....Arrives in the Sky

[Kirok]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

As the scientist heard the voice of the OPS worker, she quickly looked up and looked at Zex.
Her way of addressing him was surprisingly informal. Sirol could not help but wonder as to what sort their past and relationship might have been.
Putting that thought aside for later processing though, she instead added:

"œThe network calibration just finished and we are currently analysing the reading. You should be able to follow the feed"¦ Now..."
With that she relayed the readings towards the station, giving Kimball and the others a live insight.

Xasik's chuckle distracted Sirol enough for her to quickly turn around and give him a confused look. Raising one eyebrow at him it took her a second to piece together what just happened, yet once she had found her solution, the scientist squinted, shook her head and turned around towards her console again.

Was he really amused by her trying to protect the Uropygi?

She could not sense any sort of hostility from him, so she decided to not comment on it.
Instead she leaned a little forward, gently stroking the Uropygi's head and mumbling towards it:
"œNo worries, dearie. I will not let the hungry man hurt you..."

As she heard the noise, Sirol's expression seemed to light up with what could be only described as vocational excitement; almost even joy.
Moments like these were why she had studied xeno languages and cryptography!

Attentively following the noises she (barely noticeably) seemed to nod with each audible wave; visualising the structures that sounded like tightly knit circles; trying to distinguish whether what they heard was of natural or artificial origin.
A little smile could be seen on her face and she took in the noise a few more seconds before she straightened her posture again and looked towards Zex to answer her question.

"œIt is"¦ Possible"¦ This frequency range is certainly nothing common for acoustic formatting of conventional space, nor any phasic phenomenon I have ever worked with..."
She looked at her readings, only to see that the source triangulation itself was not yet concluded.
"œI recommend gathering as much recording as we can to determine the origin and whether it is a natural phenomenon or not."
She leaned back again, still stroking the little creature on her lap.
"œThe acoustic symmetry though"¦ The picture painted"¦ Is very captivating..."

[USS Flatwoods | Anomaly Site]

Zex noticed the interaction between Xasik and the small creature and Sirol.  She didn't think anyone could digest a tholian creature, but she might be wrong.   Either way, she was confident that Sirol would not let any harm come to her new pet.

Zex tilted her head.  "Yes captivating.  It seems like a harmonic frequency.  You said circles, but it seem more like and expanding and collapsing thing.  Maybe a circle.  Loudest when it expands.  Quieter when it collapses.  Like..like it breathing?" the Deltan replied.

As they talked, the snake came out further.  Doubling its size.  Then instead of being straight it started to curve into itself.  Then the closest probe to it went offline.

[Hrafn Falleg]

[Katra Station | OPS]

Kirok came out of his office.  He stopped by the Ops station before walking to the central chair.  "Lower the volume, that is hurting my ears.  And if we have not yet started evacuating people.  Lets do so now" he said.

"Ms. Falleg.  I hope your children got off safety.  I you please we send some probes to Meridian so that we can study the affects, if any, on the planet.  Also, we might want Sirol and her team get some distance between the anomaly and them" he added after turning her way.

[Ops Centre - Katra Station]

"Affirmative Captain, and I'll get Sirol onto that." she said crossing to the Science Console and sending Sirol a quick message.

Falleg to Sirol... request from Captain... get some distance between yourselves and this anomaly... for safety's sake.  Also on personal note, the kids send Nantie Sirol love and kisses and are on their way to safety with their grandparents on New Bajor in the company of Crista, James, Ujo, Mary and Anth so you do not need to worry.  Be safe my dear, Falleg out.

[Kirok]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Another part of the snake emerged.  It curled again.  The sound became louder.  The 2nd nearest probe when off line.  The first nearest probe phased away into nothingness.

[Xasik]

[USS Flatwoods | Anomaly Site]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Was he really amused by her trying to protect the Uropygi?

She could not sense any sort of hostility from him, so she decided to not comment on it.
Instead she leaned a little forward, gently stroking the Uropygi's head and mumbling towards it:
"œNo worries, dearie. I will not let the hungry man hurt you..."

