EJDeBrun
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2016
- Messages
- 370
AAAAAAAND we're back. This one is a bit more polished and fleshed out so let's see how everyone sinks their teeth into it.
As usual, critiques and smacks on the head are welcome.
Cheers and thank you!
Director Lee: Dr. Park, I would like to start off by thanking you and your colleagues for agreeing to this review so soon after your return from Kepler 48.3. I understand the experience was difficult. However given the current situation, the Council and I feel compelled to clarify the critical details surrounding the Argo I mission as quickly as possible, both for the community here as well as for those waiting on Earth.
Dr. Park: I appreciate your concerns, Director, and I thank you for giving us this opportunity to present a more comprehensive view of the incidents in question.
- Argo I Mission Review, 5th Exploration Program Administration Council, IIEF Odyssey. 5 (2285 C.E.) (Testimony of Dr. Alexander Min-jong Park).
Alec blinked at the white flash breaking across his screen. Lurching for his keyboard, he quickly forgot the last six hours spent staring at Kepler 48.3’s endless ocean and focused his cameras on the distant splashes below. They revealed a mass of thrashing bodies surrounded by five sleek shadows and Alec silently pumped his fist at his good luck. Sitting inside the hovering Argo with only a few outboard cameras pointing at the vast water below, he was happy when could spot five specimens over a twenty hour period, so to find two, and those two interacting, was well beyond his expectations.
Quickly, he tasked his computer’s AI with the boring work of isolating and measuring each species, leaving him free to watch the behaviors. Swimming in slow lazy circles, the larger creatures used their longer bodies to herd the smaller creatures into a tighter and tighter formation and Alec grinned as a long limb snapped into the shimmering crowd. The staff at home were going to go spades when they saw this.
“Why so happy?” asked a voice in front of him. “Find something?”
Alec glanced over his monitors to see Sam looking at him. Space inside the Argo’s bridge was tight and her workstation was crammed directly against his.
“Not much,” he said, trying to keep his tone casual and failing. “Just humanity’s first ever recording of extraterrestrial predation behavior.”
Her eyes widened appreciatively. “Let me see?”
“Sure.” Alec reached up to push his monitor and froze as he spied the empty waves lapping across his screen. “What the hell?” Ignoring Sam, he threw himself onto his keyboard and quickly widened all four cameras. “Where’d they go?”
A black triangle cut into his view and Alec drew a sharp breath as it transformed into the hard-edged profile of a ship. “No way.” Heart pounding, he zoomed out further and spotted more watercraft arrayed in four different V-patterns. “This is awesome!”
“What, Alec?” Sam asked.
“Company,” he said before bolting upright in his seat. “Commander!” His voice rang across the quiet bridge. “We’ve got indigenous watercraft sailing directly below us!”
His words set off a buzz of excitement as the rest of the crew turned from their work to stare at him.
“Copy that,” Hiroshi said from the pilot seat and flicked several switches on the panel above him. “Everyone, strap up.” Controls bleeped and the deck shook as power increased to the shuttle’s quad-rotors. A swath of orange-tinged clouds swept past the bridge windows. “We’re setting course back to the polar station.”
“Wait, Commander!” Picking a ship at random, Alec focused a camera on its deck and frantically searched for any occupants. He found one, a two-legged figure standing at the angled stern. “We have a clear sighting of native sentients!” Isolating the image, he sent it to the rest of the crew. “As chief specialist, I’m requesting we take this opportunity to stay and make further observation.”
Hiroshi shook his head. “Request denied. We have our orders.”
“Not to be closer than three kilometers to any of the sentient populations,” countered Alec. “This group isn’t even close to that size, and anyways you have us above five klicks. Hell, there’s even a cloud layer to help shield us.” He switched back to his view of the native, impatient to learn every detail about in its black body. Was the color of its skin? Or perhaps some sort of covering? “How can we call ourselves a survey crew if we don’t learn anything about the planet’s most important inhabitants?”
“I second Alec,” piped Sam. “God knows we’ve all been waiting and now's the perfect chance.”
The rest of the crew chorused their agreement and Alec shot them all a grateful look before turning back to Hiroshi. “Commander?
Hiroshi twisted in his seat and locked eyes with Alec. “Fine,” he conceded and Alec started breathing again. “You’ve got thirty minutes, but anything unusual and we are out of here.”
“You got it, Commander.” Pushing off his work station, Alec rotated his chair towards the center of the bridge. “Martha, Gus,” he looked from expectant face to the other. “Can you guys stop what you’re doing and get in on this?”
“Sure thing, Alec,” Gus nodded. “Just tell us what to do.”
“Then go ahead and start tracking the fleet’s movements,” Alec said, his mind racing to think of what other the data points they needed. “And Martha? If you could start analyzing individual ships for size, we can get started on building a database.”
“Got it.” Gus gave him a quick thumbs-up while Martha spun back to her own terminal. “No problem,” she said in her soft voice.
“Thanks.” Alec glanced back at the black bands moving across his screen. It struck him that the ships were sailing very close together.
“Don,” he called to the engineer sitting across from him. “How do you think they're maintaining such a tight pattern?”
Don studied the footage. “Have to be using some form of ship to ship communication.”
“That was my guess.” Leaning back into his seat, Alec cupped his elbow in one hand and tapped his chin. “Think you can find whatever they might be using?”
