Gareth follows to see what has been discovered. He wonders if the power they are investigating is worth challenging.

As Brent and Gareth lead the way around the corner, they both see a figure lying face down on the ground with arms outflung. A rifle lies near to the figure's right hand, and they are clothed in boots, long gray pants, and a tartan-patterned long sleeved shirt. The person's face is turned away, and lies at an odd angle to their shoulders. A wide-brimmed black hat partially covers their head, hiding most of it from view.

Brent looks around.  He tries to see how long ago it might have been that the place was attacked.  "Cover me Gareth while I check the body."  Brent advances warily toward the body and moves around to where he can see the face.  He'll carefully flick off the hat.

The body lies at the base of one of the building walls. Brent finds that the person is a dark-skinned male with longish black hair. A large cut over his eyes has exposed the bone, and his chin is tucked into his chest at an unnatural angle. His skin is beginning to decompose, and his clothing appears to be wet.

"He's been dead a while but not more than a few days I would guess. There is a gash on his forehead and his neck is at an odd angle like it was broken.  There is an odd wetness to his clothing." He rolled the body over with his boot.

Naimh steps up and looks over the body. "I can conduct an autopsy, if you wish." She kneels and examines him more closely. "Superficially, I'd say you are right. The head wound was perimortem, since it appears to not have bled much."

Brent steps back as Naimh moves to examine the body.  "Do a quick check Naimh but be wary of whatever might be on his clothing.  We'll continue to search."  Brent looks around and continues forward.

Joxe steps up beside Brent as he walks around. "I wonder what he was doing here?"

The building abuts part of the actual processing facility, and Brent notes that there is a steel staircase leading up into the processor's open structure. From what he can see, the equipment, while rusty, appears to be undamaged.

"He was here recently.  There is no other sign of human life on the planet and here we find a man with relatively modern weaponry dead.  Where did he come from?  Is there a ship still around?"  He flipped on his comm.  "Veronica, we've found a recently dead man with modern weapons.  There may be another ship.  Be wary, save the ship if you have to and come back and get us later."

He pointed to the stairs. "Let's see what might have drawn him here.  Probably the lanthanum."

Gareth keeps his weapon drawn and follows down the stairs.

"He didn't get here by himself. Even if his compatriots have left there will most likely be more traps."

"I'm on my way," Veronica replies. "I'll be careful."

Malcolm moves around the body, scanning all around the area. "I've got nothing on sensors, Brent. If there is anyone else out there, they are damned stealthy."

"I think he died in a fall," Naimh reports. "I'd like to take him aboard ship for a full autopsy."

Joxe looks up the staircase. "Can we go up there?"

Brent notices an object next to the stair's upper landing. It appears to be something made of cloth or canvas, but that's all he can discern.

Gareth, like Malcolm, notes nothing of interest using his suit's sensors.

Brent considers what is happening.  "We'll bring the body back for sure.  I want to check the clothing and equipment for any clues as to point of origin."  He looked around.  "There is something up on the landing.  Do you think there was a trap or something that killed him Gareth?  Maybe there was something that caused him to fall."

Moving carefully Brent continued upward.

The stairway seems solid as Brent takes one careful step at a time. The object resolves as a backpack, and it sits about a meter from an open window at the left end of the platform.

Brent walks up carefully and pauses as he sees the object.  "It's a back pack.  It could belong to that guy or could be a trap."  He considers how far away it is from him.

"It would have to be a powerful explosive to go through your armor," Malcolm says. "Still, maybe we can rig up a pole or something."

"I can do that," Joxe says. She hunts around for a minute, and then returns with a two meter length of pipe. "Will this work?"

Brent uses the advantage of height to look around if he can while Joxe prepares a long pole. "It's not the actual penetration of the armor but the concussion or the fall if I'm blown off the platform that worries me."

He takes the pole from Joxe with a nod of thanks as their eyes meet and then lays down.  He prods the pack from the least vulnerable posture.

The pack flops over, revealing what appears to be a bedroll tied to the bottom.

"Well, it didn't go boom," Joxe says with cautious optimism.

Gareth and Malcolm still don't see anything.

Naimh is using her suit's imaging system to begin recording her observations for the autopsy.

Everyone's suit HUDs show a good datalink with Wanderer.

Brent lets out his breath and stands.  "Well, better safe than dead," he laughs.  Stepping up he goes to the pack and examines it closely.

Joxe follows Brent up the stairs. "I wonder what happened to the guy?" She looks around. "I don't see any signs of a struggle, or blood."

The pack appears to be handmade, as Brent can see how the stiches aren't in straight lines, and they vary slightly in size. It contains clothing, packages of food wrapped in leaves, and a rolled sheet of a substance Brent can't identify. It's not fabric, but it's supple to the touch, and it's a dark brown color. The package is tied with strips of the same material. In a side pocket, Brent finds a small bound book with covers the same color as the rolled package.

Brent laid out the items in the backpack.  "It's hard to tell.  This pack looks literally hand made.  See those stitches?"  He opened up the rolled sheet and looked through the book.  As well he compared the clothing to that which was worn by the dead man.  "He's not been here long.  No one came back to retrieve the body so is he some kind of lone scout?"

Joxe moves up beside him and kneels by the pack. "This is leather," she says as she touches the roll. The roll contains a quantity of pen-like wooden sticks with blackened ends. "Those look like charcoal pencils."

The journal contains handwriting in what appears to be a dialect of Galanglic Brent has never seen. A few words are recognizable, and the accompanying hand drawn illustrations are almost works of art. The writer described animals, plants, and the land through which he had traveled.

"This is rather depressing. Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like this place was blasted to the stone age and a few survivors have been eeking out a living."

"To a point, you're right," Naimh replies. "But I think it depends on who was doing the blasting, and why."

Bent touched the smooth material.  "Leather?  As in the tanned hide of an animal?"  He frowned further as she continued her explanation.  "And the pencils, the wood has been partially burned to make the... charcoal?"  He glanced at the little book.  "So our friend down below must have been exploring, that is what the journal looks like.  I can't make out the dialect beyond a few words.  The illustrations are amazing especially given the use of these pencils instead of real illustration software.  We may be able to figure out his path by reviewing the notes and sketches once we can decipher them."

Joxe carefully steps onto the platform, and looks out the window opening. "Maybe he fell from here? We can look at everything more closely once we get back aboard ship."