Chapter 1 - The Crash

"Sander Lucas, thanks for having me along" He takes the proffered hand and shakes it once firmly before releasing it and taking a step back. "I don't know who Crab is but I do know the gate. Follow me"

Leaving the spaceport, Taelor and Sander take Sander's vehicle towards the gate. It lacks any comfort and amenities, but it drives. It hums loudly and leaves behind a constant cloud to stinking exhaust. The streets are never very busy, it is however unclear whether that is because not many inhabitants afford a vehicle or whether there are just too few people left to begin with. Stocky, practical houses lined up on the side of the streets. Vegetation is scarce and unplanned. A dreary atmosphere lingers, the grey cloud cover is not helping.
Suddenly when Sander takes a turn, the gate appears right in front of the vehicle. It's more of a large metal door in a long wall, cobbled together from debris, trash metal and wood.
Close to the gate is a small building with large tinted windows and a wooden plank over the door that reads 'Caracas'. Sander parks the vehicle, or rather let's it come to a halt somewhere half on the street in the vicinity of the bar. Parking is not much of a thing here, and one gets used to it quickly.
Taelor and Sander open the door and the already familiar smell of the local bars washes over them. Inside it is gloomy, some weirdly cheerful music is playing, a constant hum comes from the guests talking to each other. On the right are a few tables where guests play Karr, a local game in which magnetic balls need to be shot around obstacles into matching holes. On the left is the bar, in between are tables. There are quite a lot of guests, a diverse crowd in which it's hard to place the people to professions or interest groups.
Taelor and Sander's entrance goes mostly unnoticed, some heads turn, but only to shoot an uninterested glance and return to their respective activities.

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Meanwhile at the ship. Sonia returned with a leather bag, with a datapad and to much surprise, with a stack of paper. She sits down with Senn and starts talking about her findings. The Cloud, according to her is some kind of bacterial like fungal spores, that get emitted from crevices during times of higher tectonic activity. Sonia believes the spores get inhaled and then spread in the body until they reach the brain. Unlike popular belief, Sonia is convinced that the spores don't damage the brain, but rather obscure it, figuratively clogging connections within the brain, prohibiting the victim to think clearly. Slowly the victim is less and less able to form clear thoughts, to the point that the victim is reduced to animal instincts, unable to differentiate between friend or foe.
But Sonia is convinced that the disease is reversible. She developed a spray, that administered through the nose, binds the spores and eventually is transported out of the body. She has not been able to test the spray on a subject, but in Senn's opinion the research seems solid.
Sonia is beaming after his nod of approval.

Sander moves through the gloomy room to the bar. Leaning there he raises his hand to attract the attention of the staff. "Can I get a Cola and whatever she wants too" He gestures back towards Taelor. "have you seen Crab about?" Sander asks as their drinks are delivered

The barkeep, an older, friendly looking guy nods towards a table close to the Karr tables. First Sander wonders how he is going to pick out Crab from the crowd, but then it is pretty clear. 'Weird guy, weird name' Sonia had said and so it is. Crab is a middle aged man, with old worn out, practical clothes, tough, patched up cargo pants, a utility belt, a leather vest with plenty pockets, but then a fine scarf, leisurely loosely thrown around his neck. He is a bit chubby, and rather small, and has a weathered face, but then has well combed, well treated and properly made hair.
He is sitting with two other men over drinks and in an apparently entertaining conversation.

Taelor doesn't really want to be drinking this early, but figures these people might look down on someone abstaining. She orders a light beer and takes it from the barman with a thank you.

She makes her way to Crab's table with Sander, weaving through the crowd of patrons.

Taelor taps the middle-aged man on the shoulder, greeting him with a smile when he turns. "Good afternoon, Mr. Crab. Can we have a word with you? Our mutual friend, Sonia, said you might be able to help us."

