Welcome to Alannris, part 4

Posted on Mon Mar 19th, 2012 @ 2:09pm by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe & Lieutenant Commander Damion Wolfe & Ensign Leee-ee/Maddison Tyler

1,091 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Race for the Lost Treasure
Location: 600 meters under the ocean
Timeline: During "Down to the Planet"

[CONTINUED]

"Umm, well, there were these pirates and it wasn't safe for her to come down here as she's in charge..." Ronnie's voice tailed off as she felt as if something were pushing down on her head. There was a loud buzzing in her hears and she grabbed on to Damion. After a minute it went away. "Ah. We understand."

There was a bright beam of light and Sam appeared in the room. She looked around, surprised to no longer be in her office. She looked quickly at the others, then at the alien. "You brought me here?" She immediately felt the strong mental presence and followed up with a mental greeting.

"You are Captain."

The entity scanned Sam's mind. As she felt no hostility -- and could do little to prevent it -- she used the opportunity to get a good mental reading of the entity.

"Yes. I'm Captain Samantha York."

You are leader of these people? The conversation became telepathic.

Yes. I am the leader of the crew of the Starship Calypso. We seek peaaceful exploration and knowledge. I know of Abydos. I wish to know more about you and your city here. Sam had read about the USS Endeavor's discovery of the lost city of Abydos by the scientist who discovered it.

Satisfied, the entity began to share information. It was as if a floodgate of knowledge flowed between Sam and the city. She stood, staring at the alien as a thousand images, emotions and impressions flashed through her mind. In turn, she felt that the entity before her was also sifting through her mind, picking out experiences, feelings.

After what seemed like hours but was only a matter of seconds, the contact, the entity disappeared.

Sam continued to stand there, trying to assimilate what had just happened. "Wow," was all she could think to say.

Maddison turned from one telepath, to another, and scowled. "What the heck is going on? You guys are acting like the great mother of life leapt out of her oceans, and proudly proclaimed tribbles as the master race." She noted, rather annoyed at being left out.

That was enough to snap Sam out of her reverie. "Well, not quite," she joked. "You could say we just made contact with the city. Vahana is the keeper of Alannris and the knowledge of the Torlocs. She is willing to work with the Federation."

She walked over to the terminal Ronnie found and began to examine it carefully. "May I have my tricorder?" she asked Ronnie. Then she scanned it and began to activate buttons. A low hum sounded from somewhere deep inside the city and Sam stepped back. "That will allow the city to contact the Calypso and vice versa."

Damion closed his eyes and tried to push out all the thoughts in the area, but the ones that weren't coming from the others in the room. He removed everyone else's emotions and surface thoughts from his head and was only left with a strange one. One he had been feeling since he connected with the AI. It has feelings? That can't be right?. "Ronnie?" He whispered as he opened his eyes and looked up to her. "Ronnie.... I can feel it. If its an artificial intelligence, why can I feel it?"

"I don't know," she whispered back. "Maybe this place is more alive than we thought?"

Sam continued to work, transferring data from the city to her historical database and back. It would allow both groups to learn about each other, although the telepathic communication went a long way towards understanding. Although Sam couldn't get everything, she let Vahana send what she thought most relevant for Sam's needs. It was a unique feeling for Sam to let someone else determine what she needed and not dig through the data herself. But there wasn't time and there certainly wasn't the space for everything.

"The city is an AI, but more like a consciousness than a computer," Sam explained to the others. "It's self-aware and goes to sleep when the city is empty. Lieutenant Wolfe woke it up."

"Yeah, sure." Damion said as he got to his feet with the help of Ronnie. "Blame the guy it doesn't trust." He let out a slight sign and then looked over to Sam. "I felt, while it was talking to me, that it didn't trust me. I don't know why."

"Something to do with your work in Intel," Sam explained. "And some of your past. The city thinks you seek a different kind of knowledge."

When she was done transferring data she turned to the others. "We're done here for now. There's not much left in the city besides Vahana. She has agreed to allow a team of scientists to move in and learn from her. I suggest we leave so she can lock up before the pirates return."

Sam paused for a moment. She didn't want to leave the city, but she knew she really couldn't stay. She looked around at the others and realized something else. She didn't have the proper equipment to swum back to the surface.

A map of the city -- and more importantly an observation platform at the top of one of the city's spires that was recently uncovered by two of her crew -- came to her mind. Sam smiled. It would be quite a surprise to see her show up. "As I don't have the equipment to to with you, I'll take the inside route. I'm told the rest of the team has uncovered one of the city's spires. So I'll see you at the shuttle. Be careful heading back. I don't want any of you getting in trouble. That includes you, Ensign Tyler." With a nod, Sam turned and headed down a corridor that led deeper into the city.

Ronnie watched her go for a minute. "To swim or to climb?" She paused and then grinned. "I think I want another look at those tube worms, so I'm going for the swim." As Sam had locked up the terminal, she picked up her helmet and headed back the way they'd come. "Come on, Damion. Let's take some vids of the sea life."

"Anything to stop the pounding in my head." Damion replied as he followed her.


OFF

Captain Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster
Assistant Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant JG Damion Wolfe
Chief Intelligence Officer

Ensign Leee-ee/Maddison Tyler
Security Officer

Vahana
Keeper of Alannris

 

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