Discovery

Posted on Sat Apr 16th, 2022 @ 7:32pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Aiko Kato & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis Dr

Mission: Jupiter Mystery
Location: USS Washington

As the Washington maintained orbit around the planet just in front of the Jupiter, new information was coming in. "Captain, I have discovered ruins on the planet, and the signal we have been analyzing seems to originate there" said Ensign Lynch from Ops.

Shran looked back towards tactical at Ayana, "Any word from the away team?"

""They have transmitted tactical logs and personal logs from the Jupiter. They have made the necessary course corrections and have control of the ship" replied Ayana.

"Very well." Shran considered the situation. "Ayana, I want you to go down to the ruins and investigate with Aiko and Dex. Keep an open channel."

"Aye captain" replied Ayana.

Aiko logged off her station the moment she heard she was going to be joining the second away team. She nodded to the relief officer who quickly took her place.

Ayana hit her comm badge, =^=Ayana to sickbay. Doctor Dex, or is it Travis? Doctor, you are needed for an away mission to the planet. =^=

=^= Understood, I’ll get ready and ‘Dex’ will do if it is easier than having to remember Travis=^=

She finished up on the setting of a broken ankle leaving the crew member resting and packed her away medical kit. She had been hoping to get some more ‘away team’ experience and a chance to use her exobiology and exoarcheology experience so to get a chance to do so was exciting. Taking her phaser she clipped it onto her waist and added her tricorder. Taking a last look around the calm that was sickbay she walked out into the corridor.
=^= where do you want me Ayana?=^=

=^=Transporter room 2 doctor.=^=

A couple of minutes later she entered the transporter room ready and excited for the mission.

Ayana and Aiko entered the transporter room shortly after looking ready to go. "Doctor, hope you are ready to solve a mystery. It appears Cmdr Grayson and his away team on the Jupiter hasn't found anything to explain things as of yet. I am genuinely excited to take a look at these ruins and track down the source of this mysterious signal."

Dex nodded her enthusiasm. “As am I, it has been a long while since I have used my archeology skills. Is there anything about this planet to worry about?” She asked as she stepped onto the transporter.

Aiko stepped on the transporter pad, and did last minute checks of her phaser and tricorder as she half listened to the conversation between Ayana and Dex. It was hard to say what to expect, but judging from what had happened to the Jupiter, Aiko knew they had to be ready for anything.

"Nothing really unusual based on the sensor scans besides the unusual signal and the mystery of the Jupiter. It should be beautiful down there based on the scans. A real Eden from what sensors showed. Besides the ruins and the mystery signal, this planet scans like a treasure trove of resources."

“It certainly sounds idyllic but we all know that ‘idyllic’ comes at a cost. Maybe the crew of the Jupiter found that out. I suggest we do not interact with the environment however beautiful, until we know whatever flora and fauna we find down there are relatively harmless.”

Ayana nodded. "Agreed." She looked over at the transporter chief, "Energize." In a matter of moments they disappeared from the ship in a blue hue and then rematerialized on the planet is the same blue hue. Ayana did a quick visual scan of the area, and after seeing no danger pulled out her tricorder. It appeared she wasn't alone in that action as she saw the others do the same.

They had transported to the outskirts of the ruins. It appeared that these ruins were what was left of some sort of ancient city. The people who lived here didn't seem to have been very advanced based on what she was seeing. They were perhaps in a Medieval point of technology based on the stone buildings, which was supported with evidence she found of a few tools laying against the building in what looked to be a small overgrown garden. She wasn't detecting any lifeforms, but the plants were very close in appearance to several Earth plants, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, basil, oregano, carrots, and strawberries. Ayana was confused by what she was seeing, both with her eyes and what the tricorder was telling her.

“Wow” Dex said as she viewed her surroundings. She walked backwards so she could see the structure as a whole. It looked like an early Medieval stone structured fortified home due to the ruined crenelations on the now destroyed battlements. She immediately noted that potatoes had been grown that were not introduced until the late middle ages. “If food is being grown there must be someone who planted and tends for them, you’re sure there are no life signs Ayana?” She asked.

"I'm not reading any lifesigns. This garden is growing wild. Obviously somebody planted these various plants, but they did so some time ago. Look at the structures and how they appear dilapidated."

She noted the tools that Ayana had seen, “some of these tools are not medieval in origin either. Judging by the plant life surrounding this place it appears to have been abandoned as a home for at least 100 years to account for the growth.”

"A hundred years," Aiko muttered mostly to herself wondering what could have happened to the civilization. "I'm going to guess there's more going on here than meets the eyes," she added. She walked a bit forward, head bent towards her tricorder reading looking for any unusual readings, but all she was reading was the strange signal.

Shon had just discovered that the planet’s surface appeared to be made up of 4000 year old igneous rock, meaning it was volcanic in nature. This was at odds with the rock the ruins were built from. She looked up to see Aiko walking away and she hurried to keep up with her.

