Out of bounds

[Sombs]

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Day 46 - Location unknown II

An hour later, Ezrael had returned to the bridge. Other than usual, Sherry was not sitting in her seat but at one of the consoles at the rear of the bridge. Moving to her side, Ezrael placed his gloved hand on her shoulder, taking a look at what she was doing. The displays infront of her were showing various bits of the Handsome Rover's camera footage. "I asked the Apahanta when you were in bed the last time. Turns out you haven't been since we are here. I thought the Commander was a bit more careful when it comes to her own body and psyche," Ezrael sounded quietly, smiling at the display.

"The Commander is fine, Captain. I took some eye drops for now and will sleep like a rock once I reach the bed," Sherry replied, pointing at the various displays. "The Rover is back and we got those nice scans. Sadly, it is not much, we'll need to analyze the data first, but the optical scans are pretty nice to look at."

Displays

"The sun is a blue giant, but the light intensity is rather weak. It should be way higher. Any explanations for this?"

"Only theories, Captain. Since the only thing between the planets and the sun are those little blue particles, I would assume they absorb light. Since we see the background stars, I would assume those particles are attracted by this sun or something else in this system. It could mean there are more things hidden here, just not visible to us. Especially the gas pockets are thick and jam the sensors of the Rover. I sent it through the cloud but the sensor efficiency was reduced to zero. Something we so far have only experienced in Omicron Minor at the destroyed nomad jump gate," Commander Aguilar explained, exhaling slightly. Thoughtful she was holding her chin with thumb and index finger.

"So you think it comes from this installation there?"

Exhaling with a voiceless giggle, Sherry threw a glance at him. He was focused on the display. Realizing he didn't joke, she followed his eyes, not being able to see what he saw. "What installation? Where?"

"Apahanta, put display five's footage part on the main screen, please." Both of them turned around and Ezrael made a few steps closer to the railing of the command stage, leaning slightly against it with his arms as he reached it while his eyes were glued to the main screen.

"To the left of the ice moon, do you see that? That's not a cloud formation, there is something in that spot. That is not natural."

Sherry stood up as well. Was he kidding her? He sounded serious. Determined. Moving to his side, she tried to find the spot he was talking about. The interferences caused by lens flares and particles made it pretty difficult. It looked more like a blurry mess. "I don't see it, Ezrael."

"Apahanta, please hold the footage at this frame, freeze it. Add a reverted black layer with 75% intensity to the current frame."

"Apahanta, zoom in on the central left area of the frame, please."

"What the hell is that?" Sherry sounded, now seeing it as well, having narrowed her eyes a bit. "Apahanta, apply non-optimized zoom on the central left area of the already zoomed-in frame. Add another inverse black layer, same intensity as the last one. Increase saturation by 150%."

Sherry turned her head to the side, facing Ezrael, who merely lowered his eyes, demotivated. Then she glanced at the picture again. "It might be inactive, Ezrael. It doesn't mean there are nomads out there."

She heard him sighing heavily as he raised his head again. "Doesn't matter. Reassign all resources we have into our defensive systems. Make sure the cloak works as soon as possible, no matter the fuel cost. I'll launch the Rover again and get closer to that thing."

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Uncharted System Stories: 18 | 32 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 85

Templates: Character | Transmissions

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