Chapter 5 - Rock, Paper, Scissors

Elan tries to give Samara regular updates via the comms, uncertain of how well signals travel within the asteroid. He's hoping the main mining shaft is straight enough that transmissions will have a direct line-of-sight to the mining base.

When they end up in the laboratory, Elan is surprised / not surprised. "So the miners stumble on something they weren't meant to see," he theorizes. "And the folks in combat armor eliminate anyone who would find out sooner or later.  

"But how dumb do you have to be to have a secret lab on an asteroid that shares a mining colony? Couldn't you feel the vibrations of the mining equipment? How would any of this have come as a surprise? Wouldn't this be a problem coming toward you in very slow motion?"

He tries to see if there's anything of interest in the lab; maybe Rena could make sense of it during one of her moments of clarity, although those were few and far between these days. Then he goes to examine the door that exits the lab, eager to explore further.

Taelor's anger abates as she, Elan and Lola wander through the mine's shafts. It was still simmering beneath the surface, but the initial guilt-fueled blaze had petered out as she focused on navigating the tunnels. The discovery of the lab takes her aback and her curiosity takes over. She considers Elan's theories.

"It's very weird... maybe they were using the mine for cover? Like, the supply ships or ore haulers were also carrying supplies for the lab and would drop it off before? That way, the back and forth isn't to a seemingly empty asteroid. They could have thought that there were enough veins on the other side of the rock to keep the miners busy for years, but the dig revealed one big one that led here?"

She pushes off towards the door. "Let's see if we can figure out what they were up to."

Samara works her way through the crew quarters, taking note of who she finds there and some small item that could serve as a meaningful token of their lives to give to their loved ones. While saddening, it is work in which she finds great meaning; it is her fear for Taelor, Elan, and Lola that has her worrying her lip bloody. For as long as they are able to stay in touch, she is hypervigilant, listening out for the subtle change in the quality of the silence that comes before the comms being active. Every time that she hears Elan come across the comms, some of the tension that had been building up subconsciously leaves her body.  Her new friends are still alive!, it does not sound like they are in danger, and even over the comms system Elan has a nice voice. When that last thought crosses her mind, she quickly looks down at her shoes, blushing furiously, worried that Graham might be able to hear her thoughts - it's possible!


"Uh... 'Bout done here. I'll need to find a vacc suit, but if you think that it's safe,I think that we can start heading your way soon! Or maybe there is something that we can search for in the computers based on what you've found!"  She looks up at Graham, hoping that he might have the skills necessary to deliver on the latter offer as she certainly did not.

Lola was initially alert and cautious when they came across the survivors, her hands gripping her weapon that little bit tighter initially. She relaxed a little when she saw Rahim vaguely recognising the face from her childhood, but she felt she couldn't completely let her guard down. In the Legion someone would have probably searched them all for weapons by now. At the time she didn't like it, as she felt it put peoples backs up. Conversely now, she thought of the safety it brought- at least you knew where you were. Funny that, how the option you didn't take generally felt like the better one.

After his reunion with his son, she introduced herself to Rahim, before following the others. She was still in her pressure suit, it coloured a dark mottled purple, with her rifle gripped between both hands. Her head was uncovered, her olive skin a little dull under the bright lights and her short black hair in two bunches. She hadn't said anything while the other two chatted to Samara, instead her eyes constantly surveying their area. Before they left to make their way down the shaft, she looked over at the survivor. She was a curiosity, not quite reacting how Lola had expected. She was evidently made of stern stuff despite how innocent her words sounded. The fact that she assumed they might need her help when she didn't appear to have a weapon on her... Either very innocent or she had a power she hadn't quite displayed. A very definite unknown quantity. Which could both be to their benefit but also made it harder to predict just how things would turn out. Generally a soldier expected to be unsure about their enemy but when one of your allies was as well...

"Hunts luck Samara. I'm Lola. Credit to you for surviving this. Graham is quiet but reliable."

Downstairs she looked about the room with the others, listening carefully as they spoke their theories.
"It is odd. Perhaps the mining operation uncovered something which drew them here but it does seem like a miscalculation on their part to not realize they would eventually be found. Unless..."

