Waterfalling
Posted on Wed Mar 2nd, 2022 @ 10:03pm by Major Cornelius Tremble & Lieutenant JG Mira Jayna
Edited on on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 @ 4:12am
2,018 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Episode 12 - Risin' To Risa
Location: Elation Falls - Risa
Timeline: MD006 1130 hrs
With easy strokes, Neil closed on the waterfall as it turned the pond’s surface into a churning mass of white water. As he swam, he ducked under the surface and noted the clear water and occasional curious fish.
Nearing the falling water, he glanced back to see Jayna following and his mind replayed the scene of her stripping before entering the water and he had to purposely turn his mind to other things.
As the spray started to hit his face, Neil dove under the water again and ducked under the falling water into the calm recesses of a roughly 10-meter circular chamber under the waterfall. There was good light at this time of day and he found natural appearing rock pool edge with steps leading out of the water. He was able to seat himself, still submerged at the waist, as he waited for Jayna.
Jayna slowed as she followed Neil, giving them more space to negotiate the waterfall. She knew they would lose buoyancy in the churning bubbles and wanted to have sufficient room to navigate. Surfacing in the chamber, she tread water and looked around. She turned in a circle, admiring the sight of the waterfall from behind and then the chamber itself.
She hesitated for only a moment before swimming to the ledge. She waited for her feet to find a solid footing and ran her fingers through her hair to shake out some of the excess water and grinned. The sound of the waterfall echoing around the chamber seemed oddly muffled. Jayna briefly wondered if it was intentional baffling. Probably. The island was carefully designed. "That was amazing," she said, her voice slightly husky as she looked at Neil.
Neil smiled, watching her reactions and he let his own eyes linger on her as he said. "Amazing's a good word for it." Then he winked as their gaze met and he said, "I cheated by looking things up. They shaped the stone to deflect noise out and the moss and lichens on most of the surfaces keep the sound down."
He stood then and offered his hand down to her, helping her stand. "From here, all I know is you can find your way to the top." Impetuously then, his hand moved to trace her jawline, closed on her neck and pulled her gently into a kiss.
The tension that had been slowly building in Jayna coalesced into a heat that melted through her veins as his lips touched hers. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she leaned closer and kissed him back.
Neil's mind flashed bright, chasing away other thoughts for many fast heart beats before he re-focused. He let the kiss linger several more beats before breaking the kiss and releasing her. Creating a bit more distance he looked into her eyes and chuckled. "Well, this was definitely the place for that." Then he grinned into her eyes. "Well, most places would be suitable for that..."
"That was..." She shook her head and grinned up at him. "Wow. And...yes." She laughed at her own lack of words, and the magic of the moment. "This was the perfect place, and the perfect person." She met his eyes for another long moment. "Shall we look around and find that hidden passage?"
Neil nodded and turned somewhat reluctantly and took a step up the stone steps. Although it looked smooth, the stonework was subtly textured and offered good traction. There were debris and the stone was wet, but he walked toward the back of the cave and cast his eyes about. He chuckled as he approached a bowl that seemed hewn from the natural rock.
In their presence, the bowl lit and he saw there were torches in a metal holder about the base. "Well, they put some thought into this..." he commented as he pulled a pair of torches out and lit them in the brazier. Passing her one, he winked. "Don't singe anything."
She chuckled. "Now that would be awkward. I can hear the doctor asking how I managed to get burned down there." She walked along the back of the cavern, looking at the play of light and shadow along the back wall. They'd designed this with care. There could definitely be a passage behind a rock or a blind corner, something you didn't see until you got right on top of it--or shone a torch on it.
They took the two torches and walked along the back wall, looking for oddly-shaped rocks and openings that were only visible up close. The shadows from the torchlight helped with some, but not others.
They found a small opening behind one rock that seemed to be what they were looking for, but it ended up coming out a few meters away. Several shadows that looked promising were nothing more than large indentations. One was just an oddly-shaped rock.
On their second pass, they ran their hands along the rock wall, looking for concealed entrances. Jayna was ahead of Neil and found a modern bathroom with a bedroom next door. "For those who don't want to rough it," she said, grinning at Neil. She understood the allure. The space behind the waterfall was its own special hideaway on the deserted island. She hesitated for a moment, reliving the kiss, then moved on. If it was more than a whim of the moment for Neil, there would be opportunities for others. Right now, they had a mystery to solve.
When they finished the second pass, there was still no sign of the promised stairs. Jayna stepped back and looked at the debris that should be along the back wall--and wasn't. "I bet they have someone come back here and clean after every visit," she quipped, shaking her head. " They would definitely clean the bedroom and bathroom at the very least, and probably remove anything that could cause injury. "So, we can't use debris patterns."
