Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen - Star in circle
CPT Arianus
(( Inside the Cliffs - Callis I ))
It was always interesting to confront the essence of our own normality. The realization that many aspects of our daily lives, which we often take for granted, can appear extraordinary to others encountering them for the first time. These seemingly mundane routines—things we don't even recognize as unique—become strikingly alien concepts when viewed through fresh eyes. It’s only when someone brings them to our attention that we begin to understand how special and distinctive they truly are.
As Dr. Bancroft examined and prodded Ollie Kimmi Bergmen's body, he began to grasp the profound ways in which even their bodies, this fragile mortal shell, can be different inbetween.
Bergmen: So, doctor, how does it look?
Bancroft: Your body’s recovering remarkably well, buddy. No new red flags, and you’re healing far faster than I’d expected. It’s good news ::pausing for a wry smile:: with the caveat that we still shouldn’t push our luck, yeah? Does that help put your mind at ease?
Ollie couldn't help but smile as he stretched, the satisfying crack resonating from his lower back all the way up to his neck. Once he was done, he began fastening the buttons on his undershirt once again and nodded, signaling to the doctor that his assumptions were spot on.
Bergmen: Yeah, helped. ::nods, face less tense::
The examination momentarily drew his focus away from what Commander Jovenan and Lieutenant K'Wara were doing. However, once Bancroft completed his assessment, a sense of urgency pulled Bergmen back to the most pressing matter—check what his superiors were engaged in under the chemlights dim.
Jovenan: They’re oddly clean for scratch marks…
The doctor seemed interested by the same things as the dimly glowing chemlights flickered behind him, casting light from the ground up.
K’Wara: They are scratch marks... But, I think they’re manmade? Maybe a chisel or a knife of some sort.
Roy stepped closer, and as he passed by Bergmen, the doctor's light better illuminated a point of group interest—a series of strange scratches crisscrossing the surface. Initially, these marks might have been dismissed as signs of danger from local wildlife, yet now, under the scrutiny of intelligent, sentient beings—who could see beyond their primal instincts—the odd details of these etchings shifted their perspective, sparking a flood of questions that yearned for answers.
Bancroft: ::musing:: Good eye, Lieutenant. I think you’re right. That’s more consistent with tooling than, say, a claw. No tearing, no drag marks… ::a beat:: no place where something lost purchase and gouged deeper, for example.
Ollie took a tentative step forward, leaning in as he tilted his head first to the left and then to the right, searching for a new perspective before straightening it again, trying to take in the details of what they had discovered from every angle.
Bergmen: As much as it seems random, some almost look like letters or markings of some kind. I don't know.
Jovenan: If it’s made by someone intelligent, it must mean something. ::squints:: But I don’t recognise what it could be. The markings don’t look like any writing system I know.
K’Wara: Well, I can’t see them properly in this light, but ::trails the etchings with a finger:: If I didn’t know better, I’d say we’re looking at a sketch of some sort? Or at least a partial of one?
Bancroft: Which tells us two things. One, this place has been occupied before. ::a pause:: And two – maybe good news for us – whoever or whatever did this had the uninterrupted time to do it.
The longer Ollie looked at it, the more he noticed the details, making the scratches' previous randomness seem to fade away.
It felt as if they were arranged with gaps in between - and considering they appeared to have been made simultaneously, it seems unlikely they originated from different sources - creating a web of... what exactly?
Jovenan: It also takes a lot of effort to draw something like that. It would be something that they thought important enough of that effort, especially in these conditions.
Bergmen: ::whispers:: iiteliy piɋmen. NeδЫ-zieբné 7ɋřcní. (beat) It doesn’t make sense… But how those scratches are placed in groups… look.. ::points to one group of scratches close together, which are quite apart from others, those gaps from other scratches groupings::
K’Wara: It may be a map, although I can’t make heads or tails of it. There’s not exactly a helpful ‘you are here’ point that I can see, and I think exposure to the wind circulation in here may have eroded parts of it.
Bergmen tilted his head once more, seeking a new perspective as he focused on the scratch marks, considering their arrangement as a possible map.
Bancroft: ::contemplative:: Maybe… though it’s like no map I’ve ever seen before. Not that that means much. ::turning to Bergmen and Jovenan:: Ollie, Commander?
Jovenan: A map is a good guess. If the interior of the caves is as winding as the exterior suggested, then there was a high chance of getting lost. A resident of these tunnels might have wanted to mark the paths somehow.
Bergmen frowned as he squinted to get a better look at the details of whatever it was.
