Posted on Sat Nov 15, 2014 @ 2:22am by

1,474 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: Starbase

Nina, dressed in a tank top, khaki pants and boots, sighed silently--she had been disappointed in herself at being taken over in the last mission and turning against her Captain. She held a bow in her hand as she stepped lightly through the brush of the forest. Peering past a tree, she spotted a white-tail deer. In a slow, smooth movement, she brought the bow up and aimed. The deer raised it's head and looked straight at Blackburn. "Go on," she whispered. As if hearing and understanding her, the deer ran off, disappearing quickly through the trees. Hearing a crack behind her, Nina spun around and drew her bow upon instinct to see the form of Lt. Yarin approaching. She hadn't gotten a chance to meet with the alien yet.

Yarin peered at Lt. Blackburn for a moment, he could never read human facial expressions that well, their mouths were far too expressive and they cotoould not emote with their skin like a sensible being. He turned and looked around. "This setting, I assume this is a Terran forest correct?" Upon receiving confirmation. he walked over to the control panel "It has potential but if you want a real challenge allow me to show you my home world. Computer load Yarin alpha five." The landscape suddenly changed to resemble a strange alien jungle, tall oddly shaped trees rose high above them while the floor was covered in shrubs and fungi. All around them bizarre animal noses could be heard. "Welcome Lieutenant." Yarin said. "To Nya."

"This is your homeworld?" she asked, looking at the strange vegetation around her as she lowered her bow and approached

Yarin looked up at the multicolored sky, the flashes of radiation lit up around them. "Not exactly, this is how I see reality. The entire light spectrum is visible." He unsheathed his Tovreet the four tri pronged foot long daggers gleaned from the light of the red giant sun overhead.

Blackburn was impressed. "Have to admit, it is beautiful in a way," she commented. "Do you hunt with those," she indicated to the daggers in Yarin's hand.

"Though they are fully functional the Tovreet havr not been used in hunting for hundreds of thousands of years. I only brought them with me for sentimentality, never thought I would get to use them. Come let us explore."

Blackburn nodded as she followed next to Yarin. "I can understand that. This bow is special to me as well. It was hand crafted and given to me by a close friend that taught me the old ways of my people."

Blackburn then turned as she heard some noises from behind her. It sounded large and heavy. "Have any idea what that might be?" she said as she drew her bow in the direction of the noise.

Yarin looked off into the distance he caught a flash of orange and the faint sound of wing beats. "It appears to be a herd of mantos, we have to get out of here. If the mantos are startled then the devashi can not be far behind." He grabbed her arm and pulled her along

"Mantos, Devashi? Are they dangerous? Or is the Devashi predators of Mantos?" Blackburn asked as she raced next to Yarin.

"The mantos are simple frugivores, they climb trees to eat the flowering buds and then glide back down. I should know I was on the committee that designed them. The devashi are large venomous reptiles that hunt in packs we should find a place to hide."

"You designed a species?" Nina was now fascinated. She spotted a small entrance not far away partly covered with vegetation overgrowth. "There's a cave over there towards our left!"

They entered the cave "When a species goes extinct on my planet we create a new one to fill the ecological niche it left behind. I was part of the committee that designed the mantos."

"Consider me impressed," she said as she watched the flock of Mantos go by. "But there are some animals that should go extinct--nature always has a way of adapting. On Earth, if the Dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct, then humans might have never evolved."

"Nature often moves too slow, if we do not act things become; unbalanced. We take our talents to other worlds and do it all over again often without incident." he said his face growing blue with embarrassment.

Nina noticed Yarin's face turning blue. She recalled that his species had a tendency to change their skin tone based on their moods. "Everything alright?" she asked.

"There was an virus on Benthos prime that wiped out an entire species. The Benthons hired me to create an animal to fill the niche. Something went horribly wrong in the creation process and a hulking mutated behemoth was created instead. It ravaged the land killing hundreds before it was finally destroyed."

"That is the reason why such actions must not be made lightly," she paused. "You didn't recreate that thing in here did you?" she joked lightheartedly.

"No I did not. I think it is safe to go outside now." Yarin said just as a peal of thunder and the crash of rain sounded off into the distance.

"That's good to hear." On hearing the thunder, she looked at Yarin as they walked out of the cave. "I see rain is programmed into the forecast."

"No it is not, I did not program rain into this scenario." Yarin said his eyes wide with wary curiosity.

"Hmmm. Computer, discontinue rain storm." There wasn't a response. "Computer, arch." Again there was nothing. The rain started to come down hard, almost immediately soaking Nina. "Good, I needed a shower," she joked.

They made their way through the forest until they came upon a town. "This is not good," Yarin said. "I did not program anything except forest in this simulation."

"Is this town safe?" Nina asked, now soaked thoroughly by the rain.

"I do not know, the people will be curious, though i am not sure of their intent beyond that also do not expect any privacy."

"Oh?" Nina asked with a raised eyebrow. "Your species don't value privacy of others?" She then noticed a individual similar to Yarin approaching them.

"It is not a matter of value, the concept is unknown here, everything is known about everyone at first meeting." He turned to face the Nyac coming up to them. "Let me do the talking."

Nina nodded and stood silently as Yarin talked with the other Nyac. After a few minutes Yarin turned to Nina.

"He will provide us with the funds to secure food and lodging though he requires a dna sample from you as compensation."

"A DNA Sample?" she questioned looking back and forth between the two. Is there a reason why?"

Nina nodded and plucked a hair from her head and held it out for the other. "Here you go."

"New species to study always an opportunity to learn." Yarin said as he counted out the Zerl coins and gave some to Nina. He studied the coins closely, "From the look of these Zerls I would place us in the 16th age 36th year about 164 years into my planet's past."

"Well, let's hope my presence doesn't cause a riot," Nina commented.

"No that would not happen, the worst that will be done to you is the barrage of questions you will be asked. We are in an era where crime is relegated to thought experiment, though we are still decades from the lunar colonies and warp drive. It is a peaceful contemplative period where our natural curiosity flourished."

"Crime regulated to thought experiment? That sounds interesting." Nina was impressed with Yarin and his people so far.

Later as the twin moons of Charog and Lomtaa were rising in the night sky. Yarin and Nina arrived in their hotel room after spending the day exploring the town, Yarin playing tour guide.

"Your planet is beautiful, Yarin," Nina commented. "Hopefully engineering will get us out of here soon. I need a shower."

"I am sure we will get out soon." Yarin said as he laid down on his memetic gel bed. "And thank you Nina it has been a long time since I could share it with anyone."

"My pleasure," Nina replied, falling back on the bed next to Yarin. It was beautiful and rather romantic as the light from the twin moons shone through the window. She was rather surprised at how much she was enjoying her time with Yarin. "We should do this again sometime," she replied. At that moment, Nina felt the bed disappear and she fell to the deck of the holodeck that replaced the room they had been in. She looked at the door to see two engineers standing in the archway. "Next time give a warning, would you?"

 

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