Answers...at Last (part 3)

Posted on Thu Oct 15th, 2020 @ 2:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Lieutenant Remy Boudreau & Lieutenant Zuub & Lieutenant JG Tiskatee Troilon & Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles

1,078 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Caverns of the mind
Location: Planetside

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

"Tell me that they were in hazmat suits," Zuub asked, her antennae trying to flail and failing in the suit.

"The three that went after Jansum and Nakano, yes," Amber said. "But before that...no."

[NEW]

=^= Nicoles to Station.=^= The Doctor's voice came over the comm. =^= We have our people back; Outside the caves, can yew transport?=^=

Amber went over to the command center and pulled up the transporter controls. "Looks like they got out sooner than expected."

She tapped her combadge. "Acknowledged. Transporting." A moment later, the five crew members materialized.

Boudreau blew out some air as he took a moment to unhook himself off the rest of the team, 'our Security Chief has a mean right hook. Caught me completely off-guard - lucky I had the helmet on.'

"Thank Y'All for the beam out, Jansum is not what ya might call 'light' in any case." Niciles said. "Let's get these two into isolation and if miss Troilon could changes the locks as we know a Security man might try to get his way owt?"

Without removing her rifle the Security woman nod. "No casualties aside from one Science Chief from what had to be a right cross." She report. "The Native population should come around in a couple of hours Commander."

Zuub looked at everyone. "I must take a look at everyone. Nobody is to go to the ship."

Boudreau shrugged, 'test away. Our hazmat suits ought to have prevented any contamination.' He looked at the Andorian, 'I don't think we've met?'

"We have not," the Andorian with squished antennae in the hazmat suit responded. "I have just arrived. I'm the new Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant Zuub. And you are?" Zuub waved her medical tricorder in Boudreau's general direction starting to take readings.

'Lieutenant Boudreau, Chief Science Officer,' he replied, holding his arms out slightly on either side of his body. It didn't help the tricorder at all, but it was an unconscious habit of his.

"If you would just stand still, Lieutenant, this would be much easier," Zuub told the Chief Science Officer as she scanned. "Tell me your observations of this planet and the caves."

'Most humanoid activity seems to be located in the vicinity of the local cave system. As far as we can tell, there has been no technologically advanced civilisation on this planet, though with the way our science team devolved over repeated trips to the cave, that can't actually be ruled out.'

'Whatever chemical compound is devolving the humanoids, it does seem connected to the caves - the correlation is astounding. It seems repeated exposure to the caves' atmosphere has a debilitating effect on humanoid higher functions, and it seems that local fauna from within the cave system can have an accelerated effect - witness what happened to our Chief of Security. Licked by a lizard, and his devolution accelerated.' Boudreau forced himself to stay still for the scan.

Amber stopped in the doorway. "I found the man you sent back. He was part of the original team that built the facility. He disappeared at some point and couldn't be found. They presumed he was attacked by a carnivore--although there really aren't many of those here."

"Has any analysis been done regarding the chemical composition or air of the caverns as opposed to the air and minerals out here?" Zuub asked.

"Yes, but it didn't show anything out of the ordinary. However, if whatever it is appears to be a common element and is only slightly altered, or is so alien we can't identify it, the results would be the same."

"Unless we analyzed the percentages," Zuub responded back thoughtfully.

'That's a good idea, in fairness,' Boudreau nodded at the Andorian. 'The sooner you can clear me to get back to the ship, the better.'

"Nobody is going back to the ship at this time. Captain and Doctor's orders," Zuub responded matter-of-factly.

"We have two patients now who have degenerated," Amber said. "We don't have any baseline readings for Karl Pinder, but it won't be hard to find what changed with Jansum. That should give us a baseline to test the others."

Boudreau made a low frustrated noise at the back of his throat. This was not how he'd hoped his day would turn out. 'Fine, let's get to it then.' He flashed a strained smile, 'the faster we solve this the faster we get back home.'

"Lead me to them, then, Commander. I do want to solve the mystery, myself," Zuub told Amber.

Amber flashed a smile to Boudreau, then led the doctor back to sickbay. "That's Pinder in the back. Jansum is on the right. Nakano on the left."

"Commander." Troilon began. "In your research did any of it mention hunting parties, they obviously have food but where do they get it?" She asked. "If what you say is true; would the hunters be affected differently as they are purged when out of the caves?"

"No, there were no mentions of hunting parties, although it's possible that is what alerted the scientists and our contractor to their existence. Did you see any signs of large animals in the caves?"

Zuub started scanning the affected party members and contributed to the conversation, "Perhaps there is sufficient animal and plant life in the caves for survival." Her antennae wanted to flail but again, they were squished inside her hazmat suit.

"There are these Lizard like things that have a shell like a rock." Nicoles stated. "Ah stepped on one and almost fell when it shifted and then ran when mah foot was removed."

"I did not notice any large animals in my time." Troilon stated. "WE planted probes in the caves we could check the data we have recorded and see if anything shows up?" She suggested. "And I saw no humanoid carcasses so they are not eating one another." She might have been joking.

"Doctor Nicoles can answer many of your questions," Amber said, seeing the other woman.

Zuub nodded and moved over to Doctor Nicoles. She immediately introduced herself. "I am Chief Medical Officer, Lieutenant Zuub. Please report to me all that has happened with these patients and the conclusions reached thus far."

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Zuub
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Remy Boudreau
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant JG Tessa Nicoles
Medic

Lieutenant JG Tiskatee Troilon
Security Officer

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