She paused as she looked towards the door.
"Unless their power was such that they didn't care if the miners would eventually come across them. The miners were so insignificant to them that they knew once they were discovered they would just wipe them out and go back to business."

Moving forward, she covered Taelor as the other moved towards the door.

The trio continues into the station. First slowly, then bolder once they realise that the station appears to be abandoned. It mostly consists of laboratories, the usual station infrastructure, like quarters, a mess, command center and a small hangar.
Only one room stands out, being empty except for a hole, roughly 1m in diameter and very deep.
What also puzzles the three explorers is the fact that the station is stripped of everything that is not bolted to the floor and walls. There is no computer or other electric equipment, no air recyclers, no power generator, none of the things that are usually essential to run a station.

Taelor grows antsy as they go through the compound. "Those fuckers were thorough, weren't they?" It was eerie. They had literally taken EVERYTHING. Not a trace of who they were or why they were here. This, plus leaving all the miners to die, meant the people who had operated this place were doing something wrong and were very much aware of it.

Once they've cleared the whole mystery station, she makes her way to the room with the hole. "Only way forward is down, seems like."

"Sam, Graham, the station is clear if you want to come have a look, but there isn't much to see," she says over the comms.

"Down the hatch," Elan says, passing off his laser rifle to Samara. "Please take good care of Betsy."

Elan is not claustrophobic - my Lord, what a poor cat-burglar he would be if he were - but the ill-fitted vacc suit does add a complication to his maneuvering.

"Head first or feet first?" he wonders out loud. Head-first would provide the best view, but feet-first would probably make coming back out significantly easier, especially if there's no space to turn around. "Feet first," he concludes.

He looks down the hole to see if his panspectral optics can identify anything. Presuming not, he'll make sure his gecko anchors are activated and will trigger his telekinetic armor to help protect his vacc suit. After switching on the head lamp of his vacc suit, he'll sit on the edge, brace one foot on each side of the hole, and then slide down, using the gecko anchors in his hands and his feet to slow his descent.

The shaft is tight and leaves Elan hardly any room to move. But it is not a worse than other pipes he had been stuck in, voluntarily or involuntarily.
The inside of the shaft is blank rock, no white coating was applied to it, albeit the hole is a perfect circle and perfectly smooth except for the odd gravel that fell off.
The decent is easy in the low gravity environment that is the asteroid and Elan can be control the speed of his "fall" with ease. But the shaft seems to be a bottomless pit. No matter how hard Elan tries, he cannot see the end of it and keeps on falling.
Eventually a faint glow appears below, growing stronger and stronger as he falls. It takes him a while to realise it is not light he is seeing, but ever growing amounts of radiation.

Elan keeps descending. The radiation gets brighter and brighter, to the point where it's getting hard to see. Finally, the suit starts beeping a warning. He stops his descent, then begins the long climb back up to the surface.

"Major radiation down here," he reports when he's sure the comm signal is going through to the surface team. "So much so that my vacc suit tripped a warning. This tunnel was clearly drilled out by a machine. My guess is that they bored a hole into heart of the asteroid and planted a nuke down here to remove all the evidence their lab. I don't know if it failed to detonate or just has an abnormally long trigger. I suggest that we don't wait around to find out. It will take me a bit to make the climb. Have Samara pack up and get everyone back to the ship right away. I'll meet you there."

Probably.

He's strangely calm, given the situation. Perhaps it's knowing that there's not much he can do other than follow his current course of action: he's in a hole with only one way to go. If the bomb hasn't detonated by now, there's no reason to think it will do so in the few minutes or the next hour. But that's not a reason not to proceed with all haste. Elan continues his climb.

Taelor's reaction is a lot less muted than Elan. "A BOMB?!? Shit! Get your ass back up here, stat!"

She switches the comm over to Sam and Graham. "Sam, forget about meeting up with us. Get yourself and all the other survivors into vacc suits and onto the Undertow. Graham, make sure the engines are purring by the time we catch up. We're bailing, asap!"

Elan's climb feels like it takes forever, but he comes out without any problems and the crew rushes back to the ship. Graham, Sam, Nazir and rest already started hauling everything back to the ship and everything is soon ready for a hasty departure.

Elan huffs and puffs his way out of the hole. The lowered gravity helps, but his cardiovascular fitness is still a pitiful fraction of Taelor's. By the time he climbs out of the hole, runs through the mining tunnels, then all the way back through the base, he's drenched in sweat and terribly thirsty.

"Everyone got their pillows and their stuffed animals?" he gasps as he pulls off the humid vacc suit. He looks torn between whether he should first embrace Betsy or a bottle of water. Emotion wins out as he takes the laser rifle back from Lola, then he collapses into a chair with water. He barely has the energy to secure himself for takeoff. Once he's hydrated a bit, he continues the process of peeling off the vacc suit.

"Ugh," he says, hanging the vacc suit upside down so that gravity can extract the sweat.

Rena is in a strange state, which is to say her usual self. She is on one of her favorite drugs called Psyche, which makes her a curious combination of detached and hyper-focused. She claims it allows her to concentrate on a specific problem while eliminating distractions. In this case, Elan's potential radiation exposure manages to catch her attention.

"Decontamination involves removing external radioactive particles. Remove your clothing to eliminates about 90 percent of external contamination," she tells him. He look uncertain about whether she's telling him to strip right then and there. "Wash with soap and water to remove additional radiation particles from the skin," she adds, directing him to the showers.

She pours some pills into his hand, which he considers skeptically.

"Potassium iodide," Rena says of the first pill. "This is a nonradioactive form of iodine. It may fill vacancies in the thyroid and prevent the absorption of radioiodine. It's more effective the sooner you take it, so take it now!"

She grabs his hand and shoves the pill into his mouth. "Mmph!" he chokes, surprised at being forced to swallow the pill without water.

"This one is diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid, which binds to particles of the radioactive elements and helps them pass out of the body in urine, thereby reducing the amount of radiation absorbed. Eat up!"

She tries to grab his hand again but, alert to the threat this time, Elan snatches his hand away and takes the pill with water.

Back aboard the Undertow, Taelor slips out of her vacc suit and rushes to the bridge. She sits in the pilot's chair, flicks the switches to get the engine ready for takeoff. Being in a low-G environment makes it easier as she doesn't have to wait for everyone to strap in.

The Undertow takes off from the landing platform smoothly. Taelor would love to put the pedal to the metal, but there was a limit to how fast she could go without crashing in an asteroid field. She skirts that line, sometimes dangerously so, but she gets the ship to a safe distance. Once they're clear of the potential blast zone, she looks for a large asteroid. When she finds one, she matches its course and roll and parks the Undertow in its shadow.

Taelor flicks the intercom switch. "All passengers, please gather in the cargo bay. We need to have a chat before we go anywhere else."

When everyone is gathered, the crew and the survivors standing or sitting in small groups within the large, empty space that takes up the bulk of the Undertow, Taelor clears her throat to draw everyone's attention. She blushes slightly and stiffens as people turn to her, unused to public speaking. "Um... so, yeah. We have to figure out our next move." She looks at the survivors. "We can drop you off where you want in-system, but there's a chance that the people who left you to die will come looking to finish the job. It's not impossible that authorities are in on it. My guess is, if we make that secret labs' location public knowledge, that takes away their reason to come at you. Question is: how do we do that? None of us are locals. Is there a trusted media you could go to with this story?"

She crosses her arms. "The other option is: we smuggle you out of the system to Mentta or Xenthra, where you'll hopefully be out of harm's way. However, we got costs to cover. We were hoping to load up on ore before heading back. If you can help us secure some, that could pay for your passage," she looks to Elan and Graham to see if they approve of the idea.

Elan nods.

Oh, asking them for leads on ore, that's a good idea. But, as miners, would they be familiar with other mines or just this one? Elan doesn't know but figures that Taelor, having grown up in a similar environment, is asking informed questions.

"Can we tag the base?" he asks. "A transponder or the like, to warn nearby ships of the potential danger? Or can we flag it with one of the space stations or refueling stations?"

He considers the survivors. "Honestly, I wouldn't expect anyone to come looking for you. They'll figure you're dead already, either from dehydration or nuclear annihilation. If you want to relocate, I understand, but if you have ties to the system then I think you could live safely under the radar."

When Elan and Taelor come onto the Undertow, they are greeted by a sniffling, bleary-eyed, but smiling Samara.  She says nothing, but looks at them intently, while swiping at tears and occasionally blowing her nose. Oh good! Their cells seem happy enough! I'll stay alert just in case... Just don't let on that you are watching for signs of radiation poisoning. You've got this Samara, just be casual, she says to herself, slowly walking away from the pair while periodically looking over her shoulder at them, almost walking into a doorframe - the antithesis of nonchalant.


***
"A transponder is a great idea! That way people would be able to make an informed decision about entering the station!" She is not sure who would choose to expose themselves to radiation, but knows that the important thing is that they have the agency to do so.

"For dropping me off somewhere... I'd stay on... if that's still okay," she looks hopefully from Taelor to Lola to Elan and back to Taelor, who had been the one to make the offer that Samara join them.

Samara is young, but so is Elan. From his own personal experience, he's aware that you can be super-awesome at an early age.

"Sure," Elan says. "What is it that you do?"

"Well, I cry… like a lot," she gives Elan a shy yet mischievous smile.  "Mostly, I earn my keep as a cook.  The food won't always be fancy, but it will be made with care, and attention to personal preferences!  Sometimes,  when I can't find work as a cook, I offer my services as a medic." She lowers her eyes and starts chewing at her lower lip."But I don't enjoy that as much," she adds softly.

"A cook!" Elan exclaims, throwing his hands up in victory. "That's great!"

He casts a wary eye toward Rena, who is phasing in and out of her right mind.

"Rena's a good doc," he says in a confidential tone. "She's the smartest person I know. But her genius comes with demons. She's lucid for the moment but she'll probably be injecting something into her eyeballs five minutes from now.

"When that happens, it's nice to have a second opinion."

"I know right! I can't wait to learn all about your favourite foods, and to see this ship's mess!" She is beside herself with joy, and is essentially does a little happy dance, beaming with joy.  "And I think that I can handle being a backup.  It's really nice to know that there's an actual doctor on the crew."  

Samara looks at Rena, who indeed seems quite clear eyed. "Wait, in her eyeball?!" Samara whispers to Elan before groaning. "Everyone on this crew is so incredible and so cool! I don't know that I'll be able to keep up."

Taelor nods and grins, still happy to have the cook join the crew. "Well, that's Sam settled. Unfortunately, that's our last bunk, so the rest of you can't stay. So, what'll be?"

Rahim clears his throat. "You can drop Nazir and I anywhere that's civilized. I have enough saved up to pay for our return to Aldega. We'll just take the next transport out."

Taelor nods again. "Alright, Nan has some outgoing passenger ships. So, that'll do." She turns her attention to the other two survivors.

One of them looks up at her. "Nan will do. Plenty of opportunities for work or passage there."

Taelor smiles a bit uncertainly. Their lack of concern bothered her, but she had to admit that keeping their heads down and moving on was probably the safest bet for them. They weren't fighters. Standing up to an armed paramilitary group conducting illegal experiments was definitely not in their wheelhouse. She sighs. "Nan it is. I'll set a course. It'll be a few hours, so make yourselves at home in the meantime. Elan, can you show Sam her bunk so she can get settled in?"

She makes her way back to the bridge, pulls the ship out of the asteroid's shadow, and sets a course for Nan station.

The flight to Nan is (relatively) short and uneventful. The approach is less threatening this time and the Undertow slowly docks in its assigned bay. As the airlock opens the familiar busy crowd is rushing or strolling around the ring, heading to or from the chosen establishment.

As the ship approaches Nan, Samara becomes increasingly agitated, flitting around with unbridled excitement. "This could be a good chance to replenish your... oh wow... our food stuffs!  Any preferences? Allergies? And do we have a budget for supplies, or should I be making the most of my creds?"

Graham smiles at Samara's exuberance. "We have a fund for communal expenses, so there's not need to spend your own money. Maybe I should accompany you on this first official shopping trip as an employee of S.T.E.G.O." He twirls his mustache and his eyes twinkle with amusement. "Don't take this the wrong way, young lady, but you seem the sort to go a bit overboard in a grocery store."


Taelor stays aboard after docking with Nan. The business on the asteroid still bothered her. Whoever the armored thugs had been, they'd left the miners to die of dehydration and hunger, a truly horrible death. People had to know. She sits down in the Undertow's lounge and unfolds her dataslab.

She didn't trust the authorities. For all she knew, they were in on it. A secret lab like that? Yeah, someone in power knew for sure. She starts looking for journalists, news organizations, bloggers. Whoever, in Gor, looked into shady shit and got the word out to the people.

"Of course I do not mind the company. But, overboard? At a grocery store?" Samara straightens to her full (rather diminutive) height and gives Graham a glare that definitely looks more like a pout. 

"Is that even possible?! No, actually it is not! She stamps her foot for emphasis. "And don't dodge my questions on preferences and allergies... any of you!"

Elan showers the sweat (and rads) off his skin as they fly back to Nan. There, he disembarks, not entirely certain what to do. Taelor is on a crusade.

"Maybe they didn't leave them to die of dehydration," he says. "Maybe they left them there to die for nuclear immolation.

"Although you have to be pretty sloppy to not notice your nuke going off. Although it seems like that would be the sort of thing that local authorities would pick up on sensors. But why bother planting a nuke and not set it off? Unless it was a dud and they figured it was more trouble than it was worth to retrieve it.

"Anyway, there's your evidence," he tells Taelor. "If you can think of a way to retrieve it - and, you know, not have it go off in your face - it might point back to the perpetrator."

Once the words are out of his mouth, he wonders if he should have said them. He doesn't want Taelor to be consumed by a nuclear fireball. Nor himself, for that matter, especially as he is likely to be in close proximity to Taelor when it happens.

"Light on the mycoprotein," Elan tells Samara. "Mushrooms," he clarifies just in case. "I know they grow in dark and are popular in space, but I've subsistent on enough spacer rations to last me a while. If we have a proper cook, then let's cook properly. I like sauces. Know any good sauces?"

Elan has no money of his own to spend, having blown it all on cyberware. He needs a few creds to rub together, so he goes about trying to figure out how to make some nuyen. Going back to the idea that Mentta needs rocks, he starts making some inquiries around sources of ore, contracts for hauling ore, and the like. Perhaps Graham can work the administrative channels, but Elan goes to the places where miners hang out in order to make grass-roots connections. Elan would make a pretty good rabble rouser if he ever found a cause. For now, he's a half-decent klepto-capitalist.

Graham chuckles at Samara's demands. "I'll be right there with you when you pick things out. Surely, you don't need a detailed list right away?" He says, teasing her. "I like a good steak. No allergies," he concedes as she goes to chide him again.

Taelor has head buried in her dataslab. She looks up when Samara stamps her foot. "I'll eat whatever. No allergies either. I prefer vegetarian stuff. Ooh! If they have fresh fruit, get me some. They're hard to find in space. Whenever I got them as a kid, it felt like Christmas!"

The pilot's eyes light up as a thought occurs to her. "Oh! Maybe we should get a hydroponics bay! It'd only use up..." she scrunches up her face as she does some mental calculations. She seems to deflate when she reaches the total. "... a third of our cargo space... never mind... it was a nice thought, though."

Samara takes diligent notes, gasping with inspiration or frowning in deep concentration, as she works out what might be possible and how to make purchases - particularly fresh foods - go as far as possible.  

"There are some versatile, nutrient-dense food stuffs like algae, insects, and bacterial cultures that can be used quite creatively!  I did prep for a worm themed dinner party once! The worm jerky and the worm truffles were soooo good! The worm salad, less so," her face scrunches up a bit at the memory. 

"They used way too much dressing - it was practically worm soup.... I guess that I didn't need to say worm before every dish, eh? Anyhow, I have a lot of not-necessarily-worm-based ideas!" She glances at Graham and sighs. "But I'll start with basics and your requests.  So... we all meet back here at some point later? Is that the plan?"

"I don't have two credits to rub together so I'll sleep on the ship," Elan confirms.

"Commpads work here, so just keep everyone apprised of what you're doing." He mimes thumbing out a message on a commpad screen.

Then he goes off to round up some ore.