To the Mountains and Beyond (part 2)
Posted on Sun Dec 29th, 2013 @ 2:03pm by Commodore Samantha York & Master Chief Petty Officer Apu Barnum & 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Lieutenant JG Anastasia Morrow & Captain Cameron Bourne & Warrant Officer Sterling Kamala IV & Gaia
1,212 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: Tabula Rasa
[CONTINUED]
[OLD]
Sam gave them a thirty minute head start. OR what she approximated as thirty minutes. Then she nodded to the others in her group. "Okay. Let's see what's up ahead."
[NEW]
Ahead of the main group, Cam, Sterling and Chenoa made their way forward. As they did Cam kept silent, listening for a noise that could tell him what was ahead.
Anastasia quietly followed Sam. She was staring down at the ground, and really not paying attention to what anyone was doing, or saying. Poor lady. I hope I don't go out like that. She thought, still mentally torturing herself.
Sam couldn't help but pick up on Anastasia's thoughts. "It wasn't your fault. We don't have the proper medicine or the knowledge to use it. What you need to focus on is the fifteen hundred people still alive who need us to find out who we are and where we came from. I'm going to need your help for that."
Chenoa moved forward quietly she crouched now and again to look at things on the ground. It was as if something was out of place but they had not been here before so she was not positively sure about that.
The path was much like the one from the compound to the fishing village, but this one was more subtle, as if whomever made it didn't want anyone to know it was a path. At the same time, it was clear enough that someone who wasn't a tracker could find and follow it. It was a strange sort of paradox. Who would make a path that didn't look like a path but could be found and followed? Sam's curiosity was piqued and she picked up her pace, eager to see what was at the top of this particular canyon.
"Ma'am you should not place your next foot there." Chenoa pointed and said quietly right behind Sam as she touched her lightly on the arm but hard enough the her fingers felt like steel and would drag her back if needed for her safety.
Sam's foot froze in the air, then slowly moved back to where it was. She carefully knelt down and surveyed the space Chenoa indicated. "Sterling, have a look at this."
Sterling bent down and examined a trip wire. At first he thought it might trigger a mine, or deadfall trap or something similar. Fortunately it did not, but it was almost as bad. If Sam had tripped it would have triggered a series of bells that would have alerted their enemies.
"Chenoa," Sam asked the other woman. "Are there more of these?"
"Yes" was the reply as Chenoa looked around some more
"Okay, then we proceed with caution." If someone thought it important enough to set tripwires, then Sam was more curious than ever to see what was at the end of the canyon.
Up ahead, Cam was disarming a few traps of his own, some more complex than others. After he was finished, he turned to the others with him, "I hope there's something worth all of this up ahead"
"So do I," Sam agreed.
They continued to pick their way up the canyon, carefully checking for traps. Finally, they reached what appeared to be a dead end. The sides of the canyon had grown increasingly taller and steeper as they progressed and now they faced nothing but cliff on three sides. There were a few outcroppings and some scrub brush, but nothing worth protecting.
Sam looked around carefully. "This can't be it. No one sets those kinds of traps without protecting something. Fan out and check the cliff for any signs of a hidden entrance or a way up."
"Ma'am." She paused for a moment in thought "Maybe these were not to keep us or others out but maybe they were to keep something in." Chenoa said as she walked around and began to look closer for signs of thing unknown.
"A good point," Sam said, nodding at Chenoa's suggestion. "Keep your eyes open."
Sam began to feel along the face of the cliff. She didn't want to believe that this was simply to keep people in. Or she didn't want to; not after all the effort they'd gone to to get this far.
Dirt, bush, rock, more dirt. Inch by inch she searched. If there was something here it was well-hidden, so she wasn't going to trust her eyes. But her hands could feel the earth, her nose could smell the soil and the sharp tang of the brush.
Two-thirds of the way across the canyon wall, she felt something odd. The rock felt smoother. The dirt was silkier and the bush felt ever so slightly waxy. "I think I found something."
"What did you find?"Sterling asked in a stage whisper.
"It feels fabricated," Sam replied softly. "It's too smooth, too perfect. I think this may be what we're looking for."
Anastasia hadn't really been paying attention. She was wandering further up the trail, and stopped. "Ah. You found something, you say?" She asked. "I suppose that explains the tripwire, and the clever device with the anesthetic laced dar-"
She fell to the ground, mid-explanation.
Chenoa turned and saw the woman who had tried desperately to safe her sister's life literally fall flat on the ground. "That is not a good sign." She moved over to the woman and lifted her wrist to try and see if the woman had a pulse.
"Is she alive?" Sam asked Chenoa. She continued to run her hands over the pseudo-rock face, hoping to find some sort of trigger. A catch, a latch, a moving part. Anything that could give her access to what was beyond the rock.
Apu slipped up behind Chenoa and knelt by Anastasia. "I believe this is the cuase." He pulled a tiny dart from the base of Anastasia's neck.
He sniffed for any odors, but detected nothing. He pocketed the dart and checked Anastasia again. "I believe she is unconscious," he said, calling to Sam.
Sam grinned in relief. She liked Anastasia and didn't want anything to happen to her. "Pick her up and bring her along, just don't let her bang her head, please. I think I've found the way in."
"I will treat her like a rare plant." He looked down and found the potted plant and handed it to Chenoa. "That, too, should be treated delicately. She seems to have adopted it as her pet."
Then he gently put Anastasia across his shoulders and follwed Sam.
Sam turned back to the rock wall and wrapped her hands around an unusually bright yellow flower. It reminded her a bit of Indian Paintbrush, but it was bright enough to stand out from the rest of the plants and flowers along the face of the cliff. She gave it a gentle tug and heard a click. Then a section of rock slowly slid open.
Sam only hesitated for a moment before she adjusted the knife in her hand and stepped inside.
OFF
Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
1st Lieutenant Cameron Bourne
Marine CO
Lieutenant JG Anastasia Morrow
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
Chenoa
Crew member
Warrant Officer Sterling Kamala IV
Security Investigations
Master Chief Petty Officer Apu Barnum
Quartermaster
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