Rocky Start

Posted on Tuesday May 7th, 2019 @ 4:01pm by Civilian . & Lieutenant Chris Wayne

Mission: Welcome to Union Mining Station Number 42
Location: Science Labs

Chris was on cloud nine. His old CO thought that he dumped the you scientist on some "out of the way rock" to use his words. Which was true. But what he really did was give Chris his dream assignment. He was spinning in his chair in the office he was assigned to just happy in the moment.

He barely heard the chime go off. He snapped "awake" and straightened himself up before responding. "More spinning later I guess." He said to himself.

"It's open!" He called out.

Namira walked in, waving hello. "Hi. Chris Wayne?" she asked. "Sorry, there's no picture in your file. I'm Namira, just came aboard. You'll want to show me which lab's mine, so I won't turn yours into my ideal."

"That's me!" Chris said. "Nice to meet you. Just call me Chris." He smiled, getting up from his desk. "I'll take you there. I was just spinning in the chair anyway." He laughed.

"It's that boring a post?" Namira wondered, completely misreading his reasons for spinning. "I'll try to make it interesting once we open the ruins. I hope those miners will have quieted down a little, I could use some help digging."

"I'm just glad to be here." Chris explained. "They dropped a geologist on a rock pile." He laughed. He nodded. "So do I. It's bound to be interesting to say the least."

"Oh, so your work begins when mine ends?" Namira quipped. Archaeologists always stopped digging once they hit bedrock, that was when they lost interest. Geologists, on the other hand... but no, Namira figured, he'd probably be much more interested in finding deposits of useful minerals, rather than just looking at different types of rock on an alien world.

"I guess so." He said as they rounded a corner. "The labs are a little bit down from here." He smiled. "That's what I like about science. You never know what you'll find."

"If I knew what I'd find, do you think I'd go through the trouble of digging for it?" Namira asked. "Maybe this time there's some advanced technology in the ruins. Teleportation would be nice, for one."

"Oh yeah! That would save a ton of time!" Chris said.

"Though, I do enjoy flying. And I've only crashed about a half dozen times", Namira said. "Always on worlds with a breathable atmosphere, so it wasn't too bad."

"That's handy, being habitable." Chris smiled. "Could've been worse, that's for sure."

As they arrived in her new lab, Namira looked around and wasn't thrilled. "This place is a shambles", she remarked. "I'm going to install a new lock by the door and then I'll set up my equipment. I don't want anyone disrupting it like they have the rest of the station."

"That's a great idea, I'll do the same for mine. Apparently there was a riot or something." Chris said. "At least that's the scuttlebutt."

"I've seen the news", Namira replied. "I'd have thought some automatic protocols would have locked the doors to the labs, but apparently not. The eternal bane of civilisations, civil unrest and wanton destruction."

"Which is why I chose rocks" Chris laughed.

"Rocks are boring", Namira stated in a way that was perhaps a little too obviously intended to get him to try to prove otherwise. But for an archaeologist, all too often the objects they found turned out to be boring pieces of rock with no further significance than being in their way.

"Heh. You'd be surprised." Chris laughed.

"I'll think of you if I dig up a pretty one", Namira smirked. "But that'll be a few weeks. Soon as I've set up my lab, I'm going to need a shuttle and start on an aerial survey of the planet, low-altitude scans in a systematic fly-by. Say, you wouldn't happen to be able to organise a shuttle for me, one with an up-to-date sensor suite?"

"I'll see what I can do. Shouldn't be a problem though," Chris nodded. "I look forward to seeing the findings."

"You'll get them", Namira said. "But be patient. My work won't be rushed."

He nodded. "I totally understand. Haste makes waste." He said.

"Well, you best let me get to work", Namira said. "Setting this place up will take the best part of what's left of this week."

"I'll leave you to it then." Chris replied. "Great to have met you. I should probably check the other labs out anyway."