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» LCARS » Newspaper: The Federation Tribune » Newspaper Archives » 2004 » September 2004 » All that Glitters, Chapter 3, by Bram Peeters.
 | All that Glitters, Chapter 3, by Bram Peeters. |  |
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| Summary | |
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Starfleet and civilian scientist had established an outpost on the planet Din'ghes VII to research the large deposits of green crystals. The crystals emitted various toxic gasses which required the use of environmental suits outside the outpost.
Civilian Dr. Moebius and Lt. Commander Kane had been on the planet for two weeks when an away team discovered that people had been to the planet before: they had found the remains of a crashed shuttle.
During the investigation of the crash site Lt. Bor was attacked by a mysterious creature, exposing him to the lethal gasses in the - what was thought to be uninhabited - planet's atmosphere.
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| Chapter 3 - Nightly Visit | |
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June 6, 2386, 10:05 - Din'ghes VII, Tiber Station
Kane was waiting for them in the outpost's small medical facility. While Dr. Krel started treating his patient, Kane looked at Moebius. "What exactly happened out there? What attacked you?"
"I have no idea..." Moebius started. "It must have some sort of creature, but we weren't able to get any clear tricorder readings, and we didn't see anything. Only Bor must have seen it."
"But how is something able to survive out there?" Kane looked at the unconscious Andorian on the biobed. "I guess that's not the most important question though... How's Bor doing, Dr?"
Krel looked up. "He seems to have inhaled quite a lot of Tiberium gas. I have no idea yet what it is doing to his body, but his condition seems to be stable." The Trill doctor looked at Moebius and Kane. "I will need a few samples of this gas to run a few tests."
"Of course, I'll get them for you," Moebius said and he left the sickbay. He kept wondering why they hadn't detected any life forms on the planet before. The Tiberium didn't seem to interfere with sensors that much, although the crystals itself were a lot harder to scan. Moebius entered his lab. He picked up one of the containers with samples from the gas emitted by the crystals. "This should be enough..." Moebius said to himself and he returned to sickbay.
Over the next several hours nothing had changed. Bor's condition hadn't changed at all, neither in a negative way nor positive. Krel's tests also seemed to have no results. He had taken blood samples from everyone in the outpost, and exposed the sample to the Tiberium gas to find out if it had any effect. Even after four hours, there had been no change at all.
"Are you still working?" Moebius asked when he noticed the lights were still on in Krel's office.
"What? Oh, yes... I am going to check these blood samples one last time before I am going to bed," Krel said while he picked up one of the samples. "This is odd," he said. "There hasn't been any change at all, as if the gas isn't there at all. But I haven't been able to revive Bor, so it must have an effect on him."
"Perhaps it only affects Andorians?" Moebius asked. "I know that it's improbable with all the toxic components, but it might not be impossible."
"I agree, Sherlock," Krel said and yawned while he picked up a hypospray. "I'll take another sample of Bor's blood, but I think it's better if I study it in the morning."
"Should someone stay in sickbay all night?"
Krel shook his head and put another sample of Bor's blood on the desk. "His condition has been stable during the last fourteen hours. I don't think it will be necessary, the sickbay computer will wake me up anyway if there are any changes in his condition."
It wasn't the sickbay computer however that woke everyone up four hours later. "Someone, or something, has broken into the storage room, doctor," Chernyshev said when Moebius asked her what was going on. "Commander Kane has already sealed the leak to keep any toxic gasses outside. He is currently trying to locate whatever creature caused it..." Chernyshev paused. "The creature that attacked the lieutenant must have followed you."
"But that's impossible," Moebius said. "We were traveling in a shuttle pod."
"You also said it was impossible that were any life forms on this planet," the female security officer said. "It could have been another life form, but we've been here two weeks now. Why wouldn't we have seen something sooner? I think..."
But Chernyshev wasn't able to tell Moebius what she was thinking, because Krel came running towards them. "Moebius, Bor is gone!"
"What? How is that possible?" Moebius asked. "Where is he?"
"I have no idea," Krel said. "When I was woken by the intruder alert I first thought something was wrong with Bor, but when I got to sickbay, he was gone."
Fifteen minutes later T'Pek and Kane, who had been unable to find anything, joined them. Kane was shocked when he heard that Bor had disappeared.
"Is it possible the creature got him, sir?" Chernyshev asked.
"At the moment I'm not ruling out any possibility," Kane said. "Although the sensors haven't picked up any additional biosigns..."
"Well, we didn't detect that creature out there either," Moebius said. "Something in those crystals or in the atmosphere is interfering with our sensors..."
Krel was accessing sensor data on a computer console nearby. "We haven't had any problems with the sensors inside before," he said. "The only thing we haven't been able to detect was that creature... and..." Krel was looking at the console in disbelieve. "Impossible."
"What is impossible?" Moebius asked.
"A minute before the alarm went off, Bor's biosigns slowly disappeared."
"What?" Moebius said. "Wasn't the computer supposed to wake you up if something changed?"
"Only if the changes indicated his life was in danger," Krel said. "Bor's biosigns were stable, but sensors just couldn't detect anymore, as if they were shielded."
Kane looked at the Trill. "Could this have happened when the creature entered the room?"
"It's possible," Krel said. "Maybe it is the creature, and not something in the environment that causes us to be unable to detect them."
"So are we positive the creature took lieutenant Bor?" Chernyshev asked.
"I think so," said Kane.
"Shouldn't we take the shuttle pod then to look for him, sir?"
"How are we going to do that if our sensors can't detect him, or the creature?" Kane asked.
Chernyshev looked around at everyone. "We can't just stay here and do nothing!" She looked at Kane again. "Sir."
"It's alright Tanya," Kane said. "You and T'Pek can take the shuttle pod. The rest of us will stay here in case the creature returns."
"Yes sir," T'Pek said, and the two female officers walked away.
It was thirty minutes later when T'Pek had something to report.
"We may have detected some movement one kilometer south of the outpost," the Vulcan science officer said. "We are going to take the shuttle closer, if our sensors are not working properly, we might be able to get visual confirmation."
To be continued...
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