Away team 2: Arrival

Posted on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 @ 9:58am by Ensign Debbie Larson & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D & Lieutenant Helena Wells & Ensign Daniel Franklin
Edited on on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 @ 12:02pm

4,237 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: The science of stars
Location: Goldilocks planet
Timeline: 10th March 2395- late afternoon planetside

ON:

After leaving the meeting with the other staff that would be with him Anthony had spent the remaining hours watching over the probes data and getting to know that area around the lake and shrine to get to know his new home for the next few weeks.

About ten minutes before the team were all supposed to meet to go down to the planet Anthony glided toward HG "Come on we'll go have a snoop around before the engineering team come down so we can investigate that base site."

"Sounds good to me," HG smiled. She was back in a fleet uniform but sans any rank on it. "A real field test for the bracelets really is in order. They worked on the ship alright but one does not have all the variables that a planet can offer. We will have to beam down then phase, I am not sure how the transporter would work or even if it would while in phase and not sure I care to find out."

“Seeing as almost everything else is completely unusable when we are phased I would expect it wouldn’t.” Anthony said as they chatted on the way to transporter room 1. “Your right though it will a good field test. The uniform looks good on you by the way.”

HG smiled at the latter comment. "Well I suppose I should try to look the part and figure it would put the rest of the group more at ease. Have you a spot picked out for the beam down?"

"I was thinking of where we're going to beam down where we are planning on putting the hide because it is out of the way and gives us the time to beam in then phase and explore a bit before getting back to help with getting them unloaded." Anthony said with a smile.

"Let us hope so," she said as they got to the transporter. She checked her tricorder and then did a look at the bracelet and waved Anthony to have a look at his and nodded. She shielded the rest of the room with her back and let her fingers linger a bit tracing a little down his inner arm and smiled. "Everything is functioning, guess ready to go."

Smiling as he did almost every time HG touched him as he checked his phasing devise then coughed at the double entendre of fully functioning. “Yes let’s go.” Anthony said with a sneaky kiss which would likely be the last time they could get away with it for a few weeks.

---
Yula was enjoying playing with her friends. The game was pop cats. It sort of followed like the little creatures that lived in the mountains and had hide spots and pop in and out of sight whistling to each other. They were not really cats, just sort of looked like them. In the game, the rest would find spots in the rocks and one person would walk and see if they would spot the others, if they did not then one would pop up and whistle.

The day was pleasant so far though starting to get warm Enough so the rocks were starting to get warm and the draw of the lake was tempting. Theoretically one was not suppose to swim in the lake. It was supposed to be a bit scared, thus the shrine at the end, but many of children did so anyway since few adults came up this way except certain times of the year to offer something at the shrine.

Bost popped up before she had passed him and shook his head. The dark brown curls already plastered to his face with sweat. "Yula, it is getting to hot to play pop cats. Let's go swimming instead!" His voice carried and two of the others, a boy Yula did not know well, and Jas popped up and nodded.

"Oh alright! You know I was going to spot you all anyway...." she trailed off as a bit of light and an odd sound caught her ears. She turned already seeing Bost staring at what appeared to be swirling light near a cliff face just past the shrine.

"GET DOWN!" she said as two figures seemed to form from the light. The others went back into their hiding places and she found one also. The swirling light faded and a man and woman in strange clothing stood there for a moment and then they seemed to vanish again but it was different. There was no sound or swirling light, they just seemed to become transparent as though they had just faded from sight.

Boss wiggled closer and whispered, "Did you see what I saw?"

"I think so, two people appearing and then disappearing. All sparkle swirls, think they might be a god and goddess. We should not be disrespecting the lake," Yula said remembering the suggestion to go swim. "Come on let's head back."

"Alright," Boss replied still staring but visibly shaken as she felt as well. There were stories but one just figured mostly stories. It had been said that sometimes the gods came but no one in living memory had even seen them, they were just there and when they did show the stories said that things would change.

As he finished phasing Anthony checked his tricorder. “Damn!” He said “HG we might have polluted the timeline, I think there were people up here when we beamed in, their presence here must have been hidden from the ships scanners by the radiation. We may have to remember that for scientific research.”

HG shook her head, "Must be the composition of the rocks and they have a bit of radiation coming off of them." She walked toward the area to physically inspect the rocks. The figures of the children could be seen running back toward the village.

Shruging her shoulders she went back and said, "My guess, between a hot day and children playing, most are going to take whatever they say as fevered imagination. Keep an eye out for others coming up from the village to verify but I think we are still a go."

