Private A Lesson Learned from Extremophiles

[Efret Farr]

While Master Farr was interested in taking a padawan of her own someday, that day had not come yet, and even seemed to be far off as she didn't get the feeling that there was all that much interest among the new generations of Jedi to commit themselves to the life of an archeologist. Even so, the interest seemed to be ubiquitous among learners at whichever temple she visited. A passing fancy was still one that ought be tended to, but Efret was also concerned that relatively fewer and few knights were truly specialized in archeology.

Perhaps she would bring her concern to the High Council one day. For now, though, she was content as always to humor a student who wanted to learn some of what her walk of life had to offer.

She had flown them to Baroonda in her starfighter—or, more accurately, her astromech droid had navigated while she only sat in the front seat of the cockpit, running scans and the like. Shan had the gunner's seat directly behind.

"Are you sensitive to smells, Shan?" asked the feminine voice emitted from the lapel translation unit clipped to the neckline of her tunic. It also scanned her hands as she signed in Galactic Basic Sign Language. "There's no shame in it if so. You just might want a respirator. There's one in the right-hand glove box under the dashboard. We're going to check out a sulfur geyser field."

Outfit + equipment; lapel translation clip (currently switched on); lightsaber (green blade color)

Shan Pavond

 

[Shan Pavond]

"I've worked in plenty of sick bays Ma'am. My nose has kinda...lost all sense of smell by now." Shan let out a small chuckle at that, rubbing the back of his neck. It was one of the brutal realities for him with working in the medical field. But it was also an acceptable loss for the Padawan. Losing your sense of smell and being able to save someone? Well. That was completely fine in his book. Shaking his head afterwards however to snap out of the thought. Taking the respirator was going to be for the best at the end of the day.

Archaeology was something that the Mirialan wasn't overly interested in. But it was something that could be a fruitful endeavour. After all, plenty could be learned from the past, and considering Shan was always trying to learn something new...He shook his head for now, trying to keep his attention on the master he was learning from for the day. "It'll be interesting to see the effects the geyser has had on its local ecosystem."

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

The master's convor, Nirrah, was seated atop Shan's dashboard, using telepathy to show Efret his mouth movements, so she might lip read them to understand. Efret herself laughed. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting that. I thought you were going to ask me what a geyser, sulfur pools, and bacterial mats have to do with the past."

A series of beeps, then a robotic whirl, came in over their connected comms from outside the sunbonnet, an indication that they were beginning the planetary decent.

When they had touched down on a small plateau area overlooking the first of the green and blue pools, Efret popped the glass canopy. It slowly opened towards the sky in halves, one forward and the other backwards. She jumped nimbly out of her seat and offered Shan a hand down to the ground. After, she began signing again. In the meantime, Nirrah alighted on her shoulder. "I thought for a long time about what I wanted to teach you, and where I wanted to bring you to do it."

She turned to walk towards the ledge. The sulfur smell was pungent even here, but Efret did not seem very phased. She had chosen on her first trip here to embrace to smell, framing it as, in its way, enlightening rather that disgusting. It allowed her to breathe deeply.

"I didn't want to overwhelm you by taking you to a place of grave environmental upset," she continued, looking over at him with a sad smile. "This is a better classroom to start: a relatively unmarred ecosystem that still exists in equilibrium. Should you wish to follow-up on this lesson, one day I'll show you one that fights for balance."

As if on cue, Nirrah took to the air. She hovered just behind Efret as the master began picking her way down the plateau.

She and Shan were approaching one of the pools soon enough.

Shan Pavond

 

[Shan Pavond]

"Oh. I'd have thought it'd be obvious. An ecosystem is a delicate balance. But it is also constantly changing. The geysers, alongside the pools might not have been here hundreds of years ago. The landscape of the planet could have been totally different." Shan nodded afterwards, keeping a small smile on his face as he leaned back to relax.

He took Efret's hand carefully to get out of the ship, and took in a small inhale, trying not to cringe at the smell. It was still going to be an acquired smell, even after all of this but he was going to do his hardest to make sure he didn't gag. Instead turning his attention back over towards Efret, listening as she was explaining why she decided to pick here instead of any of the other places that the pair of them could have went on a trip to instead. Giving a short and polite nod as he listened, instead of speaking his mind first.

"Perhaps I will like a follow up lesson. I'm always eager to learn more, and plenty of lessons I've had in the past from other Jedi have saved my life, countless times already." Of course, he couldn't see a way that learning about geysers and sulfur pools will do to save his life...But you never know. It could be a specific piece of information that he manages to learn.

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

"Oh. I'd have thought it'd be obvious. An ecosystem is a delicate balance. But it is also constantly changing. The geysers, alongside the pools might not have been here hundreds of years ago. The landscape of the planet could have been totally different."

