The Business District

Posted on Mon Dec 14th, 2015 @ 3:36pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Ensign Belle Maryweather

1,001 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Civil Act
Location: Planetside

ON

The team continued towards the center of the city, looking for anything that would help them learn more about the former inhabitants. After passing more buildings with broken windows that looked empty, they came to one that had the lower windows still intact. "This one looks promising," T'mpest said.

"Do you smell that, Captain?" Belle said, even before looking on her tricorder, "Smells like ozone."

It seemed like Rylie's nose picked it up just as Belle's tricorder did, "Not quite ozone," she said cutting in before T'mpest had a chance to speak, "More old grade electrical, I think. Ozone is a bit more pleasant, usually."

T'mpest nodded. "Definitely worth looking into," she said, altering course to check out the location of the readings. She normally enjoyed the smell of ozone. On many planets it came hand in hand with the smell of rain. There was a short, squat building that seemed to be the source of the smell. It was two stories high and a dark reddish brown, a stark contrast to the silver and gray -- or former silver and gray -- of most of the other buildings.

The windows were also darker. T'mpest walked up to what looked like the main door and carefully scanned it. "Oxidation," she stated.

"What is this place?" Belle carefully checked out the door and the rest of the front of the building, and eventually, brushing away some of the oxydation with her sleeve, uncovered what looked to be an old, rusty sign. Of course, not only was it barely readable, it was also in the same alien language as the books of the library.

Cattmor approached and looked over T'mpest's shoulder just as she started to scan and translate, and something bothered her about the readings that were being picked up. Thankfully T'mpest noted it as well...

"It is a water processing facility," T'mpest said. "But the basement has an odd reading of some sort. It appears that the facility is masking something." She checked to see if the door was locked, and, finding it wasn't, pulled gently to open the door. It was stuck fast. So, she used more strength and pulled. This time, there was a creaking and some of the oxidized flecks of metal fell to the ground. One more time she pulled, using her full strength. The door came loose from its hinges. Sometimes, Vulcan strength came in handy. She set the door against the wall and smiled. "Shall we?"

"Remind me to never get into a fight with you, Captain," Belle grinned as she followed security in.

"Vulcans do not generally get into fights," she replied with a hint of a smile. "We do, however, defend ourselves."

I'm just pleased I didn't have to help... Rylie thought very much to herself--she had very few, if any, good memories using her teek abilities.

Inside they found a large hallway. On the left were what looked like smaller offices, while on the right there was a larger area, presumably where the water got actually treated. At the end of the hallway, another stairway led both up towards higher floors, as down into blackness. Interestingly, there was also a door between the stairs, some kind of lift, perhaps?

"Down appears to be the way to go," T'mpest said, heading for the door. She was curious to see what was down there.

While everyone's curiosity was piqued at exploring, Cattmor felt the urge to go a different direction. "If you don't mind, captain, I'd like to stay up here and take a look around the offices first. I doubt anything is still working but there could be some evidence in the papers as to exactly what this facility is, and why it differs so much from the surrounding building infrastructure?"

"Go ahead, just let us know if you find anything," T'mpest said, going over to the stairs. She paused by the door between the stairs and scanned it. It appeared to be free from oxidation, which was curious. She pushed the button to call the lift and waited, just to see what it would do.

To her surprise, it opened with a soft ding. The air inside was surprisingly fresh as well. "Wait here," she said. "I'll go first and make sure the way is safe."

Belle kept a safe distance, but couldn't help walking up to the elevator. "How is this thing even working?" Using her tricorder, she traced the inner workings. Electricity seemed to come from below, but so far that the tricorder couldn't read from where exactly. "Humh..."

"Indeed," T'mpest said, "There is only one way to find out for sure." It seemed sound, but there was a chance she would not be able to get back once she arrived at her destination -- whatever that may be. So, having someone stay behind to activate the elevator would be most prudent.

T'mpest stepped onto the elevator and turned to face the others. It felt a little odd to be in something so old-fashioned, but at the same time, it was quite exciting. On the wall was one button. That was concerning, but with the rest of the team still outside, they would be able to open the elevator for her if necessary.

The door closed and the internal lights dimmed as the elevator began to descend.

Belle followed the elevator with her tricorder

The elevator went down a long way, a lot further than was warranted for the size of the building? How far down was the bottom? And why was there nothing to indicate where it was going inside the elevator?

And then something odd happened. There was an electronic hum, all the internal buttons and levers receded and a solid metal plate covered their location, the lights went out and the lift began to descend more rapidly.

At that moment, Belle's tricorder lost the Captain's signal.

____
OFF

Captain T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Ensign Belle Maryweather
Science Officer

Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

 

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