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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Study of Kelmao
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Rand made it through the break in the trees and the rain was steady and the wind was coming down off the mountain and into the break. Since it was a bank of the river she wanted to make sure it wasn’t too muddy. She could run in it, but she was concerned, for Harvey and Valos with the extra weight, about slipping in the mud. She jogged several yards ahead, The ground looked and felt solid under her feet, and she could see the caves from there, even through the rain. She turned around to head back and froze. The ground around her wasn’t stable…there were the beginning of a sink hole around her and she had no concrete idea of where she’d stepped to get back to the tree line. Roman was going to have a fit. She grabbed the communicator at her belt and tried to call the rest of the party but the storm seemed to be interfering, or maybe she was just scared and fumbled the controls. “Commander!” She wasn’t sure he’d hear through the storm and so she watched where they should come out.

Yeoman Rand

It had been longer than Roman liked since he’d seen Rand. Only a few minutes had passed but irrationally, he began to fear the worst. Images of her being carried away by some animal, hit by a falling tree, tumbling down a sudden cliff, or slipping in the mud and breaking her ankle again. His communicator was silent, not picking up her attempt at a message.

Her shout was carried away by the storm, barely audible over the howling wind and pounding rain. Roman heard something, a little ways ahead. He couldn’t tell what she said, but the fact that she was yelling at all made his fears increase tenfold. He couldn’t just leave the other officers behind. Velos could go no faster carrying the stove, and Harvey still looked like she was barely able to keep pace. Fighting the weather would only make it harder. “I hear Rand over there! Let’s head that way!” He shouted over the storm, turning to go the same direction Rand had. The team followed him, and within a few more minutes they could see her again.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand was kneeling roughly 15-20 feet from the edge of the forest, facing towards them. Physically she was fine, for the moment. She was trying to get a closer look at the ground through the rain and building fog. Seeing the team appear from the trees she stood, cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted, “NO!” Hearing the firm denial mad everyone curious and step forward again. Valos set the stove down and Harvey leaned against a tree breathing slowly, but Morgan put a restraining hand on each of them as she made her way forward to get a better look. She couldn’t see what was wrong but the yeoman didn’t strike her as the hysterical type. She took another step trying to see what was wrong. Rand shouted again, “STOP!”

Taking another breathe, “SINK HOLE!” Franks’ head snapped up and he dug his tricorder out of his pack, and his face turned pale, “Oh God…” He turned to Alden, “It’s new land growth. It was probably part of the river bed but as it pulls sediment down from the mountain and the river cuts deeper the water recessed. Without the rain it would have been stable enough, but this storm and is pounding it, making everything soft. There’s no undergrowth or trees rooted in place to stabilize the ground.”

Rand shouted again, “CAVES!” and she pointed behind her. Franks nodded to her and held up a thumbs up, so she would know he heard her. “Another hundred feet. If we stay in the tree line we should be fine. The ground is stable.”. Then the got hit by a sleeping bag. Morgan snatched it up and moved it. She spoke over her shoulder, “She’s trying to lighten her weight.” The sample case made it and a good thing for padding, everything inside was safe. Her pack…feel short. Morgan couldn’t quite reach it, but Harvey passed her a long stick that had crashed out of the trees and she was able to hook it and pull it towards her. Harvey grabbed it all and pulled it into the trees. By now Rand was soaked all the way through, but she began to move, testing the ground slowly with each step. She had to find a way out of the invisible maze.

Morgan, taking the stick began to feel along the ground. “We have to get her.”

Yeoman Rand

Roman spent another quick moment weighing options. He couldn’t leave an officer behind to fend for herself, especially not Rand. But he also couldn’t potentially endanger four officers for one. “Morgan, find a way around the sinkhole. Then lead the others to the caves. Do not wait. The storm is growing too strong. I will stay and help Rand across, and rejoin you when we’re both safe.”