"Right," she had said in the ship, "but that's paleoecology, not archeology. Think of ways in which this environment could theoretically relate to humanoid activity. Don't tell me yet, just think."

When they approached on of the pools, Efret waved away some of the steam rising from the water. The water itself was crystal clear, while the sides and bottom of the pool was colorful, giving the impression at a distance that the collected geyser runoff was for one reason or another murky. A blue line that was almost tall enough the breach the shallow surface meandered across the lumpy pool bed and into the adjoining basin. "This," she began, pointing at the structure, "is a thermophilic microbe community. These little guys, specifically, form bacterial columns in very hot water rich with dissolved minerals that have up come from deep within this planet. It should go without warning, but please do not touch it, for their safety as well as your own."

She looked back at him. "Now, back to the question I asked during decent. I will admit, again, that the colonies here have skirted direct humanoid intervention. The area has been studied rather intensively, but no humanoid species has affected the microbial evolution observed here.

"With that in mind, give me your best guess."

Shan Pavond

 

[Shan Pavond]

Shan held his tongue, mid speaking as Efret told him to think. Not to answer straight away. Perhaps his viewpoint of archaeology was too broad. Hm...He rubbed his chin in thought as the Mirialan followed Efret towards the geysers, before listening to the explanation of the microbes as he rubbed his chin in thought once more.

"There could be a few reasons why no humanoid species have affected them...The most simplest reason could be that people clean up after themselves but that is also the most unlikely reason." He smirked to himself at that, before trying to sort through his thoughts. It was unlikely he'd come to the answer correctly, but there was nothing wrong with him taking a few guesses.

"...Perhaps it has been too dangerous for people to interact with in the past...or maybe people have interacted with them in the past, but the evidence has been destroyed because of the heat...Wait. No. That wouldn't work. You said no species have affected them..." Hm...This was a lot harder than the Mirialan had expected. But it was still a learning experience all the same and he was enjoying it.

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

"It is dangerous," agreed Efret, nodding, "and people do rarely clean up sufficiently after themselves.

"The sulfur here would not be economical to extract," she continued. "That is why our civilizations have left these colonies alone. Should technologies improve enough and mining companies take interest in this place, these columns as we know them now would be destroyed...

"However, sometimes out of destruction humanoid-kind creates a void, an ecological niche in which for something new to exist, a reason for it to be." Efret smiled bittersweetly. "There are metal mines all over the galaxy that have been violated—chemically, physically. The chemicals, specifically, can create very poisonous environments. Though they are completely unnatural in formation, microbes like these—" she waved one hand towards the pool "—still find their way, adapt, and thrive in them.

"This does tie into Jedi history. What are some metals that are commonly used in lightsaber construction?"

Shan Pavond

 

[Shan Pavond]

"Hm..." It was true there were plenty of metal mines. It was part of why Shan tried to live a more natural life style. Of course, there were a few materials that he needed that weren't able to be regrown but very few people were able to live a life like that. At the question of what metals were commonly used for lightsabers, Shan froze for a moment. He wasn't that knowledgeable about the creation of lighstabers. Partly because he wasn't always a fan of using them. Also partly because his used wood for a lot of it.

"Well...It would depend on the taste of the wielder, but there's plenty of different metals used. Songsteel, various alloys, some might want to use duraplast, or durasteel. There's honestly quite a few differen-...Oh. You asked for common materials. I just realised. I apologise. Sometimes I go down the proverbal rabbit hole when someone asks a question like that."

The Mirialan rubbed the back of his neck at that, feeling ever so slightly embarrassed. Whilst he was used to rambling with people, it didn't mean that wasn't always to thinking too much into questions. "It's just...topics that I know about, I love to go into detail with. It's a...bad habit of mine. There's a few topics you should never get me started on, or I'll never shut up."

Efret Farr

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret shook her head. "I don't think that it is a bad habit to be knowledgeable nor excitable. I welcome any answer you have to share with me." Yes, brevity was an important skill for a Jedi to hone, but over-encouragement of it could stop up the one's flow of conscious, and thus their ability to brainstorm freely.

"Let's talk about songsteel and durasteel then. The metals are good for different components, yes?" That question happened to be rhetorical. She moved on from it seamlessly. "To get them and other metals, we must mine them from a planet or asteroid and possibly refine them." Her gaze grew momentarily quite serious. "There is little in this day and age that is extracted from an astronomical object peaceably."

Her face then softened slightly. "I mean not to suggest that Jedi should not use lightsabers; they are the modern product of a long, galactic experiment from the Rakatan Forcesabers to the First Blade created by a great Je'daii master to the protosabers of the first Jedi and Sith.

"I only wish to inform you of an aspect to them that is dark despite our wielding of them for expansion of the Light.

"No doubt you have been taught that to carry one is a great privilege, and this is true, but to carry one is also a carry a patchwork of planets' pain."

Shan Pavond