Boots on the Ground (part 3)

Posted on Tue Dec 24, 2019 @ 5:36pm by Ensign Calaban Bel-Asher & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca

2,557 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Pangaea
Timeline: MD 25 1500

[CONTINUED]

{OLD]


"Alright then." Calaban dusted down his palms. "All aboard, round two of our magical mystery tour."

{NEW]

Alanna boarded the shuttle and downloaded her data from the tricorder to the shuttle and to her PADD, then stored her samples before taking her seat.

Brianthe did the same.

The two Romulans hesitated before they, too, copied their data to the ship's computer, but they also backed it up to their own PADDs before sitting down.

Once they did, they began a quiet conversation in Romulan.

Calaban poked at the navigations panel, letting it randomly pick a site of similar size. It picked one of the large equatorial islands, several thousand kilometers north east of their current locations. Unlike the first stop. This was densely forested jungle terrain, the canopy so thick and lush the ground beneath must be pitch dark. "Everyone shout if you spot somewhere to park."

Alanna was torn between looking for a sturdy treetop and a clearing, but settled for a clearing or a beach. She noticed a spot to port and notified Calaban. "That might be large enough to land." She was eager to get a good look at this place, and maybe spend the night here. She loved jungles as there were so many layers to explore, and so many treasures that could be hidden.

The clearing had been made when two huge trees had fallen down, pulling other trees with them and clearing a space just big enough for the shuttle craft. Like the rest of the planet, there seemed to be birds and insects everywhere. Jewel bright butterflies flitted through the open space; tiny rainbow coloured birds hovered over rich tropical blooms. But there was no sight or sign of any larger creatures, four legged, or two legged or winged or anything.

Cal looked at the fallen trees through the shuttles viewscreens. One had snapped off into long jagged spikes nearly ten meters tall. The other had ripped up a rootball as big as football field. "Okay. lets hope for no strong winds."

"There haven't been any of note, so we should be fine," Alanna said, hoping they didn't encounter a freak storm. There would be no getting off this island if they did. This was a perfect place to see if there were any signs of animal life, or ancient inhabitants. The giant trees were the first place she wanted to look. "I'll check the fallen trees. R'gelis, Tannis, check the perimeter of the clearing. Brianthe, have a look at the flora. Calaban, you get the bugs." With her bag over her shoulder, she headed outside.

Without a word, the Romulans followed her.

Brianthe looked at Calaban and grinned. "Let's hope none of them are poisonous."

Calaban chuckled, and shouldered his bag of sensors and measuring gear, now including an old fashioned tape measure quickly replicated. "I don't mind the odd creepy crawlie. Given the amount of coffee and garlic pizza bread I go through? I'm more likely to poison them!"

"Then when we return to the ship I will have to use your blood to prepare a serum to protect away teams from future insect attacks," Brianthe said.

____

It was the tree that had come up by the root balls that had smashed down the one splintered. the crater it had left when its root were lifted were littered with stones. But not random shapes and sizes. The stones were worked, into rough cuboids the width of her palm, and twice as long.

Alanna picked up several crystals and scanned them. "This is fascinating." Each one was the same size, and clearly not naturally formed. She put them into her bag and climbed into the hole to see if there was any indication of why they were there.

The roots that were still in the ground, some snapped off, some still attached to the ball were all sizes, from as thick as Alanna's finger to as thick as her thigh. the main tap root was snapped off and easily as broad as her hips. Whilst the bigger roots seemed to grow wherever they pleased, many of the smaller ones left in the hole seemed to have grown along something, forming a rough circle of roots growing back and forth on top of each other.

Alanna wondered if the crystals had anything to do with where the roots grew. And so, she did a little scanning and a little digging around to find out.

The tricorder glitched, but it was enough to show more of the stones in the area, picking up dense deposits all around her. in rings surrounded by rings, identical to the site to the south. Before it died completely it showed that most of the rings lay ahead of them, deep inside the tree line.

"Look at this?" she said, climbing out with her tricorder.

Brianthe came over to see what she'd found. "Crystals and trees?" She shook her head. "I'm going to go look." Before Alanna could respond, she'd dropped into the hole to do her own digging.

