Behind the Stars, Beyond the Dawn: Session 3
TIMESTAMP: (07.11.5065u 2102 CrST)
PURPOSE: Personal Log (Hrijn Udrún) [NTS(USBS-R_12944)]
DISTRIBUTION: TAGS "NTS_LOGS", "USB_CENT_REC", "NMWS_CENT_REC"
MESSAGE TO FOLLOW:::
>//[Hrijn Udrún]:: "It was a blissfully mundane couple weeks on Asamitra. All members of the Sehkni Research Station crew successfully recovered from the parasites implanted in them by a colonial-era Asamitran bioweapon. Nearer the Sun's personnel assisted in the process of getting the station once again up and running, while also preparing to investigate the two newly-manifested blinkfield signatures detected on the planet's southern hemisphere. I was asked by Keta, Malice, and Tulip to accompany them on these expeditions.
"Bright and early on the 5th, we set out for the first site: the ruins of what was likely once the colonial-era city of Talyona. Upon arrival, our initial survey confirmed the presence of a localized blinkfield anomaly, and also revealed the presence of large, predatory native fauna (a species which the Sehkni researchers apparently refer to as a 'bearodactyl' for its strange set of resemblances to both of these Cradle-native animal clades).
"Narrowing down the perimeter of the blinkfield anomaly was simple. However, navigating the spatial and temporal distortions within proved to be a much more complicated task. It took us some time to map out the metafold space that these ruins had become. Eventually, though, we found our way to the heart of the anomaly, localized around the remnants of a collapsed building in which a family of bearodactyls had made its den. The cubs took an active interest in us, while the parent slept cradling what appeared to be an ancient, rusted subaltern.
"An attempt by Tulip to interact with the creatures accidentally triggered what was likely a rapid series of paracausally-linked events that ultimately resulted in Tulip's disappearance from realspace. Malice, Keta, and I quickly worked together to track down where Tulip went. Luckily, she soon reappeared in realspace, and we were able to track down her subaltern to a location beneath the collapsed building. Not wanting to disturb the bearodactyl den further, we used the Lancaster's digging tools to bore through the rubble and find our way into the intact lower levels of the building.
"Tulip was not alone by the time we reunited with her, having two new individuals in her company. The first was the source of the blinkfield anomaly; an damaged NHP casket from the colonial era, serial number SRV_K91-325. Tulip reported having experienced something in between a vision and severe temporal displacement during her disappearance, witnessing the aerial bombing which had originally reduced this building to rubble from the perspective of this NHP, who apparently simply called herself 325. This was confirmed by the second individual now present, a human who had apparently also been stuck within this temporal distortion.
"This man was unable to recall his own name or details about the rest of his life, but he did profess to know 325 due to apparently having been stuck for quite a while in a week-long temporal loop that always ended with this bombing. Curiously, he was dressed in clothes displaying the New Madrassan Union World Science Organization logo, and he carried a keycard identical to the ones used by the researchers at Sehkni.
"We did not have adequate supplies to repair 325's casket on hand, so decided to call some researchers at Sehkni and request that they bring the proper tools for the job. Tulip left one of her miniature subalterns on 325's casket as a gesture to demonstrate that they would return, and we and this mysterious stranger set up camp elsewhere in the city to await the arrival of the supplies.
"Now, as I write this log, I'm relaxing in one of the Lancaster's (very comfortable) hammocks and sipping on some of the tea prepared by Tulip for the whole team. Though I know I should be concerned or even perhaps worried about the origin of our new guest and the state of 325, I will admit, most of all it excites me that this expedition has thus far yielded even more questions than answers."
>//[Hrijn Udrún]:: END TRANSMISSION ===
