Alwin, from his pilot's chair, listens to everything going on over the comms, fascinated.

 Hannah Tekehu, the Computer Learning specialist, is also back on the ship.  She hangs out with Alwin, watching... and keeping track of the ship's security cameras, because she knows that when everyone's out exploring and the pilot is sitting in the pilot's seat waiting, that's when the monster sneaks on board.

She's seen the old movies.  Someone has to make sure nothing sneaks up on Alwin.

 Hannah lets her thinking slip out loud.

"Of course if there was native life and it did somehow get onto the ship, the temperature on board would probably make it melt instantly."

Meanwhile,  at the crash site, the study the bizarre sparkling marble mass that sits in the mostly empty cargo hold of the Carinan ship.

"I have no idea what this," Boris admits.  "That was just... expression.  It doesn't translate well.  If this is Carinan, why is it in cargo hold?  Why is it not like any piece of their tech we ever recovered before?  This is... you know, this is a kind of first contact.  Carinan or no, this is alien thing no one has ever seen before."

Of course, all this time, it's been sending a radio signal.  That much they know, and the Albatross has been monitoring all this time.

And back on the Albatross, they see the signal changing, becoming more complex.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:59, Mon 07 Sept 2020.

"Romanian," Heather replied absently as she examined the device. The signal's Increasing complexity was fascinating.

"Please tell me you'r recording this, Albatross. I'm recording on my pad but two copies would help as I begin working on this language if, and big if, it's a language at all."

Horace approaches the thing to get a closer look!

In reply to Horace Wymp (msg # 53):

Einar, with his shotgun, was looking out the back, protecting HIS ship, something coming up on the ramp!

He raised his shotgun and pumped it loaded and watched it for a few seconds!

"Unless said life form had a physiology sufficiently adaptive to extreme temperature ranges," Alwin notes out loud, in a neutral tone.  "Then it would merely require an adequate time period to acclimate properly to its new surroundings."   It is unclear if Alwin is engaging the premise seriously, speaking only in the hypothetical, or merely making polite conversation.


"Yes, dual recording is in effect, as per standard protocol,"  Alwin responds.  Granted, the 'protocol' from his mercantile days was generally in dealing with other humans, a useful precaution if someone later tried to claim that a verbal statement had or had not been made.  Still, he muses silently, if we all die horribly here then at least our deaths will be properly recorded, even if no one else ever sees it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:00, Mon 07 Sept 2020.

On the Albatross, Alwin and the computer learning specialist,  Hannah Teleku are on the bridge, having the computer record everything.  In separate files, in separate physical memories, so that no one incident could destroy both recordings.

It's all going well, until...

Every spacer knows there are a few words you normally don't want to here on the bridge.

"That's weird", Hannah says.

After a silent moment she says:  "Did you know the ship's computer has a children's game section? Is somebody playing Fanny Flamingo Fun Farm?"


******

"I think we can get straps around this and pull it out," Boris says.  "Then we slide it back over the slush.  This.. this is priceless.  We all retire and do interviews now, when we get home.  Working days are over!  This isn't even Carinan, I think.  We're going to be famous!"

Astrid agrees that the thing in the hold is not Carinan.  "We've been fighting them for all these years, that's not close to anything in any report I've ever seen. You know what I think... I think our Carinan here found something that didn't belong to them.  But that opens up a whole lot of questions.  Do you really want this thing back in your ship?  We have no idea what it is."

"So you're saying we could be rich, or we could be taking home a bomb," Boris says.

Horace helps Boris to get the thing out of the hold and into the open air.

"Hey, what Horace does to wind down during downtime is his own business," Alwin retorts, with a sideways smile.

Einar continues to watch the ramp armed with his shotgun, if anything comes from the sludge he'll fill it full of holes!
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Mon 07 Sept 2020.

"Don't start counting credits just yet. We have no idea what that thing is and we still have the rest of the ship to explore," Heather said as she looked around rather nervously. There were mysteries afoot here that she didn't particularly fancy.

"Can we set up a tripod and hoist to raise it out of the hold? Or do you think we can lift it?" Horace tests it to see how heavy it is.

The more mechanically minded members of the team have been through "artifact recovery" before, although generally not on a planet surface.  Still, they came knowing they might have to move heavy objects.  They have a sling, a cable and an automatic grip hoist- with this, and some muscle, they can get the thing out of the hold.

