LtCmdr Jovenan – Magic carpet ride

[Jovenan]

((Golden Spire))

Luirétt: Unfortunately not. We lost our homeworld many years ago, so we were all born and raised within the Cityship. Before boarding New Hope, I’d never stepped off of the Cityship before.

Jovenan listened carefully to the answers of the Yurum leader as they led her team further away from the government reception halls and into something what she thought was an indoor garden of some kind. She could see why the Boraxians didn’t need to leave the Cityship: with the size of the main ship and the accompanying support fleet, they could survive for months, maybe years without a stop. Maybe they resupplied their resources occasionally or traded with the civilisations they met, but there seemed to be everything here one needed to live their entire life here and, in the end, die without ever leaving. The Cityship and its fleet was a planet, and like the people of pre-warp civilisations – or indeed, Jovenan’s own society for a long time after making their first contact – lived innumerable generations without anyone ever laying their feet on an alien soil.

But that was not what they were there to learn.

Jovenan: Interesting. Is that true for all the Boraxians, or is that only so for the Yurum?

Bancroft: ::brow furrowing:: Do Boraxians even do ‘away missions?’ Or do they simply invite the universe for a bit of tea in this delightful palace?

Luirétt: It is not so for all of us - some amongst the Boraxian citizenry choose a trader’s vocation, or may apply for leave to go exploring. It is also not unheard of for an expedition to set off in a small craft on a Pilgrimage, in search of Ellet. However, I would say it is the norm.

Again the Acting XO nodded along, once more understanding what Luirétt was saying. The Cityship ventured across the galaxy in search for something she didn’t know the meaning of – a promised homeworld, a deity? – but it was still a ship, a cage, even if a golden one. Most never left, some were banned from leaving, but those who did, would find themselves seeing the marvels of the galaxy, the creativity of the physical laws in composing the songs of the nebulae and the rotations of the stars, the myriads of strange new worlds… She understood them, and she understood now better why one would want to defy the order, even the law, to never leave.

Jovenan: We want to learn as much about your people, Luirétt, about how the Yurum live compared to the other Boraxians. Perhaps you could show us. Where could we see more about what your life is like?

Bancroft: Are the Yurum – pardon my bluntness, I can’t think of a better word – physically segregated from the rest of Boraxian society?

Luirétt: Yes, for our own safety we are kept separate from society at large. As children we live here ::gestures around them:: within the Golden Spire, wards of the Matriarchs and Holy Patrons, who prepare us for our life of service. Once we reach maturity, we are assigned to a Spire, where we take up solitary residence for the rest of our lives. I, myself, was the Yurum of Sunhaven. We can go there.

Jovenan tried not to show too much emotion in response to the description of a Yurum life. She had to remind herself that she shouldn’t take Luirétt’s word as the unbiased truth yet, just like the Captain wouldn’t necessarily believe anything the Advocate would be saying. Her team’s task was to find solid evidence. Still, a part of her wanted to just beam out all the Yurum to the Artemis and open fire against the Cityship, the fire of revenge, of justice… No, she had made too many promises to even allow her to think of that. There was an investigation to be done.

Jovenan: How would we get there?

Bancroft: ::pointing out the window in thinly veiled excitement:: Do we get to take one of those?

The Doctor was looking at objects that hurled past behind the window faster than what would allow Jovenan to inspect them better. To her, they looked like small shuttles, flying cars perhaps, similar crafts in sense to those countless things that fly over San Francisco when she had been there, even when the local transporter arch system was fully functional. She had sometimes stopped to look at them, in her youthful naïveté, wondering where they were going and why. She had preferred to walk or run whenever possible.

Bergmen: I suppose we can't avoid it, Ensign…

Luirétt: Yes, we do.

The Yurum faction leader led them to a balcony overlooking the city below. Doctor Bancroft peered over the edge, making Jovenan wonder if it was better to let him or order him away from there, risking startling him. Keeping an eye on him, she sniffed the air. Besides the lack of wind, the chemical composition was wholly artificial. Above them, the lights and the glow of the Cityship covered the stars in the artificial sky. Before she could do more analysis of their surroundings or before Bancroft’s curiosity doomed him to a fall, one of the vehicles they had seen slowed down and approached their balcony. It was small, designed to be flown in the Cityship’s atmosphere, making Jovenan wonder if it could be at all used for spaceflight. Notably, she noticed, there was no pilot.

Bancroft: ::sucking his teeth:: That is… genuinely really cool. Luirétt, are these fully automated? Or is there a control room somewhere?

Bergmen: As our brain controls us, I believe there is a control room for those somewhere, too. Right, Luirett?

Luirétt: I am... Unsure? It was summoned by us walking onto the balcony, but I can’t speak to the specifics.

It was probably something Jovenan should have foreseen. The Yurum lived very isolated, secluded life in their respective residences, if Luirétt was being honest, so it made sense that they would have never actually operated a vehicle like this. That said, Luirétt and their followers had managed to hijack a massive spaceship and somehow not get them all blown out into the abyss or steered it into a star – or more likely, not manage to even get the ship running – so she wouldn’t dismiss their ability to control the vehicle yet.