Moving the dirt showed more stones, tangled in the network of finer roots left at the edge of where the ball had come up, running in almost a full circle, with only a meter gap, facing towards the centre of the rings, facing into the jungle.

Brianthe shared what she found with the others. "I think we should see where that gap leads."

"I do, too."

R'gelis and Tannis came up to the others. "I urge caution," R'gelis said.

Tannis nodded. "Our instruments show two hundred different species of insects, spiders, and grubs. There are no animals of measurable size. Not even rats."

"No rats, no mice?" Alanna asked.

Tannis shook her head. "None."

"Curious. Do you think the crystals have anything to do with that?"

"That is the primary hypothesis," R'gelis said.

Alanna handed the two stones. "Let's see wat else we can find. Brianthe and I will check out the gap in the circle and where it leads. I'll let you decide what you want to do."

She turned to Calaban. "You, too. There's so much to look at, I'd like to spend the night and a good chunk of tomorrow here."

"We have tents and a replicator. Its not a problem. One thing does occur to me." he said, letting a millipede the length of Brianthe's arm skitter over his fingers.

"What's that?" Brianthe asked, watching the millipede.

"No predators. Whats keeping the population of these adorable little nightmares down?"

"That is the question," Alanna said. "I'm beginning to think these crystals have a lot to do with it. I'm taking some back to the station for analysis."

She found the right calibration to pick up the crystals in the soil and began to follow the open spaces in the circles into the jungle.

The canopy was so dense that within fifty meters she was plunged into a humid murky gloom, strands of mist even hung above the uneven ground. A hundred meters in and some of the fungi were bio-luminescent. Little grew at the foot of the trees except lichen and spreading fungi the size of dinner plates.

The great trees themselves weren't even trunks at ground level, but knots of buttress roots that plunged into the earth over and under one another in a hopeless tangle, three meters or more high before they fused into the trunks they were supporting. And held in the weaving roots were the remnants of buildings.

Chunks of stone masonry, a lump of wall here, a window broken and deformed by the tree limbs passing through it there. Nothing was intact, and what remained was time worn and ruined. Some was still at ground level. Other parts were lifted high with growth of the roots that entangled them.

Alanna scanned everything around her in wonder. This was an incredible find, and a world she only hoped to understand. When she had a detailed scan, she approached one of the buildings, careful not to damage any of the fragile structures. "Brianthe," she called. "Come look."

Brianthe was taking a sample of the fungi. "What did you find?"

"A village, of sorts. In the roots of the trees."

"Oh my gosh! Really?" The botanist came over to where Alanna was standing in what had once been a doorway. "Incredible."

"I know. This may help explain a great deal about the planet. I'm going to have to be very careful about what I report. I want to make sure we have control over the site and who excavates it."

"Oh, definitely. You already have authorization for the other sites. All you have to do is get this--and anything like it--added."

Alanna grinned. "I know a lot of people who will be upset." Her smile showed that she didn't care about what they thought. Her priority was preserving this and other sites for research. They needed to learn about the early occupants of Pangaea, like the ones here. "If other islands have the same sites, this could teach us so much."

Brianthe took her own scans as a backup. "Definitely."

Calaban joined them, wiping at his face drenched in sweat in the cloying humidity. "Wow. Thats impressive." He looked about, and checked his tricorder. "Well, wacky chroniton readings again. Don't ask me how long all this has been here."

Alanna held up one of the crystals. "I suspect these may have something to do with it. But why is still a mystery." She grinned at Calaban, clearly excited by the find--and the mystery.

R'gelis shook his head. "There is a possibility the temporal effect has a strategic value. If their enemies cannot find them, they cannot attack them."

Tannis nodded. "Hiding in one place, while the world around you is in temporal flux would be an impressive feat of technology."

"Or magic." Alanna raised a crystal. "Depending on the scientific advancement of the other races, this could be considered magic."

Brianthe nodded. "True. Let's see if the rest of the area shows the same level of technology."

"Good idea." Alanna glanced at the others. "Spread out, but be back here before sunset so we have time to set camp." She looked up at the canopy. "Or as close as we can get."

