The Beach; From the Depths (Part 4)

Posted on 10 Jan 2013 @ 6:21pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cyrus Kiwosk

3,756 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: Vega Colony, Puam Digh
Timeline: MD9 1420

[ON]

More and more birds started to gather overhead, their blue feathers matching them again the sky but their high calls could be heard more and more. It was almost as if every bird on the island had taken to the sky, circling above. In the distance a few dark shapes broke the surface and jets of water sprayed into the sky. Kiri had seen whales before so wasn't much surprised by that and as quickly as they had come they vanished. Moments later however a large red dome appeared in the water. Breaking the surface it sent a wave half a meter high that broke on the beach. Perplexed she started to stand up when she noticed flocks of the birds diving towards it, fluttering to a landing on the dome in great uproar. Every few seconds it would rise higher, or was it closer?

Bent red knees the size of tree trunks followed and now she could make out the dome was covered in barnacles, shells, little fleshy tongues. The birds pulled at them as finally a huge body rose out of the water completely. Torrents of seawater running down into the sea as it settled, slung between eight spindly legs. To Kiri it looked like an enormous spider crab, though to scale its front claws were shorter. It was huge though, its legs maybe a hundred meters long, its body maybe twenty wide. A collection on tiny eyes watched from each socket, a small mouth twitching, it was still big enough to swallow a person.

It was still several hundred meters from the beach but it started to move forwards. Its giant armoured body clicking with each movement but most of the sound came from the birds. Kiri was in awe of its size but didn't have a clue what it was, or if it was dangerous.

"What is that!" Tiffany asked pointing at the large crustacean looking thing coming out of the water. "Was that always down there while we were swimming! Oh gross! Gross! Gross! Gross! I need a shower! What is that thing!? Does anybody know? Who has a tricorder?"

Does she every shutup? Cyrus wondered as he made his way down the beach noticing the giant godzillacrab.

Kell frowned at it a little, and held up his tricorder. "Mm," Kell said thoughtfully, contemplating a hundred meters across-thing as if he were scanning a rock. "Says it's non-aggressive." Kell shrugged. "Transport it somewhere deserted while we shore leave?" He hovered a hand over his commbadge while eying the map configuration in his tricorder and keeping track of the Thing's movements.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Tiffany asked, wondering how she could ever consider making Kell her boyfriend just because he was young and, okay, just a little cute except for that shaggy mop of hair. But so far he was her only consideration, but sometimes she wondered why she bothered with him at all. "And while you're at it, ask them to scrub the ocean to clean it of crab poop!"

Kell didn't need to be told twice. He tapped the commbadge at his chest. "One to proximity beam. Radius: five hundred miles from our current location, within the ocean. Proximity life-signs within the same radius."

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. After a while, an answer fed back through. "Our sensors aren't working so great on the planet's surface, and repairs are gutting our systems. Our transporters won't be able to handle something of that size for a site to site, you're gonna have to find another way."

"Looks like that's out." He looked between the two of them. "Arm yourselves? Wait to see if it attacks? Run?" he suggested blandly, as if he were bored.

"Let's get a huge pot of boiling water and a lot of garlic butter?" Tiffany asked staring at the huge creature rising out the sea. Sure, when Mr. I'm So Awesome Cause I'm A Big Piggish Muscle Mass of Security is needed to do his actual job of protecting people where's the Big Coward at? Probably hiding behind the doctor's beautiful skirts, where did she get that dress, it is nice and looked really, really, really good on her, really brought out her creamy skin and nice eyes, and just a hint of freckles across the bridge of her nose. They were cute, those freckles, the kind that Tiffany thought she might like to have, but unfortunately she didn't. But that's where Kiwosk was, certainly, hiding behind Pola because he was just a Big Piggy Crybaby Coward who could only pick on smaller people and make women think they had a chance to be liked by someone like him and all he did was then go around and break their hearts and Tiffany had to stay up ALL NIGHT with Tabby, comforting her because of what that pig flexing his Big Muscles and flashing that Charming Boyish Smile and making her think she was going to get to date him. She hated Kiwosk so much that even thinking about him made her arms cross and her foot stomp.

