In the belly of the beast

Posted on 24 Mar 2021 @ 4:28pm by Civilian Arjyn & Captain Jonathan Reynolds

Mission: Mission 5 - Season of the Witch?
Location: Unknown
Timeline: MD4 21:00
1463 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

"What did you do?" Jon demanded at the alien as he coughed up dust and got to his feet again.

'This is not my doing you fool!' she screamed in his mind unable to shield her own feelings of surprise and fear at what had happened before she was able to recover her composure. She stood and dusted her white gown of the red and brown dust it had accumulated before turning eyes to Reynolds that spoke of anger and hatred but this time not directed at him. "You are going to meet beings that are not to be trusted. Ancient, powerful".

"Really, well I will take my chances. Your not exactly friendly or trustworthy, drugging me and my colleague for asking for information, Physically assaulting me while incapacitated," Jon quipped. "And your lying. I'm getting the sense of you now. You revere these beings."

She was taken aback by how easily this person was able to read her, pick truth from lie. Perhaps he really was worth more than that of a servant.

"I misjudged you... what did that women call you, Captain Joanathan Reenalds... You are far more powerful than I gave you credit!"

"Why because I sensed them?" Jon asked. "Oh ... right not everyone here can. Your very in tune with them, others lesser so. So your the chosen one for communication? Who are they?"

'Reach out with your mind... They are continuously watching and listening. Their greatest strength is their ability to learn, adapt, to understand and use nature to their advantage without sacrificing anything within nature... I have spent my life reaching for that same level of serenity.' Ajhan had started to move around the cave, looking for any form of exit or tool she could use. 'They are the original inhabitants of this world... the rest came later!'

Jon did reach out with his mind and yes they were like nothing he had ever sensed before. Pictures came into his head he assumed from them, images of the planet. Nature, flowers, water, trees. A calmness akin to when he really could attune to his goddesses. The thought of which prompted Astraea face to creep into his own mind. That caused something. Surprise. Happiness.

~Son of Methalina's race. Out so far~

"They spoke." Jon asked the other woman.

~She will be pleased. More of hers returning now she has awoken again. Yet the other side returns too. We must make decisions~

Jon looked at the other woman. Riddles. Then the connection gone.

"Why do you keep them secret?" Jon asked. "Why have they not made themselves know to our people?"

"They are innocent, perfection. I need to protect them!"
Her tone was almost pleading, not the strong individual she had been moments before their descent into this underworld.

"Except they are more powerful than I'm sorry than you sense. They don't need protection. They wish to share their knowledge. Its amazing. Oh I see," he understood now.

She was selected out. An link between the two, her people and them. They spoke through her. It was special. She didn't wish to relent that to another. Share them even.

His telepathic ability was strong and this irked her somewhat. She was finding it impossible to keep him out and she was betraying her own intentions but she could see this telepathic fight was pointless. He had already gleaned what he needed so she relented.

"Yes, I am their link to the outside worlds and peoples. But do not mistake that although they are a strong people they are also frail and need protection".

"Do you know who Methalina is?" he asked.

"I have not heard the name before now!"
She was curious as to his train of thought as it seemed to come very out of the blue.

At least she was truthful with him this time round. Jon nodded. "Ok if they are not coming back we need to get out of here. How can we do that?"

"I have not been so deep in the tunnels before... Does your scanning technology not allow you to guide us?"

Ajhan was starting to worry, panic even but she kept her composure but suspecting he was already aware of how she felt.

“I’m not carrying a scanner. My science chief probably has that,” Jon said. “I guess we do it the old fashioned way.”

He started walking and picked a direction at the first fork. It dawned on him they had no idea how far these tunnels ran and they could end up getting further lost. But they had to try.

Jon reached out in his mind, he could still sense True fairly close by. So they were still somewhere near the settlement then. His girlfriend was concerned so he mentally connected to reassure her he was alive and trying to get back to them.

“Who should my people speak to in your stead?” He asked the other woman?

"I mean who they need to go too while you are stuck here with me. Who can my people speak too?"

"The only other would be Eziria... But she cannot be trusted". Ajhan almost smiled at her comment, finally allowing herself to soften in the face of their predicament and the fact she had used exactly the same words before.

"Can't be trusted or your not a fan of her?" Jon asked. He came to another fork. Everything looked the same. He wondered if the shuttle might be able to beam them back being close up and not in the atmosphere if he could connect to one of his team and ask them to fly it up.

"I do not recognise your definition... they are one and the same!"

He was far more intuitive than she had given him credit and something about him made her want to like him. he was honest, trustworthy and inspired loyalty from his subordinates and peers, not something she had expected from an organisations such as the Federation which seemed to envelop entire cultures and indoctrinate them into their way of life, or so it had seemed for her. Perhaps she had been wrong.

"The air smells fresh in this direction!"

"Then lets give that way a try," Jon agreed.

They walked down the tunnels following the brief gusts of fresher air until there looked to be light up ahead. Jon started to speed up and that's when one of the other aliens decided to make its appearance rising from the ground. Jon stepped back in shock not expecting this but it seemed it wasn't him it wished to speak with.

"Ajhan. Our existence must be shared with the other aliens. Bigger threats are a foot than dislike on both sides of the others on this planet. The day will come when you need to lean on each other and work together. You must teach them all how to commune with the energy of this planet."

Jon wondered if they were always this cryptic, but he kept his eyes on Ajhan. More so as the being was so strange looking he didn't really know where to look to not seem rude.

Ajhan dropped to her knee's in supplication, almost reverence, crossing her arms across her chest and bowing her head.
"You do not know what the outside world is like, you must stay and let me protect you!"

"We have seen things that would give you younglings nightmares and lived through it. You cannot protect us. It is us who will protect you. And there is work to be done. Teach everyone how to commune with us."

Ajhan was ashen at the idea, these beautiful and fragile beings would be crushed by the oppression instilled and enforced by the outside but who was she but a simple servant of these beings, she had to do as directed.

They turned to Jon. "When you find her. Tell Methalina we will stand with her once more."

Jon nodded still wondering who the heck Methalina was. He didn't quite know what further to say to them and he didn't get a chance as they were suddenly carted up back through the soil again, it shifting around them and opening up about half way down the hill he had previously climbed.

"Chatty bunch," Jon muttered shaking off some of the dirt and breathing again. One of the most disconcerting parts of what they had just done to them was the worry on the journey you were going to suffocate.

"Shall we head back then. No tea required this time when we get to the top."

Ajhan said nothing but offered a simple nod of her head.

OFF:

Captain Jonathan Reynolds
CO, USS Andromeda

Ajhan - Local Witch Doctor