With an unexpected speed and agility Crab turns around and gets up. Now that she is closer Taelor immediately notices Crabs intense eyes. It seems he sees everything all the time. "Who is asking? And what does Sonia need? Is she in trouble, or why does she not come personally?"

Taelor's smile falters and she takes half a step back. "Uh... I'm Taelor and this is Sander. Sonia is with our doctor talking about biology stuff. It's over my head, to be honest," she says, cracking a shy smile as she starts to regain her composure. "She said you might be able to help us find parts to fix our ship's engine."

Sander surreptitiously grips the hilt of his knife held in a sheath at the small of his back in reaction to the sharp movement from Crab. As Crab starts to speak, Sander no longer sees him as a threat and releases the blade bringing his hands to his side. If you can't find the exact piece we would appreciate a point in the right direction

"Right, finding something, sure, I can try. What is it you are looking for?"
As Taelor and Sander explain what is needed, Crab follows with a concentrated frown. "Hmm, tough, but not impossible", , he starts and then, in thoughts about the task, continues to himself, "I could check the old machine shop, over on the East side,... Or should I check the shipyard once more..." . Remembering his current situation, he snaps out of his thoughts and continues to his new customers "Right. Sure, I'll take a look. You're in luck, I'm outbound tomorrow, so I might have results in a few days. And regarding the price, we'll talk about that when and if I get the item. I will propose you a price based on how hard it was to find and you take it or leave it. Fair?"

"Uh... any way you could give us a rough estimate? We're not exactly flush with cash." Tealor grins. "Would be helpful to know if we've got to start panhandling in the meantime, you know?"

"Panhandling... Hehehe", Crab chuckles, sits back down, turning towards his buddies, "You kids crack me up. Did you guys hear her? Panhandling... Precious. " He starts up his previous conversation again.
"Erm, Mr. Crab...? The price?"
"Hu? Right, right. Don't worry about it kiddo, we'll come to an agreement. It won't be more than a few hundred creds. Max. What you don't got now, you'll pay me later." He makes a waving motion and turns back to his conversation.

Taelor turns to Sander and shrugs. "Guess that's that." She downs her drink and heads out of the Caracas.

Once outside, she pulls out her dataslab and looks at the data Sonia had sent her. "Let's go talk to this Matt guy from the fleet management thing. Make sure he doesn't threaten our ship again." Her hand twitches, remembering the reassuring weight of her pistol. She told herself she wished it wouldn't be necessary, but part of her hoped it would. Maybe the bomb had rattled her more than she'd thought. She shook her head to clear the dark thoughts. She looks at Sander, wondering if he could tell what she was thinking. His mask stared blankly back at her, inscrutable. She gave him an embarrassed smile and started walking towards the community fleet management's office.

The community fleet management office is not far away. The neighborhood is in not as bad shape as what Taelor has seen so far, but to call it "upscale" would still be a bit of an euphemism.
It's a solid two story building, painted white, clean windows, a dark grey door and a very functional and solid sign next to the door. Lights are framing the path from the street to the office. On the right side of the building is the entrance to the garage.
As Taelor and Sander approach a young man is coming out the front door. He waves backwards to someone inside and then walks of towards the street. Half way to the street, he pulls out his compad and while continuing walking starts flipping through something on the screen, a faint smile around his lips.

Taelor and Sander pass the young man, who briefly looks up and mumbles a friendly greeting. The door to the office building is unlocked and opens to small hallway, with a small glass cubicle on the side. In the cubicle sits an older man and smiles at them. As Taelor mentions 'Matt' the old man smiles. "Ah, Matty, sure, he is down the hall and to the right. He should be in his office, go right ahead" , and he points down the hallway.

The office however is empty. A small table covered in cables, devices, screws and other technical parts is in the middle of the room, a computer towards the far right corner. Just as Taelor and Sander start looking around the door opens behind them and the man from the spaceport appears. When he registers them he freezes for a moment, then spins around and starts running awkwardly down the hall towards the door.

