Extraction Issues 6

Chapter 6

Restriced Maratime Zone BZE:4200.04
Cycle 6002.641.10.25W

A tour of the craft was quickly agreed on as the next bit of the introduction. Nyoma took in every detail with interest and the crew that they encountered were just as interested in her. They explained what happened via the mobile sensors ever improving clicking ability.

The computer helped understand that she had excellent cave exploring ability. So the tour was very thorough as she made sure to explore every small service area, equipment storage area and safety zone. Thankfully seeing a couple of dorms and personal rooms was enough to satisfy her and she would take those doors as personal spaces.

The tour was going well until they got to the brig. The captain may have forgotten about the official, but the official let rip as soon as the captain walked in. He had plenty to say about the unlawful arrest and bad treatment he’d had. Being locked up had clearly helped him bottle up a huge bunch of threats and intimidating ideas about the future. He prophesied doom for the craft and all on board.

As another wave of insults was just beginning, but then he stopped stunned. The lizard girl had stepped in curious about the noise. He stammered, demanding to know what was going on. The official said he would not be intimidated by whatever freak of nature they had found, by jumping beyond the dead zone.

Luckily the computer did not translate. But the Nyoma could understand enough to interpret the look of disgust on the officials face. The captain though for a bit. He asked if the official though that he was still in the same craft and world that he had been a couple of days ago.

The official thought for a bit and then looked around, with a hint of panic obvious. He told the captain to explain himself. The captain simply stated that he should mind his manners around their honoured guest and walked out. The captains headache was back, why couldn’t they have thrown the official out, as well as the tripod. He made a note to add another problem, to the already difficult lineup on his chair console.

It didn’t take much to explain to Nyoma that the brig was for those that could not behave well in the command structure of the ship. Nyoma wondered why they had not simply killed the official. Maybe they were keeping him to eat later. She didn’t say anything this time, for fear of repeat embarrassment. The voice in the talking stick, also seemed to come from the framed changing light in the wall as well. She could probably talk to it alone later, to ask about these peoples strange customs.

The kitchen was the next main thing of interest as the tour continued. The cook was happy to have the interested female identifying smells and bringing another perspective to food. Nyoma was completely biased by the fact that this person was making nice smelling food. Then also seemed to get on well with the man’s focused determined manner.

It also brought up the biggest communication problem so far. Nyoma was amazed by the tiny odd looking chicken carcasses that were being cooked. She wondered why they would go to the trouble of preparing such small creatures. There was a general air of confusion, as the computer was not clarifying with ease, like it had done so before. It simply said that Nyoma’s tribe had bigger chickens. When Nyoma was given an excess bit of chicken she quickly changed her tune and said that she could now understand. Little chickens were delicious.

With that slightly unusual comment, they left chef to keep preparing the lunch. A couple of stops later and they were in the new medical bay. Some of those giving the tour were starting to get used to Nyoma, recognised the clicks as appreciation. The computer elaborated that she was happy that they had there own temple on the craft.

This again created some back and forth for the computer. It acknowledge that this place now closely resembled the place Nyoma knew as her temple. It said there were some things it should talk to the captain and those that helped order the ship, before it said too much more. Leaving things awkwardly there, it requested they do an initial scan on Nyoma.

Nyoma happily consented to them activating a blessing chamber for her sake. Gil wandered over, almost a completely different person now, as she happily wandered around the medical bay. She stopped well short of Nyoma and waved shyly. The computer introduced her as the new priestess of this place, explaining that she should be gentle with her as she had been discredited by a more incompetent and senior priest.

It had to re-explain this interpretation several time for the crew. Eventually after they got the gist of phrases like women of the opening and destroying that which was desired they made sense of things. In modern speak her study of the link between genetics treatment and modern cult modification rituals had stirred up problems for the university. This was resolved by a female that desired females. The harasser had not stopped till Gil was destroyed and chased from the profession.

The scan ran a beam of clear blue light over Nyoma and took about a minute to bring up a full image. Nyoma was fascinated. She occasionally saw her reflection in the water, but to have a temple image of her soul, was completely new experience. With shared interest, the Gil and Nyoma talked through what was shown on the moving light display.

Overall it showed that most deformations were partly or badly connected to the ritual that had given the changes. Gil as yet didn’t know if they were changeable or of a more difficult, almost cursed status. She pointed out one lighter area, it represented Nyomas left hand. She said if she was interested that should be easy to refine.

Her left hand looked like strips of alligator hide that had been melted together. It was an awkward lumpy, almost gross looking mess. Nyoma thought it was great and said they should do it immediately. Gil was surprised and again got the computer to reminder her, that she was new to this medical bay or as far as Nyoma was concerned, temple.

