Another Discovery [Mission Start]
Posted on Sun Sep 29th, 2024 @ 4:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Payton Bray & Graham
1,038 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Terrorpin
Location: Science Labs, Outside
Timeline: MD -01 : 2217 Hours
“Ms. Bray, is it wise to dig into the electronics when you do not have the qualifications?”
If he were more sentient, Graham would have stated something more akin to an opinion. The scientist he was modeled after sure had many of them, so he heard. But he was a hologram, a fact he would have been more thankful for if, again, he had sentience. Thankfully, he did not.
As he hovered on his little projector, the blonde-haired Payton had herself sat in the cold, snowy ground, torso-deep in the guts of their power supply. This supply in particular was built from the ground up by the scientist’s blasted father, who kept wanting to dig into Graham’s programming.
Thank Starfleet that information was proprietary and hidden behind multiple security clearances. “Ms. Bray, I can just send a message to your father-”
“He doesn't need to be involved,” Payton interrupted. Despite the haste, she pulled her head out to give Graham a small smile. “I don't think it's actually anything on the fritz. I think something just wedged itself in there. I see something moving.”
Graham was silent, as he began to perform scans. They had already noticed the giant hole that was on the side of the casing for this unit. It was larger than Daucin-sized, but it had definitely looked like something beaked had gnawed through it. So it was certainly not a Daucin. If it was something small that had itself in there, Graham was honestly surprised it was still alive.
Then again, if there was something on Haumea that ate minerals, what was going to stop something from eating something else? Maybe their isochips were made of materials something bug-like enjoyed.
With Graham barely acknowledging what she said, Payton’s head dipped back into the top of the supply’s casing. “I promise, if it turns out to be something I cannot fix, you can call whoever you want to. Let me see if I'm right or wrong first,” came the reply. “Do a scan and tell me if there isn't a living being in there.”
It was the one scan he had yet to accomplish, likely because he was trying to not humor her reckless behavior. But, with a flicker of his form, and a small moment of waiting, his eyes narrowed. “... Is that why you brought me along?”
“No,” Payton replied, “I needed someone to come with me in case something happened. Do you see anything in there?”
“I…. Do. Reptilian. The surrounding supply is scrambling the rest of my sensors, but I can tell that much.”
Payton let out a tiny squeal of glee, likely one Graham was going to forget he heard. “A reptile? Out here in the cold? No wonder the poor thing is in here, it must be warm in there.” She pushed herself further, until she was barely on her tip toes trying to get at least a glimpse of whatever it was they had spotted on scanners. “Oh! Oh I think I see it.”
Half a beat later, as Graham had internally predicted, she let out a yelp, followed by a colorfully choice set of words. “I think you found it, Lieutenant Commander.” He heard the huff echo through the internal chassis. “... Do you need assistance?”
“Yes!” she yelled, a little too loud. “Let me know if something tries to crawl out the hole.” Her hand went further in, and the echo of scratching and movement could be heard from inside. “I can see the creature, just barely. I want to get you out, little guy! We have a much warmer place in the science labs for you.”
“I do not believe talking about capturing the creature to the creature is going to help,” came Graham’s dull reply. His eyes were on the hole, as tasked.
“Oh who knows if it's sentient or not.” More a statement than a question. “But I don't want him getting hurt. Or hurting anything else.”
“Might I recomme-” Graham stopped, spying the dark brownish red scaled head that popped out of the hole. It was reptilian, as confirmed. Instead of immediately alerting Payton, he watched the creature closely. On some level, he had no desire to have to monitor yet another creature that could have caused harm.
The creature stared back up at him, its beaked mouth opening wide and hissing. “What was that? Where did that come from?” Payton’s echoed voice startled the creature, who came running out onto the snow. It stopped to size up Graham, where the hologram noted how similar it looked to a big-eyed species of snapping turtle from Earth, save for the spikes on its shell, the odd muted brown twinge to the rest of it.
Clearly, it was intimidated and scared of what was going on. But it did not look the least bit bothered by the snow. The clearer Graham's scans became, the more he realized that it was not going to be classified the same as the reptiles on Earth.
After another beat, the turtle started to move away from the pair, eyes on Graham. Noting this, Graham swiveled his little hovering projector to one side to allow the creature to scamper off. There was something about it that had him… intrigued.
“I can't see it anymore,” Payton grumbled from in the power supply, “Graham can you see it?”
The hologram hesitated for one more moment, before finally replying in the same dull tone he always used. “The creature is out here.”
“Oh thank goodness!” Payton had her head out of the supply, eyes going straight to the ground near the hole. By the time she did, the turtle was already taking the moment to flee the scene, faster than either of them had ever seen a squat turtle run. “Oh no, come back!” The prospect of a scientific discovery running off had her scramble the rest of herself out of the supply. As she turned, she tripped over herself, falling into the snow and watching helplessly as the creature retreated. “... Shoot. I hope that poor thing doesn't freeze out there.”
Expressionlessly, Graham looked down at Payton. “Something tells me the creature will be just fine.”
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