Digging Up the Past (Part II of VI)

Posted on 04 Nov 2017 @ 6:18pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Commander Marisa Wyatt
Edited on on 03 Dec 2017 @ 7:05pm

3,363 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Mirzcek III
Timeline: MD 79 MD 1600

Previously on Digging Up The Past

Miraj laughed. "You don't want me digging. I'd break things." She sculled out to the center of the hole. "Come on in!" she called to Marisa. "The water's lovely!"

Marisa nodded and stripped down to her suit. She dove cleanly into the water and came up near Miraj. "You're right. This is nice."

Which was when the camp exploded.

And now the continuation

[ON]

Earth and tent and temporary structures shot skyward, and the earth shook around them. Hot metal and shrapnel started to rain down, some hitting the water pool, sending plumes of steam where they hit. The ground shook ominously again.

"Stay here," Marisa said to Miraj. She struck out for the shore and hauled herself out of the pool. Another few seconds to throw her clothes on and she was running back to camp.

The specimen tent was a hole with debris covering most of the rest of the camp. Marisa saw Pete stumble out of a nearby tent. "How many people were in this tent?" she asked.

He looked, dazed, at what was left. "T-two. They were cataloguing..."

He swayed and one of the younger archaeologists grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, Doc. You need to sit down."

Marisa pulled out her combadge that was fortunately in one of her pockets. "Sandoval to Derani. I'd like you to take the shuttle and survery the area. Take pictures, run scans, and get me as much information as you can, both about this camp, the surrounding area, and the other group we saw." There would have to be a formal investigation and the more scans and images they had immediately following the explosion, the better. A half-smile crossed her face as she added, "I hope you wanted to play detective when you were little because now is your chance."

Miraj had already gone to the edge of the water and hastily dragging on her jacket and pants. "On it!" She tapped her badge to close the line and reopen it. "Miraj to Mazakeene Beam me on board." The ship’s on board computer locked onto her signal and whisked her straight into the pilot's chair. She got into the air, circling a scant hundred feet above the site.

The specimen tent was a smoking hole, buildings near it flattened, and half buried under the shower of dirt the explosion had taken place. She set the srunabout to make a slow circuit of the site, recording as much as she could on the scanners while she stared out of the windows.

But huge cracks in the ground had opened out all over the site, making large jagged lines radiating out from the specimen test look like spokes on a wheel, with smaller lines crackling out between them, making the whole place look like a jagged spider web. She circled back over the watering hole. The water was definitely lower. It was draining away. But draining where? The surface wasn't wet.

She checked the Protestor camp. The tall spindly aliens were moving with purpose around their camp, they seemed to be picking up and packing up, shouldering packs and picking up long sticks. Weapons of some sort? "Uh, Derani to Sandoval. The protestors are moving out."

Marisa stopped what she was doing, surprised at the reaction of the locals. Because they'd achieved their purpose? Or was it something sinister? "Scan the area and see if there's been any changes in the soil and atmosphere readings. Basically, I want to know if THEY know there's something toxic that was just released into the atmosphere and they're bugging out."

She immediately informed Pete in case they had to make an emergency evacuation themselves.

Miraj checked the science panel, and failed to recognise any of the numbers at all. "Computer? Has anything toxic been put in the air? Or the water? Or stuff?"

There was a beep, and the computer replied, "Negative."

Miraj looked down at the Protesters as they moved in a single purposeful line towards the waterhole. "Where are you going?" she wandered aloud. When they reached the waterhole, several started hammering something into the ground. Some sort of anchor, becuase after a few moments, ropes were tossed over the edge. The water hole went down for hundreds of feet; she could still see water at the bottom, draining slowly, exposing ledges and blocks, jutting out here and there. The Protesters began to rappel down into the still draining pit.

Miraj's brow furrowed and opened her comm line. "Marisa? Those weird spindly protest people? They're climbing down the watering hole?"

