Samantha Richards - [ACT 1 END] The Rocks Keeper
Samantha Richards
((Outside medical facility, New Hope))
After Jovenan finished her conversation with Munro over the comms, She returned to the biohazard storage, scanning the area with the rest of the team.
It wasn’t long before Jovenan pulled Sam’s attention away from her own tricorder.
Jovenan: Richards, could you come have a look at this? ::waits:: I might have found you a cool rock to study.
That was one hell of a way to get the scientist’s attention. Cool rocks. It was an undeniable weak spot, but damn if she wasn’t proud of it.
Richards: You have my undivided attention. What’chu got?
Sam looked at the readings Jovenan caught. It was hard to hide her excitement. The excitement faded just a bit when Bergmen spoke.
Bergmen: Go on, Mrs. Richards. But please be careful, because it can be evidence.
She almost turned towards the Gideon with a few choice words, but decided to keep them to herself. She trusted him to do his job properly. He needed to do the same for her.
With her attention honed in on the cool rock, Sam looked over the data.
Jovenan: See this. That looks like a mineral structure to me, among all these biological samples.
Richards: It looks trigonal. ::squinting her eyes to continue reading:: Like a rhodochrosite. ::looking around:: What would that be doing here?
It was not something that should have been in the biological samples.
Imril: The Boraxians don’t appear to be an avian species, so I’m guessing it’s not a gizzard stone.
Bergmen: Maybe something from their homeworld? Something religious? Or technological, like datacrystal?
Jovenan: Could be. Or it could be just someone’s souvenir or keepsake. This is just a weird place to store one.
She tilted her head from side to side.
Richards: Well, there could be a few things, but none of them make much sense. ::Gesturing around:: Neither does any of this, so… ::Shaking her head:: My first thought is cross contamination. But that doesn’t seem likely if there’s only one. Second thought would be it’s integral to whatever they are doing here. We have to get this back to the lab. It could have answers.
Like a puppy with big pouty eyes, Sam stared at Jovenan. Hoping she would tell her to take the cool rock and run. Go study and analyze it until her heart was content. But whatever she was told to do, she would do.
Once the fellow scientist noticed Sam’s stare, she gave her a questioning look.
Imril: Here’s what doesn’t make sense to me. Would Ellise have directed us up here if she knew what’s been going on here? I don’t think so. She was rather protective of her companions, so why wouldn’t she be as protective of her secret as whoever cleared out the evidence? She seemed as eager to be rid of us as we were to investigate on our own. Which implies her ignorance of this situation.
Bergmen: They welded her and her team in that corridor. If what really happened was what she described to us, they let them die… or at least didn’t count them to survive the vent. She knew something; she hid something from us. Yet in the first chance to send us away, she gave us this place when we asked. I feel… (beat) I’m sure she didn’t know… ::points at their surroundings:: …about this.
Jovenan: That’s true. She and her team seemed suspicious, but I don’t think they would have allowed us to get here if they had known there was something hidden here. ::shrug:: Or they couldn’t come up with a good enough lie to keep us away at that spot.
They could have continued to speculate all day, but it really didn’t seem to be getting them anywhere. Sure, the trio they came across acted weird as hell, but unless they tracked that trio down and questioned them more, they weren’t going to pull answers out of thin air.
Richards: Maybe there’s a chance they didn’t know.
Imril: And if she doesn’t know about this experiment in refined chemistry, who else doesn’t?
Bergmen: And what else of what is happening on this vessel don’t we know?
A lot. There was probably a lot they didn’t know.
Jovenan: It’s possible some of the odd readings and results we’ve got are unrelated, or related only by circumstance. But one of the Boraxian team – Remy, was it? – got us similar readings as something in this sickbay. That could be a connection, or maybe they didn’t know they were exposed to something while in here?
And just like that, Sam was kicking herself for letting that detail slip her mind. Jovenan had a point. The readings the Yurum were giving off could be a huge indicator of what was going on in the lab they now stood in.
Richards: There’s clearly a lot more going on than we can figure out just from this lab. ::Glancing towards Jovenan with the big eyes again:: I do think studying the rock would help…
Imril: Remy struck me as someone who wanted to say more than they did, but kept holding back. Anyone else get that impression?
Sam shrugged lightly. They were a rarely encountered species. Reading them in any fashion wasn’t particularly easy.
Bergmen: He was the youngest of those Boraxians, enlisted or apprentice. He probably didn’t know much, but yes, we should press him when we had a chance. He would talk.
Jovenan: Um… I’m not sure. They weren’t necessarily the youngest of them, or just an enlisted or apprentice, either.
Guess it was time to fill the other two in on what the two scientists discovered earlier.
Richards: Remy is a Yurum.
Bergmen: Yurum? Are you sure? (beat) But they should have been holy to those Boraxians, no? And they were with Damage Control Teams… On the frontlines of whatever happened to them…
“Are you sure?” Yeah. They were pretty dang sure.
Jovenan raised her hands in an exaggerated shrug. Sam simply pointed to her and nodded in agreement.
Jovenan: The Captain said it was the Yurumfaction that asked for an asylum. Perhaps there’s a connection.
Richards: Perhaps there is, but I will be honest Commander, standing here and talking about the what-if’s aren’t going to get us much further than we are now. ::Shrugging:: We need to get moving.
Imril: Response
Sam wasn’t fond of trying to push the team to stop talking and keep going, but the rock was calling to her.
Bergmen: So, what now? Are we packing all of this and leaving? Or continue to investigate?
Jovenan: Can we transport material from here, or does the theta radiation block it?
Her eyes shifted to Imril, who seemed like the most likely to have the answer.
Richards: ::Still staring at Imril:: It should work just fine right?
Imril/Bergmen: Response
Jovenan: Right. Bergmen, please coordinate the transportation of evidence to the ship. Get us some biological sample kids as well. Richards, prepare as much evidence from the biohazard storage to be transported. Prioritise the rock and anything that gives off similar readings or anything else unusual. Imril and I will take the lab.
She nodded, knowing if anyone would keep that little rock safe and prepared for transport, it was her.
Richards: Rocks and unusual things. You can count on me.
Imril/Bergmen: Response
Jovenan: Let’s get moving, then. I want to be out of here with as much evidence as possible when whoever attacked this ship comes back.
Sam had already begun to prepare the rock for its journey.
Richards: ::Whispering:: I’ve got you rock.
Imril/Bergmen: Response
TAGS/End act 1 for Sam
Samantha Richards