Alieth Posted May 24, 2020 Posted May 24, 2020 @Quen Deena has a special ability to write very subtle yet emotionally realistic characters. The impact of discovery and the insight of a community leader concerned about the ramifications of what she has just discovered is perfectly reflected in this SIM and it is clear that there is much more going on inside Flynn's mind than what she says or what is written. A character development worthy of reading, emotional and frankly well composed. Congratulations Quen! __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ((Transmitter Room, Vel Maijan Subterra)) A new voice broke through the interference. Brodie: =/\= Commander…it’s Brodie. You mentioned new friends…how is the situation at the colony? Are you able to confirm they sent the signal? =/\= Teller: =/\= In a manner of speaking, Counselor. Apparently the distress signal was originally sent by the leader of the original colony....approximately seventy years ago. That mans granddaughter & current head of the colony apparently got it restarted a few weeks ago when the seismic disturbances returned. =/\= Brodie: =/\= Do we know how many colonists we’re looking at? =/\= Ellen listened, a disinterested expression on her face despite her interest in who exactly this new person was. Teller: =/\= Wait one, we haven't had the chance to conduct a census and our tricorders are nearly useless down here. =/\= Teller nodded in her direction. Ellen knew the number off the top of her head - saw it every day, updated it with every birth, every death... Flynn: =/\= One hundred ninety-three. =/\= Kells: =/\= Almost two hundred? We can accommodate them easily. =/\= Flynn: oO Accomodate? What the hell? Oo Teller: =/\= We'll get that equipment setup as soon as we get it, sir. =/\= Kells: =/\= Good. On the double, Commander. I'll see you soon. Thor, out. =/\= The room hung with an eerie silence once the comm clicked off. Ellen watched Teller lean back from the console, taking his sweet time about it, too. Answers were needed, and answers she was going to get. He considered something for a moment, her eyes burning virtual holes in the back of his head, and then spoke. Teller: Ms. Flynn, is there a place we can speak privately? Flynn: My office - right down the corridor, second door on the left. Teller: Very well, I'll join you in a moment. She nodded tersely as the commander began assigning his team to various tasks. On her way out the room, she paused next to Armiger, lurking near the edge. Flynn: Keep an eye on them - I think they’ll need it. Armiger: Response _________ ((Flynn’s Office)) After Starfleet’s reaction to the colony, she was curious to see Teller’s reaction to her office. It was a tight space, sparsely furnished like the rest of the colony. The desk (partially supported by the wall) was clear except for a couple of partially-functioning computer pads, with just enough space in front of it for a visitors’ chair and a sliding door - which she’d currently left open. There was just enough room between the desk and the opposite wall to walk behind to her own seat. Against the back wall hung a few shelves of record books and a smooth, roughly rectangular piece of slate with the number ‘193’ written in chalk and circled. Ellen gestured to the door as Teller entered. He seated himself opposite her once he’d closed it. Teller: Thank you, Ms. Flynn. You helped us get back in touch with our ship, and I owe you an explanation but before I start - I have one very important question for you. It may sound absurd but, please, humor me. Flynn: ::dryly:: I’ll try. Teller: Ellen....what year is it? Ellen stared for a moment, blinking. Had he really just asked her that? Flynn: What year is it? 2234. Teller blinked. Teller: Ellen...this is going to be difficult to hear, but it's the truth. The current calendar year is 2397. I understand that, from your perspective, this colony has only experienced about seventy years of linear time since your grandfather sent that distress call. In actuality, that was nearly two hundred years ago. According to the history books, this colony - in fact, this entire world, vanished without a trace in 2164. Twenty-three ninety-seven. The pieces were falling into place now. No wonder they’d arrived with more tech than a small starship…. And all their talk about ‘temporal’ this and ‘chronitons’ that. She could have kicked herself - she should have guessed it earlier! Temporal/time… Chronitions/chron/time… It was right there, staring her in the face, and