"Well, Kell, what are you waiting for? There are ladies present here and you need to Step Up and Be A Man and do your best to protect all of us, or do we just need to do that ourselves and I swear you are the worst boyfriend and I already warned you that you were on Thin Ice because you didn't keep your promise this morning and you didn't escort me to the party and you didn't help me bring all the stuff and you made a Scene in front of the Cob to Make Me Look Bad and now you're being a little coward and you're not doing anything about that giant lobstrosity..."

Lobstrosity, Kell repeated to himself with mild amusement, but kept his eyes firmly focused on it as it descended upon them.

"...Coming out of the ocean, which now I can't swim in because now I know it's full of HUGE crab poop and that's just disgusting and you wouldn't even ask them to clean the ocean of crab poop before you just shrugged and gave up on doing anything because you're not very much a Hero or a Good Guy! Why don't you just go talk it to death because I know you're just talking to make me shut up and not point out all of your flaws and just What a Bad Boyfriend You Really Are!"

Kell held up a hand slightly, shaking his head a little and waiting for her to fall silent.

She stomped her foot again and then decided to face the giant crab thing akimbo. If Kell wouldn't do anything about it, then By All the Gods she would Do Something! She bit her lip, she just didn't know what to do regarding it.

"Mm," he said with a shrug, holding a phaser toward it before glancing between Kiri and then Kiwosk who was over somewhere talking to the doctor... Kiri was just standing there, and Kiwosk was gone. Well, he supposed Tiffany was right. "I don't think shooting it is going to do much," he observed. "We might be able to contain it within a force field. We could use a small pulse beam to guide it away." He was tapping his commbadge again. "Transporter control. Is is possible to beam down one of the large temporary containment emitters?" he asked.

"Only one of the command staff would be able to authorise that," The voice seemed rather confused at the situation.

Liyar and Athlen were approaching from the other side where they had been sitting and discussing (debating... arguing) ancient Rigelian economic systems, when the Cthulhu-Thing decided to rise up out of the sea and greet them in all of it's crab monster glory. Athlen's eyes were wide in shock and, okay fear because what in the four prime numbers WAS THAT?!

Liyar had his phaser out almost immediately, finger on the trigger and his other hand was outstretched as if reaching out, propelling something invisible near it or receiving something in return. Identify yourself/motivation, he sent non-linearly, transmitting a general feel for what he meant through the air in an attempt to reach it.

Cyrus stood back and watched the slightly amusing scene play out before him. Walking over to the Vulcan he smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Li, I don't think pointing a phaser at the thing is going to make it any more lovable." He stepped forward and looked at the thing. "Are....are you trying to talk to it?" He struggled to keep a straight face.

Athlen laughed. "He talked to the bear-thing -"

"Keval," Liyar corrected absently.

"- Before. Seriously, Liyar, you're losing evil points by the second. Can someone please figure out what the hundred-meter long crab is doing advancing toward us because - elements, it's moving!" Athlen said shrilly.

"Well, guess I might as well find out. Wait here everyone, I'll go try giving it a hug. " Cyrus jogged off into the direction of the crab.

It could barely see the small creatures in front of it, grey blocky forms that barely stood out from the sand. It could feel one though, inside it. They were in its way, clumsily the crab kept moving forwards slowly. Reaching its long claws forwards over the beach, just above the sand. Stress, pressure, protect, live, dig.

Tiffany looked at the large crab thing coming out of the ocean and Made A Decision. "This is silly. Why are we all sitting here going crazy over a large crab thing!? Vega is like this huge, huge big huge city metropolis thing and if there was anything dangerous here then the people of Vega would be telling all of us about it and giving out guidelines and stuff. So this is just stupid and I'm not going to go swimming in crab poop so this is just silly." She grabbed Kell by the arm and picked up her towel and stormed off. "Yes, Kell, I think you said there was a tropical pool just a little bit that way where I'm not swimming in a giant crap toilet?"

"You know Tiffany, if there's one there must be more right? What if that pool was a nest?" Kiwosk suggested, chuckling.

"Cyrus Kiwoski stop being such a PoohPooh Head and shut up and leave me alone because I'm still going to tell everyone what a big mean jerk you are and how you threaten people with stupid things that you don't even know what they are and you're only a security person so that you can pick on people because if you did anything else then you'd have to do real work and find out that You're No Good at Anything!" She pulled harder on Kell's arm as she stormed off. Kell gave a wave to the rest of them as he was yanked away.

