Sciencing

[usfuzzies]

Who: Ben Rainsford, Una Persson, Narvin, Braska, Tauriel
What: Installing cameras and looking for terrorists
When: A few days after 0this
Where: The woods and ruins
Notes & Warnings: N/A


Ben's there after breakfast, loading up a vehicle with equipment. If they decide to go out to further sites they may have to use the teleporter, but they'll sort that out as it comes.

[OOC: Create top levels a-la mingle log for exploration with Ben and any other party members

Comments

[timesbureaucrat]

[Narvin saunters up in his oldest set of Gallifreyan civilian clothes, a tunic and trousers in a drab russet. He wears a work belt with assorted pouches filled with tools and he thinks he looks like a Low Town handyman except for the staser pistol holstered at his hip.

He can't decide whether he resents not having the mantle of authority he had as Coordinator and then Chancellor or whether it's refreshingly relaxing to let other people be responsible for making decisions and him just carrying them out.]

All right, let's get this over with.

[usfuzzies]

Agreed. [Ben's in a bush jacket and sensible hat; he has a hard-copy waterproofed topographical map of the surrounding wilderness, marked in several places with adhesive dots.]

I'm thinking here, here, and here-- we'll need to come back and take the 'porter out to this one, but you'd expect to find a lot of game around this water source to draw hunters-- and water sources are also prime sources for terrorists.

[timesbureaucrat]

[That gives Narvin pause.]

Do you know what the water source is for the resort? Groundwater wells? Aquaduct? Synthesized?

[It wasn't something he'd thought about before until the possibility of terrorists poisoning the water was dropped in his head.]

[usfuzzies]

Groundwells or aquifer. There's no need for a synthesizing plant on a planet like this.

You're used to more developed planets, aren't you

[timesbureaucrat]

Indeed. I prefer it that way. Nature is unpleasantly unpredictable.

[usfuzzies]

Why take this assignment, then?

[timesbureaucrat]

I enjoy studying alien technology.

skeleton finding thread

[una_persson]

Una's been walking the perimeter while the rest of the team sets up the cameras. She comes over a small hummock into a hollow in the ground and stops in her tracks.

Lying crumpled in the hollow is a pile of bones. No, not a pile—an articulated skeleton, fallen such that the shape of the body is still recognisable.

"Ah." She raises her hand in a gesture of alert. "I've found something," she calls out, to the group at large.

[endsorrow]

Braska has been watching Una's patrol from an equal mix of duty and curiousity. Ben had said he was going to send him along with her, and he wanted to keep an eye out in case anything happened.

Of course, "something" happens, but this "something" just happens to be... some kind of discovery.

He heads over, carrying his staff instead of using it as a walking staff, ready for spellcasting, depending on what it is that she's found.

"What is it?" he calls as he approaches, but then stops when he sees it, too, head tilting. "My, my... So you have." His instinct is to get closer, get a better look, but that's not his job here. He stays where he is, eyes darting up into the trees to continue keeping watch.

[una_persson]

Una glances over her shoulder at him. "Braska, isn't it?" There'd been introductions, and she'd seen his post on the network as well. "What do you make of this?"

She slides down into the hollow for a better look. "They're too clean," she says. Too tidy for it to be a decomposed corpse.

[endsorrow]

Braska nods in confirmation and follows her, careful not to trip on his robes as he makes his way down the incline.

"You're right," he murmurs. "You would think, there would be at least something..." He kneels to get a better look -- but only looks, doesn't touch. "But it's as though... Someone simply -- laid them out, and... recently? Perhaps?"

[una_persson]

"Someone—" Una looks around. "Not much in the way of tracks, apart from our own." She circles up toward the skull when something else in the grass catches her eye. "Look at this."

There's a bow lying on the ground, and one of the skeleton's hands is draped over the grip.

[endsorrow]

Hmmmm. She has a point about the tracks. But -- Ah, he sees what she means.

"A weapon..." He holds his hand in a loose fist before his mouth thoughtfully. "Did it die defending itself?" From what? It doesn't look as though the bones are horribly injured...

[una_persson]

"Possibly? But the bones are so clean; I can't get my head around that. It would have had to be here for a long time to get like that—and it wouldn't be so complete." She bends down and parts the grass from the bow to get a better look at it. There's nothing extraordinary to recommend it, but the whole tableau reminds her of something...

"Something to do with the ruins?" she wonders out loud.

[endsorrow]

"Mmm... You are correct. And the soil..." Braska lightly touches his fingertips to the dirt near one the skeleton. "It doesn't show any signs of the body's decomposition, either. It is very bizarre."

Her theory about the ruins... "I haven't been out to see them myself..." He leans back. "What makes you think so, if I may ask?"

[una_persson]

"You're right. The grass normally would be dead." She carefully withdraws the bow from under the skeleton's hand and lightly plucks the string, finding it sound. "There are skull images in the ruins," she says. "Carved over the doorways. Skulls with bows and arrows." She frowns and tests the string again. Sound as new.

[endsorrow]

Braska frowns a little now, shifting to settle more comfortably on his haunches. "How prevalent is the imagery? Is it localized in specific rooms, or can it be found all throughout?"

He doesn't have a solid theory just yet, especially since he's never seen the ruins himself, but... Right now, it makes him think of the Yevon script in the temples, and the imagery of Lady Yunalesca and Lord Zaon. He remembers struggling to remember every meaning behind each symbol of the script, and how to piece them together to make a coherent message. If they don't know the language, their only hope of understanding would be other signs in the context.

[una_persson]

"Throughout. Not everywhere, I mean—but it's not confined to one building or type of building."

She takes a step back. "I think I'll take this bow back to town and have someone get a look at it. Any thoughts on what we should do about the bones?"

[endsorrow]

Along comes Braska, dressed in some of his lighter robes, his headdress, and using his staff like a walking stick.

"Good morning," he calls to Ben as he approaches, looking over the vehicle curiously.

[usfuzzies]

"Morning!" Ben gives him a distracted wave, hunched over a map of the surrounding topography.

"You're our medic, aren't you? I have a scientist coming along, a Una Persson-- I might send you out along with her, if she's going anywhere dangerous."

[endsorrow]

"I am," Braska agrees. He inclines his head. "I will go wherever you think is best."

It's a little unfamiliar, following the direction of someone else for once, but Braska knows the skills he provides will only be applied if there is an emergency. Otherwise, he's pretty far out of his scope. But he wants to know, wants to be involved; patiently sitting by and waiting for results... It's never been a strong suit of his.

But, perhaps he'll be able to at the very least observe and learn how these people -- scientists and technicians -- investigate, how they think, so that he can be more directly helpful in the future.

[tawarwaith]

[Tauriel is alert and cautious as she is looking around for any threats while people are putting up the cameras. She had after all signed on as security and tracking for this little expedition. It therefore falls to her to be on the alert in case things suddenly get out of hand. ]