(LtCmdr Samira Neathler) Cedre Vanham - One of Ours

[Jo Marshall]

I really loved this delve into the mind of a survivor on the asteroid; beautifully written as always, and pulls out some real emotional moments. Panic being one of the biggies. Well done, @Samira Neathler! 

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(( Weather Complex - Trueno ))

She didn’t hear them. Well, maybe she did. Murmurs sounded in the background. Voices she did not recognise, well except for one. Bertrand Hankins. Not that she knew the man. He was the big shots, the scientist all other science people looked up to. But the man only had eye for his creations and not those who took care of those achievements. She was just one of the many responsible for feeding all those creations. But she had made some promotion. Her first years she had been feeding the hatchlings, later on, the now grown hatchlings had been moved to the paddocks outside and so her own work territory also changed to the outer fields.

And it was in one of those paddocks she had been in when the call came to evacuate. Just like her colleagues, the first thought she had was that it was just another drill. One of the so many. So she was in no rush to walk to the meeting point. Instead, she continued feeding the azure feathered quaking goosauruses, the animals already anticipating that she was in their paddocks with new grub.

It was only when she left the paddocks through the dinolocks she had noticed something was off. One of the animals kept following her through the forcefield. First, she had paid no attention to it. Until, she encountered some small herbivores on her path. With a scream, not from seeing the herbivores, those were harmless. It was more a cry of realizing that this was not an ordinary drill, she dropped the now empty food container while one of the evacuation shuttles passed overhead.

In the shuttle's wake, purple looking clouds, covered the normally blue sky, gradually taking over the firmament above her. Following the path, she rushed to the meeting point, only to find it empty. The emergency vehicles taking them to the shuttle area had already left. It was at that very moment, she felt the first raindrops falling. Panicking, having no idea what to do next, she stood there for a while. Hoping others that had been too late would join her. Only no-one did. She was there all alone, the cry of something or maybe someone made her move again, towards the transportation hubs, her last chance of getting to the shuttles.

Retracing her steps was next on her list, and at the following crossroads she went to the east. Which was a mistake she realized when the supply building doomed up in front of her. Soaked by the rain that was now pouring down, she turned around, ran in the dim light towards the next transporter hub. Yet the device was unresponsive, no matter what she tried. Over the sound of thunder, she heard another shuttle approaching and waved towards the sky vehicle, but it was in vain.

Finally, footsteps approached her and she turned around, glad that she was no longer alone. She was about to call her colleagues, when a velociraptor emerged from out of the shrubs, pouncing on the man. Another raptor showed up and with joined effort and in a matter of seconds the two raptors dragged the man into the woods. She screamed and ran into the shrubbery in the opposite direction as fast as she could. She ran and ran, between branches and twigs, battering her, the same as the raindrops falling from the sky, trying to get as much distance between her and those raptors. 

Coming at a crossroads, she stood there for a moment trying to catch her breath. And so did one of the creatures that was now roaming free on the asteroid. She never saw what it was that grabbed her by the arm, scratching her, she hardly felt the pain. She would never figure out how she got out of the animal's grip and she disappeared into the woods until she reached the building she was in now.

These four people had helped her inside and now she sat there, the look of the now tied hemegret terrified her. The murmurs still going on, she stood up and walked towards the one closed door in the room. Silently she opened the door exposing a dark staircase leading to a lower floor. She descended, the sound of thunder diminishing as she proceeded. Some peace and quiet, the animals wouldn’t follow her down here, would they? She reached the bottom of the stairs, hearing a faint voice, further in the corridor. Next something heavy and sharp hit her temple. The last thing she heard before her body hit the floor and everything went dark was a voice calling out.

Voice: It’s one of ours.

---
Cedre Vanham
BetaGen Employee
Trueno

Simmed by:
Lieutenant Commander Samira Neathler
Chief of Security&Tactical
USS Gorkon
G239508SN0