Nyoma waved off the warning, reminding Gil that she had been sent as a sacrifice for her people anyway. If this could improve what happened with their temple, she would be glad to do it and be of such use to her people. She could detect their looks, some of which felt like pity. She smiled reassuring them that this would be much better than what she was usually noticed for.

Gil was a little flustered, being in action so quickly, but pulled up the notes and computer suggestions of relevance. She moved Nyoma to another chair and set up a stabilising field around it. With the zone sterilized, she set a smaller object that looked like a portable field generator beside the chair arm. She activated the field and checked how things were looking on a little console.

The hand was contained. With this she triggered the little energy wave, that pulsated and flowed within the shielded area. There were gasps especially from Nyoma as the hand almost melted back into a more elegant shape with separate fingers. The energy wave calmed. Gil asked her to hold on just a little longer.

There were some hints of feedback happening through Nyomas system. She monitored the big details checking no adjustments were needed in the field release phase. It was all looking like it qualified as compound system degeneration, that had lead to the hand ending up the way it was. Gil seemed happy with the shielded area being in phase and reduced the strength of the field.

She checked in with Nyoma and the computer said that she had only noticed a brief feeling like pins and needles. This time Gil powered the shield down watching for a reaction. There was nothing so Gil asked Nyoma to try moving the fingers. Nyoma yelped before the computer had even translated.

It turned out to be a random delayed stabbing pain. But everything still looked fine on the console. Nyoma was now a little stunned by the transformation of her hand. Cautious excitement soon took over and she moved her fingers. First slowly, one by one and then quickly. Gil removed the generator by the chair and returned to the main screen that was compiling data in more detail.

Nyoma joyously she waved and flexed her hand. Astonished with each pain free, smooth twist or gripping of a fist. She turned back to Gil and asked for more. Gil smiled. She said she first needed to analyse the data from this trial run in more detail. Then they would talk about exploring further options.

Dueliet wandered over and offered Nyoma a drink. She said that lunch was the next thing on the tour and she should make sure she had regained her energy. Recalling the little chicken meat Nyoma agreed that lunch would be great. The initial shock and surprise of what had happened was wearing off. She thanked Gil, encouraging her that she was doing very well as a priestess.

They familiarly plonked down at the food hall tables. In contrast to Nyoma who thought the room was very posh took her place quietly. What seemed like utilitarian furniture, utensils and mess hall layout to them, seemed as if created by magic to her. They had a decent pile of chicken to eat as an entree. Following her lead they ate with there fingers in a relaxed fashion. But maybe not with the same enthusiasm or childishness bravado as her.

The cook thought she was unveiling a treat and declared big chicken. She unveiled a turkey along with several other stir fry dishes. This puzzled Nyoma even more. She politely told them that for her people, that was still a very little chicken. With the computer still not helping, they changed topics.

It was left to Nyutri and Nyoma to compare their families. Then how these families operated in there respected villages. Since Nyutri cam from a little village it made an easier starting point, than trying to introduce the places that each of those at the table had come from.

Desert was another new luxury. Sweet food was usually limited to what the computer simplified as nectar, honey or fruits. Having baked goods and ice cream was almost a little strange for her. But she politely said they tasted nice. She was given some alcohol as well, but then stunned them. This time even without the computer translating her politeness, they could tell she was completely unimpressed.

A lot of her focus during the meal was at how well her left hand was working. She was surprised at how light and easy the movement in it was. She exclaimed several times, impressed, that it was now her better hand.

She was very excited that despite there cautions of more difficulty, that more treatment was likely possible. Though the computer couldn’t begin to lay down enough shared language and negotiation guidelines, she understood that in small numbers they were interested in helping more of her tribe.

She though this was fantastic and even if it was only the easy magic fixes that they did, she knew her people would be very happy. The crew seemed reassured when she explained to the computer that she understood that they could only deal well with issues relating to temple magic.

Nyoma could not understand what they meant by healers being manipulated, by a system designed to keep people juiced up to carry on. Sinse she couldn’t understand a system, having it develop to improve health also made no sense. Trying to explain ideas like clean living and food being medicine created much confusion. At one point she looked at them like they were crazy, thinking they were claiming their food was magical. The chef was around at this point was now really curious. She definitely wanted to sign up to go to see Nyomas village, well the food anyway.

At another part of the table, the mean looking crew member made a comment to Dueliet. Normal farmers had been killed when they didn’t keep especially roosters in their place. There were occasional stories of people bleeding out, when birds they had become over familiar with and/or cruel to, had a go at them and sliced an artery. He had run into plain birds and they could be flat out intimidating under the most normal circumstances.