“Aiko we mustn’t get too far from each other, what is the matter?”

Aiko nodded her agreement. "Sorry got carried away there."

Ayana looked confused as she stared at her tricorder,
This doesn't make sense. I'm detecting large granite and limestone deposits not far from here. Completely different than back where the farmhouse. And the signal seems to be coming from inside a building at the center of this town."

“Everything about this planet is confusing, nothing is as it should be. It’s as though complete planetary changes have occurred that even by the process of evolution should not happen.” She stated. “I guess we need to get to this town, by the way has anyone heard any birdsong, or seen any insects or animals?”

Ayana shook her head. "No. The tricorder is barely picking up microorganisms. The most complex organism I am reading are earthworms. This place makes no sense."

“Right, how far is the town?”

"Well, we are in the outskirts now. The center of town where the signal is is about 900 ft. in this direction." Ayana started walking.

“There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of town here and the buildings and architecture are centuries ahead but seem pretty ruined also,” she shivered, “ this whole place is eerie, looks to me like an old time move set, any sign of life Ayana?”

Ayana stopped and looked at Shon. "Are you feeling alright doctor?"

“I am a little tired, just got married you know!” Shon grinned. To be honest yes, I am, I think if I sat down I could easily have a snooze but..” she raised her bag, “stimulants and plenty of them!”

Ayana looked genuinely concerned. “I ask because you just asked me a question I had just answered for you a few moments prior. You look a bit tired as well, as if you haven’t slept.”

She turned her med tricorder on herself running it up and down. “Hmm….that is more than a little odd, to help us sleep we have chemicals such as adenosine, nitric oxide, prostaglandin D2, and a variety of cytokines plus melatonin. My melatonin levels have increased by fifty percent and adenosine by thirty percent.”

Aiko come over here for a minute.

Aiko walked over to the doctor, willing and curious to be the object of the doctor's scan.

She ran a scan on Ayana. “Your melatonin levels are rising as well twenty five percent over normal. There is nothing in the air I checked when we came down.” She muttered to herself.

“Aiko how do you feel?” She asked.

Aiko found herself unwittingly yawning before she could answer. "You know, now that you mention it Dex, I do feel more tired than usual."

Dex took out a hypo and dialed, injecting herself with a stimulant. “Ayana?”

Ayana walked over and allowed herself to be injected. "I wasn't feeling tired before, but I suppose this can be viewed as a preventive measure."

Dex ran another check on the atmosphere “78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.93 percent Argon, 0.04 percent carbon dioxide as well as trace amounts of neon, helium, methane, krypton, ozone and hydrogen, too perfect exactly like Earth although neon and krypton are rising.” She looked at Ayana, I think we should be wearing suits?”

"If something is affecting us, I think the time for suits has passed." Ayana stretched bit. "I don't think we have any other option besides pressing forward for now. I think you'd agree doctor that a closer inspection of the signal is warranted and may indeed tell us something useful, perhaps even give us a clue to what is happening."

“Very well but by my calculations if we continue to breathe this air within two hours we will be unable to function.”

"You'd better give me an injection too Dex," Aiko requested. "I suspect unlike the two of you, I'm physiologically likely to be the first to succumb to...whatever this is." There was no shame in the assessment- Dex was part of Vulcan and Ayana...well, the woman was a veritable poster child for mental fortitude and physical perfection.

“I have one for you also Aiko I am just having trouble with the hypos. My vision has become a little blurred and I am giving you a little less that Ayana and myself. There, got it.” She injected her with the stimulant. Let me know if you feel worse okay?”

"Oh yeah...that's got more of a kick than my morning raktajino," Aiko said jokingly feeling a bit more alert though there was still an underlying heaviness that proved difficult to shake.

Just then the comm beeped. Ayana hit her comm badge. =^=Captain?=^=

=^=Status report lieutenant. Celes just reported a discovery that worries me.=^=

=^=Well, we haven't found much yet, though we are moving towards the signal source. We have discovered that we have been infected by some sort of disease that is making us tired.=^=

=^=I was afraid of that. You have to beam to the Jupiter so Samantha can look you over.=^=

Ayana looked at the others. =^=Honestly captain, considering we are already infected, I'd like to press on to the signal source.=^=

Shon tapped her badge to join in the conversation =^= Captain, the air down here contains elements close to Earth’s atmosphere, however the neon and krypton are rising causing our melatonin levels to rise, causing, I think our drowsiness. I have injected the team with stimulants but I suggest after about another two, three hours at best we will probably be incapacitated. Maybe personal pure oxygen masks would help us remain here a little longer? It is truly fascinating down here. =^=

=^=For what my opinion is worth, I agree with Lieutenant Hillis and Dex Captain. We should investigate the signal to understand how it is connected to this and we are currently the only team in the best position to do that. =^=

=^=Very well. Continue on with your investigation. It sounds like you are against the clock. Be quick but thorough. I'll notify Samantha about your situation in hopes she can prepare for when you eventually arrive. Good luck. Shran out.=^=

Ayana looked at her colleagues with determination, "Alright, let's go take a look at this signal source." She made her way towards the center of town, her tricorder out and recording as much data as possible.

