused or else there was never going to be a second away mission date.

“Uooo kay mean oh ray,” he said to Jarred hooking his feet into the hemp squares and leaning back like he was on a metal monkey bars three inches above Jarred’s head. Digging in his pocket he pulled out a large red fruit of some sort and handed it towards the engineering chief.

“Thank you…” Jarred said as he moved his hand off Kalani’s back as he took it as he looked over at Kalani with a shrug. “Hungry?” he said with a small smirk as he put his arm back around her waist again.

“Jarred don’t eat and climb,” she chastised him. “Its the same rule as don’t eat and swim ‘cause you can die doing both.”

“Bah diggah me tah,” a second juvenile of the species scampered up between Jarred and Kalani wiggling the rope even more. She smiled at Jarred and blinked her eyes several times pointing up with her hand.

The squeeze was tight as they shot between them like some tunnel as he looked up shaking his head at the sight. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe at some of this.

“Ah honey can you tell our new friends we are fiiieeennnnn,” she shook her head as three more of them scampered up around the climbing couple.

Kalani.

“I think they want to help us get up faster… maybe if you put some pep in your ass…” Jarred said as he slapped her ass with his fisted palm still holding the fruit firmly. “Come on love you can make it… just a few extra feet baby,” he said softly as he got to the top as he pulled himself up at the landing as he looked down at her. “Grab my hand he said as he took a bite of the fruit as he laid it down before leaning over the side for her to grab his arm so he could pull her the rest of the way up.”

Alindor, CE

Kalani reached up grabbing his hand feeling a waved of adrenaline course through her body. It was like an electric shock. It made her feel alive. Kalani’s life was literally in his hands as she let go of the rope. Using her feet she stepped up the last few inches as Jarred pulled her upper body towards the platform. As soon as enough of her body was on the platform, she felt Jarred let go and stand up. A few seconds later she stood up next to him and let out a deep breath. The view from here was spectacular. They had transported down so they missed the varying levels of tree canopy to which she was looking at now. The housing platform was only half way up the tree but taller than the other trees around it. “God it looks like the surface is liquid,” she commented watching the rippling blue and purple leaves from the shorter trees ripple in the wind. This made no sense to her as a botanist. All the plants on the surface were the typical shades of green indicating they used chlorophyll as a food source yet the tops of the tree leaves here had to be using some other photosynthetic reaction to create the colors she was seeing. “Grab my pants,” she said taking a firm stance bending her knees slightly.

“I am gonna reach out and grab one of those leaves,” she pointed to a nearby branch of a tree growing perpendicular to the one where the creature’s habitat was placed in. “I just don’t want to risk getting vertigo if I look down and falling off,” she explained. “I know I can reach it if I stretch. I need to take a sample back to the ship to study.”

“Ma links puh sa fah,” one of the small creatures said in a curious tone looking at Jarred and then stepping so close to the edge a breeze could knock it off. The creature showed no fear of the edge and moved it’s gaze to what Kalani was looking at. It was then it made a shaking motion with his head. “Boo tana son,” it clapped its hands in a smacking sound before closing his eyes and sticking out his tongue.

“Do you think he is worried we are going to die from falling or that the leaves are poisonous,” she put her hands on her hips trying to debate when they creature was telling them.

“Jah hee pah,” a voice yelled out motioning them to follow the path of wooden bridges that interlaced the branches on the tree. The small creature began tugging at Jarred’s hand encouraging him to follow as he walked towards the adult waving at him.

“Did it sound a lot like that one just said jump,” Kalani commented before walking in the indicated direction.

Kalani Kane science

Bump