LtCmdr Jovenan – Fossils are rocks that decided where they want to spend the rest of their existence
Jovenan
((Science lab 2, Deck 9, USS Artemis))
Rocks were perhaps the least appreciated exciting things out there. To most people, the rocks and stones kinda just were there; only if they were shiny and polished, an average person might have had a look into one and consider how fascinating it was. To a planetary scientist, even a bland boulder or a pebble spoke with thousands of words. They had all formed in some way, through mechanism that involved massive amount of force, incredible heat or a myriad of years. And while it was true that most rocks looked alike, sometimes, one could find something unexpected inside. Sometimes, that time was just now.
Richards: ::Looking between Jovenan and the split rock:: What is that?
Jovenan: I’m… I’m not sure. ::reaches out to pick one half before stopping:: May I?
It was Richards’ project, and although the civilian crewmember had asked Jovenan to come see the cool rocks she had picked up from Galaris IV, it wasn’t Jovenan’s place to take over. Richards, however, didn’t seem one bit upset that she was inserting herself into the study.
Richards: ::Holding her hand out towards the two halves:: Absolutely.
Jovenan picked up one of the halves of the cut stone and brought it closer to her eyes and to the light. On the side, Richards did the same thing with the other half. With the plethora of scientific instruments they had at their disposal, the good old eyes were still the first sensors they needed in trying to unravel the mystery. To Jovenan’s eyes, the interior of the rock was very different from its exterior. The grey, porous rock contained in itself a petrified labyrinth, full of delicate details of… something.
Jovenan: That is a much more complex structure than I’ve seen inside such a small rock before. My first instinct says that it could be a fossil, based on the structure. Chemically, as far as I can visually tell, I’m not very confident that is the case, though. What do you think?
Richards: It does have similar markers to a fossil, but you’re right. It doesn’t seem to completely match what we would normally see. This is intriguing. ::excitedly:: I have no idea what this is!
Richards’ excitement made Jovenan smile. This was the reason she had become a scientist and later joined Starfleet after graduating from the University. Although the other scientist wasn’t an officer or an enlisted crewmember, Jovenan figured she, too, had a somewhat similar motivation to come work in a Starfleet installation and a ship. Where else do you have an opportunity like this to find anything this interesting just by chance? Few civilian science vessel would have ever decided to visit a war-torn world and beam down to pick a few pebbles to their pockets.
Richards: We need to run more tests. Where should we start?
Jovenan placed the half of a rock back onto the table and smiled at her. The CSO was happy to assist with the project, but she wouldn’t have dared to steal the discovery from Richards, certainly not seeing how excited the other scientist had been about it.
Jovenan: Well, this is your project. What’s the next step, boss?
Richards seemed to think for a moment before taking a PADD.
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.
Richards nodded and resumed with the study. Jovenan followed besides her as she set up the two halves to the scanner and activated it. Going from petrology to palaeontology was a step away from a planetary scientist’s typical area of research, but to Jovenan’s eyes, their planetary scientist handled the change like an expert. Of course, a geologist must have known their fossils as well, since the index fossils could contribute massively into the study of geochronology. The scans Richards took of the potential egg were thorough, but soon, it was just the matter of visualisation and analyzation.
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 the cool rock looks like on the inside.
Jovenan watched as Richards manipulated the holographic display. Besides depicting the otherwise invisible interior of the rock and resizing it so that they’d better see it, the display permitted Richards to colour different structures. One of the filters brought out a very fine structure of veins inside the rock. Jovenan scratched the back of her neck while thinking what it could be.
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. A more developed sample might have been easier to analyse, but lacking one, they were forced to put some more effort into figuring out the function of different parts. On the positive side, such well-preserved egg fossils – if it was one – were extremely rare, and eggs at a very early stage of development even more so.
Richards handed her a PADD.
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…
Accepting the PADD, Jovenan dove straight into the data running through the screen. She tried to find the relevant figures before speaking.
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: Response
Jovenan leaned in closer to the holodisplay, trying to make sense of the different structures. Silicification was easily explained by the silica-rich (ground)water replacing the carbonate mass. Pyritization on the other hand requires iron and sulphur. The organic matter would release the sulphur as it decayed, while the iron could be from the water, but then it would have needed to come through the unaffected exterior.
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.
Richards: Response
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?
Richards: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11