[K-G09] The Old Geyser

Posted December 11, 20168 yr

The Old Geyser

Location: G09 - Greater Drigo

Tags: Exploration, Land Vehicle, Spaceship

"Someone else has been here, Sir," said the voice of Kiri, his walkie-talkie personal assistant. "That is a Kawashita KX-1902b Planetary Observer, and has not been there long."

"I can see that, Kiri," said Henjin Quilones, the intrepid explorer. "I wonder who else has been sent to Greater Drigo. Kiri, do the logs show anyone else in this quadrant?"

"Checking logs now...no, Sir, I see nothing here."

"Very strange; very, very strange," said Henjin. "I wonder if I should call this in and report it..."

He drove his Kawashita ATV around the rocks and saw a geyser lake, one of thousands that dotted the landscape.

"Detecting a large amount of seismic activity, Sir," Kiri said. "Please be careful when driving near that lake. It may not be safe."

Henjin ignored Kiri, as usual, since she seldom gave good advice, unless one asked for nearby restaurants or for pickup lines. He drove his ATV right up to the reeds on the water's edge. He would have driven it further, except the wheels got stuck in the thick clay and refused to spin. "Ah well, I guess we'll do this the hard way."

He leaped off of the vehicle and began to patrol the area on foot, noticing how the geysers were behaving more like fountains, with continuous streams of water gushing forth, instead of a great big burst. He made a note of that in his exploration report and walked a bit further around the edge.

There, on the ground by the shore of the lake, was a Kawashita Exploratory Corps uniform, and by the fit of it, it was a woman's. However, there was no woman in it now.

"Oh no!" cried Henjin. "Somebody killed one of my corps-mates, and stole the body!"

"Shall I call for help, Sir?" asked Kiri.

"I...I don't know."

"Oh, hey Henjin," called a fair voice from the lake.

Henjin turned and started towards the voice, thinking it was some foul Drigonian geyser-lake mermaid, perhaps the one that had left that Kawashita explorer dead.

But it was just Stefannie Stryyk, the one woman in the Corps who had ever even glanced his way. And she was lightly clad, bathing in the geysers. Very lightly clad. That certainly was not regulation swimwear.