Two Weirdos & a Wolf Walk Into a Bar...

Posted on 30 Jul 2024 @ 6:27pm by The Narrator & Lieutenant Commander Harva Taliborn & Crewman Apprentice Unknown 'Weirdo'

2,393 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Miranda

There was one member of the little group of visitors who stood out...which was honestly impressive, given the stir that the group of them as a unit had already caused.

Although rather androgynous, this one mostly gave the impression of being a girl and, yes, those were the pronouns she chose to go by. She seemed young and old at the same time, with a body that may have been fourteen or fifteen and eyes that may have seen centuries. She had seemingly just blended in with the background when the group first arrived, but now that most of the others had been caught up in conversation, she began to stand out more. Walking around with her hands idly laced behind her back, her gaze--though impassive--seemed to miss nothing.

It didn't take long for her attention to be caught on the giant wolf walking around in a uniform, and she stopped walking to observe them for a long moment...

"Lots of diversity among our group," the man with the wild curls commented, walking up behind her. He had observed their smaller group from a distance while he had been talking with the captain, watching the patterns within it, and the interaction between their group and the crew which had gathered here. He saw Kris talking with Maria, other visitors had spread out and were talking with other people, some held themselves more aloof and were quietly observing. They were all intriguing, in their own different way.

And he loved puzzles, mysteries and intriguing things.

"And some have very good hearing," rumbled Harva's basso profondo, though the grin on his features and slight wag to his tail showed it was all in good humor. He finished what he was doing, then lumbered over to the androgynous girl and Tychon, offering the girl a massive, furred and clawed hand in greet. "Harva Taliborn, engineer. It's nice to meet you, didn't expect a whole community of people here."

The girl's eyes, which were a greenish sort of gray and not usually seen in this hue among the average human genetics, swung from the human-looking one back to the big wolf. She eyed Harva's hand for a moment and then put her smaller one in it. "No, I don't imagine you did," she said lightly. "My name is Avery." She turned to the curly haired one to see what he'd say.

He was smiling broadly at Harva's remark. "As I said to Maria earlier," and at least to three others of their group at various points, "I don't really have a name, so people are free to give me one if they like. 'Oi, you there!' works as well, though you run the risk that more people will turn when you do that," he said with an easy grin. "So, is there any reason why you people hang out in caves instead of living topside?"

"It's easy walls and ceiling without needing to construct them," Harva rubbed his chin, deep voice rumbling as he theorized. "No need to worry about it blowing over in a storm. Heating's a chore though in winter, and not much of a view anywhere but the entrance," he chuckled, finding humor in his own musings. At least someone did. "Gotta love that 'nature chic' look though, can't beat that."

Avery's brows, which were the same pale blonde as her hair, knit slightly. Curiously. She regarded them both for a moment before she said, "We don't live in the caves, the way you're describing it," she said. So far, she presented more disconnected, almost robotic, than the others, and yet her words were a little more open. "Those caves are more like...a foyer."

"That is fascinating!" the man said. He looked at her, giving her his full attention. And there was a lot of attention to give. It almost had the effect of standing in a bright beam of sunlight. "A foyer leading to what?"

"I am very curious to that too," Harva admitted, feeling a little bit deflated that the other two seemingly hadn't found his attempt at a joke as funny as he did. "Tell us about your home, Avery?" he asked, paying close attention. There was - ... something ... about this girl, but he couldn't quite put a proverbial finger on it.

"We live beneath the caves, in a sense," Avery said. "The planet surface is tolerable right now, as you can see." She gestured a slender, seemingly frail hand around her to indicate this natural space. "However when the difficult season comes, for about half a solar year, it's impossible to live up here. My people learned that fast and at great expense, so we found the caves and that they afforded some protection from the bad weather. We sought a more permanent solution than just living in caves, like animals."

"Beneath but not exactly beneath…" the man mused. "Some kind of layering, then? Phase-shifting, a dimensional doorway? Something else?" His eyes shone brightly at yet another riddle that was lying somewhere down below, waiting to be solved.

Harva's ear flicked in the man's direction. On purpose or involuntarily, who know. "I find myself curious to the same things," his deep voice rumbled. "Would you tell us about your home, Avery?"

Avery shook her head at the first questions. "No phase-shifting, no dimensions." Her pale eyes swung between the two of them with...something there, hard to read. "We simply dug. We created false caves underneath the natural ones, fortified and protected for our use. The tunnels overhead are just...extended, normal doors until you reach the entryway into our habitat layer. It's just a city under the rocks."

"Fascinating," Harva replied, in all honesty. He flicked an ear, furrowing his brows slightly, though he didn't let on at what. "How long have your people been here? Where'd you come from? How'd you get here? Why here?"

"We've been here a long time," Avery replied, lifting and dropping one shoulder in a casual gesture. "It was long before my time. I know we came from Earth, though. We are all human here."

"Long enough for at least some divergence to take place. Culturally if not in other ways," the crewman said, studying Avery again. They were hard to read, the inhabitants of this world, harder than the humans he had encountered on the three ships. It wasn't just the body language. It was as if their very minds had gone underground as well, as if just a part of them had come up and out, and the better part was hidden under a deeper layer… much like their city.

Maybe it had something to do with the materials inside the rock which made scanning inside harder, something which had become part of them through the food they grew and consumed? Come to think of it, what did they eat? "I take it you grow your food in the habitat as well?"

