Carpathia IV: Episode 241 - Buzzy Rock
Bridge, NCCS Shadowdancer-A
The final two days with Zilyana on board went far more smoothly once she started behaving herself. There were more shenanigans in the sparring room, but now voluntary rather than Zilyana dragging crew off their duty stations by their ears. She never lost a single fight and Sylvar was the only one who made her work for her victory, a fact that he enjoyed relaying to anyone with ears. A curious flex, to be sure, to brag about having lost less badly than everyone else.
Shortly after Zilyana's departure, Amenaru had his first night shift in command on the bridge. The job was light, mostly making sure the ship stayed on course and that nothing strange happened. Not a difficult task, as the ship would go mostly straight even if nobody was on the bridge and hardly anything strange happened at night. At least, not the sort of strangeness that would require the attention of a commanding officer. Minor course corrections, such as when the ship passed a bit too close to a star, were handled by the helm without any need for Amenaru's involvement.
Amenaru's next shift on bridge duty was more of the same. He had done night shift before in his Operations position, but he didn't realize then just how little input was necessary from the officer in charge. At Ops, he could get work done, all the little things that piled up through the days. Tweaks here and there. Incident reports. Now what? Just watch? Though this was perfectly normal, it did not sit well with Amenaru's newbie nerves. He had to be doing something, right? Bringing a game to play while in command was certainly out of the question.
On his third shift, Amenaru's nerves finally started getting the better of him.
Amenaru: Helm, current course.
Mikado gave a little smile, almost letting forth a chuckle, as he rolled his eyes, all out of Amenaru's view, who could only see the back of his head.
Mikado: 158 mark 224, Q8, same as it was ten minutes ago, Lieutenant.
There was a chuckle, but not from Mikado. This came from Amenaru's left, where Baal sat.
Baal: Getting a little antsy in the big boy chair, Lieutenant?
With a smirk, Amenaru cast a glowering side-eye at Baal.
Amenaru: Careful, Baal. I can have you thrown in the brig.
Baal: Aww, you're adorable when you take charge.
Amenaru: You are right about that. I most certainly am adorable.
Sylvar: Do you think the Captain would know if we had a big party up here right now?
Quenya: Joust would. Somehow, he knows everything.
Tuomas: He does. Besides, it wouldn't be easy to paint you if everyone was moving around.
Amenaru snapped his head around to the front of the bridge, where Tuomas sat with his canvas and brushes.
Amenaru: Tuomas! You're really good at... not sure how to put it. Making yourself invisible? No. Masking your presence. I forgot you were there.
Tuomas: A good skill to have when your job is to paint while everyone behaves naturally.
Amenaru: I should do a cool pose!
Amenaru leaned forwardand rested his right forearm on the armrest while stroking his chin with the other hand, a look of grim determination pasted across his face.
Amenaru: How do I look?
Tuomas: Corny.
Amenaru: Aw.
Phobos: You could do Commodore Amaranth's Darksaver pose!
Amenaru: Right! Sylvar, find that picture and put it on the viewer.
Sylvar: With pleasure!
Sylvar searched through the files and within a few seconds, the viewscreen graced the entire bridge with Adell's sultry pose.
Amenaru: Perfect! Pity I don't have the knife, but I can make do.
Keeping and eye on the viewscreen, Amenaru turned himself around in the Captain's chair, draping his right leg over the armrest and putting the left on the floor. The right arm was easy and he rested that on his thigh. The left was tricker, since he couldn't see it as well.
Quenya: Raise your left elbow up a bit.
Amenaru did as he was told.
Amenaru: Like this?
Sylvar: Head forward more.
Then a flash from the front of the bridge.
Amenaru: Did you just take a picture? Don't show that to Captain Valro!
Tuomas: I won't, unless I need to blackmail you.
Amenaru quickly shifted himself back to a normal seating position.
Quenya: Oh, Lieutenant, the Captain would probably find that funny.
Amenaru: All the same, I don't want to risk it.
