Brent shook his head.  "It seemed he came a long way to die in a fall.  It seems like his technology is what might be expected from a world that was bombed into near oblivion.  Obviously there are more people here.  Perhaps they are hiding from star farers though."

Malcolm speaks up as he takes another turn around the immediate area. "Even basic manufacturing speaks of a fairly sophisticated tech base. If they can process animal hides and make fabrics, that's really good for people who were bombed out."

Joxe kneels next to Brent. "Two centuries is a long time. Look at the places we've seen. No one has been here for at least that long, until we arrived."

"I can give you more information on our friend here once I can examine him," Naimh says. "His medical condition will tell us about the local tech base."

"You're right Joxe, this could all be home grown.  The rifle though speaks of some sophistication beyond animal hides and charcoal pencils." He rolls up the animal hide with the pencils and stows away the small book.  "Let's go look at this in more detail then unless there is more to the processing plant.  We've got a mystery on our hands and given that this guy hasn't been dead long there are locals alive."  He straightened up and hefted the back pack.  "Let's head back down Joxe and get the body back to the ship."

Naimh and Malcolm prepare the body for transport using an emergency blanket from the air raft's emergency kit as a body bag.

(Insert any other actions/dialog here)

Forty minutes later, a low whine from the west announces Wanderer's arrival. "Where do you want me, boss?" Victoria transmits.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:51, Sun 10 Feb 2019.

Brent looks up; "Just set down where you can near the ruins and we'll get aboard right away."

Victoria finds an open field two hundred meters west of the processing plant. Twenty minutes later, everyone is aboard.

Naimh and Victoria go to the cargo bay and begin rigging an autopsy room so they can examine the body.

Malcolm collects everyone's body armor and weapons, and, from his work area in the cargo bay, starts to perform any needed maintenance and cleaning before storing them.

Joxe, having collected the man's backpack, sets it on the crew lounge table for detailed examination.

Gareth has the now-safely unloaded rifle in hand, and he sits in the crew lounge to examine it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:52, Sun 10 Feb 2019.

Brent joins Joxe in the lounge. "What do you make of the clothing and equipment?  It seems unsophisticated."

ooc: Holidays are over and I live again.

"I think I've seen a rifle like this somewhere before. The stock has been replaced and the magazine is not standard issue. Most likely scavenged and re purposed."

Joxe looks up as Gareth speaks. "Can you tell where it's from?"

"It appears to be of imperial make."

"Well, it could have been from anywhere then.  I'd guess it's been rebuilt over the years if anything."

"Well, the rifle might be a relic, but the clothing and equipment is newly made," Joxe says as she brings up the holo display. A magnified view of a swatch of fabric shows, and Joxe manipulates the image as she speaks. "In brief, this fabric is made with a fairly advanced weaving process. It's not the extruded cloth we can make. I'd guess that it's made on what's called a loom, which is a mechanical device to weave fabric."

Brent shook his head at the technique. "So is the fabric and the thread an organic material and not synthetic?"

Joxe enlarges the image to show the fibers. "They're organic, but I don't know what it is."

Brent tried to summarize things.  "So... old but well maintained rifle and new and well made but hand made clothing.  I'd say that there is a good chance that we've stumbled across evidence that there are human survivors here."

"I believe you're right," Joxe says. "Thing is, what do we do about it?"

Brent shrugged.  "We haven't seen any signs of people on the planet yet.  I was hoping that the journal would provide some clues as to where the man originated."

"I can scan it into the computer, and see what we find from it," Joxe replies. "But, even if we do find his home, what then?"

"If he's from the planet then we should try to make contact."

"Let's see what our examinations turn up, then." Joxe replies. "It may take a few hours."

"Can we do more to evaluate the lanthanum deposits? If we can bring back a large supply of the material to Egg we can transform this entire region of space once they can start building starships again."

"How would we do that? None of us are geologists or miners," Joxe replies.

Brent nodded reluctantly.  "We can take samples of some of the rocks that might be left behind and have them assayed elsewhere if we have a chance.  What do the old records say about the mines here?  Were they still providing good output?"

"They were producing about a hundred metric tons per year," Joxe says after a couple minutes' study. "That's ore, though, not refined metal."

"Well that should be enough to get us out of the system.  Of course we'd need to gather it up and carry it back."