"Keep an eye on them. I'm on my way." Marisa felt her stomach tighten as some of the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into palce.

She turned to Pete. "The explosion drained the water hole. They're rappelling in. We need to stop them from doing whatever it is they're trying to do." She'd seen a phaser nearby and grabbed it as she ran back to where the watering hole had been.

Pete began yelling orders as he sent several people after Marisa and others to guard the perimeter in case they were making their way back here.

Overcome with curiosity, Miraj piloted the runabout down to the edge of the watering hole. The water had receded another hundred meters of so in the time it took her to get down there. Leaving the Mazakeene Miraj edged over to the rim of the watering hole, and looked down. The bottom was lost in shadow. She couldn't even see where the Protestors had gone.

Curious, she walked over to the pitons that held the rapelling ropes. There was nothing very high tech about them. All it would take is a good sharp knife and they'd never get out....

She looked back down the hole. The ropes looked very long, and very strong.

Marisa caught up to her and paused to catch her breath. "They went down there?" she asked, looking at the ropes. It was a rhetorical question. "So, the question now is, do we wait for the others, scan, or do something that may be stupid?" She was tempted to grab a rope and rappel down the side of the hole to see where they went.

"What if they're doing something even worse down there?" Miraj asked. "They're a long way done, set off enough explosive they could take the top of the hill right off?" She was also dying to know what was down there that would get sentient beings so worked up. "What if they destroy all the findings down there, so it’s lost to science forever?"

"That last one is what I'm afraid of," Marisa admitted. "But they could be setting another explosive and going down there would be suicide." She wondered if she felt lucky today.

Pete ran up to them with a dozen scientists. He was panting heavily. "I...looked...at the deep...scans." He bent over and waved to the man to his left to continue.

"We think they're going to destroy an underground temple. We need to stop them before they succeed."

"I'll go down," Marisa said. "Do you have a way to lock on to my combadge and beam me back if this goes south?" she asked.

"No. The nearest transporter is in the city, a good 100 clicks away." The man shook his head. "You're a visitor...."

"I'm a scientist." She grabbed a rope, slid it through a belt ring, stood on the edge of the hole, and jumped backwards.

"Mazakeene can catch you, if she can get a signal." Miraj reassured her, referring to the runabout they'd arrived in. Seeing Marisa disappeared over the edge, she stepped as lose as she dared and peered over. "Shout when you reach the bottom!"

Marisa heard her as she went down and was grateful for the added safety net. She knew jumping was a reckless act, but the thought that they were going to blow up more ancient artifacts infuriated her.

After several long moments she could hear the sound of rocks hitting the ground indicating the she was almost there. She slowed, using the sound to help her find the ground. "I'm down," she called.

Several shouts from the surface indicated that others were now following her.

Marisa pulled a small light off her belt and wrapped it around her head so she could look around. There were several openings where the water had drained away. Footprints indicated where the others had gone. This time, she waited for the others to join here before moving on.

A moment later there was the familiar sound of a transporter beam, and Miraj appeared behind her, with a day sack full of stuff. "Maz can pick you up here. But I'm not confident about in there." She pointed to the openings, where stone carvings worn smooth millennia ago showed the openings were not natural. Squeaking sounds could be heard inside.

Marisa nodded to Miraj. "Nice entrance, but mine was more fun." She grinned at her friend as half a dozen scientists, all with weapons, unhooked themselves from the ropes and joined them.

"Any idea what they're up to?" one of them asked the two women.

"Not yet, but there's one way to find out." Marisa headed for the tunnel to see what the noises indicated.

The tunnel was not long. There was light at the far end. Marisa turned off her light and secured it to her belt before moving forward.

The noises of tapping and squeaking grew louder. Marisa, who found herself in the lead, stopped just inside the tunnel and raised a hand for the others to stop as well. "We'll need to fan out once we get inside. If you have to shoot, use stun. Miraj, can the shuttle reach us in here?" She nodded into the other room. "Can it reach them?"

