SET 017: Rojar VI Moon Charting, "Winter"

Posted on 23 May 2013 @ 2:18am by
Edited on on 23 May 2013 @ 3:36pm

4,074 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: Shuttlecraft Virginia, Rojar VI Space
Timeline: MD9 1130

ON:

Liyar superimposed the trajectory map over their viewscreen and tapped the edge of it, zooming in close to a whiteish moon with a blue sheen cast over it. The image was magnetized several times. "R6-R10," Liyar suggested. "It is class-P. Its atmosphere is comprised of nitrogen, oxygen, and trace elements." Liyar brought up the scans which scrolled down the screen in simple numbers and letters, eyes absorbing the data rapidly. "Its temperature is approximately 203.15 K."

"That's cold," Maenad acknowledged aloud. That was about -70C, she calculated in her head. "I'm configuring the sensors to wide-band," she said. "Where there is snow, there is usually liquid water somewhere, and possibly life."

That had been his assumption, and the reason he'd mentioned it. He was fascinated by the idea. "I will take us closer." He manipulated the console controls quickly and easily, setting their course and jetting them out toward the tenth moon. The space outside their window shifted and then they emerged, heading straight for the moon which was, while not as big as RVI, quite large across their viewscreen. "Our scanners are advanced, but we would likely obtain more valuable information by landing on the moon's surface."

Maenad looked over at him. There were a lot of sensory problems due to ionic interference in the upper atmosphere, and Maenad knew that he was right. But the back of her mind nagged with memories of what had happened before, when Lamar Darius had tried to take them down to Rojar I. The shuttle almost crashed itself in a sea of molten rock and Maenad was nearly killed by an exploding console. If they had crashed, not only would she have been mortally wounded, but she would have slowly cooked to death at the same time. "Can you bring us down safely?" she asked him. "Last time I landed on a planet in a shuttlecraft, I was nearly killed."

"I can," Liyar nodded to her, meeting her eyes. "I would not have made the suggestion if there were doubt."

She clenched her teeth behind her lips. Firing a probe here wouldn't work, either. They would have to go down to get the readings they wanted. "All right," she said. Admittedly, she wanted to see it. She wanted to go down and see the world with her own two eyes.

"All right." He looked over at her as he begun to configure their systems for atmospheric entry. "There is no cause for alarm," he told her in an awkward attempt to comfort her. "It is a routine entry."

Maenad looked at him, then buckled herself in. She gripped her hands on the arms of the chair as the window became more white than black. It was exciting, she thought, but still the prospect of another console explosion was very much present in her mind. She smiled uneasily, but held on and told herself everything was out of her control. What would be, would be.

"Entering atmospheric descent," the Vulcan announced a short while later once the vessel had been prepped. Liyar angled their shuttle on a parallel course, and brought up their heat shielding. Liyar manipulated the thruster systems carefully as they shot through the sky. "Entering the stratosphere," he called as the inertial dampeners compensated for the effect of high altitude and velocity on their craft. It wasn't exactly a smooth ride, but Liyar's total lack of concern at the helm was comforting in its own way. The planet beneath them was bright, brighter than any Liyar had ever seen, lightwaves reflecting off of snow. Centuries undisturbed, there were tufts of snow piling on one another, drifts barely blowing by. It was majestic, peaceful, like a painting. "Are you well?" he asked as they penetrated through the stratosphere and into the troposphere.

Watching as the surface came closer and as the turbulence decreased until it was nearly gone, Maenad sunk her shoulders in relief. "I'm fine," she breathed. Now that they were closer to the surface, the sensors were showing high concentrations of dilithium beneath the surface and in a mountain chain about fifty kilometres away, which could be seen just barely in the distance. "It's magnificent," she said, looking out over the horizon. "Land wherever you feel is best," she told him.

Their shuttle whipped down through the troposphere in no time, and Liyar began the deceleration process. He sat almost at the edge of his seat, straight-backed and movements quick. "There," he halved the viewscreen with the map created of their immediate surroundings as the sensor feeds began to work properly again. He saw that the planet contained a high degree of dilithium and other elements, and made a note of it in the ship's log. He was, however, far more interested in the possibility of there being life on the planet. On the map there was a large mountain range with a clearing a few meters above the ground. "We should not land on the surface directly. We do not know how much of this surface is weightbearing. An EVA expedition should be no issue, but a shuttle weighs considerably more than a person. The mountain range appears to be formed on one of the planet's ground masses embedded into the ice surface. That will provide us with enough stability."

It made sense. "Take us down," she said, peering forward out the window.

The shuttlecraft raced through the planet's sky, soaring over the vast, barren landscape. They drew closer and closer to the mountains and they began to fill the viewscreen, monolothic structures clawing their way out of the ground, gnarled and bent. Liyar guided the shuttle around one of the peaks and isolated a large spot. After a few minutes of survey Liyar flipped a few switches above his head and began programming their descent manually until the shuttle touched down. "We have landed," he said.

