Projects > Story-of-the-Day > nature-preserve

Charlie looked over as they approached the forested area, "Hey, Donny. Wake up. It looks like we're here."

Donny opened his eyes, yawned and looked around, "All right. Let's sample a few of these things and get out of here."

"These 'things' are a protected species, and we're here to protect them."

Donny stepped out and started setting up the environmental assessment probe, "All I know is that I come from a family of developers. We find good land like this and build homes. When I look out here, I see potential being squandered by vermin."

Charlie came over and helped turn on the probe. He pushed a button and waited for the instrument to finish it's measurements, "Just don't forget your job is to establish this place as a nature reserve."

Donny looked at the probe's read-out and jotted down some numbers. He looked at the numbers he wrote, then at the sky and scoffed, "The place is already pretty polluted. Maybe this is all too late..."

They both packed up the assessment probe, and put it away in their vehicle. Donny grabbed a health probe, a small hand-held with a thin metal rod topped with a small glowing sphere at the end. He looked at it and smirked, "Time to tag a few of them!"

"Remember protocol, try to be gentle. The scientists who study them think they have some form of pain."

"Yeah, yeah. So how do we find them? I heard they hide."

Charlie looked carefully at the forest floor. "It's actually easy. You just look for herd paths. They take the same paths all the time and if you follow them it leads right to their nesting spots." Charlie pointed off in the distance, "Look, there's one."

Donny ran ahead and followed the path to the nest at the end. "See it." He pushed a button on the health probe and the animals inside went limp. He then inserted the metal probe into the animals and pushed another button. A few numbers popped up measuring the individuals age and health.

Charlie wrote them down, "We need at least one more."

"Way ahead of you." Donny had already wiped down the probe and was running down the path.

Charlie carefully returned the animal to the nest and whispered to it, "You'll wake up in a few hours and won't remember a thing." He then ran down the path.

Donny was walking away from another nest. "Already done! Let's get out of here."

Charlie looked at Donny, then at the nest. "You stunned it first, right?" But Donny was already too far away to hear him. He then ran back to catch up with Donny.

Donny was putting the health probe away. Charlie approached him, "You stunned it first, right? We think they can communicate with each other. It could stress the whole population if you don't follow protocol."

Donny sat in their vehicle, "Yeah, yeah. Let's go."

Charlie got in and the two left the planet, "Well, I hope you didn't traumatize the humans. Let's slow down a little on the next one."