"Human, huh," Harva flicked an ear, seemingly somewhat surprised by that remark. "I suppose after a few generations some differences might start to appear. Would you object to a scan, Avery? It's non-invasive, you won't feel a thing, I just kinda wave my tricorder at you and it reads things like body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and the like," he asked as he held up mentioned tricorder.

"As you like," Avery replied with an easy shrug. As he did so, if he chose to do so, she looked between him and the other one. "And of what planets do you each hail from?" she asked. The big wolf one was obviously not human. The other one, though... "You look human, but I somehow feel like you are not?"

"I'm a Sirran. My world is called Sirrah," Harva rumbled, as he waved his tricorder at Avery, keeping an eye on the readout. The machine bleeped and blorped quietly as it went about its business. "It's an ocean and forest world. My people are live in big cities, though we value the outdoor life. Hiking. Hunting. We're a race of artisans, each individual is encouraged to find a hobby related to creating something. Like art, furniture, tools. Me, I picked up cooking."

"Nope, not human," Harva's companion answered with an easy shrug. "Though I have no idea what exactly I am. I was found adrift in an escape pod and taken onboard. Thus far they haven't been able to determine where I came from, and I have no memory of anything that happened before that." None, other than some tantalising flashes, fragments which never gave answers, only hinted at more questions.

"How curious," Avery said, her eyes swinging between the two of them in a way that said she meant both of their responses. She settled on Harva for a moment. "How do you come to be a part of this group, then? From what I've heard, this is not a...hobbying people."

"No, but they leave me the space to be myself and honor my heritage," Harva replied easily, his voice a rumble. He considered his tricorder for another moment before putting it away again, confident with the readings he'd taken. He wasn't going to bring them up, but would tell her if she asked about them. "I just - sometimes a Sirran wants to leave home, see the universe. So that's what I did. I found this bunch and found myself agreeing with their philosophy, their agenda, so I joined up. Not much else to say, really."

Avery swung her head back to the other one, then. "You recall nothing at all? And with the great technology you all have--" She gestured at their camp and its collection of portable machines. "--they can still learn nothing to tell you?"

"Nothing of any use, no." A fluttering of long fingers indicated his desinterest. "And all the great technology can tell me all the ways in which I'm different from other people, but nothing about my background. The escape pod I was found in could've been adrift for five months of five hundred years, there's no telling." Certainly not with the odd chroniton radiation fouling up any readings they'd taken. "Ah well. Why dwell on the past? If it wants to disclose it secrets at some point, it will. Until then, it's a huge universe out there, full of interesting things, and interesting people – like you, for instance!" He grinned.

His comment made Harva chuckle as well. Interesting, indeed.

For several quiet moments, Avery seemed to take this in. Then she nodded once, as if finished processing, and looked at Harva. "Find anything interesting in your scans?" she asked. Her tone was still somewhat...removed but friendly, yet there was a trace of an expression that said she knew his device wouldn't find much of anything special.

"Well, you're reading 99.9% human. The .1% is the tricorder not knowing what to do with your eye color," Harva flicked an ear, his words calm and friendly. "Your heart rate and breathing are interesting in that they're reading as very calm and remarkably regular. Normally most people have some variation in their heart rate and breathing, even at rest, but yours are very steady. All in all, you're a very healthy individual, far as a technical tricorder can determine," he added in his rumbling voice.

Avery smiled again and nodded, making a noncommittal sound and looking like that was precisely what she had expected them to find. "See? Nothing to worry about. I know it must be strange to have us among you this way, but we are all excited to meet new people like yourselves. You have such an...eclectic group of individuals."

This time it was the crewman who answered. "It was equally exciting meeting your people. As you know, all our scans indicated there was no sapient life on this world, at least not in a form anyone of us had ever encountered, so you can imagine my surprise when we met. Say, do you have any records of how you came to be here? Old logs or something?"

There was a hesitation before Avery replied, but it was brief. "We have an archive, yes," she agreed with a nod. "It is maintained from old technology of the ships that brought us here, so it is protected with minimal interfacing, though some of the story has been maintained verbally through the generations. We, however, as a group tend to not spend a lot of time looking back. We look to the future most."

"Well, if it's alright by you, we would still be very curious to them so to say," Harva kindly rumbled, his mouth curling up into a smile. One he hoped would come across as friendly, rather than predatory. "We are explorers and scientists, first and foremost. Out here to seek out and understand the secrets of the universe."

"Alright," Avery agreed with that placid, distant smile and a nod. "I will speak to our leaders and see if they'll approve your access to the archives or if they'd wish to speak with you about it themselves. I hope that is suitable? I'm sure you'll understand that I can't make that decision on my own."

"That's perfect," Harva smiled, tail giving a bit of a wag. He had had the training to control his tail, considering what work he had done for Starfleet, but he chose not to use it. He figured it made him seem a bit more harmless. "I should return to my duties. It was very nice meeting you, Avery. I'm sure you can find me, I kinda stand out," he added with a wink.

"Indeed," Avery said, inclining her head slightly. "Nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll talk again soon."

"See you around, commander," the curly-haired man said with a cheerful wave, before turning his attention once more to Avery. "So, what is it you normally do? When there isn't a sudden influx of aliens wandering around on your world, that is."

Avery laughed lightly and shrugged with a casual gesture. Maybe a little too casual. "I wouldn't know," she said. "After all, this is the first time it's happened."

"More than fair," the man replied. "Well, we shouldn't be bothering you for long."

"Oh, you're not bothering us at all," Avery replied with an airy smile.

 

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