The jolt of touchdown was slight, and Maenad began powering down various systems right away. The hum of the engines and power gradually faded into near-silence, but for the wind against the hull outside. Already, the corners of the windows were catching sail-shaped clumps of snow. "There is elevated ionic activity in the atmosphere," she said to Liyar, turning in her chair. "The sensors didn't pick up any lifeforms, but I think we should be cautious." She licked her lips. "Let's suit up," she smiled.

"Agreed." Liyar stood and retrieved his phaser and the small silver ra-de'kutha from the dashboard, checking both for functionality. "I have keyed a targeting transponder to our commbadges. They are attached to a separate power source in the shuttlecraft which should be capable of function regardless of engine status. We merely need to activate it if there is any trouble. Is there any specific place you wish to explore first?" he asked as they walked back near the transporter room where a few environmental suits were compressed in the shelves.

"Nowhere in particular, but if we can find some caves," she considered, "we might get better readings from inside." It took a few minutes to go through the tedious process of suiting up. There was oxygen outside, so they could breathe, but it was at least -70 degrees. It was safer this way, given that Maenad was especially susceptible to the cold, and that Liyar came from a planet whose temperature was usually higher than the hottest places on Earth. Maenad's hair was still down from when she'd untied her bun, and she'd forgotten her elastic in the cockpit. Not wanting to go back for it, she just tucked it down as best she could around her neck, hoping that it wouldn't get in the way once her helmet was on. Her bangs were cut, but the hair that hung over the side of her head and back of her neck could come around to bother her. Before she lifted the helmet over her head and locked into place, she looked at Liyar to see how he was coming along, then stepped toward the rear access door. The forcefield activated to keep the shuttle's environment stable and she opened the hatch by pressing the control panel with her index finger.

First there was a hiss, then a sucking noise as the pressures adjusted, and the atmosphere was sucked out. Immediately, blowing snow billowed its way into the cabin, rippling the forcefield behind them. Maenad turned in her suit to look at Liyar, then led the way down the ramp onto the rocky surface. Where Liyar had landed them was exposed to the rockface; the wind seemed to be always blowing here, and there wasn't enough grip for the powdery snow to take hold, but it piled against the rocks and steeper slopes around the clearing. The gravity, she noticed first, was about half that of Earth's, and she tested it by making a cautious jump, then by dropping her tricorder from one hand into the other. There was nothing to say, as Liyar could see everything she was doing, and could make his own assessments about how to move himself here, so she began to scan the area. The bizarre ionised air limited the distance of her scans, which meant they would likely have to look around themselves for anything they wanted to find.

Giving up on the first tricorder results, Maenad slipped it back into its place at her hips, then looked up at the jagged peaks around them. It was like something out of a horror movie; the cliffs were serrated and seemed impossible to climb. The mountains were thinner and taller than anything she had ever seen, and some of their summits had to be several kilometres high. There wasn't any ice that she could see, just drifts of windswept snow filling in the spaces where ground met sheltered rises. "We'll have to look around manually," she told Liyar. Her voice sounded like it was grinning. "How are you doing?"

Liyar pulled his off the shelf and suited up quickly, fitting his helmet on over his head and checking the internal gauges on his HUD to ensure his oxygen levels and the internal heat was high enough to compensate for the harsh environment outside. He yanked his fingers through the gloves and plugged his tricorder, phaser, and the ra-de'kutha into his utility belt. Zipping up his boots, he looked over to the wall and grabbed the shuttle's one over-the-shoulder emergency supplies and first aid kit along with three additional transponders. Ready, he followed Maenad out of the back and stepped awkwardly onto the snow-covered ground. His feet moved slowly, weightless, lighter, uncontrollable. Being from a high gravity world adversely affected his normal agility, which fled the scene and hid under the vast sheets of ice and rocks surrounding them. Up in the mountains, it was a barren, freezing tundra of desolate, arid wind dragging gusts of snow fiercely around them. He stuck his arms out to avoid tipping over like an oversized marshmallow man, and gingerly lifted his feet, careful to avoid any embarrassing mishaps. "I am functional," Liyar replied, oddly invigorated. Their environment notwithstanding, he was energized, motivated. "There. We can take the ridgeline downward to avoid the harsh wind." He pointed a puffy, overstuffed finger toward the looming wall that curved along the mountain's edge.

"Sure," she agreed, then immediately started heading in that direction. The snow became deeper as they neared the ridge. The closer they got to the jarring rocks that towered into mountains above, the more protection they had from the wind. It was almost as deep as their knees at times, and Maenad mused to herself that they were probably the only creatures to ever leave tracks here. It would be too bad that within hours all traces of them ever having visited would be lost forever, but the idea still meant something to her. She turned around to check on Liyar again, who was managing a few paces behind her.

