Billy agrees that wandering about during darkness, probably isn't a good idea and is happy with the plan to spend the night in the village.

The request (via interpreter) from Lorain that they stay in an unoccupied house was granted. Their hosts promised the prisoner would be safe and alive in the morning.

Night came very swiftly in the vast enclosed chamber. The "sun", a vast ball of burning gas suspended and fueled by some mysterious means, dimmed into twilight. It turned orange, then faded out. The warm air was filled with the calls of birds, insects and the rustle of small animals. The sky was black, devoid of stars. Clouds gathered above.

Angus and the rest of the security crew (Ken, Blake, Linus) took 2-hour watches. Nothing disturbed their sleep, and it rained a little but only lightly. Morning came and they awoke to the villagers going about their tasks. The gates were opened and a watch mounted as the workers walked out to the fields, tools on their shoulders.

Ken was pleased that the night had passed uneventfully.  "Let's return then to the base camp and fetch the computer.  We need to make progress with these people and find out more about how Angus got here."

Billy looks surprised, "I thought we were going to ask some of the others to bring the stuff forward?  Maybe we could get them to set up an advanced base camp at the bottom of that elevator?  That way we could stay here and continue to learn about these people.  It seems a shame to not use the comms system we laid, especially when we could use it to create a supply line ...."

In reply to Billy (msg # 815):

Lucky Jack reported, "I just did a radio check. Comms are five-by-five with the base at the entrance. Repeaters seem to be working."

They have more personnel to bring things forward. Staying here, we should ask about the surrounding area. There may also be a limit to staying as guests. We should know about that too.

"What is the price for finding my seeker? The only way off of this rock barring a miracle, and that might take a miracle too depending on the damage."

In reply to Angus McStubbin (msg # 818):

"That's true, Angus' Seeker is our best shot right now for getting out of here. Last he knew it wasn't damaged, but it was low on fuel. Whoever recovered it may have parked it in a bay somewhere. We can fool around with biological DNA surveys some other time."

"Or they scavenged it to keep bits of this place going?"  Billy opines, with a slight grin.  "because, if they brought it in and docked it, they are quite a lot more advanced than these guys ...  and that's a damned good reason to hang around and learn some of the language."

"Bite your tongue, if it is scavenged then there is no way off this rock."

"I learned a long time ago to hope for the best, but to prepare for the worst."  Billy responds dryly, "And let's face it,  if your seeker really is just nicely set up in a hangar waiting for refuelling ... a few extra days won't really matter."

"Oh I hope that's all it is, a little fuel."

The big questions are where, why, and how. An air sampler and  rad detector might be good items to also bring forward. Unless someone already has them ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 824):

"We got detectors covered. Not just Geiger counters but air samplers and advanced radiographs. The Professor was very thorough in the gear she wanted to use. Test everything."

so no unusual readings indicative of a higher T/L ?? OK, can't find it that way.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 826):

"If it was findable that way, we would have detected something using the ship sensors when we were mapping the surface, looking for a way to get in. Nothing like a ship's fusion neutrino signature was detected. Which makes me wonder, if Angus' Seeker is tucked away in some landing bay somewhere, why didn't we find it? There are hundreds of bays like that but most were destroyed by high-energy weapons fire and nuclear strikes and the remainder looked to be booby-trapped. But someone landed the ship. I don't think it was Angus.

"Hey Angus, what's the last thing you remember? Did you try and land your Seeker on this rock? Did you have a copilot?"

"I went into low berth twenty-five years ago, I may have been here one year, or twenty years. I have no idea. I never even saw this rock from space."

Maening it could shielded somehow or it was taken apart. Someone or something deliberately took Angus off his ship his him in the middle of nowhere. we may need to head back to the power plant.

"This is an asteroid ship then? Or does it have system drives?"

"Was the cold-sleep capsule intended to be removed from the skimmer, or was it ripped out?" asked Linus.

He prowled round the object to investigate. Sure, it had an integral power supply, had to in case the ship as a whole failed... but was there any evidence of forcible removal from wherever it had been aboard?

In reply to Angus McStubbin (msg # 830):

"We think we saw Jump drive emitters mounted on the stern. So we think yes, it was a true starship, not just a sublight vessel powered by Bussard ramjets."

"Standard Scout service emergency low berth. Designed to be easily removed, with an independent power supply."

Ken was watching the locals as the group talked.  "Ok then, I'll have the base party bring the equipment up from the entrance and set up a camp at the base of the elevator.  That will bring the computer to us in order to break the language barrier more effectively."  Ken went to call the base party to do so.

"So Angus was brought here in an intact low berth.  I'd say he was plucked from the ship by someone."  He looked over to professor Laskan. "Did the locals say how long ago they acquired the low berth?"

Angus alerted and listened to the conversation after his name was mentioned. Indeed, someone moved him from the Seeker, he was glad they did or he would still be asleep, he just hoped he could find the spacecraft. Otherwise he's stuck here, and that was something he didn't want.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 834):

Sipping his coffee, Gilenkaar sighed and turned to the head-man. They spoke for a while.

"It's getting easier to understand them. He says the coffin was here when they moved in. I think! I can't tell how long they've been here."