"So they shot your ship's boat down so you can't get back. That might not be the whole crew you know, or it could be."

"It wasn't the whole crew." Billy pipes up.  "Someone in the command team smuggled a couple of ...  brigands ...  aboard to take control of the ship.  A couple of us managed to get out on the other boat.  But without a qualified pilot, we had a very bumpy landing ....

"Hmmm, they still in orbit? We might be able to take it back if we're lucky."

"It looked like it had gone."

Ken nodded.  "It was a well planned betrayal.  Our nemesis is after the legendary loot of the Sky Raiders.  I expect to find stashes of it here aboard somewhere but a working, jump capable ship is more valuable now than all the gold and gems in the sector."

"True, you can't spend it if you are stuck here."

So you mis-jumped and crashed on this rock ?? That means someone had to bring your low beth inside. Which implies access to the outside . Blake turns to Lorain Robotics ?? The Skyraiders had access to robotics of some sort ??

You can see M Drive smoke coming out of Blake's ears, because if not robotics, then someone else was, or is, alive and can enter/leave this rock at will.

"Since they moved my low-berth here, they know where my seeker is too. Just because the linguist can't make it understood, we don't know where it is. Is the asteroid a ship?"

In reply to Angus McStubbin (msg # 769):

"Correct. Just because I don't have enough of a grasp of the language at the moment doesn't mean we won't find out more as my knowledge improves."

He went back to slowly working out how to communicate in the long-thought dead Loeskalth language.

In reply to Dr. Lurushar Gilenkaar (msg # 770):

It was clear to Angus that the female professor was in charge overall, but mostly let Ken and his mates handle security, deferring to him and showing them respect. She conferred with the other scientists.

"Ok, so I say we spend the night here. Once Dr. Gilenkaar knows more of the language we can track down Angus' ship. He couldn't have gotten here by himself, someone must have brought him. And his ship is almost certainly intact. Well, possibly. We did determine that all the bays and airlocks we could scan were either blocked, destroyed or possibly booby-trapped. But this is a good sign!"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:17, Wed 15 May 2019.

Ken nodded in agreement to Lorain's decision.  "We'll need allies with local knowledge if we stay here any length of time.  Also if we want to clear one of the bays to access old ships we'll need labor as well.  Let's keep a couple of us awake at all times just in case our friends turn unfriendly in the night."

Blake will take first watch.

Ken sees that everyone is settled in and checks the security of the hut or huts they have been given.  "Should we try to talk to the chief in the morning Lorain?  We need to find out more of what is going on here and the possiblity of getting to Angus' ship.  With components from our wrecked launches and maybe equipment salvaged from the engineering sections here we might be able to cobble together a jump capable ship."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 774):

"I think we can proceed with talking to the chief further in the morning. Dr. Gilenkaar, ask him if we can stay the night.

"Now, I'm going to accept their offer of a meal in celebration. It would be downright rude not to! And I don't know where you guys got the idea they were cannibals but we haven't seen any evidence of that. I think the vegetation looks edible, and it should be as the Loeskalth physiology is not fundamentally different than that of the rest of Humaniti so it should be safe."

"Probably them inviting us to the feast and asking if we would like to eat our prisoner, all in one sentence ..." Billy mumbles.

Angus smiles at what Billy said, agreeing with him wholey.

In reply to Billy (msg # 776):

Once he realised what Billy said, Dr. Gilenkaar burst into laughter. "No, you simpleton, they were wondering if WE were the cannibals! Ha ha ha!

"Oh, too funny. You are a card, my friend, a real delight!" He chuckled. "Cannibals...ha! My lords, that is priceless. I never took their question at anything other than face value, although I can see how you and your friend were fooled.

"I think they wondered why we were dragging that poor sod around. Something I wondered about myself. But I'll check."

There was a short exchange of dialogue with the headman. "No. No cannibalism. I told him I don't know why we have the prisoner."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:48, Mon 20 May 2019.

Angus laughed at the accusation of being cannibals. He also marveled at how fast the linguist was learning the language.

In reply to Dr. Lurushar Gilenkaar (msg # 778):

"To be fair, Dr. Gilenkaar, without context it's easy to see why they thought you meant something different from what you said. So don't be childish."

She sighed and shook her head. Then turned to Ken. "Ok Ken, set a guard. The other scientists and myself will attend the feast. You can exempt any or all security personnel from partaking, we'll think of an excuse. Any idea what we do plan on doing with our prisoner?"

for completeness, we need to know his side of this rock's story.

"Agreed, Blake," Linus chipped in.

"Until we understand this squabble, there's no chance of settling the matter. And it won't be understood by asking just one side in the disagreement."

Angus exercises his legs, walking a bit to get used to it again. "I'm here if anyone needs me for anything."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:42, Thu 23 May 2019.

Ken chuckled at the interplay about cannibals and the prisoner.  "Well, we can threaten to eat him if he doesn't talk to us..." Ken shook his head.  "No... but we do need to definitely get his story if nothing else as a comparison.  We might be able to use him to negotiate with his tribe as well."  Ken regarded Lorain.  "I think we should all stay together at the feast.  Some of us can stand as guards and not eat.  You can explain it as our custom.  It's probably a good idea."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 784):

The villagers threw a victory feast, and the strange travellers were guests of honour. Strangely, they seemed to accept Angus' presence without too much comment, which was strange because he seemingly just came to life after lying in a coffin for who-knew many years, as far as they might know. The meal was excellent and contained both vegetable and meat dishes. (No human flesh as far as they could tell!)

Thankfully, the prisoner didn't put up a fight and seemed resigned to his fate. The villagers pointed out a pit they could use as a kind of "tiger trap", by putting a wood grille on top and securing it with some weight.

After some conversation, Dr. Gilenkaar opined that the conflict seemed to be religious in nature and had being going on for a long time.

Linus appreciated the food, and asked about any ingredients that he didn't recognise.