Once Upon The Stars (Updated 08-22-04)

[Raging Deadstar]

Why didn't i read this thread before reading the pandoran history, *Beeeeep* *beeep* *beep*

Sounds interesting though, makes me wonder whats going to happen later on in the story, Great Plot idea Atrocities

[Atrocities]

Ya I noticed the P problem.

The spoiler is acceptable as it is going to be semi explained in the next installment of the story. I only gave minor info, not good info, just minor info.

[Suicide Junkie]

It'll be like a shakespearean play, then.

Besides, the journey is more important than the destination.

[Atrocities]

The one thing to understand is that this has always been a part of the story line that was intended to be written in at the beginning, but I opted to keep it until after the "Origins" segment was published. Now I get to explain in greater detail the story line and how it all relates to the rest of the story. I am very excited about this, and hope that what I have written will show that.

[mlmbd]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
It'll be like a shakespearean play, then.

Besides, the journey is more important than the destination.

Definitely! By all means let the journey, continue!

mlmbd

[Ruatha]

I'll avoid reading the shipset text files.
The story is great! Nuff said.

[Atrocities]

Part XII Writing

Richard wanted to make up for the bumpy ride in by landed the Sky Chariot with as much finesse as he could. As he set the craft down on the deck there was a soft rising surge that confirmed that the Sky Chariot had successfully and quite gently landed and was now firmly on the ground. Richard looked up at his console and began powering down the craft. Tom was already unbuckled and out of his seat heading for the cockpit door when he paused and looked back at Richard. He smiled slightly, a signal that Richard took to mean that he was sincerely happy to be on the ground in one peace.
“Nice landing Richard.” He said politely then exited the cockpit. Richard smiled to himself and thought privately. “Sir you have no idea how lucky you really are.”

A few moments later, on the out side standing next to the Sky Chariot, Tom could see, and feel, that a storm was beginning to form in the area and that the winds had picked up dramatically in the Last few minutes as large ominous grey black clouds began to blown in darkening the evening sky even darker than it already appeared to be. The area was a white blanket with a few habitats and tents set up in close proximity to each other. There were several land craft moving about and even a couple of Prowlers sitting near buy.
“God I would love to fly one of those.” Comment Richard as he coupled his hands near his face and blew into them to warm them.
“They are nice birds to say the least.” Commented Rudy as he stepped up next to Tom and Richard.
“Didn’t you fly one of those sir?” Asked Hess. Tom thought for a second, remembering a time long since passed.
“A long time ago.” He replied somberly.
The three men stood there silently taking in the rare beauty that was the Northern Victorian Glacier. Tom could feel the temperature dropping as they stood there. He was now facing away from the tents looking out over the great expanse that they had just crossed over and was pondering what the next few days would bring.

Carl Wilhelm and his assistant came up behind Tom and the others as they stepped down from the boarding ramp of the Sky Chariot.
“It would appear that winter is coming early this year.” Commented Carl as he took a deep breath and looked about.
Tom looked on without replying but sensed a new presence and turned to face the two men that had just walked up from the Command and Operations Tent. Tom had noticed the two men approaching the second he had stepped down from the Sky Chariot but elected to remain by the Chairiot to take in the area.

“It seems up here gentleman that winter comes earlier each year.” Said a middle aged man with streaks of gray running through his otherwise jet black hair as he and another man wearing a white military parka with Captains bars on its collar walked up.
“General Christopher, I am Captain Macmillan O’Connor, General Operations Director for this site and this gentleman is Dr. Brook Mentor of the Victorian Glacier Scientific Team. Welcome to the Discovery Site.”

“Captain, Doctor, this is Sergeant Rudy Arnold from General Greens Staff, my aid and pilot Captain Richard Hess, Carl Wilhelm the SEPC Director, and his aid.” Tom paused as he looked over at Carl’s aid and realized that he did not know her name.
“Erin Rogers.” Replied Carl smoothly.
“Formerly Cornel Erin Rogers of the United Global Alliance Air Force.” Comment Rogers as she offered her hand to Captain O’Connor. “Is it Macmillan or just Mac?” She asked with sincerity as she gave him a gracious smile. Captain O’Connor returned her smile and took her hand.
“My officers and men call me Captain, but you my dear my call me Mac.” He then looked over at Carl with what appeared to Tom to be none other than the cold dispassionate look of hatred.
“You will excuse me sir if I do not wish to shake your hand.” He said to Carl in a cold yet polite tone.
Carl just looked at him for a moment then smiled. “As you wish Captain.”
This intrigued Tom, as it would appear that the good Captain held Carl in much the same regard as he did, a peg or two above absolute contempt.

Tom looked over at Dr. Mentor to shake his hand when he noticed him staring at Carl with an open expression of shock clearly painted upon his face.
“Dr Mentor, are you all right?” Asked Tom in a concerned tone. Mentor looked on for a millisecond before catching himself and looked over at Tom a tenth of a second before Carl’s attention switched from the Captain to him.
“What?” He said in a momentary sense of confusion. “Oh, forgive me, I am fine.”
Tom was no fool, he knew the look he had just seen on the doctors face, it was one of fear. Wilhelm scared the hell out of Doctor Mentor, and Tom had no idea as to why. When the time was right, he would have to ask the doctor about it, however right now, he was becoming very cold.
“Captain, if you please.” He gestured toward what appeared to be the Command & Control tent. “The weather is becoming a tad unfriendly.”
“Yes Sir.” Replied O’Connor. “If you will all please follow me.”

