The Fold Ship Part 2

Posted on 03 Aug 2013 @ 9:39pm by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim

963 words; about a 5 minute read

Allyndra again was standing in front of the holopainting of Akkadia. It was high noon and I ached to want to jump into the painting and fly under the loving warmth of the Twins. Perhaps, I thought, tmye might be time later on the holodeck to pretend that I was tmye. Instead I decided to work on my logs.

"Computer record log, Fold Ship Continuation"

There was a moment and then [Recording]

"We should be arriving soon to the last known location of the Venture star drive. It is of concern obviously but I will hold my observations for later. Instead let me continue on how I came to be amoung the aliens. Now where was I? Oh yes, I had found a cave to get out of the cold of the mountains and snow. We are not homothemic and even those that are would have soon met a similar fate to the exposure.

I continued to walk slowly down the tunnel until I was more questing with my feet rather then seeing the floor, since the light from the mouth was dim now indeed behind me. I was about to stop when it registered finally in my mind that my hand trailing along the rock wall no longer felt rough rock, but instead the passage was smooth. I ran one foot across the floor and noted the same applied to the area under my feet. This part of the passage had either been made or reworked by some machine which implied someone had been here before.

Why anyone would do such a thing was definitely curious, and obviously they had not continued the project to the entire length, that implied that someone was trying to hide something within. My curiosity aroused made me forget about my current predicament and I slowly went further questing with touch for unseen trips.

The passage curved slightly until I could not see even a hint of the opening to this, this tunnel as it was not a cave anymore. Again, I pushed forward and deeper until one foot indicated a drop. Instinctively I looked down and in the dimness noted a shallow step.

"A step?" I thought and the fact that I could even see it suddenly dawned on my that a dim light was present and it was coming from in front and not behind my as I swept my head back and forth. One step, two, three, four, while again the passage turned to my right. As I came around on the fifth step, the light while still terribly dim was bright enough I could make out the source.

A large metal disc gave off the dim light, sitting in front of me not more than twenty paces away and filling the cavern, which I noted was again smooth and worked. The disc was unlike anything I had ever seen or heard of. What it was and why it was here was a mystery. It revealed no door, nor any windows and yet it was like the cavern and the step clearly an artifact.

I slowly touched the skin of the faint glowing thing and found it was slightly warm to the touch. I pressed myself to it as though a lover for a few moments enjoying the slight warmth after the fall into the snow and chill of the cave.

Many minutes later, I began to explore the edges of the artifact. It was smooth, warm but nothing revealed itself as an opening that I could obtain entrance to the inside. Defeated in my efforts I made myself comfortable as I could on the smooth stone floor and huddled up to the skin of the fold ship. In moments I was asleep.

I do not know the time but I awoke cold and stiff. I blinked my eyes in the dim gloom and the memories of the day before came to me. The ship was still there and its faint warmth had kept my from falling into a coma from which I knew I would never have woken. My hands trailed across its smooth surface and I gave thanks to whoever had put this thing there. Though it must have been someone's from long ago, I none the less thanked the Twins for the gift.

Slowly I got to my knees and then to my feet feeling the stiffness of the cold in my body. Pangs of hunger then struck my as I straightened. They reminded my that I had flown far and had used a lot of energy. I knew that I would have to leave and hoped the storm that had caught my had abated.

As I slowly traced my way back through the tunnel, my right hand trailed along the wall for guidance and at one point my fingers encountered indentations in the rock. The indentations were too regular in their outlines. I traced the outlines with both hands, the light being too dim to read them and I realized they were writing.

The symbols were old but I could still figure out their meaning. It was an inscription that read: 'We hide the past to preserve the future.'

The phrase was odd but it had to do with the artifact within of that I had no doubt. I memorized the phrase whispering it over and over as my fingers traced the archaic symbols. "

Allyndra yawned. "Computer stop recording."

[End recording]

"This is a good place to stop," she talked to herself watching the slow changes of the painting of her home. Allyndra thought on that phrase. It now made sense to her now. Eight simple words but they were to have a profound effect on her future. It would be a good place to pick up another day.

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