Ash watches Tylen engage the dolphin.  He realizes that his fellow scout has not taken a safety line, "Mr. Ogr-"  But then he bites his tongue to remain silent; Tylen has shown that he can swim quite well - he is hardly in danger.  And a safety line will only hinder or tangle him, especially if there are actual malicious intent by any aggressor (and the dolphin is far more agile in the liquid medium than a human could ever be).

Not that the dolphin appears to have any violent or malicious intent - far from it; though Ash will be the first to admit that the perpetual smile on the cetacean does help that innocent impression.  Ash keeps an eye on both the sophonts in the water, but he also continues to glance at his HUD display for any additional proximity alerts.  While, it seems unlikely - so, did the fact that on this rather large planet, the presence of their ship was detected and in the proximity of one of the few inhabitants that could meet with them.  Still, given the (presumed) speed of a cetacean in water - even in the hours that it took to travel from the 100D limit, the creature wasn't hundreds of miles from their present position, if it travelled under its own power.  So, aAfairly large coincidence - large enough that part of Ash remains on guard.  Either they were detected early and the dolphin was dispatched to meet them, and is not telling the whole story.  Or there is no reason for alarm, in which case, no harm done.

Also, not having actually caught the creature's moniker - having been in transit at the time, Ash bides his time hoping that someone will use it; so, that he doesn't actually have to ask for himself.  Potential embarassment would not be the main reason that Ash checks his obvious enthusiasm.  No, that wouldn't be it at all.

Marina turns away from Keryn and slips beneath the surface as Tylen drops into the water, leaving the young woman with a desperate, disappointed expression.  The dolphin stays underwater much longer than Tylen, eventually surfacing close to the ex-Scout.  "You are clumsy, yes.  And noisy.  But I will never play a violin, or a piano.  While the bone structure for hands was always part of our genetic code, our manual dexterity is lacking, even after we were changed so that the hands are functional."

"A pity.  Music is interesting.  I have good hearing, in certain frequencies, and human speech and music fall easily into that range of frequencies."

Keryn looks over her shoulder at the various crew members still on the hull, her face serious, and points at Tylen, "I want to do what he's doing.  Is it safe for me to swim?"  The pleading tone in her voice makes it clear what answer she is hoping for.

"I can't play the piano either." the ex-scout says ruefully.  "Although I may be able to learn on day." he continues acknowledging Marina's point about ability.

Tylen's swimming is limited to an awkward side stoke at the best of times, apart from when he is playing about sculling on his back or treading water, but at least he is at home in the water.  "I am not even a good swimmer among my own type." Tylen adds with a grin "Although you could swim rings around our very best." he add, reminding the dolphin that she has abilities that humans don't.

Shui hurries forward.  "It seems safe enough, Ms. Taylor.  But unless you have epxerience with swimming, you will need a flotation device and a lifeline."  For a moment, her worried expression relaxes into a smile. "Mr. Orgesh does not qualify, sadly."

"But," she continues, "if we can find a suitable flotation device, most certainly you can join Mr. Orgesh and Marina in the water...assuming Ms. Crow acquiesces."  Final decision lies in the hands of the security chief, of course.  Standing straighter, she glances around the hull, seeking anything they might have brought aboard as something functional to keep Keryn afloat.  If not, certainly they will have some device on board that will suffice.

Of course, the young woman might actually be capable of swimming, Shui reminds herself.  She hasn't seen an ocean before, but it's quite possible she has seen a pool.

Ash leans over to confer with Yasmine.  He takes a step back and glances about in a couple of different directions, then back to Yasmine for a moment.  Naturally, one of the directions that Ash glances is just to the right of Saskia.

Eventually his gaze resettles on Tylen and Marina in the water; it is a bit distant, as it is quite obvious that Ash is splitting time between the displays on his reticule overlay and the proceedings in the water.  He does smile as Tylen and Marina exchange commiserations about their lack of training with the piano.  He knows from personal (if limited) experience all too well that music lessons don't guarantee musicality.  Not in this day and age - not like the past when music was much more coherent and prevalent and performance was an art.

Keryn smiles at Shui, nodding happily, "Yas said that there's so much salt in the water that I'd have to really try to not float.  But I can tie myself to one of the ropes."

"What about it Yas?  Can I try swimming?"

Marina disappears again, and reappears seconds later to describe a graceful arc above Tylen.  When she shows her head above the surface again she explains, "You can swim faster with machines, and I can travel on land with machines.  We are each better than the other in our own way."

Then she seems to notice Keryn, "Are others going to join us in the water?"