Inside the Operations Tent, next to the Command and Control Tent, Captain O’Connor began to explain the operation bring Tom and his men up to speed.
“We have successfully excavated a path down to what we had believed to have been an entrance, however it has turned out to be a huge rocket thruster assembly of some kind.”
“I see.” Comment Tom as he looked at the images before him. “It was this information that lead you,” Tom looked up at Mentor, “Doctor to conclude that this was a space ship?”
Mentor displayed a confused expression before answering.
“I have made no such determination as of yet. These images are less than an hour old.”
It was Tom’s turn to look confused now. He looked in Rudy’s direction briefly and gave him an angry look. Rudy looked shocked and flashed him a ‘What did I do?’ expression in response.
“Forgive me Doctor, I had been informed earlier today, as was the Prime Minister, that you, and you specifically, had determined this object to be a space craft of unknown origins.” Mentor looked even more confused now then he did before as he looked slowly from Tom to Captain O’Connor’s then back.
“I assure you General, that I have made no such determination.”
“What about now?” Asked Carl politely. “What about now Doctor? Is it a space ship or not?”
Mentor seemed to swallow something as he took a deep breath and looked down for a second then back up at Carl. “Yes, it is a space ship.” He said with conviction. “And yes, the evidence would indicate that it is of unknown origins.”

“Have you identified an entrance yet?” Rudy asked after a few seconds of silence.
“Our investigation teams have located a hatch near this thruster assembly.” Replied Captain O’Connor as he pointed to a spot on a sectional image of the object.
“That is a very detailed image. My I?” Asked Erin Rogers politely as she picked up the image and began to examine it. “How did you obtain it?”
“We used Doctors Mentors Gravimetric Core Sampling device.” Answered Ron Lindley as he entered the tent.
Captain O’Connor looked over at Ron and nodded.
“This is Ronald Lindley, Chief Engineer from the Global Engineering Corp.” O’Connor introduced. “He has been down at the excavation site under the ice.”

“Just call me Ron.” He said nicely as he shook Tom’s hand. As the introductions were made Ron removed his parka and poured himself a cup of hot lacto berry juice.

“Chief, has your team excavated a path to this entrance yet?” Asked Tom as he studied the image and pointed to the location of the hatch.
“My assistant Calvin Kurd and Dr. Ramzies team have nearly completed the excavation. We should have full access within a couple of hours.” Replied Ron as he pointed to a spot on the image. “They are here, and should be in contact with the objects hull very soon. Once that is accomplished, they will excavate the area in order to give us a area to work in.”

“Have you figured out a way to open it yet?” Rudy asked as he stepped up and looked at the image. “I assume that it is more than likely sealed and will need to be opened.” He commented.

The men in the room paused and looked at one another. It was clear to Rudy by this time and to Tom as well that none of them had anticipated this.
“Oh come on now?” Commented Rudy loudly. “Tell me that one of you had figured for this?”
“Sergeant.” Commented Tom quietly.
“Oh for-“
“Sergeant!” Tom said once again causing Rudy to looked over at him. Rudy got the message and said no more. All he could do was quietly shake his head in disapproval. Not at all bothered by this, Tom asked what he thought to be the most logical question given the circomsantces.
“Doctor Mentor, if the ship is sealed and there is no obvious methods for opening this hatch, how will your team gain entry?” Tom knew that in a situation such as this, not everything could be anticipated. Especially if the situation is an unknown, and that object out there was a indeed a huge unknown.

“I would suspect that the GEC would want to use explosive.” Mentor commented as he looked over at Ron for confirmation. "The ice under that section of the ship is solid for nearly half a mile straight down."
“We could use explosives, however we would have no idea on how that would effect the object.” Replied Ron cautiously.
“Gentleman.” Said Erin Rogers politely. “If I may?”
Everyone stepped back from the table a foot or two as Erin stepped up still holding the image that she had picked up earlier. She put the image back down on the table and pointed to a fuzzy dark line that appeared next to the hatch.
“Even through fourty meters of ice, the detail of the image that your Gravimetric Core Sampling device has rendered is impressively telling Doctor. If you will all look closely at the image you will see what I mean.” Everyone looked at it for a second without saying anything.
Captain O’Connor began to smile as he noticed what it was that Erin had seen and was now drawing everyones attention toward.
“Writing.” He said as he looked up at her. “There is some kind of writing on the hull next to the hatch.” This caused everyone else except Captain O’Connor and Carl Wilhelm to look again at the image.
“I should have mention that Mrs. Rogers is a linguistics expert. A linguist with excellent eye sight and exceptional intelligence.” Commented Carl as he looked at her with approval.
“And where there is writing next to a hatch, it is more than likely instruction on how to open it.” Commented Richard.

“Well done Mrs. Rogers.” Tom said as he gave her a broad smile. “Well done.”
“Once the area is excavated I can get a clearer image of the writing, if that is indeed what it is, and then hopefully decipher it.”

[ April 06, 2003, 17:46: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

[Atrocities]

Pandoran Ship Set Available for download. (Contains SPOILER Information)

[Atrocities]

BUMP for a day

[mlmbd]

Atrocities, great addition to the story! I like the shipset, as well!

mlmbd