she never in her wildest dreams would have guessed. Twenty-three ninety-seven. Two hundred and thirty some-odd years. How could that even be possible? Something straight out of Wells, that was it… Flynn: oO Holy hell, you can’t make this stuff up… Oo I see. She kept her response plain, her face carefully neutral. Teller continued: Teller: Unfortunately, there's more. The quakes your grandfather experienced, and the ones that began again here a few weeks ago, appear to be a sign that this world is about to vanish again. I won't lie to you - we don't fully understand this phenomena, and we're in no position to try to stop it. We need to get you and your people off this planet and out of this system as soon as possible. Leave?! Some hab domes, maybe a little terraforming equipment, an answer to what in the hell that reptile thing was wreaking havoc down in the tunnels. That’s what they’d been looking for from the Federation. A status update and a bit on ongoing support. Instead… this. Flynn: So not only are we a hundred and sixty-something years ahead of where we should be, now we have to leave our home? Teller: I doubt this is the kind of help you hoped for when you sent that distress call, but I can promise you that you'd be more than welcome into the Federation - your people could be resettled entirely on some new world and left to their own devices, or you could go back to Earth - see how we've managed over the last few centuries. I think you'd be pretty happy with what you found there. Ellen sat back. It was a hell of a proposition, either way. Leaving the planet was… not exactly what she’d had in mind. Not even a possibility she’d considered. Flynn: ::quietly:: Doesn’t seem like there’s much of an option… ::normal:: You know - when we left the Federation, it was just a loose collection of planets that could barely agree on what to call themselves… It would be nice to return to our original purpose- As the two discussed the future of the colony, heavy footsteps thundered against the metal flooring outside. Barely a second after they stopped, a sharp knock rattled the door. Ellen held up a hand to pause the conversation and called them inside. Juan and Constable Murphy still had most of their EV suits on - and from the panting and beads of sweat, Ellen guessed they had just sprinted back from wherever it was they found the pile of junk carried between them. Pieces of what appeared to be some kind of tubing snapped like crackers, the exposed internal circuitry giving off weak, blue-white sparks. Others were melted and fused together. EC-31 at work here, too… It had to be. Nothing else she knew could have destroyed something on this level. Teller’s eyes widened, a mix of disbelief and dismay. He studied the wreckage for a moment, before picking up a dark box that was largely untouched, save a few scratches and dents. Evidently, it had no appeal to the creatures. Teller tapped his badge, and spoke. Teller: =/\= Teller to Kells - Sir, we've got a new problem. =/\= While Teller conferred with his ship, Ellen turned to the two men. She'd sent three people. There were two in front of her now... Flynn: Leni? The constable shook his head. Ellen pulled her lips between her teeth, focused on a scratch on the desk, and gave a heavy nod. She picked up a nub of chalk, and turned to the count board. She pulled her sleeve halfway up her palm, rubbed out the ‘3’, and replaced it with a ‘2’. If anything could make her decision for her… Flynn: I’ll speak to her family later. Thank you, gentlemen. Get yourselves sorted - we may be needing you again later. As the two men left the cramped space, Teller had finished communicating with the ship and closed the channel. Flynn: So? Teller: Response Well, that wasn’t good. Flynn: I see. And let me guess, ::gesturing to the pile of debris:: that was your only way out of here? Teller: Response Ellen’s eyes widened - that was definitely not good... Flynn: As in - to the surface? Everyone? Teller: Response Another unthought-of scenario ran through Ellen’s mind. Getting everyone to the surface - everyone - would be literally impossible, given the colony’s current supply levels. Twenty suits, that’s all they had. Well, nineteen now... Flynn: I’m going to be frank with you, Mister Teller. We don’t have enough suits for that. And I’ll be damned if we’re leaving anyone behind. Teller: Response Tag/TBC __________ Ellen Flynn Colony Leader Vel Maijan Subterra E239602QD0 2 Quote
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