Seeing him bobbing his way through, more like he was walking in deep mud than snow, made her laugh as she turned to face him. But, then again, she remembered, Liyar had probably never in his entire life even touched a snowflake. "What's the problem?" she asked him, laughing as she stood there watching. She bent over and rolled a snowball in her palms and threw it at him, aiming right for his head. It hit near where his temple was and exploded, leaving a chunk of it clinging on the visor. "Come on."

Liyar blinked up at the snow now dripping down the glass of his helmet. They had walked several more meters, when out of nowhere, a soggy, misshapen lump of snow sailed toward her. Rather than hit her cleanly, it dissipated mid-air, drizzling her in an unimpressive mist. Behind her, Liyar shook his head, gazing upward at the sky. "This environment is inhospitable," he humphed.

"It's a class P world," she reminded him sarcastically. Maenad stopped walking, and turned around to look at him. "Here," she gestured for him to hurry up. "Watch, this is how you make a snowball," she couldn't believe she was doing this. "Pay attention." Once Liyar had joined her, Maenad crouched down into the snow, stuck both of her hands into it and cupped enough to fill the space between her palms. "You press your hands together like a cup, like you're going to drink from them. Vulcans brush their teeth, right? Like you're cupping water to rinse your mouth," she showed him, holding her hands out so he could see what she'd done. She pulled one hand away, leaving an oddly shaped clump of snow. "Then," she continued, smiling to herself, "you pad it into shape. Into a ball. Et voila," she said en francais, holding out the prize of a perfectly shaped Maenad snowball. "My gift to you, une balle de neige," she laughed. "Now, I must add," she went on after he took it, as she brushed her hands off, "it is better to make a snowball with your bare hands because your body heat helps to shape it, and makes it harder as it melts and refreezes."

He waddled along and crouched down beside her. "No," he shook his head gravely. "Vulcans do not brush their teeth," he said seriously. "Nor do we bathe or groom ourselves. We are self-cleaning organisms." He shrugged with his eyebrows and took her offered snowball, staring at. He tossed it between his gloved hands. "You have my gratitude for showing me this most useful skill." He then pressed the rolled ball into Maenad's bulbous helmet and it clumped wetly, slipping down her head and onto her shoulders. He looked very pleased with himself, as much as a Vulcan could. Payback.

Maenad was not expecting that, but when it came she tried to stop him. Too late. She grabbed his arm by the wrist to no avail, and her attempt to push him aside didn't work. She lost her balance and fell sideways into the snow, where she laid for a good thirty seconds before getting up. She started up at the white sky, which to one side of her view was filled with the distant mountaintops. Then she laughed again, quietly, and propped herself up onto her elbows. "I could report you for that," she teased, then climbed up to her feet.

Report me for that, he mouthed to himself, and he gripped both of her wrists lightly, helping her to her feet. He used the edge of his glove to gently wipe off some of the condensed snow on the side of her helmet. He led them further toward the ridge where the mountain slowly began to level into flat ground. They were still miles above the surface, and Liyar took out his tricorder, scanning the area for anything that stuck out as interesting. "This way," he gestured to a clearing where jagged rocks crept up to the sky, forming a natural archway.

Maenad was content being the follower, now. She took in the incredible views of rock and snow whirling into each other. She thought more than once that the image of Liyar in front of her would have made a lovely photo; life and death, but she didn't mention it. She saw that he kept looking at his tricorder, wondering where they were going. Her tricorder wasn't picking up anything special - it wouldn't. She knew, though, that Liyar usually had strange surprises in his head, so she didn't ask. As they neared an arch of rock, Maenad turned around to gaze over the the ground they had covered. The shuttlecraft appeared as a tiny model, about half the size of the one that Peers had built for her. She could see for miles and miles out over the desolate plains below. She hung her jaw in awe, then turned around to see that Liyar had made an uncomfortable distance from her. She hurried to meet him at his side again; this place was beautiful, but it was really creepy too, she thought.

The cliffs around them eased off as they ducked through the crevasse buried in the mountainside and opened into an awesome, spacious landscape. The other side of the mountain jutted up from the frozen turquoise and white cracked ground at the surface, spanning massive heights, snowcapped and magnificent all around them. Rocks of grey, brown and green were vivid against the otherwise bare environment. The sky was grey, even the ground beneath their feet were grey, a huge slab suspended over several kilometers of empty ice-covered lakes of deep, incredible blue. It was as if they were trapped inside a photograph. The dropoff was remarkable. Liyar inched closer to it, kneeling down to curl his fingers over the edge and stare, entranced, down the sharp rockface.