"I don't know." Tylen responds and then executes a clumsy duck-dives and pulls himself under the water, and swims under the dolphin.  "A couple of us were playing about in the water when we spotted you approaching.  On my world the sea is full of all sorts of dangerous creatures - so we thought we would get up on the ship, just in case." he says as he treads water of the other side of the dolphin.

"I bet though, that you could make good music just  by the way you speak." he continues referring to the whistles and clicks that the dolphin uses as speech.  "Sort of sing along with the music.  I bet it would sound really good." he adds as an after thought.

Yas turns to grin at Ash and then quickly slips out of her shoulder holster, leaving only the black, small-ish bikini -- in her own mind she is naked now that she is unarmed -- giving the holster to Ash along with the words, "I called her Marina, couldn't hope to pronounce her real name, but feel free to ask her!  Hold the fort, eh?"

"Sure thing, Ker, we'll be bobbin' like corks in this water," she then says to the young woman and moves over to help secure a line.  Once that is done Yas makes a near perfect dive and briefly vanishes under the water.

Once she resurfaces, closer to Marina and Tylen, her hair is for once less of a round ball and slicks her head more closely than most anyone have ever seen.  She shakes her head and sends water flying around, momentarily lifting a hand to wipe hair from her face.

"Woohoo!  Come on, Ker, let's go say hello!" she calls out, turning around to do slow backstrokes to make sure her young friend makes it safely.

"All right, then," Shui replies once Yasmine gives the go-ahead.  "By all means, but be careful!" Biting her lip, she watches with concern despite Yasmine's enthusiasm.  But it seems the security chief will take the woman in-hand, so to speak, so Shui settles back to watch.

It wouldn't do to have all of them in the water at once, after all, and she has had her turn.

"Ms. Blake," she calls out.  "Will you be joining in the festivities?"

Ash takes the holstered weapon from Yasmine with an nod, "Yes, Ms. Crow."  He rolls the straps around the holster carefully and cradles the bundle in his arms and takes a step back from the edge.

Then he moves to aid Keryn to get in the water.  He places the gun and holster on the hull next to him (uphill, of course - placing himself between the weapon and the water), so as to free up his hands to help secure an EVA line to their passenger.  "Ms. Taylor," Ash asks as he tugs on the line to the harness, "Is that snug enough?  But not too snug, right?"  Once satisfied with the knots and the comfort level for Keryn, he pulls on the other end to make sure it is well secured to the hull.

Then Ash sits down next to where the various lines are secured to the hull, placing Yasmine's gun in his lap.  He offering one to Shui as well.  "Ms. Tiesi?" he ventures, holding out the cable in her direction, "will you require one as well?"

"No, I don't think so." Saskia shakes her head at Shui, "Not just yet anyway.  I have some reading to do.  Plus I can swim, but I prefer to do it in places where there are handsome young lifeguards with large expanses of rippling muscle and smaller expanses of tight swimming shorts."

She blushes, and giggles, "Just in case I get into difficulties, of course."

Shui watches as Ash sets up Keryn for her swim; the man knows his business, she's pleased to see.  When he offers her a line, her eyebrows rise slightly, then she bows.  "I appreciate the offer, Mr. Tescali.  But I have already been in today, and someone should watch the deck."  She waves her dataglove.  "I am perfectly capable of monitoring the sensors myself - I have had some small experience with such things.  And I'm certain our new friend would have warned us by now if there were dangerous creatures lurking in the depths."

A sweep of her hand indicates the ocean.  "But you have not availed yourself - please, take the line and allow me to replace you on watch.  I have a decent amount of experience swimming; now that it has been judged safe, should I join the group afterward, I shouldn't need a line."

She nods her head.  "Please?"

Those eyebrows shoot up further at Saskia's explanation, and Shui blinks a few times, one corner of her mouth twitching.  "Of course, Ms. Blake.  Muscles are certainly of use in rescue operations - carrying you out of the water, your hands upon your saviour's broad, heaving chest..."  Shui trails off, tapping her chin with a fingertip.  "Apologies.  I briefly made an attempt at writing romance novels.

Saskia smirks at Shui's explanation, "Briefly?  Had to stop writing and go have a little lay down to cool off?"

"Ah..." Ash begins, though he waits for the rather humorous exchange between Shui and Saskia to die down.  Far be it for him to interrupt senior crewmembers.

Once he continues, Ash shrugs slightly while explaining, "I'd best not, Ms. Tiesi.  While, I am sure that you are more than able to monitor the displays..."  The navigator then hefts Yasmine's rather large pistol in its holster, "I suspect that this might not sit well with you.  And I would not wish to put you through such a distasteful circumstance."  He raises an eyebrow before continuing, "Unless, of course, you have have experience with such items and would not mind carrying, and possibly using, such an item."  Shui has shown herself to be remarkably coordinated, well-travelled, and able.  So, it is conceivable that the Good Doctor has used a gun in the past to good effect.  Though from what he knows of her, it seems unlikely.

