Cmdr. Katsim Peri - "Colours, Patterns, and Constellations, Oh My"
Amanda Nordstrom
OOC: Nick gave me permission to torture Enak! 😃
IC:
((Project Site Central Habitat, Marohu III))
They had gone further into the structure, down to where the dig had revealed an opening. Following the directions of the numbers, Peri guided them forward and led them into a chamber. All around them, particularly on the ceiling, geometric shapes painted in an array of twelve colours decorated the surfaces. In the middle, a shallow raised platform stood, also bedecked with patterns, an enlarged version on the surface. Twelve shapes. Twelve colours. Stepping forward, Peri aimed for the platform. It was not raised very high, for though it was a steep step, she could lift her foot upon it easily. Doing so, Peri settled herself into the middle of it.
Immediately, the geometric shapes began to glow, each one lighting up in their different colours. Surprised, she nonetheless turned around, taking in the pattern in its entirety.
Vuq: Well?
Vuq pushed with the woman simply stared at the ground beneath her feet, and the tiles shimmering at her.
Katsim: It’s a puzzle.
She stated softly, finally looking up, but not at Vuq or the other mercenaries, but at her fellow officers.
Katsim: A puzzle that has to be solved to go any further.
Enak: Any ideas as to how to solve it? This is the most progress I’ve made.
Arlill: You’re right Peri, look there ::pointing to a starting point in what appeared to be a radial pattern:: Those words, what do they say?
Together, the shapes, or rather, radial segments, created a dodecagon. There were twelve colours: white accompanied by scarlet, orange, yellow, hunter green, light green, blue, indigo, lavender, violet, pink and black. Each colour must correspond to a different number.
She heard the sound of spitting, but Peri’s attention focused on the design. The Mercenaries wanted answers, and she wanted to ensure the safety of those with her.
Enak: Got the fun out of your system?
Vuq: We’re just getting started.
Vuq continued to keep his weapon at Arlill’s head, but one of the mercenaries aimed for the archaeologist.
JoNz: Why do you need us to unlock these secrets?
Peri highly doubted that the mercenaries would bother to answer them, but Enak didn’t have any problem speaking on their behalf.
Enak: Because for all his bluster, he can’t actually figure it out.
Vuq: He really does want to die, doesn’t he?
The man that had aimed toward Vuq immediately swung his fist and punched the man in his face. Vuq merely looked on with great amusement.
Arlill: ::looking towards Enak:: Listen, if you want to get yourself killed, keep it up, but for the love of the gods, stop it before you get my team killed.
Vuq: I would listen to him if I were you.
Would he listen? For the moment, the answer seemed to be yes, and somehow, the archaeologist managed to speak again, and that time he refrained from snarky commentary.
Enak: Well, what does the pattern say? Anyone have any ideas?
Vuq: Hurry up! Your time is running out!
Their time, not his. Peri had no doubt that the mercenary would have no qualms about shooting any, or all of them. She hoped the puzzle would give Arlill, Riley, and JoNz an opportunity to come up with some sort of plan. Her own involved simply solving the puzzle to give them that time - and, to be honest, to answer some questions she had herself.
JoNz: Response
Enak: These things take time, sir. We can’t just wish a solution out of the ether.
Arlill: It might be easier to concentrate without guns pointed at our heads. ::beat:: Look, we're all trapped in here, and you have all the weapons. What could we possibly do? ::beat:: I just want what you want—to keep my team safe. Let us work together. We'll find better solutions that way.
Vuq snorted. Did he really think that would convince them to stand down? The most Vuq gave him was to remove the gun from the man’s head, but his, and the weapons of his people remained at the ready.
Vuq: Just think of us as your…motivational partners.
JoNz: Response
The conversation between the mercenary and Arlill had brought Peri’s pondering to a pause, and her eyes darted between the man and Arlill. The weapons were still out, they were still pointed in their direction, but at least one wasn’t directly against her first officer’s head any more. That was…well, something. Enak refocused on the puzzle.
Enak: Could it be related to the position of the planet in relation to its star? I wasn’t paying too much attention to the planetary bodies when we first came in.
Arlill: That was something Hen… ::beat:: I was wondering, something I was wondering, do those look like astrological patterns?
While Arlill asked the question, Riley stepped closer to JoNz and offered his assistance. Peri glanced over at them, but only briefly.
Riley: Would you like a hand up?
Letting Riley tend to the Caitian, Peri returned her attention back to the puzzle.
Katsim: I don’t know. If they have astrological signs, they will not be the same as Earth’s or Bajor's.
Or anyone else’s, most likely. They would be unique to that planet and the people who had once inhabited it.
Vuq: Get on with it!
He shouted, causing the Bardassian to wince.
JoNz: Response
Arlill: This is a process ::turning to Vuq:: We’re getting there, give us time. Please.