They went a kilometer deeper into the woods and ran into a stream. There were no crystals beyond that point. But the deeper they got into the woods, the more uncomfortable Brianthe became. "Don't you feel it?" she asked. "There's something wrong here."

Alanna had felt it, but she put it down to the temporal distortions. Having Brianthe confirm it made her shiver.

One the way back, they checked several of the small rooms. Each had a crystal, but each was in a terrible state. Roots and undergrowth had destroyed much of it. Wind and storms had taken their toll. There were no signs of metal, clothing, or reguse to indicate what type of people lived here.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think the ancient spirits were upset with us," Brianthe said when they got back to the others.

"I think this place gives me the willies even more than the last." Calaban looked around, squinting in the light of his glow stick. "Is it normal to find ruins like this wth no... bodies. Or anything like furniture? Don't you normally find pottery and stuff?"

"Yes, we normally find something. A piece of cloth, some potsherds, a refuse pile, or something to indicate humanoid habitation. The only time I saw something like this was when they abandoned their settlement," Alanna said. "But even then, there were bits and pieces left behind." She looked around, now more aware of the feeling they weren't alone. "I think we should sleep outside of the circle."

"Shockingly, there are no objections. I'm going to stay close to the shuttle." Calaban said drily. "Smores all round?" He headed away to start inflating the tents for the camp site.

The two Romulans followed him. "We will help."

Alanna chuckled. "We'll be along as soon as we finish here." She took a few more readings, picked up some soil and plant samples, and a few more crystals, and followed the others.

Brianthe took plant samples outside the circles for comparison and then followed Alanna.

When they were done, there were three tents forming a circle with the shuttle bay. A small fire was cracking and spitting in the center and there were mugs and a large flask waiting. Calaban had his own mug in one hand, and was carefully poking at a grill suspended from a trivet over the fire. "Hey. Corn on the Cob, replicated sausages, grilled tomatoes. Grab a plate. There's hot chocolate in the flask."

"Sounds delicious," Alanna said, grabbing a plate.

She turned to the two Romulans. "We're casual about food. Help yourself." The two nodded and grabbed plates.

Brianthe got herself some hot chocolate first, then went for a plate. Soon, they were all seated around the fire, eating.

"Damn this place is weird," Calaban declared as he finished his plate. "Jungles aren't supposed to be quiet. Where's all the creatures calling to each others. Where's all the bird song? I've not seen anything bigger than my thumb, or picked it up on sensors.

"It is weird." Alanna paused. "I'm beginning to believe that the crystals have something to do with it, but it will take some research to figure out what they are."

"You know, the soil is different inside the circles than it is outside," Brianthe said. "So they're affecting the flora as well."

"It's not natural," R'gelis added.

"Different in what way?" Calaban asked. "Is it brought in from somewhere else, or are those stones leaching something?"

"The soil inside the circle a rich loam, and there are some minerals in it I can't identify," Brianthe said. "There are no weeds, either. I've never seen a place that didn't have weeds."

"Well, its really dark in there. Not enough sunlight for photosynthesis?" He was no botanist, but it felt plausible. It was the mundane explanation. But they had to be rules out before you started with more interesting conclusions.

"Primary forests and jungles have layers of growth. Generally four to six layers for old-growth trees. But here..." Brianthe shook her head. "There are only two layers. The canopy layer is solid, but there are few young trees, and no understory species. Shrubs and bushes, or fungus, should be plentiful with so much old growth. The soil is more what you'd find with the thick detritus of a jungle, but without the decay. That's really odd." She indicated the area around them. "There are fewer flowers here, but more bushes. Weird, huh?"

"Yeah, now you point it out." Calaban finished his cocoa. "Are you sure you want to sleep out here. I mean, the station's only 30 minutes, 15 if we hurry."

She considered that for a moment. "I admit I'm curious to see what the night brings."

Calban sucked his lip, thinking about it. "Whilst normally I'd agree with you. I keep thinking about what humans keep saying about cats..."


(To be continued...)

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

Lieutenant JG Calaban Bel-Asher
Assistant Chief Science Officer
DS5

Ensign Brianthe Oaxaca
Botanist
Deep Space Five

R'gelis Stadi
Romulan Scientist

Tannis Tarkelion
Romulan Scientist

 

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