Miraj looked doubtful. "I don't think so. She might have more luck with comm badges though, she knows what to look for." She adjusted the daysack on her shoulders. She had plenty of supplies. A good medpack, flares, extra phasers, water and rations, light sticks and other things she had grabbed. Then she flipped out her tricorder, "They're a way in there. All I'm getting is feint life signs at least a kilometer in. Damn those dudes can move."

"They can." One of the men came up to the two. "We need to move fast to keep them from doing something stupid. Come on."

Marisa hoped they wouldn't need a rescue at this point, but she had no idea. She picked up her pace and practically ran after the others.

The tunnel she had chosen was dank and damp and dark. It wound into the earth slightly pitching down, and water could still be heard trickling along the edges of the tunnel. For the most part is was tall enough for even the protestors to walk through, but here and there, there was a rockfall, or a low archway that meant the tall aliens would have had to bend double to get through. Even the archaeologists had to duck hard to pass under.

From beyond there was a rumbling sound, deep and slow and steady.

Marisa swore in Klingon and moved faster.

After several hundred meters, the tunnel opened out into an artificially made cave. The vaulted ceilings must have been fifty meters high. And at the back of the cavern were a huge pair of stone doors, some twenty meters high, intricately carved. Surrounding the doors was a huge mechanism of cogs and levers, likewise made out of stone. The mechanism wasn't working probably. One side was turning, rumbling round and round, the source of what they had heard. But the other side wasn't moving. There was a chunk missing out of the center over the door.

Marisa checked to make sure her phaser was on wide-angle stun and moved on. She could hear the others behind her, but she wasn't going to slow down for them. She slipped through the doors, hoping she was catching up.

Beyond the doors was another large man-made room. The far side showed some fallen dirt and rock from the blast. In the center was a large dais with a sarcophagus. On either side stood two large figures carved in stone. The rebels were standing in a circle around the dais.

"Leave the past in the past my foot," Marisa muttered, stepping into the room. Two of the men lifted the lid off the sarcophagus while another reached inside and pulled something out. She raised her phaser and fired.

The beam took the one reaching centre mass, and he collapsed forward into the sarcophagus. The others froze for a moment, then recoiled in horror, and turned to face the archeologists. "Fools, you have no idea what you've just done." said one. His companion was frantically fumbling in his kit bag, before producing a box like item maybe twenty by ten centimetres and about five deep.

He pressed a button and dropped it into the sarcophagi. "Its been an honor, brother," he told his companion.

"You're going to murder him?" Marisa asked, shooting the other man and stunning him.

She turned to Miraj. "Can the ship transport the device into space before it detonates?"

Miraj dashed forward, hand going to her commbadge, "Maz? Maz are you there?" There was an ominous silence in response. The remaining Protestor moved to block her path.

"This must be done." He said, catching her round the waist and holding her back from the sarcophagus.

But Miraj had practised with Luke. She was no special forces, but she knew enough to drive an elbow into the area she thought the tall spindly creature kept his fruits with everything she had. He coughed and groaned and she used his surprise to tear away, reaching into the sarcophagus for the device.

"Give me one good reason why I should," Marisa asked, grabbing the man by his arm and bodily tossing him across the room. Then she went towards him to physically restrain him so that Miraj could work unrestrained. "If you have a legitimate reason for what you're doing, I promise you, I'll listen. But if not, we'll do all we can to foil your plans."

Miraj pulled the box, stared at the blinking lights. She had no idea what to do with it. All she could see was the moving sequence of lights, counting down. And a switch with a cover. "Here goes nothing!" she flicked up the cover, switched the toggle switch from left to right, and prayed.

The lights went out. The box seemed inert. She touched her com badge "Maz?" Still no answer from the ship.

"I guess we're on our own.” Miraj decided. She tucked the box into her day sack and reshouldered it. Then she looked into the Sarcophagus. Inside the stone sarcophagus was another one, this one made of metal, or something else plated with metal. Its own lid was split up the middle, the sides opening on hinges.

