LtCmdr Jovenan – Why can’t we ever find something nice?
Jovenan
((Tunnels, inside the cliffs, Callis I))
Hopefully, they’d be away for just a minute.
Jovenan and Lt K’Wara left the Doctor and Lt Bergmen to prepare for the camp. The cavern around the water seemed the most hospitable place they had encountered so far in their journey to the depths of the cliffs, but the number of other tunnels leading there made Jovenan nervous. Perhaps the earlier residents of the place had mapped them all out and identified the dangerous ones, hence settling here after declaring the location safe, but she wasn’t going to leave checking just to some unknown people who might have been dead for a long time. There were likely animals in some of these tunnels, and who knew what else…
It could be something nice.
The first tunnel the two departments heads inspected turned out to be straight and narrow. Nothing in it indicated either danger or anything of interest. Jovenan wondered how many tunnels like these were there, and how many of them led to the surface. They still had the one they had followed there, which they could follow out when they’d eventually leave, but in case it collapsed or became otherwise unusable, it would have been good to be aware of the options. Maybe they’d follow the wind the next time it blasted through the ant hill of a mountain.
They left for the next tunnel. It would have been so much easier if they could have just all sat down and set up the camp, but Jovenan didn’t trust these caves. Looking at them was the least she could do. Taking Lt K’Wara with her made her feel at least somewhat more secure. In the unlikely case there was something actually lurking in there – and not just in her head – there was little the Ops Chief could have done to help her, since they had no weapons, no fire, not even a sharp stick to point at any opportunistic predator there. Still, going in there with someone was much better than going alone. Besides, not all dangers were creatures. If she fell to a pit, the Lieutenant could offer a hand – or at least fetch one of the other officers who had better chances at reaching her.
The second tunnel didn’t look like it had anything interesting going on either. It had a bend, which blocked her vision a bit, but as far as she could see, it was just as dry and empty as the ones they had seen before. She was already turning away when moving the chemlight revealed it. Shadows, moving differently from all the others. It wouldn’t have been the first time her eyes had tricked her, but this was something else. There was something poking out from the ground.
Jovenan: Wait. What’s that?
The Lieutenant quickly stepped closer and looked into the bendy tunnel as well.
K’Wara: What’s what?
It was distinct from the rocks surrounding it. Something thin and long, pointing upwards and not merely lying on the floor of stone of the tunnel. Unable to tell from what it was from so far, not in the poor lighting provided by the chemlights, Jovenan considered what other option she had but to go have a look. It could have been something important, like the drawings might still prove to be. Having made the decision, she stepped away from the tunnel and waved her hand in the air to catch the attention of the two other officer working with the camp. After signalling that they’d be away from the others’ sight for a few seconds, she turned back to the tunnel and the mysterious objects.
The first dozen steps, there was no notable difference. She kept walking. The steps echoed in the walls. Maybe they were tools left by the people who made the drawings. The survivors had very little resources, so anything that would help them survive was welcome. The shadows gained definition as Jovenan lifted the chemlights. A little closer. The object wasn’t just something poking out, it was something bent, a portion of an arch. Closer. There were many of them. Each curved like the previous, the longest ones in the middle, a set of them, lined neatly after another. Jovenan froze.
Jovenan: Let’s… back away.
Something had left bones in the corridor. Not just bones, clean, sharp set of rather large bones. Jovenan felt uncomfortable and scared. Something – or someone – had died this close to their camping place. She just wanted to walk away, slowly, without turning her back to whatever had done that and might still be in the tunnel.
K’Wara: ::quietly:: As much as I’d love to do so, shouldn’t we try to get some information? How old the bones are, if their mangled shapes are evidence of resident carnivore wildlife or of being made into tools? Would help determine if we go back to Roy and Olliver with the order to ‘book it’ or pack out the sleeping bags.
Jovenan hated the fact that the Lieutenant was right. Her fear had taken over her curiosity. It had been the task of the Operations Officer to tell the Scientist that they may want to study their discovery. How embarrassing.
Jovenan: Thank you for volunteering, Lieutenant.
K’Wara: Mmph... Yes sir.
The Lieutenant approached the bones. Jovenan kept watching at the skeletal remains until she realised that she was more useful to them if she raised her eyes and kept watch in case something did come out of the tunnel. Not that she could have done much to cover the Lieutenant. They were in the awkward position that they would have been better off if the Federation was a lower level of technological advancement; if they had had firearms instead of phasers in the escape pod, they’d be safer, if they had flint and steel instead of scanners, they’d have a cosy little camp already set up.
K’Wara: Well, they’re ::grim smile:: dry as bone. No biological material still stuck to them either, so maybe they’re very old? It doesn’t look like tools, but they are very sharp. And thoroughly cleaned, so either someone cleaned it, or... ::looks around, slightly concerned:: Something has a very voracious appetite.
Old. Good. For all they knew, whatever did this might be long gone. In a dry environment like this, it could take centuries for the bones to decompose. As for the rest of the analysis, Jovenan could have gone without it. The animal that these bones belonged to didn’t just die and get decomposed, its flesh and organs had been devoured. Which meant that there were carnivorous predators on the planet.
Just… keep calm. Jovenan had to remind herself that this wasn’t the first time she shared a world with creatures that could eat a humanoid. The giant scorpion on Ura Neteos didn’t stand a chance, the being on the Genesis planet couldn’t outrun them, the scaled monarchs on Meranuge knew to keep their distance, heck, there were pretty dangerous animals on Earth and Vulcan and Andoria and all those other places any none of them had crossed their paths with her.
The fact that they didn’t have anything to defend themselves this time was rather distressing, though.
Jovenan: Maybe the people who lived here used this area to butcher the animals they hunted or raised. It’s away from the water and where they would have lived, after all. ::pause:: Or maybe not.
K’Wara: Response
They had been on the planet for hours – plus whatever time it took them to regain their consciousness after the crash – and they had only witnessed three signs of animal life on the planet besides themselves: the growl from the depths of the tunnels, the drawings on the walls and now a skeleton. Jovenan wasn’t going to include anything she thought she had seen. The remains in front of them provided the first indications as to what lifeforms might be like on the planet. As much as she was afraid, the curiosity won her over again.
Jovenan: Can you tell anything about what kind of animal it was?
K’Wara: Response
Jovenan stepped closer to the skeleton. If her tricorder had been working, she would have solved the mystery already. Instead, she had to rely on just her vision. It was as valid a form of science, of course, but the lack of quantifiable data was frustrating. Dropping the chemlight, she crouched next to the skeleton. Much of it was shattered and moved around, which made the analysis more difficult. There wasn’t much left with the skull – had they eaten the brain as well? – but the hip was just in two pieces. She lifted the parts carefully.
She shouldn’t have done that.
Jovenan: Uh, whatever it was, it was bipedal.
K’Wara: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11