Aiko nodded resolutely and followed Ayana. Her tricorder was also taking readings of the surroundings, not that there was much to begin with. The overwhelming point of interest was the unusual signal. It was like a flash light in the thick of darkness, hard to miss...almost beckoning the away team to it.

She did her best to take in as much of the dilapidated town and its strange structures as they made their way deeper into the town.

Shon took atmosphere readings every 20 minutes. She reckoned that stimulants would be needed every 30 minutes to maintain the level of alertness they would need. “Ayana, Aiko please let me know if you begin to feel worse?”

Finally they reached the center of town. The building was large and made of stone and wood, resembling an ancient Norse mead hall. Ayana viewed it with awe. The building was different in construction to the other buildings, yet it shared the European commonality. "Have either of you ever seen such a thing? It is like we are taking a tour of ancient Earth."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Aiko replied as she glanced at the building. She remembered pictures of buildings such as this from ancient Norse mythology her grandfather would read her. She remembered the tales of Thor and of Oden, his father- the warrior race that were not unlike Klingons, but perhaps possessed god-like powers.

“It reminds me of someone’s ‘pleasure world’ or a conglomerate of civilisations that have been brought here.” Shon said.

Entering the building it was surprisingly warm and well lit. Torches burned along the walls and braziers were spread sporadically along the open room with large animal pelts that looked much like those of bears and deer laying on the floor like rugs and on the walls. Large wood tables and chairs were neatly placed with black iron chandeliers with dozens of candles above them. At the far end was a slightly elevated area where a large stone throne sat which had jewel inlays and runic symbols carved in it that looked like a cross between ancient Norse and a form of Druidic. Ayana was gob smacked. "Have you gone through some sort of time warp?" she questioned.

Shon was in her absolute element, she walked round slowly visualizing testing and recording everything. “Nothing here appears to be replicated, it is all authentic but again periods are mixed.” She ended at the throne looking at the method of carving, this, only looked as though it were carved to precision. She felt suddenly dizzy again and tired. She took out a hypo and applied it. Immediately she felt better. “Ayana, Aiko I have just had to give myself another hypo, how are you both feeling?”

"I feel fine doctor" replied Ayana as she made her way towards the throne. She was scanning every square inch of this place as she made her way forward, noting the signal was growing ever stronger as she took each step towards the stone chair.

"I feel fine as well doc," Aiko replied. She realized that Ayana had reached the same conclusion as she did based on the tricorder readings. Whatever the signal was seemed to be coming from the stone throne. She moved closer to it to study it.

It seemed rather unassuming to her, and frankly uncomfortable. However, she could not deny the intricate and delicate design carved into its structure- likely some form of language that was unfamiliar to her.

If these were not replicated as Dex suggested, it must have taken quite a master craftsman to design the chair...indeed, most of what was in this hall.

"Either of you linguists?" Ayana questioned. "I recognize these as being Norse runes, but it also has an ancient Celtic language known as Druidic mixed in with it. The Celts and Vikings on Earth certainly were aware of each other, but I don't recall them mixing cultures quite like this."

“This certainly looks like Proto-Celtic, more like a mixture of Pan European” Dex suggested.

Aiko felt, in the moment, that she should have paid more attention to her ancient Earth history. She of course knew the broad strokes of Norse and Celtic cultures and was familiar at a very high level with runes and druids. But the breadth of her knowledge- which was largely driven from mythological tales.

Ayana looked around the throne and took note of what appeared to be a large bearskin rug behind it. She kicked it aside to show a hidden door with several markings. "Somehow I feel this should of been expected" she said as she viewed the door. "I don't recognize all of the markings on this, but I recognize that as the ancient Celtic triquetra, and that is an ancient symbol known as the all seeing eye, a variant of the Eye of Ra. What is going on here? Aiko, is that Japanese written there?"

Aiko moved closer, "Wow...yeah you are right," she responded bewildered. "Those are the kanji...a kind of orthography...of Ebisu, one of the seven gods of fortune." She was now more intrigued than ever by what was happening. What was the purpose of this conglomeration of facets of different Earth cultures? Was this town...or hall, a place of cultural unity? Why was it all centered on ancient Earth cultures?

"What in the stars is going on here?" she muttered under her breath as she realized she recognized some other cultural symbols.

