[Act II] LTJG Josh Herrick: It shouldn't do that
Mark P
OOC: Posted to the OOC list by accident; just a repost with no new details. :)
(( Outpost Cavern, Alpha Brenkelvi II ))
Josh watched as the commander recorded his log, the team taking a brief reprieve from the ‘escape room’-eque adventure they’d been on. It had been an interesting several hours to say the least, and he appreciated the breather. The Commander seemed motivated as ever to find answers and the young engineer hoped his curiosity would soon be satisfied but not at the expense of the away team.
Arlill looked like he was about to tap his combadge, but the commander had just finished his log and, tricorder in hand, and was ready to keep hypothesizing with the team.
Etan: The energy field is incredibly strong in this place- and appears to be emanating from the center of that outpost. :: with his free hand he pointed to the bizarrely unfocused spherical structure at its heart. His eyes moved from the screen to the floating construction. :: There must be some way to access it. An anti-grav lift, maybe?
Toxin shook his head and looked back down at his tricorder to confirm Etan’s readings, and Josh joined him in the scans.
Arlill: I can confirm those readings (beat) very interesting.
Herrick: I wouldn’t be surprised if the power equivalent we're looking at here could power several Warp XV cores. The question is, if nobody’s home, where’s all that energy being sourced from and used for… chronitons?
Maxwell: Response.
Another good Maxwell response, Josh smirked as he appreciated the balance of levity and caution the Marine brought to the mission.
Etan: ::looking surprised:: If the tricorder is reading this correctly, everything in this cavern is approximately 250 million years old. :: he looked at the vista once more, floored by the discovery.::
(OOC: Erik had a partial line here, but I checked with him and removed it)
Herrick: 250 million years… the only people that I even think come close to that might be the Progenitors or Q? Let’s hope it’s not the latter.
Maxwell: Response.
Etan: Lieutenant Maxwell, :: he said, turning to the burly Marine.:: I’d like you and I to scout out a path, using these hexagons. We can’t get to the structure from here, but there may be other vantage points that can offer us clues.
Maxwell: Response.
Etan: Mr. Arlill, Mr. Herrick; these things- :: he motioned to the hexagons.:: - seem to contain an extremely advanced- and ancient- computer system. I’d like you to see if there is some way to interface with it. It might provide us with further options.
Toxin looked over at Josh with a bewildered look on his face, and Josh returned the look. They did have the most experience ‘working with the computer’ given the number of puzzles (or traps, depending on how you looked at it), given they had set several of them off. As the other duo moved off to their own tasks, Josh and Toxin headed towards the wall of panels.
Arlill: Hey (beat) Josh, what’s up with you and Lhandon?
Herrick: oO Well, that didn’t take long. Oo
He had hoped that they’d be leaving the drama on the ship behind on this away mission but given that the Ops Chief had been in the middle of him and Nilsen, it seemed like an unrealistic expectation.
Toxin and Josh had briefly talked about it in the mess during the day of the incident. But, the engineer didn’t know how much Lhandon shared, and he wasn’t going to be the one to spill ‘state secrets’. As the silence hung for a moment between them, Arlill pulled up his tricorder and started completing scans.
Herrick: I’m not sure I want to get into the details…
Arlill: I kinda figured it was between the two of you, but it’s been really messing with him. (beat) ::in a more official tone:: Are you picking up on the trinary coding in these panels?
Josh hadn’t switched his tricorder to the more detailed scanning mode, having been caught off guard by the question. Arlill was correct; some things seemed universal across the galaxy — there were only so many ways to skin a cat program a computer.
Herrick: I am… oO Let’s keep it on work Oo Thoughts on how to interface?
Arlill: We might be able to use a non-axial codec to bypass the handshake protocols? (beat) Why all the digging?
Herrick: I like that approach, let’s see what happens. (beat) On the Lhandon front…
He trailed off for a moment. While Josh had been sleuthing in his off hours, and didn’t really see a problem with it, his public perception had not been in the greatest light between Kovacs and Nilsen, and he wasn’t sure that his mini investigation would come off the right way to others. He was just trying to understand the man.
Herrick: I merely commented on an article that had flashed up on his PADD while we were having lunch, and he flew off the handle. (beat, and with a gentle tone) I’m not exactly sure I’d call it digging, more just trying to get to know him better.
Arlill: Oh wow, I didn’t know, he’s had a rough run, I think he’s always cautious of people he’s not comfortable with yet.
Herrick: Yeah, he seems like a good enough guy; I think we got off on the wrong foot. ::looking at his tricorder, then the hexagons, then to Arlill:: Do you want to try and interface with it?
Arlill: Response
Herrick: If I get the chance, I’ll see what I can do with Nilsen. Kovacs is another guy I’ve been meaning to get to, he’s on a short rotation in ops and I think he’s…
Arlill: Response
Herrick: What do you mean it’s getting hot?
Josh watched as the tricorder fell from Toxin’s hand and clattered to the floor, it started briefly smoking. The pair took a few steps back while the tricorder made several popping sounds and looked as if it was almost dancing. Its last samba was the casing splitting in two, revealing partially melted innards. Herrick looked to the COO, a bit lost for words.
Arlill: Response
Herrick: (empathetic) I have a spanner I don’t lend it to anyone; I totally get how you feel. Seems like this guy ::nodding to the wall panels:: has a bit of a temper. What do you think of trying to give it instruction sets to solve while we try another route at the same time… attempt to distract it?
Arlill: Response
TBC / Tags!
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Lieutenant JG Josh Herrick
Acting Chief Engineer
USS ‘Oumuamua
O240005JH3
he/him/his (player/character)