“We may have to think about this zone as a place for the hide if it is a play zone for children, or at least more heavily populated than we thought.” Anthony said?

HG tapped the toe of her right foot thinking. "Perhaps, perhaps not. As long as we have time to setup without any more incidents it would provide a great spot then to make observations. Learning from children playing can lead into insights as much as watching the adults. Tell you what, I can hike on to the village and see what is going on and you can direct things here. I can always forewarn you if the torches and pitchforks start coming your way."

Anthony said with a laugh, “You're one of those super positive people aren’t you. Though you're right we will learn different things from watching children play to watching adults that come to the area. So long as we haven’t contaminated the time line with some returning God and Goddess.”

HG again just shrugged. "If there was something more tangible then I would agree. A quick glimpse of something that cannot be verified is....well just story. Anyway, best I be off and give you a report once I get to the village."

“Okay I’ll reconnoitre here area and get ready for the rest of the team, and check to make sure we have no other unexpected guests. If you want to follow the children they headed off toward the town there only one way down that I can see but I am sure the local children might be able to scramble up another way though.” Anthony said as he started using his tricorder again to look around.

"Well off I go then, remember you have to be in same phase for the communicator to work. Say we check in every ten minutes? If double that then assume something has gone wrong."

"Well it is ten minutes until we expect the engineers and Ensign Franklin so I planned on staying phased until then and then changing back so I think after the first check I will try to get back every ten minutes to check on you so maybe wait until I contact you and if I don't get a response, your life sign will show a direction to you. No dying on me, Promise?" Anthony said as he moved over to her and kissed her.

"Promise and also I will try to refrain from 'Fall to your knees and worship your goddess come to you' thing as well. Now off I go." HG did not wait for a reply only started hiking off in the direction the children took. She paused about twenty meters away and turned and blew a kiss and then resumed her trek.

"I will here from you in about ten minutes Ms Wells." He teased back knowing she preferred HG like her ancestor, He loved her but had to chuckle about not being the goddess. "I don't think the universe would survive you as a Goddess dear. See you back here in about half an hour to help build the hide." Anthony said.

"Yes boss," she nodded and continued on. She let Anthony get away with that Ms. part.

--Village

HG figured the children would long have made it back but she actually caught up to them. It turned out like a lot of young intelligent things their attention spans were a little short and easily distracted. There was another small lake, more a pond that turned out to be a skipping stone contest.

It allowed her to get close and listen in. The conversation mostly was about who did the best and a bit of squabble over if one of the stones made five or six skips. It seemed that the incident back at the beam down point had been pushed to nearly forgotten.

"Come on," Yula started off waving to the others. "I have pre-evening meal chores to get done." The rest nodded and caught up and then it seemed it was going to be a running contest the rest of the way to the village which was visible.

"Ah the energy of youth," HG thought to herself and simply trudged after the children now almost to the village and laughing. She paused when she reached the more or less boundaries of the place. She noted no defensive walls or fences which meant the inhabitants were not worried about being raided by either their kind or predators.
There was live stock that were penned in neatly and just off the center of the place so obviously they could be somewhat guarded. The rest of the adult population seemed to be engaged in the tasks of everyday living where one did not have a replicator easily at hand. Though they worked, there was plenty of conversation and in general the people seemed like they were enjoying their lives.

The children split waving goodbyes and already talking about what to do tomorrow which did not seem to include going back to the rocks. HG decided to follow Yula and listen in. The house was wood built and nicely done and decorated. Yula ran inside slamming the door but that proved to be nothing for it was not dense enough and HG just stepped through the door to the inside.

Observing the interior, she noted that if she was the judge of things in approximately this society that Yula's family was on the upper end.

"Wash up and come help me!" An older woman called and Yula replied back.

HG moved in that direction and spotted the woman along with a younger child and a baby close by working on food. Yula reappeared and started peeling some sort of tuber looking thing and giving an account of the day.

"I almost thought I saw...." Yula trailed off. Her mother prompted her to continue.
"People or maybe servants of the gods or something. We were playing pop cats in the rocks by the lake and for a moment it seemed like a man and woman appeared and then were gone. Dressed strangely they were."

"Really? You all saw it?"

"Yes, but it was only a moment. Bost thinks it was some sort of mirage like thing."

Her mother nodded and then said, "Probably, it was pretty hot today. Maybe go up that way myself sometime myself. It was been awhile since at the Lake shrine."

The conversation went on to more mundane stuff and HG realized she had no tricorder or had built in anything into the bracelets to record anything. She was sure an anthropologist would be fascinated. A little vibration on her wrist reminded her that it was time to check in.

