"Silicon Mystery"
[previous "Colorful Thoughts"]

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Setting: LOCUS 3
Stardate: 30148.1145

He stood next to the stopped four-wheel drive craft while scratching his head. His task had been to give directions to Commander Maya using the information that had been transferred from the VIPER to his tricorder. The problem was that he had lost the tricorder right after the jump over the chasm.  As much as he might have wanted to, there had been no way to get the tricorder out of the pool of lava it had vanished into.

"We are lost, aren't we?"

The low growl in Wydran's question made it known to everyone that he had been less than pleased. By now, everyone had been more than a little anxious about getting off this hell moon.

"We are not lost. Being lost would imply that we do not know where we are. We know where we are, we simply do not know which way to go to reach our destination."

Commander Maya said from the driver seat of the LOCUS, clarifying the situation and making the OPS officer feel like he had failed in his task and responsibilities to the rest of the crew.  His task had been a simple one, a fact that only made matters worse as he looked at the nearby hills and distant volcanoes.

"If it was not for the constantly changing landscape or the complete cloud cover it would be easy to get our bearings. Right now we will be lucky if we don't get completely turned around and end up back to the SPHINX and those silicone things we moved away from."

Jayson had been just as annoyed by their situation. Even more so when the other LOCUS came to stop next to them and the Captain walked up to him.

"Problems Ensign?"

"I'm sorry Captain.  I lost the only map we had to get us to the BARRACUDA. It slipped out of my hand after the jump over the chasm and landed right into a pool of magma."

"We are all here safe and sound, and right now that is what matters most. The rest I have no doubts we will figure out in time."

The Captain's words were calm and reassuring, something Jayson found a little surprising. To be honest he had expected the CO to be at the very least crossed with the fact that they had lost their way because of the clumsiness of the OPS officer.

Jayson sighed, his eyes lost on he distant fiery horizon. As supportive and understanding as the Captain had been, they needed something to help them, to get them back on the right track.  At this point, the OPS officer had been ready to accept pretty much anything that would help in one way, shape or form.

"Captain, my tricorder is picking up new silicon signatures. Three of them rapidly moving away from us, it looks like..."

Ensign Mizore's report stopped in mid-sentence. The Bajoran woman looked at her tricorder in a puzzled way as if something did not make sense.

"It looks like what?"

Jayson asked, thinking that maybe he should have been more careful as to that he had hoped for.

"They just vanished Sir, as if they had never been there in the first place."

"I don't know about you, but I am starting to dislike the idea that we are being toyed with."

The Captain's words in reply to what Doctor Mizore had reported seemed to echo everyone else's feelings.

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Jayson Sousa

Ensign Jayson Stark
Operations
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501