While Arlill addressed the mercenaries, Riley continued to speak softly to the Caitian.
Riley: Understood.
Peri, however, wanted to finish the puzzle. She wasn’t certain the mercenaries would refrain from harming them, whether they solved it or not, but she was caught up in the curiosity of it all regardless.
Katsim: We only have the geometric pattern and the colours. I have no way of ascertaining what their astrological signs might be.
Enak/JoNz: Response
Arlill: Everything else so far worked with focusing our minds on specific imagery, is it possible this is similar? ::beat:: What if we close our eyes and imagine these constellations, what they look like, where they might be?
Peri wasn’t certain. She wasn't sure how they could imagine constellations when they really had no framework to draw from, but Arlill closed his eyes and thought of something, though she was not telepathic and couldn’t ascertain what he saw in his mind’s eye. The pattern glowed, at least one of the radial segments did. It was the white.
Katsim: I wonder…
Vuq: Better start doing more than wondering.
At that, Vuq pointed his weapon at Peri and motioned for her to get one with it. The scientist said nothing, her dark eyes lifted to fall upon the mercenary ever so briefly before returning to the puzzle.
Enak/Riley/JoNz: Response
Meanwhile, Arlill tapped his fingers against his palm, though why, Peri didn’t know. Perhaps it was a nervous tick. She ignored it, and instead, began to trace a path around the circle of the platform.
Arlill: What if we all try?
Riley: All of us trying to focus on the same thing?
Katsim: It’s not just that.
Although she spoke softly, her voice somehow carried, perhaps the acoustics of the chamber assisting. She stopped at the section that had glowed when Arlill thought about whatever he thought about.
Katsim: Its’ more mathematical in nature. Possibly astronomical in nature. Or maybe…
She paused, then turned, her eyes lighting up.
Katsim: It’s all of them. And a sequence…the colours…
She paused, her mind turning, her thoughts tumbling over to themselves. She waited, allowing herself to process the information, as she was wont to do. Unfortunately, Vuq had little patience.
Vuq: Get on with it!
Katsim: Commander…
That word gave her a moment, a chance to finish the calculations and thoughts that ran through her head.
Katsim: Would you take the artifact and stand on the white on the platform?
Even as she asked it, she looked to Vuq, as if asking for permission, though her lips did not formulate any such request. Jerking his weapon, he indicated the man should do so, which hopefully meant the first officer wouldn’t get shot by moving.
Arlill/Enak/JoNz/Riley: Response
Caught up in the puzzle, in the idea that they could somehow crack the code, Peri stepped off the platform, then let her eyes dart between device and colours, then lifted upward to study the patterns in the ceiling.
Katsim: It’s a spectrum. Light…white light, is the combination of all colours. Black is the absence…
Back and forth her eyes swept, then finally settled fully on the surface of the platform. The position of the colours there were completely different than the settings above them.
Katsim: White first. Then pink.
Except pink was on the opposite side of the platform, so no one person could properly put one foot on each, and she had a suspicion of what to do.
Katsim: Enak, if you would step on the pink, please. Riley, if you could take position on the red. JoNz…are you able to help? Could you stand on the orange? She was worried about the Caitian who had remained on the ground for quite some time, but she was more worried about what the mercenaries would do if they didn’t actually solve the puzzle. Vuq narrowed his eyes, but he must have realised she was on to something, so, for once, he remained silent.
Arlill/Enak/JoNz/Riley: Response
She needed one more person. Six people, twelve legs, she counted as well.
Katsim: I’ll need to…borrow one of your men.
She hated to ask it, and her eyes darted first to Vuq, then to one of the others who stood around, waving their weapons. Vuq looked as if he was about to protest, to say no, but she added quickly.
Katsim: We need six people to solve it. Otherwise it won’t work.
The leader shut his mouth, then jerked his head toward the platform.
Vuq: Satosh, go.
And the mercenary complied without a word of complaint. Peri directed him to the yellow.
Arlill/Enak/JoNz/Riley: Response
From that point on, she directed where to stop - a foot to the lighter green before she took a position on the darker hue of the same. The next foot came down on the blue, then indigo was next, followed by violet. Her own second foot came down on the lavender, and the final one, the mercenary’s, settled upon the black.
Suddenly, the entire thing lit up, and immediately after, the light spread all around them. The outlines of the radials glowed, and each section became an illuminated version of its colour. Beneath their feet, the platform shifted, and Peri bent her knees to steady herself as it swung slowly across the floor, opening a door and revealing a set of stairs that spiraled downward, its steps all etched with the same pattern, each one glowing softly with a pattern etched over the surface, brighter dots connected by thin, dimmer lines.
Constellations etched upon the surface of each step.
Arlill/Enak/JoNz/Riley: Response
OOC: Satosh is a general NPC. Anyone can use him!
-- Commander Katsim Peri Chief Science Officer USS Octavia E. Butler M239008AD0