"Science is not the Be All of the Universe, Just Kidding"
(Previous Post: "Breath of Fresh Air")
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Stardate: 61036.1500
There had been something serene about feeling the
ocean breeze pass over her skin and the sound of the
large wooden ship crash through the waves as the wind
filled the sails. The Shillian scientist had been
unable, and unwilling, to stop herself from enjoying
the moment despite that her thoughts had remained with
those they had left behind. As enjoyable and relaxing
as the experienced had been the Chief Science Officer
had not forgotten about the predicament that the ship
and crew had found themselves thrown in the middle of.
"Enjoying the view I take it," the Caitian Captain
said with a purr in her voice as she silently moved up
next to the Shillian woman taking the scientist by
complete surprise.
"There is a certain charm to it," the Chief Science
Officer replied, not entirely certain as to just how
much the Captain of the BLACK PANTHER could be
trusted. At the moment the four members of the crew
of the ANUBIS had next to no knowledge of this world
and of its people, so caution had been of the utmost
importance. Since the Shillian Scientist knew that
the road to knowledge was a two-way path, the head of
the Science Department had been reluctant to say to
much for fear of breaching the Prime Directive,
something that Captain Rikar had been quick to remind
the members of the team before their departure.
"I had just wanted to let you know that your rooms have been prepared," the Caitian woman said with a smile that only a Caitian could manage. "As soon as you or any of your friends are ready to retire, let Gatito, my First Mate, know and he will take care of you," and with that the woman sundered off in a way that clearly displayed both her charm as a woman and her strength as a Captain of a sail ship such as the BLACK PANTHER.
"Making friends with the locals?" Pravat asked as he joined the Shillian who had been left once again alone on the forward section of the massive wooden ship. "I hope that you have been able to learn something because so far the rest of this crew seems rather tight lipped. She seems nice enough though and even invited us all to sit at the main table for dinner, I just hope that they are not going to serve some stuffed mice dish because that would really make me regret having volunteered to replace Uxtar on this mission," the Marine Command Officer added knowing deep inside that he could never regret having wanted to be by the side of the Shillian and insure her safety.
"I may not have learned what will be on the menu but I did learn a few interesting facts about this planet and the energy dampening field that caused us to crash," the Shillian explained as she turned back to face the open ocean so as to reduce to a strict minimum the odds of their conversation being overheard by someone on the crew. "My first observation may be the most significant and the one that we all seemed to take for granted, I mean no one thought about it but it does make a major difference. Our Universal Translators are functioning as they should which is permitting us to communicate with these Caitians without any difficulties, I have not tried to actually use the communication feature for fear of draining the energy cell but it does mean that there is a minimum power level required before the energy drain kicks in as Lieutenant Stormwind and Ensign Thomas suspected. This means that we may be able to get some of our most basic of equipment working at some low level, but in the end such devices would be of little use. A phaser set that low would likely not be able to even light a candle and a tricoder set to such a low setting would not even be able to pick up the life sign of the person holding it."
The Enaran Marine reached out for the edge having suddenly felt a wave of dizziness sweep through him. Although Pravat had been unsure as to the cause of this passing weakness the Marine had been more than happy to grant credit to the motion of the ship instead of to the seemingly endless ramblings of the Shillian.
"I'm glad that you found this interesting, but I don't see how this will help us get off this planet" the Emaran Marine said as he took full advantage of the momentary lull in the ongoing explanations of the Chief Science Officer.
"The observation will not help us, at least not directly but it will allow us to communicate with the inhabitants of this world and maybe give us the chance to discover if this energy dampening field is a natural phenomenon or an engineered mechanism designed to protect this planet from outside influence," the Shillian continued in the same breath further increasing the dizziness experienced by the Marine Command Officer.
"That might explain how Caitians came to populate this world, maybe one of their ships crashed several centuries ago and the crew simply adapted as best they could," the Enaran Marine said as he glanced over his shoulder to see a couple of crewmen working on tightening the ropes holding the sails.
"Actually," the Shillian Scientist said as her eyes drifted to those same two feline sailors, "even if you place such a crash at having occurred over a thousand years ago, it would not explain the physiological differences between the beings and the Caitians, I mean aside from the obvious size difference, these people being much smaller than your standard Caitians, there are several minute differences that just cannot be explained through evolution or adaptation. These beings may look like Caitians but I can state with almost certainty that they are not."
As much as the Enaran Marine feared having to live through the full explanation of how the Shillian scientist had reached this conclusion, the Marine ventured the only question he could. "How do you figure?"
"Look at the way they move and walk, there is a much
more pronounced feline stance, something that you
would not find in any Caitian, I mean the difference is subtle but it is there and it might be because of my interest in other races that I was able to pick up on it while others did not. I became almost certain of this when I saw one of the climb the main mast without using any of the ropes, the sailor instead just moved up the smooth pole using what I can only guess were claws of some sort. Also the way that they move points to them being closer to cats than humanoids on the evolutionary tree, yet they have obviously learned and mastered the use of tools and advanced technology, at least advanced in regards to their world if not ours. I am not entirely certain but we may have stumbled onto a completely new race, one that has evolved on this world from felines and who have developed in what I would qualify as a very short period of time skills that should have taken much longer."
Faced with this news the Enaran Marine scratched the back of his head as he continued to observe the felines in question only now seeing what the Shillian scientist had referred to.
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"To see the world in a grain of sand, 2006 post #256
Setting: BLACK PANTHER sail ship, Main Deck, Forward Section
Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Commander Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)