If he had heard Sirol's comment, Xasik didn't react to it. He was still amused by the situation of course and would probably have to hold back a smirk whenever he saw the Uropygi for a while to come. It wasn't very professional to burst into giggle fits at random after all, and he was a professional. Still, the situation and the work he had been occupied with had been keeping his mind off the fact that he was confined in a shuttle with two other people. Not exactly spacious. The thought crept into his mind as he pushed the amusing thoughts away in an attempt to focus on his task at hand. He regretted it instantly. Claustrophobia had been something he had struggled with his entire life. From the horrid conditions he had endured in the mines of Remus to the disgustingly cramped cell-like quarters he had shared during his years of combat training on Romulus it had plagued him. His chest was getting tighter and he could hear his heart beating in his ears. He wouldn't have been surprised if the others could hear it too!
He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.
Inhale deeply and hold it. Slowly exhale. Inhale, hold, exhale. He tricked his mind into calming which in turn slowed his racing heart. To further calm himself he slipped the stasis chamber from his back and held it in his arms almost like he was cradling a baby. He hadn't realized how much it had been straining his back. A quick check of the vitals revealed that all was well. At least there was that.
"œBad time for a panic attack, huh little pebble?" He muttered to the egg.

[USS Flatwoods | Anomaly Site]

"Thank you" Zex replied.  She dipped her head and smiled.   Then returned to her piloting duties.

Before she know it she could hear a noise threw the audio imput from the probes.  It was eerie and nothing like anything she had ever heard before.  "Is that the snake?" she asked.

The sound was strange and it irritated his ears slightly. He couldn't describe exactly what he was hearing, almost like something scratching against metal if he had to try to explain it. It was tolerable at least, as long as he didn't have to listen to it for an extended period of time. He barely heard the conversation between the other two as they discussed the sound. His mind was still a little cloudy with the last lingering remnants of his panic attack. The sound certainly didn't help ease his mind so he continued to focus on his egg. He probably seemed rude and like he was ignoring them. He would apologise later if need be. Claustrophobia couldn't be helped and he had learned from others over his years of travelling that there was no shame in admitting he struggled with it.

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Another part of the snake emerged.  It curled again.  The sound became louder.  The 2nd nearest probe when off line.  The first nearest probe phased away into nothingness.

Xasik grit his teeth as the sound became louder. Now it was hurting his ears. Almost desperately he looked away from the stasis chamber in his arms and at Sirol and Zex for instruction. This was way out of his field of expertise and he had no idea what to do now.
"œLieutenant? What's happening?"

[Kirok]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

"I'm backing away" Zex annouced.  Her hand was already on the controls.  The shuttle started to move away, but they were still in line of sight of the anomoly.

"Is this distance safe enough?  Or do we need to get further back" Zex asked.  "Possible return to the station?" she added. 

[Sirol]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Falleg to Sirol... request from Captain... get some distance between yourselves and this anomaly... for safety's sake.  Also on personal note, the kids send Nantie Sirol love and kisses and are on their way to safety with their grandparents on New Bajor in the company of Crista, James, Ujo, Mary and Anth so you do not need to worry.  Be safe my dear, Falleg out.

While the message did not come entirely unexpected, a part of Sirol was almost even sad. After all, they were getting excellent readings here, and she appreciated the chance to be in the centre of everything; to be in a position to feel something"¦
Yet; As Hrafn's voice echoed through her head, the scientist slowly came to agree with the message and gave her an invisible nod.
She was right. Sirol's curiosity was no valid reason to potentially endanger the Flatwoods and her crewmates. She was glad to know that the children were safe, and concluded that the grown ups aboard the shuttle needed to be safe too.
Looking at Zex and Xasik, and the Uropygi on her lap, Sirol took a deep breath.
"œAcknowledged. We will retreat to the periphery of the anomaly.
Send the children my greetings, and tell them, that as soon as we meet again, I have a song from a different phasic realm for them."

Another part of the snake emerged.  It curled again.  The sound became louder.  The 2nd nearest probe when off line.  The first nearest probe phased away into nothingness.

