LtJG Hiro Jones - When the Lows Are Another High
notyourfrog
((Draivon - Draivon District, Cait))
Hiro ended what was quite possible the single most freeing experience of his life - literally flying through the air over a lush jungle with a friend and HUGE. FREAKING. BIRD-THINGS - by tumbling gracelessly onto essentially a mattress of moss. He was grateful the moss broke his fall but left both his body and spirits unbroken. Looking up from where he came to an eventual stop, he gasped at Luxa:
Jones: Best. Shoreleave. Ever.
Lorana: ::laughs:: Doctor Jones, you've got some skills? That surely was not your first time? I figured you'd have done the academy course but that was impressive.
It may as well have been his first time. He'd given the Academy training a go, but that had been years ago. Maybe his mindset was different now than it had been, but this was markedly a better experience.
Lorana: Dump your suit here.
He stripped off the jump suit, grateful for the full use of his limbs again, deposited it into the bin, then looked at Luxa with a quisitive expression. The watering hole was beautiful, but now they were closer to it, several thoughts occurred to him at once:
oO
1. I didn't bring a swimsuit
2. I'm wearing linen
2a. Linen gets rather ... transparent when wet
3. That water doesn't look particularly sanitary
4. In addition to parasites, possible risks of swimming in contaminated water were cryptosporidiosis, cyclosporiasis, escherichia coli, giardiasis, pseudomonas dermatitis and/or folliculitis, legionellosis, meningoencephalitis, gastroenteritis, shigella, otitis externa, and several others
Oo
Lorana: In case you were wondering, we didn't come all this way to swim. I'm sure that the grazu bathe in that pool. It's also the breeding pool for various insects ::Mischievous flick of the tail:: Unless you're ready to be a father to a colony of Caitian Harbinger beetles?
Jones: That's actually rather relieving for about fourteen reasons.
Lorana: ::laughs:: I thought as much.
Jones: So why did you want to come here?
Lorana: I have something I want to share with you. It's through here. Remember to stick to the path when you see the red spikes.
Lovely. More dangerous paths. Next time he was bringing a phaser. He wouldn't be going off-road, but it would go a long way to feel less defenseless. The thought occurred to him (and was quickly banished): "What if he'd landed outside the safe zone?"
Jones: There are more dangerous animals around here?
Lorana: Yes, just stay inside the red spikes and you'll be okay. Don't worry I won't let anything hurt you. I promise, I used to come here all the time. I was the one that put the boundary markers here, to protect everyone.
Jones: Yes, ma'am.
Wait. She'd set the markers? And the big scaries stayed away? How fearsome was this cheerful Ensign? Hiro felt (not for the first time) there was quite a bit more to her than she let on. That however, was a thought for later. This path was different from the earlier one. It was more overgrown for one thing. He stayed right behind Luxa, who seemed more adept at locating the spikes than he was. He guessed he saw every third spike. Best to stick close to the guide when one can no longer guide oneself.
She stopped suddenly, almost causing Hiro to walk into the back of her. Luxa was peering intently at something in the underbrush. It looked to Hiro's eye like moss had grown over a hollow in the ground. A fascinating geological formation, he was sure, but as he was neither a xenogeologist nor particularly comfortable in these woods, he wished they could continue on. He was surprised as a result when she turned to him, asking a seemingly random question.
Lorana: Do you think it's possible that sometimes you don't know why you do something but almost at the exact same time you know exactly why you do it?
Jones: oO Psychology? Now? Oo Um ... I think that's a fairly common sensation when instinct drives us to act contrary to what our "Id" says is logical. I would imagine being in a place this wild - especially since it holds nostalgia for you. ::squinting suspiciously:: Why? What are you thinking?
Lorana: ::smiles reflectively:: I used to play here with my siblings and littermates as a child. It was forbidden. Then later, I used to come here with a friend. It became our place. ::Laughs:: Anyway, let's go explore. We can take the cave right down to the rapids. At the entrance we'll be a short walk away from the village and lunch.
There it was again. She came right up to the point of sharing something, then took a hard conversational left-turn. She'd told him an anecdote, not what she was currently thinking. There was a big difference. Wait ... "explore?"
Jones: Explore? I thought we weren't supposed to leave the path.
Lorana: Response
Jones: Well, you've kept me alive this long. I have no reason to not trust you now. ::sigh:: Let's go.
They shimmied, scooched, squeezed, crawled, and wormed their way into the entrance of the cave system. Hiro thought he'd gotten used to the majesty and spectacle of this place. He was wrong. Again. These were no ordinary caves.
Once they'd negotiated their way through the entrance, they found themselves in a kind of natural antechamber. Moss, lichen, and old vining roots wound their way over most of the entrance giving concealment and barrier to the entry, but not three meters beyond that, the cave revealed its true nature. It was a crystalline cavern. What little light that filtered from the entrance streamed through refracting off countless crystals of innumerable sizes, shapes, and colors.
Hiro had been spelunking exactly twice before. The first time was in South America with a girl he found out much later had been rather taken with him. The second was with his best friend and his sister. They'd dragged him along, gotten lost, and ended up having to get beamed out from more than a mile below the surface. The most notable difference between those experiences and this one was: this cave sparkled. Not only were there the stalactites hanging from the ceiling with their corresponding stalagmites rising ever so slowly to meet them from the floor, but between, and even in some places ON these formations were shining, glimmering, fractal crystals that sent rainbows and splashes of colored light into the darkest corners of the chamber.
Jones: Why was this forbidden? It's so beautiful!
Lorana: Response
Jones: ::still looking around, awestruck:: I see. It's truly amazing.
Lorana: Response
They pressed on in spite of Hiro's reluctance to ever leave that chamber. Further in, there was less light, and therefore what beauty these subsequent chambers held remained largely a mystery. He wished he'd brought a kit with a light. There came a point when Hiro was forced to put his trust in Luxa to the test. She could see in less light than his human eyes could. He had to be led through the dark by the hand as if they were children playing a game.
Eventually though, they reached more light - the other terminus of the system. This end was far more what Hiro had expected the entrance to be. the rocky, earthen walls, ceiling, and floor simply ending abruptly at the edge of a fast-moving river. They had to climb horizontally for about five meters before they could step onto a river-side path where they could once again walk normally. Hiro felt his stomach give a hungry twist as they began walking.
Jones: Luxa, you've led me on quite the adventure, and I'll forever be grateful to you for it, but ...
Lorana: Response
Jones: You said something about lunch?
Lorana: Response
TAG/TBC
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"Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one." - Marcus Aurelius