Once our negotiations are complete, Takuto emerges from the rover. We definitely need his help in what is to come, since he’s our computer expert. Even though he’s never dealt with any Progenitor tech himself, he’ll probably have intuition about it that Cleve and I lack.
There’s now a ladder down into our module, as well as stand lights set up within. The place looks quite different from when Cleve and I were last here. It hasn’t been cleaned so much as cleaned out. The three cryobeds that are still here have all been opened and their data drives removed. Shu-Fen must already have them. Which cryobed is missing? Morgan’s, which I find odd. Why would he want it? He never struck me as the sentimental type who would want it just as a keepsake, that’s for sure. Maybe there was something in its logs that indicated when he woke up. If that was before the standard wake-up time, I suppose that might be incriminating. Or maybe he doesn’t want anyone to know he rode here in such low-class accommodations… or to be able to figure out that he wasn’t supposed to come at all. The terminal that was by the door has also had its computer stripped from the wall. Interesting… It held the timestamp of when Morgan was added to the passenger roster, a last minute change.
Of more immediate interest than all that intrigue, though, is a hole that has been cut in the floor. The deck plating has been pulled up and set aside, revealing an entirely distinct metal surface below, which gleams bronze in the overhead lighting. Cleve is disappointed to see that there are no generally useful ship supplies around. He pokes at the air vents, wondering about salvaging filters from their ducts, but those were already used for a hundred and thirty years. “And,” I remind him, “they weren’t working by the end of it.”
Cleve chuckles. “Maybe not yours.”
“If outside stuff was getting all the way to me, it was clearly getting into this room,” I point out.
“There must’ve been a big old hole somewhere, since my rucksack got out,” Cleve observes. Giving up on his dreams of salvage, he crouches down by the Progenitor hatch to inspect it.
Even though the hard drive is gone from my cryobed, there are plenty of embedded systems still present, so Takuto sets to work with Datapad++. “The medical data is the important part. See if there’s any backup storage,” I tell him. “Blood work specifically, but anything else that was monitoring any aspect of my health. We need the first hundred years just as much as the last thirty.”
Takuto is a more reserved hacker than Hypercor. He works quietly, but with satisfaction. The cryobed no longer has a power source, but Datapad++ is up to the challenge of powering both itself and the necessary subsystems. Takuto copies over all my medical data. Unfortunately, he cannot find the diagnostic information for my cryopod itself, so we still don’t know what triggered the yellow caution light to blink. That we’ll need to get from Shu-Fen. Which means we still need to carry out our side of the deal with her. So, about that door… I join Cleve while Takuto switches cryopods, looking to perform the same feat on Cleve’s. That’ll provide Marina with another type of baseline. She’ll be able to compare me to myself before landing on Chiron and also me to Cleve while we were both in stasis on the planet.
When I step up next to Cleve, he is mulling over some sort of interface. “Maybe push that button?” I suggest, pointing with my cane. Using the multitool Shu-Fen supplied, Cleve tries some turning and tapping. The interface lights up briefly and then zap! Cleve jerks back, more startled than hurt. His brow knits, not in anger, but in worry. That could have gone horribly wrong, and it’s just luck that it didn’t.
“Step back, Cleve,” I say. He looks at me in confusion for a moment, and I elaborate, brandishing my cane, “Time to brute force this.”
“Be careful,” he warns me.
It may look like simple black lacquered wood, but my cane has a steel core. It’s sometimes useful to have a pry bar without anyone knowing. I flip it upside down, slip the L-shaped handle under a latch on the door, and press down. I start to worry about whether my cane can take the necessary amount of strain, but finally there’s a snap, and the door levers open. We don’t get the hiss that you would expect to accompany a seal being broken, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Somehow Progenitor tech got up into that wolf beetle nest. Whatever creatures were playing with Cleve’s backpack might have gotten down below our module, too.
The space below us is dark except for the square illuminated by the lights up here. Takuto, done with his task, joins us in looking down into the hole. I flick on my flashlight and shine it around to give us a bit more idea of what we’re headed into. It’s a longer room than our cryopod chamber, but narrower. It looks like a hall, given that there are several doors off of it. We’re close to one end of it, and my flashlight plays across the surface of what is probably a computer terminal built into a pedestal by the wall there. It looks to be about a twelve-foot drop. Good thing Cleve’s got his rope.