Don cracked his knuckles before sliding his hands back over his keyboard. “Leave it to me.”
As usual, critiques and smacks on the head are welcome.
Cheers and thank you!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Director Lee: Dr. Park, I would like to start off by thanking you and your colleagues for agreeing to this review so soon after your return from Kepler 48.3. I understand the experience was difficult. However given the current situation, the Council and I feel compelled to clarify the critical details surrounding the Argo I mission as quickly as possible, both for the community here as well as for those waiting on Earth.
Dr. Park: I appreciate your concerns, Director, and I thank you for giving us this opportunity to present a more comprehensive view of the incidents in question.
- Argo I Mission Review, 5th Exploration Program Administration Council, IIEF Odyssey. 5 (2285 C.E.) (Testimony of Dr. Alexander Min-jong Park).
Alec blinked at the white flash breaking across his screen. Lurching for his keyboard, he quickly forgot the last six hours spent staring at Kepler 48.3’s endless ocean and focused his cameras on the distant splashes below. They revealed a mass of thrashing bodies surrounded by five sleek shadows and Alec silently pumped his fist at his good luck. Sitting inside the hovering Argo with only a few outboard cameras pointing at the vast water below, he was happy when could spot five specimens over a twenty hour period, so to find two, and those two interacting, was well beyond his expectations.
Quickly, he tasked his computer’s AI with the boring work of isolating and measuring each species, leaving him free to watch the behaviors. Swimming in slow lazy circles, the larger creatures used their longer bodies to herd the smaller creatures into a tighter and tighter formation and Alec grinned as a long limb snapped into the shimmering crowd. The staff at home were going to go spades when they saw this.
“Why so happy?” asked a voice in front of him. “Find something?”
Alec glanced over his monitors to see Sam looking at him. Space inside the Argo’s bridge was tight and her workstation was crammed directly against his.
“Not much,” he said, trying to keep his tone casual and failing. “Just humanity’s first ever recording of extraterrestrial predation behavior.”
Her eyes widened appreciatively. “Let me see?”
“Sure.” Alec reached up to push his monitor and froze as he spied the empty waves lapping across his screen. “What the hell?” Ignoring Sam, he threw himself onto his keyboard and quickly widened all four cameras. “Where’d they go?”
A black triangle cut into his view and Alec drew a sharp breath as it transformed into the hard-edged profile of a ship. “No way.” Heart pounding, he zoomed out further and spotted more watercraft arrayed in four different V-patterns. “This is awesome!”
“What, Alec?” Sam asked.
“Company,” he said before bolting upright in his seat. “Commander!” His voice rang across the quiet bridge. “We’ve got indigenous watercraft sailing directly below us!”
His words set off a buzz of excitement as the rest of the crew turned from their work to stare at him.
“Copy that,” Hiroshi said from the pilot seat and flicked several switches on the panel above him. “Everyone, strap up.” Controls bleeped and the deck shook as power increased to the shuttle’s quad-rotors. A swath of orange-tinged clouds swept past the bridge windows. “We’re setting course back to the polar station.”
“Wait, Commander!” Picking a ship at random, Alec focused a camera on its deck and frantically searched for any occupants. He found one, a two-legged figure standing at the angled stern. “We have a clear sighting of native sentients!” Isolating the image, he sent it to the rest of the crew. “As chief specialist, I’m requesting we take this opportunity to stay and make further observation.”
Hiroshi shook his head. “Request denied. We have our orders.”
“Not to be closer than three kilometers to any of the sentient populations,” countered Alec. “This group isn’t even close to that size, and anyways you have us above five klicks. Hell, there’s even a cloud layer to help shield us.” He switched back to his view of the native, impatient to learn every detail about in its black body. Was the color of its skin? Or perhaps some sort of covering? “How can we call ourselves a survey crew if we don’t learn anything about the planet’s most important inhabitants?”
“I second Alec,” piped Sam. “God knows we’ve all been waiting and now's the perfect chance.”
The rest of the crew chorused their agreement and Alec shot them all a grateful look before turning back to Hiroshi. “Commander?
Hiroshi twisted in his seat and locked eyes with Alec. “Fine,” he conceded and Alec started breathing again. “You’ve got thirty minutes, but anything unusual and we are out of here.”
“You got it, Commander.” Pushing off his work station, Alec rotated his chair towards the center of the bridge. “Martha, Gus,” he looked from expectant face to the other. “Can you guys stop what you’re doing and get in on this?”
“Sure thing, Alec,” Gus nodded. “Just tell us what to do.”
“Then go ahead and start tracking the fleet’s movements,” Alec said, his mind racing to think of what other the data points they needed. “And Martha? If you could start analyzing individual ships for size, we can get started on building a database.”
“Got it.” Gus gave him a quick thumbs-up while Martha spun back to her own terminal. “No problem,” she said in her soft voice.
“Thanks.” Alec glanced back at the black bands moving across his screen. It struck him that the ships were sailing very close together.
“Don,” he called to the engineer sitting across from him. “How do you think they're maintaining such a tight pattern?”
Don studied the footage. “Have to be using some form of ship to ship communication.”
“That was my guess.” Leaning back into his seat, Alec cupped his elbow in one hand and tapped his chin. “Think you can find whatever they might be using?”
Don cracked his knuckles before sliding his hands back over his keyboard. “Leave it to me.”
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