Lt JG Tess Evinrude - A Child's Perspective [Part 2/2]

[Tess Evinrude]

((Caretaker's Structure, Tier 5-5-6, Unknown Chamber))

((OOC: Continued from Part 1))

Evinrude: ::To Marsek, more gently.:: Hey, you're doing great. We've got time to figure this out, together.

Deacon: Not to alarm anyone ::he pointed at the other three cylinders, which were glowing:: ...but is that supposed to be happening?

Tess' head whipped around to see the other cylinders, their bioluminescence going crazy.

Venn: What? … Oh. Um, I don’t think so?

Venn: :: taking out her tricorder :: Is this what happened before the first cylinder opened?

Marsek: That's what happened, sir. The cylinders kept pulsing, and then all of a sudden, we have ourselves a...Caretaker? Maybe?

Kessler: ::blowing into his hands:: Speculation does not get us out of here.

Evinrude: ::Nodding.:: If the entity has been in stasis, maybe it's disoriented...I don't have baseline readings for its species, but I have been recording data on its current biometrics. Nothing conclusive yet, but I'm comparing its telepathic emissions to what we recorded on Narhelion.

Deacon: Response

Venn: Any chance we can get that door open soon?

Marsek: ::checks the new language database against her gathered material:: I'm looking for what door is - and even then, it might not call what we call a door that...

Kessler: Ensign. It's now or never. Tess, I hope you have a new idea in that bag of tricks of yours cause I am out of ideas.

Evinrude: ::Sighing heavily.:: We need...a communication tool. Something to bridge the gap...if only we had one of those telepathic loops from Narhelion. Until we know for sure what this console will do, I don't want to input any more commands.

Deacon: Response

Marsek: ::tries her best not to look frustrated:: It's like I said earlier, sirs. A lot of the new symbols we have are simple versions of what's been graffitied or engraved onto the consoles and cylinders. Think of a young child learning how to write. They practice letters, or ideograms, or what have you - but what they create is -similar- to the real thing, not the -exact- thing. That's what I'm looking at right now.

Kessler: OK, I'm following so far but how does that get us out of here?

Evinrude: We need a way to see through this entity's eyes. If the gift of translation came from the mind of a child, then we're not only translating a language but translating a...frame of mind when approaching that language.

Deacon/Venn: Response

Marsek circled the room, then leaned against the wall and focused on the ceiling. Curiously, she stretched up on her tiptoes, craning her neck towards the high center.

Marsek: ::murmurs:: ...It's divided...six sections, six ide--

Kessler: Six what?

Deacon/Venn: Response

In a sudden fit of inspiration, Xilva yanked out her tricorder and started calculating quickly.

Marsek: ...Six sections. Four cylinders, two doors. Six ideograms. ::stops, then backtracks:: It's the ceiling, sirs. It's hard to see unless you're looking around the edges of it, but there are dividing lines and a single ideograph repeated in each one. ::takes a deep breath:: ...I think it's the button with that eye-looking ideograph. No, I can't be one-hundred percent certain - but neither was Professor Corvas when she discovered the Tomb of the First Navigators.

Suddenly, the creature reached out with one of its four torso appendages to lay one on top of Kessler's hand. Jack was momentarily startled, but he calmed and did not withdraw his hand.

Marsek: ...Sure, she was then eaten by the fabled Guardian Beast of that tomb...but that's not going to happen here. It can't.

Kessler: ::still making contact with the creature and not looking away:: It's ok Ensign. You've done a good job but there's nothing to worry about. ::beat:: we're going to be fine.

The sudden attitude change in Kessler was somewhat concerning, but more curious than anything. Tess looked up at the man.

Evinrude: Sir. ::A beat.:: Lieutenant Kessler?

Jack continued to stare at the entity while the two made contact. He stood motionless, but appeared peaceful.

Evinrude: Ensign...we may need to just take your best guess here and try to open those doors. We can study and analyze later, and...well, perhaps we just weren't prepared for first contact with something like this.

Deacon/Venn/Marsek: Response

The appendage that lay on Jack's hand lifted and reached up around the back of Jack's neck. Tess nearly dashed forward to try to free their security chief, but then Kessler slid an arm under the entity's neck and rested his other arm under its lower torso. He pulled the entity up and off the cylinder platform, turned, and moved with it across the room to the newer, smaller console.

Kessler: ::in a softened tone:: Time to leave guys. Let's go.

Evinrude: ::To the others.:: He's clearly made contact, if not telepathically then...empathically.

Deacon/Venn/Marsek: Response

The entity touched a series of pictograph-adorned controls in order.

Kessler: ::still in a softened tone:: The doors should be opening in just a second.

Deacon/Venn/Marsek: Response

Tess did everything he could to record and catalogue what they were witnessing. Watching this ancient representative of a vanished species manipulate its own equipment would likely prove invaluable.

The hissing of air announced a breach in the sealed doors, and they began to part. The lights of the three remaining cylinders slowed in their movement. Their exit was open, but Jack - and, perhaps, the entity too - seemed apprehensive.

Evinrude: Sir... ::Tess looked from Jack to his charge and back.:: We've got your back. No harm will come to anyone. ::With his last words he tried to focus a sense of wellbeing and protective care upon the entity.::

Deacon/Venn/Marsek/Kessler: Response

Tess, phaser in hand, swept left and right. Something felt...odd, but neither his tricorder nor eyes picked up anything. He chalked it up to nerves.

Evinrude: I see an opening, up ahead, looks like a direct path to where we came in. What do we think - the way we came, or the new, direct route?

oO Could this be The Reef, speeding us along? Oo

Deacon/Venn/Marsek/Kessler: Response

((OOC: I get a sense this is coming to a close, but I'll leave a TBC in here as I would happily keep writing our escape!))

[Tags/TBC]

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Lieutenant J.G. Tess Evinrude

[he/him]

Operations Officer

USS Ronin

R240111TE1