Dex moved over to take a look, “I can read Egyptian hieroglyphs,” she brushed over the Ra symbol. “You are right this does have the basics of the Eye but it is not The Wajet or All Seeing Eye which was a symbol of the sun and it’s destructive power as well as love and protection, but like everything here it is a mixture of styles, civilizations and languages.

"That Ra symbol reminds me of something else, from European and American history. A symbol used by a group known as the Free Masons, which were descended from the Knights Templar. As you said though, it makes no sense for it to be here."

“We should try to get in” Dex suggested, I am worried about our exposure to this atmosphere, as wonderful as it is here we are looking for our colleagues.”

"I think we should proceed with caution," Aiko stated and subsequently realized that she was saying something that was self-evident from the moment they had beamed down to this planet. She rubbed her head and stifled a yawn.

"By that I mean, one thing that's common with all of these cultures, besides the fact that they all originated on Earth is that they are also all notorious for safeguarding their secrets. I suspect there may be boobytraps that are primitive and may not be ordinarily identified by our tricorders."

Ayana nodded. "Caution is certainly warranted. But the doctor is correct, we should try to get in. The tricorder indicates that whatever is creating the signal, it is beyond that door." Ayana scanned the door looking for anything that might be a latch to open the door, and anything that might be a trap. "Aiko, will you press on that symbol on the throne. The one that looks like the letter Y."

Aiko glanced back at the throne and quickly scanned it until she found the symbol that Ayana was referring to. She held her breath as she pressed the button down.

A click was heard and the door opened slightly. Ayana reached and pulled the door all the way open. "I'll go in first. I suppose it goes with out saying to be careful. Plenty of traps that the tricorder might not detect."

Aiko was grateful that Ayana was going in first and admired her bravery. She was also quite curious to know what laid ahead of them beyond the secret door. "I can bring up the rear doc, if that's okay with you," she said to Dex.

Dex nodded and followed Ayana carefully down the steps.

Ayana made her way down the steps into the secluded room. She looked around and was once more awestruck. "You guys are not going to believe this" she said aloud.

"What is it?" Aiko asked rather impatiently, belatedly realizing that bringing up the rear meant she was the last of the trio to see any of the discoveries.

Dex wiped her forehead, “it is much hotter down here, the air is closer so we probably should…..Erm, what was I saying?”

A device was sitting in the middle of the room, something that looked a bit like a satellite of some sort.

As Aiko emerged onto the room and saw the satellite, she was bewildered. "Okay...that's definitely different. This is probably the most technologically advanced item we've seen since beaming to this planet."

She glanced at the device intently as if trying to decipher its purpose. "Any idea what it is?" she asked as she opened up her tricorder to scan it.

“I wonder what would happen if I touched it?” Dex said almost mesmerized and stretched out her hand towards the device.

Ayana quickly restrained Shon. "Doctor, that is ill advised. my tricorder is reading this as something far more advanced than even we are. I haven't a clue why it is here or its purpose. I think it would be better to have this looked at aboard the ship."

Ayana looked at Aiko, "It appears the signal is actually directed at the other M-class world. I don't know why. What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Aiko replied studying the readings on her own tricorder. "But it's probably not an accident that it's signal is directed towards the second habitable planet." She paused as she studied the signal. "There must be some kind of receiver on the other M-class planet. We may need to examine that receiver to properly understand exactly what this signal is about."

Dex stopped dead, “shush….did you hear that?” She walked to the door they had just entered through. “I thought I heard footsteps, but, perhaps I am just tired. “Are you sure it is safe to transfer this…thing..to the ship? One thing for sure is that we cannot stay in this environment. Our melatonin levels are now 80% of normal.”

"We can transfer it to the Jupiter for analysis. That is where we have been ordered to return to ourselves, and Celes is there already and can begin her own analysis. With luck, Samantha has had some sort of breakthrough regarding whatever is happening to us, and if not, I'm sure you can assist her figure this out."

“I feel there is so much more to explore, so many unanswered questions, why no people, birds, animals, the Jupiter's crew? But we cannot stay here.” Shon said yawning and sat down.

"That seems to be a mystery that will have to wait. I think we should beam up to the Jupiter" replied Ayana.

Aiko's eyes were starting to grow very heavy. She could feel the shot Dex give her starting to wane. "Agreed Lieutenant," I think we've done about as much as we can here."

Dex could no longer keep her eyes open and she nodded off determined to close her eyes just for a minute or so.

Ayana called to the ship, =^=Ayana to Celes. We have found the source of the signal. We require a beam out to the Jupiter so that you can study the item, and apparently we need to be sent to sickbay for medical observation. We seem to be infected with something...=^= she trailed off as she caught Shon closing her eyes and she moved to catch her before she fell. =^=Celes, medical emergency. Dex has collapsed.=^=

Aiko moved over to help Ayana with Dex, and she felt her legs starting to buckle just as she heard the familiar sound of the transporter harmonics taking effect.