She moved back so she could see the whole wall. "Now we use deductive reasoning." She grinned at her companion, knowing his was very good. "Let's look at the pattern of where the rooms and the false passage are and checked the most likely space for an old-fashioned hidden latch or a section that moves when you push on it."
Neil looked over the wall carefully, then reached out at one section and grinned over his shoulder at Jayna. "Clever girl. It's an optical illusion. Perfectly painted with the right shadowing and compounded by the torches flickering to mess up the shadowing..." He demonstrated as his fingers went through a section of wall and then he was stepping up into a passage that made a sharp turn after two steps up and opened into a natural corridor.
"Nice," she said, following him. When she was back on the Pioneer, she would have to look for a holodeck program with a castle or manor house full of twisting staircases and hidden rooms. It could be fun to explore. There would have to be more to it, like a mystery or puzzle to solve or a time limit to get out. She wondered if Neil would be interested in exploring it with her, then decided she should focus on the task at hand.
The corridor wound its way up, opening slowly in the torchlight a meter at a time until they'd climbed roughly six meters and hit a switchback that brought them closer to the waterfall again. Ahead, a chamber opened up, allowing natural light to filter through. The wall facing the waterfall opened up to reveal the water cascading past.
The walls of the room were painted in murals: a sign indicated that they were representations of pre-civilized cave drawings taken from around the Alpha and Beta quadrants. Although they were taken from different species, they were remarkably similar in their simplicity.
Taking in the murals, Neil saw one of a group of stick figures gathered around a fire which also was roasting something. "I'd say they have the right idea..." he commented with a grin.
Jayna had been examining the murals and turned to look at the one in front of Neil and grinned. "They do, indeed. But this has definitely been worth it." So far, the waterfall and this space behind it were her second favorite part of the trip--after the jump from the platform.
She turned to the waterfall for one last look. "Okay. Let's continue to the top and hunt down some food before we start to look like stick figures."
They went to the opposite side of the chamber where they found the staircase to the surface behind another blind wall and down a short passage behind the murals. It wound upward, then ran into the ceiling. Jayna, who was behind chuckled. "They don't make it easy, do they."
"No," Neil commented. Then amended, "Well, it wouldn't be any fun it was easy." His fingers trace over the rock surface until they found another optical illusion and he slowly slid his hand in. Then he let his legs buckle slightly and slumped against the wall, groaning in mimicked pain. "My hand...my hand!"
Jayna leaned close and ran her fingers up his arm, stopping just before the concealed wall. She studied it for a moment, then carefully extracted his hand, pretending it was difficult. She examined his hand, then kissed his palm. "There. All better," she said cheerfully. Then her expression turned serious, except for the twinkle in her eyes. "For a moment I was afraid we might have to cut it off."
Having intended to try and give Jayna a start, Neil was distracted as she had pressed slightly against him and then went along with her rescue. "Worth it," Neil commented, meeting her eyes and he smiled at her. He reached with his other hand into the alcove and pulled a handle,
In response, the rock ceiling above them slid open, revealing the open sky.
Jayna's gaze was caught by his smile. She'd been doing that a lot today. She forced herself to look up at the sky instead. "Clever." She reached past him to feel if there was a hidden ladder by the lever. Finding it, she turned again to Neil. "Shall we see what's up there?"
He was far too close for her peace of mind, so she scrambled up the ladder and onto the ground above to catch her breath and calm her reaction to him.
Neil watched her bolt up the ladder, the swing of her hips almost hypnotic. Then he shook himself and followed her up onto the top of the waterfall and looked around.
The view was spectacular, really. The sounds of the waterfall rushing away from them and he could see the ocean on three sides with the highest peak stretching off toward the North. He walked over to a couple of stone lined rings and stepped into one, grinning at Jayna and he gestured toward the other. "There was mention of a waterslide back down if you're game," he told her. "Or, there's the option of cliff diving..."
Jayna turned a full circle, admiring the view. The mountain peak looked almost close enough to touch, seeming to call to her. She smiled at it. They'd be on their way before long. She still wanted to see the stars from up there, too. Finally, she turned to Neil, her smile turning into a grin. "Looks like you've already decided." She gave him a saucy wink. "I'm game if you are. Shall we see what sort of slide they designed?" She stepped into the second stone-lined ring.
Just as she stopped in the center, the ground below her dropped away. Neil could have warned her, she thought as she dropped into the darkness.
A Joint Post By
Major Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Commanding Officer, The Cure
Staff Warrant Officer Mira Jayna
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Pioneer
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