"Mr. Kiwosk, back away from it," Liyar called to the security officer as the crab reared up again, stressed and uncertain. "It cannot accurately perceive you. It is threatened." And, well, threatening a giant hundred-meter long crab probably wasn't the best idea ever. He focused on projecting a command, reaching down through the creature's primitive mind and blasting the order through. Stop. Go back.

Cyrus looked back to his Vulcan companion and smiled. "It's fine, he's not very fast is he?" He kept moving forward, but steadied himself accordingly, ready to jump out of the way at any given moment. "Besides, Pointing your phaser at it really made him feel welcome right?"

The words one hundred meter long, semi-hostile crab floated through Liyar's mind in retort, but he kept his eyes on Kiwosk, and his phaser out as the chief moved forward to confront the creature.

Cyrus turned back to the crab he was coming close to. Squatting down slightly he cooed, "Heya buuuuddy. How are you?"

Not stopping the crab gave a low rumbling chirp and clacked its claws as it left the water and moved up the beach, trying to ignore the small moving objects around it. A sweep of its clawed hands almost knocked one over, the other hit quite hard against the sand and a sweep sent a cloud scattering into the air.

Kiri had backed away but not so very far. She was feeling extremely guilty about eating that crab a few days ago now. This was by far the largest animal she'd ever seen and she had no idea how to react to it at the best of times, it didn't seem to have hurt anyone so far though. Raising her hand to protect her face from the sand she couldn't think what was going on.

Cyrus noticed the sudden backing off. As he opened his mouth, a spray of sand fell over him, forcing him to roll off to the left near the water. "GAHK!!" He sputtered, spitting wads of moistened sand out of his mouth. "I think he wants a hug." Cyrus said grinning. "You think he's hungry? What do giant crabs eat anyway?" He asked haphazardly.

Of the three of them, Liyar seemed least affected by the sand, even with his eyes open. Walks on the Forge would do that to a person. He shrugged it off. "It wants us out of it's way," he corrected darkly. "It is digging for shelter." He moved them, and grabbed Kiwosk, pulling him aside to prevent him from being smacked by another claw.

As if on cue, coming to a stop now the claws were the only part of the crab that was moving. The birds that had gathered on its back started to take flight as more and more sand flew. Though they were hardly designed for it the crab started to pull sand aside on the beach, hollowing out a dip. Water started to appear as it got deeper but still it went, leaving a cloud that was growing thicker and thicker.

Out of them all, Liyar had the advantage of sight, the Vulcan internal nictitating membrane shielding his eyes from the sands, which on Vega IX were much less hostile than the ones on Vulcan. He watched while several people on the beach began screaming, covered in sand and mud, realizing there was a Giant Thing currently digging its way over them, and water splashed up to cover them all. Liyar called up the rest of his mental strength. Rather than project a word, he went straight through to the crab's inner workings, and touched on one of its neural systems, the motor cortex. He clamped down on it, hard.

The giant creature staggered, its arms freezing in the air and its legs starting to give way under it. As it started to fall under its own weight it let out a low dull chirp. It was panicking, it was afraid, it didn't understand what was going on.

Liyar suppressed the sudden wave of complete adrenaline that raced through his body at what he'd just done. He didn't have time to ruminate on that and turned back to the growing crowd of people, including Kiri and Athlen. Athlen was wide-eyed. He stepped closer to it only then, keeping it immobile. He tried to guide its fall, making sure it didn't injure itself breaking a leg and continued moving toward it. Liyar was soon directly in front of it, to the area he could only assume was its head. Immobile, he placed the outstretched fingertips of his hand against its bony exterior. At this range, the crab wouldn't be likely to catch him in its grip, given his awkward positioning right up close to it. He ignored the fact that his nose was now bleeding an ugly shade of dark green. Only then did he announce, "I have to let go of the immobility. I cannot communicate with it otherwise. I suggest you leave," he called back to the others. "It will be very upset until I am able to calm it."

Kiri knew she shouldn't abandon anyone. She was beyond arms reach and the creature didn't seem to be moving very fast when it had been. More than that worry though was that one of the others would hurt it. The Crab had done nothing to them, not really.

"The hell did you do?!" Cyrus demanded wiping grit and sand off of his face. "I was going to ride it..." He murmured under his breath so no one could hear.