Taelor turns around as the man from the spaceport walks in. "Mr. Matt, I've been expectin- HEY! Get back here!"

She bolts after him, gripping the door frame to pivot quickly into the hallway. She catches up to him in just a few quick strides, launching herself at him. They tumble to the ground. Taelor is no wrestler, but the man proves surprisingly easy to pin down.

She brings her face next to his and whispers through clenched teeth. "Alright, listen to me and listen to me good. We're going to stand up, walk back to your office, and then sit down and talk like civilized people. Okay?"

Trembling and hardly audible, Matt answers "OK" Taelor loosens her grip and gets up. Matt scrambles to his feet, his whole body trembling. "Is everything ok, Matty?" the voice of the old man from the entrance cubicle sounds. He is still sitting in his box, craning his neck to see what's going on. "Yea, yea, all good. I just... errr... tripped... erm... and this lady was kind enough to help me up. We'll be in my office." Reluctantly, as if dreading what is about to happen, he walks back into his office and once there, drops almost lifeless into his chair. He looks up at Taelor, his eyes asking 'What now?'.

Taelor sits down across the desk and stared at Matt, trying her best to look intimidating. In truth, she hadn't really thought this far ahead and was using the lengthening silence to formulate her plan. She drew a blank. Fuck it, she thought, deciding not to beat around the bush.

"So, want to tell me why you want to blow up the only shuttle that still regularly supplies this shithole?"

Matt struggles to keep his posture, but suddenly slumps over and starts talking. "It was... It is... He said it would be..." Suddenly he seems to remember something and continues "It is because of all those off-worlders ruining everything here. They and their fancy talks. We know best how to live here and how to deal with those zombie freaks. We don't need no-one else." He leans back crosses his arms on his chest and looks satisfied with his answer.

Taelor stares at Matt, dumfounded. "Wow... What the fuck are you talking about? This world is dying! The records on our ship said a million people lived here and there's only, like, a few thousands left!"

She shakes her head, feeling genuine sadness. People could be so foolish. "Listen, Matt. One shuttle a month isn't what's ruining your planet. I don't know who filled your head with that nonsense, but he's wrong, man. Cutting off what little contact you have with the outside world isn't going to help you. It's going to fuck you."

She leans forward. "You don't look like the kind of guy who wants to hurt people, Matt, but if you blow up the shuttle, you will. And not just the people on it. Let me talk to the guy who put you up to this. Maybe we can straighten this out."

Taelors last words still hang in the air, while the silence in the room stretches. ...'Maybe we can straighten this out'... Like a promise, a ray of hope in the hole Matt dug himself. After a long silence, Matt starts hesitantly "It seemed logical. Off-worlder bring diseases and things we don't need and charge us a fortune for it. To afford the fortune, we have to sell the things we rather need down here.
But maybe you are right, Diogenes was always a bit extreme in the things he did. Which helped us oftentimes. Keeping those freaks outside of the wall, maintaining order in town and keeping contact with the other settlements. He achieved all that. Why wouldn't I trust him. But maybe he went to far on this one. Maybe we do need contact with other worlds... Oh my god, what have we done? We need to disarm the bomb! " Matt jumps up and aimlessly starts turning left and right. It takes Taelor several minutes to calm him down.
As they sit down, Taelors compad chimes, it's a message from Sonia:

Code:

911 at my place, come fast.

A location is attached.

Taelor sighs. "Well, looks like Diogenes will have to wait." She starts walking towards the location in Sonia's message.

What could be so urgent? she wonders. Did the bombers come for them? She picks up the pace.