With Amenaru back to his normal position, he caught Baal out of the corner of his eye concentrating deeply on something.
Baal: Request course change, Lieutenant. I'd like to investigate this.
Amenaru's ears perked on his head. Something interesting to do!
Amenaru: What did you find, Baal?
Baal: It's a large asteroid. It's on the maps already, but it hasn't moved at all.
Amenaru: That's it?
Baal: You don't understand. Everything in the universe moves, whether it's orbiting something or just from stellar drift. This hasn't moved a single inch since it was first surveyed.
Amenaru: I don't think a small diversion will do any harm. Send coordinates to helm. Mikado, alter course as soon as you have them.
Mikado: Understood, Lieutenant.
Mikado: We are approaching the coordinates, Lieutenant.
Amenaru: All stop.
Mikado acknowledged and brought the Shadowdancer to a halt.
Amenaru: Baal?
Baal squinted quizzically at his screen while he stroked his horn.
Baal: Not moving at all. It isn't even spinning, but it is vibrating strangely.
Amenaru: Vibrating?
Baal shrugged and pointed at his screen.
Baal: I couldn't make this up if I wanted!
Amenaru: Quenya, do a full sensor sweep. Let's have everyone take a look.
Quenya: Yes, Lieutenant.
Amenaru turned his chair towards his own display so that he could have a look for himself. A few seconds later, preliminary scans started to appear. Just a rock, at first glance, but the more data that arrived, the stranger things became.
Sylvar: It's vibrating for sure. Not in any pattern that I can tell, but it's repeating.
Kit: A pattern this complex might be a language. I think there's a message in this. Can someone take these readings and put them through the speakers?
Quenya: I think I can do that. Give me a minute.
Quenya got to work while Amenaru continued to study the readings. Indeed, the pattern did repeat, making a loop roughly every 25 seconds. Outside of that, he couldn't make out anything of what he was looking at.
Quenya: Got it. Let's listen.
Quenya hit one more button and the vibrations played on the speakers. It did sound almost like a voice, exceptionally deep, almost demonic, but difficult to make out the words. If it were a language, it wasn't one any of them knew and it sounded like it was probably distorted anyway.
Kit: It's not anything I'm familiar with and it's too distorted for the universal translator.
Amenaru: There's one who might know. Kit, call Ryuu to the bridge.
Kit: Contacting Ryuu.
The first thing that Amenaru did was stop the noise playing over the speakers. All that was left, while waiting for Ryuu, was to continue studying the asteroid. Five completely fruitless minutes of absolutely nothing. Nothing new. Just a mystery.
Thankfully, the lift door opened and Ryuu trotted out, his mouth wide open in a gaping yawn.
Ryuu: You have something for me?
Amenaru: Sorry to call you so late. I'll give you a quick version. We found a very strange asteroid. It is vibrating in a way that seems like it might be a language. We put it on speakers but we can't identify it or what it's saying.
Ryuu grimaced and then had a big, hearty shake like a wet dog.
Ryuu: Weird. I'll have a listen for you.
Amenaru: Quenya, let's have it again.
Quenya: Putting on speaker, Lieutenant.
Again, the same deep, dark voice permeated the bridge. For a moment, Ryuu listened with his head cocked to the side, but something changed quickly. As the message played, his ears sagged, his head drooped, and he started to flatten himself closer to the floor as though something was about to attack him.
Ryuu: Back us off! Back us off!
Amenaru: Mikado, full reverse thrusters!
Mikado: Yes, Lieutenant. Full reverse thrusters.
Amenaru: And stop the speakers.
The noise ceased immediately and Amenaru spun his chair back toward Ryuu.
Amenaru: What is it? What does it say?
Ryuu: It's a very ancient aptaran language, lost thousands of years ago. Translated, it says,
I am Aionaptara, seeking thee,
Whose ears may chance upon this humble script,
And with great fervor I do yearn to say,
That I beseech thy presence for a meet.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Less_End
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
Falke2009