Jovenan: That’s okay, we’ll figure out how it works.

The Doctor had already stepped closer and was studying the vehicle’s side.

Bancroft: ::squinting:: Hm. No obvious user interface. ::clearing his throat:: Um… hello? ::tapping the side of the craft cautiously:: Are you… voice-activated? Or… I don’t know. Emotion-activated? Do I have to give you a hug and gently whisper my destination?

Jovenan raised an eyebrow. A system that required physical expressions of endearment sounded awfully inefficient, although she had to admit, she wasn’t yet sure if she’d love or hate living in a society where that was the case. This particular society, however, was clearly not it, and instead the vehicle floated in its place without a response or reaction.

Bergmen: I would leave steering to the experienced, Doctor. ::to Luirett:: Luirett, can you show us how this vehicle works?

Luirétt: I know how to direct the Craft once we board it.

There. Just as Jovenan had thought. She nodded to Luirétt and turned to her teammates.

Jovenan: In that case, we have no reason to delay our departure. Please board the vehicle, everyone.

Allowing the junior officers to take their seats first, Jovenan stayed behind. However, before Doctor Bancroft could step inside, he stopped as if he had noticed something. Mildly alarmed by his unexpected behaviour, Jovenan looked around to spot what was wrong. It was apparently not about the vehicle, as he had turned his head to the distance. A pillar of smoke emerged behind the buildings.

Bancroft: ::frowning:: Well, that’s usually not a great sign. Is something on fire? Or is this some sort of ceremonial thing?

Luirétt: No. That smoke is rising from the commercial area. It’s highly irregular.

Luirétt wrung their hands. Jovenan didn’t know much about Boraxian behaviour, but to her, they looked anxious or worried.

Bergmen: Backdraft ventilation. Do you see that yellow outline in the dark core of smoke? Whatever is burning is a combustible, toxic, and burns fast.

Jovenan: So, not a plasma fire, but a… house fire?

Bergmen: Backdraft occurs when fire's superhot gases quickly consume the available oxygen at the origin point. Before they can suffocate, the fire burns through walls or breaks windows to draw in more air, causing rapid fire expansion fueled by the influx. This usually happens due to external circumstances, such as a burning flammable or an explosion, as a point of origin…

So definitely a house fire or something similar. Jovenan looked at the smoke rising further into the artificial sky. Without further information of the Boraxian Cityship design and the life on it, it was difficult to even start guessing if it was just a coincidence. House fires used to be relatively common until recently even in places such as Earth, and even now, they happened every now and then in abandoned buildings or rural places where proper fire suppression system was not installed. Besides, malfunctions happened. But looking at Luirétt, Jovenan wasn’t convinced this was not somehow peculiar. If it was connected to the Yurum faction’s departure, she wanted to know about it.

Bancroft: Response

Bergmen: Maybe we should investigate, do you agree, Commander? Luirett?

Luirétt: I can take us there. The Skycraft will respond to my inputs.

Jovenan: Let’s do that. We can always resume to our original destination if it turns out to be nothing.

Bergmen/Bancroft: Response

With a nod to her teammates, they resumed with the onboarding. The vehicle turned out to have less space for comfortable seating than she had expected. The male and female Boraxians they had met – and what their biological references told them – had not been particularly small compared to the humans and the Edo, yet their vehicles were as if designed for even smaller individuals. Was this a Yurum vehicle? Were those a thing? Luirétt, unlike Jovenan, took their seat with grace. That had to be it.

Luirétt: Everyone ready?

Luirétt placed their hands to the controls, activating them. Jovenan for certain hoped that Luirétt was as skilled at piloting this vehicle as they were boarding it.

Jovenan: I’m ready.

Bergmen/Bancroft/Luirétt: Response

The vehicle rose away from the platform slowly, but once it was higher in the air, it gained speed. The buildings and other vehicles zoomed past, becoming blurry when Jovenan tried to follow their flight from the side. When she turned to look ahead, the smoke pillar grew larger, until she saw the glow of the fire reflecting against the neighbouring buildings, illuminating their exteriors.

Jovenan: Try to find a spot where we can see what’s going on, but keep our distance. Do you know what building that is?

Luirétt/Bergmen/Bancroft: Response

Jovenan looked around the area. There were other vehicles that had stopped, perhaps to observe the fire like they had, and she supposed some of the vehicles and people she saw were related to stopping the fire or containing it. However, there were also people on the ground – floor? – around the building. If the fire was as toxic as Bergmen had said, it didn’t make much sense for there to be that many people allowed to just crowd around the building.

Jovenan: Who are those people?

Luirétt/Bergmen/Bancroft: Response

((OOC: As Michelle said in the OOC post, I needed to stitch together Bergmen’s and Luirétt’s posts a little. Feel free to adjust it if you think it works better some other way!))

TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Acting XO (Chief Science Officer)
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11