If the so called chickens were going to be more dangerous and bigger than this, maybe he would be better going with any exploration party, rather than in the new role the computer had requested for him. Dueliet turned and looked carefully at the member of the crew who they called Mean, or confused visitors by introducing him as Mr. Mean. It was unusual for him to do anything that would get in the way of him being left to quietly get on with whatever job he had been given.

His concern about the chickens and especially the computers strange treatment of it was valid, but being the first time he had initiated a conversation with Dueliet, she took the time to re-examine her opinion of the man. She realised that for this organisation she had put him in the category of male that felt they had been screwed over in society by a female. She kicked herself mentally for not realising that assumption was off, because those men never lasted very long. From what she could remember Mean had been pretty reliable crew member for four years.

She broke down her reply and agreed that any parties traveling inland would need to potentially act as a military unit, initially scouting out the safety of the area. She then asked if he was concerned about something in the work Gil was doing. She commented as far as she could tell, he would be very handy to have around if any visiting lizard people got stroppy.

You could watch Mean quickly think it over and then he thanked Dueliet for listening. He said it made a lot of sense when she put it that way. He smiled and excused himself from the table.

Dueliet watched the man leave and again was reminded how massive he was. She had presumed the shaved head and tattoos indicated a more primal man. There was way more hints of intelligence in the conversation than she had expected. Also now she wondered if the outward appearance, actually hid inner sensitivity. Or if his tattoos were somehow related to a cult modifying ritual.

It could make sense that he had relevant experience, with the computer assigning him to work with Gil. It also potentially meant that he might be emotionally affected by the situation. The computer had successfully guided Gil into her new role, she had just had a bit of a roller-coaster ride during the process. The computer didn’t seem to have what females would class as empathy. It suggested that the computer had either been programmed by or was relaying information for an overly male group.

She chatted to Gil and mentioning that she’s just had a very interesting chat with Mean. Feeling Dueliet wanted thoughts, she said he seemed intimidating, but was very helpful if you asked for assistance. This reassured Dueliet and she told Gil that she suspected the computer has assigned him as security for her, because he had relevant experience. She wanted Gil to keep an eye on him just in-case he looked like he needed emotional support at any stage. Gil agreed and was clearly quite surprised by the information she had been presented with.

As Dueliet and Gil talked more, the conversation came back around to making sure that Nyoma had somewhere comfortable to rest. Then the last bit of the data puzzle could be completed with food and rest showing recovery baselines. If what was provided on the ship could prove to enable suitable recovery, they could then consider the next step more confidently.

The rest of the group was now wondering what was next and Dueliet asked them if they could please return to whatever projects they had. Any time they got a new project it was assigned a priority level, so they would sort out which jobs they had to go back to and call Ronnec if they needed additional help allocated. There was some playful groans as people were disappointed to be leaving Nyoma, but they quickly headed off to get on with there work.

Nyoma looked a little confused now, unsure of what was happening. Dueliet calmly explained that to be sure that she could recover from any treatment, they needed to be sure that she could rest well. Nyoma was getting used to them bringing up strange ideas so she took it in her stride. They asked her if she would find the temple or a dorm better for sleeping in.

Nyoma asked whether they heated up the temple or the dorms more, before they slept. Again both parties were confused. She was told that she couldn’t sleep in the engine room when she said she wanted the hottest place. That was not a good idea for safety and that it would actually loose all of it’s heat overnight. Once she understood about the heat loss, she also agreed it was unsuitable.

Eventually she brought up the safety or crush zones in the crafts structure. They were forced to agree, that these spots did seem like warm little caves. Some could be locked and had suitable ventilation for sleeping in. So as long as an alarm was fitted to the room. One that activated when the engines started up and there was a person in the crush zone. It was deemed acceptable as temporary accommodation.

They wandered past and grabbed one of the maintenance team. He was a tense looking guy, but forced a polite conversation. The quickly had a bed in a suitable crush zone near the medical bay. Nyoma was not impressed. She took the bed frame out from underneath and tested the mattress on the floor. She explained it was a much more suitable bed.

The maintenance guy grumbled that they should have told him they were building a nest. Eventually they reached a compromised where the maintenance guy quickly got a couple of long wooden pallets underneath so there was still some ventilation. They wandered off to find the bare minimum of sheets needed. By the time they were back he had programmed an alarm into the door control.

He warned them all and performed a test of the alarm. Nyoma jumped startled. She agreed it was truly an unpleasant sound, that would potentially wake the dead. She was surprise to hear some on the crew played these sounds every morning as they were beginning there days.

With the job declared finished for the moment, the maintenance guy was happy to retreat. They again pointed out the nearest toilet and places to refill water. Also double checking she could talk them through using the bell and calling someone with the door panel.