His chest was getting tighter and he could hear his heart beating in his ears. He wouldn't have been surprised if the others could hear it too!
He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.
Inhale deeply and hold it. Slowly exhale. Inhale, hold, exhale. He tricked his mind into calming which in turn slowed his racing heart. To further calm himself he slipped the stasis chamber from his back and held it in his arms almost like he was cradling a baby. He hadn't realized how much it had been straining his back. A quick check of the vitals revealed that all was well. At least there was that.
"œBad time for a panic attack, huh little pebble?" He muttered to the egg.

As they were retreating the first blip was starting to fade on her screen and the scientist curiously raised one eyebrow.
There went Type IV probe number 9.
"œFascinating." She simply commented calmly, then checked her station to make sure that the live feed was still stable.
"œProbe Nine vanished. So much for the estimated 21 days left to investigate the phenomenon.
I disapprove of both, Alpha's lacklustre estimation and - potentially - unpunctual anomalies..."
Leaning back in her chair she once more took in the sounds as she suddenly noticed something else, something"¦ Sharp and heavy"¦ Not part of the anomaly or its sounds. It was near her"¦
It took her one more second to realise that it had been one of her companions. It had been Xasik. Something had started to trouble him all of a sudden.

Staring at him in confusion for a second she tried to pinpoint what was causing him the distress, so the first thing she did was turn down the volume of the sounds. The second thing she did was decrease the internal lights aboard the Flatwoods by 40 percent, hoping that a less bright environment would help calming down the specialist.
She could not tell as to whether it had been her efforts of him consciously breathing and"¦ Hugging"¦ His stasis canister, but eventually he seemed to somewhat calm down again, mumbling to his container.
Little Pebble?! Did he just talk to one of his rock samples?
He was a geologist through and through it seemed...
It was certainly an odd strategy to calm down, but then again it worked and who was she to judge someone else's methods of relaxation?!

She turned around towards Zex again, deciding to not address Specialist Freeman's panic attack to not embarrass him. Instead she focused the Diplomatics Officer.
"œAre we still retreating??"

"I'm backing away" Zex annouced.  Her hand was already on the controls.  The shuttle started to move away, but they were still in line of sight of the anomoly.

"Is this distance safe enough?  Or do we need to get further back" Zex asked.  "Possible return to the station?" she added.

Sirol looked forth and back between our readings and Zex, then nodded.
"œIt appears safe for now, but we should keep an eye on the phenomenon's expansion rate so we can adjust our position if necessary."

Towards the next question she paused and mused for a moment.
So far they had not gotten any orders to return, so she assumed that Hrafn and Captain Kirok wanted the Flatwoods where she was.
And to Sirol it was logical. As long as there was no imminent danger, there was no reason to abort.

"œThat will be up to our Commanders to decide. Until then I recommend that we keep the stream active for as long as we can."

Xasik grit his teeth as the sound became louder. Now it was hurting his ears. Almost desperately he looked away from the stasis chamber in his arms and at Sirol and Zex for instruction. This was way out of his field of expertise and he had no idea what to do now.
"œLieutenant? What's happening?"

Towards Freeman's question Sirol rotated her chair once more and looked at him.
Judging by his facial expression the sound was still causing him distress, so she once more toned it down.
"œThe spacial and phasic vicinity are noticeably"¦ Amalgamating"¦ Allowing the creature known as "˜The Snake' to cross. Come." She began quickly; almost even with enthusiasm.

After a few seconds she eventually added.
"œCome, have a look at the readings, you might find them interesting."
Doing a polite gesture towards the Reman, she invited him to have a look over her shoulder, while she made space for him and playfully lifted the Uropygi from her lap up to her chest, and gave it a gentle boop with her nose.

[Kirok]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Zex looked from Sirol back to the Xasik.  She saw the egg in his arms.  She immediately knew what it was given allow her work with Eydis and her trip to Tholia.

"Welcome little one" she said.  Not wanting to be impolite.  Then she turned back to the anomaly.

"Ok.  But my hand is staying on the reverse control.  And as soon as we are giving the order, pulling back to the station" Zex replied.

[USS Seleya]

Members of the away team started to arrive on the bridge of the Seleya.  They started logging into their duty station.  Then preparing to launch.

