The Evacuation (part 1)
Posted on Tue Jun 28th, 2016 @ 12:32pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Ensign Belle Maryweather & Ensign Kanali Paxton
1,068 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission: A Civil Act
ON
T'mpest had no idea how long she spent going through the room, looking for something -- anything -- to help her understand what was going on. Finally, she found a report about people getting sick after the opening into the new cavern had been completed. Many died and those who survived were looking for a way back to the surface to confront the others, but she wasn't sure what that meant.
She scanned the information, then headed back to the others.
"We need to leave," she informed them.
The resultant reactionary conversation from the rest of the group dulled to a but a distant murmur, while T'mpest's last surprising statement of revelation replayed in Cattmor's mind, triggering another distant memory...
~~~~
We need to leave. Cattmor turned her head toward the projected thought, and shook her head in the negative sense; a sharp nod came the only response. Our presence has been discovered, we have to.
Before the mission completion? If we leave now, Turesh will go to ground and we may never pick up the scent again. Rylie replied telepathically. No, we carry on. They'd never accept failure.
Suddenly alarms started blaring through the halls, and shutters started to cover all the windows, entrances and exits...
~~~~
...That day too, ended badly. "I'm down with that idea, captain," Cattmor said, "but why? And how?"
T'mpest gave her an odd look. She caught...something, but she wasn't sure what. Some memory? "Something happened here. The people working here got sick. Some died..."
She checked one more time for information, but the computer had been wiped of all data. T'mpest pulled out her tricorder and began to take readings as she walked through the building to the outside. "Traces of hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and some chemical I can't identify."
"So, they needed a maid." Cattmor said a tad more sarcastic sounding than she meant before she could catch her tongue. "What's the emergency? We've been down here for a while."
"This side of the city is not connected to the main computer system," T'mpest said. "And there is evidence that the people who worked here died from exposure to toxic gas." Her tricorder beeped again. And radiation. As there is nothing more to be learned here, it would be prudent to return to the main part of the city to continue our investigation."
"How's that even possible, my tricorder..." Belle studied her tricorder, "Are you sure, Captain? My tricorder isn't even picking it up..." As a scientist, quailty of the air was one of her responsibilities, and it frustrated her to no end that she hadn't picked up a potentially dangerous situation before.
"It was not detectable where we were before," T'mpest said. "It is here, or, more precisely, in the cavern beyond here -- or was. There are only traces here and there. Perhaps where samples were stored or where people worked. I do not know for sure. All I know is that if there was something here that made the inhabitants ill, I would like to go to another location to look for more information." She would like to investigate the secondary cavern, but not without protective gear, just in case. It had been long enough for any harmful gasses to dissipate, but she did not want to take any chances until they had contact with the Ranger again. She was also oddly disturbed by the fact that the AOs did not have access to this particular building. Why were they in control of most of the city, but not here? It was a puzzle she wished to solve. "We can take samples from outside the building, if you wish, Ensign."
Kali scowled a little bit at Mayweather. "Of course it's possible. This is an underground cavern with unknown ventilation. One of the primary dangers of working down in places like this is suffocation, dangerous gasses often are heavy and tend to collect. Which is one reason why I said from the beginning that a way out should have been our primary focus." She didn't quite glare at everyone else, including the Captain, who had all ignored her when she said they had to find a way back to the surface. She should really be getting used to it- no one ever listened to her or took her seriously.
"Agreed," T'mpest said. "But we also need to get information. Your specialty is geology, correct? Gather some samples that can help us find out what happened here."
"Yes, Sir," Kali said and ducked her head. She tugged on her bangs, making sure they covered her forehead, her automatic nervous gesture. She didn't even think that gathering samples was important at the moment. History was useless if they were dead or trapped, and she didn't have the systems here to analyze deeply enough to find the answers the Captain was looking for. But she didn't say it. No one would listen anyway.
She set her kit down and pulled out the sample containers she had brought along, carefully recording each step of the process. Maybe whoever found her corpse would at least appreciate the meticulous nature of her work. You know, before they themselves died in this cave trap.
Rylie watched Kali walk off to gather her samples and clearly heard her thoughts of the situation and her part in it; she needn't have said anything before, it was clear that she was frustrated and none too happy. According to everyone else too, they either didn't want to, or know what to say next. "So while Miss Paxton collects some rocks and the rest of us slowly die from the breathing of the poisonous gases in the vicinity, what do you propose we do now?"
"Now that we know this part of the city had problems, we can look elsewhere for how they solved it -- and if they made it back to the surface."
"And what do the voices in your head say about that?" Cattmor asked.
T'mpest turned, surprised and a little saddened by the comment. It was no wonder her XO could hear nothing. "Their computers are not installed in this building, so they are not able to respond here."
(To be continued...)
Captain T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer
Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer
Ensign Belle Maryweather
Science Officer
Ensign Kanali Paxton
Scientist
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