The Undercity (part 1)

Posted on Sat Apr 25th, 2020 @ 4:17am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Commander Damion Wolfe & Major John Kayhill & Lieutenant Aenar Torek & Lieutenant Dwight McCabe & Lieutenant JG Teenah Spartacus

1,048 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Food for the Gods
Location: Three Miles Underground

ON

Beyond the door was an underground city in an enormous cavern. Fifty-story skyscrapers made of large stone slabs lined a street. The city seemed to be built on a grid system. Cross streets intersected the street at regular intervals. A bio-luminescent fungus grew across the top of the cavern, bathing everything in a light green glow. Shops on the street-level advertised their wares in window displays. Many windows in the buildings were lit from within. There was currently no one on the street.

"This is an interesting change of scenery", John said. He pulled out a small set of binoculars and switched them to low-light vision and scanned about.

"It is," Sam said, activating a wrist tricorder to scan the area. "I wonder what sort of power they use?" With no one else on the street she was hesitant to wander around too much, but she did need data, and she needed to know where her people were.

"That's weird", John said, pulling his binoculars down and checking them out. "Is anyone getting strange readings?"

Aenar pulled out his own tricorder, sweeping from left to right as he trod carefully. The place was eerily quiet, save for a background hum. Power maybe. His tricorder lit up and beeped. The Bajoran pointed down the street, 'definitely picking up something ahead of us,' Aenar looked at Kayhill, 'it's an anomalous reading.'

"There is a little something that is not feeling right."Spartacus mentioned as she look about her at what stood before them.

Sam began to scan up. "It's a hologram," she said, looking at the science officer. "It's a different technology than we use. You notice it most up near the top." As she adjusted the settings on her tricorder she got a better scan. "Looks like all but three or four stories are an illusion, and the outer part of the city are as well. There's some sort of buffer that's making it hard to detect." She nodded to where Aenar was scanning. "What are you picking up?"

He nodded at the Commodore in agreement, 'the same. After 3-4 stories, holograms. Most of the rest of the city. That buffer keeps jumping up and down the frequency as well, makes it harder to detect.' Aenar played about with the settings on his tricorder, sweeping left to right continuously as he stood. 'The buffer signal ... it's massive, probably tied to that distress signal we've been detecting.'

He twirled his fingers around, 'could be running this whole thing actually.' His fingers kept dancing across the tricorder, 'gimme a sec to see if I can disrupt the signal momentarily.'

The tricorder emitted a high-pitched squeal, and several holographic buildings around the away team rippled as the signal was disrupted.

'No good,' Aenar shook his head and sighed, 'not enough power in the tricorder.'

Sam hadn't noticed the power as she was focused on the holographic city, but Aenar was right. Something like this took a great deal of power. She nodded. "Let's go in and see what we can find," she said. "Maybe if we get closer we'll pick up more." She half wished Damon was with her as this brought back memories of her earlier exploits in caves. Although she hadn't gotten herself in trouble in quite a while.

"Interesting", John said. "I wonder why they do this? Is it to make the natives afraid should they get here? Is it a monument to something else. Or is it just to mess with people in general should they come here."

"Good questions," Sam said. "I'd like to know the answers, too. But that's what makes this place so interesting." She smiled at the Marine and continued walking down the street. She was pretty sure that it wouldn't take long for them to be noticed.

John grunted a bit and followed, "When one is trying to rescue people, interesting is the last thing one wishes to find. Simple would be nice."

"When one finds an underground city, interesting is the word I would use. Or fascinating." She smiled at John. "I'm a scientist first, last, and always, I'm afraid. We'll get our people back, but this..." She shook her head. "There are far too many questions."

Sam continued down the street, scanning what she could. After a few minutes, she remembered she had a pen and pad of paper in her satchel and began to write down notes on what she saw and her impressions. She had no idea if a science team would be sent here to observe or not, so she wanted to get as much as she could.

They walked several blocks without seeing anyone. Then Sam stopped at a cross street. She'd suddenly picked up other minds. She wasn't sure if it had been the interference or no one was nearby, but she hadn't felt the hum of other thoughts until just now. "There's someone down this way." She pulled out her tricorder and scanned. "Interference isn't as strong here." She ran the tricorder in a circle before putting it away and continuing on.

The commodore stopped in front of a shop that had a display of bottles and mugs. "Shall we go in?" she asked.

The doctor had been quiet for awhile until his tricorder beeped a few times as he stepped behind the Commodore. "Captain, I am picking up a few life signs...probably three or four if I'm reading this right."

Aenar nodded in agreement, 'three or four ... hard to make out.' He waved his tricorder about in vague frustration, 'still difficult to make out anything concrete, we'll need to get closer ...'

York listened to the others, then nodded. "I suggest one of you stay back in case this is a horrible mistake." Then she opened the door and walked in.

Thy'Las looked at them before commenting. "Seriously? None of you are gonna..." She let out a frustrated groan before walked away, following York inside.

(To be continued...)

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Major John Kayhill
Marine CO
USS Calypso

Lieutenant Aenar Torek
Chief Science Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant JG Teenah Spartacus
Counselor
USS Calypso

Lieutenant Thy'las
Security Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant Dwight McCabe
Chief Medical Officer
USS Calypso

 

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