Spokes and Monsters

Posted on Mon Jan 24th, 2022 @ 6:11am by Lieutenant JG Ryan Kade III

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: Unknown
Timeline: MD1 - Shortly after "Why can’t it be squirrels!?"
793 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

It grew closer. The laden stomps weren’t enough to shake the ground, but they thudded heavily all the same. The odd scraping of pebbles could be heard and, as it came closer, sometimes seen, scattering with each step, skittering into puddles and against the walls of the cave.

The lone human pushed hard with her boot heels against the ground to keep her back planted against the rock that, hopefully, would keep her hidden from the approaching creature. The light trickling of water along the surface of her cover was starting to fully soak through the back of her undershirt, a frigid wet cold crawling across her skin beneath it. The lower half of her dark brown shoulder-length hair, which had long since fallen out of its’ once neat ponytail, stuck damply to her neck and face.

Ugh, not now! Kandiss thought in frustration as her left hand wiped the errant strands of dripping hair from her vision. At the same time, her right hand pulled the tricorder out from the breast pocket of her leather vest, where she’d previously stuffed it in her mad dash to hide.

A deep gruff breath of exertion could be heard from nearby as whatever it was had reached the large room she was in. Her breath caught in her throat and, for just a moment, she forgot what she was doing, sitting very still.

When the heavy steps came to a stop, and the creature seemed to be doing nothing, Kandiss’ gaze fell back down to the device in her hand. She quietly tapped at the controls, switching over to the biological lifeform function. The LCARS interface flickered as it changed configuration. There were two solitary dots that appeared on-screen. The one in the center was her. The other one had to be the beast.

She could hear the creature as it began moving about the room again. Pushing herself off her sitting position and back onto her feet, Kandiss stayed crouched, moving slowly around the rock to stay hidden. She’d suspected the creature to sniff her out, track her down, and attack. Oddly, it did nothing of the sort.

What is it.. doing? Her curious thought preceded her movement as she peeked around the side of the rock, her amber eyes slightly aglow against the dark backdrop of the dim cave.

For the first time since hearing its’ distant growls, Kandiss could actually see it. Her would-be predator was not a four-legged creature. It was bipedal, two and a half meters tall, and covered from top to bottom in thick grey fur. The dark pupils of sunken eyes peered out through two holes in the fur.

The mammalian creature didn’t seem to notice the human woman at all as it approached the water wheel. The look it gave was a familiar one, eyeing the wooden device like an engineer would a broken vehicle. It tilted its’ head curiously as it reached for the outer edge, the ten digits and opposed thumbs gripping tightly between two of the spokes. With a grumble and a great exertion, it pulled downward, attempting to turn the wheel. The massive mill groaned and complained, resisting with all its’ weight until a crack was heard as something that had been stuck finally gave way. The echoing chasm of caves reverberated the loud mechanical winding and grinding of the mill coming to life for several seconds before dying down as the spokes stopped spinning.

The oddness of the whole affair left Kandiss with a raised brow and a litany of unspoken questions. Before she could contemplate any of them, however, something pulled in the pit of her stomach.

There it was again. She could hear a low growl, angry and menacing. It wasn’t coming from the grey sasquatch, but from the path he’d entered through.

More of them!? She exhaled in exasperation with her thoughts, dipping back into concealment and looking down at her tricorder. There were two dots on the map in this room, like expected, but further away down the tunnel there were more. The life signs were different, smaller… and they were moving fast.

The dim glow of the tricorder revealed the tense expression on her face as she reached for her thigh holster, teeth gritting as she palmed the grip of her pulse pistol. In her minds’ eye, she could see her old man preparing for another one of his speeches. ’Look girl, sometimes you need to defend yourself. Sometimes, when there’s no other option, you do what you gotta do.’

“I know, pop.” She whispered to the phantom in her head, unholstering the pistol and releasing the safety, “I’ll be careful.”