As they work it free, and realize that the one thing they hadn't thought of, a simple wheeled dolly, would be very useful right now, the lights continue to twinkle on it.  And it is pulling atmosphere through it- air (what passes for air here) is being sucked into the matrix of little round spheres in some places, and expelled in others.  But it doesn't do anything active.

Something else does.

A hatchway from the cargo area to elsewhere in the ship opens up.  Like hatches on Carinan ships tend to be, it is made for efficient little robots operating without gravity.  It is round and set in a wall, about 30 inches/76 centimeters across.

Horace lets the artifact loose and draws his pistol!

Heather pointed her pistol at the hatch and waited, steadying her breathing and letting calm resolve fill her. She didn't want violence but wanted not to die in this alien vessel even more so she stood ready to open fire if need be.

Something that looks like a stainless steel crab crawls out of the opened hatch, with seems almost perfectly designed to allow it in.

It's a sphere, very well polished, with legs protruded from a band around the middle.  The legs end in tool sockets, and the thing seems to have equipped itself with a variety- despite the alien design, anyone with Mechanic 1 would probably understand their functions.

While there are no obvious weapons, applying tools designed to work metal on human bodies has a very harmful effect.

Six of its legs have no tools mounted- these are for walking.  It walks with determination towards the characters.

"I never saw one of those intact," Boris says.  "Repair bot.  I bet it would be worth something too!"

In reply to The Boss (msg # 65):

"You want to capture it?" Horace raises his gun to fire, fearful it was futile
This message was last edited by the player at 12:39, Mon 21 Sept 2020.

"I'm sure it would be worth quite a bit but right now I'm more concerned on how focused it seems on us," Heather said, keeping her gun down but ready to swing up if the thing attacked.

In reply to Heather MacKenzie (msg # 67):

Horace takes aim with his Auto-Pistol and shoots the robot!

14:43, Today: Horace Wymp rolled 5 using 2d6.  damage.

14:43, Today: Horace Wymp rolled 11 using 2d6.  to hit.

Sparks... whirring... a last flailing of tool arms... and smoke emerges from the bullet hole as the robot comes to a stop.

It doesn't look to have been made for battle.  The shell was only thin sheet, and one bullet stopped it.

"Maybe it's still worth something?"  Boris muses.  "Or maybe we should go with what we have.  Carinan ships are not stupid.  Robotic, but not stupid.  Maybe it sent in a maintenance robot just to explore.  See what's happening.  And you shot it."

In reply to The Boss (msg # 69):

"We can take them both for study. The robot can be fixed. I felt threatened by it with all of those tools, sorry if I should have waited."

They haul the alien "thing" that looks like a coherent mass of marbles out of the ship, and down to the little inflatable boat... which can't take both it and everyone.  It's a walk for half the party.

The punctured maintenance robot is somewhat easier to deal with, it's light and can easily be carried by a leg.  It's like a big crab.

But this does mean that a few of the party members will either have to slog back through slush- good thing environmental suits are heated! - or wait for the boat to make a second trip.

Of course there is a brand new complication... maybe.. or maybe not...

Back on the Albatross they've been monitoring the radio traffic from the alien ship.  It was rising in intensity steadily, but once the alien artifact is away from the Carinan ship, it's gone.

Nothing.  Poof.

In reply to The Boss (msg # 71):

Horace will wait for the boat, not wanting to 'swim' with the robot. "Tell Einar to secure it away from everything, for all we know, it could be a Carinian! I'll wait here for you to come back for now. Anyone else willing to wait? Boris?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:09, Tue 06 Oct 2020.

Boris is reluctant to let the "thing" go without him, but there's only so much room on the boat, and walking back seems... unpleasant.

"I stay with you," he says.

The boat heads back towards the Albatross.

"That's not a Carinian," he says flatly.  "This ship acted so strangely.  Unlike any other Carinian ship.  When a Carinian ship is damaged and can't escape, it destroys itself, to prevent humans from doing exactly what we just did.  This one took great pains to preserve itself.  And if it was a Carinian, what would it be doing in its own cargo hold?  Wouldn't a Carinian on a Carinian ship rather be anywhere else?  This is something strange, something the ship made great efforts to keep intact and functional, where any other Carinian...

"....uh oh."

"Uh oh? What uh oh?" Heather asked, turning quickly from her place in the boat to look at Boris.