And Away We Go

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 3:53am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 6:04pm

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Hesian Cemetery, Hesiod Green
Timeline: Current

ON

The path to the cemetery leading down from the away team's vantage point and shuttle was easily traversed. The funeral service was being held on the side of the large crater the Away Team had passed earlier, the one with all the bodies laid out inside it. The ceremony was still going by the time they arrived at the outskirts. None of the native Hesians had noticed them. Their postures remained somber. Heads were bowed. Some in prayer, some in mourning. The body of the deceased lay on the ground now, wrapped in a kind of ragged cloth. Two people were preparing to pick up the deceased while the official continued his eulogy. Now and then, the people would repeat in unison, "One with the planet."

The away team approached the crowd cautiously, so as not to disturb the group. The official knelt down then, and laid his hand on the covered head of the deceased. In response, the entire group outstretched their hands as the two carriers picked up the body and gently rolled it into the crater. The two carriers stood up and outstretched their arms as well. The official said once more, "One with the planet," and the crowd repeated. The official then took something from the cart and tossed it into the crater. Another mark of the dead in the large graveyard.

Now, heads raised, the group began to slowly head back to the direction of the cave. Some knelt down to touch and to pray by the mass grave, whispering some kind of blessing. Lieutenant Mindo looked up and gave a quiet nod to the away team, who had been following his lead thus far. The away team followed the natives, but stayed just beyond earshot of the group.

Krysia put her nerves about being off the shuttle aside, she needed to study these people and pay attention to their cultural ways. She wouldn’t be a very good counselor and advisor if she didn’t. She just hoped all continued to go smoothly.

The woman in front of them stopped and looked back. A look of surprise came over her face. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I wasn't aware anyone was behind me."

Mindo smiled. "I'm afraid we got here a little late. We're actually outsiders from another province. We saw your ceremony and decided to pay our respects." Mindo had done his research on meeting new races after making first contact with the Mendazians nearly a year before. He never in a million years figured he'd be doing it again, but now he was glad for the extra preparation.

The woman gasped through her mask. "My goodness! The nearest province is so far away from here! You must have been journeying for weeks!" She looked at the group and noticed Sandoval's cane. "And with a wounded man too!" Then she noticed Krysia. "And one of you is with child?! You must be exhausted. Won't you come in and have lunch with us?"

Krysia looked at the others, it would seem odd if they refused the invitation. “It has been a long journey...” She looked to Mindo.

"Thank you for your offer of hospitality," John said to the woman. He turned to Mindo. "Please, let us accept. We have been on our feet for too long."

Mindo nodded and said to the woman, "We accept your offer of hospitality."

The woman's eyes looked down at Mindo and then back up to the rest of the party. "Does your child often speak for your group?" She then noticed Lieutenant Fick and, behind him, Ziara. "You have three children! And another one very soon, I can tell! What are your children's ages?" she asked Sandoval.

John was exceedingly glad to be wearing a mask, for it hid the grin on his face perfectly. After a moment, he regained his composure and answered. “He is actually not our child. He is adult, but because of the air, he was sick as a child and did not grow normally.” John didn’t care for lying, but such deceptions were necessary. He hoped Mindo didn’t mind. “The other two are young adults as well. Cousins of ours. These are the only ones of mine.” He gently touched Krysia’s belly and gave her a wink.

Krysia looked at John offering a smile, then at the woman. “We’re expecting two, but not for a little while longer yet. The offer of rest would be much appreciated.”

Fick made a little huffing sound, the first thing he'd really done since they left the shuttle. His eyebrows were raised and he had all sorts of things he wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut for a little bit, but he couldn't hold it back for long. "I'm twenty-one," he finally added, then wondered if he was still 21 after everything he'd been through in the last year. Did alternate time lines count towards your age?
Ahead of them at the front of the group, raised voices could be heard. "...quakes are getting stronger, Village Master. Our people say the inner walls are now showing cracks!"

"Hush now, this is not the time!" came another voice, an older man, who tried to pull the other away.

Some of the citizens had decided to confront their Village Master on the spate of earthquakes, as they continued to get stronger and last longer. Their leader strode confidently, and arrogantly, at the head of the group, with his two deputies by his side. Their robes were clean and seemingly new, not like the worn and tattered cloaks that the rest of the people wore. The trio never ventured outside much, this was obvious.

"We have seen rockfalls in the lower quadrants!" a concerned woman cried. "We know this is what killed Ho-Kan."

The Village Master wore a bemused little smile on his face, as if he were talking to insects. "Ho-Kan was very old, my dear. He was startled by the sound of our great machines and his heart gave out. He had been sick for some time, remember?"

"Sick and old," the two minions repeated, which followed through the crowd, all the way back to the away team.

"Sick and old," the crowd agreed, though hardly emphatic about it.

"That's a little odd... all that repeating..." Fick mumbled softly to Mindo. "Almost in a kind of brainwashy sort of way...”
"When will the work be done?!" someone cried out.

"Yes! When can we move to safer ground?!" another shouted.

"You will see our finished work in due time," the Village Master replied with casual air, passing off their concerns with very little concern of his own. "Remember, our home is safe. It is perfectly fine. For now, we celebrate the passing of our dear brother and congratulate those who have been bestowed his belongings."

The crowd fell into a hushed whisper; the fire of the confrontation dissipating quicker than it had erupted. The Village Master and his deputies continued walking ahead, never breaking stride. The man who had first confronted the Master made his way to the back of the group; his face was covered but his eyes still gleaming with anger. He immediately spoke to the woman who had befriended the away team.

"Can you believe this?!" he seethed. "They want us to believe Ho-Kan died from fright! But Ho-Mar said she had seen the state of his cavern; it was collapsing! And now they won't let us in to see for ourselves!"

Krysia looked at the others, it seemed not all was as serene as it seemed amongst the natives. Not that everything was normal for them with the regular earthquakes. It seemed the village master was in complete denial of their situation.

The woman shook her head and spat at the ground. "Ho-Kan wasn't afraid of anything." Several other people around them shook their heads, affirming the sentiment.

One person whispered, "The structure of my cavern is failing too! What if I'm next? Or one of my children?"

John listened closely as the villagers talked. Machines? Some kind of conspiracy? Some seemed to think falling rocks, maybe dislodged by the machines, were killing people, while those in power denied it. Curious.

Fick looked up at John and watched his eyes as he processed what was going on around them. "Are these people crazy or is it just me?" he asked in a very soft whisper. He wished he could say more, but there were too many people around them for him to feel comfortable making statements that they might believe to be judgmental.

The crowd continued forward until they reached the mountain again, and they silently filed back into their home. Inside was a large open cavern with several smaller tunnels, just big enough for one person to fit through, leading off in different directions. The entrance was guarded by a strong stone gate on a track, which took three men to move out of the way. Apart from that, technology was sparse. Stone tables, wooden torches, nothing above a medieval level of development.

“Come with me.” Said the woman who had befriended the Away Team. “I feel there’s dissent amongst the people. It’s not wise to loiter in the tunnels tonight.”

With that, she started to direct them down a corridor, away from what appeared to be guards. The away team had no choice but to follow into the darkness.

OFF