A First Look (part 2)

Posted on Sat Oct 31st, 2015 @ 4:37pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Sammi (Computer Avatar) & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Ensign Kanali Paxton

1,294 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A Civil Act
Location: Tarelian City, Planetside
Timeline: 1

{CONTINUED]


T'mpest was looking for the equivalent of the Rare Books section. That was generally in an out-of-the-way place as the books had to be specially preserved and few people cared to peruse their contents. It was often one of her favorite places to start as she always found the best information there.

She was careful to avoid brushing against books in case she either knocked them off the shelves or caused them to crumble further. Some looked to be in fair condition, others were far too delicate. In the back she found a stone staircase going down. She glanced around for Orin to let him know where she was, but she didn't see him. "Michaels to ch'Valri. I found stairs in the back. I am going to see what is down there." Then, tricorder in hand to make sure the way was safe, she went down.

Kali looked around for a few moments before she decided on a direction, then carefully scanned the books. She was hoping to find the non-fiction section. It was too much to hope that they could find a periodical of some sort- newspapers were traditionally printed on very poor quality paper, there was no way they had survived this long. But perhaps textbooks on history or science would hold some clues.

She finally got out of the fiction section and sighed as she looked around. Not a very big non-fiction section to start with, and these didn't look to be very sturdy anymore either. But... well, worth a try. She pulled a pair of thin synthetic gloves out of her work kit and gently pulled what looked like a promising hard-bound history book off the shelf. Slowly and smoothly she lifted the cover, moving with the same deliberate care she would use when carving a rock sample from a cave wall.

Kali paged through 'early history' with only a slight roll of her eyes at the scientific inaccuracies that had still been accepted as 'undisputed fact' about the origins of life and the universe. It wasn't their fault this civilization had collapsed before learning that they were in face not the only life in the universe. Things started to look up as she got into 'recorded history' and the people writing this text had had some actual facts to work with.

A faint purplish light filled the centre space by the 'receptionist desk' as Cattmor materialised in the area. It was dark and gloomy, but what she could see reminded her of the library on the ninth floor of the Cattmor tower from home. Books and paper almost as far as the eye could see in circular statements around the central point, volumetric light rays beaming in through the breaks in the walls. Glancing round, she dare not move for disturbing anything, least of all the dust particles that had settled in the air after so long of not being used. "Hello?" she called, not seeing anyone but feeling their presence and knowing they were otherwise there, but no answer actually came...

***

The light grew dimmer and dimmer as T'mpest descended the stairs. When she reached the bottom, however, it was too dark and she had to use the light from her tricorder. This wasn't exactly what she was looking for. She expected a room with bookshelves lining the walls and a table in the center for perusing their pages. Instead, she found piles of books stacked haphazardly on a counter along the back wall. There was a table of sorts, but it had collapsed under the weight of something that had long-ago decomposed into dust. She stepped gently around the table to the books along the back. Fortunately, they seemed to be in better condition than the ones upstairs. These appeared to be made of a cloth-like substance and not just paper. That would account for their improved appearance.

With the help of the Universal Translator, she read the spines of the books, looking for anything on the history and culture of the people who once lived here.

She found three that might be of use and began to peruse their pages.

The first book told of the origin of the planet and the mythology around it. That was of particular interest to T'mpest, but it would take hours to give the book the careful read it deserved.

The second book was on the history of the city, called Tarelian City. It, too, was interesting, but there was nothing to explain what happened to the people.

The third book was about a group of people who feared the sun was irradiating the planet and so moved underground. There was something about political infighting over how to use the planet's natural resources, but it was from the surface-dweller point of view and so did not give her the information she needed to make a logical deduction. She would have to look elsewhere to find out what those who went underground believed.

When she'd skimmed over the last book, she tapped her combadge. "Michaels to Sammi."

"Yes?" The computer avatar that looked like a pink pig plushie answered.

"Lock on to the books around me. Transport them to my quarters. See if you can find anything in them about a group of people who went underground to live."

"Underground?" That sounded interesting to the pig. "Just a moment. Transporting." The books dematerialized and T'mpest headed back upstairs.

***

Cattmor looking round seemingly just at the right moment saw T'mpest ascending a small flight of stairs. Walking over to her, she reported in starting with an apology, "I'm sorry captain, I know that you wanted to take someone from engineering, and that you wanted me to remain aboard, but they have some issues with the interlocks that require their full attention, so I've elected to attend myself." It suddenly came to her that she'd run off the mouth a little so she took a quick breath to continue, "I hoped that I'd be a welcome addition. Commander's Keen and Blake are able to handle anything ship-side, and Lieutenant T'kaarch is heading the the general survey..." before she realised she'd done similar, and ended with a "Ma'am."

T'mpest masked her surprise at seeing Rylie, although she was also pleased to see her. "You will be a welcome addition, Commander," she assured the other woman. "As you can see, we have found a library and some information, although not what I had hoped to find."

"Anything here, Captain, Commander?" Belle said as she popped her head around a dusty bookcase - She was more than fed up reading children's books, so she had went on exploring.

"Just what I was hoping to find out," Rylie started before turning once again to T'mpest, "What did you find, or more to the point, what were you hoping to find?"

"I was hoping to find out what happened to the inhabitants of the planet," T'mpest said to the two women. "What I found was a record of a faction of the people that believed the sun was irradiating the planet so they went underground. I hope we can find more information in another building."

"We didn't detect any caverns or subterranean passageways in the scan data before I left," Cattmor offered, "Do you think it's very likely? If so, Lieutenant T'kaarch and Commander Blake should probably start running more focused scans of the surface, starting with the surrounding area judging by the population density."

"Yes, I think it likely. Or it was. There was no reference as to how long ago it happened," T'mpest replied. "Logic dictates that there will be more information as we go deeper into the city."

____
OFF

Captain T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Ensign Kanali Paxton
Science Officer

Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

 

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