Yas dives into the water, and Keryn makes a less-impressive and somewhat clumsier entry, resurfacing a moment later to clutch at a protrusion on the hull.  She coughs and splutters for a moment before using her free hand to wipe hair out of her eyes.  Then she lets go of the hull and bobs in the high salinity ocean before kicking herself a couple of metres away from the ship.  "Look!  I'm swimming."

Marina submerges and starts to circle the group, finally surfacing between Yas and Tylen.  "The other human is pregnant?"

Jago shakes his head at the conversation between Shui and Saskia, and turns to Corlan and Eneris, "You see what I have to deal with?  If anybody ever tells you that being a merchant captain is a glamorous, exciting job, just remember that conversation."

Then he pats Ash on the shoulder, "Go ahead if you want to, I can handle the gun and the sensor feeds for a bit, and I have no intention of going in for a while."

Shui cocks her head to the side for a moment, considering.  "I admit to doing research, Ms. Blake.  It is, after all, an imporant part of writing," she assures the other woman, corners of her mouth twitching.  "Extremely necessary."  She lets out a sigh.  "Sadly, there's a dearth of tall, muscular men with gentle fingers, soulful eyes, and windblown hair."

The humor fades as Ash explains the situation more clearly, and Shui stares at the pistol he proffers.  For several heartbeats, her face is blank, empty of expression.  Then she blinks, smile returning.  It doesn't reach her eyes.  "I fear I am years out of practice, Mr. Tescali.  Apologies."  Inside, Shui curses herself for a fool.  Of course weapons would be a necessity for the job, and her silly little snub pistol and its tranq rounds are down below...and ineffective for this situation.

Fortunately, Jago comes to the rescue, and the Steward's smile brightens as she relaxes.  "There, Mr. Tescali - Captain Lanza can handle the situation, allowing both of us to remove to the water, far away from his complaints." She turns a scathing glare toward her captain, though the amusement in her eyes belies her expression.  "Though you could do with a swim yourself, captain.  The exercise schedule has been a touch open of late, has it not?"

Then, unable to maintain her fierce facade, Shui begins to laugh, patting Jago on the arm.  "Dear Captain Lanza.  What would we do without you?"

"Research?  Uh-huh, sure.  But you're right, there's a definite shortage of lifeguard material around here." Saskia replies, giving Jago an openly scornful look.  "Enjoy your swim with our new friend."

The engineer moves away, looking for her technical manual.  When she finds it she goes back to her original position on the hull, directly above Engineering and settles down to carry on reading.  It takes a few moments to find where she was up to, but once she does she is soon completely absorbed in the technical minutiae of flux capacitors.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Tue 19 July 2011.

Grinning, but not maliciously, Yas swims over to assure that Keryn does not consume too much of this planets ocean, as it might leave Marina on dry land.

"So you are!  Don't overdo it, though, if you're not used to it you'll find out the next day that you're hurting in places you didn't know you had!" she chuckles and then turns to Marina.

"That she is.  How did you know?" she asks curiously as she reaches out, slowly, to touch Marina.  Somehow it feels like she ought to do it, but then, perhaps not, so best let their visitor decide.

Ash merely smiles at Shui and her answer nodding, there is a little sadness in his eyes, though for what no one can really say.   He appears about to say something, his mouth opening.  But then Jago relieves him of duty for the moment, and Ash closes his mouth and turns towards his Captain.

He nods again, but this time more curtly, more professionally.  "Aye, Captain." Ash notes dutifully.  He carefully hands the holstered pistol to Jago as he stands, noting "Thank you."  Then Ash folds up his reticule arm and strips off his integrated headband - setting the displays dim, but activating the audible alarms and he hands the rig to Jago as well.

"Shall we?" he gestures to the waters edge as he glances at Shui.  Ash follows her to the water's edge stopping to secure a line.  Ash ties the EVA line around his waist with a simple mariner's knot.  He clips the loops to ensure that it doesn't come inadvertently undone and slips simply and easily into the water.  There is very little splash and very little noise as he does so.  He frog paddles his way slowly, but assuredly, and fairly quietly towards the gaggle of swimmers and Marina, keeping his head above the water the entire time.  He seems to be listen to the chatter around him and particularly interested in Yasmine's query to Marina about how the cetacean knew of Keryn's 'delicate condition'.  As he approaches the other swimmers, he shades his position towards Keryn - carefully avoiding her line.  It is just in case the young lady needs any additional help, though Ash is certain that Yasmine can handle pretty much anything.

