Cadet J'ryn "Jack" Ressan - At Least We Won't Die Alone!

[Alieth]

@Alleran Tan here

gives us a perfect display of humour, a very alien perspective of the scene and just the right spark of mystery and intrigue to keep us totally caught up in the misadventures of this unfortunate group of cadets.

Good job!

 

 

((???, Darime IV))

 

Jack could smell grass and tree sap.

 

They say that Kelpians can sense the approach of death before it happens. A combination of their various senses; acute vision, perceptive hearing, sharp noses, specialized threat ganglia, and instincts burned into them from generations of hunting by apex predators. 

 

Even in a semi-conscious, teetering between waking up fully and passing out again, Jack was definitely sensing it.

 

How did they get here? And why were there plants?

 

Isaacs: Ugh... ::He pressed his hand to the back of his neck, massaging the muscles in an attempt to relieve his headache.:: Is everyone okay? Or at least... you know, alive?

 

Instinct kicked in. The prey-instinct to lay still when wounded, pretending to be dead, hoping that the predator's prey-drive would diminish. Lay in the grass, pretending to be tasteless.

 

Gilbert: I’m fine, I feel like I just finished a week long pub crawl, but that’s not a first.

 

Voices. Voices of his fellow cadets.

 

They were all going to die.

 

Ico: ::almost whispering:: I...I’m mostly fine :: The petite Bajoran turned to her left, towards the lanky form of her other colleague.:: Jack, are you…. are you OK?

 

He was being directly addressed. That was enough to suppress the "play dead" urge for now. Eyes still closed, and groaning softly, Jack pulled himself up into a sitting position, his threat ganglia extended. It was hard for him to swallow the instinctive fear that coursed through his veins like lava through a subterranean tube; vahar'ai had not yet come for him, and the fear that it dispelled had not yet diminished. Eyes closed. That would help with the fear.

 

Ressan: I... I believe I am uninjured. ::Bajorans used their last name first. He remembered that at least.:: Thank you, Ico.

 

Uninjured. Just terrified. They were all going to die.

 

With a shaking hand, Ressan did his best to smooth down the threat ganglia, but it didn't work. Finally, he opened his eyes.

 

A kaleidoscope of colour greeted him, full of ultraviolet shimmers and unexpected thermal patterns. His vision rapidly acclimatised to the strange environment. His nose hadn't lied; there were trees here, plants of all descriptions, their thermal patterns and strange colours taking his dazed eyes a second to become accustomed to. Beyond them the walls here were metal, reflecting the light in a way that made him squint, pupils contracting. The warm glow of the three other cadets' body heat were a comforting sight, proving that they were, indeed, alive. For now.

 

The other cadets seemed more blind than he was. Ico found her backpack and began rummaging around in it, while Issacs was fumbling with a box containing a tricorder, seeming to have trouble seeing it. When it opened, the sound echoed around the room, mirroring the various emissions his eyes were struggling to process. Overall, a confusing and disorienting sensation that only served to reinforce the notion that, in fact, they were all going to die.

 

More worrying, Ico seemed to be checking the contents of her bag carefully, as though several items were missing.

There was something about those walls that made it hard to see. Like watching a movie through a refractive lens. Their reflectiveness played havoc with his finely tuned senses; everything seemed too bright, as though someone had gone through and splashed everything with gaudy UV paint.

Isaacs: Anyone know what happened? One minute we were... ::he paused, and screwed up his eyes in thought.:: Uh... I’m actually not sure. The last thing I can remember is breakfast.

Gilbert: And breakfast didn’t contain alcohol, so why the hangover?

Ena took a sip of water before she spoke.

Ico: ::Handing the canteen to Gilbert:: I remember that we were about to go to a briefing with the instructor, and we were running late, so I packed my breakfast for later, then .... ::: she pulled a hand to her temple once more, migraine gripping her again as she struggled to recollect their past:: ...Then it's all a blur.

Ressen: I was having breakfast too. Maybe our meals were poisoned... ::Although that didn't explain what happened to Ico. He managed a shakey smile.:: Breakfast! The most important meal of the day! Except for the antidote.

Ico: ::Guys?

Jack sensed it before it happened, his ganglia twitching. A low rumble, like from a stardrive. But there were trees here, this couldn't be a ship, unless—

 

Light. Light so bright it momentarily overwhelmed his senses; his eyes quickly adjusted, watching buildings simply appear from the soil, thrusting upward as though pushed up through the grass by some giant. Ribbons of gold and ultraviolet hung down from the ceiling, thin ribbons of silver and ultraviolet between them like bridges.

 

Cowering momentarily, unable to suppress his instincts once more, Jack took a second to breathe. It was okay. They were in a strange seven sided clearing... boulders sparkled with every shade he could see, a bountiful and dizzying array of light. Beautiful.

 

A combadge chirped mournfully, regretfully. Then another. Ressen tried his as well, just like the others. Following protocol. Nothing. The only one who didn't try was Ico... which honestly made sense to him.

 

Isaacs: So... We should probably try to get out of here, or at least get comms working. Any ideas?

 

Gilbert: No…::Head craned back to look up at the towers::...where are we? What is this? What did you do?