With everything finished as it could be, Nyoma was left with no other option but to sleep. So she shooed the worrying Gil and Dueliet away. The soft lights stayed on for a while longer as she got used to her temporary nest. Then lights dimmed and she soon drifted happily off to sleep.

Dueliet wandered back through the corridors with Gil. She clearly had a lot on her mind but started working through the data they had so far. After checking that Gil didn’t need anything else, Dueliet wandered back to the bridge. Ronnec looked exhausted, he had clearly been in overdrive organising work structure and craft analysis for the past several days. She wander over to her station and made some progress at tidying up her organiser after the days events.

A short while later the captain returned and found them both at the bridge. He checked how they were going. With them both indicating that they were as well as they could be despite being worn out, he asked for their opinion in regard to a meeting with the computer. Dueliet said there were some things she would definitely like to find out more about and Ronnec said that it seemed to be helping tremendously so he should learn all he could.

It turned out Gurney, Jim, Nyutri, Shadow, Pop and Mean were all available, so that would be enough of a team to have the meeting. They crammed into the conference room just beside the bridge.

The computer thanked them for taking the time for this meeting. It also thanked them for all the other requests that they had accepted and completed so well. It reported that it was especially impressed with how they had interacted with Nyoma. Dueliet had the best social skills and thanked those of the computer for the work they had done to allow them to stabilize the energy well, for the improving the craft and helping it’s crew.

Dueliet asked what the agenda for this meeting was. They stated that the main aims were to exchange world views and give them information about the island. Again suspecting those of the computer were lacking in an aspect of empathy, she stated that a lot was known about the crew, but the crew knew nothing about them.

The computer seemed to hesitate for a while, then it agreed. It explained that they were from a group that were known as the oracles. They were officially working as prison technicians. As if to answer Dueliets unspoken question it confirmed they were a small group of males, much like Jim and Gurney were males technicians serving a specific role on their crew.

As people looked at Dueliet and realised what had happened, there was an uneasy quiet in the room. The captain well practiced in these situation and probably having let Dueliet take up too much of the burden of communication spoke next. He asked what prison they worked at and how they related to it as the oracle group.

This time there was even more hesitation.

They explained they were maintaining the prison that they called the dead zone. They explained that if categorised politically they would be considered peaceful activists. The intention of holding this role was to improve the health of the people in the dead zone that had been the most neglected.

This time people looked at the captain, then a terrified silence followed.

The captain’s brain was going into over drive, if ever there was a day to have started carrying a hip flask again, this would have been it. He took some deep breathes and the tightness around his chest eased. He looked at those around him and they seemed to be processing things within manageable levels, so he questioned further. He asked what they were interested in on the island and why they had equipped this craft to help.

Those of the oracle said that there was a war between the two tribes of the island, that had deliberately been started by those outside the dead zone years ago. It had been forcing the tribe they had just started interacting with, to continue with the mutation ritual to an unstable degree for several generations.

There first concern for the island was that this situation could easily have been de escalated, but instead had rules that had been put in place to seemingly keep the conflict in place. They hoped that the crew would make meaningful changes in the area, like they had seen them do before.

The second concern was that part of the island was like a secret nature conservation area. Part of the matter was that the ecosystem had become a little out of balance. The bigger worry, that actually was causing concern, was that the variable containment system this islands well had, was not built to deal with the range of fluctuations that could now happen in a year. In fact this was an issue that would soon affect the whole island.

They reported on the plus side, that the part explosion, part micro jump had been really handy. It had both expelled excess energy from the system and caused the large ship that was following them to return to the main island.

The captain thought a bit and then asked some summary questions. He first checked if the main aim was to de-escalate the fighting so the health of the lizard people could improve. He followed this up by questioning their thoughts on stabilizing the variable system of this islands energy well. While he was on the subject he wanted to know how giant chickens fitted into the picture.

Through the computer they said that the first summary was great. They said now that this had been discussed they would send information for the variable system that the islands well used and the theory that was behind it. From their understanding of the crews capability, they had calculated a very high probability of great success.

The reason they had left much unsaid about the giant chickens was because it was similar to what Mean feared about the situation. There were indeed large versions of the plain dwelling birds he has talked about. But it is more severe because these birds actively hunt and are hunted by both tribes on the island. The amount of human casualties had meant that they had grown into a large population. Talking about this openly from the start had very bad odds, suggesting it would have caused widespread panic and a loss of morale within the crew.

The captains headache was back with a vengeance. He had several files to add to his console and many things to work through. With things as they were, he said they would currently suggest people be limited to moving within the cave, they would beef up security for that.

Then he would figure out how to make an announcement about the danger of venturing further due to the outdated reactor on the island and the local territorial birds.

The computer again thanked them for their time and left them to puzzle through things uninterrupted.

Wehl 2024

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