Sonias place is simple enough to recognise. A small functional cottage with a yard full of machinery, devices, scrap metal and the like.
The path to the entrance is clear and as soon as Taelor knocks on the door it is being pulled open. Sonia is behind the door with a clearly worried face. "Thanks for coming so quickly. We have a situation." In that moment an alarm chimes and shortly after another knock on the door is audible. Sonia smiles hesitantly, "Motion sensor at the gate." She opens the door to a young-looking man with white hair. "Hi Statton, perfect timing. Come in." She directs the group out of the, by now crowded, hallway into a small and very comfortable living room. She offers a seat to the guests and continues. "Someone broke into my study. They stole the research and a sample of the antidote. Taelor, as you know, I've been working on a cure for the Tainted and Statton here helped me. We had something that might actually work and were going to go on an excursion to test it on one of the poor souls outside of the gate. But they stole it.
I have backups, so not everything is lost and I have another dose of the antidote.
But the worst thing is: I had a container with a sample of the Cloud, those spores that cause it all. They stole that too! If they open it in the wrong place, it will be a disaster! What do we do? "

Taelor follows Sonia to the living room and sits down on an old couch, putting her feet up on the coffee table. She smiles briefly at the new face, Statton, and nods in greeting before turning her attention to their host as she lays out the situation.

When Sonia finishes, Taelor lets out a long whistle. "Well... fuck. That sounds real bad. Any idea who might have done it? Do you have cameras? Or better yet, nosy neighbors?"

She turns to Statton. "Is there anyone who seemed oddly interested in your research?"

Statton nods back and smiles weakly at Taelor's greeting.

Statton lets out a quiet "shit." and runs a hand through his hair.

At Taelor's question, Statton wracks his memory for anyone suspiciously interested in his and Sonia's research...

"Come to think of it, there was this one lady..." trying hard to grab that image from the back of his mind, Statton turns his head to his right, slightly looking up towards the far corner of the room. "Sonia, do you remember that woman? Strong, brown hair? She asked me a bunch of questions when we first talked about our findings at the mayor's office. It seemed a bit off... But maybe I'm just reading something into nothing...,

Sonia nods, obviously trying to remember the situation. "Yea, I remember something being weird, but I cannot put my finger on it. Didn't she have black hair? The one with the pony tail? But why would she break in here? " towards Taelor she says, "I checked the camera, but they got around that somehow. My neighbours aren't home."

Taelor frowns. Her neighbors aren't home? She couldn't fathom it. Space was at such a premium back home that there was always someone around. You couldn't sneeze without word of it travelling all the way across the colony.

"Say, Sonia. That lady you're talking about, she wouldn't happen to be the same lady that, uh..." She glances at Statton, unsure of how much she should say. "... that I talked to at the spaceport this morning? You know, at the landing pad?" She looks at Sonia meaningfully.

"You're an offworlder?" Statton asks, trying his best to sound neutrally inquisitive. Oh hell... well Sonia seems to trust her, at the least.

Sonia rubs her chin, thinking back. She nods, "Hmm, yeah, maybe, could be. Have you found out who she is?"

hamhambone wrote:

"You're an offworlder?" Statton asks, trying his best to sound neutrally inquisitive.

"Yeah, we landed yesterday. Engine trouble. We were lucky there was a planet nearby. Unlucky it was this one." Taelor laughs and only then seems to notice Statton's discomfort. Assuming she caused it, she looks at him sheepishly. "Uh... no offense intended."

Thelonius wrote:

"Have you found out who she is?"

Taelor sighs. "No, but I found out who she works for: Diogenes." She takes her feet off the table and leans forward conspiratorially. "Look, he's planning something bad. A false flag, maybe? To get complete control over Mani Losa." She shrugs and shakes her head. "Whatever it is, people are going to get hurt."

"Diogenes??" , Sonia asks incredulously. "But why? And when? We have to do something? What should we do?"

Statton worriedly looks at Sonia "I think we should t-take this slow" he says  "Who knows what will happen to us if we accuse Diogenes without any proof..." He looks at Taelor  "not that I wouldn't believe it myself, honestly, Diogenes certainly is... Diogenes. Sonia, may I take a look in your study? Maybe the thief left behind some clues."

Statton pauses for a moment, thinking... would the spores emit any sort of unique biosignature that he might be able to detect with his bioscanner?