When they came over the top of the ridge and past the archway, Maenad began to realise that they had reached the end of their trek, at least in this direction. Just as she could see to the horizon behind their distant shuttlecraft over her back, she could see even farther out ahead of them. And there was no grade, no winding path, no slope of any kind. It was a ninety degree drop for who knew how far down. She stopped dead, her feet became weights as dread washed over her; she was terrified of heights. Especially heights like this. But Liyar seemed totally undisturbed by it. He just kept walking toward the edge like there was no edge at all. "Liyar," Maenad said carefully, trying to get his attention. But his feet didn't stop. He was now several metres away from her and still going. "Liyar," she said again, louder this time, still unable to move. Then when he got down on his hands and knees, just feet from the edge, she managed to make one step forward. "Liyar, stop it!" she shouted, her heart throbbing. He was now at the edge, head over the side. If he fell, he would fall for at least a minute before he hit the ground. Maybe longer in this gravity. And what could she do about it? Nothing. "Liyar, would you please come back here?" she pleaded with him.

It was one of the highest peaks he'd ever been on. A morbid fascination creeped slowly through his head, and he flicked a rock off of the side, watching it careen down to its doom. What would it be like, his insatiable curiosity couldn't help but ask, to jump? To fall weightlessly through the air, just like the tiny rock plummeting down. On and on he watched it bounce away until it became indistinguishable from the ground beneath. It was then that a sudden, mindless terror slammed into his awareness, and he turned, hand on his phaser as if expecting a predator or deathly injury. He saw nothing but Maenad standing there, ashen and pale. He stood and walked back over to her. "Maenad?" he asked, looking behind her for any indication of what was wrong, but only the rocks greeted him. "What is wrong?"

"What are you doing?" She grabbed his hand and pulled him away, leading him further from the edge. "What if you fell?" she demanded. "Then what?"

"It is perfectly safe," Liyar told her. "Maenad -" he rested his hand over hers and looked down at her calmly. "It is safe," he insisted. As safe as anything else in the snow-wasteland surrounding them, he thought. "Relax." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Look around you. This place, it is unlikely we will get to see something like this again. I was not going to fall. If it bothers you this much, then we will go elsewhere."

Maenad stared at him through her visor, looking thoroughly unimpressed, but she finally relented and allowed herself to laugh. A sudden calm ran through her as he convinced her not to worry. "Okay," she said, "but I don't want to get too close to the edge." He was right that this was probably a view neither of them would ever see again and, despite the stark terror of falling, Liyar's comfort soothed her. As he turned around to appreciate the view, she laughed silently at her concern, but she wouldn't let go of him. He inched her closer to the side, closer to the cliff. She was calm, but she was also exhilarated; Maenad was still terrified, shaking even, her blood rushed, yet she was at ease. A few feet from the end, Maenad gave Liyar a gentle tug, saying that that was far enough. "Help me sit down," she told him. She was too afraid to do it alone.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and guided her to sit on top of him as he lowered to the ground. He set his chin on her shoulder and watched the blue-orange of the horizon as the pinpoint sun bathed the sky in amber-gold streaks. He picked up a rock and tossed it over the edge, but didn't let go of her. Her fear ratcheted up several notches when he wasn't in physical contact with her, he realized, so he merely sat there, allowing her to gain comfort with the environment on her own terms. It was amazing, how the Federation was full of humanoid species who had colonized hundreds of thousands of worlds, and yet, in an environment like this, they were reduced to one versus nature. It was awe-inspiring.

Nervous as she was, Liyar's grip on her made her feel okay. "It's so pretty," she said slowly, as the alien dusk made wintery colours in the sky. Then, she turned her head to see his on her shoulder. "You've never been in the snow, have you? Or seen an arctic sunset?"

"Never," Liyar shook his head. "We have two polar regions on Vulcan, Nah'nam'kir and Tat'sahr. The temperature is anywhere from 16 degrees Celsius to 20 degrees Celsius. Only at the top of certain high altitude mountains do we see snowfall." He let her relax back against him and spoke in a storyteller's cadence, "You know, it is said that the peak of Mount Seleya contains the lair of a terrible ice-demon, which eats its victims' souls and buries them in the snow."

Maenad laughed at that. "I'm sure," she said sarcastically. Did Vulcans really believe that? She gazed at him through their visors. She wanted to kiss him, but obviously couldn't, so she sighed instead. She looked out over the bright blue ice miles below and which went on as far as the eye could see. Whether it was glacial or sea, because their tricorders didn't have enough range, until the ionisation cleared in some way, they would never know. As the night came their way and things became more purple than white and gray, Maenad closed her eyes with regret. "We should try to find a cave," she said. She could have stayed there forever with him, on the edge of that cliff in his arms, in front of the falling sun.

TO BE CONTINUED...

OFF:

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer, SSC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD

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