She stepped out through the door and off to a spot.

"Hey boss, think we are good. I am at one of the children's house and the topic came up but did not seem to elicit much of a response. Think we are in the clear. Advise."

Anthony thought about it for a while before he responded with "Watch them for a while longer we will need you back up here in about twenty minutes. I'll leave you to choose what to learn how and the time it took to return."

"Gotcha boss," HG replied. She stood tapping her leg for a bit thinking and decided to wander the village a bit. She might catch one of the other children and peek in on the interactions there make sure that no undue curiosity had been aroused. She could use a tricorder to get a layout of things but unfortunately it would not record much being out of phase and she did not dare to phase back and be spotted while in such proximity to potential observers.

She wandered about, getting a lay of the land as it where. There was the usual central area which from the stalls set up was both a social and exchange place. A more substantial building actually built of stone caught her eye and she headed that direction avoiding walking through anyone though at times it was hard. While there should be no interaction, she thought it best not to chance that someone might feel something.

The building as she got close enough was fairly impressive, marked with writing, pictures and painted in all sorts of colours. A few people would sometimes go inside but it seemed fairly on its own. She went to one of the walls and pressed. The stone was to solid to phase through so if she wanted to see the interior it meant going through the door. That was also stone but right now stood open.

HG wanted to take a peek inside and the allure was great but if someone shut the doors she would be trapped inside without being able to phase through the walls and checking the battery life of the bracelet would not last much over another hour.

"Well bloody bollocks guess that beats all," she said knowing no one could hear her and decided to start heading back.


Hide sight

As Anthony signed off with HG the other crew members of their company beamed down, milliseconds after he had phased back to normal to greet them. "Welcome to Goldilocks. We had a little boo boo when HG and I arrived, but she assures me that the children have almost forgotten us already and that is only just over ten minutes."

Daniel Franklin turned and said "OOOOohhhhh I should go down and see how she is doing."

"As the lead scientist I am suggesting that sort of thing can wait until we get the hide up and the cloak operational. HG will be up here in about twenty minutes to assist our efforts." Anthony understand Daniel's interest in this but at the moment the more important job was the hide when that was up HG and Daniel could start it if Lt Voss agreed with him.

Debbie surveyed the area, she'd seen sensor data of the area but seeing it with her own eyes gave a perspective sensors couldn't, she tried to pick out the best spot to put the camp. The terrain needed to be relatively flat and smooth or the assembly would take a while longer but it also needed to be in an area where the chances of someone walking into it accidentally was low and where the holographic cloaking system would be effective.

While Debbie scanned the area Voss' attention is turned to Anthony, he flinched at the news they were spotted but nodded in agreement with Anthony. "He's right, Franklin, we get the blind up first then we get to explore. Anthony, is it likely we're going to get more kids up here?"

“They seem to occasionally choose this area for their play area, I expect they were shocked enough that they had may stay away from this area while we are here and it seems the adults stay away unless they come to make and offering to one of the three gods and Goddess they seem to have here.” Anthony said.

Voss nodded and looked back to Debbie. "So, how does the site look, we going to be able to get this set up in time?"

"I reckon so," Debbie replied. "over here would probably be the best, there is a good view of what looks like a main path up this way, the terrain is good and it's far enough away from the main approaches that it's unlikely anyone will bump into it."

Voss nodded. "Makes sense," he said and turned to Anthony. "Work for you? If so, we'll start beaming down the equipment."

“HG’s out there following up now though she should be on her way back now, I gave her a twenty minute warning about ten minutes ago, in fact if you don’t mind I should alter my phase and check in with her again and then I’ll get stuck in with you and Ensign Larson."

"Go ahead." Jason told him nodding slightly.

After Lt Voss nodded Anthony moved his jacket back and tapped his device. After he phased to HG’s dimension then tapped his fleetbadge. =/\=Anthony to HG, the workers are here and we have the hide is here. So if not on your way back hurry back.=/\=

=^=On my way, the battery is starting to give me an initial warning. Nothing serious yet, just a reminder I built in. Should have a good fifteen minutes or so. Interesting place, there is some sort of heavy stone structure in the village but did not take a chance as if it closed up too thick to phase through and battery starting to let me know. Think the rest will have a good time with it.=^=

=/\=Okay See you when you get back here.=/\= Anthony said before he returned to natural phase. “HG is on her way back now Lieutenant Voss.”

"Good." Jason said then turned to Debbie. "You want to start laying out the beam down markers?"