Taelor nods. "Good idea... Statton, right?"

She turns back to Sonia. "Look, Sonia, I don't know. Matt said Diogenes blames off-worlders for Astyoc going to shit. If there's, like, an opposition party or something, then we could take this to them. If not..." She shakes her head helplessly and shrugs. "Then we should fix the Tsunami asap and get the fuck out of here before they come for us."

Taelor sits in silence for a few seconds, fidgeting nervously and staring at the ground. Suddenly, she goes very still, her eyes widening with fear. "Sonia," she says, her voice eerily calm, "who did you tell about the bomb? Is it someone close to Diogenes? If he knows we know..."

Statton nods at Taelor. I should have come up with a false name... Steven? Sanders? Statos?

"Taelor, was it?"

He buries his head in his compad for a moment and begins typing away...

Quote :

"Look, Sonia, I don't know. Matt said Diogenes blames off-worlders for Astyoc going to shit. If there's, like, an opposition party or something, then we could take this to them. If not..."

"Hach, Diogenes is an idiot. He is going to blame anybody for anything if it helps his popularity. He just likes to be in charge. But unfortunately there are no real parties. Once in a while there is is an election, of sorts, and whoever runs, can be elected. Don't get me started."

Quote :

"Sonia," she says, her voice eerily calm, "who did you tell about the bomb? Is it someone close to Diogenes? If he knows we know..."

"Well if that lady really works for him, he will know anyways. But I called a friend at the police. He said they will check it out immediately."

Quote :

"Sonia, may I take a look in your study? Maybe the thief left behind some clues."

"Sure, go ahead. You know where it is", she says, yet still pointing in the general direction.
Taelor and Statton walk over to the study an move the curtain that serves as a door to the side. In the study stacks of paper are piled on the table, books lie around everywhere, some open, some closed, all with a lot of bookmarks. In the middle of the table is a computer idly showing random pictures of some landscape. Taelor turns her head in surprise as Statton calls over the shoulder to Sonia, "But it looks like usual, how do you even know there was an intruder?"
Sonia follows them from the living room, replying "The door was open and the container was gone. When I searched what else was missing I realised the missing antidote and found a log on my computer about copied files."
Letting his eyes run over the room once more, he realises that they will not find additional clues in Sonias 'organizational system'.

OOC:

Taelor hangs her head, feeling foolish. Of course, the woman would tell him. It had been an altogether too eventful couple of days. She sighs. "Well, guess we're fucked then. Know where else we could find the part to fix my ship? Crab didn't seem in a hurry..."

"Well, we could possibly order it with the shuttle, but that'll take a few weeks. I do think Crab is going to find it before that. Maybe we can find the woman. She is likely around Diogenes and he is probably overseeing the preparations for the townhall meeting tomorrow. At the community center. " Sonia looks at her two visitors, unsure whether she just said something clever or stupid.

"W-wait... a bomb??"

He groans and rubs the bridge of his nose, thinking of all the attention this would draw.

Oh gods... I shouldn't have stayed here. I should run. Taelor is an offworlder right? maybe they're looking for more crew, or I could pay for transportation to... somewhere. or - or --

And yet...

...Sonia had helped him get started on this world. And though it was no Halianti pleasure complex, the world of Astyoc had grown on him, along with its people, distrustful as they could be towards outsiders like him. And if those spores were released in a public area...

He looks at Taelor again. "Look, I know that you probably don't want to get involved... but" he considers for a moment how to best convince her to help. "but if Diogenes and his accomplice are really behind this, he is going to try to blame outsiders... and that means you and your crewmates."

...and also me... he thinks. Nausea is bubbling in the pit of his stomach again.

"We could really use the backup if things go south" he says, eyeing Taelor's monoblade and lasar pistol. "Oh! And also, can you imagine, being the one to prevent a disaster and having a hand in solving this world's zombie problem? Well... potentially... we're not exactly sure... if the antidote... works... yet." He peters out.