"I merely immobilized it," Liyar assured over his shoulder. He was Vulcan, he was not going to hurt it. He let up, and very quickly began systemically going through its nervous system to find the closest approximation to dopamine, endorphin and enkaphalon receptors. He used this to induce it into a calmer state of being, to help curtail it's flailing movements and calm it from its dig. Then he thrust himself forward into the creature's mind. Calm. Non-threatening. He wasn't sure if it was smart enough to communicate in thoughts, so he was projecting at its hindbrain, concepts it could understand as a simple wildlife creature, the way he would often do so on Vulcan. Telling it and embedding in its neurology a sense that it was harming them, they did not know what was happening, to return to its home in the water. He then began searching for its motivation, and extrapolated possible motivations himself while he did.

Was it caring for its young? Was it digging for shelter for its family? Was it hibernating? Food? He continued going through its physiological and rudimentary mental systems until he could find a suitable answer. Liyar looked back and realized none of the others had left. So much for logic.

Here Begins Was the answer he got, Here More.

More, Liyar repeated. More-of-you? he asked for clarification. He wondered if his first assumption was correct communicated as simply as possible a question of whether or not it was caring for its family.

Will. It strained, trying to break free of his bondage.

Liyar gradually let up a bit more, allowing it to move, but slower, so the rest of the beach goers wouldn't be harmed by its haphazard movements. Show-me, Liyar requested of it.

"Li... What's it doing?" Cyrus edged himself away from the 100 metre long 'lobstrosity'.

"Careful," Liyar warned as the crab began digging once more, its great claws lashing outward. "It is attempting to dig out shelter. For its young, or family, perhaps. I do not believe it is inherently dangerous. Frightened," Liyar said, still maintaining the link between them. "I have slowed down its movement so that it will not inadvertently harm us, but it may be best if we vacate the area."

"You might be right, but I fail to see how we can just ignore a kick ass giant crab..." He mumbled, suddenly smiling he turned. "You still owe me that match of volleyball. I know I can beat you in vollleyball."

Struggling the giant started digging again, its movements jerky and heavy. The hole grew bigger and bigger and more water welled up to fill it until the crab still struggling crouched itself over it covering the hole completely. Its shell shook as it struggled to hold that position for close to a minute before it rose back to its feet. A section of its under shell covered the top of the hole now and it started to stagger back towards the water.

Holding onto a palm tree with one hand Kiri still watched tentatively, it was leaving, did that mean it was all over?

Liyar let it go a little more, and then more once he realized it was heading back to its home. He wasn't sure what was happening exactly.

Slowly Kiri came forwards, the sand settling back down as the crab started to sink into the water. She looked at the piece of shell that was already starting to be buried, as she got closer she thought she could hear something. A clattering sound, hundred of tiny clicks maybe. Looking around she tried to see if anyone was hurt.

Liyar dropped his hand as they and their giant parent clicked and crawled and chirped forward into the sea. He stumbled a little and righted himself, touching his finger to his face and coming away with dark green blood on his hands. He blinked at it. "Status report," he asked everyone around him.

Cyrus was over to Liyar in an instant looking over his wounded friend. "Damn man, you can't play volleyball with a wounded face." He said worriedly. He gave a quick look around everywhere to spot any others who happened to be injured before returning his attention to Liyar. "I guess, momma was not in the talkative mood anymore?"

"Apparently not," Liyar answered wryly, arching a single eyebrow in turn.
Cyrus chuckled. "It looks superficial, Liyar, but we should probably go get the others and get you cleaned up. " Cyrus offered. He noticed Kiri and smiled. "Perfect timing Lieutenant. Shall we help our Vulcan companion off to find some food and possibly several band-aids?"

Athlen slogged through some of the upturned sand, covered and drenched. He shook out his head like a wet dog, grimacing in discomfort. "I hate being wet," he mumbled unhappily. He followed Liyar, Kiwosk and Cho along to the tents where Liyar knelt down to grab a regenerator out of the first aid box.

"Glad you could make it Athlen. Don't be so crabby about it, it's only a little water." Cyrus joked. "Let's see where that cut is Liyar."

"Desert people," Athlen huffed, throwing his hands up grumpily. "Desert people! I thought Vega IX was a nice, pleasant Class-H...noooo," he could be heard trailing off, "The giant crab has to rain... on my head!"

Cyrus laughed heartily, watching Athlen take off.

[OFF]
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Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

CWO Kiwosk
Security/ Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SCC
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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