And within the metal sarcophagus was not the mummy she was expecting, but what looked like a robot. It was a metal skeleton, with the long spindly limbs and high, elongated skull of the Protesters, a solid chest piece with raised details that resembled ribs made of a lattice of bone instead of the more common individual bones. It had been placed in the sarcophagi in a position of repose, arms crossed over that metal chest as if it was a living being. The eyes were protected by iris style shutters, and as she examined the thing, those irises whirred open.

They revealed not photo receptors, or light cells, or any sort of camera lens that she would expect from a robot, but plainly organic, plainly alive, eyes, golden with two pupils and irises.

All four focused on her in a moment. Miraj gasped and drew back but wasn't quick enough. A robot hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, fingers closing in a vice like grip. It rose out of the sarcophagi, holding the young hybrid up, dangling from her wrist. It was over seven foot tall, and lifted her easily, servo's whirring and clicking, its head swept around the chamber, taking in the scene around it.

The scientists pointed their phasers at the creature. "Put her down!" one of them demanded.

Marisa turned to the man she was holding. "Explain," she said quietly.

"Do not meddle in our affairs," the man hissed. "We warned you to leave the past alone, but you would not listen. So, we decided to show you why."

"And his purpose?" she asked.

"Your destruction." He grinned. "Nothing you can do now will stop it."

Marisa gave the man a Vulcan Nerve Pinch. He wasn't going to tell her anything. However, there was one thing she could do. It was not something she did regularly as there were risks involved, but under the circumstances, it was the only thing she could think of. The creature was unknown and clearly more powerful than they could handle right now. So, to save the lives of the others in the room, she put her hands on the man's face, carefully placing her fingers on the proper pressure points. "My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts," she said quietly, doing her best to block out the others. In a moment, she was in his mind, carefully sifting through his memories for information on the android.

One of the scientists, noting what Marisa was doing, went in the other direction to dra the robot's attention. "Are you okay?" he asked Miraj.

The young pilot was trying to pull herself free, to no avail. The robot-whatever still held her off the ground and her shoulder felt like it was going to be ripped free. But it held her as some fussy maiden aunt might hold a particularly vile smelling piece of rubbish, as if not sure what to do with her.

Then it turned and flung her at the people pointing their weapons. She bowled into them, knocking them all to the ground, and they broke the worst of her fall.

The robot turned and stalked off deeper into the caverns.

Marisa got a series of images, none made much sense. Something about an alien race, robotic overlords, and a rebellion. If that was the case, why not just tell the scientists? Why release the robot? She wasn't sure. Most of what she got was fear, anger, and desperation. She broke the connection and stood, looking around. "Where did it go?" she asked.

One of the scientists pointed. Marisa went to the sarcophagus and looked inside to gain more information. She didn't recognize anything. Until she saw a rod. That looked unusual, so she took it. Then she headed after the robot.

"It's too late!" one of the rebels called after her. "You're all doomed now, just like the rest of us."

Marisa shook her head. "We don't give in that easily," she called over her shoulder. "And neither should you."

One of Marisa's companions helped Miraj to her feet. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Miraj nodded. She was sore all over, but nothing had been badly damaged and everything still worked. She might be stiff in the morning, but so far so good. "Yes, thanks." She dusted down her pants and bikini top and turned to Marisa. "What now? Do we go after him. It. That?"

Marisa turned to one of the scientists and raised an eyebrow. "What do you think? I'm all for going after it."

Two of the scientists nodded. "Definitely. It's headed under the dig. We need to see what he's up to."

Another one nodded agreement. "I'll go talk to Doctor Helsing and see what he says, but definitely go after him. If it gets dangerous, come back."

"So, looks like we're going on," Marisa said, heading after the robot.

To Be Continued

[OFF]

--

Ensign Miraj Derani

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval

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