Morgan didn’t like it, separating the group like that, but Alden was right. She picked up Rand’s back and wore it backwards. Franks walked over and lifted Alden’s pack from his back. If he understood correctly Rand could see the caves from where she was. He didn’t like leaving Alden and Rand with no gear, but if the ground was that unstable it was better to not have the extra weight, and they could start drying out their gear for them when they got to the caves. He checked with Valos and Harvey to make sure they were okay and then they stepped back into the trees. It was quieter inside the tree line. “The ground is firmer here, Morgan. As long as we can get past the underbrush, it’s another 100 feet, not far.” Harvey looked up squinting through the rain and the wind. “It’s going to get worse,” and as if to prove her words, a branch cracked ominously and fell 20 feet from them. Morgan didn’t need more incentive. “Let’s go.”

He stood where he had stopped when she shouted the first time, looking on. There didn’t seem to be any way to tell which parts would support weight and which would give way under her. Any of the others were heavier than Rand, far too heavy to risk trying to help her. He grabbed a large stick of his own and probed the ground, looking for the edge. He needed a way to communicate more easily with her, at this distance he wasn’t sure she’d hear over the storm. He held up his communicator, asking if she still had hers.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

Rand watched on as the group left. There was nothing they could do to help her, she knew that. If she turned, she’d be able to watch their progress. They were so close. She could hear Roman and Randy yelling at her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Yeah she was scared, but it wasn’t going to help. She could panic after…always panic after. She wasn’t sure how large of a step she should attempt. Her running stride was pretty long, but she had to be able to shift her weight back if the ground gave way. Her instinct was just to run, try to be faster than the ground gave way, but that would be the worst thing she could do.

She nodded and pulled her communicator from her belt and held it up. She flipped it open and turned the dial slowly, and then over the static, “Commander Alden?” Her voice shook some, but that was probably because she was drenched and cold. The connection was weak but the close proximity at least allowed some connection. She wanted to tell him to go, but she knew he wouldn’t. And she was immensely grateful for that. She kept her eyes on the ground as she tried to make her way forward, but there was no stable ground directly forward and she had to move sideways. She wanted to move toward the trees, but that way wasn’t good either. She closed her eyes a moment and then tried toward the river and finally found somewhere solid.

Yeoman Rand

Roman handed over his pack. Gear wouldn’t help him save Rand anyway. It would only weigh him down. He had no hesitation in letting them take it with them. Thunder clapped overhead. He wished he’d insisted on staying together, but it would do no good to dwell on past decisions.

It wouldn’t have mattered, someone had to scout ahead anyway. And Rand was the best one to do it. She was lighter and faster and used to wild terrain.

He flipped open his communicator, glad he was able to hear her over it. “Rand. We’ll get you out of there. Be careful where you step. I’m marking the perimeter.” Working against the winds, he continued walking the perimeter of the sinkhole, probing the ground with the stick. When it began to give way, he marked the spot, drawing a line in the mud. The rain washed the line away, so instead, he began snatching sticks and planting them like flags.

She glanced up watching the sticks go up for a moment. There was no ‘we’ it was just him. The rest of the team was gone. She wasn’t sure what else to say other than, “I will.” She moved again, it was painstakingly slow. Some times a foot sometimes three feet, sometimes less. She had to feel the ground with each step and carefully shift her weight. She was making more progress side ways than forward.

Watching her closely as she began to move, he was ready to spring into action if anything went wrong. He’d throw himself into the sinkhole if he had to. Once the perimeter was fully marked, he stood at the edge she was moving towards. Through the communicator, he said, “I’ll stay as close as I can, when you get close enough if there isn’t a path, jump to me.”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

She nodded at his words and then realized he probably couldn’t tell through the rain and rising fog, “Okay. You do know I’m a runner right? Jumping from a stand still is not in my skill set.” She was quiet for several silent minutes after that before her voice came back over the communicator. There was really no reason for it other than to distract herself from the tension. “I was being careful, I swear. I checked the ground for rushing water and standing water before I moved. It looked and felt solid. I guess my weight disturbed it. Randy got caught in a bog once.” She started telling the story, much like she did most night with him, giving them something other than the problem to focus on. “He and Arvin. They niver did tell us why they were oot thare. They wee sunk chest deep before dad an angus were able tae reach thaim an haul thaim oot.” As she talked her accent become more pronounced, stress and fear.