Tylen sort of half floats  while treading water -  kicking his legs gently and waving his arms slowly across the surface of the water to keep himself in a more or less upright position as he watched marina and the others interact.

For a moment he lets his body go ridged and stops kicking so that he slides under the water.  With a gentle kick he returns to the surface, snorting a little excess water from his nose and blinking hard to clear the extra salty water from his eyes.

Then just maintains his position as he watches the others gather around the Dolphin and it suddenly a thought occurs to him --- I wonder if she feels threatened.

The dolphin doesn't move as Yas reaches out to her.  Right up until the point where she suddenly turns slightly and grasps the former Marine's hand with one of her own genetically altered flippers.  "I am glad to meet you." she says, laughing and shaking Yas' hand.

Keryn laughs and moves closer, swimming clumsily but with increasing confidence.

"I can [untranslated squeal] the infant, inside her.  There is no human word for that sense?  I shall try to explain.  I can emit pulses of high frequency sound which let me move about safely in darkness.  They also allow me to detect the infant, for example, or the small piece of metal in your left leg." 

Ash and Shui move towards the group gathering around Marina, who doesn't seem in the the least bit concerned.

On the ship, Corlan and Eneris are busy attaching safety lines, while Jago goes to sit close to Saskia.  "You really ought to go swimming." he says, "I don't know when we'll get another chance to relax like this."

She can't help miss the look in Ash's eyes, and there's nothing she can do to fix it.  Not that she knows, at least.  So Shui simply gives Jago a grateful nod as Saskia moves off to read.  She watches the Engineer go, a little sad that the other woman won't be joining them in the water.  But...choices.

"Of course, Mr. Tescali," she answers Ash, putting on a smile and heading to the water's edge with him.  Ignoring the lifelines - for it seems their security team has judged it safe, and she is a good swimmer - Shui dives in as Ash slides into the water.  She goes deep, this time, suddenly wanting to be far away from the talk, the light, the uncomfortable tension.  Just for a moment; a small indulgence.

Underwater, she closes her eyes and lets the air bubble from between her lips.

Breaking through the gentle waves, Shui locates the others - Tylen at a slight distance from the group, Ash already joining them - and swims over to present herself to their gues.  "Ms. Taylor," she calls out as she does.  "Is all well?"

"Fascinating," Ash notes as he bobs near the group, "your sonic echolocation is sensitive enough and yet strong enough to penetrate intervening layers of soft tissue..."

He shakes his head slightly, and then after a pause notes quietly to no one in particular, "Incredible.  Positively incredible."

Using the name that Yasmine has supplied him, "Marina..." Ash ventures eagerly, "How far can you sense things with echolocation?  And is it true that you can actually stun fish with the pressure wave created by the sonic waves."  He's read about such actions by dolphins.  But, Ash has only seen (okay, well actually experienced on the receiving end) that kind of power with artificial sonic stunners.  Though that was slightly different, being in the less dense medium of air.  Generating a pressure wave in water is both easier and harder all at once.  It requires much more energy, but once that initial barrier energy is expended, the wave propogates much more easily in a denser medium.

"Ah, low frequency, ultrasound, yeah?  Know a little, not much, but some weapons...  I what?  Left leg?"  Yas chuckles as she shakes the hand, then attempts to lift her leg to look at it, naturally sinking below the surface in doing so, but not before displaying that she at least is still flexible.

Under the water she quickly examines her leg but finds nothing wrong with it so she resurfaces and chuckles again.  "I'll have the doc here check it up later, didn't even know I had another memento in there, ha!"

"Hey, Sassy, c'mon!  It's nice!" she calls out to the engineer, waving at her to join them all in the water.  "We're not crowding you, are we?" she asks, noticing that people start to gather around.

"I do not believe my ancestors could have done so quite so readily, but when humans gave us hands, they improved other things as well," Marina explains to Ash, "all with a view to making certain tasks easier for us.  I can detect echoes at least as far as humans can see in air, but as with human sight, accuracy and accuity diminish with range.  My ancestors' eyes were also altered, to give better visual capabilities out of water."

"Stunning fish is easy.  They already act as if they are half stunned anyway."  Another laugh from the dolphin, "I can stun fish yes.  And I can speak to other dolphins over distances of many kilometres, without using any kind of communication equipment."

Keryn smiles at Shui, "Yes, I'm" *gulp cough splutter* "fine."  She swims a little further, and adds, through clenched teeth and barely moving lips, "Just need to learn not to drink the water."

Marina turns her attention to Yas, "No.  If I felt crowded I could get away very easily.  It is not as if any of you could stop me."