"...Anyway" he says, turning to Sonia "Good idea Sonia, we should get going. You have the antidote on you, right?"

He reviews dosage amounts in his mind. How many people would the remaining antidote be able to cure, again?

Taelor considers Statton's words. "Well, apparently I'm not getting off this rock anytime soon, so..." She sighs. "Fuck. You're right. If the antidote works it might just save our asses. Show up like big damn heroes with a solution to this hellhole's problems? They wouldn't kill us then, right?" She looks at Sonia, then Statton.

She stands up straight, squaring her shoulders and planting her hands on her hips. "Alright, fuck it, I'm in." She grins. "Let's go save the world!"

Sonia's face shows a mixture of relief and excitement. "Great! Thank you! So, what do we need? We still have about 10-12 doses of our antidote. I'll be sure to pack those, plus the injectors. Better safe than sorry." A crooked smile gives away the fear, which is the reason for her packing the antidote. She gets up, walks over to the study and opens a drawer. From there she produces a small black case, which she places with a certain gentleness into a backpack. "What else?"

"hmm... do you have any spare pressure masks? We should bring as many as you have. Beyond that..." He looks at Taelor as if to ask if she has any ideas.

Taelor shrugs. "Y'all are the experts."

"I have one pressured mask. Wait, maybe there is..." leaving the end of the sentence floating in the air, much like a red bricks don't, she walks out of the room just to return minutes later with a satisfied smile on her face and one more pressure mask in her hand. Chugging both masks into her backpack, she looks at Statton in expectation.

Having gathered what gear they could, the trio heads off.

As they make their way towards the community center, Taelor grills Sonia and Statton about it, keeping her voice low. "How many entrances does it have? Can we expect a lot of people to be there? Does Diogenes generally travel with a lot of muscle?"

As Sonia explains the layout of the community center, Statton looks around nervously, but is still surprised when the door to the nearby cantina slams open.

"Excuse the interruption, but if you're the folks from the Tsunami, there's dinner and drinks with your name on it, if you have the time to spare. It's pub food, but it's got to be better than space rations. If not, can I catch up with you later?"

Statton jumps backwards a little, swinging around to stare at the speaker, his eyes wide. Seeing who it is, however, a look of relief washes across his face. "Oh. Haha. Graham, funny seeing you here." Statton sweeps his head around again, looking to see if anyone has noticed them. He raises his voice a little "Sorry Graham, not now, we're just, uh, giving a tour to the Tsunami's crew of our medical and technical facilities. Want to join us? " leaning down, he beings to whisper conspiratorially  "Graham, we might need your help, quietly... there's no time to explain it fully now, but when you became a consultant here, did they give you the codes to the Community center's back entrances?"

"Hang on a sec, gotta pay my tab. Keep an eye out for me, I'm right behind you." Graham ducks back into the Cantina. He heads back to his table, runs his fingers through his hair, and apologizes for the unexpected departure. "I'm sorry, Miss. I was looking forward to the conversation and the company, but it seems it's been cut short. What's the damage for the drinks?"
Whatever she says, he's prepared to double it. They square up, he smiles at her as he slings the pack over his shoulder, and heads quickly to the door, eyes peeled for Statton.

Taelor looks up in surprise when the stranger calls out to them, but relaxes somewhat when Statton walks away and it becomes obvious he knows the man. Her hand strays closer to the pistol holster strapped to her thigh and she quickly looks around to make sure they're not drawing any attention.

"Friend of yours?" she asks Statton as he rejoins them, absent-mindedly tapping her fingers on her gun's grip.

Elan smirks at the clerk. It's a decent rebuttal. Amusing, even. Or is Elan a bit tipsy? He's tempted to issue silly alpha-male challenge - You want a piece of me?! - but Elan isn't big enough to be offering pieces. Instead, he studies the clerk's face, mentally adding him to Elan's long-running 'To Pickpocket' list. There would be a good opportunity to do so at the community meeting tomorrow.

He holds up his hands and retreats out the door, his head a bit woozy. Climb the fence? Not in this condition. He'd just go for a walk and wait for fortune to strike. Fortune was a bitch-goddess, giving with one hand and taking away with the other, but on the whole She liked Elan and smiled upon him.

Back outside, he's passing by The Cantina when, lo, there is Sonia! Plus she's with a new face that he doesn't recognize, so this must be the crew he was searching for. Fortune smiles indeed.

They seem to be talking furtively amongst themselves, which probably means they want privacy, but Elan's inhibitions are lowered at the moment so he makes a beeline toward the assembly.

He eyes the group:

Graham - Older, fairly dashing, a bit of a surprise to find him in one of those paid-but-forgotten bureaucratic positions. (Unless he likes it that way? Early retirement? Disgraced exile?)
Statton - Young, so what's with the snow-white hair? But Elan likes him because 1) he's a doctor, and 2) he's gullible.
Taelor - Elan doesn't recognize her... why is her hand going straight to her pistol?
Sonia - Scientist/mechanic, Elan likes her because she's usually optimistic to the point of being naïve, which makes her an easy mark.

Elan mentally raises his defenses as he approaches, the air around him shimmering ever-so-slightly for a moment as his telekinetic armor forms. He usually doesn't 'wear' it, but he doesn't want to take any chances with the jumpy lady who has her hand on her laser pistol.

"Ahoy, Statton!" he calls out to announce himself. "Is this the shuttle crew? Welcome, friends!"

Woah, I'm usually not this friendly. What was IN that spice beer?

Taelor smiles weakly at the newcomer. These interruptions had opened the door to doubt. A few minutes ago, she'd been ready to storm the community center and take Diogenes to task for his crimes. Now she felt like she'd lost her momentum. It was like crossing a rope bridge. If you kept going, you were usually fine. It's when you stopped that things went wrong.

She sees the young man's eyes stray to her right leg. She looks down and only then realizes where her hand rests. She represses a grimace and folds her arms, hoping the others hadn't noticed her nervously tapping her sidearm. She wanted to look like the badass adventurer she wished she was, rather than the out-of-her-depths glorified delivery driver she felt like. Out for another milk run, Gopher? Bring us home a snack, will ya? She could still hear them cackling with laughter. Fucking fighter pilots.

Tecumseh wrote:

"Is this the shuttle crew? Welcome, friends!"

She smiles more broadly, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"I'm afraid that's just me," she says, doing her best to sound her usual cheerful self.

Despite some initial wariness, Taelor starts to relax after Sonia introduces Graham and Elan. They seem to be on good terms and their little band could use a few more people. There is strength in numbers and no telling how many goons Diogenes might have hanging around the community center.

As they walk towards their destination, Taelor brings the newcomers up to speed about the bomb, the missing research, the spore samples, and her suspicions of Diogenes.

"Big fish, little pond, you know? He's going to do what it takes to keep it that way."

As the newly formed crowd walks down the almost deserted roads, deep in sometimes awkward, sometimes passionate, mostly hesitant conversation they almost don't notice how they approach the community center. It's a large building with the charm of an old warehouse. A van is parked outside, a different one than at the spaceport and some people are carrying boxes inside. It is hard to make out faces in the diffuse late afternoon lighting.
Across the street of the center is a small convenience store and an office building. Flanking the center are a parking lot and what seems to be a residential building.

As the group wonders what the next step will be, Graham calmly taps some numbers on his compad. A quick and quiet conversation takes place, and he puts the compad away. "Let's get to the back door. When we knock, the door will open for us. Let's make it look normal, like you're just here for a brief tour. Walk calmly, smile, nod, and we'll make our way to the door."
He twirls the end of his mustache, and gives a wry grin. "What happens after that, who knows...but at least we'll be inside. So...who's ready to start the 'tour'?"