Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 16: And You And I Part I - Cord of Life
Scene 10: Complete Sight
All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you…
16.10
Complete Sight
“Dutchie had learned a lesson when the tongue-fish attacked Pichilemu Beach.”
Captain Ronald Howard, XIV, was, once again, hosting Commodore Yui Song, Commander Rhonda Carter and several other task force leaders in the U.S.S. Beagle’s conference room. A function of the ship’s holo-transporter had transformed the top of the conference table into a miniature representation of the beach of the ASA 4 colony on Rattleroot Island. The Beagle’s captain held a long conductor’s baton and was using it to point to a section of the beach.
“Our sensors didn’t pick up the tongue-fish until they beached. But Dutchie was able to reprogram the sensors to identify underwater displacement by moving bodies. And last night, we picked up such a displacement on the western shore of Rattleroot Island. Watch closely, right here.”
Skip Howard lightly tapped a portion of the beach.
“What is that?” Commodore Yui Song was the first to have noticed it.
“Something is cloaking itself,” Shadow observed.
“Very effective camouflage,” remarked Akri Dexx, the trill oceanographer. “I can see it changing colors to match its background.” She paused, then: “It is very intelligent.”
“So you noticed the angle of the camouflage?” Howard asked.
“It is trying to camouflage itself against multiple observers viewing it from different angles,” Dexx observed. “It can’t really do it, so it briefly becomes visible.”
Skip Howard used the conductor’s baton to point to one part of the creature, almost exactly on top of it. “This is the angle of observation from the U.S.S. Mako and the various pieces of the U.S.S. Escort in orbit.” He tapped lightly to the side of the creature. “And here’s the angle of observation from the U.S.S. Beagle. It’s smart enough to know that it’s being observed from two different orbits. What it doesn’t know is which ship has the more powerful sensors.
“That’s my hut,” said Akri Dexx as the creature appeared to circle one of the huts near the beach. It paused for several moments, becoming almost completely invisible, then moved again toward another of the huts. Even though this was a recording of events that had happened hours earlier, all the people in the conference room found themselves holding their breath as Lance Corporal Petra Spitz walked past the creature without seeing it, then stopped and sniffed the air. Spike evidently had noticed a strange smell, but was unable to find its source and eventually returned to her patrol as Private First Class Sasha Soko joined her.
“Whose hut is that?” asked Dean Sakura Nakamura Holland. The creature had passed a number of huts, but found another interesting.
“Gan Baatan,” Akri Dexx replied. “A young marine was in there with him last night. Raanda Habib.”
“And who was with you in your hut?” Howard asked.
“Drisk javWalirsh,” Dexx replied evenly. “He’s a beast. Do you think that was what this creature was interested in?”
“Casual relationships do not always imply causal relationships,” Howard responded. “But it does make an interesting hypothesis.”
Commodore Yui Song had watched this holographic simulation with combined interest and concern. “Just how big is that thing?”
“About twice the size of a bull elephant,” said Howard. “Want a glimpse of what this thing looks like? This is based on all the readings we took and should be a reasonable representation…”
“Let’s have a look,” Yui said.
The details of the beach cleared and the simulation of the camouflaged creature grew. As it dragged itself along the beach on a series of tentacles, one part, then another of its body turned to a solid greenish gray. It was able to roll and pirouette on its twelve tentacles, moving with a grace and speed that seemed impossible given its bulk. Its skin looked rubbery and tough. Four red-rimmed, independently operating eyes surrounded its mouth and were themselves surrounded by the twelve tentacles.
It was unfair, given this was the first contact the task force had with this creature, but it looked ominous, powerful, frightening. There was a coldness and calculating grace to its movements.
“Great,” muttered Commander Rhonda Carter.
All eyes in the conference room turned from the simulation to look at the blue-haired commander of what had become known as Fortress Escort.
Carter sighed heavily. “Isn’t anyone else getting tired of this? We drag my godchildren into this system and they start developing god-like intelligence. We set up a colony to try to protect a population of worshipful demon dogs from a bunch of holier-than-thou ants who want nothing more than to be worshipped…”
She pointed at the holographic representation of the camouflaged visitor to the colony:
“And as if that wasn't enough, Cthulhu decides to show up.”
"Cthulhu?" asked Pel.
Commodore Yui Song waived a dismissive hand. "20th Century Earth literature." She turned toward Carter. "I didn't know you were a fan."
"I'm not." Carter replied.
16.10