Bergmen: Map… (beat) ::whispers:: 7ɋřcní (beat) Look ::points to what looks like two opposing twist lines:: It looks sign or symbol, and under it… ::trying to pronounce:: Rẻs. Kchéz. ::sights:: Whatever. It’s almost like letters. And same here ::points to what looks like a star in two interrupted circles:: yet those looks… I don’t know. It just feels wrong. And what seems like letters upwards ::try to slowly pronounce:: NeЫsbeené Sócheení…. It’s much longer than the first one. Maybe it’s a map, and we don't understand it because of Baldwin’s theory.
K’Wara: Response
Bancroft: Either way, whoever made this expected someone else to come along eventually – even if they didn’t expect it to be us.
Commander nodded.
Jovenan: That seems possible. If they had been just leaving markers for themselves while exploring the caves, I don’t think they would have made a map like this instead of just a few words or symbols. ::looks at others:: Like we should write the word “out” or make an arrow, marking this tunnel if we come to a crossroads so that we can leave eventually.
Bergmen: ::sighs:: It would be lovely to have a reference that explains what means what…
K’Wara: Response
Bancroft: Might explain why it doesn’t seem to bother to tell you where you are, though. Maybe it assumes that if you can read it, you already know.
Jovenan took a step back to the spot where she had placed her backpack and took out a water jug, which she then opened.
Jovenan: If we find more of them, we might come closer to interpreting them. We need to keep eyes open for them. But we can’t do that if we’re dehydrated. Take a gulp, everyone, but remember that the rations need to suffice until we find more.
Ollie nodded to the Commander, picked up his hatchet, and clipped it to his belt as he walked back to his backpack. He took out a bottle, opened it, and was about to drink. Yet upon noticing Doctor Bancroft nearby, he only took small sips—one short sip after another—to satisfy the doctor's previous recommendation.
K’Wara/Bancroft: Response
Jovenan: Are we ready to resume? We can rest for longer if needed, but that’s away from finding resources.
Bergmen: Belê ferm. Almost ready.
Bergmen had already put his bottle back in his backpack, which was now on his back, and was struggling to secure the ropes on his shield to his wrist again, so he didn't even realize he had answered in his native language. When he was done soon after, he glanced at the team.
Bergmen: Ready.
K’Wara/Bancroft: Response
With everyone geared up and ready, the group set off once more into the depths of the tunnel. It wasn't long before they reached a shadowy crossroads, where the path split into multiple directions, each passage leading into uncertainty and the unknown. The Commander made a prudent choice and turned right upward, but after a few dozen meters, they suddenly found themselves at a dead end. Jovenan turned to face them, and in that fleeting moment, a wave of fear washed over her face, her eyes wide.
Jovenan: Toia majulan!
The words surprised Bergmen, not only because he didn't understand them, but also because the commander's high-pitched voice startled him. In that split second, he reacted more instinctively and stepped forward as she tried to move away from him.
Bergmen: Ma’am?
K’Wara/Bancroft: Response?
Commander stopped her retreat, yet she still stared somewhere behind Bergmen. He too looked back, but he saw nothing to explain why she was so frightened.
Jovenan: Sorry. I- I thought I saw something in there. ::looks back:: It’s nothing. My mind’s… Let’s mark the way out. Any ideas which way to follow?
Ollie turned his head back to face her and shrugged his shoulders.
Bergmen: They looked the same, so we can try any of them, whether it leads deeper or goes back toward the mouth of the cave, depending on what we want.
K’Wara/Bancroft: Response
Anyway, they needed to return to the crossroad and so did return. Bergmen almost missed it entirely, but as they re-entered the intersection, a striking pattern caught his eye on the left side, just where they had recently passed through. At first glance, he assumed it was merely an odd design, perhaps an artifact carved by erosion. But as he focused more intently, he quickly discerned that the curves' edges were too sharp to have been formed by natural processes.
Bergmen: Wait, look at this. Does it look natural to you? ::points at the rectangular curved sign in the wall of the tunnel from which they came::
K’Wara/Bancroft/Jovenan: Response
Ollie turned toward the other tunnel that loomed ahead, emerging from the intersection, and wondered if this was truly a sign of what lay within. He focused on the same spot where those carvings had been before, trying to find whether anything on the other entrance’s wall would remind him of a pattern he had seen before. As he did, he noticed a familiar pattern in the wall of the tunnel going back, left next to the tunnel they arrived in at the intersection for the first time. Although half of it was likely missing due to erosion, it still reminded him of the circled star he had encountered earlier. Seeing it brought that sense of unease and instinctive fear as before.
Bergmen: ::points to the star on the parallel entrance:: That one I saw before, and I didn’t feel it right even before. Not that way…
K’Wara/Bancroft/Jovenan: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Artemis-A
A240009JC1