 

Ico opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. So today was Tuesday then... Ico had a great idea, but didn't share it, because everyone was talking too loud. They were all going to die.

 

Ressan: I don't think any of us did anything.

 

Solomon rounded on the other cadets, one hand on his hip, the other thrusting an accusing finger at them.

 

Gilbert: Everything was fine until you started poking about at your tricorder, now not only do we have to get out, but we have these alien towers to worry about.

 

Ressan: I don't think a tricorder could summon giant buildings.

 

Isaacs: Response

 

Ico raised up a hand awkwardly.

 

Ico: ::shyly:: hummm

 

Ressan, with his acute hearing, always found Ico's voice to be the most pleasant and well-modulated out of the four of them. But, once again, she was silenced by the two Humans.

 

Gilbert: Do any of you recognise them? No, you don’t, so don’t pretend you do. For all we know you activated some sort of defence system which is going to vaporize us if we try to leave this clearing.

 

Vaporized instantly. Turned to ash. Evaporated. Nobody would ever know what happened to them. They were all going to die.

 

... but there was no way he was going to let everyone think that.

 

Ressan: ::Sarcastically,:: For all we know it might well have activated the galaxy's largest puppet-conversion ray. If we don't know, we don't know.

 

Issacs: Response

 

Finally, Ico mustered enough courage to raise her voice.

 

Ico: GUYS! That doesn’t matter if we don’t get out of here. We are all friends and classmates after all... r-right?

 

The Bajoran's voice lost strength and volume as she spoke. A flush rose to her cheeks, her whole face heating up warm as the dawning sun.

 

Ressan: Yeah. You're right, Ena. We're Starfleet, we can handle this. ::Grinning,:: Or all get turned into puppets.

 

Isaacs/Gilbert: Response

 

They were all going to die.

 

Ico: I don't know, but we have to remember our training: determine dangers, get as much information as possible, try to get out of here or look for help.

 

Jack nodded emphatically, his threat ganglia twitching despite his efforts to quieten them.

 

Ressan: That's right. Isaacs was right before, as well; we should try and get a signal going. Even if these walls are messing with our combadge signals, there might be a way once we sit and think for a bit.

 

Isaacs/Gilbert: Response

 

Ico grasped her bag tighter looked down at his boots—Kelpian style, designed to accommodate his tip-toes. Ressan was momentarily amused—just for a brief moment—that he didn't seem to be the most scared in his team.

 

Ico: Maybe, maybe they are already looking for us actually, we just need to stay safe and don't do anything crazy.

 

They had no idea how long they'd been gone, but four Cadets just up and vanishing wasn't something Starfleet would ignore.

 

Ressan: It's a good survival rule. "Stay put". We don't know how we got here, we don't know where we are. We could be just down the road from our quarters, or we could be on the other side of the galaxy. ::Burying his fear under false bravado, Jack tried to reason with the two Humans.:: Could be a The Traveller situation, could be a Q, we could have gone full Voy' and be in the Delta quadrant—could be there's something in the air and we are all tripping the most balls ever as your people say with disturbing regularity. Until we know more, we should examine our immediate surroundings first.

 

Isaacs/Ico/Gilbert: Response

 

Pity none of them were medical staff. It could help eliminate the last suggestion.

 

Ressan: I'm just saying. Let's look around before we run off. ::To Gilbert,:: You too. If a Q did this, I promise you can try and seduce them. ::He fought down a wave of nervous laughter.:: Not that you ever needed my permission to try the Solomon Manoeuvre in literally every single possible situation ever.

 

They were all going to die.

 

Isaacs/Ico/Gilbert: Response

 

Humans were almost blind compared to him, but at the same time, increased visual acuity sometimes caused problems; at the present, he could see too much. Jack craned his neck, squinting and focusing his vision on those metallic walls. Within them he could see myriad reflections as the feeble light in the room bounced around and around, seeing himself and the other cadets' body heat, the shape of them from the side and behind and above, the light and thermal patterns disturbed and distorted like a funhouse mirror, reflections folding in on reflections until they were just a blurry mess.

 

And the trees... so strange. He'd never seen any like them. Not in any textbook. Certainly not on his world. They were all going to die.

 

Ressan: The walls are reflective in a wide range of bands; a good chunk of the visual spectrum, especially in the ultraviolet—and thermals, too, so... presumably that's what's scrambling our comm frequencies.. We might be able to talk to each other with a bit of rejigging, but we're not getting a signal out here if that material treats comm signals like it does everything else. But that'll take time.

 

Isaacs/Ico/Gilbert: Response

 

 

--

J'ryn "Jack" Ressan

4th Year Cadet

 

simmed by

 

Lt (j.g) Serren Tan

Security/Tactical

USS Gorkon

O238704AT0

[Alleran Tan]

Aww thank you! It was fun and challenging to write, especially because I had to keep thinking about how the extra senses come into play, and imagine colours that humans simply can't perceive.

For research I found photos taken with UV cameras to see how that wavelength affects how objects are processed visually; very useful!

 

[Alieth]

yay! research in odd stuff for simming is one of my fav things and you'de done your homework nicely here man, good job again!