"Sure thing Lieutenant." Debbie said and opened the small bag she'd beamed down with. Following the rough layout on her Padd she paced out the route laying numbered in what would be the centre of each section of the hide. After a few minutes she was done. "Ready here Lt."

Voss stepped forward tricorder out, he gives the site a once over and nodded, "Good work," he said grinning as he tapped his combadge.

=/\=Voss, to Wolff, markers are set, we're ready to beam down the hide, start with marker one. =/\=

=/\= Understood, beaming them down now. =/\=

One by one the hide components are beamed down replacing the markers set by Debbie until they were all planetside.

=/\=Thanks, Wolff, we're beginning assembly.=/\=

Voss looked to Debbie and Anthony, "Shall we?"

"Lets," Debbie said and headed for section two, power. "I'll set up the microfusion generator and get it running."

"Great," Voss said as he grabbed an engineering kit. "I'll get the other sections ready to receive power," he says. "Hologenerator should be set and ready to go, just need to get the thing together and calibrate it for the local terrain."

Anthony was reasonably knowledgeable for a linguist with setting up these hides, but he needed some instructions. What do you want me to do?”

"Each section has several interlocks and cable bundles that need connecting to link the sections together." Debbie told him motioning to a few of them as she passed. "Tab A into slot A and so on, simple enough."

"Makes sense, though that could be because there is a lot of science and mathematical equations in engineering. I should be okay with it. Anthony said as he picked up his first panel and put it in place.


==== 15 minutes later ====

HG kicked herself mentally at least on the way back. It was warmer than expected, she had not taken any water with her and thus it had forced her to stop along the way which did nothing for the battery life. By the time she got back the level had gone critical and she would to any eyes seem to appear and then disappear showing up some place else. Luckily though, there did not seem to be anyone else around other than the team and they were busy at work.

Anthony knew she was back before HG said anything. “Welcome back HG, grab a panel and help erect this thing then you can tell me what you found out there.”

She nodded but went to get some water first. Taking another five minute pause and then pitched in to get things in place. One of the first things once power was partially up was to start the bracelet recharging.

"Welcome back Helena," Debbie called out as caught a glimps of her passing by her section, "You've not been killed by the locals so I guess your bracelet worked well?"

"Indeed," HG paused setting the panel down for a quick break. "Interesting place, there is a temple or something there but built of heavy stone. I thought it best not to take a chance as once closed up too thick to phase through. Think you will find it interesting once everything is set and officially can head back."

"A stone temple you say," Daniel interjected before Debbie could reply. "How big was it, were there statues and carvings, how about inscriptions, stained glass?" he asked eagerly.

"No windows I observed, as far as anything inside I cannot say as it seemed that it was getting late and as I mentioned could not take the chance of being caught in there. You will have to explore later when we are ready. The boss would probably not be very thrilled with me getting stuck in the temple and just appearing to the natives. I really would have to do the I am your goddess song and dance routine."

“Your about right there getting caught inside a building we can’t get out of would be a bad thing.” He looked at Daniels enthusiasm and simple said “Yes Daniel the Cultural centres like the temple will be your area of concentration as it is what you are the best trained.”

"Well when we have permission I will guide you down and you can explore the structure. There looks like a market place area as well which I have no doubt may offer information and certainly a lot of language to record, enjoy and explore. Let me get the bracelets charged and checked out and perhaps in the morning?" HG suggested.

"Nice! Languages are my domain though they are also a stong part of culture so it is likely something I expect Daniel and I can work on. HG your best summed up I think as a physicist that is a side from that is a bit of a jack of all trades, though you seem to have a level of understanding that most masters of those trades would be envious of." Anthony smiled, He liked having a well trained scientific crew which is exactly what Starfleet seemed to either train or poach from the entire United federation of planets.

"Thank you, however, let's see what our home looks like a bit more," she suggested and then turned her attention. "So far looks great Ensign well laid out and designed but if you do not mind after that hike down and back I am making first dibs on the shower. We might be out of phase a bit but these things do not do a thing for actually doing physical work nor picking up ambient radiation so...." HG made a face.
"I feel sticky and yucky."

"No problem Helena." Debbie replied. "We've about another hours work till she's all connected and together."

"Well then let us get on with it so I can get to that shower," she replied and made a look of 'what do I need to do'.

OFF:

Lieutenant Anthony Edwards (Ph.D)
Chief Science Officer

Civilian HG Wells
Scientist

Lt Jason Voss
Chief engineer
[NPC Deepak]

Ensign Debbie Larson
Engineer
[NPC Taliserra]

Ensign Daniel Franklin
Anthropologist/archaeologist
Mission specialist [npc]

 

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