She’d managed to make her way forward by several feet and back towards the tree line. Like a giant zig-zag pattern. She made the next step, it seemed solid enough but as she started to shift her weight it gave under her and crumbled. She shifted back quickly, adrenaline and her heart rate rushing into over time.

Yeoman Rand

“You’ll have to try. That’s if it comes to that,” Roman replied using the communicator. He wished there was more he could do to help her but with the perimeter marked the best he could do was wait for her to make it on her own. “It wasn’t your fault, whoever had scouted would have likely gotten stuck in the same way.”

“Or worse,” she was lighter and faster, someone else might have sunk already. But try to jump from where she was…there was no way. If she could get closer. Right now she needed to focus on getting closer. The less distance she had to jump, if it came to that, the better.

Hearing her tell another story of her and Randy’s misadventures in Scotland relaxed him a little, probably because he was used to her telling them at night to calm him down. But there was fear detectable in her voice to him, a reminder of the present predicament. He froze as the ground crumbled under her, deciding what he’d actually do if she started to sink. But she shifted back and seemed okay, and he relaxed again. “Can you find another way forward?”

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

“I think so.” She began looking for another place to step. After a moment she had a choice, back the way she came or closer to the tree line but further away from Roman. She didn’t like either option, but decided to back track and see if she could find another way forward. But before she could move there was a loud buzz followed by a resound crack as lightening hit a nearby tree. The area lit up in a blinding flash of light and sparks came down with the rain. Rand dropped, more from instinct than anything. There was so much rain the sparks weren’t going to hurt anything. The wind had whipped into a fury and the fog was getting thicker and slowly rising. Then before she could stand up right there was an ominous creaking and groaning and the top half of a tree came crashing down. It landed hard enough that she could feel it land.

One end landed just past the perimeter Roman had made, the rest was on the other side with her. If she could reach it, maybe she could use it like a bridge. They would both feel it…the ground shuddered and there was a sickening sucking sound, and the tree began to sink. At first Rand wasn’t sure, it moved slowly and then it was obvious.
Through the swirling fog she saw the hole spreading like a ripple outwards from where the tree was sinking. “ROMAN!” terror obvious in her voice. She began to run towards him, maybe not the best option, but there were no good options any more. The hole was widening at a rapid speed and only a yard or so behind her. First firm piece of ground she jumped.

Yeoman Rand

The loud crack of the tree and the deafening crash of thunder right next to them made Roman jump and duck, and then he watched with horror as it fell towards Rand. It landed short of her, the leafy branches sinking into the soggy, soft ground. Water droplets soared around it from the drenched ground and sopping leaves of the tree. Before he could even look relieved, he felt the vibrations in the ground. The awful sound the ground made was near unnatural to Roman and he knew exactly what it meant. He’d never seen it happen himself, but he knew of them. A sinkhole like that could swallow an entire home. That sucking sound was often the last thing own heard before they were sucked into an earthy premature grave. “Rand, run! Hurry!”

Rand sprinted forward and when he saw her leap for it, he braced himself to grab her. Planting his feet as securely as he could, he reached out for her. Her jump landed her just barely short of the edge. She was within his reach, and he managed to grab her as she fell into unstable, sinking ground. Pulling as hard as he could, he hauled her up and towards himself, towards the solid ground.

Pain shot through his right leg, so sudden and intense he cried out as his leg gave in under the strain and sent them both tumbling into the mud. Thankfully for both of them, he fell backwards, taking Rand with him and they both landed on solid, non sinking ground. Roman kicked desperately against the solid ground with his left leg to push them away from the edge of the sinkhole. Then, he hoped the sinking ground did not grow large enough to swallow them up.

The pain in his leg did not subside. It continued to ache in throbbing patterns. He had not expected something like this to happen, not even considering how much it had been bothering him lately. The pain was nearly as intense as it had been three years ago. The only difference was the lack of the searing heat of the burns. He attempted to pull himself to his feet, but as soon as he put any significant weight on his leg, it gave way with another nauseating wave of pain, and he found himself back in the sticky pool of mud where he started.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO