Lavim had been sent off to (hopefully) safety with Maliki the union rep. We didn't entirely trust her - she was being altogether too helpful - but we were running out of options.
Above us was the starry void, but now it was starting to fill up with ships. Not modern ships, but ones we realised were part of the rimward reach nomad swarm. From the walls of the rift, concealed doors opened and people emerged, heading for the ships above.
After some discussion, we decided that we needed to go too. Having overstayed our time down here, and already somewhat unpopular due to Lavim's actions, we decided it would be a good idea to bring the Aliya to us rather than going back through Djachroum. Sayah djinned into the ship's controls, and with some assistance flew it out of the dock and around to the rift.
Lila got a message from Doctor Wana, who was unexpectedly in the area, wanting to know what we'd done. It was rather hard to explain.
We left a message for Jinna, who hadn't been on the ship when it left the dock, explaining why we'd had to leave and where Lavim was. Hopefully she would be OK. Unfortunately we were in no position to go back and check.
Doctor Wana had been visiting the archaeological institute on Djachroum, but now she had a job for us. A trip to Station 18, a small space science lab which had gone quiet. With our excellent track record on retrieving missing people, having managed to find Lavim multiple times now, she thought we might be the crew to do it.
It was a three day journey to Station 18. Gurgeh and Sayah gave the exosuits we'd picked up on Djachroum a quick MOT and service in case we needed them again, then recalibrated the ships sensors to detect Hawking radiation from the field of tiny black holes that surrounded Station 18. There were some dicey moments as Tahir flew us in, but we made it within exosuit range of the station without any damage to the ship.
Something strange was happening here. Sayah's scans brought up a warning that this was a forbidden area due to radiation, but also detected low levels of radiation and multiple bio signatures. The station had suffered severe damage to the habitation unit, and seemed to have some kind of plant life growing over significant parts of it. After some initial experiment with throwing things at it, Gurgeh sent his drone to get a sample. Lila did some analysis, and concluded that it was vulnerable to acids and fire.
With this in mind we donned exosuits, and with Tahir in the lead, made the space walk across to the portable airlock that had been installed on the side of the station. A control panel inside looked promising, but despite their best efforts, Sayah and Gurgeh couldn't get enough power into it to get it working.
On we went down the corridor. The plant growth got thicker, dark tendrils with small purple flowers snaking under our feet. As it grew thicker, the floor started to feel spongy, and it seemed like the plants were eating through the very fabric of the space station. Something crunched under Tahir's feet, and examination proved it to be bone. A small ribcage. Nearby Lila found a similarly diminuative skull. Was it human?
But dead bones were hardly our biggest concern. Somewhere up ahead Tahir saw movement - some kind of bat with human hands for wings. Alqadi, bringing up the lead, spotted a figure behind him. A child, it initially appeared. But when it turned around it had only smooth blank skin where its eyes should be.
And there was a sound. A whimpering that might actually be human. Tahir climbed up into a nearby ventilation duct and started crawling along. He attempted to stun a blue snake that was crawling down the tunnel ahead of him, but instead it turned around to look at him with human eyes and open a mouth full of thankfully not human teeth. Tahir fired at it, splattering it into bits.
Further down the duct was a man. Clearly scared as even our voices were enough to spook him, but hungry enough that an offer of ration packs and the removal of the snake corpse was enough for Karim to lure him out.
He was wearing the remains of an exosuit, and a card, which was handed to Sayah for scanning. So far all this station had given us was questions. Now, perhaps, we could get some answers.
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