[Amarande Xiiv]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Zex looked from Sirol back to the Xasik.  She saw the egg in his arms.  She immediately knew what it was given allow her work with Eydis and her trip to Tholia.

"Welcome little one" she said.  Not wanting to be impolite.  Then she turned back to the anomaly.

"Ok.  But my hand is staying on the reverse control.  And as soon as we are giving the order, pulling back to the station" Zex replied.

[USS Seleya]

Members of the away team started to arrive on the bridge of the Seleya.  They started logging into their duty station.  Then preparing to launch.

[USS Seleya | Bridge]

Dr Amarande Xiiv took her station on the bridge, still an unfamiliar concept and logged in, probably looking as tired as she felt. She'd had little in the way of downtime, as had they all, and had to close out Kal's case. Thankfully, he had made it through the operation, which is all she was told through official channels. Another patient saved was always good news but it had been an exhausting wait for information to update his file. That file had now been taken over by someone else in Starfleet. There was relief in that, knowing Starfleet would do him right, whatever that right turned out to be.

She glanced across the bridge and offer a slight smile to the others taking their stations. It was going to be a bumpy ride. No raktajino for her at the moment, though she was contemplating some whenever they'd cleared the worst of the mission. Maybe with caramel this time.

"Medical is ready, sir," she said with a nod.

[Sirol]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Zex looked from Sirol back to the Xasik.  She saw the egg in his arms.  She immediately knew what it was given allow her work with Eydis and her trip to Tholia.

"Welcome little one" she said.  Not wanting to be impolite.  Then she turned back to the anomaly.

"Ok.  But my hand is staying on the reverse control.  And as soon as we are giving the order, pulling back to the station" Zex replied.

Running the oddly musical noise through several filters and decryption software Sirol just quietly looked at the visualisation.
Unlike the circles and spheres she saw in it, the starfleet software converted everything into a single wave form, and it would be up to her to dissect the individual layers of sound manually"¦
Centuries of technological development, yet still the most powerful computer remained that of intuitive (and in her case synesthetic) life forms"¦

She looked over towards Zex and Freeman, yet Zex's reaction towards his stasis canister confused the scientist.
"œ...Little one?"
Raising one eyebrow, she just looked at the Diplomatics Officer.
Under normal circumstances, her "˜gut feeling' might as well have told her that there was one more with them, with the egg in stasis and hence not sentient yet though, Sirol was simply unable to pick up on it being a life form. And while she had had contact with Tholians - even prior to her assignment to Katra - she had never seen a Tholian child- nor an egg one. Zex's reaction though had triggered the scientist's curiosity"¦

As Zex herself though focused on the anomaly again, Srfol was pulled out of her own speculations. For now.
"œExcellent. Hopefully we will not have to make our escape, but we better stay prepared and vigilant."
Once again leaning a little forwards in her chair she pointed at her readings with a nod of her head.
"œI tend to recognise languages and codes with relative ease, and this here"¦ Is very much out of the norm of a conventionally developed language. Not stating that was impossible, yet I would argue that the noise most likely fulfils a different purpose.
"¦ The mentioned expansions and contractions, the shape"¦
I think it may be some form of either position marking or a sort of echolocation - and I am using this term very vaguely considering the lack of a physical medium to help soundwaves travel in a vacuum. Yet either or, a multitude of other waves do travel and move, and we are dealing with an artificial conversion here after all... "

[Hrafn Falleg]

[Bridge - Seleya]

"Ensign Rojol isn't it?" the CSO said with a smile noticing the Romulan... being blonde and Romulan was quite a combination.  "I'm glad to have someone from Ops with us on the Bridge, I used to have to double up sometimes!  I prefer to stick to Sciences but I've had a lot of experience around the area so if you need to prick my brain, please just ask."

Hrafn gave a small bow in the Romulan's direction and introduced herself,  "Lt. Hrafn Falleg-Tekin, CSO.  I wish we could have met under better circumstances but needs must and we'll rectify it once matters are less... pressing!" then turned to log in and get the telemetry from the probes.

Her PADD beeped and rather than unhook it, since she was logged onto the Science console she quickly accessed her personal messages in case it was Sirol or anything important relating to the situation at hand.

As it was, it wasn't... however it was a message from her mother in law, Tekin Coardi, indicating that she and Lamar Snr. (her father in law, for whom her son was named) would be more than happy to see their grandchildren, and the adults.  Plus a P.S. that the neighbours would be happy to accommodate any of the civilians if they didn't want to stay in Starfleet facilities.

Hrafn smiled.  It was times like this she remembered how good her in laws were to her, and why she loved Nevir so much.

Sighing, she mentally promised herself that all of them would have to vacation together, including Ruthie at some point.  Humming to herself she waited for Kyle to give the order to leave.

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

While the message did not come entirely unexpected, a part of Sirol was almost even sad. After all, they were getting excellent readings here, and she appreciated the chance to be in the centre of everything; to be in a position to feel something"¦
Yet; As Hrafn's voice echoed through her head, the scientist slowly came to agree with the message and gave her an invisible nod.
She was right. Sirol's curiosity was no valid reason to potentially endanger the Flatwoods and her crewmates. She was glad to know that the children were safe, and concluded that the grown ups aboard the shuttle needed to be safe too.
Looking at Zex and Xasik, and the Uropygi on her lap, Sirol took a deep breath.
"œAcknowledged. We will retreat to the periphery of the anomaly.
Send the children my greetings, and tell them, that as soon as we meet again, I have a song from a different phasic realm for them."

As they were retreating the first blip was starting to fade on her screen and the scientist curiously raised one eyebrow.
There went Type IV probe number 9.
"œFascinating." She simply commented calmly, then checked her station to make sure that the live feed was still stable.
"œProbe Nine vanished. So much for the estimated 21 days left to investigate the phenomenon.
I disapprove of both, Alpha's lacklustre estimation and - potentially - unpunctual anomalies..."
Leaning back in her chair she once more took in the sounds as she suddenly noticed something else, something"¦ Sharp and heavy"¦ Not part of the anomaly or its sounds. It was near her"¦
It took her one more second to realise that it had been one of her companions. It had been Xasik. Something had started to trouble him all of a sudden.

Staring at him in confusion for a second she tried to pinpoint what was causing him the distress, so the first thing she did was turn down the volume of the sounds. The second thing she did was decrease the internal lights aboard the Flatwoods by 40 percent, hoping that a less bright environment would help calming down the specialist.
She could not tell as to whether it had been her efforts of him consciously breathing and"¦ Hugging"¦ His stasis canister, but eventually he seemed to somewhat calm down again, mumbling to his container.
Little Pebble?! Did he just talk to one of his rock samples?
He was a geologist through and through it seemed...
It was certainly an odd strategy to calm down, but then again it worked and who was she to judge someone else's methods of relaxation?!

She turned around towards Zex again, deciding to not address Specialist Freeman's panic attack to not embarrass him. Instead she focused the Diplomatics Officer.
"œAre we still retreating??"

Sirol looked forth and back between our readings and Zex, then nodded.
"œIt appears safe for now, but we should keep an eye on the phenomenon's expansion rate so we can adjust our position if necessary."

Towards the next question she paused and mused for a moment.
So far they had not gotten any orders to return, so she assumed that Hrafn and Captain Kirok wanted the Flatwoods where she was.
And to Sirol it was logical. As long as there was no imminent danger, there was no reason to abort.

"œThat will be up to our Commanders to decide. Until then I recommend that we keep the stream active for as long as we can."

Towards Freeman's question Sirol rotated her chair once more and looked at him.
Judging by his facial expression the sound was still causing him distress, so she once more toned it down.
"œThe spacial and phasic vicinity are noticeably"¦ Amalgamating"¦ Allowing the creature known as "˜The Snake' to cross. Come." She began quickly; almost even with enthusiasm.

After a few seconds she eventually added.
"œCome, have a look at the readings, you might find them interesting."
Doing a polite gesture towards the Reman, she invited him to have a look over her shoulder, while she made space for him and playfully lifted the Uropygi from her lap up to her chest, and gave it a gentle boop with her nose.

The Trill CSO checked her readings and then reset the console and checked again... Telemetry from probe 9 was missing.

Falleg to Sirol, message received... was just wondering... what's with probe 9?  Is that a hiccough on our end, we did have a few teething problems when we took her out before but Ensign Riss ironed out all of those we think, so wondered if you're showing similar your end.

[Kirok]

[USS Seleya | Bridge]

Dr Amarande Xiiv took her station on the bridge, still an unfamiliar concept and logged in, probably looking as tired as she felt. She'd had little in the way of downtime, as had they all, and had to close out Kal's case. Thankfully, he had made it through the operation, which is all she was told through official channels. Another patient saved was always good news but it had been an exhausting wait for information to update his file. That file had now been taken over by someone else in Starfleet. There was relief in that, knowing Starfleet would do him right, whatever that right turned out to be.

She glanced across the bridge and offer a slight smile to the others taking their stations. It was going to be a bumpy ride. No raktajino for her at the moment, though she was contemplating some whenever they'd cleared the worst of the mission. Maybe with caramel this time.

"Medical is ready, sir," she said with a nod.

[Bridge - Seleya]

As the others arrived, Happy the hologram navigation officer appeared.  "Hello Doctor.  To where are we off to today?  Another exploratory mission?  Defending our boarder?  Or much better a trip to Risa for some RnR?" he asked and took a seat.

While waiting he ran all the preflight steps.  Got clearance to launce.  And was prepared to un-lock the docking clamps.

[Gideon Drake]

[Lieutenant JG Gideon "The Gryphon/Griff" Drake | Bridge | Deck One | USS Seleya]

Griff was surprised to learn that Lieutenant Conely hadn't reported to the Seleya. As such, he was reassigned over to the new starship. So he simply took the Squall and docked it in its shuttlebay, however the bloody hell big it was.

As he made his way to the bridge, Griff realized that it's going to be his first time flying a starship. He felt he would've been more comfortable flying, or taking the helm, at most, a Steamrunner or a Norway-class starship, or for oldies, a Constellation or a Centaur. Small and manoeuvrable.

"Junior Lieutenant Drake reporting for duty," as he said when he arrived.

[Sirol]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Falleg to Sirol, message received... was just wondering... what's with probe 9?  Is that a hiccough on our end, we did have a few teething problems when we took her out before but Ensign Riss ironed out all of those we think, so wondered if you're showing similar your end.

At the incoming call, Sirol raised her head again.
"Your readings are correct. Probe 9 most likely vanished within the intensifying phasic overlap. We are currently out of reach to get a physical confirmation, but the surrounding probes are unharmed and operational.
Upon establishing the network we calculated a 15% excess, meaning we can safely afford to lose five more probes without losing network coverage, any further losses though will gradually cost us precision.
I recommend gathering and processing as much data as possible while the network is still fully operational."

Leaning back in her chair again, she exchanged glances with Zex and Freeman, then looked at the Uropygi in her arms. Giving it a little smile, she - almost unnoticeable to the other two - mumbled. "œ...I suppose that was not how you imagined your first away mission, was it, little Hero?"

Taking another deep breath she leaned forward again, then added towards Hrafn.
"We are holding position at the periphery of the anomaly, trying to relay as much as possible with the assets given. Let us know if the overall transmission quality starts to drop."

[Kirok]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Running the oddly musical noise through several filters and decryption software Sirol just quietly looked at the visualisation.
Unlike the circles and spheres she saw in it, the starfleet software converted everything into a single wave form, and it would be up to her to dissect the individual layers of sound manually"¦
Centuries of technological development, yet still the most powerful computer remained that of intuitive (and in her case synesthetic) life forms"¦

She looked over towards Zex and Freeman, yet Zex's reaction towards his stasis canister confused the scientist.
"œ...Little one?"
Raising one eyebrow, she just looked at the Diplomatics Officer.
Under normal circumstances, her "˜gut feeling' might as well have told her that there was one more with them, with the egg in stasis and hence not sentient yet though, Sirol was simply unable to pick up on it being a life form. And while she had had contact with Tholians - even prior to her assignment to Katra - she had never seen a Tholian child- nor an egg one. Zex's reaction though had triggered the scientist's curiosity"¦

