Samantha Richards - A Discovery Worth the War
Samantha Richards
((Science lab 2, Deck 9- USS Artemis))
Richards: I have a small hunch this might be a fossilized egg. I think we should start with scans and a 3D model, that will give us a better visual to what it looked like as a whole.
Jovenan: Sounds like a good plan to me.
With a nod and a smile, Sam set the two pieces up to be scanned. She took more than she probably needed, but that was on brand for her. Always more than needed. After multiple surface, midline and deep scans ran, the holodisplay was ready to show them the model.
Richards: While we examine this I have sediment tests going. That should give us an idea of how old it is and if it contained living organisms or DNA at any point.
Jovenan: That’ll take a few minutes. Gives us the time to see what hte cool rock looks like on the inside.
Sam moved the holodisplay slowly, getting multiple angles of the rock. She used a few color filters to see if that would give it any more definition. She stopped on a blue filter that showed hard dark vein-like lines sprawling through the inside. It almost looked similar to the root system of a mature plant.
Richards: If this is an egg, it had to have been in the very early stages. There’s no definitive base, if anything, barely a yolk.. If it’s not an egg, it's back to the drawing board.
Jovenan nodded before Sam handed her the PADD with a smile.
Richards: The sediment results should be up soon. Can you read them off to me when they come through?
Jovenan: Of course! Let me see…
The fellow scientist jumped right into reading the data as it came through.
Jovenan: Looks like there’ve been two different methods of permineralisation. The exterior has largely undergone silicification. Judging by the structure of the exterior, the silica has replaced an outer shell. Meanwhile, the interior is partly silicified, partly pyritized.
Richards: That’s interesting… ::Putting her hand on her hip:: It’s not uncommon for that to happen, but the conditions had to be pretty particular to get that way.
Sam and Jovenan both leaned in to get a closer look at the display. If she hadn't been so focused, she may have taken a moment to stop and think of how nice it was to have such a great chief. It may have caused her to miss Robin even more than usual, but the two scientists were much too engrossed in their work to think about more emotional things.
Jovenan: The iron must have come from the egg itself, otherwise the outside would have more pyrite as well. Do you see anything that could have been a layer or chunk of iron in there? It’s all dissolved, but might have left a mark.
Quickly she nodded and ran a molecular scan. It let out a soft ping showing confirmation of iron traces. She sent the results to the holodisplay where it lit up the spots of iron in a bright red color.
Richards: Looks like it did in fact leave a mark. It doesn’t look like there’s much left, but some.
Jovenan: Fascinating. ::looks back to the PADD:: Well, the radiometric dating places the fossil at about 70-75 million years old. Which raises the question, what was it doing at a riverbed, on or near the surface?
With the rock in hand again, Sam looked at it with curious eyes.
Richards: Well, the spot I picked this up from had been fairly close to the Grunden Basecamp. We could assume after their heavy machinery went over that area so many times the ground wore down enough to bring it to the surface levels. It’s hard to say for sure.
Jovenan: Response
Richards: I’m really glad you were here to see all of this with me. ::smiling:: Thank you.
It had been a fascinating discovery and pure luck that Sam had grabbed a rock that turned out to be something much more spectacular. Moments like that are what made riding the sidecar with Starfleet worth it. Without their access and opportunities, the chances of discoveries alike were much harder to come across.
Jovenan: Response
Richards: Did the results by chance show any signs of DNA or anything that could give us an idea of whatever this creature should have been?
Jovenan: Response
((OOC: I am more than happy to keep going or we can wrap it up here!))
TAGS/TBC?
Samantha Richards