The Princess' Rooms (part 2)

Posted on Thu Nov 24th, 2016 @ 3:37pm by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine

1,035 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Shadow Dance
Location: Jenefra
Timeline: Day 2, afternoon

[CONTINUED]

[OLD[

She walked around the room, carefully looking at the plants. She noted, with a smile, that one long box held several of the small plants she, Damon, and Illise had seen at the museum. There was a room beyond and she slipped inside. This was a workroom for the plants. There was a long table along one wall with a variety of pots and gardening tools. Another long table held several containers of dirt. A third had small rocks, mulch, and trays of water. That intrigued Sam and she went over to see what the trays were for.

[NEW]

When she got closer, she noticed that there were flat rectangles of a thick material that reminded her of hemp. She felt it, surprised at the flexibility of the material. One of them had markings that looked out of place. Sam picked up the rectangle and looked at it, running her fingers over the markings. Then she pulled out her tricorder and scanned them. Ink. Ink? She carefully set the piece of -- whatever it was -- down. An idea was forming in her head and she wanted to get back to the ship to see if she was right.

Phtarro stood in the doorway. "May I help you?" he asked with only a hint of a growl in his voice.

Sam turned to face him and smiled. "No. I was admiring the plants the Princess is growing here. The Calypso has an arboretum and I have spent many hours there working on the fauna." It was true enough. First, as Chief Science Officer, she helped design and plant the arboretum on the Calypso. She and Damon had even spent a night there before it opened. Since she became Captain, she would occasionally run away to the arboretum to get back to nature and relax. It was still one of her favorite places on the ship. "I would like to have a look at the Princess' bedroom, if I may?"

Phtarro nodded. "She is quite proud of what she has accomplished here." He turned and held open the door. "This way, please." He led the way across the living area to another set of doors. "The Princess' sleeping quarters," he announced.

As Sam had hoped, it was also along the back of the Palace. She first walked over to the window and stepped onto the balcony. She got an impressive view of the gardens. What interested her most was the creeping vine that grew next to the small balcony. She walked over to it, taking a careful look at the leaves. Several were crushed or broken. It looked like the Princess had indeed left this way. It did not look like someone carried her off from her room as that would have broken more branches of the vine. She pulled out her tricorder and scanned the garden, sweeping wide to get both walls and a good reading of the creeping vine.

Damon walked closer to Samantha. He could see she was working something out in her mind. "Couldn't help but notice that the Princess has a green thumb, like yourself." He still wanted to remain cryptic, just in case someone was listening in on the conversation.

Sam turned and smiled at Damon. "Yes. Have a look at this vine. It is much like the ones we have on earth, but it doesn't seem to affect the walls of the palace like vines do back home." She held up one of the crushed branches so he could see what she was looking at. "I think the Princess left the palace by climbing down the vine. She clearly didn't want anyone knowing what she was doing. I also found something interesting in the plant room. Kali was experimenting with using pots to send messages. I want to go back to the ship and have another look at the pot Kali gave me."

Damon smiled and nodded. He pulled at one of the leaves, but neither it or the vine itself pulled away from the wall. The damage Samantha indicated couldn't have been done by any kind of small critter. "And yet still very tough." He agreed. He turned and walked back into the room. Perhaps he could continue to distract Phtarro long enough for his wife to make a closer examination.

Phtarro quickly walked over to Damon and began to tell him about the art in the Princess' reception area.

Sam watched him go and smiled, then turned to examine the room itself. It was surprising in its simplicity. The bed was not as ornate as the furniture in the outer room, yet looked comfortable. There was a writing desk that, upon examination, held paper in several colors, pens, envelopes, wax, seals and candles. Another door led into a walk-in closet. This, too, seemed to be of no interest at all. Sam pulled out her tricorder and scanned the closet, surprised to find a hidden alcove in the back. Inside, she found the Federation communicator Kali must have used to contact Starfleet. It also held mementos of her mother and nick knacks that were of importance to the princess. Sam carefully closed the door and went out to scan the bedroom.

She took the opportunity Damon's distraction gave her to scan the planet room as well. From there she scanned what she could of the main room, but found nothing else out of the ordinary.

Walking back to join Damon, she smiled. "You were correct, Mr. Phtarro, I found nothing out of the ordinary." Telepathically she added to Damon, "I found the communicator she used to send the message, but nothing to indicate why she left."

Phtarro bowed. "Is there anything else you wish of me?"

"Not right now," Sam replied. "Thank you for showing us around."

Phtarro bowed again. "It was my pleasure. Please let me know if I can be of more assistance."

"We will, thank you," Sam said. She glanced at Damon to be sure he was ready to go, then tapped her combadge. "York to Calypso. Two to beam up."

____
OFF

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Colonel Damon Raine
Strategic Operations

Phtarro
Princess Kali's head servant

 

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