As Zex herself though focused on the anomaly again, Srfol was pulled out of her own speculations. For now.
"œExcellent. Hopefully we will not have to make our escape, but we better stay prepared and vigilant."
Once again leaning a little forwards in her chair she pointed at her readings with a nod of her head.
"œI tend to recognise languages and codes with relative ease, and this here"¦ Is very much out of the norm of a conventionally developed language. Not stating that was impossible, yet I would argue that the noise most likely fulfils a different purpose.
"¦ The mentioned expansions and contractions, the shape"¦
I think it may be some form of either position marking or a sort of echolocation - and I am using this term very vaguely considering the lack of a physical medium to help soundwaves travel in a vacuum. Yet either or, a multitude of other waves do travel and move, and we are dealing with an artificial conversion here after all... "

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

To Sirol's question about 'little one' the Deltan smiled.  It was not her secret to tell.  Xasik would when he was ready she expected.

"I'm totally with you about that" Zex added.  "The snake keeps getting bigger and seems to be affecting the probes.   Watching the probes will tell us when we need to split" the Deltan said.

The snake then doubled in size again.  Two more probes phased away.  Then a 3rd.

[Xasik]

[USS Flatwoods | Anomaly Site]

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Leaning back in her chair she once more took in the sounds as she suddenly noticed something else, something"¦ Sharp and heavy"¦ Not part of the anomaly or its sounds. It was near her"¦
It took her one more second to realise that it had been one of her companions. It had been Xasik. Something had started to trouble him all of a sudden.

Staring at him in confusion for a second she tried to pinpoint what was causing him the distress, so the first thing she did was turn down the volume of the sounds. The second thing she did was decrease the internal lights aboard the Flatwoods by 40 percent, hoping that a less bright environment would help calming down the specialist.
She could not tell as to whether it had been her efforts of him consciously breathing and"¦ Hugging"¦ His stasis canister, but eventually he seemed to somewhat calm down again, mumbling to his container.

Xasik was infinitely grateful when Lieutenant Sirol lowered the volume of the grating sound and dimmed the lights inside the shuttle down. While the lighting wasn't the cause of his distress per say, it still helped to sooth him nonetheless. He could think again, he could hear himself think. The sound was still there of course, but it was back to being a minor irritation and not like claws scratching over metal, or as some of the humans he had worked with in the past would say - nails on a chalkboard - whatever that was. In any case he was glad that the sound was no longer grating. He was gladder still when she lowered the lights.
"œThank you," he muttered, unsure if she had heard it.

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >

Zex looked from Sirol back to the Xasik.  She saw the egg in his arms.  She immediately knew what it was given allow her work with Eydis and her trip to Tholia.

"Welcome little one" she said.  Not wanting to be impolite.  Then she turned back to the anomaly.

"Ok.  But my hand is staying on the reverse control.  And as soon as we are giving the order, pulling back to the station" Zex replied.

< USS Flatwoods / Anomaly Site >
Towards Freeman's question Sirol rotated her chair once more and looked at him.
Judging by his facial expression the sound was still causing him distress, so she once more toned it down.
"œThe spacial and phasic vicinity are noticeably"¦ Amalgamating"¦ Allowing the creature known as "˜The Snake' to cross. Come." She began quickly; almost even with enthusiasm.

After a few seconds she eventually added.
"œCome, have a look at the readings, you might find them interesting."
Doing a polite gesture towards the Reman, she invited him to have a look over her shoulder, while she made space for him and playfully lifted the Uropygi from her lap up to her chest, and gave it a gentle boop with her nose.

Xasik tensed as Zex greeted the unhatched egg in his canister. He gave her nod and a strained smile. He wasn't really ready to have that conversation with anyone yet, especially not with the situation they were currently in. He chose not to say anything and instead took Lieutenant Sirol up on her offer to look over the readings. She had even made space for him, which he appreciated. He held in another snicker as he watched her boop the creature she was holding. He was hungry, sure, but he would never eat someone's companion. "œFascinating," he mumbled as he watched the data being collected, careful to keep his canister safely in his arms.

He backed away again when he heard the incoming call. He settled himself back where he had been and re positioned the canister safely on his back after once again checking the status and operational time remaining. He still had plenty of time to get the egg set up properly.